Stacked Deck
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Schoolgirls and Pumpkins
All part of Halloween here in Japan ... which is nice.
Remember last Halloween? An actual schoolgirl (a.k.a. "jailbait") came to the bar to have a smoke and a drink just cos she could. People would think the uniform was a costume and thus make her not unlike the tree in a forest. Brilliant! Unfortunately, the only schoolgirls that made their appearances at the party this year were either married (tomo) or had more body hair than was strictly necessary (weird cross-dressing dude).
In other costumated news, Sean got lazy and cheated. He basically put on a hockey jersey and came as an ice-hockey player. Seriously, a Canadian coming as an ice-hockey player. Come on! Jin got creative and made an eyeball to wear on his head. The other tomo got dressed up as a witch.
It looks like Halloween is getting more popular each year. Used to be that if you see ppl in costumes, they were most likely going to a club to party the night away. Some people just rode the Yamanote loop line bringing booze with them to get wasted and getting off to either take a leak or get more booze. Now though, stores are selling a myriad of costumes and Halloween-themed things. I hear that people even go trick-or-treating in a certain area in Tokyo. Tres cool.
Even the famed Disneyland Halloween has been stepping things up. The last time I went there about 4 years ago, I don't remember it being so ... full-on. This time, hundreds and hundreds of people were wearing costumes around the park. Ets and I saw this girl, young woman really, wearing a red skirt with white polka dots ala Minnie Mouse and thought that this was a little strange. Then whilst making our short trek from the station to the ticket gates, we spied more, similarly-skirted individuals. It was not until we saw the other costumes that it clicked. It was difficult, nay, impossible to tell who were the actual Disneyland crew and who were mere visitors in some cases.
Remember last Halloween? An actual schoolgirl (a.k.a. "jailbait") came to the bar to have a smoke and a drink just cos she could. People would think the uniform was a costume and thus make her not unlike the tree in a forest. Brilliant! Unfortunately, the only schoolgirls that made their appearances at the party this year were either married (tomo) or had more body hair than was strictly necessary (weird cross-dressing dude).
In other costumated news, Sean got lazy and cheated. He basically put on a hockey jersey and came as an ice-hockey player. Seriously, a Canadian coming as an ice-hockey player. Come on! Jin got creative and made an eyeball to wear on his head. The other tomo got dressed up as a witch.
It looks like Halloween is getting more popular each year. Used to be that if you see ppl in costumes, they were most likely going to a club to party the night away. Some people just rode the Yamanote loop line bringing booze with them to get wasted and getting off to either take a leak or get more booze. Now though, stores are selling a myriad of costumes and Halloween-themed things. I hear that people even go trick-or-treating in a certain area in Tokyo. Tres cool.
Even the famed Disneyland Halloween has been stepping things up. The last time I went there about 4 years ago, I don't remember it being so ... full-on. This time, hundreds and hundreds of people were wearing costumes around the park. Ets and I saw this girl, young woman really, wearing a red skirt with white polka dots ala Minnie Mouse and thought that this was a little strange. Then whilst making our short trek from the station to the ticket gates, we spied more, similarly-skirted individuals. It was not until we saw the other costumes that it clicked. It was difficult, nay, impossible to tell who were the actual Disneyland crew and who were mere visitors in some cases.
Here's a family decked out (haha) like some cards.
And even though some people went the half-ass route of wearing semi-costumes, it was still quite funny to see four aliens bobbing their way around.
The highlight of the entire visit had to be the parade around the park. Featuring a pumping Halloweeny soundtrack and "all your favourite Disney characters".
Which was nice, really, but it really came alive when the sun set and the full spook-factor was in effect.
I took a lot more pictures but they turned out a little fuzzy and I opted not to put those up.
(Damn my tiny point-and-shoot camera with no anti-blur technology!)
The funniest part of the trip had to be our penultimate ride: Alice's Tea Party. I remember going on this ride a few times in my youth and I'd always go as fast as I could. I'd grab the wheel and spin it for all I was worth. Granted, at that tender age, the most I could do was make my arms sore. Now though, I'm actually strong enough to make the ride go absolutely mad! Ets told me after that she did not expect that I could turn such a tame ride into a white-knuckle experience. It must have been a sight to see from the outside. This cup spinning like a mad spinning thing and a constant banshee-like screaming whizzing by.
Needless to say, we both couldn't really walk straight. We couldn't even see straight for the first minute after the ride ended.
With that dealt, we walked over to the Haunted Mansion which was why everybody came in the first place. The folks at Disney redid the Haunted Mansion with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme which proved to be ridiculously popular. We arrived at about 1030 and went straight there to get the FastPass tickets. The standard queue had a two-hour wait and the FastPass counter said to return at 2120! All the FP tickets were gone by lunchtime! At one point, the queue was three hours long! It was soooo worth it though. The decor was redone and even most of the ghosts too! Too bad you can't take pictures in there :(
And even though some people went the half-ass route of wearing semi-costumes, it was still quite funny to see four aliens bobbing their way around.
