So, you can read on how did I manage to get to Japan on the Twilighters Malaysia blog.
Departing from KLIA (Nisa, Nurul, me and Sunie)
Arrived in Narita Airport 6.05am on Tuesday 3rd November 2009. The weather was nice...but as we arrive in Shinagawa, it was cold (at least to us :P). The first day was dedicated fully for the New Moon Tokyo Fan Event. We got to Shinagawa at around 10am and went straight to our hotel to leave our luggage then go directly to Shinagawa Intercity Hall to redeem our tickets for the event. At this point of time, both of us are hungry, but being in a foreign place...we decide to skip breakfast and lunch :P. To cut it short, the event starts at 6.30pm and and ended somewhere around 7.30pm. My overall rating for the event? 5 out of 10...hmmm. BUT ROB WAS 200 OUT OF 100...ulalalalalala :D
However, I did make new frens (fellow twihard of course) at the event and was so happy to know them. Katie, Laurel and Mel are US Navy wives based in Japan, and they are so cool and friendly. I even got a gift from Laurel, a key chain from Forks, the place where the Twilight starts ;). She went to Forks, WA last summer. THANK YOU LAUREL, IT'S AWESOME!!
Nurul & I were thrilled to receive the Forks key chain from Laurel :D
The full event chronology will be posted at Twilighters Malaysia blog.
Since we are going back to Kuala Lumpur on a morning flight on Thursday, Wednesday was dedicated solely for sight seeing and shopping. So we start of our day by taking the train to Shibuya, they say it is a place to shop. Well...it's kind of true, coz I manage to get 70% of the things I need to buy there :D. Commuting by train in Japan is a bliss of heaven. The system is superb and I am very amazed. There are like 15 train lines, and yet everything runs smoothly with no hick-up. I think if we were to have that here in Malaysia, everything will go coo-coo and delayed. All the train lines are centralize in one station in each place and it is such a breeze journey except at first we were a bit confused but later, as we got a hang of it, we were happy to hop on and off the train. I really love their system. Before that, we manage to get our breakfast at Anderson Bakery at Shinagawa train station. The bread was heavenly.
I think most of us in the world know that Japanese are very well disciplined and YES!! they are indeed. There are no cutting queues even as everyone was rushing. They even queue up to go on an escalator...seriously!! And as they got on, they will keep to the left (even if a couple is going up/down the escalator, they will separate and be in line). Only those who are really rushing will use the right side.
They are also friendly, helpful and most of them can either understand or speak English. So, it is not too hard to communicate. As I arrived in Shibuya, I was trying to find a Mizuno shop (yeap, you guess it rite..my hubby is the one who ordered) and couldn't find any. I end up in Puma shop in Shibuya and asked them where is the nearest Mizuno shop? The sales assistant gladly help and immediately help to search for the shop online using her laptop. She wrote down the address, phone number and gave me a map to the shop. So, Nurul and I began walking towards the Mizuno shop which according to the Puma girl is about 15 mins walk. Walking is such a norm in Japan, trust me and you don't feel tired at all but your feet will hurt if you don't wear the right shoes :P.
Later, we were at a junction and was a bit confused with the direction and we saw a cute Japanese guy sitting down drinking coffee (apparently it's rude to drink while you walk in Japan), so I showed him the address and asked whether he knows how to get there. At first he said, somewhere around there, then he saw the shop phone number and immediately call the shop (at this point of time, Nurul and I was a bit stunted coz we didn't expect he would help us to call). After he finished his conversation, he told us to go straight and the shop is on the right side two traffic lights down. I took picture with him. eheheheheh...so cute :D.
My dad even asked me to buy him his deep sea fishing gear a Shimano TS30. Thank God it was easy to find :P. Our site seeing/shopping did not end there. We end up going from Shibuya to Jimbocho (to find another Mizuno shop as the shoe size was not available at Shibuya), then from Jimbocho to Roppongi then to Tokyo Tower and back to Roppongi Hills. Roppongi Hills is somewhat a bit high end and the lights are beautiful at nite ;). We wanted to go to Asakusa coz they say that's the place where we can buy a lot of Japan souvenirs, unfortunately, time envy us. We ended our site seeing at around 10.30pm and went back to our hotel. Fuh, were our feet hurts like hell...but it was worth it!
Here are some facts that I learned about Japan;
1. The people are friendly and helpful, regardless they speak English or not.
2. Now, most of them can either understand or speak English. There is even an English learning show on their television channel.
3. Japanese are very well discipline and systematic. No wonder they can conquer Malaya in such short time ;)
4. If you travel to Japan, make sure you exchange Japan Yen earlier, coz their local bank doesn't accept foreign ATM card. Or bring your credit card, NOT your debit card.
5. The train system are superb!!!!! You won't want to drive!!
6. If you are taking train back to the airport via Narita Express, make sure you fully understand the train schedule. (We nearly missed our flight..uhuhuhu :P)
7. The houses are exactly like the ones you saw in Ultraman. I mean literally!!! And it is very very very clean (exterior) as if a person made a point of cleaning it everyday. I am truly amazed.
Here are some of the pics I took when I was there. But there are still more to come as half of it was taken by my fellow twilight fren, Nurul :D
Find more photos like this on Twilighters Malaysia Official Site