Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | Osaka! Pt. 1

So Osaka! Yeah, my phone doesn’t work there! That is why I’m just now updating. Its also why I was not able to update Facebook or Twitter for the past almost four days. So I apologize if you added me, anticipating updates.

I have some pictures on my digi cam but not a whole lot. I do plan on going back to Osaka once more though. My enthusiasm in the following account will hopefully explain why!

So we took a night bus to get to Osaka. That was about 5,000 Yen. It was a nice ride out. They make the bus super dark so people can sleep. I slept for about three-four hours but I was pretty much awake after that.

Then, we got to Osaka.

Osaka!

Today (tonight, rather) I am heading to Osaka for my first time. I’m so excited!

Land of Okonomiyaki.
Land of Manzai/Comedy.
And of course,
Land Of KJ8!

I’ve wanted to go to Osaka since I came last year, so I’m really amped. If you’re wondering why I’m here, I’m going to see a Access (AXS) concert. I also plan on finding a Yoshimoto shop to buy more (Hannya) goods. XD

I’ll probably take pictures and tweet about them (I’m shomygosh on Twitter if you don’t have me added already) or I’ll be posting them on Facebook (search Destini Johnson or my email, gorimuchuu@gmail.com).

I hope to have a lot of fun! I can’t wait to meet the people of Osaka!!

Also, I think amongst being a Journalist in Japan, I want to temporarily be a pin (solo) geinin. LOL

Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | YARISUGI WITH HANNYA-SHACHOU GET!

Note: The word “maji” is mentioned a lot in this post! It means, “Really/Seriously.”

OKAY. Tonight was amazing.

Quick Intro: Hannya is an owarai (comedy) duo.

This is them on Arashi no Shukudai-kun. My fandoms collided. It was good.

There are two members! Kanada Satoshi (he makes up all the gags, is pretty noticably tall and skinny. Total boke.) and Kawashima Akiyoshi (he’s the tsukkomi but he’s stupid too. Usually he plays the serious one though. He’s small and chubby. LOL)

All you Buzzer Beaters, yeah. Hannya’s in it. They are the only reason I watch it.

DESTINI LOVES THEM. Destini paid money for the first time to see a comedy group. This is pretty shinjirarenai because she’d never do that back home. Hannya is worth is though. LOL

Short Version of the Day: I SAW HANNYA. KANADA INDIRECTLY MADE FUN OF ME IN THE AUDIENCE. I WAS SUPER CLOSE TO THE STAGE. THE SHOW WAS GREAT.

Long Version: So basically to explain from the entire start! I wanted to go to Live Stand 2009, but it was extremely expensive. So I found out about Yarisugi Fest! Much cheaper and Hannya would be there. cheap/Hannya = Win. So I wait until I get a bit of money & go to Family Mart to buy Hannya tickets.

Its Been A While

Some good things. Firstly, my phone works miraculously now. Email, Twitter, even the LJ App I’m using to write this with. I’m really glad this is the case too because I seriously missed my phone.

Ballots, yes yes. It all sucked. Mine didn’t hit for my friends. I also have mutually decided with my pal Dellie to not ballot for Nagoya. Seeing that I would only have five months (read as: not a long time) to save up for another trip here is like…no. Can’t handle it. I’d rather have an entire year to save and go to their 2010 tour.

Hannya! I’ve been raving about them. I’m going to see them at Yarisugi Fest on Aug. 3rd. I’m really excited. It doesn’t equal seeing Arashi but they are pretty much my owarai equivalent to Arashi.

Uh, this fall semester I have decided to not go to school and get a job. I’ll return as a full time student in spring. This is all up in the air though – gotta see what my mom decides.

Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | Pictures (and Video!)

Back to Shibuya~

I had gotten paid so I randomly trekked through Shibuya. First I tried to find the JFC Building. Uh, no. Then I went over to head to Shibuya 109 and saw that Moai Head up there. I didn’t even know there was one! I walked through all of 109 and keep RANDOMLY GETTING HAIR COMPLIMENTS. ._. I’ll buy your crap, minus the comments. Anyways, then I went into Cocolulu and…yeah. Fell in love. Gonna buy a set from them before I leave. I wasn’t into Cocolulu before but my tastes have changes I guess. Then I went outside and saw the EXILE truck! In the video up there it’s like “EXILE!…..MatsuJun?!” XD I WAS LIKE AHHHHHH. Then I saw Arashi playing on the big titantron thing in Shibuya! (You can probably hear me lightly singing in the BG. Ignore it. LOL)

Fireworks in Asakusa!

We went to go see fireworks! It was fun but I was pretty tired that day. Also my feet really hurt and yeah. It was nice to see fireworks though.

