Monday, November 12, 2012

Tokyo Tower on Pocky Day

On Sunday, Megumi and Yuka invited me and Tom to go to Tokyo Tower. Oh dang. It's the 2nd tallest building in Japan, next to Skytree.

First, we met up at Shinjuku Station and then walked to a restaurant to hang out for a bit until it got dark. Megumi and Yuka wanted to see the tower at night. It was definitely worth the wait.
We asked each other a lot about the other's culture and tried to tell jokes from our countries. They become a little less funny when you have to explain them XD. I decided against telling the Home Improvement pretzel joke.
I didn't even have to make this meme.
We still had some time to kill after a few hours of talking at the restaurant, so we went to the arcade that was 4 or 5 floors high. The first and second floors are mainly filled with UFO catchers. The other floors have DDR, Beat Mania, and even a more "Casino-type" floor with a mechanical horse racing table where you can bet and even roulette. It was really impressive.
Yuka really wanted a Zebra from one of the machines, so Tom, Megumi, and Yuka all tried to get it. After MY FER EEKING PINK LLAMA INCIDENT, I decided against trying. And it's going to stay that way, darnit. That pink llama, you guys. I can't even.
 Then, I saw a couple win one of the llamas. You know what their reaction was?
And I was just like:

W-w-what just happened?
I got in trouble for taking pictures again T____T.
So Tom covered me. lololol.
After many attempts, Yuka finally got her Zebra!
We headed off to the station soon after watching people and their way-too-good skills. Honestly, some of the games...I can't even think as fast as they're pushing buttons.

Waiting for the train ^____^:
 This is the first time I saw a sign like this:
Because there are some creepy people who feel girls up on trains, they sometimes have to have separate train cars for women.
Since it started to rain, Tom bought an umbrella at a convenience store on the way to the station. I pointed out how it matched his shirt perfectly. lolol. Then, another foreigner had the exact same umbrella. lolol, aww, Gaijin. (Gaijin is a word that Japanese people use to describe a foreigner. I really haven't heard it used too much around us though, so I feel like we use it most as a joke to describe how we don't quite fit in here.)
The first glance at Tokyo Tower was pretty incredible. It was like being on a walk and everything is normal and then you look at the sky and realize the moon is huge.
First reactions caught on film:
 AHHHH.
Don't worry. I brought my point-and-shoot, so they aren't all ipod pictures. The rain made the whole scene even more beautiful; seeing all of the rain lit up and fall slowly off of the tower.
As we walked closer to the tower, we saw Christmas decorations around it as well as a small talk show being filmed.

 Oh! Apparently, since it was 11/11, It was Pocky Day! ^____^

BRACE YOURSELVES, CHRISTMAS IS COMING.


They were handing out free pocky and big blow up pocky sticks (Sorry Mr. Wonka, they weren't eatable). Later on, Megumi's popped, so I insisted that we traded. It took a lot of convincing to have her do a tradesies. ^___^'
Of course, there were a few Pocky stick fights.
And then we ventured half-way up Tokyo Tower. You have to pay to travel half-way and then again to go all the way to the top. We decided to go to the middle and then decide there if we wanted to go to the top.
On the way:
 Whooooosshhh!
Grant, some of these might make you a bit queasy >___<
 Floor Window:
You can see the Christmas decorations to the right. We were down there! And hoping that we wouldn't be down there again sooner than planned XD.

This reminded me of MoMo:
Yeah, I could see her staring at that for hours in awe. ^____^

Of course we had to venture all the way to the top. It would be too sad to say "Oh yeah! I've been to Tokyo Tower. Uh, I went half-way up." LAMEPANDAS.
New Facebook profile picture?
The speaker on the elevator on the way to the top said, "It's normal for the elevator to make cracking noises as it's for a safety precaution." WUT.

The view was even prettier at 1,093 meters high. There were clouds racing by the building, too. On one side, a street looked like the tower mirrored on the ground:
More views:
 Where'd the players go? D=
 And then us being all touristy with our Pocky and Tom killing Yuka's zebra:
Standing on the higher floor window like a B.A.:
Tom being a B.A. If he had a monocle on, I think he'd look more like the Monopoly Man, though. Where are you when I need you, Google Effects?!
After O______O at the view for awhile, we went back down to the ground. The elevator was pretty awesome, too, though.
We checked out the shops on the ground level for a bit. Apparently, this guy is supposed to be the character to represent Tokyo Tower:
Looks more like a drop of the pink goo from Ghostbusters to me...I should have yelled at them.
They sold a few food items for gifts and souvenirs:
 BANANA ROAR!!!
Apparently they're really good 'cause Tom bought some for himself.
And Japanese version of peeps?:
Of course, there was a huge Hello Kitty:
Then, in the lobby there was this display:
I told Tom this was what they were planning to make the area into. It was followed by silence until he finally understood what I said and told me I was lying.
lolol.

