DAY 1
- Arrived in Tokyo to snow (ice/sludge) everywhere which was amazing because I've never seen that much snow in a city before. It's a shame I didn't actually get to see it snowing
- Got to our accommodation, starving, walked over to Coco Curry in Shibuya and man have I missed that curry. It was a great first meal on a cold winter day.
- Tried a cute little warm tea from a vending machine which had a slight corn flavour to it
DAY 2
- Got Ichiran Ramen for brunch. The place was pretty cool because they had individual booth that could be opened up if with a group. I also loved the taste of the ramen here.
- Walked over to Harajuku and never realised how close the walk was from Shibuya
- Went shopping in Harajuku, got crepes and takoyaki
- Walked back to our accommodation
- A whole mishap happened where we were running late to get to the concert venue for VIXX LR and I was a mess and almost started crying but it all worked out in the end and we got there before the show started, thank god.
- VIXX LR concert was one of the best concerts I have been to and I'm so happy I got the chance to go. Everything from the setlist, to the stage, to the lighting was perfect. They performed 'Beautiful Liar' first and I started crying, 'Whisper' also made me cry but it was just such a good show I was so happy that night.
- We bought our tickets from people I met on twitter and they were /so/ nice about everything it was so cool
- Back to Harajuku and got Tsukemen Ramen which was really nice
- Did a taste test with things we bought from the convenience store
DAY 3
- Jenny and I went to Tower Records to buy my Up10tion albums so I could go to their fan meet
- Tried convenience store buns and we fell hard for these. I think with the weather, they were just perfect, I ended up eating so many this trip. My favourites were the curry bun and the pizza bun. Honestly, try them if you go to Japan.
- Went to this other venue where LR were having their 'handshake' event. Yes that's right, we went their to shake their hands and it was awesome. We met a couple of American girls there and one of the girls who I bought my concert tickets from was also there so we hung out with her. There was another dilemma where I started panicking about not getting to do the handshake so we bought another album but it all worked out and we ended up with two handshake passes so got to touch Taekwoon and Wonsik's hands twice. They were so beautiful, the handshake went by so quickly so I just said thank you the first time then I thanked them for coming to Australia.
I flew to another country for these guys and I know it sounds crazy but it just made me so happy I have no regrets about doing this.
- Walked around/shopped for a bit. The food department in the Isetan department centre was insane. Everything was so neatly organised and so fancy looking, I was stupid and forgot to save my photos from here so I'm kicking myself now.
-Got Sushi for dinner and I'm not the biggest fan of raw fish so I didn't try much but now I'm regretting not trying more, maybe I could have changed my mind about raw fish.
- Bought some Japanese alcohol (because the bottles were pretty) and mixed it with the soft drinks we bought...good stuff
DAY 4
- Got chicken skewers for breakfast and took a train to Yomiuri Land which is an amusement park where Up10tion were holding their mini fanmeet
- Took a cable car to get to the park which was quite nice. The weather was perfect that day, it was nice and sunny but still chilly.
- We had time to kill until the fanmeet started so we walked around and got churros (with pretty blue sugar) (jenny also got dippin dots).
- The fanmeet was inside this hall, we all went in and we didn't have a ticket so the front section was all filled up but still got good seats since the place wasn't full
- Up10tion came out in their red suits and my eyes went straight to Sooil because damn boy is so good looking. It's funny because when I watched their new music video I wasn't feeling him as much as some of the other members but seeing him in real life, it was hard to look anywhere but at him.
They performed 'Wild Love' and a ballad from their new Japanese album and played games and were just being silly on stage. They were so cute and funny I'm so happy I got to see them again even if it was just for a short time.
After this I lined up for my photo with Sooil. It was different from the time I did this with History, much more restricted for time, they check your phone before you go up to the member and you're only allowed to take two photos, there was no limit with History which was nice because you got to talk to them for a bit while they took photos but this felt really rushed.
I got to Sooil and he was so beautiful, we said hi and I told him I saw him at kcon and he was like oh you're from Australia and I said yes and he held my hand, OUR HANDS INTERLOCKED YO. Then he took the photos and OUR FACES TOUCHED and I was dying internally because he smiled and I wanted to pass out. But yes as I said, this was really rushed and so after the photos I went to walk off the stage and Gyujin turned around and waved at me and BOY WHY YOU SO CUTE
Luckily I still have these photos.
It was time for the signings next so I went back and stood in line. From where I was standing, I could see Sooil, Minsoo and Jinwook and boy they were all so beautiful, it was amazing. Once I got to Sooil, wait let me write down what I remember.
M: Hi!
S: Hi
*Sooil started to sign the card*
M: I saw you guys in Australia at KCON and you were amazing
S: Ah KCON was very hmm (then he was trying to think of the word to say in English but said something in Korean which I didn't understand, then he turned to Minsoo and asked him for the word but Minsoo didn't know either so he turned back to me and was all hmm...hmm..)
S: Exciting?
M: Yeah!
S: Yes KCON and Australia was very exciting!
M: I have a question for you (then handed him my shitty note book paper with my question)
M: What makes you happy?
