Sunday, October 16, 2011

There's some magical tortoises here.

This entry took me so long to write I almost died halfway of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Would be nice if anybody who's reading leave me some comments. I like replying comments LOL 力付けられるよ!

Japanese people like to create anime related attractions of all sorts. Like the 1:1 scale One Piece pirate ship "Going Merry", life sized Gundam robot, Ghibli museum, Osamu Tezuka Museum and in a way, the schools which were the models for Slam Dunk and Nodame Cantabile and the town that Sailormoon was based in. There's just so much to see and explore :D


This was just one of the transfers I had to take. So where am I going?

To the "Kameari town"! From the anime/manga/drama/movie with a ridiculously long title - こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所 Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kouen-mae hashutsujo or just kochikame. ("This is the police station in front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward"). The manga, living up to it's long name, is the longest running series in history since 1976 and it is still going on. I remember watching it a long looooong time ago and even watching one of the movies in cineleisure cathay before (it was a cosplay event. lol)

The town is a real version of the anime!


The mascot of the town, Ryo. Right outside the north entrance of the station.

Quite a few tourists, mainly Taiwanese, waiting to take photos with him too.


My turn haha.


The police station right outside the station which looks exactly the same as the one in the anime.


What's hidden under those shades.
"Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Kameari Police office
Kameari station North entrance Police box"
Quite a mouthful ^^;


Right outside the station.


You can go collect all 77 station stamps. If you are as passionate as the sg Train Otaku yay. Otaku power!


A tiny Reiko. Took us some time to find =_=


There's a map below the statue which shows the location of all 11 of them.


They call this a park. But it looks so sad, it looks more like a very big sand box.
I imagined it to at least look something like this.


Well, at least it's a playground for kids.


Found him sitting on a bench. デートしちゃうw。


Another one at the side, the "double peace sign Ryo". So that culture of doing a V(^_^)V pose started so long ago. Even I got influenced :x


it's making me look dumb haha.


He's so weathered :O


On our way to hunt down the rest of the statues.
One end of the road.


The other end.
Don't they look very un-tokyo-like? Not the usual sceneries people see when they travel to tokyo. Apparently where i stay in looks like this also :x


Random bridge marker.


Spotted a big crow perched outside someone's "mansion".


And it flew away.


Pfah? We walked to the neighbouring Adachi-ward? A neighbourhood that's said to have the highest crime rate in tokyo. So not advisable to stay there if you decide to move house. That aside, this shopping arcade looks like business is really bad.


Further down to our right was this big water wheel that did not seem to serve much function except to collect dust.


On the left, an interesting looking shop. The brick walls looked fake lol.


The words faded out so much that now I can't make out what that 2 kanji were at the end except it should mean "Get lost. Not your pool."


A shot of tc. He bought a new camera. Touch screen and very cheap, like 10, 000+ only. I want!


Go left for suhama (i think it's either a kind of japanese confectionary or a beach). Go right for toilet(!?). …Wot? Got beach here meh.


Flowers are good subjects ^^


A sunflower with missing petals. Probably because summer has ended.
Do you know? The centre head (the blackish part in the pic) is made up of many many tiny flowers (or florets) fused together. Thousands of them. The surrounding petals are florets that grow petals. Same for daisies too. So one sunflower or one daisy is actually thousands of flowers. Makes you feels like you have gotten a good deal when you buy from a florist ^^;


This looks like a chrysanthemum. Another flower head.


Fat waxy shrubs.

We walked all the way down the road and did not spot any statues when we should have. Which means... we were on the wrong track. So we turned back, and discussed what to eat for lunch lol. The sun was getting a bit warm for comfort anyway.


Here's tc's shot of me. おかしい ¬_¬


And we found that missing last statue on the north entrance side!


Rest rest! *pause for breath*


tc suggested we take a pic with the suburb side of Tokyo. HELLO CAR!


I haven't seen a hospital until now. Why. They look the same as the ones back home in sg :x

Walked back towards the station on the south side, methinks.


Hmm there's a kameari matsuri next week!


Another small statue, in his Armani suit, guarding over mcdonalds. Okay, i forgot his name.


Came across this that explained the origin of the town's name. If you're wondering why there's a tortoise, that's because kame in kameari (亀有) means tortoise. and ari literally means there is/have. Magical flying tortoise, i suppose. They are considered auspicious animals, a belief influenced by the ancient chinese. So if there's no tortoise…, would it become kamenashi (亀無)!?


Crossing the road to get to the shrine across. Do you see the escalators for the overhead bridge!? Rain how huhhhh.


This car looks really bouncy. The other cars look small beside it lol


I think we were missing 5 statues.


The map for all the sight seeing attractions of this town corresponding to the various locations in the manga.


I feel so retarded doing this when tc made me do it :x


Imagine this would look nicer when the leaves turn red later.


Guardian of the shrine entrance. Notice the opened mouth. The name is Ah, in sanskrit, for the sound that first comes out from the mouth.


And the closed mouth in this. The name is Un, the last sound from the mouth.

Together, Ah'un is a word that means everything, beginning till the end, of the universe. Ah also refers to the desire to seek after truth while Un refers to wisdom and attaining nirvana. But why they are guarding the shrine, I donno lol. Next time if you visit a shrine or maybe a temple (not sure same or not) check out their mouths. These magical creatures come in different forms and in pairs. Like the chinese 門神.


