Japan - Nanpu Purikura Yabaton Nanachan Pumpkin Universal Studios & Goodbyes

June 3, 2008
Went to dinner with the teachers at Aeon. It was sad, ’ll miss them. Some more final goodbyes.




June 5, 2008
Tonight I met Yumi after she finished Aeon. We ate at Yabaton, a famous Nagoya restaurant for miso katsu. It was amazing, we ate this ‘hire’ beef that was fatless, and it was awesome! Of course, as usual, Yumi failed to assist or even come out with any useful Japanese, so I was left to fare for myself again. I love her to bits.

After this, we went to the parfait place again and had parfaits again, then we went to Taito to waste huge amounts of money on UFO Catchers, it was awesome though.


She made me do this. How could I forget her?



Of all the people I met in Japan, Yumi is one of the best, and saying goodbye to her, particularly compounded by all the other goodbyes, was hard, even though I’ll see her in Melbourne in a few days.

June 7, 2008
Dinner again at Nanpu with a bigger gang. It was fun, except this rank guy, Dave, came and I was really unimpressed with that. Anyway, it was great, seeing everyone again, and also the sculling of sake at the end with the cook, Takeshi, that was less wonderful the next day, but certainly something to experience.




June 8, 2008
Universal Studios Japan! When we got there, and ditched our bags in a locker, we went in to meet Popeye and Olive Oyl. They were hilarious, pantomiming with us, but I couldn't help but wonder why they were at the entrance and mentally compare Disneyland and Universal. Still, on to the Marilyn Monroe and overabundance of Woody Woodpecker, which would become almost unbearable later.

The rides. Of course, first we tried ET. It was good, spinning and wonderful planet stuff, very alien, very cool, and not too long of a wait.

Then Terminator 2. This was a 3D movie. I was not excited, not being able to see 3D for some reason and this was no different, but near the end, I saw it finally, the thing came right out of the screen! It was awesome!

Then The Amazing Spiderman. This was cool, 3D and a ride, awesome! And with my new 3D abilities, I was set. It was a little scary and I screamed a bit, but the worst was yet to come.

Next, we bypassed Back To The Future and Backdraft (seriously, wtf?) and went to Jurassic Park. After waiting for the longest time so far, we got in a boat that was soaking, a sure sign we would also be soaked, we went up into the building, me paying no attention at all, then, inside, suddenly, there was like a 5 storey climb. Very intimidating. I was terrified. I loathe roller coasters and falling rides so when it did reach the top and fall, I curled into a ball and wished it would be over more than anything. The photo proved it, I decided not to invest.

After this, we ate some food. Now the food at Universal was disgusting. It was overpriced and lukewarm and kind of spongy, regardless what it was. I am now (3 days later) suffering from extremely bad diarrhoea (tmi) and food poisoning. It’s revolting and I hate it.

Then Jaws. This was kind of cool, not really scary, but fun. The shark was scary in the little room. Very scary.

Then we wandered and shopped and waited for the Peter Pan show to start. The show sucked, but the day was wonderful.






June 9, 2008
I met up with Susannah, Alyssa and Michelle for more Game Center and Yamachan fun. Unfortunately, the afore mentioned, now seemingly explosive diarrhea was in full force, which meant I had to visit the bathroom a lot. And in a Game Center where the only toilet is a squat, it’s not a pleasant experience. But I'll miss them all so much. The combined heartache is almost (seriously, not melodramatically) too much.