Trip to Yokohama Chugakai!!!

Went to Chinatown. I was going to go see Sakurina before or after this but I didn’t because I didn’t feel like it. So anyways, it was a lot of fun~ EVERYONE IN YOKOHAMA IS SO NICE. Like, I’m pretty much decided (I was decided last year but whatever) that I don’t want to live in Tokyo, but outside Tokyo.

Accidental Johnny’s Roke GET

We went to Bairan. I think that’s the name. Kanjan8 (like Ryo and Hina?) went here on Canjani. .___. We weren’t even TRYING to go here on purpose. We looking at the menu and were like, “They look cheap and good!” That was hella lucky. Anyhow, the food was GREAT! Best Chinese food I’ve ever had. Me, Emily, and Gwendy have ths silly goal not really of going around Japan and ordering gyouza, but only leaving one no matter where! It’ll be our signature. Like, “That’s right, the One-Gyouza Girl Gang was here!” o_O We’re weird…

Am I seriously fangirling over a comedian?!

You’re right! HEY, at least I didn’t buy the UCHIWA…basically comedians are like Johnny’s. Uchiwas, cell straps, stickers, etc. It’s amazing. AND MY DECO GOT ALL FUG!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!! ;_;

Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | MASSIVE PICTURE OVERLOAD

Two posts because I got pictures to show. Including me with, *sniff*, my hero. ;____; Party over here! … Okay picture time.

Destini’s Crazy Owarai Obsession
So these are like two of my favorite comedian groups – Hannya (on the PARCO Grand Bazaar ads) and Audrey (from the BAPE Fall Collection catalogue). I love comedy *_* Lately I’ve been on a Hannya kick bigger than a pregnant belly. Like, they are funny even if you aren’t fluent. However! Some kind soul subtitled one of their skits. Prease to be enjoy Hannya.
Conbini Robbery Skit (Subtitled) | Original Zukudanzunbungun Game Skit | My “o-susume” (recommended) Skit!

Mishiranu Joe Jackson Joukyaku
So we went to the theater as previously mentioned. Here are the new pictures I took. That first picture is the huge Nino that scared the living crap out of me. The others are smaller versons. The last is just the podium thing. To explain the Joe Jackson thing up there, we couldn’t remember the Joukyaku part so we called it Mishiranu Joe Jackson.

Funny Story: So I got really lost as mentioned and eventually went to a Koban (police box) to ask for help. I’m going, “Tokyo Globe Theater. TOUKYOU. GURO-BU. SHIATA.”
Police Guy: I can’t find it.

So he calls and gets an address. (Partiliy my bad ’cause at first I said, “Globe-eza” but it’s just “Globe-za.” Still though, he’s looking at a HUGE map and can’t find it. Eventually he does and it’s like this huge ass circumference of space.
Police Guy: Oh. Heheh. Here it is.

Destini: O_o
Plus he was like, “NANDE ANATA NO NIHONGO UMAI NO?” [Why is your Japanese so good?!]
Destini: Daigaku de benkyou shiteimasu…Haa?! Umakunai yo! [I study at college...wha?! It's not good!]

Keikarou, As Of Now!
Last year, there was a really well-drawn portrait of Aiba out. Now it’s this! It’s a big Aiba image created from a bunch of tiny Aiba images! Isn’t that neat? Plus the Dream A Live caterpillar Aiba created, re-created by a fan. CUTE!

My Ultraman-related Dreams
Last year, I missed the huge Ultraman festival deal they had. NOT AGAIN!!!! I love Ultraman. ;___; So I posed with him. We went into Tokyu Hands yesterday and they have SCIENCE PATROL GADGETS! I WANT THEM ALL!!!!

I Will End This…
With the light of my life~ Mr. Sho Sakurai & his Mitsuya Cider ad. That stuff’s good but seriously, I can buy Pokka cider for 100 Yen. Exact same taste. I’m broke, Sho! LMAO

Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | Day 7-8

Thursday we did nothing until Emily came home. That’s when we were like, “Yay last day of school successfully completed!” and got ice cream and goodies! Then we watched Music Station and laughed. Then headed back to our room and used our computers until we got tired~

Today was fun! We woke up and headed to Shibuya to try and get me a phone (again). They didn’t have it. I was pissed. We’ll leave it at that.

Afterwards though, we met up with Emily’s schoolfriends. They were nice, Korean girls! One was a Sho fan~ <3 And shes like Big Bang, too!

