Tokyo – Day 4.5

As promised, here’s my continuation of my day at Disney.

It was now early afternoon and thought I’d make my way over to Disneyland to round off my day.  The rain was still coming down, though was now more like drizzle again and didn’t really require use of an umbrella.  I needed to hop back on to the Resort Liner and would have to go nearly full circle to get to Disneyland; reluctantly, I paid my 250 Yen knowing that I was being ripped off for my own stupidity.  They were doing some work on the automatic gates at the station and had removed the panels, showing off the internal electronics and motors.  The Resort Liner was now running slightly less frequently since the morning rush had now subsided, though the flow of guests was still on the up.

Once again, the ticket counters were plentiful and empty and I paid my 5800 Yen for entry.  Because I did not need to converse in English this time, the lady assumed I was Japanese and thusly received a Japanese park map which was next to useless for me – doh!

As mentioned in my last entry, it was now approaching Halloween season so the park had been glitzed up with various spooky attire.  It was wonderful to see since it gave everything that was so familiar a facelift.  There were pumpkins, scarecrows, and ghosts all over the park along with limited edition Halloween merchandise for the collection mad folks.

Tokyo Disneyland is unusual because its Main Street USA is a bit different from the norm.  For Japan, it has a permanently erected (stop sniggering) roof and they’ve renamed it World Bazaar but appearance wise, and for all intents and purposes, it’s the same as elsewhere.  The reason behind the roof is due to Tokyo’s more volatile weather and I must admit, it was nice to be able to walk around under shelter whilst taking in the sights and sounds.  The shops are largely similar to those that you’d find at any Disneyland around the globe, with general merchandise, confectionary, clothing, and so on.  There were also a number of balloon vendors but strangely, balloons didn’t seem to float the boat of the Japanese punters and I saw hardly any that day.  Of course, the weather wasn’t great or people could have simply let them go too soon, but it’s just another observation of mine.

Tokyo Disneyland is modeled very closely after its older brother in California, yet there are a number of quirks and curiosities about the place, which I’ll describe as I go along.  The first quirk is that the castle is styled after Cinderalla’s in Walt Disney World as opposed to using Sleeping Beauty’s like every other Disneyland.

The first ride I went on was Pirates of the Caribbean.  The queue moved along very swiftly and I was on the ride within 10 minutes.  Oddly, everything on the ride was presented in English, which is not the case with other rides.  This was also the first time I had been on the ride since they made the movie inclusions such as animatronics of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, along with some nice smoke and water effects involving Davey Jones.  It’s all a bit odd how they’ve had to retcon the ride with movie law, from which the movie was inspired anyway.

The next ride I ventured on to is the classic Jungle Cruise.  The ride is pretty much identical to those in California and Florida but the one major difference is that the skipper still uses a fake gun to fire a shot at the hippo.  The guns were removed from the States several years ago for fear of setting a bad example to kids with gun culture.  Anywho, applause is also deserved for the female skipper of the ship who is quite possibly the best I’ve ever encountered.  She was really getting into her role and despite the language barrier, her emotions and actions more than made up for it and everybody onboard got a kick out of her antics.

I decided to have a wander around to see what else was different about the park and to also grab some Fast Passes for the rest of the day.  The crowd was immense, even for a day with poor weather and clearly proved which was the money spinner at the resort.  The variety of people was also interesting to see, with a lot of students who had just finished school paying a visit, a clear benefit of having such good transport links.  Another observation which I forgot to post about was how the main carpark was empty with all but a few cars and coaches.  The carparks at other Disney Resorts I’ve been to are usually heaving by late morning due to their locations being so far out of reach for public transport that it becomes almost necessary to get there by car, but not Tokyo.  I couldn’t help but feel envious that Tokyoites were able to just casually pop along to Disney whenever they felt like it, taking advantage of annual passes which usually cost no more than 3 normal entry tickets (2 for Walt Disney World).

I soon found myself in Westernland, Tokyo’s version of Frontierland which had loads of Halloween garb on.  Lacking a Critter County, Splash Mountain was located here along with the ever popular Big Thunder Mountain.  Both had immense queues, with Splash Mountain’s being 70 minutes.  Big Thunder Mountain still had Fast Passes available but Splash Mountain had run out, a testament to its popularity even in the wet.  I decided to brave the queue for Splash and Fast Passed Big Thunder Mountain whilst it was still available.  I was getting a bit peckish by this point and whilst in the queue, I noticed that the famous jumbo-sized, smoked turkey legs were available near by.  Whilst we’re on the topic of food, Tokyo Disneyland has some frankly odd popcorn flavours which all seemed to be raking in the sales.  They had the normal caramel (sweet) and salt varieties, and then they have odd concoctions like curry flavour, and black pepper flavour.  The curry one was really potent, scent wise and had a massive queue of people waiting for their spiced treats.  Anywho, back to the ride…  As I commented on earlier, the condition of the park is amazing, given it’s celebrating its 25th anniversary.  Splash Mountain is no spring chicken, yet you would not be able to guess from the interior because everything in the queue area was immaculate.  Once again, I did not see anybody sitting on barriers or handrails, and everybody was very well behaved.  The ride itself is based on the Walt Disney World version with the logs being able to seat 6 as opposed to 3 in California.  All of the dialogue and music is in Japanese as well, but they’ve done a great job finding voice actors and actresses who sound just like the American counterparts.

My Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain was not for another few hours so I continued with my walk around the park.  I strolled past the Haunted Mansion and much to my surprise, Disney had dressed it up with some seasonal flare ala Nightmare Before Christmas style!  I had heard about the restyle a few years ago and was dubious to say the least.  Would it look tacky and simply not fit with the theming?  Because of the nature of the ride, photos of the makeover were hard to come by so I had no idea of what to expect.  Fast Passes had already been handed out for the day but the timing remained consistent at around 40 minutes.  Another of the quirks I mentioned is how the Haunted Mansion is actually located in Fantasyland, using the rationale that ghosts are fantastical (makes sense I guess).  I decided to come back later after some further exploring.

Fantasyland on the whole seemed very much like a clone of its American brothers, with very little that was unique to it bar the Haunted Mansion and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.  All of the rides in Fantasyland command maybe 20 minutes tops for queue times but Pooh bucked the trend, with queue times of 90 minutes not being unusual!  I’d read reviews for the ride and it always receives top marks, regardless of the target audience.  The queue was quoted as 70 minutes which was still pretty hardcore and there were no Fast Passes left for the day, so I thought I’d come back just before the evening parade.

Just adjacent to Fantasyland is one of my personal favourites, Toon Town.  Pretty much a like-for-like clone of California’s, it is a real-life interepretation of what was featured in the Roger Rabbit movie.  The version of Toon Town in Disney World is a poor comparison and lacks the signature ride, Roger Rabbit’s Toon Town Spin.  Like every ride, there was a significant wait time since it was late afternoon, so decided to come back later.  The queue to see Mickey in his mouse house was pretty lengthy, though if you’re after some personalised time with the mascot, you gots to do what you gots to do.

