Its been a week since I posted anything - never ever had a schedule like that before which was completely back to back. Schedule was so tight that I didn't even get time to finish my own stage presentation and just worked with what I had. My first priority as MC is to always make sure my guests look good on stage so all preparation and rehearsal time was poured into their slots instead of mine.
Also came down with a fever - not enough sleep for the past few weeks preparing for AFA and the schedule took its toll ><
Tokyo Arrival 6
Anyway - I'm back in Tokyo now and got a load of Anime Festival Asia Malaysia posts to come but first its the traditional Tokyo Arrival post which documents the 24 hours or so heading back to the land of the rising sun.
No time for brekkie so the first meal of the day is lunch at the Food Republic below the Pavillion.
Reina-chan joins us for lunch in her Solar Marine uniform.
Ingredients for one of my fave dishes.
Can you guess what it is?
Yep! You guess correctly (or incorrectly) - tis Prawn Mee! In Penang this would be called Hokkien Mee.
Think this is Char Kuay Teow?
This food court is completely packed at lunch.
Lunch meeting with one of the organizers of AFA Malaysia.
Reina-chan gets changed into her travel gear while I pack up my bits n pieces.
Family snap!
Prezzie!
Received some nomalicious edibles too.
The first time I heard the term "wall flower."
A look at some artwork that I received of Mirai and co - thank you all for the awesome work! Would be great if you could upload somewhere and stick a link to it in the comments below.
Some Comic Fiesta goodies.
Forgot who gave me this - if it was you then leave a note!
Some prezzie T-shirts.
I'm planning to be at Comic Fiesta this December as I promised in the video last year.
After packing its off for a final meal before flying. First time I've seen a red escalator ^^
Noms at Hutong in Lot 10 - same place we had the gathering 2 years ago.
I love green earthworm juice!
The crossing outside Lot 10 reminds me a little bit of the Shibuya Hachiko crossing.
Last thing to do is stuff the rest of the crap into the bag.
Lovely view from the hotel. Will miss Malaysia but looks like I will be back more often.
All packed and ready to go.
Arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Checking in at the Japan Airlines counter.
Another family snap before heading through immigration.
Folks in Malaysia are good at riding bicycles.
My pet hate - going through security.
To let you know I'm in talks regarding Mirai Airlines.
Night flights are no fun! Even though its a one hour time difference, I dont sleep on flights so I end up jet lagged on the other end ><
Preparing presentation for my panel at Anime Expo - day 2 at 7:30PM in LP1 (Petree Hall).
Trying out all the bites that JAL have to offer while I work. I want to sleep but I cant and feel worse if I try.
Brekkie!
Darkness gives way to light.
Hello Japan!
About to touchdown at Narita.
Its always nostalgic taking Japan Airlines - I used to work part time as a ground staff then moving on to be an aviation engineer with them.
Out from customs and onto the trains. We took the limousine bus once which took over 3 hours to get back to central Tokyo - never again!
Regardless of whether you arrive at Haneda or Narita, you will see these shops just before you get on the trains (you have to go down to the train station if you are going to get a taxi or limousine bus) - here you can get rental mobile phones and a pocket wifi which costs about 1000 yen per day.
I usually take the Skyliner back to Tokyo but in the early morning there are not that many quick options - most trains take over an hour to get into the city.
The next Skyliner at 8:21 takes only about 30 mins - we took the 7:52 Morning Liner which got into Tokyo at about 9:10.
The next Skyliner at 8:21 takes only about 30 mins - we took the 7:52 Morning Liner which got into Tokyo at about 9:10.
There is a huuuuge queue for the Narita Express but I recommend the Sky Liner if you can get one - the Narita Express previously (dont know about now) shared the same lines as other trains which is why it had to stop so often thus taking ages to get into the city even at regular times.
Anybody taken the Narita Express lately? How long it take to get into Shinjuku?
Question to folks who have been to Tokyo below.
Anybody taken the Narita Express lately? How long it take to get into Shinjuku?
Question to folks who have been to Tokyo below.
Inside the Sky Liner. Seats come with electrical plugs for you to charge your electrical arms.
Rice paddys fill the countryside in Narita.
Arrival at Nippori station - changing to the JR Yamanote line.
Even though I've been living here for about 13 years now, Tokyo still feels so fresh and new.
Next stop is Gotanda where we get off.
From here we take a taxi.
Japan is a non tipping society which is something I love about the folks here - they dont need tipped to be motivated and work hard anyway. Apart from Japan, are there any other parts of the world that you know of which is a non tipping society?
Home sweet home - greeted by our Mirai Itasha Ver2!
Left the office in a mess - everything was just so last minute ><
Off to grab lunch in my hood.
One of my fave Japanese dishes - Tsukemen. This is where noodles is served on the side which you dip into the thick soup. When you have eaten most of the noodles, one of the restaurant waitresses will ask if you want some "Soup Wari" which is a soup stock that makes the soup in your bowl thinner for you to drink.
This dish is about 830 yen.
This dish is about 830 yen.
Shopping for a few groceries.
I cant live without milk! And we all know what they say about folks who like milk dont we?
Just a few bits n pieces before we do the hefty grocery shopping.
Our area is called Musashikoyama which is also abbreviated to Musako.
Dindins. Chinese folks will be familiar with this but I dont know what the English name would be?
Cant remember if I showed this to you before? Moekana in Weekly Ascii magazine.
Picked up some Tetley tea while in Malaysia - but they dont brand it with the little cartoon men over there.
Next destinations are:-
Los Angeles (next week)
Kuala Lumpur (august - tentative)
Jakata (september - confirmed)
Singapore (november - confirmed)
Kuala Lumpur (december - confirmed)
Los Angeles (next week)
Kuala Lumpur (august - tentative)
Jakata (september - confirmed)
Singapore (november - confirmed)
Kuala Lumpur (december - confirmed)
Out of the luggage comes the artwork that I received in Malaysia.
Thank you to everybody who signed the guestbook! Its got hundreds of pages all filled - I've read them all!
Local newspaper article featuring AFA Malaysia.
My booth ^^;
Office all cleaned - time to catch up on mail and get down to some serious nitty gritty work.
Incase you are wondering why Ryomo is nekkid - Reina took her Solar Marine uniform ^^;
More posts tomorrow - me off to bed now ^^
More posts tomorrow - me off to bed now ^^