Guess who her fave was? TOP! My man~ <3 So I think she has a thing for rappers, like me. LOL XD

So then we head to Harajuku and meet up with Shoulmate Gwendy and head through Takeshita Doori. Once we get to the end, we go back to the KDDI building, because Emily hasn’t seen it yet. Her schoolfriends decide to go to Starbucks so we they them we’ll meet up afterwards.

Here are some shots of the huge banner in the front. Funny story before I show them: When I came to the KDDI building the first time, a bird had taken a dump on Sho’s chin. T__T It was kinda sad! They cleaned it though & I was happy. So onto the pictures. XD

Then we went inside~ Here are more pictures from that.

Really, it’s the same after a while. ^^;; We looked at the phones, same deal. Emily had never seen Oguri’s au ad when he’s all crazy and changey! She was like, “O_o” at the poster of it. Haha, they said, “He even looks weird normal!”

Then we left and headed to Jonathans in Harajuku. It’s like Dennys – Japanese style.

Haha, when we went grocery shopping that one day, we bought pens with built-in hanko stamps of (most of) Arashi member’s last names. So I had my Ninomiya one with me and stamped it after Emily’s name on the reservation list. The guy was like, “O__O Is this you??” It was a good laugh.

While we were there, Gwendy brought some shop photos she needed to get rid of. O____O I was so happy! Because of her I have a ton more! How sweet, yeah. I’m blessed with the greatest friends. =\

Oh and I ran my basic Korean phrases by Emily’s friends! They understood me so I guess I did okay. LMAO

We finally got in and I had a Tomato, Eggplant, and Parmasean Hamburg. I’m a moron & didn’t really gather that hamburg is salisbery steak and I wasn’t in the mood for it. Good thing I ordered that side of karage! It was DELICIOUS~!

Then we left there and stood on the outside roof area, looking down at the busy street. Here’s a shot of what was directly in front of us.

LOL JAPAN. I love how instead of just saying, “You’re small!,” they call it “Smart Boy.” Amazing.

We were rating boys while we were up there too. It was pretty fun. While we were bullcrapping around, we were trying to get in contact with Emily’s schoolfriends but couldn’t. So we decided to just head to Johnny’s Shop! I got a few more pictures of Sho from Everything, one of some epic Ohmiya from Crazy Moon, and a really cute Jun one from Everything!

We leave there and get ready to try and find her friends again so we can go do purikura and go to the unofficial Johnny shops in Takeshita Doori. Well we finally get in contact with them and find out they are in line at Forever 21. Earlier we walked by Forever 21 and you’d think SMAP was in there playing an impromptu concert! HUGE LINE! Apparently, it’s the first F21 in Japan so people are lining up to get things from there. So Emily tells them to keep shopping and that we’ll meet up later.

So we go down Takeshita Doori to the purikura shop and it was fun! I can’t take any good shots of it though but lets just say that purikura like photoshops your picture for you or something! You can never not look nice! LMAO

After that, we peeked through the Johnny’s shops and I came up on that ticket shop. The night before, me and Emily pretty much mutually decided that we had kinda already got over not seeing Nino’s butai. And I’m glad we did. I misread the prices.

135,00 Yen.

THAT IS INSANE.

So we got out of there quickly! Then we went into the Daiso and bought jewel sheets and such to deco/Age-fy our stuff! I deco’d my DS Lite, Blackberry Curve, and iPod Video.

I like it! I wanna actually lay down each stone individually one day but this will do for now. That was pretty much the jist of the last two days. We’ll be doing laundry/who knows what tomorrow! Will update. I hope these updates have been okay so far? Not that I have a real goal/format. Haha, my goal is to do this for my ENTIRE trip. So far so good!

I also think I’m going to start running at night time!

Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | Day 3-6

Monday was Emily’s first day in school. We woke up early to go back to Shibuya to get our prepaid phones.

“We don’t have any right now.”
“…haa?”

So I asked her to write a note to take to the other Softbank Store because I’m still getting in the groove of speaking Japanese ALL THE TIME again. I.E. I’m rusty! So she does.

We take it to the other Softbank store. Read: the WRONG Softbank store. Who knew Shibuya had like 4,000 RANDOM SOFTBANK STORES. The guy in the wrong Softbank store leads us to the correct one mentioned in the note. So, we go there.

“We don’t have any.”
“But they called earlier and you said you did.”

She goes to check.

“We only have one.”

So…Emily takes it! Which, you know, WHATEVER. We’re friends. I’d be lying though if I said I wasn’t like, “AWWW MAN!!!”

It’s fine though, we got her a phone so at least if we’re together and are in danger, then yeah. Then we head towards her school. I look at the address and it’s not exactly in Shinjuku, it’s in Okubo. So we get off at Okubo Stn.