I wound up in Tomorrowland, which got me all nostalgic because it still looked like how Tomorrowland used to before all the mass refurbs around the globe.  Everything was white and you could vaguley hear “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, the theme from the Carousel of Progress, which was never built in Tokyo Disney due to the heavy American family slant on it.  Attractions wise, it pretty much has all the usual Tomorrowland fare like Space Mountain, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin, Autopia, and Micro Adventure (Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Audience).  Space Mountain was the big draw and had received minor refurb in the last year or so on the inside.  Queue time was 45 minutes which I thought was reasonable enough so I decided to wait it out.  Everything moved briskly, though the inclusion of an escalator slowed things down since for safety concerns, staff were only allowed to let a certain number of people on to the second level of the queue at a time.  Inside, everything looked very modern and minimalistic compared to the Space Mountain of yore; it now had lots of blues, greens, and purples, with fibre optics running everywhere.  The loading area had also received a makeover, with the large mock command centre looking much more realistic, as opposed to retro kitsch.  Even the cars had a facelift, matching the colour scheme and external styling of their surroundings.  The ride itself is very much identical to before, but also uses the new colour scheme for the launch and landing sequences.  I loved this Space Mountain and I’m sure it’s longer than the other versions, with some great bits towards the end creating a huge sensation of speed (max speed is 35mph).

I hopped over to Star Tours where there was only a 5 minute queue, which shocked me.  Star Tours has always been a popular attraction at any Disney park, but has needed an update for many years.  Problem is, what can you do to the ride to jazz it up?  Using the new trilogy would simply alienate people, so the only real option is to create a new film to use in the simulator.  That is unlikely to happen due to differences in opinion between the bearded one, George Lucas, and the heads of Disney.  Anywho…  The insides are identical to all versions of Star Tours around the world, except that everybody speaks Japanese.  It is unusual to hear C3PO, with his usual tone and pitch, speaking Nihongo, though this shouldn’t be too odd since he is fluent in several million forms of communication after all.

I did not bother with Micro Adventure or Buzz Lightyear since I’d done both of those to death before, and I don’t consider them classic Disney fare.  I didn’t want to go on Autopia either since I did enough driving back home, and it was still raining as well.  I had now gone full circle around the park and was back at World Bazaar.  The day was slowly drawing to a close and nightfall was nearly upon us, with lights springing up in select locations.  Photography wise, it made for a nice change of pace since I was now no longer contending for colour with a dull, cloudy backdrop, but I was now looking for light sources.  Sadly, Disney parks have never been all that beautiful to capture at night and after years of trying, I was still no closer.

I headed back to Big Thunder Mountain where I got to use my Fast Pass from earlier.  The queue was around 60 minutes now and with there being so little light in Westernland, it didn’t make for an interesting place hang around for an entire hour.  Near the boarding area, I saw a sumo wrestler with his girlfriend/wife.  This was the second sumo wrestler I’d seen that day with the first over at DisneySea.  Thinking about it now, I saw only 3 people during my entire trip who I would have called truly overweight and all were at Disney, and 2 were the above sumo wrestlers.  Big Thunder was pretty much identical to all the others around the world, though seemed like a good middle ground for white knuckle thrills.  The Disney World version is the tamest in my opinion, followed by California’s, with Disneyland Paris’ being the wildest with plenty of tunnels.  No ride photography either which made for a nice change and come to think of it, most of the rides in Tokyo Disney lacked this ‘feature’.  No idea whether it’s just not been implemented yet, or whether Japanese folks simply didn’t take to it.

I was absolutely starving by this point and wanted something fairly substantial for dinner.  I wasn’t in the mood for typical fastfood fare, which you’re pretty much limited to at a theme park.  Also factoring in my plans for the evening, I decided to head over to Fantasyland where there was an Alice in Wonderland themed cafeteria style restaurant.  The prices were much steeper than the typical fastfood place in Disney, but the food also looked much nicer and was served on proper crockery, with metal cutlery.  The queue was also fast and efficient, thanks to the great service from the folks behind the counter.  I opted for a seafood tempura with potato wedges.  I also decided to have a cream of corn soup to warm me up as well as a side order of rice, which I found to be a nice novelty.  All in all, the meal came to about 2100 Yen (£10.50 or so), which was very expensive for what you’d find at your typical foodcourt for £5 or less.  However, when you’re the captive audience and you’re hungry, you can’t complain.  Oh, the food was also very yummy and is quite possibly the best theme park meal I’ve ever had.  Like DisneySea, the staff busing the tables were fast, friendly, and efficient.  I tried once again to take my own tray and plates to the collection area but was once again defeated by a bright, cheerful smile and open hands…

I returned to the Haunted Mansion where the wait time was still 40 minutes or so.  I joined the queue, which moved swiftly and was maybe in there for only 30 minutes at most.  As I’d mentioned, the ride had been dressed up with Nightmare Before Christmas theming and it all starts as soon as you enter the familiar stretching room.  I’m always amazed by this feature of the ride and am never too sure whether it’s actually working as an elevator or as a pure optical illusion.  The familiar morbid paintings overlooking the room have been replaced by scenes from Nightmare Before Christmas, and a lovely shattering noise is heard when the room starts stretching.  Up above, a giant and rather scary Jack Skellington head is scene laughing at the people below.  The doors open up and everybody is ushered through to the ‘Doom buggies’ as they’re affectionately known.  The budget for the development of the redress must have been huge, because none of the elements look out of place.  There are huge animatronics from the movie which take centre stage in nearly every scene, and some special effects have even been updated such as the ballroom scene and the neverending hallway, which now has a floating Zero instead of the bride.  What was a nice location touch was a naughty or nice children list, which featured some Japanese names amongst the Western names.  Rather than the normal Haunted Mansion theme, two songs from the movie were used which topped off an already fantastic seasonal update.  I was so glad to have been able to experience the ride for myself that it was one of two highlights of my visit to Tokyo Disney, and reassured me that not all of modern Disney’s decisions are cost cutting measures.