We reached the shopping mall Ario for foooooood.
Here's Chinese soba, in a term that's quite offensive referring to chinese/china: shina (支那). But it's used in food for so long that i think the offensiveness has lessen. And that's probably from where we call mainlanders or the display of chinese-philia being "cheena" :x


Settled for this "western noodle shop" (pasta lor). Queues too long all over the place.


I wanted to try this too :x


Studying the free map we got from the shrine.


I took a pasta set that came with soup and i had a wtf moment when i saw the soup was… japanese clear soup lol.


My royale milk tea! Mos burger's better :x


The special autumn menu!


This was tc's. He said it was too spicy, even after picking out the chili flakes. I tried. ZEN ZEN.


Another wtf moment: Eating pasta with chopsticks. No fork, no spoon given. Imagine how i ate my egg…


Shashin time!


tc already dug in lol.


Look at my mont blanc! Chestnut :DD I used to think that those stringy things are made from soba LOLLLL


After lunch, it was another round of kame hunting. The "game park" fashioned after the various settings in the show.


This pic is, erm, not very appropriate for little kids :x


Matsuri inside a shopping mall?


Life size characters.


This was quite funny. Normally outside police boxes there will be a sign that informs you of the number of accidents and deaths for the month. For their sign, it was "Reiko's slap: 0. Chief Ohara's thunder (wrath): 3"


tc said reiko has got big boobies =_= Does she? :x


A boy checking out ryo's messy work desk filled with rubbish.




Excuse me while i make a call on this old school telephone.


"Do not press. (kidding!)"
I pressed. Nothing happened -_- Thought would have an electric shock or something.


I love old posters like this!


The glico man looks kinda weird.


I want to watch this!!


Smoking room for chimneys. Unbelievable. Even though it's separated, the smell still escapes.


Rilakkuma dressing up for Pumpkin Day ^^


On the escalator as we headed out.


Passing by a cemetery.


And a bagus hair salon????


Found this shortie after a while. Too tired from all the walking to want to take a pic with him :x


Kaede (maple) osteopathist.


I forgot who this was :/


A woman passed by us, turned and looked at what we were taking lol.
But this karaoke building looks kinda creepy. It's just a blank wall with nothing. No advertisements. No music blasting out to invite you in.


Last third of the statues! I have three children. Actually is one Ryo split into three different ages.


Kumon + いいよ = kumon, sure!


Does running up and down this brightly coloured staircase make one happy?


*shake shake*


Last one! At the south entrance.


Yay. Made to do the same pose again =_=


The everyday japanese station.

tc took my camera and started playing with burst mode on me without me knowing. Then he said can use to make "facebook profile picture". er… lol
The rest i shall put on fb and not clutter this page.











The natural(!) effect quite nice, i might really change my fb pic after all ^^v


Heading back to the other direction. Doesnt 綾瀬 sound funny in chinese? "ling2 lai4".




Oh they have a 新宿 (shinjuku) here! But wait, it's Niijuku and not Shinjuku. The same "nii" in 新潟 (Niigata prefecture).


Sitting at the platform waiting for the correct train to come.
Always wonder how those "video shops with private viewing rooms" look like inside :x


Jasmine tea to quench my thirst :D

Train coming!!!
Taken with phone.


I feel like a tourist :3


I should smile less :<


Heading somewhere there *points*


Yeap here! So many people compared to kameari =_= tc wanted to buy shoes.


Everybody's favourite brands.


Advertisement truck.

We went straight to ABC mart to check out the shoes. He didnt see anything he liked, so we went off.


Havent had this for a long time…..


Waiting for my order. So many couples around waiting also. All out on a date. Haiz.


Got tc to hold it while i snap a pic of the yummy chocolate drink. The cream so sinful :X


Second stop!


Face cover in the changing room.


I thought i was just accompanying him for shopping. Ended up buying something. We bought the same long sleeve lol :x That's his butt in the background oops.
He still hadn't found any shoes that he really wanted.


So when we go in, we can kiss?


Or make rude gestures at them inside?


Kids having a fun time.




This guy just jumped up the railing and started dancing. Wow. The arms look so good.


Love the sun.


lol a girl dressed up as the robot girl, Norimaki Arale from Dr. Slump.


Kiddy Land! i still don't like that it moved to this part of Harajuku. Like so out of the way.


One of the shops we passed by. Creepy rodents.


Like stuffed earless rabbits >_<;;;;
How would you like to take a walk along this street?

He decided that the nice autumn/winter collection are not out yet so just go back ABC mart to get a converse lol.


Brought him to try one of the best ramen around :D


*burp* Love it with rice :x


Lastly, an Engrish a day keeps the mind happy. My slave is called "name". He works for free.

5 comments:

  1. Long entries make it hard to comment cos by the time reach the bottom, the comments that came to mind earlier all forgotten already, especially since you got so many topics... let's see if I can remember.

    Oh yes, wanted to ask if that's a new vest. Never seen before.

    TC's tee doesn't quite suit his image... in my mind, at least.

    How did you manage to drink the clear soup? picked out all the greens?

    This entry makes me miss you more. :< Esp see the godiva drink pic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The vest bought with potter lynn. You dont remember?

    And i just drank the soup by putting the cup to my mouth duhhhh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Accidentally come across this blog. Love...will check out more previous entries after class!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Kingsley hello! thanks for leaving a comment haha.

    ReplyDelete
  5. thanks for the story!! Lupo from Holland

    ReplyDelete

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