And then, nothing.

I don’t know that area at all! However while walking I see…

BIG BAAAAAANG everywhere!

And Tohoshinki but um. W’ever.

Okubo is apparently K-Town! Interesting discovery.

But I digress.

We’re walking aimlessly to find UNITAS Language School. I ask the people in the conbini (convience store. Like 7-11/AM-PM’s).

Nothing. They lead me to a koban (police box).

I ask him. He tells us, “MAAAASUGU DOWN THS STREET AND TURN ON THE MAIN ROAD AND THEN KEEP WALKING AND YEAH HAVE FUN.”

…

So we “have fun.” I have fun while in my adorable Chucks.

CHUCKS THAT CAUSE BLISTERS.

Destini in NIPPON ‘09 | Day 1-2

SO, arriving here was a [expletive deleted]. We had to lug our suitcases around stations. For me, not just any suitcase. A 70+ pound suitcase. I used a bigger one because I figured it’d weight less ’cause *I* didn’t think I had a lot of stuff packed. No! No, it was a monster! Quite a few of you all have met me. I AM SHORT. There’s no other way around it – I’m short! You know what? It was a terror. Short me + bag that weight 70+lbs! My arms are still in pain! Every taxi we encountered was like, “Uwa, omotta!” (Dang that is heavy.) GOMEN NASAI, TAXI DUDES!

So timeline of events, yeah?

I arrived at Narita on July 4th, around 4PM. We took the N’Ex train from the airport to Tokyo Station and then headed to Kameido to stay at the Super Hotel there. It was nice! Tiny, but nice. Didn’t even eat that night because we were utterly exhausted.

Woke up on the 5th and headed to Shinjuku. In Shinjuku, we went to Sakura House’s building to check into our guest house. It was fun and lots of paperwork but we got it done! I had never used my card in Japan (it’s a prepaid VISA) and so I was surprised that it worked but so relieved! Then, we, once again, had to drag our luggage down to Higashi-Nagasaki. That didn’t go without injury, Emily-chan ripped both her toenails up some. They bled and I felt so bad but she’s such a trooper.

We finally decided while in Yoyogi I believe to take a taxi because it was just too much. We got to Sakura House and dragged our luggage (and ourselves) in and unpacked and cooled down.

Then we headed to Shibuya to get prepaid phones, but they were sold out for the day! So we’ll be going back this morning. Here’s hoping we wont have any issues. They did say we can get a prepaid phone with *just* our passports though for 7,000 Yen! How cool, plus we can keep the phones forever.

Then! We ate at a nice place in Shibuya. I had tsukemen~ I love tsukemen.

Then! We went to Shibuya 109 because they are have a huge 5-Day Bargain Sale! I like, loved it. It was MADNESS, gyaru everywhere! Whenever I went into a b-kei shop, I got looked at like, “O___O ACTUAL AFRICAN AMERICAN!”

Then I went into Baby Shoop and they spoke to me after they realized I knew some Japanese and it was AWESOME~ They liked my hair…they said, “It costs us like $500 to get that done here!” My mom keeps telling me I need to learn how to do extensions. I can make serious bank out here! It’s on my to-do list for sure.

Anyhow, I walked out Baby Shoop with new stuff. Only $39 bucks though and I got a free gift! Best timing too because I was just complained to Emily about my makeup bag and here they give me a new one~ <3

Then we went to Harajuku! I know, it’s like “Don’t have all your fun at once!” but we were hyped still. I showed Emily where the Johnny’s shop was. It was a lot easier than the first time that I wanted to go and like, walked ALL THE WAY TO OMOTESANDO HILLS because I didn’t get where to turn. That was a big waste of time. So, this time I found it immediately!

Then we walked down Takeshita Doori. Everything was closing but we found a purikura shop that was open. They had TONS of idol stuff around! We had like fangirl aneursyms! It was madness. We got cellphone charms engraved (mine say 櫻井くんのFAN) and and used the capsule machine and got charms with their pictures in them! >.<!!

Then, we looked around a bit more but headed home and…!! Didn’t get lost! It was awesome. Thn, we got the internet working so that’s how I’m even able to type this~ Then!!! We watched MUSIC LOVERS live! It was like icing on the cake of our long long day.

More as it happens~ I’ll try and take lots of pictures too. ^^

来た！

First post! Well basically, we are going to leave to Japan July 3rd. So far, everything’s set.

We’ve purchased plane tickets.

Have accomadations.

Those are the two most important things. I got my passport last year in a heated battle with the U.S. Government who were being all kinds of slow. Nevertheless: passtport aquired! So now…just gotta wait. It’s kinda annoying.