The highlight of the entire visit had to be the parade around the park. Featuring a pumping Halloweeny soundtrack and "all your favourite Disney characters".
Which was nice, really, but it really came alive when the sun set and the full spook-factor was in effect.
I took a lot more pictures but they turned out a little fuzzy and I opted not to put those up.
(Damn my tiny point-and-shoot camera with no anti-blur technology!)
The funniest part of the trip had to be our penultimate ride: Alice's Tea Party. I remember going on this ride a few times in my youth and I'd always go as fast as I could. I'd grab the wheel and spin it for all I was worth. Granted, at that tender age, the most I could do was make my arms sore. Now though, I'm actually strong enough to make the ride go absolutely mad! Ets told me after that she did not expect that I could turn such a tame ride into a white-knuckle experience. It must have been a sight to see from the outside. This cup spinning like a mad spinning thing and a constant banshee-like screaming whizzing by.
Needless to say, we both couldn't really walk straight. We couldn't even see straight for the first minute after the ride ended.With that dealt, we walked over to the Haunted Mansion which was why everybody came in the first place. The folks at Disney redid the Haunted Mansion with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme which proved to be ridiculously popular. We arrived at about 1030 and went straight there to get the FastPass tickets. The standard queue had a two-hour wait and the FastPass counter said to return at 2120! All the FP tickets were gone by lunchtime! At one point, the queue was three hours long! It was soooo worth it though. The decor was redone and even most of the ghosts too! Too bad you can't take pictures in there :(
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Hakone And The (F)Arts
Hakone is one of those places you read about in every guidebook to Japan. Every onsen fan and tourist's destination of choice either for a day trip or an extended stay although a day trip would hardly be enough time to do it justice. Ets and I decided to do the latter and spent the long weekend there to celebrate my birthday. Famous for the countless hot spring resorts and hotels located there, you can probably guess at what type of accomodation we acquired.
We left on Monday afternoon and got there in time to see many less fortunate fellow Hakone visitors leave (the long weekend ended on Monday but by no small amount of good fortune, Ets and I got Tuesday off too). It would have been much better if we visited about a month later to take full advantage of the autumnal plumage which had yet to set in but hey, we're not complaining ;)
After our 4 o' clock check-in, we ventured out to explore the area around the high street and stumbled across an old Japanese rickshaw where the attendant cheerfully took pictures for you.
Here's me lording it over Ets. She didn't know I did that until I showed her the picture ^ヮ^
Tuesday was stunningly beautiful and sunny and was just perfect for what we had planned. We took a train up the mountain to the Hakone Open Air Museum to have a wander. The museum hosts masterpieces by world-renowned masters of modern and contemporary art including Rodin, Miro, Bourdelle and Picasso (hey, don't look at me. I got those names from the brochure).
"Miss Black Power" - Niki de Saint Phalle
"Personnage" - Joan Miro
We left on Monday afternoon and got there in time to see many less fortunate fellow Hakone visitors leave (the long weekend ended on Monday but by no small amount of good fortune, Ets and I got Tuesday off too). It would have been much better if we visited about a month later to take full advantage of the autumnal plumage which had yet to set in but hey, we're not complaining ;)
After our 4 o' clock check-in, we ventured out to explore the area around the high street and stumbled across an old Japanese rickshaw where the attendant cheerfully took pictures for you.
Here's me lording it over Ets. She didn't know I did that until I showed her the picture ^ヮ^Tuesday was stunningly beautiful and sunny and was just perfect for what we had planned. We took a train up the mountain to the Hakone Open Air Museum to have a wander. The museum hosts masterpieces by world-renowned masters of modern and contemporary art including Rodin, Miro, Bourdelle and Picasso (hey, don't look at me. I got those names from the brochure).
"Miss Black Power" - Niki de Saint Phalle
"Personnage" - Joan Miro
I quite liked this one entitled 'Close' by Antony Gormley although I think a better name would have been 'Ouch'.
Another interesting piece is the "Sky Hole". The first picture shows Ets about to disappear into the subterranean chamber that is the point of the piece. In that chamber ensconced in darkness is a small hole aimed skyward that you can look through. Hopefully, when you do gaze towards the skies, you won't be greeted by a snootfull grass and dirt.
Some creative thinking and careful positioning yielded this shot.
I even lost a game of 'janken' to a disembodied hand sticking up from the ground.
A fairly new addition to the museum is the 'Hot Foot' foot bath where visitors can shed their footwear and soak their tired feet in a surprisingly hot bath (65 degrees) and even purchase a small comemorative towel should they feel the need.
Here's Ets getting ready to soak her feet.
And the exact moment when feet touch water.
Here's Ets getting ready to soak her feet.
And the exact moment when feet touch water.
I hear that the following is quite well-known. Not be me, of course. After all, a heathen like me wouldn't know about anything so arty farty. Nevertheless, I'm told that this can actually be, and has been, rented out to be used for weddings.
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