♥Japan 2014! Trip Report → Day 17 (Maid Café?, LaQua & Moomin Café!)♥

Hello everybunny! It's time for another holiday post♪ This time we had some fun in Ikebukuro and then went to LaQua at Tokyo Dome City, which is a theme park.♪ If you're in Ikebukuro, Tokyo Dome City isn't too far away! So it's convenient if you're not wanting to go too far.♪ There's also a shopping mall & spa there.

 

First we headed into the Sunshine City shopping malls so Brian could pick up some souvenirs and presents!♪

 

Totoro outside a store selling Studio Ghibli goods, and goods from other cute series like Moomins and Gaspard et Lisa.♥

 

After a little shopping, we headed to the game centres to play for a while, then went to the Maid Cafe Maidreamin. I wasn't sure what to expect, I know a lot of people love them loads but whenever I've seen them they haven't seemed like my cup of tea, still, I hoped it would still be fun!

Brian and Josh both got this curry.

Josh's comment was that the bear looked like it wanted things over with quickly.OTL

 

I just got an ice cream sundae since I wasn't very hungry. It was pretty cute.

 

The maid cafe itself was... pretty creepy to be honest. I'm wondering if we were maybe just unlucky? But when we walked in there was like, an old guy going through his massive maid photo collection with a maid (it was literally laid out on one of the tables, creepy), and another older guy there who just kept calling the maids over to talk to (creepy), and a younger guy who looked kinda awkward. I dunno, everything was so awkward, like the atmosphere. I dunno, maybe I don't get this stuff? But old guys lurking around maid cafés is just... it just rubs me the wrong way. It creeps me out, I felt so uncomfortable there OTL. (The maids themselves didn't seem totally comfortable either;; )  So we finished our food as quickly as possible and headed back to the game centres ahah...

 

Brian won a Sonico figure!♪ Sonico was everywhere when we went to Japan, so fans of Sonico would have been happy www

 

It wasn't long until Brian had to get a train to the airport, so we played some Taiko no Tatsujin!♪ It's a Taiko drumming game!♪

It's such a fun game! If you go to Japan, definitely try it!♪

Then it was time for Brian to head back to Seoul >: But we had a really fun weekend! Sadly we didn't get to see him on our next trip to Japan, but hopefully we'll get to see him again another time!

Then Josh and I headed to Tokyo Dome City!♪

 

Walking out of the station, you can see the Thunder Dolphin coaster!

 

We were super excited www

 

There's the ferris wheel that the coaster goes through!

 

Thunder Dolphin tickets and skip passes because the queue was massive ww

 

So... close!

Thunder Dolphin is such an awesome coaster!! I really really enjoyed it.♪ There's lots of fun airtime ww♪

 

Time for dinner? Time for dinner!♥

 

A dinner with the Moomins!♥

 

The Moomin café & bakery is beautiful♥ I think even if you're not familiar with the Moomins, you'll really enjoy the atmosphere and the decor. It's so calm and relaxing.♥

There are also plushies of different Moomin characters that the staff will sit at your table, so you can dine with them!♥ While we were there, someone got a birthday cake & birthday song, it was really cute.♥ 

 

Josh got a hot drink in summer www It looked pretty though.

 

Moomin biscuit!♥

 

Josh gave it a little cloud ww♥

 

If you order a meal, you can try different breads from the bakery! I think the bread buffet is about ¥330 if you're not ordering a meal.

 

Josh and I really enjoyed trying the different breads.♥ They were delicious, and there were quite a few to choose from! 

Josh got a chowder and salad.♪ It looked yummy!

 

All of the cutlery is Moomin themed.^^

 

I got the Moomin plate ; 7 ;♥ It's omurice, with a demi glace sauce on one side, and chowder on the other. It was amazing!♥♥ The sauces were really nice to dip the bread in too. It was super super filling along with the bread, so I was glad I didn't order a dessert.;; They looked really lovely though!

Sleepy Moomin♥

More Moomin cutlery!♪

 

Moomin joined us for dinner! So cute ; 7 ;♥♥ 

The cafe also has a shop & bakery attached to it, with lots of cute Moomin merch!♥ You can even buy the cutlery that they use in the café!♪ Even though it was quite busy in the café, it didn't feel too crowded which was nice.^^

After going to the cafe, we headed back to the hotel. We needed an early night because we had some super exciting days ahead!♪

 

Thank you so much for reading!♪ I hope you'll look forward to future posts♪ There are only a few days left of this holiday to write about now! 

Have a lovely day!♥

Love, Eliza♥

♥Japan 2014! Trip Report → Day 16 (Odaiba & Sega Joypolis!)♥

Hello everybunny! It's time for another holiday post, hooray!♪ 

It was time to go to Odaiba! So that morning, Josh and I met up with Brian and we headed to Ikebukuro station! It's possible to get a train all the way to Odaiba, which is super convenient.^^ We were all pretty excited, since we'd read some cool things about Odaiba and had plans to visit some great places!♪ It's probably a really great place to explore if the weather is ideal. Sadly, August weather really isn't ideal for exploring unless you're really good with humidity ahah.. ; v ;'' Maybe if I go back during a more comfortable time of year and have the time, I'll be able to enjoy exploring a bit more.♪

 

We arrived at the station and then hoped we were heading the right way ww 

 

 

 

 

We saw Joypolis and were like 'Oh hey Joypolis!!' 

