Goodbye Year Abroad… TTYL Japan!

The day before we left we reserved for walking a suitcase full of stuff to the local Hard-Off (yup, they called it that), to sell and hopefully make a bit of cash. It seemed like a great idea! But after an hour’s walk (we wanted to see the scenery), we were very ready to be rid of everything. However… they wouldn’t take a huge amount of it, and only paid us pennies really. It was still a good way to get rid of stuff, but I think I should have done it in dribs and drabs over the year…

On the plus side, we found a place for extra fluff cuddles, and even found a present for a UK friend that I’d been searching for ALL year. Less last place you look, and more, last DAY you look. Lucky!

Mitch with our big case of stuff

Finally found this for a friend!

Cuddles ❤

Dinner at our favourite curry place too, and bonus Michael!

Despite having sold a few bits…. Packing was impossible. We thought 4 suitcases and two rucksacks would be enough…. But apparently me wanting to take every single book home was a bad idea. We didn’t post anything because I feared the expense… But in the end I think I had to leave so much stuff for the scavengers that I really should have posted. We stayed up until about 4am packing and repacking… Deciding if I could part with books for my fancy towel, or if I really needed that one jumper I loved. It was a really painful process, mostly because I didn’t know if all this stuff I had to pile outside my door was just going to waste or if someone would actually use it…. Never again. I will be packing weeks in advance from now on!

Before I took this all down. It has grown so much since day one!

A last look at my lovely view.

All our kit, finally packed.

I walked past this almost every day for 9 months. It was like a garden gnome to me.

This jumper was one of Mitch’s favourites… It was crazy old and we left it behind. That was a hard choice..

Bye bye keys!

So empty…

Off we go!

Bye Japan 😥

And hello UK!

And… That’s it! My year abroad in Japan has officially come to an end. If you read any or some or all of my posts, thank you for coming along for the ride. I can’t quite believe it’s over. I know that I was definitely not done in Japan when I left. But thankfully, we live in a world with Airplanes. See ya’ll next time!!

Signing the year abroad off,

Maisy xx

The Last Playdates

The 10th, 11th, and 12th of August. Three days before we had to pack and leave Japan behind. We managed to fit a good amount of Japan things in though!

On the 10th Mitch and I headed to Roppongi Hills for something that actually got me into Japan in the first place; Pokemon! They had set up a cafe at the top of a tall building and it was everything I wanted it to be. A short display of Pokemon art and products, and then wonderfully themed cafe food. Right next to the window, so you could scoff on Pikachu, while admiring the city. Perfect.

We got to Roppongi Hills to find a Doraemon invasion!

Many many many of them

And a terrifying giant spider. I like to imagine that all these people are running away in fear. Instead of standing there and taking photos like I did…

At the top of this tall building awaits the Pokemon cafe!

Tickets!!!

That character may well have started my Japan interest.

Giant inflatable Pikachu

Cool concept work for Lugia

More concept stuff

Pose!

So happy to be in my favourite cartoon cafe

Check out the merch!

All the food they had; isn’t it brilliant?

Mitch… by the window!! Much less scared of heights now.

Getting our drinks

Happy Bear

Pikachu pudding

This pokeball rice ball rocked my world.

Pikachu dessert!

Pika-burger

I took a photo of the wall and turned it into a very happy background.

We had a bit of a wonder around Roppongi after that; and I think we did a fab job of getting some final Japan injections. We found Godzilla, square watermelons, and some very cool lanterns.

Roppongi is pretty.

Godzilla!

Don’t touch it Mitch… It’s probably real….

On display in the mall

Found them! So bizarre

Want to pay bajillions for a watermelon?

That evening we then trouped on over to Odaiba to meet Marlene and Michael and the Maid cafe boys for dinner. It was short, but good fun. They gave me some manga to take home and they even paid for dinner which was super kind. I wish we’d met them sooner! Marlene stayed over in my room for a slumber party. Gonna miss that human.

Silly JP boys

YUM

A feast!

Sleepy, but happy to be hanging

Giant bed!

The next two days were somewhat more focussed on somewhere closer to home; Kichijouji. I spent the 11th with Karen; we both wanted to see the new Ghibli film, When Marnie Was There. It was fantastic. We got in a kushi-katsu dinner and a good old matcha Starbucks too.

Tama station, because I wont see it much more!

Fooood

Kichijouji, I’ll mis ya.

Ready for the film!

And purikura, as always ❤

The last of the non-packing days involved mostly cuddling furry things to make us feel better. We went to a cat cafe and then to a pet store to cuddle pooches. It was good to get one last cafe injection before we had to go…

Playing with macro on my Japan-cam

We got delicious Calpis flavoured donuts from Mister Donut. One I’m going to miss for sure!