The parade was due to start in the next 30 minutes or so, which meant queues for rides were gradually dwindling in size.  Despite the drizzle, guests were ready to camp out spots along the parade route to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.  This proved to be a great time for me to join the queue for Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which was now quoted as 40 minutes from the point of entry.  Remember earlier how I mentioned that my visit to Disney didn’t feel right because everybody was so well behaved and polite to each other?  Well, there was one instance which brought me back to theme park must-haves.  There was a family behind me who spoke Mandarin, so most likely from China, or possibly Taiwan, and it was a real test of saintly patience for me not to do anything.  The family consisted of a mother, a father, a little boy, a pre-teen daughter, and an uncle of some description.  The little boy was a nightmare and kept walking into me and my shouldered camera.  The mother kept poking the back of my head with her umbrella.  The mother then decided to pick the boy up and the father then proceeded to poke me in the back of my head with their umbrella.  The daughter didn’t actually do anything to piss me off.  The uncle kept trying to cut ahead of me and a couple in front of me.  When the queue moved inside, they were pushing all manner of people out of the way to get a few photos and I could not help but shoot a few dirty looks their way.  Somehow, the uncle had managed to get several places in front of me and I couldn’t help but wonder what the point was?  He would have had to wait for the rest of his family anyway before boarding.  Anyway, it was now time to board and I jumped into a giant hunny pot and we whizzed forward.  To my surprise, the ride moves the hunny pots in groups of 3 and I ended up following the 2 cars in front of me.  What was very impressive was how all 3 cars moved in synch with each other, with all 3 constantly in knowledge of where they each were.  As a result, they were able to perform complex synchronised routines.  The ride technology is an updated version of that used in Epcot for Ellen’s Energy Adventure (Universe of Energy), starring everybody’s favourite Hollywood lesbian, Ellen Degeneres.  Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is packed with technology, and each room displayed something different, with the first showcasing wind simulation, with the cars showing some resistance whenever the blustery day blew towards us.  My favourite room is where you encounter Tigger, when he bounces, the entire room appears to be bouncing along with him, with the walls looking like rubber and the cars feeling like they’re on a trampoline.  Pooh’s dream sequence has the entire room decked in psychadelic colours, like some bad Disney acid trip with the cars all dancing along with each other.  It’s very easy to see why this ride is so popular with the masses, showing off a charm that Disney are capable of when Imagineers are given enough money and resources to play with.  The exit leads you right into a Pooh merchandise store where I couldn’t help but indulge (for other people).

As I left the store, an announcement came over the park PA system reluctantly declaring that the Main Street Electrical Parade had been cancelled due to inclement weather.  To my surprise, they had a backup mini parade prepared with a Disneyfied firetruck and all the usual characters dressed up in firefighter outfits, having a dig at the miserable weather.  This was a really nice touch and I’ve never seen another Disney park do such a thing, so hats off to Tokyo Disney for looking after its loyal guests.  I took this opportunity to head over to Roger Rabbit’s Toontown Spin where I was able to literally walk on.  I love this ride to bits and it’s been maybe 8 years since I last got to go in it back in California.

I was getting a bit tired by now and my feet were soaked and aching from the hard day’s theme parking.  I decided to call it quits and leave whilst the crowds were still lingering for some last minute action.  What I was surprised about was how the parks remained open until 10pm, even during Autumn; Disney normally close their doors at 8 once peak seasons are over.  I chose to walk back to Maihama station from Disneyland so as not to pay over the odds to use the Resort Liner.  For some bizarre reason or another, the information centre was still fully loaded despite it nearing closing time.

I wanted to have a look at Ikspiaria, the Downtown Disney clone, to see if there was anything of interest.  It was a pretty nice place in all honesty, much better conceived than its American and European counterparts, with a much better variety of stores and restaurants.  I popped into a branch of the Gap and found myself leaving with a lovely cardigan hoodie that wasn’t available in the UK as far as I was aware.  The price was steeper than what it would have cost back home, but the sizing was great.  Japanese Gap stores will even giftwrap for free, which threw me off when the lady asked if I wanted it wrapped.  Perhaps I should have said yes and surprised myself?  There was the usual Planet Hollywood guff and a Rainforest Cafe, as well as some odd retail choices like a Paul Smith (Jonathan Ross wasn’t lying when he said the man is a legend in Japan) boutique.

After a once over, I called it a day and made my way back to Maihama station… only to see the family from hell again!  They were even trying to board the same carriage as me which made me whince a little.  Thankfully, they were at the far end of the already packed out car so I breathed a sigh of relief.  The journey back was not fun, being soggy and tired from the day’s antics along with other people in a similar situation.  Luckily, I managed to get a seat after a stop or two so at least I wasn’t standing.  Taking part in some more people watching, people had bags and bags of Disney merchandise which they’d purchased.  I did feel sorry for people who had to catch the train on a daily basis, since it must have gotten old very quickly having to contend with theme parkers all day long.  Arriving back at Tokyo station, I had that 15 minute walk again before getting back to the platform I needed; not fun when you’re less than genki.  The combination of soggyness and walking all day was no doubt the reason for my aching foot which I suffered from for the rest of my stay in Japan.

Everything said and done, I had a fantastic day out with plenty of new experiences.  Theme parking on your own can be a good and bad thing.  It’s great because I was able to move at my own pace and see what I wanted to see.  I was able to get so much more done in less time than if I’d have been with family or friends.  Conversely, it was a very tiring day and I think I pushed myself a little too hard.  Despite being on holiday, it was anything but really and without others to persuade me to take a break, I carried on ploughing through everything like it was a race.  It was also a very expensive day, totalling close to 18, 000 Yen for entrance, food, the odd sourvenir and so on.  It wouldn’t have been nearly as costly if I’d have only visited one park instead of both, but I can probably rest easy knowing that I won’t need to visit DisneySea again until the next major ride comes along.

Photos of the day can be found here (even if it’s the same album as the last Tokyo entry).

Tomorrow, I visit the chic Ginza, seedy Roppongi, futuristic Odaiba, and get to see James and Keiko again.

Tokyo – Day 4

If you have no interest in theme parks, especially Disney ones, then you can ignore this entry completely.  As most of you should know by now, I have a huge fascination with Disney theme parks around the globe and my visit to Japan would not be complete without a trip to Nippon’s land of Mickey.  I had originally only decided to set foot in DisneySea but thought I’d make a full day out of it and scheduled in Disneyland as well.

The day started off like usual with a smoke and an iced tea at the usual spot.  From Ochanomizu, I needed to head towards Tokyo station, which as mentioned previous, is the other hub station of Tokyo after Shinjuku.  From here, I needed to hop onboard a train to Maihama; the walk to the correct platform from the JR line took maybe 10 – 15 minutes of solid walking.  There were travelators but I decided to tough it out.  There were already plenty of people heading in the same direction as me, most already wearing Disney merchandise.  I did kinda envy the people who lived so close to Disneyland because they’re then free to visit whenever they wish.  I’ve only ever been able to visit during the Summer in the past and there’s never any special celebrations.  I lucked out this time because Halloween was in full swing at the parks.  I eventually made it to the platform but had just missed a train so had to stand around for a while.  The service on this line didn’t seem as regular as others I’d been on and I had to wait maybe 10 minutes before I could jump on another train, which wasn’t very busy at all.  All in all, the journey from Tokyo took maybe 15 – 20 minutes.