...until we realised that going towards Joypolis was the wrong direction for the Miraikan hah...

 

We were walking along this really long stretch of road thinking 'we better be heading the right way this heat is unbearable OTL'

 

It was the right way! 

We finally... finally made it to the Miraikan.. and it was packed. OTL So we decided against waiting out in the heat in the massive queue.;; 

 

It felt like a waste of a really long walk but at least Diver City was nearby!

 

There is is! Only.. all the way across that parking lot www

  

The life size Gundam was so awesome! 

 

  

To scale Gundam waffle things!♪ I had cream flavour♥ I think Josh and Brian had savoury flavours.♪

 

Inside Diver City is a Gundam exhibit called Gundam Front! Some areas require a ticket, but some areas you can look around for free, so we had a look around the models and such.♪

Oh hey..

 

Big Zam. 

(www) 

After looking around Gundam Front, we headed into a nearby game centre because we couldn't find anywhere we wanted to grab lunch ww Lunch? Who needs lunch when you can play games? ww

 

'Hey, kid...'

 

'Yeah. You. Kid...'

 

'Save me.'

Unfortunately I didn't save Kumamon, but I did win an Angely Bear from Aikatsu!. Josh won a Monokuma and Brian won a Levi figure! We thought it was getting too difficult but Brian won it!! Woo!

 

Mario Kart time!!

You could put your face on the characters, so of course Josh took advantage of the opportunity www

 

The weather sure was looking promising as we were heading out of Diver City towards Joypolis ww Luckily Joypolis is an indoor theme park!♪

 

There's also a Legoland Discovery Centre! 

 

Hello Joypolis♪ Unfortunately we had to go to grab lunch first, but... we couldn't find anywhere OTL We ended up giving up searching and just grabbing something from McDo. OTL;; Then we headed to a shopping mall that was next to the mall that Joypolis was in. There was a Shonen Jump pop up shop thing! It was pretty neat♪

 

Chopper!♥

 

This Goku statue was pretty awesome ww

After some shopping, it was time to head back to Joypolis!♪♪ 

We just got entry tickets because we weren't sure how busy it would be inside. We didn't want unlimited ride tickets because there was a chance we might not get on many rides, and a lot of the attractions were in Japanese with no English option. Probably a good chance to practice though ww

 

Joypolis is awesome! Everything looks so cool ww The Veil Of Dark track stretches out into the main area! It's very noisy though, so if you're not a fan of loud places or if you're not in the mood for loud music and such, I'd recommend going somewhere else!;; 

 

We were right about it being super busy! It was packed ;;

 

First ride! Veil Of Dark♪ It's a coaster with shooting game elements! We had a pretty long wait, but parts of the queue line interact with the big screen, and at other times, there were things to watch on the screen! When we first started queuing, there was a Psycho Pass thing going on. I had no idea what was actually happening but it looked pretty neat.♪

 

I mentioned the coaster had shooting elements, you also get a rank based on your score! I think I got Ace ww Either way, I beat both Josh & Brian. Victory! The coaster has some awesome effects, it's kind of Resident Evil-ish with all the monsters and such ww I don't recommend this if you're easily scared! There are some pretty creepy parts ww It's soooo much fun though!

 

The main stage! When I took these photos, the virtual idol Lopit was performing ww I'm not sure if she's a Vocaloid or not? ;; Her performance was fun to watch though!

 

This was something I really wanted to go on, but the queue was massive! OTL 

 

It's a spinning halfpipe ride ww

 

Looking out over the the Veil Of Dark tracks and the other parts of the park♪

 

We stopped for drinks at the D Lounge. Of course, we all found the name mightily entertaining because we are, in fact, children.

 

Edgeworth!♥♥ There was an Ace Attorney Investigations game, but it was in Japanese only, so we didn't try it out. OTL I think there's an Ace Attorney Trilogy attraction here now.

 

After spending some more time looking around Joypolis and having fun on the UFO catchers, we headed back to Ikebukuro for dinner. We went to a place called Shakeys, which is a buffet! It mainly has pizzas & pasta, and there are even dessert pizzas! We all enjoyed it quite a lot.♪ It was pretty cheap too.^^ 

Afterwards, we headed to the game centres! Woo! Though after a little while, Josh decided to head back to the hotel because he was shattered. ; - ; So Brian and I continued our UFO catcher onslaught!! Bro's UFO Catcher prowess won us sooooo many plushies ww It was so awesome! I'm super grateful that he helped me win so much. ; 7 ; We also managed to win me a Pote Usa Loppy with the very last ¥100 coin we had! It was a triumphant moment!! Then we dragged all our winnings across Ikebukuro to our hotels ww Spending evenings at game centres is brilliant fun, you should totally do it if you visit Japan. It's strange because at home, I pretty much never go out. Ever. OTL I don't enjoy it so much, and often don't feel comfortable. >< But on holiday I wanted to constantly be out enjoying things www (Moreso on my most recent holiday) Though maybe it's because on holiday there are friends I feel comfortable around to go out with, and there's lots to do ahah.^^;; Things like game centres and fun restaurants.. there's nothing like that in this teeny tiny town! ;; Plus my even my friends who are nearby are still pretty far away so we don't see each other so often. ><; 

Thank you so much for reading!♪ I hope if you get to go to Odaiba, you'll have a lot of fun too! I also hope you'll pick a better time than us ww a time with less crowds ahah♪ 

Have a lovely day!♥

Love, Eliza♥