Big cafe, little Bear.

Paint me like one of your French cats.

Doggie licks

Even Mitch liked this one!

Fluff injection done, the last thing left is to sell everything that’s sellable and pack everything up…. I’ll save that for one last post! Gotta drag it out 😉 See you next time!

Amity Pom Pom Camp

Exactly as it sounds. Went with the pom dance gals to a club camp type thing. It was good fun! We stayed at a place that is designed for sports clubs to stay and practise for a few days. You get fed and you stay in big old rooms and there’s a beach nearby to let off steam and fireworks. I had a good time, but I definitely felt some outsidery third-wheel feelings. But it was nice of them to include me.

We stayed for three days, practised some dances, made up some silly ones for evening entertainment, and hung out as a club which was nice. In terms of photos, I think a big chunk of girls having fun will suffice! (It was WAY more innocent than I just managed to make that sound….)

Shuttle bus to the hostel!

Gorgeous area

Our little sign for our shoe place

First glimpse of our training hall

View from the window

One of the rooms

Tatami is very pretty.

Another view from the window.

Dinner!

Time for fireworks!

On the way to the beach for the night

Sparkler fun

Cosy cosy

Relaxing

They fishtailed my hair!

Beach!

It says Amity if you look hard enough

Satisfying layers

No one else would come in the sea with me….

We took silly shots to see if anyone’s partner would get jealous…. because why not?

Very pretty house on the way to the beach

Entertainment evening. Silly dances made up by silly groups!

Julia and I did the Mean Girls Jingle Bell Rock skit, even though it was high summer… XD

Beach snap

Practising my jumps

Many humans in one room = many and unkempt shoes

slumber party!

All in all, quite a good few days! Boy was it boiling though.

I’m going to add an odd bonus day in here too; shortly after the camp I went on a meeting people mission. I managed to squeeze in a lunch and a dessert with Amyin Kichijouji, A butler cafe with Eriko, a spot of karaoke with the TUFSies, and a very drunken evening with a bunch of people in a new friend’s room!

Kichijouji, looking distinctly Japanese

This is where I had lunch with Amy; a random but funky rice bowl place

It felt very run down, but it sort of added to the charm.

Delicious grub, though!

Dessert time! Nana’s Green Tea. A pretty fancy place!

Naturally, purikura happened

This is the butler cafe. It was really interesting. You pay extortionate amounts for incredibly pretty food and waiters in tuxes. I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10.

Couldn’t get any more pictures before they caught me 😛

And another purikura!

Karaoke time with this fine human

And now the drunken evening… we were all kings this night.

Kings I tell you.

Crazy ones.

Thanks for reading this far! Only a couple more until this wonderful year abroad is at an end… stay tuned…

Hakone Day Trip

This one was such a fab day that I feel it needs its own post.

There’s a place called Hakone sort of south of Tokyo, nearer Mt.Fuji and in a more naturey area than I’m used to. It’s very famous for its hotsprings and the eggs they cook in sulfurous springs, turning them black. Quite the novelty!

There’s quite a fun route that most people, including us, take to get round the main sights of Hakone. A very cool switchback train up the side of the mountain (which essentially zig cages to get up; incline all the way left, stop, change the tracks, then go the other way and incline right!), rope ways and funiculars, some normal busses, and then a pirate ship! Sadly we missed out on the pirate ship across the lake, as the weather got pretty bad, but it meant we had a great reason to go back.

Let me take you on a switchback journey…

Off we go!

Testing my new camera on the way there

Made it to the first station; ready to get the switchback train

The cute, old worldy train to take us up the mountain

Shrine, actually on a platform. Just for fun.

The views from the train were dead cool.

First switchback

Happy Mitch!

Another switchback 🙂

We got off the train and found an open-air museum which had looked incredibly beautiful on the way up. I’m not usually one for museums, but I really really loved this one. Everything was peaceful, interesting, and only in your face if you wanted it to be. It was essentially a mountainside park with some sculptures. We spent faaaar too long there and I still wanted to go back.

The etrance is even pretty!

Did they just give us gendered tickets? Hope not…..

Centusus?

Butterflies!

This was probably my favourite bit actually…. All these Daruma were saying the same rhyme over and over in different voices and speeds (while spinning) and it was a big murmur until you went among them and listened. I have always loved daruma.

Flowers looking for the outside

Creepy?

Look at that scenery!

Hole in the ground

The kids play areas were amazing. Stupid adult body.

A nice place to relax.

Love koi.

Argh!!

Can you spot us?

Another play area…

… WHY am I not small enough for this?!?!

Musical tower

Quick foot bath!