It was a dull and drizzley day but Maihama station was buzzing with people of all ages.  You’re presented with a large sign displaying directions for everything.  Immediately to the left in Maihama station is the information centre, which was heaving.  I imagine you can buy annual passes, receive guidance in a number of languages and so on, like the parks in the West.  Just beyond that is Ikspiaria, some sort of Downtown Disney style clone with shopping and restaurants galore.  To our left and right were entrances to the Disney Resort Liner, Tokyo Disney’s version of the staple monorail which circles the resort.  Unlike their Western cousins, this one was not free and required 250 Yen per trip, or for 600 Yen, you could travel all day.  Everybody seemed to be heading for the Resort Liner so being distinctly Japanese, I decided to follow the crowd.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to walk to every location in the resort due to the large bodies of water surrounding the place, but it is certainly possible to walk to both Disneyland and DisneySea, so maybe it’s just the hotels.  The ticket machine threw me off like all the ticket machines I’ve encountered in Japan; I’m never sure whether to put my money in first and then make my selection or vice versa.  After I’d bought my ticket and joined the queue for a carriage, I realised that I should have gone for the 600 Yen all day pass since I’d be using the Resort Liner at least three times during the course of the day…

The monorail arrived and I boarded one of the carriages closest to the front of the liner.  It moves in an anti-clockwise motion, stopping at Maihama Station, DisneySea/Mira Costa hotel, a bunch of other hotels, Disneyland, and Maihama Station again.  The inside is the lushest compared to the other Disney monorails at Disney parks.  There are little glass fronted cabinets housing Disney memorabilia and even the hand hold thingies are Mickey shaped!  The Resort Liner arrived at DisneySea after a few moments and I duly stepped off towards security control.  Ever since September 11th, all of the Disney parks around the world have stepped up their security and whereas once there was an invisible security presence throughout, it is clearly present now.  Tokyo Disney still has minimalistic security but they do inspect all bags and packages that you take into the parks, though all they did was glance over the top of my camera bag.  I now had to buy a ticket and had a choice of 30 or so ticket counters to approach, and none of them had a queue.  The familiar, “Anno, Eigo desuka?” was used and to my surprise, the lady replied with “Yes, I speak English”!  I needed to know if there was any way that I could visit both parks at a discounted rate, and cutting a long story short, there wasn’t.  I told the lady that her English was great, and she was thankful to hear that.  She then went on to tell me that she lived in Massachusites for 4 years and that she was also 1/4 American.  Oh well, at least she didn’t lie and just act all modest!  Entry to the park set me back 5800 Yen (£26), which isn’t too bad at all; entry to Alton Towers would cost at least £30 and there’s arguably more to do at Disney.

I made my way to the main entrance of the park, which doubles up as the Mira Costa hotel.  The surrounding area, known as Mediterranean Harbour, has an Italian-Venetian feel to it, with a heavy Pinnochio theme running throughout its stores and restaurants.  There’s a gondola ride and that’s pretty much it in terms of attractions for this Main Street USA-esque land.  Speaking of lands, there’s 7 in total: Mysterious Island, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Port Discovery, American Waterfront, and the aforementioned Mediterranean Harbour.  One thing that initially hits you as you begin walking around DisneySea is the vast amount of open space there is for future development.  Walt resented the fact that he did not purchase enough land for the original Disneyland in California and as a result, tacky souvenir stores and cheap motels began to open up right on his doorstep, and he had to be somewhat creative in the use of space at the park.  DisneySea, dare I say, feels too barren and sparse due to all the empty space; walkways are super wide and there aren’t that many attractions so I anticipated wrapping things up in the park by about lunchtime.

I made my way over to the park’s centre piece, Mount Prometheus, which serves the same purpose as the castles in the other Disney parks.  The theming for Mysterious Island was a bit weak I felt, borrowing heavily from 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea for inspiration.  The surroundings were not particularly photogenic and one of the two rides in the area was down for maintenance.  However, housed inside the faux volcano is the star attraction of DisneySea (arguably), Journey to the Centre of the Earth.  It borrows technology used in Epcot’s Test Track ride, albeit with very little downtime (which they still haven’t corrected despite Test Track being over 10 years old now!) and some impressive theming.  Tucked away down a dark cavern, the ride entrance was easy to miss; I’d circled the block twice before finally finding it.  The standby time was only 30 minutes so I decided to head over to the next land, Port Discovery, to pick up a Fast Pass for Storm Chaser.

Port Discovery had a look and feel which was very similar to Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris.  Everything looked like it had come from a utopia which simply could not happen, with lots of bronze, red, and silver everywhere.  There were two attractions in this land, Storm Chaser and Aquatopia.  I quickly grabbed a Fast Pass for Storm Chaser which would become valid in the next 30 minutes or so, thus allowing me to walk off Journey to the Centre of the Earth and straight on to this one.  Fast Pass use is an art in itself and knowing the in’s and out’s will dramatically free up your time whilst at Disney parks.  The rules are universal around the world and are as follows and are based on the following:

1) You are technically only supposed to have one Fast Pass per attraction at any one time, but…

2) You are allowed to obtain another Fast Pass as soon as you enter the window for your current Fast Pass, ie. you obtained a pass at 10am, and the return window is 11- 11:59am, then you are allowed another Fast Pass as of 11am.

3) You are allowed to obtain another Fast Pass 2 hours after the issue of your original Fast Pass.  Some times, the return window will be hours away and it would be silly if you could not obtain a pass again until that time approached.

If you time everything just right, you should be able to get Fast Passes to take you straight on to rides for most of the day.  Of course, passes are released in limited batches and once they’re all gone for the day, that’s it.  Thanks to a lot of darting around on my part, I pretty much never spent more than 30 minutes in a ride queue whilst at DisneySea.  Anywho, I digress…

I returned to Mount Prometheus and the standby time was still at 30 minutes.  I joined the queue, which takes you past some ornamental digging equipment in glass cases.  I was incredibly impressed by how immaculate everything looked, despite the park and the ride being several years old by this point.  There were also a lot of couples around and as a guy theme parking on his own, I did feel somewhat lonely, not for female companionship but just some company.  I’ve never been to a theme park on my own before and it is an odd experience since there’s nobody to share laughter, excitement, or fear with whilst on rides.  Ride attendants look at you a bit odd as well when they ask how many passengers, and you reply with “hitotsu”.  But on the plus side, I was able to indulge heavily in some people watching and I came to a number of conclusions:

1) Appearance is very important to the girls of Tokyo.  You may remember my thoughts about Tokyo girls being very trendy and pretty and that didn’t stop just because they were at Disney, oh no.  The day was absolutely freezing and wet but majority of girls were dressed in skirts with their black, knee-high stockings, with their fellas wrapped nice and warm in big coats and scarves.

2) Japanese people are merchandise whores.  Whilst on the train to Disney, there were people dressed in full Disney theme parking garb, which included Disney t-shirts, Disney hats, Disney coats, Disney bags, and so on.  When I actually got to the resort, people were buying Disney merchandise to wear, left, right, and centre.  The stuff is not cheap by any means and I would personally never wear theme park clothing outside of the theme park.  Jim-bob said something about it being all about fitting in with the crowd, and if the price of entry is a dodgy looking Mickey Mouse hat, then so be it.

3) Japanese theme park etiquette is incredible.  Like the rest of Japanese society, etiquette should always be on top form and shouldn’t be left out just because you’re on a break from reality.  I did not experience any pushing, shoving, or queue cutting (bar one occasion, which I’ll clarify later) and as odd as it may sound, it didn’t feel like I’d been at a proper theme park because of that.  The respect everybody had for their surroundings was also amazing, with handrails being scratch free and looking like opening day still.  People also refrained from sitting on handrails, or walls, which were part of queues.  I never even heard a screaming child, all day long!

