Whatever they say...

I will try and update this with tales from Europe, Tokyo and L'Arcafe at some point, but not right now. Anyone on my Facebook can see all of the photos there.

It's a very busy and stressful time for me right now.

I arrived back in Japan on Monday afternoon (ohhhhh, so much drama in Shanghai on the way XD) and got home Monday night.

On Friday, I'll be leaving Okayama and heading up to Niigata for the Kenshin festival.

On Sunday, I'll be leaving Niigata and heading to Chiba.

On Monday morning, I meet my new branch and move into my new apartment.

This is insane. Trying to pack up an apartment, arrange moving things and selling a car in less than four days is something I will not recommend to anyone.

I booked the moving company online because it meant that I didn't have to speak to anyone with my crappy Japanese and it would therefore be quicker, but they still insisted on calling me to check every single detail on the form. What? Was that necessary?

I just have this fear that everything is going to go wrong...

Haha.

Oh well, can only do my best and see what happens, right?

So, I went to a friends house and a few of us had an English tea party so we could watch the Royal Wedding.

We baked cheesecake and while my friend popped out to give someone else a ride, I made scones. They should have taken 15 minutes to cook but mine took nearer to 45 minutes...? Too gloopy and too big, I think, but they tasted delicious!

I loved the wedding. The Alexander McQueen dresses worn by Kate and her sister were stunning, Harry was a constant source of amusement throughout (love him so much) and William and Kate look genuinely in love and comfortable with each other.

We had the Japanese coverage on the TV on mute (hosted by Sakurai Sho from Arashi, looking rather dapper in his suit. Bless him, he taught the Japanese viewers all about the Commonwealth) but we had the audio from CBS. We were going to go with the BBC, but CBS were hysterically funny so we stuck with them.

Such a great few hours. Can we have a Royal Wedding every week?

And, for those who really don't care or wanted it to be a little more exciting, here's how the wedding entrances probably should have happened...



My friend showed me that video. I lost it when "Prince Harry" showed up and laughed so hard I nearly cried.

So, I spent the weekend in Osaka.

It didn’t start off in the most successful of ways as I managed to turn off my alarm clock without waking (a neat trick of mine and the reason why I usually set 3 alarms. When I’m asleep, I’m asleep) and overslept by an hour. After a short delay, me aprilisloca and a friend were on the 8:30am bus to Osaka.

aprilisloca was going to a concert in Kobe, so it was just me and the friend who stayed in Osaka. We dumped our bags in Osaka station and headed for the theatre for the matinee showing of Mozart! The Musical. After laughing at the theatre’s upcoming attractions (a musical version of Wuthering Heights in Japanese? I WANT TO GO) we went into the venue and found that our cheap seats had us practically sitting in the roof. Never mind.

( Chibi!Mozart - cute but deadly )

My friend and I went our separate ways for a few hours after eating as she went to see the Prince of Tennis musical and I went shopping. I did go to h.NAOTO but I didn’t buy anything. I’m on a budget so I’d told myself that unless I saw something that I absolutely fell in crazy love with and OMG HAD TO HAVE, that I wouldn’t buy anything and although I saw a couple of skirts I really liked and could see myself in, there wasn’t that mad love.

After more food, my friend and I went to our super cheap, 1,500yen a night hostel.

NEVER AGAIN. NEVER, EVER, EVER AGAIN.

( Welcome to the Bates Motel )

Shitennoniji was lovely. Unlike a lot of shrine and temple areas in Japan, it actually looked and smelt like one that was in use and not just one for the tourists to take pretty pictures of.

( Photos under the cut )

We caught the train back to Osaka station and then caught the train to Hikone, in Shiga Prefecture (that’s another prefecture ticked off the list. I want to try and get the full set before I leave). The train was one of those wonderful Japanese routes that branches off and decides to go in two different directions just after Kyoto station (we should have just gone to Kyoto!). Of course, we caught the train that branched off into the direction that we DIDN’T want. We backtracked and caught the correct train and finally made it to Hikone.

( More photos! )

I made it back safely though – not as poor as I had dreaded and in one piece.

My legs are killing me today though. Whenever I sit down for more than 5 minutes the muscles in my thighs seize up. Next time I do a full day of walking, I’m demanding regular Starbucks’ breaks!

Leeching internet again to make a good news/epic bad news post...

GOOD NEWS

I applied for tickets to 3 Gackt YFC shows and won all 3. INCLUDING THE BIRTHDAY LIVE!!!

Lessons started this week and all went without a hitch. I'm in high schools so I'm surrounded all day by short skirts and testosterone. I've already been hit on by over sexed 16 year olds several times (is that good or bad?)

BAD NEWS

My car broke down. On the expressway :-( I was driving through a tunnel in a mountain and suddenly the car started losing power. The engine started choking and was blowing out thick, heavy smoke. I was down to about 30KM an hour while I had a queue of cars travelling at 90KM catching up with me.. I managed to get it out of the tunnel and to the nearest safe point.

I called the emergency rescue people on the roadside phone and gave them my details (difficult with them not speaking English and me not knowing much Japanese) and waited for a tow truck for an hour. The tow truck guys tried to fix the car but couldn't so they towed me home and charged me 41,600 yen in the process :-(

I now have a replacement car (which is so much better than my own car) and have to wait for it to be fixed.

I was really sad to hear about the passing of Peter Steele this week. Type O Negative were such an underrated band.

Okay - first of the Japan posts.

And of course it's the most important one - the Gackt lives! F-list, if you have no interest in Gackt then I suggesting moving along until the next entry is posted because that's all that this is!

It’s possible that I may have some things jumbled up from night to night but I’ll try to keep it separate. There’s more emphasis on Saturday due to the Sunday night being filmed for TV but there will be spoilers ahead.

( Saturday - warning, very long! )

( Sunday )

( Random observations )

The TV showing should be awesome.

So, was it all worth the money spent on the trip and the 13 hour flights? YES! I'm already saving for the next tour, haha!

Passport - check.

Plane & coach tickets - check.

Hotel reservation - check.

Suitcase packed with the bare essentials so that I can fill it with all of the crap I'll buy while I'm out there - check.

Gackt Saitama tickets (x2) - hopefully on their way to the hotel and will arrive before Saturday *nervous*

Off to Japan now. Back next week and nothing important is allowed to happen until I return and am fully functional again.