WELL. My mom forgot to pay the bill, and LAST TIME this happened (sigh) it took 3 days after PAYING THEM for the net to come up again. I have no idea why I try to get on this morning and it works. Weeeird.

I guess I better start fixing up that picture I scanned. orz I wanted to play Civ.

ALSO Italy fabric GET! So~ I hope I can work on my costume soon. :3 A friend of mine offered to help, so I'll probably be waiting for her, cause then it'll be more fun. :3

How come every time I'm in Japan, a movie I want to see is coming out just a month or so after I'm scheduled to leave? :<

So, when we were in Sakaiminato, I happened to catch an episode of the new Yattaman anime on TV. I'd heard of it, and seen a lot of stuff about it, but I kinda overlooked it because, of course, I'm into other stuff and it's really inefficient to chase after the episodes of another series when it's hard enough to find a lot of the series you already like. xD

But, hey, what else was I gonna do that night? All the places on Mizuki road were closed, and nearby that's about all there was to do (not that there was ANYTHING wrong with that). So I watched it, cause admittedly I like kids' shows, and it's reminiscent of a series I really loved as a kid.

Then, when passing by the movie theater here in Kyoto, I saw that there was going to be a movie.

I really love Japanese live action (cheesy though it may often be ).

I also think Yattaman is fucking adorable.

You can't tell me this doesn't look awesome.



So, why is it not coming out until March!? ;_;









Yeah, the internet here is terrible. xD So, in the downtime I'd normally spend talking to you guys, I've been drawing. Of course... I stayed up too late tonight... I'm going to sleep soon, I think. But before I sleep, I present to you... this currently-nameless girl!

SHE'S SO MOE OMG OMG

[link]

Actually, she's not moe at all.

I might finish this. Depends on my mood.

Anyway, I'm off to sleep, and hoping the net will be more stable soon. ;_; Still, Kyoto is pretty awesome, and at least there are plenty of things to do that don't involve sitting at my computer!

BTW.

Read Yowamushi Pedal. It is sooooo epic.









In Kyoto now, with limited internets access. By limited, I mean fairly unreliable. So, you probably won't see me around on messengers (Skype, MSN, AIM, Yahoo) much if at all, but I'll try! But, since I had a few minutes, I figured I'd let you guys know I'm not dead, and things are going pretty well.

Arrived in Kyoto yesterday with a headache, so I checked a few things and then slept. Today I don't have a whole lot of plans? Yet. Mostly wandering around and learning the area. Going to the Manga Museum if I can find it. Whoo.

I wanted to write something long and philosophical, but I changed my mind.



Sorry about that.

Anyway, Sakaiminato was AMAZING. It was quite possibly one of the best things ever. Seriously. *___* Though, in favor of packing light until we return to Tokyo (wait, but we have to get to the AIRPORT...), I went without buying some tengu geta. I'll buy some in Tokyo or somewhere around there, I guess... DAMMIT I WANT TENGU GETA. Well, not to mention regular geta to replace my broken ones... ;3; (Good geta are such a bitch to get in America, do any of you guys know where I could get some? :< For future reference.)

Anyway, as always, pics coming when I return to Americaland.

Try not to miss me too much (unless it's become part of your regular schedule).









Well, my time in Hiroshima is up as of today. In a couple hours, we'll catch a cab and get on the train for Sakaiminato. ^^

About my experience in Hiroshima?

It's been pretty good. This hotel (Grand Prince Hiroshima) looks and sounds pretty expensive, but it was surprisingly cheap, and really REALLY nice. Sadly, I never got to check out the arcade, but oh well.

The first day, we didn't do much. Of course, we had just arrived and we were tired as hell, so of course we slept.

Next day we had planned to see the Peace Museum, and I wanted to do some shopping, but halfway through the day, I got a splitting headache. We did manage to go to Animate, where I had intended to buy some drawing supplies--but I put that off in favor of picking up a Hetalia drama CD. Even though right now I may not be very good at understanding it, I can get enough to laugh at it at the very least. Pretty awesome~! (Little known fact: Dai is a Hetalia fan. <3) After that, we got to see the Peace Memorial Park, which is one of the most beautiful and (needless to say?) peaceful parks I've ever been to in my life. I really can't wait to show you all pictures, it's just stunningly beautiful... After that, we caught a cab home. Despite having arrived by the (confusing!) train, we didn't want to have to figure out how to take said train BACK when I had such a headache.