Anyway, I digress again.  The queue for Journey to the Centre of the Earth eventually takes you to 4 elevators, which serve the same purpose as the the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion – it’s a glorified holding pen.  You’re ushered into one of them and once the doors close, you begin your ‘descent’ into Mount Prometheus.  Whether the elevator actually takes you anywhere or not, I do not know, but it is convincing.  The car shakes and rattles, gauges spin and whirr, and the surrounding colour changes from a cool blue to fiery oranges and reds.  You emrage on the other side to yet another queue, albeit a short one.  Once at boarding, each car is shaped like a small bulldozer and seats up to 6 people, in rows of 3.  As mentioned earlier, the ride borrows technology from Test Track and the cars are able to behave independently of each other, and without the use of rails.  The car begins descending into the caverns and you’re introduced to a completely alien world, with fantastical plants and insects.  The special effects are incredible with creepy looking insect larvae pulsating like something out of Ridley Scott’s Alien.  It’s full of cheap scares, designed to divert your attention from the real threat coming up ahead.  You enter a large central cavern, with fire erupting all around and then you’re greeted by a large, animatronic creature with mandibles and a sour disposition.  It roars and tantrums because you’re disturbed its beauty rest, which it really could use and the car speeds away like a bat out of hell.  The ride takes you outside for a few seconds to grab some air and then it’s straight back into the dark for some twists and turns, and then you’re at the exit for the ride.  What is refreshing is that you are not presented with a gift store of some sort once you leave, nor is there any ride photograph taken.  An impressive attraction, but I couldn’t help but feel that it should have been longer.  Tales of people queueing up to 2 hours becomes ridiculous when the ride itself lasts no more than 5 minutes at mostl.

It was now time to head over to Port Discovery again to use my Fast Pass.  Storm Chaser now had a standby time of 40 minutes and would only get longer as the day progressed, being a sit-down theatre type attraction.  You enter a fictitious storm institute where they’re demonstrating a newly designed storm diffuser and guess what, you’ve just volunteered to join the maiden voyage into the eye of a storm!  The pilot for the journey is Captain Davis, who speaks fluent Japanese and has a reputation as a bit of a hot dogger when it comes to aerial antics.  You’re ushered into an auditorium, which is really a large motion simulator, and them you buckle yourself in.  After all the pre-flight checks, you’re good to go and the screen at the front of the theatre springs to life.  The windows in the doors to the left and the right also spring to life which is a nice touch and they depict what should be happening to the plane as you move.  The movie on the screen is all in CG so realism is thrown right out the window, but because the motion of the room is so accurate, my mind at least had a hard time picking fault at it.  You soon fly into the eye of the storm and your support plane is taken down by a bolt of lightning leaving you as the only option.  The storm diffuser missile is fired and looks to be straight on course, but lightning strikes that too and it loses its guidance function and strays off its path… straight back at your plane!  A lifesize replica of the missile bursts through the roof and causes all manner of havoc in the cabin; fires are ablaze, cables and air pipes are flailing madly, and rain from the outside world is flowing in, adding to the realism of the effects.  Things get far worse because the missle is still primed to fire and a countdown begins; Captain Davis puts on his best aerial maneuvers to try and shake the thing free and just in a nick of time, the missle dislodges itself and fires straight into the eye of the storm.  Sunshine is restored and there’s now a lovely sunset and just as we’re returning to base, we run out of fuel!  The plane is now in more or less free-fall and narrowly misses several boats and bridges and just about manages to fly back to base.  The crowd seemed pretty impressed because there was a round of applause which I was not expecting.

At this point, I decided to grab a Fast Pass for Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull (not related to the movie in any way), and then some lunch.  I’d tried earlier at Port Discovery but no restaurants were opening until 11am and I could only get stuff from vending carts.  Absolutely famished, I ventured towards the American Waterfront where I settled on a New England style place.  The menu was typical American grub with some minor Japanese tweaks.  I settled on just a regular cheeseburge meal and when it arrived, I was shocked at how small it was for the price at 1200 Yen (about £6).  I thought I’d ordered the kids meal but when I checked the receipt, I had indeed been charged for the adult meal and had to give out a little sigh.  Again, the small sizes of a lot of the meals I’d had so far were reflective of the relationship Japanese people seem to have with their food; “it’s all about quality and not quantity”, said me tucking into my theme park cheeseburger…  I did however have Chip, Dale, and Donald to keep me company whilst I dined.  Another little thing I noticed is the pride a lot of people have for their job and role, regardless of the task at hand.  A lot of the people busing tables were very pleasant and helpful; when I tried to take my tray and rubbish to the bin myself, a girl promptly came to try and take it from my hands.  I tried resisting but that cheery smile and positive demeanor was too much for me handle and I left with my tail between my legs.  Pussy whipped twice in the space of 20 minutes isn’t good…

My Fast Pass for Indiana Jones was coming up soon and I decided to join the standby queue for Tower of Terror.  The Tower of Terror in DisneySea is even more impressive than those found in the West.  Depicting a turn of the century hotel, the amount of detail the ride oozes is mind boggling.  Losing the “Twilight Zone” moniker, there is a completely new story for this iteration and it’s rather appropriate for the surrounding themed land. The standby queue was about 30 minutes long but it moved briskly and before I knew it, I was at the pre-show for the ride.  The special effects for the pre-show were very nice and really helped to set the scene, even if it was completely in Japanese.  A certain Hightower-san is an entrepeneur, and his two favourite hobbies are exploring and building hotels to display his bounty from his explorations.  He travels to what looks like South America and finds an idol statue of some sort and removes it from its sacred resting place in a remote village, and is cursed as a result.  He returns from his travels and one night, whilst in his hotel, the idol comes to life and traps him in another dimension within the building.  What I really liked was how they managed to get the idol statue to float around the room, have its lips move when it spoke to us, and then spin on the table and disappear; it was all so seamless and polished and really prepared you for something special.  The theming for the back is just as elaborate as the front, looking like a warehouse for Hightower’s collection with various artifacts littered throughout the queue area.  Once at the elevator, there was a bit of a wait to actually board the car and the safety checks they had us go through were extensive to say the least.  The ride started and began its descent backwards and then up, arriving at at about the 6th or 7th floor, and then being presented with a retelling of how Hightower disappeared that one fateful night.  The car then continued to move up and approached the 13th floor where you could clearly see the outside world, and then let us fall to maybe the 6th or 7th floor, and then hurled us back up again, and then back down to maybe the 3rd or 4th floor, and then back up again, and then back down to the ground.  There is ride photography and the exit leads you straight into a gift store.  I loved the theming for this version of Tower of Terror, but I couldn’t help but feel that they took the easy way out by not filling in the Twilight Zone from Walt Disney World’s version with something else.  The one they have in Disneyland Paris is similar and also omits the Twilight Zone from accounts I’ve heard.

