Trip to the City

I went to Fukuoka as some of you may already know. The main reason I wanted to go is for anime stuffs as Fukuoka is way cooler than Nagasaki is.

Okay, I'll concentrate now. I was googling juggling moves as I've regained my interest in juggling an determined to back to where I was before I left before I come home. I don't think the same can be said for contact juggling, unfortunately.

Yes, concentrating. On the weekend we had an extra day of bliss as the monday was a publc holiday called, 'Taiku no Hi' a.k.a Sports Day. I found that a suitable name considering how much I walked that day. I got up at six, left the house at seven and was on the bus from 7.30. Most of the bus trip I was in that in-between state of sleep and listenng to music where you are still aware of what is going on around you but your body is asleep.

We arrived at Tenjin station at around 9.45 which was a little earlier than expected. Not knowing what to do we kind of just jumped out into the street and walked around, quickly realizing we were hungry we went and had 朝　マック. (McDonalds breakfast)　I just had two Hash Browns which are called Hashed Potatoes here and Hikari had a weird burger which was like a McMuffin but the bread had a syrup taste to it and on it was bacon, meat and cheese. No egg.

Sorry, I got distracted again. After we ate it was around 10 o'clock and we figured we had better get the day started. First off,we just had a bit of a look around. Mostly drawn to the big shopping center due to the cute little chicken standing outside announcing the re-opening of a store called Suzy's Zoo. Here's a photo, if you look carefully, you can see he's actually giving me a peace sign which I found quite remarkable in a chicken suit. I didn't think chicken's had fingers.

Inside we had a walk around, on the bottom floor was a variety of animals made out of cardboard which were quite impressive. I figured I had to take the elephant for mum: In one of the shops we found a whole bunch of snacks and things from overseas. They had cadbury but as mum had recently sent me some I figured I'd be fine although now I kind of wish I'd bought some. But I'm back in 86 days and I can eat all the chocolate I want then. Hikari bought some mentos which she seems fond of. They have weird flavours here but not the normal orange, strawberry and the yellow one... (>_<)

After that we had a look around the shops but there was nothing really special and we soon left for Animate although we had to go back and consult the map at the station. It was a surprisingly short walk to AniMate, which Nagasaki also has although the Fukuoka one was a bit larger. I spent money on things I don't remember, mostly requests from Ross, Jack, Katherine and some stuff for myself. I only spent 60/70 dollars which was surprising but the merchandise was basically the same as Nagasaki so I wasn't going to go overboard. Also I expected mandarake to have more stuff anyway. There were some cosplays there but none I was particularly tempted to buy. I think the quality and sizing would probably be better ordering them off the internet. Although I was hoping to find an Ouran Jacket regardless of size because I want one but alas, it was not to be.

After that we searched for a toilet and found one in Subway, the first subway I've seen in Japan. Of course, I was afraid of the sandwhich people, being subwaphobic. Although they had Spiders, as in soft drink with icecream in it. So, we both ordered one of those, mine being melon of course. I really like melon soda even though I don't like melon. The melon fanta is hard to find these days but most of the restaurants have it on post mix and I pretty much always get that except at McDonalds when I get Grape Fanta. After that, what did we do...? We went so many places it is quite difficult to remember in what order we did it.

I am pretty sure that after that, Hikari talked texted a friend who lives in Fukuoka for some good places to go. Her friend, Ai-chan, at my request recommended a cosplay place nearby. I was super excited, it was at the very top floor (the 8th floor) of a department store and when I got there I was happy and sad at the same time. No, it wasn't anime cosplay. Yes, it was gothic lolita style cosplay. It was seriously amazing, I would have taken photos if I was allowed, the staff were in gothic cosplay and Lauren would have died and gone to her hellish looking heaven.

I so would have bought something except that I was conscious of two things: how much weight I've put on and how high the prices were. I'm talking seriously high, there was a scarf which I thought was cute, had a gander at the price tag. 80000円 which is about $80 plus exchange rate. I mean seriously, for a scarf?!?!?! And hence the reason that I didn't buy anything as much as I wanted to. If I had more time I could have looked around properly and found something I loved but only having one day and having to split the day between Hikari and I, I didn't have all that much time to spare. So, I came away with one thing: a badge of a creepy person wearing a top hat in Alice in Wonderland style.

After cringing and leaving such an amazing place with only a badge, we slowly worked our way down the floors looking at clothes for Hikari's sake although she didn't seem interested in purchasing all that much until we got to a hat store about half way down. Hikari kind of has a ghetto style and was looking for a dark brown beanie.