Once we managed to tear ourselves away from the pretty art garden we headed us the rest of the mountain… for some delicious eggs! We took a funicular to a rope-way and then spent a hilarious hour or two being blown around and trying to see through the mists. It made for some very pretty photos of the cable cars!

Back on the pretty switchback for one stop

Then to the funicular! It’s a lot steeper than it looks

Such a pretty ride

Rope way time

Mitch trying to stay calm at the heights

So green.

And suddenly, mist!

Cool huh?

Going over… something

We made it!

A nice little walking area

The water is all white!

Our black eggs!

Like a goth’s easter.

But they’re just like any other egg inside. Except also delicious.

One of the boiling pools

Don’t know.

This hallway was howling. So was Mitch.

And back down…

Look at our hair; the mist was really wet!

I didn’t even put a filter on this; the world was just sepia!

Now this is where it started to go a bit pear shaped. We intended to go from the cable car right onto the pirate ship, which would take us back to the bit where we’d get a bus back to the station. But! The waters were too choppy for the non-pirate captain, so we had to get a bus… only we didn’t have a clue were they went from or the times. So we spent a little time trying to figure out how on earth to get round the lake. We took a bit of a wander and did briefly consider stealing a swan boat… but that looked like we might die. Once we got the bus it took us back to where the ship would have done, and then we spent a little time wondering around there, getting munchies and checking out the trees. It was very atmospheric! We made a cat friend, and very reluctantly got on the bus to take us home.

The pirate ship we couldn’t take 😦

We went for a walk, briefly entertained the idea of taking these across the lake. They’re a bit scary though….

Looks like a set from a film somehow.

The random bus we managed to find in the middle of nowhere.

Empty!

We finally got back to where we aimed for… the size of this gate was amazing!

A bit choppy

I guess I can see why the boat was cancelled

Hakone shrine’s gate on the water.

New kitty friend

Dinner ham and cheese wrap; we actually went back for seconds!

We really enjoyed Hakone. It was a day we wished we could have done over two or three days to get everything in, so if you ever go, I recommend an overnight stay. But you can definitely do the good stuff in one day if you plan and the weather is in your favour 🙂

Have a funny Engrish picture to send you on your way with a smile:

August – The Beginning of The End

Exactly two weeks left of my year abroad. Which means… check stuff off the want-to-go-to list!

For your viewing pleasure in this rendition of MasiyInJapan, we have the Sky Tree, a proper fireworks festival, and a couple of museums. Mitch hadn’t seen the Sky Tree yet, and it’s quite a fun place to hang out. They had a cute summer festival going on in the grounds too, so that was a bonus!

We came to the sky tree to check out the planetarium thing as much as the views;

The sunset was pretty.

Mitch doing his best deep fried fish face.

So ready for stars to whoosh over our heads!

We found a Ghibli shop!

Summer festival thing.

Dinner; our favourite!

Got our feet nibbled by fishies while watching the festival and the lights.

Next on the summer to-do list in Japan; a fireworks night. Coming from the UK where fireworks mean gloves, hot drinks, and lots of layers; going to a display when it’s so hot I want portable paddling pools for shoes was very odd. But the festive atmosphere was still in tact, and they might have the season backwards, but at least it’s still a night time activity! Mitch and I looked up a supposedly good display near us and had a wonder over. They take them very seriously here; selling seats and plots for picnics months in advance. But pretty things that go bang in the sky rock regardless of whether you have a seat in a pen or a spot on the floor, so we had a great time.

Amazingly huge daruma on our walk from the station

Ready to go!

Tickets! We made it!

Pens and seats for those far more organised than us

Food time

Naturally, if you can pick the flavour you want on your shaved ice… why not all of them!

Delicious sugary goodness

Mitch and his festi-food

Definitely a fun evening if it involves candy floss

Quite the crowd!

Pretty 🙂

This was their crowning piece; a big old string of glow

Very very busy getting out!

And on the third day of August, my true love gave to me, tickets to museums ♪

We checked out both the Edo Tokyo Museum, and the Meguro Parasite Museum. Both pretty awesome, one grosser than the other! If you’re squeamish, try and ignore the severed turtle head picture. Sorry not sorry.

The building alone is pretty cool!

Giant bridge inside? Ok, cool!

I love Japan’s early pottery style. looks so cute.

Got to see a bit of Taiko too.

A collection of gross for all to behold.

Yum!

This…. was inside someone.

We went to check out the castle there to see if it was actually an awesome medieval themed love hotel… just a normal love hotel. no themeing. sad.

In prep for the last few trips left to us in Japan, I decided to grab a new happy snap camera. I forgot to mention, but the dust on Mt. Fuji completely ruined the last one I had, and it was about 8 years old at that point. So here I am with my absolutely glorious new Nikon that shoots better than my DSLR!