I now had to head back to the Lost River Delta where Indiana Jones is found.  Because of the lack of a central hub like Disneyland, trying to get from one part of the park to another is complex if the two areas are not next to each other, and usually involves a lot of walking.  There is a railway, though it’s limited to only a few lands and ultimately feels a bit redundant.  Anywho…  I made my way over to Lost River Delta where the star of the show is Indiana Jones.  The ride itself is housed inside the faux pyramid and is pretty much a like for like clone of the version at Disneyland in California (Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye).  The queue area isn’t quite as novel as its Californian brother, lacking some of the interactive elements like the room with the collapsable ceiling when you pull on a lever, or a well which plays a recorded voice when you tug on the rope.  The safety video is also somewhat politically incorrect, featuring a distinctly Japanese man, browned up for the weekend, going by the name of Pedro.  You board the large Jeep style cars and the safety checks are as rigorous as they were for Tower of Terror.  Then, you’re off and the ride is not shy about showing you it means business; harsh acceleration, braking, hairpin turns, and all in the first few seconds!  The Californian version of the ride features a lot of fire and utitlises a lot of reds and oranges in its colour scheme and in comparison, DisneySea’s uses much cooler colours like blues and greens, with fire effects replaced with water, wind, and smoke.  All of the ride elements are the same, including the route the Jeep takes, though one significant difference is the giant snake.  In California, it looks like a realistic python whereas here, it looks more like a snake you’d see in Aztec hyroglyphics, and is significantly less scary as a result.  It’s also odd to hear Indiana Jones speak fluent Japanese, yet retain the Harrison Ford voice.

That’s all the significant rides done and dusted for DisneySea.  I decided to have a leisurely stroll around the park, shooting more snaps, and the more I saw of the place, the more I grew disenchanted with it.  Whilst it may be the most expensive theme park to date, there is very little substance to the place.  As commented earlier, there is an ass-load of empty space and with lower attendance numbers, it really shows.  DisneySea has a very California Adventure feel to it in that it’s unfinished.  Sure, everything has a huge amount of polish on it but there’s simply not enough there to warrant a full day out.  Universal’s Islands of Adventure was a much more complete theme park when it first opened over a decade ago.

I wandered over to Mermaid Lagoon, which as the name suggests, borrows heavily from The Little Mermaid.  It’s not a land as such in the traditional sense and is more of a pavilion containing what are essentially fairground rides with Disney theming.  This is one of two places in the park which are geared strictly towards younger children, and the crowd I saw that day really supports this.  DisneySea is a much more adult oriented theme park and it really shows, from the style of restaurants to the type of merchandise offered, it’s more kakoii than kawaii.

I took a walk over to Arabian Coast and it felt like I’d stepped right on to the set of Aladdin.  The theming of the land looks just like Agrabah, and again feels much more like they’d invested more in the landscaping and architecture than the rides themselves.  What is available to punters is an elaborate two tier carouselle which looks much nicer than the one they have in Disneyland.  The other ride is Sinbad’s Voyage, which is actually very good on a technical level.  To describe it, I’d have to liken it to It’s a Small World with an Arabian flair.  It’s a gentle waterboat ride, with storybook facades depicting Sinbad’s adventures, with the masterpiece scene being his fight against the legendary Roc.  The animatronics used are very well made, and some of them put the ones used in Pirates of the Carribean to shame, if you can look past the cutesy styling of it all.

By this point, it was about 1pm and I’d pretty much done everything I’d wanted to see and do, so I took the long way around the park and made my way to the exit.  Even at mid-day which is normally peak time for park attendance, the place seemed quiet and at this point I thought I’d perhaps tackled the parks in the wrong order.  As I exited through the turnstyles, all the staff bid me farewell, from the lady giving people stamps for re-entry, to the person sweeping up nothing on the ground!  I still can’t get over how polite everybody was during my trip.

I’m going to wrap this part up since I still have so much to write-up about Disneyland, which will hopefully come in the next few days.

Photos of the day can be found here.

Tokyo – Day 3

Note – This update has taken me sooo long to write, so apologies for the delay.

The rain from the previous night did not end, sadly.  Rain in Tokyo is not like rain back in the UK; once it started, it did not relent for the next two days.  Thankfully, I’d packed a portable Muji umbrella from back home so I was well prepared for the onslaught that would ensue.  The temperature outside had dropped, but not significantly and it was still reasonable for me to wear a t-shirt with no jacket.

Today, I was scheduled to pay a visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum out in Mitaka.  Back in the UK, I had alreadt obtained the much sought after ticket a few weeks prior to my departure.  They allocate a limited number for overseas sale and it just so happened that it was the travel agent in the Mitsukoshi department store in London who handled the enquiries.  All in all, my ticket came to £9, though residents of Japan only have to pay 1000 Yen (£5).  Apparently, it’s far more competitive trying to obtain a ticket in Japan than it is outside of the country.

I started my day with what would become my morning routine for days to follow: stop for a cigarette at the smoking spot, grab an iced tea (loved it in Japan) from the vending machine, and then head to Ochanomizu or Akihabara station.  I can’t remember the route I took to get to Mitaka, but I did have to hop on to a different train on the line due to it not going all the way or something similar.  Once there in Mitaka, directions to the Studio Ghibli Museum are very well signposted, with Totoro depicting how many metres there are remaining.  Occasionally, you can see Totoro and children’s footprints in the ground on the path to the museum (a lovely touch in planning).  The path they have you follow is actually a rather nice walk, and I have no doubts that it would be even more pleasant when dry.  Mitaka looked like a fairly affluent area, with most homes looking rather nice, and possessing German cars in their garages.  Once I’d reached the museum, I took as many photos outside as possible since photography and filming is strictly forbidden indoors.  This I found to be a huge shame because the inside is lovely, with so much detail littered throughout the building.

The most important phrase of my trip was unleashed at the Studio Ghibli Museum, “anno, Eigo desuka?”  For me, being of Asian descent means that there is no mercy if somebody speaks to me first.  It also helps them avoid embarassment and stops them thinking I’m a retard if I make it clear that I don’t speak much Japanese.  Seriously, anybody wishing to venture into Tokyo should learn some key words and phrases because so few people speak English out there.  Those that do are probably too shy to try and use it and I suppose it’s very much like kids in the UK learning French or German; there simply isn’t any need for the majority of people and they will rarely ever need to fall back on it in Japan.  I can count on one hand how many people spoke decent English with me on my trip, so you’ve been warned!  Having said all that, the staff at the museum were all very accomodating and whilst none spoke any English, we were able to meet halfway thanks to me cobbling some basic Japanese together and using plenty of hand gestures.  This was actually true of alot of people during my stay in Tokyo, so applause goes out to them!

Once you arrive at reception for the museum, you are given a ticket which happens to be a slide from a particular Studio Ghibli movie.  Mine was a scene from early on in Nausicaa.  I have no idea whether these slides are completely random, or whether they’re in batches, or whether they’re even original film stock and not repro’s for distribution.  They’re also apparently supposed to check foreign visitor’s passports along with their tickets, but I was never questioned for mine.  They did not remind me about no photography, despite walking around with over a grand’s worth of camera equipment on my shoulder, another nice thing about Japanese society I noticed where they just seemed to trust you to be on your best behaviour.

Inside, the museum is split up into four floors: three indoor floors and the rooftop garden.  The first floor consists of the animation room and the Saturn Theatre.  The second floor features replicas of Miyazaki’s own office studio, a production studio, and a seasonal exhibit room.  The third floor features the merchandise store, a picture book store, the huge plush nekobus, and the cafe.  The rooftop garden has the awesome lifesize Laputa robot soldier, and one of the levistone cubes from inside of Laputa.

