Puroland~

This past weekend, dear Marissa convinced me to go to PUROLAND. I realize the name does not give any hints as to what this place is, other than that it's some kind of amusement park. Here's a clue:

She's so much prettier in person.

PUROLAND = HELLO KITTY LAND OMG.

Of course we have a Hello Kitty Land in Japan! What kind of horrible place would Japan be if they DIDN'T give HK her own freaking amusement park?

Puroland is made up of four floors and takes up one giant building. The top floor has a restaurant, dessert cafe, and two omiyage shops. The third floor is the entrance to Puroland, which is a big lobby where various Sanrio characters are running around taking pictures and a big gift shop. The park on the first and second floors aims to please really little kids, so most of the attractions are games or theater shows. There's a little boat ride you can take around the perimeter of the third floor, but that's the only ride. I'm not sure exactly where some of the things were located, like the random craft room and the arcade, but they're in there somewhere. There's also more restaurants on the first floor, because you have to eat all kinds of things with HK's face on it.

It is a very *magical* place! We visited Hello Kitty's house, where we admired her furniture and literature collection. Marissa pointed out that most people might find it strange to have everything in their house in the shape of their head, but it didn't seem like Hello Kitty minded when she designed the place. We ate lunch with Hello Kitty's face on it, wandered around the park, and even rang the Bell of Happiness!

Where HK applies her make-up.

Where HK dines with guests.

See that volume 2 missing? HK is reading it right now.

Super happy!

However, we were unable to partake in the game The Next Hello Kitty, which honestly looks like a lot of fun. I'm sure it would've been SUPER tanoshii to try to figure out the game with my heta Japanese skills! Buying the merchandise was probably the better route to take, given the back story to the game.

I knew HK was always after my money, but GEEZ.

After Puroland, we hung out at McDonald's and I almost gaijin smashed some group of girls. They must've been the mean girls of their school, because staring at foreigners and speaking bad English FIVE FEET AWAY FROM SAID FOREIGNERS is something I'd expect out of obnoxious hosts more than middle schoolers.

In Japan, they give you ONE ketchup package

unless you ask for more.

Even then they look at you funny.

But between Puroland and going shopping on Monday, I wore myself out and I'm now legitimately sick. I hope it passes before Saturday so I can go out!!!

Let's play catch-up

This post shall hopefully make up for the dust gathering around this site -- it's been almost a week since I last wrote about my adventures!

So my dear friend Brian was in Tokyo last weekend. He and his buddies had already done all kinds of cultural nonsense, so we went clubbing one night and hit up an izakaya called The Lockup the next. It's a theme izakaya, made to look like a jail that Dr. Frankenstein would manage. About an hour after we sat down, they killed the lights, played "scary" music, and monsters came around banging our doors and making a fuss. I'll have to go again when Dan comes.

They make the wait staff wear jail uniforms. Cute.




The big beaker is Calpis soda, and the little tubes have orange juice, grapefruit juice,
melon liquor, and the last two I forget.






YAY PURIKURA!!!

I found Sprite Zero at the cafeteria combini last week! You can't see it, but under the "NEW!" banner in the top left corner it says, "Sexier than water." Yeah, okay. I just want to be refreshed and possibly entertained by some 90's rappers in a commercial.

Where are Redman and Method Man when you need them?

Look at what my phone can do! PICTURE FRAMES! So fun.

And finally, I succumbed to all the McDonald's advertisements on the train and had a Cheese Katsu Burger. The official Japanese website has the nice professional photos not taken by a keitai. Despite my initial hesitation of mixing katsu sauce and cheese, it was quite delicious. It would probably do well in Hawaii, since we like that kind of stuff. Next I'm gonna try the Shaka Shaka Chicken off the 100Yen menu.

Cheese in the middle!


"Saku saku" on the outside, blah blah blah I forget and I can't make it out from the picture.

Prof. Anno mentioned in politics today that the Japanese currently pay about 170yen for a liter of gas. Let's see if the journalism major can do some basic math:

1 US gallon = 3.8 liters
Current exchange rate is about $1 = 100yen

$1.70 x 3.8 = $6.46

Thus, the Japanese are paying almost $6.50 for a gallon of gas. Makes that $4 you're paying in America seem like a steal, doesn't it?

I'm in the middle of midterms and there's a typhoon going on outside, so there is nothing going on. This weekend, however, will be filled with debauchery and Mickey Mouse and gaijin-smashing because my dear friend John is in Japan. Hopefully Tokyo Disneyland will still be fun in spite of the crap weather we're having.