Next day, we went out again, and I was able to see the museum. It was amazing... but really depressing. Just looking at some of the things left behind, the photographs of the survivors, and the models of the ruins after the destruction was enough to make me cry a little bit. Things that really struck me were the display of the front steps of a bank, with a man's shadow literally burned into them, and the watch that had stopped at 8:15 AM. It's amazing and terrible that one bomb could have caused that. Truly frightening, and the museum certainly gets it's point across: it should never happen again.

I think I'll end today's entry on that note, because having written this, I don't feel anything else I have to say can match it in importance.

But, one final note: today will likely be my last day to use the internet until I return to Tokyo (February 20th). There is a chance I'll be able to use the internet in Kyoto (Feb 13-19th), but I'm not 100% sure of it, so I don't want to say it's for sure.

Expect a report on the next week (or so) when I return to Tokyo!

You guys have fun, and try not to miss me too much.









Hey guys~

I was pretty quiet about my trip to Japan, yeah, sorry about that. But so you guys know, I've been in the land of the rising sun for... *counts on fingers* twelve days now. The moment's official "OMG JAPAN SODA" is Calpis Soda~ It's so delicious, why didn't I try it sooner?

I'll write you guys a proper update (with pictures!) when I return to Americaland, but for now, I'll summarize the awesome (and the more unfortunate as well). After arriving in Tokyo, of course we proceeded to head out to Chidorichou (<3) (after renting a cell phone). The first day wasn't so eventful, since there was no time to do anything but sleep... and I think I really felt the jet-lag this time.

It didn't take us long to realize though, that there appeared to be a problem with the debit card we were using. We couldn't withdraw money from the ATM or use the card. We got a call from the cell phone rental place saying the card didn't work, and we needed to return the phone (and pay, of course). So, we headed back to the airport, returned the phone, paid (in cash), and returned to Chidorichou. I was, of course, freaking out. It was at the very least clear now that the card had been frozen (probably because we suddenly used it in Japan without notifying the bank). The only information I could find on our situation made me sure it would be a few days before we could use the card--and we had to pay for the hotel, not to mention the next hotel we'd go to. Luckily we had rail passes--without them, we wouldn't have even been able to make it back to the airport to return the phone.

It was still nighttime in America, so we waited in the hotel room, worried that there would be some sort of problem straightening the matter out. Around midnight [Japan time] we called the bank. The matter was resolved quickly.

Anti-climactic, huh?

By the time we had everything worked out, though, we only had a day left to take care of our other plans (shopping, mostly). We went to Harajuku, took lots of pictures, and bought some stuffs. I was going to buy some new shoes, but I couldn't find any I liked... orz Then we headed out to Daikanyama, to stop by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. Unfortunately, we had yet another issue with the card this time--but that was only that we'd gone over the withdrawal limit. I hadn't known there was one. That kinda sucks. I had meant to buy a nice warm coat (on sale, too! orz), but of course, I couldn't. I had to apologize profusely (which I'm pretty good at) to the girl working there. I was so embarrassed! Final stop was Akiba, and the quest for the Touhou tea began!

It took awhile, but... TOUHOU TEA GET! The Reimu tea (green tea) was pretty good. The Marisa tea (milk), not so much. It's to be expected though, as I don't particularly like milk.

After the first few days in Tokyo, we headed to Kagoshima (with a one night stop in Hiroshima, for our sanity's sake). Kagoshima was so much win, I can't describe everything right now. I'll totally cover it later, I promise. But basically? We spent seven days in Kagoshima and experienced Japan. No, not the otaku paradise of Tokyo and Akiba, the real Japan. And it was far better.

Now? Now, I'm in Hiroshima again. Drinking some Calpis Soda and eating some kitsune udon (aburaage! <3). And writing. Needless to say.

I need an SNES emulator so I can finish playing the GS Mikami game.