The animation room on the first floor is a nice way to pass some time.  There are some very intricate exhibits displaying the properties of light and rotating images in animating still images and objects.  My favourite two displays were a giant tree with a number of creatures and characters from Totoro, each with slight differences for each model (think stop-motion).  The tree would spin and everything would be a blur.  The tree would then spin again and a strobe light, set to the pace of the models would then shine and everything sprung to life; Totoro would bounce up and down and the nekobus would run and seriously brought a huge smile to my face.  The other display was a large glass tube with a small Laputa robot solider contained within, and there was a spinning cylinder (I can’t remember the technique’s name) which would allow light in to create the effect of floating leaves and birds around the robot.  Another wonderful display and bonus points for being Laputa related.  The other displays were a lot more basic and less awe inspiring, some using simple glass facades and so on.

I had just missed the most recent screening for the the Saturn Theatre, which runs at regular 20 minute intervals, so I ventured up to the second floor to check out some of the mock studios.  These were nice and had a very homely feel to them, rather than the sterile studios you often see on similar tours in Disney theme parks.  There were a number of personal artefacts in Miyazaki’s office which made me smile such as an unemptied ashtray (Miyazaki is a prolific smoker from what I’ve seen), a photo of him and his ‘mate’, John Lasseter of Pixar fame, and plenty of books about Wales.  Attached to the walls were plenty of rough sketches and storyboards for all of his works, ranging from Nausicaa all the way to Spirited Away.  There were also plenty of intricate models of fantastical contraptions like those seen in Laputa.  Moving into the next room, I was presented with what was a mock cel painting studio.  There was a large rack of paint tubes in one corner and several unfinished cels from Kiki’s Delivery Service; whether the cels are rotated on a regular basis with ones from other movies, I do not know.  The next room to follow seemed a bit odd and out of place; there were European ornaments all over the place and the decor of the room itself did not fit that of the previous two rooms.  The exhibit didn’t seem to serve any purpose, nor did it have any focus on animation.

Across the hallway was the seasonal exhibition.  Walking towards it, I looked to my left and noticed that the windows were stained glass and depicted scenes from several Studio Ghibli Movies.  Being heavily biased, my favourites were a scene of Pazu catching Sheeta when she falls from the sky, and one of the robot Soldier handing Pazu and Sheeta a flower, both from Laputa (in case you hadn’t already figured it out).  The seasonal exhibition for me was a big disappointment; focusing purely on European renaissance art, the exhibit was named “Petit Louvre”.  Being a former art student, this type of art had no impact on me at all (impressionist art is where it’s at).  I quickly walked through the exhibit and managed to get my head stuck in a viewing hole designed for children (comical for all those involved).  I decided to check out the toilet on the second floor to see if there was any theming and was let down to find only regular toilets.

I ventured up to the third floor to see what was going on upstairs.  I opted to use the metal circular staircase, also designed for children; I’m a small guy but even I found it to be a tight squeeze and hit my head on several steps and railings along the way.  I went outside to grab some more shots of the museum and of the cafe, I kept having to wipe the lens on my camera due to rainfall and regretted not picking up a lens hood in Akihabara.  The cafe had both a self service and a proper sit down option, with self service fair offering foods like hotdogs and the sit down having quite fancy looking dishes like pasta and so on.  Prices were typical of a theme park for both.  Due to the rain, all outdoor seating was covered by a temporary gazebo.

The rest of the third floor focused on mainly merchandise.  The main store is called “Mamma Aiuto”, named after the pirate gang from Porco Rosso.  I was a little bit disappointed with the store, namely because there wasn’t all that much exclusive swag to be had.  A lot of the stuff that was available was also available in Akihabara for less, but despite that, the crowds were huge.  There were people with shopping baskets piled high with merchandise, spending money like it was going out of fashion.  The only thing I walked away with was the official guidebook to the museum in English which was 800 Yen.

The final room of the third floor was a favourite with kids, featuring the huge plush nekobus!  It was amazing to see in person, what was essentially a large stuffed teddy bear.  Only children were permitted on the thing, sadly, so I didn’t get a chance to clamber on to the famous Ghibli icon.

From this point, I decided to head up some more stairs on to the rooftop garden.  I walked along a narrow path, with overgrown greenery on either side and stood right in front of me was the lifesize robot soldier from Laputa.  It’s an amazing piece, made entirely of bronze, and wouldn’t look amiss in a modern art gallery elsewhere in the world.  Being on my own, I had to ask a lady in front of me to take a photo of myself with the statue, which she was more than kind enough to do for me.  Moving on behind the robot, I came to a clearing where there were a number of the levistone cubes from Laputa, resting on the ground.  It was nice to finally have my photo taken with the Laputa robot, but I couldn’t help but feel that the rooftop garden lacked any theming beyond the robot and the levistone cubes.  They could have made it more Laputa-esque and included a few additional elements from the movie like the glider from the Tigermoth, and so on.

Almost finished with the museum, I had only one thing left to do to complete my tour and that was to pay a visit to the Saturn Theatre.  I had missed yet another screening by mere minutes so I joined the front of the queue for the exclusive screening.  The lady manning the entrance took my movie slide and stamped it to ensure that I didn’t go in again for a repeat viewing.  The queue quickly swelled and there were so many mothers with babies and young children around.  There was a raised bank which one kid ran towards and climbed on to, and then decided to slide down it.  All the other kids saw this and decided to follow suit, and all the mothers all started twittering “kawaii!” and started taking photos, I shit you not – we’re truly in Japan now, folks!  I saw two tourists who I assume were from the UK since they had the same guidebook (Rough Guide to Tokyo) that I had with me.  Eventually, we were allowed into the theatre and I made a beeline for a seat on the far left of the room.  It was a small room, seating only 80 or so, with a raised platform towards the back exit for wheelchair bound visitors or people wishing to stand.  The theatre itself was decorated in a very non-Ghibli manner; the decor was reminiscent of children’s picture books like Spot the Dog, with a large sun in the centre of the ceiling and lots of bright primary colours.  Once everybody was seated, the lights were dimmed and the sun disappeared, only to be replaced by stars.  A retro countdown started on the screen, with random hands projecting against the picture.  At first, everybody (myself included) thought it was just some kids messing around but when they started to make elaborate shadow puppets, we were all in on the gag.