Looking around I soon found myself picking up a black and red checkered hat that matched my bag with a big, black felt bow on the side. It was $50 but I thought that today was a day for shopping and that I might as well do what I set out to do. My one worry was that it looked too big, but after confirmation from Hikari that it was okay, it grew on me so much that I was prompted to buy it and wore it for the rest of the day to save having to lug it around. Hikari didn't buy a beanie, I think the brown was dark enough. There was also a cute cheshire cat beanie with pink and purple stripes and a cheshire cat grin pined on. I don't know, I'm really fond of the cheshire cat and on the way out of the store, I stumbled upon a cheshire cat coffee mug thingy for only like five dollars so I bought it and as it was the last one it didn't have a box which meant I wrapped it up in my jumper as the weather had turned fine but it was too cold in the morning to not take one.

After that...hmmm... I do believe we went to look for the clothing store Hikari wanted to visit called A Bathing Ape or shortened to BAPE. We started walking to where Hikari thought it was and were soon met by a shop called Loft which is kind of like a housewares store with lots of cool stuff. I didn't buy too much in there, just some onigiri holders with Snoopy on them. I also saw this super awesome clock that was in the shape of a director's cut board, it was so totally cool and so totally expensive. But so damn cool. xD

Okay, I'm writing this on another day now so sorry if I seem disjointed. Although on second thoughts if I didn't tell you that you probably wouldn't have noticed, would you? So, after LOFT, I was busting for a drink, the weight in my bag was starting to get to me. I bought a Coke as I do when going to store it for a long time. I usually buy Fanta or something but I find that especially Grape Fanta kind of goes weird when it gets warm but coke is always coke.

And thus... Walking and drinking, we walked for about fifteen minutes looking for BAPE, when Hikari had a second look at her camera and decided we were going the wrong way. I found this kind of annoying, I mean I don't mind walking but with a purpose but I do mind walking for no reason. So, we returned back to loft, another 15 minutes, and continued walking a different way for about 20 which again yielded no results although this time Hikari said she was sure she knew where she was going. We stopped just in front of Book Off which I was going to ask to go in when Hikari said that we should go to Mandarake.

Normally, I probably would have said something but I was tired and felt a little bad that Hikari hadn't bought anything of yet. So, we returned and went to Mandarake which was pretty close by. Now, Mandarake which is very impressive by size I found to be a bit of a disappointment. If I had a long time to browse it, I probably would have found it more interesting but being scant of time and trying to hurry myself along as much as possible due to Hikari's impartiality to anime. The first thing I picked up was Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuustu DS for $30 and then Kuroshitsuji for $20 which I was real happy about as usually they are around $50 each. So, saved $50. Yay. After that, we had a quick look around, there was all the manga you could ever read but having already bought most of my manga I was kind of like nyeh.

I looked for figurine's, in particular for L or Zero or Ouran for Katherine but seriously, nothing. They did have one L but it was a Christmas one and I was kind of mmmm.... So, at Mandarake I didn't buy all that much. They did also have cosplay but it wasn't great. I think I'd be better getting it custom made off the internet to be honest. Not to mention it was crowded which made looking difficult. >_<

I think all I ended up buying there was the games so I was a little bummed about that. After mandarake, about 4 o'clock, we decided we would get something to eat as we had skipped lunch, neither of us being particularly hungry. I'd seen a crepe shop earlier on so I suggested that, I think that was my first crepe in Japan. I had chocolate strawberry which was refreshing. After that...hmmm...Hikari called her friend who lived in Fukuoka to come and meet us. She took a while in getting there but it was nice to have a break from walking.

She was very nice, it is hilarious to watch people's reactions when they first meet me as they are enver quite sure whether or not I can speak Japanese and how much Japanese I can speak. So, first they usually try and say something in English and then they ask whoever I am with whether I speak Japanese to which I reply that I can. Then I say something, to break the tension. I told Ai, Hikari's friend, that I liked her iPod cover which was Minnie Mouse.

We talked for a while, and Hikari asked whether Ai knew were BAPE was which she replied in the affirmative which caused us to go on another walk to infinity and beyond. Although, the place was vastly different to where we had been looking. Getting there we had a look around. It was very stylish but the merchandise was surprisingly scant, not to mention that one normal t-shirt cost around $60. Seriously. So, again, Hikari bought nothing although we did take a snapshot for free.

After that it was all shopping, I pretty much should outside shops for an hour, waiting for the two of them. I don't know, I don't like clothes shopping to begin with so I had a look but there was nothing there that grabbed my fancy. After that we were on our way home on the bus, I bought macaroons, which are soooooo delicious, for everyone...all three of us...because I'm nice...like that... And then we were on the bus home where I slept/listened to my iPod and was happy to be home although it isn't my home.

And that is pretty much my day to Fukuoka, if I had more time I would have appreciated it more but it was still a fun day and I am definitely glad I got to go at least once.

<3>

Ashley-chan

This is a photo of some of the things I've bought recently, games, onigiri holders, my hat, a random pill case which I only bought because the picture was so cute, it currently is storing earrings, and Rilakkuma headphones for mother, if she wants them. >_<

82!