We went outside by the Christmas decorations for a bit.
This is Tom. He's from England and is very tall. He likes wearing Abercrombie and Fitch shirts and going out to party. Please contact me if you think he's for you!
 
 Megumi and Yuka ^____^
Just chillin' with the Ghostbuster's character in a house. NBD (No Big Deal).

We headed home soon after this ^___^.

More recently~
I've been searching for Animal Crossing here, but it's all sold out. I really want to get the special Animal Crossing 3DS LL, which comes with the game on a memory card, but they're sold out everywhere and are going for $550-600+ online now. Their original price is about half of that. >___< Gosh darn. I also asked one of the workers if they were expecting more and she said they weren't and my best bet would be to find it online. Gah. I tried Amazon Japan (since it's much cheaper than buying from the US), but for some reason, it's not allowing my address to go through or to send it to a convenience store to pick it up. Buggah!

For now, I bought this Animal Crossing magazine that came with a 2012-2014 Planner:
Nicey nice! It looks like you can change your socks now in the game. Now, I really need the game.

I asked Kazuya if there is possibly an option to pay-per-lesson for kickboxing and he checked and said there is! Now, he is checking to see if there is a discount available because apparently there was one in the past. Oh dang. That would be double awesome. I figure I could go at least once a week and go to then go to the training center the other days =].

For Monday, I had to make a poster for my Gender Studies class. It had to be about a cause that I believed in and how it would benefit society and stuff, so I drew this Sunday morning before heading out:
It's about how I think people should stop saying negative things about other people because they might overhear. It might be funny for the person for a few seconds to say, but it'll stick in the other person's mind for a long time and affect them negatively. For example, whispering to your friends that someone is as big as a whale or making whale noises around a bigger person. Most likely, the person's going to overhear. So pretty much, don't talk badly about others and no one gets hurt kinda thing.
See, it's all artsy and stuff with the insult going through the other person's ear and choking them. Omg, art. Get me black thick-rimmed glasses. Wahahaha.

Yay! That's pretty much it for now. ^____~

4 comments:

  1. Lol. I saw that fish (er, eel?) thumbnail on my main blog page and was like, "Oh man, this is gonna be interesting."

    Oh, how I wish you would have told that pretzel joke! I think it's one of the easier jokes to explain to someone who might not understand the humor right off the bat. xD

    I can't believe you found that image of the joke, by the way. You can find everything online, bb.

    I totally forgot about your pink llama incident... and now I'm laughing about it all over again.

    I've come to loathe that whole "No Photos Allowed" rule. I'm sure you'll see why in my second to last blog post. Grrrr, what a stupid rule.

    Omg, you got the zebra! Wow, good for you guys. That's awesome.

    Whoa, that's an interesting rule about separating women from men on trains. I almost wish we had a similar one in certain situations here in the US. Men are creepsters EVERYWHERE.

    Whoa. They are all really excited to be in Tokyo in the rain. I... really have nothing else to say about that. Their expressions = priceless.

    That tower photo is gorgeous! Look at that glow!

    POCKY DAY. O____O How did I not know about this? Why did you not send me Pocky? I AM DISAPPOINT. I want a big blowup Pocky stick! WAAAAAHHH.

    I like that photo where your face is creeping at the edge. Hahaha. New profile pic, YES.

    That is some serious height there, bb. I think the closest to being near a tower like that for Momo would be that pink sparkly display piece. xD Haha, I don't think we could get her to go up all those floors!

    I love that photo of all of you with your Pocky sticks! What a great capture.

    I agree about the drops of pink goo from Ghostbusters. They don't like like they'd be representing the tower... at all. o_O

    I will take one Giant Hello Kitty, please.

    I think you need to send Beth Tom's number. He sounds like her type.

    I really shouldn't be surprised that Animal Crossing is sold out. That seems so unfair! There has to be a store with it in stock. Have you been asking when new shipments will arrive? Boo.

    I like your drawing, bb. The meaning comes across clearly, too. Nicely done.

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  2. I really loved all of the pictures here. You probably couldn't get me up in that very very tall building though--lol. You are so right about that beautiful pink sparkling miniature building. I would be in a coma position for days just looking at it----so cool. When I see all of your classmates it reminds me of "Friends". All of you are so cute. I can't get over the millions of toys for sale there. It's like the people are perpetual children--very happy people. Try for the pink llama again!

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  3. Lauren - STUPID PINK LLAMA. I love your post on taking pictures in stores.
    Haha, I didn't know you liked Pocky that much, bb! I don't know if I've seen any flavors here that you can't get in the US yet, so you aren't missing out on too much! Consider Tom's number sent. lolol.

    I have been asking! I'll write about the adventures of trying to find it.
    Thank you, bb <33

    MoMo! - Which Friends character am I? XD haha. NooOOoOOo, bad influence! I must never try for that pink llama ever again. STUPID LLAMA.

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