The short film was very interesting, because the tone represented appeared quite different to the usual fare that’s presented at the museum (based solely on the titles I’ve seen online).  It was completely in raw Japanese with no subtitles so the following is my own interpretation from what I could gather visually, and through keywords I could hear every now and again.  The movie was about a boy (looked like Haku from Spirited Away) who appeared to have run away from home.  He was cycling at night down a country path and came across a lady who seemed to invite him to live with her.  She lived in an intricate, Victorian style home and had the boy tend to her garden, where she grew melons.  One day, when the melons were ripe, he’d harvested them and was planning to take them to the market to sell.  On his way there, he passes a humanoid frog and badger on the side of the road, hawking their wares.  His bike breaks down and the frog and badger come to speak to him.  I couldn’t work out what was said but the frog sampled a slice of the melon and seemingly in return, they offer the boy a blue jewel, which they instruct him to plant like a seed and to water like a plant.  The boy goes to the market and sells the melons and returns home.  He plants the jewel as instructed and the following day, it’s grown into a small planet, about the size of a tennis ball.  If you’ve seen The Simpson’s halloween episode where Lisa grows her own civilisation, you’ve got the right idea here.  The boy discovers a small woodlouse which has taken up home on the planet and he continues to water the planet, which creates an atmoshphere for it.  After a few days, the planet starts to become lush with greenery and the atmoshpehere even produces lightning and thunder.  One day, what looked like the authorities sent by the boy’s parents come for him and he’s taken back to his home in the futuristic city (looked very Jetsons-esque).  The frog and the badger decide to pay the boy a visit at home using their flying bus thing, and walk down the boy’s window to speak to him (both becoming very nauseaous).  They ask him to bring the miniature planet with him and they fly into space, only to be met by the lady who had taken the boy into her home (must have been mother nature or god) and he’s told to release the planet into space.  The closing shot shows the woodlouse, that’s now started a family, living happily on the small planet.  I really enjoyed the short film and felt it was better than a lot of Ghibli’s recent works (I’m looking at you, Howl’s Moving Castle and Gedo Senki), and with a bit more breeding time, I’m sure they could have developed it into a full blown feature.  I still have no idea what the movie was called, but I’m happy to have had the opportunity to see something that only a select few will ever grace their eyes upon.  The short films are made strictly for presentation at the museum, and will never be shown elsewhere again.  Whether the reels are destroyed after their runs, or are archived, I do not know, but Dave seems compelled that all that will change when Miyazaki passes away.

I’d now done all that I wanted to do at the museum so made my way back into Mitaka.  The rain had gotten heavier since entering the museum and there was now a bit of a chill in the air; I seriously regretted not taking a jacket out with me.  I decided to have curry rice at a chain place; can’t remember the name but I ordered the large portion and was given some awesome miso soup (I do love the stuff) with it.  I decided to plot the next part of my day and decided that Shibuya was in order, possibly visiting Roppongi or Omotesando afterwards.  I headed back to Mitaka station and jumped on a train line (again, can’t remember it for the life of me) and made my way to Shibuya.

Arriving in Shibuya, I made my way towards the Hachiko crossing exit.  I saw the Hachiko dog statue which Jim-bob has blogged about previously, though decided not to take a photo.  I decided to pop into a nearby department store to take refuge from the rain and had a wander around the food hall.  This was my first time in what I could call a Japanese supermarket (Japan Centre’s in London doesn’t count) and it was truly impressive.  All the sights, sounds and smells were incredible; there were people making fresh pastries and sushi, cutting fresh meat for little old obaa-sans, and so on.  Despite having only eaten very recently, I decided to pick up a small sushi platter for later.  It looked great, though it was pricey at 1200 Yen but then you are paying for quality; a few plates of the shit they serve up in Yo Sushi in the UK could easily come to that price and do nothing for the palette.

I arrived at the famous crossing in Shibuya and took a few photos of the surrounding cityscape.  Spotting the Starbucks overlooking the crossing, a cup of java was the order of the day.  A Starbucks in Japan is not too unfamiliar from one back home; the menus are largely similar as is the decor and presentation.  The one significant difference are the sizes, or lack of, when ordering.  The only size available is tall, and despite what Jim-bob protests, you can not get a size other than tall (I visited two different ‘bucks and it was the same in both).  Once again, I can’t help but feel that Japanese people are so healthy size wise is because they are not presented with different size options and the offering presented is usually enough.  I had a mocha and made my way upstairs and found a seat in the centre.  Everybody seemed to have their heads in books or magazines and I sat down next to a lady who was jotting stuff down on a pad.  I decided to take a few snaps of the crossing by putting my camera right up against the glass.  Since it was raining, it made for an interesting shot since all you could see were umbrellas scrambling to cross.

Done with Starbucks, I decided to check out the streets of Shibuya.  I popped into HMV to have a look at some CDs, though it was pretty much a pointless experience.  The new Oasis album was due out on the Wednesday and that was the only thing I was really after.  Having said that, I next popped into Tower Records to do the very same thing again.  I found a funky t-shirt store where I picked up something for myself.  It was the kind of store which would flourish in somewhere like Covent Garden in London, and some of the designs were absolutely brilliant.  They had a special offer where if you bought more than one, you paid 2100 Yen per shirt as opposed to the regular 2500 Yen.  Sadly, they didn’t have the second shirt I wanted in my size so I settled on just one.  I next popped into the 109-2 store which featured some mens’ stores.  Some Tokyo fashion I like but alot of this stuff I just couldn’t get on with and made a sharp exit.  I decided to pop into the Seibu department store since the team associated with them had just won a tournament or something similar, or so Chikara told me.  The rain was coming down hard now and Shibuya wasn’t the most pleasant of places to stroll around in.

I had decided to pay a visit to Omotesando to have a look at the shopping centre, Omotesando Hills.  Like a number of places in Tokyo, I found Omotesando to actually be closer to Harajuku station than Omotesando’s own.  I had a wander around and stumbled across the Avex Media office, the folks responsible for a lot of anime related music and most notably for me, Initial D’s.  Getting rather peckish, I decided to find somewhere to have some dinner and stumbled upon a small local ramen place along some side street.  It wasn’t particularly busy, but had a steady flow of locals eating there so I thought it looked decent enough on that basis.  I settled on a char-siu miso ramen, with nori.  It was good, but far too much for me and I think I prefer shoyu instead of miso due to the stronger flavour.  Once finished, I continued on my quest to find Omotesando Hills but had no hope; the Rough Guide to Tokyo has god awful maps and I do not recommend it at all as a guidebook.  I eventually gave up hope and just started walking and eventually ended up back in Shibuya!  I passed some school girls who were speaking American English to each other; Jimbo tells me that there’s an international school in Shibuya so there you have it.  I found a cool smoking area which was part of some cinema complex overlooking Shibuya and decided to have a quiet, contemplative cigarette.  It had been a long day, but I thoroughly enjoyed my solo exploration and I was truly able to soak everything up that I came across.  I decided to head back to Ochanomizu since the rain didn’t look terribly merciful, and I needed my rest and to dry off.

Photos of the day can be found here.

Tomorrow, I planned to visit the Tokyo Disney Resort in Maihama so had to be up early and the weather report didn’t look any better; at least the parks would be quiet as a result.

Too hot, too spicy? HOT, HOT!

No, this isn’t an entry about Subway’s whacky campaign, it’s about the sudden heatwave which has come from absolutely nowhere.

We talk about it all year long, about how the UK is constantly suffering from perpeptual rain and cold, and then when some heat and sunshine comes along, we all complain about how it’s too warm and how the UK isn’t prepared for such extremes of temperature.  Oh, how British of us to complain!

Today has been a very bizarre day with it being unusually warm and sunny.  Come the evening, it’s pissing it down with rain, thunder, and lightning.  I only just valeted my car yesterday as well!