He looked down at the question then looked up at me
S: Honey10 (the fandom name)
I started giggling (yes I know) and he started giggling too
M: That's cute (still giggling)
Then he wrote Honey10 on my paper and wrote something else, looked at me again
S: You make me happy
I Know it's cheesy as hell and it's all fan service but oh boy let me tell you it was a miracle I didn't pass out after he said that to me while smiling at me with that beautiful smile. Anyway I started giggling even more
M: You make me happy too
Then he was giggling again and we were just looking at each other and oh man it was perfect
Then he held my hands and I didn't pass out again, thanked me for coming and I told him to come back to Australia.
We stayed until all the signing was done then left the amusement park. I was on cloud 9, everything felt perfect at that moment. The weather was beautiful and I had just met one of my biases and it was glorious.
That night we went out to Shinjuku and had shabu shabu for dinner
DAY 5
Went to Harajuku for fluffy pancakes. It was my first time trying Japanese pancakes and I was a fan, however my favourite thing I had from that pancake place was the creme bruleed bananas. After hanging out in Harajuku for a little longer, I headed off to Shin Okubo to meet up with my friend Miranda. I admit I was a little nervous about this because it had been two years since I met Miranda at the History event and I wondered if i would be awkward since we haven't actually spent that much time together before but it was great! We walked through Shin Okubo which is known as Korea town as there a lot of Korean shops and resturants in that area. We walked through this street which has been coined "Hot guy street" because a lot of predebut rookie kpop groups hang around there and try and get people to go to their shows.
We went to a cafe and talked for a while. It's just so nice how easy it is talking to someone who has similar interests as you, it was so nice seeing her and getting to spend time with her that day. We then headed to a concert venue where Miranda was taking me to a concert for a group she really likes called Circus Crazy. They're a Korean group but pretty much only promote and perform in Japan and have quite a tiny fanbase. Outside the venue, everyone seemed to know each other so lots of people were saying hi to Miranda and asked about me because I obviously stood out. They were all so lovely to me, it was nice meeting them even with the language barrier. The venue was a tiny little place, really intimate with less than 50 fans there. The group don't have a lot of original songs out yet so the show consisted mostly of covers but it was a fun show. One thing i thought was really cool was that their lightstick has a different colour for each member so you can set it to whoever your bias is or set it to a certain member when they performed a solo song.
As soon as the show ended, we were herded upstairs because another group was performing straight after. That's another thing, I never knew about this culture of tiny kpop groups trying to get their name out in Japan, none which have debuted yet in Korea and I found out that in a venue like the one we went to, there can be around 5 shows in the one day.
Upstairs was where all the fan meet stuff was happening, initially I was just going to buy a polaroid but Miranda convinced me to also get a sign. Because it was my first show, I also got a free selfie pass with one member. I chose Mingyu who is Miranda's favourite member. The photo time was really short so I didn't really say much.
The polaroid was next and for this, you're allowed to bring in as many people as you want so I got Miranda to come into the photo with me. She told them all that I was her friend from Australia and to be nice. I stood between Mingyu and Daehan and oh man Daehan was so cute. He was holding onto me the whole time and was really clingy and cute and when I was about to leave, he was all "no don't leave and wouldn't let go of my hands" then the other member, Kevin who's American called me back "don't go, I didn't get to shake your hand" they were so nice, it was was great. Even the photographer girl was really nice and it was such a great new experience.
For the signing, Miranda went first and I heard Kevin asking questions about me to which she told him to just ask me himself, I thought that was funny. Minghyu was first and he asked me how to spell my name to write it down and it was almost comical how long it took because of my accent and the language barrier. He then held my hands and sort of just looked at me for a really long time which was so intense haha I mean he's good looking and was staring at me, I got nervous. Kevin was next, he asked me my name and if I always lived in Australia, I thanked him for the show and he was very nice. Daehan was cute once again, we only said a couple of things to each other.
After everyone was done, we went downstairs where the guys came down and said their goodbyes and then it was all over.
Miranda then took me to some shops where they sell kpop merch, I had unfortunately run out of money at this point so I couldn't buy everything I wanted.
We then parted and I made my way to meet up with Jenny and Ayontika to get dinner. We tried to find the place where we ate the magical chicken nanban from our first Japan trip but the area had changed and we couldn't find it so we went to another place and had skewers and other bar food.
Oh dear I just realised I started off well with shorter dot points but I've gone back into writing long passages...my bad
DAY 6
This day is honestly a bit of a blur so the events I remember from this day either happened this day or another day.
- Had brunch at Ichiran Ramen
- Did a bit of shopping in Shibuya
Wow my memory of this day is really bad? I wish I had photos to jog my memory
- Went back to Shin Okubo and bought some kpop merch
- We had tempura for dinner
Day 7
- Tik was staying in Japan longer than us so we parted from her and made our way to the train station. We left our luggage there then went back to Harajuku for some last minute shopping.
- Back to the station then took a bus to the airport then home
It was such a short trip but it was completely wonderful. Tokyo is one of, if not my favourite city that I have visited so I loved going back. Tik told me that this week was filled with everything I loved and that's so accurate. Travelling, fangirling, food, I just love the freedom that comes with being on holidays, getting away from everything, combine that with concerts and there's no better feeling.
