Dessert from 7-11 Japan

Sooo goooood~. It was cake bottom and creamy, fruity center.  Love 😋💖

もう用は済んだ？

I was really confused by this poster in Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan.  It says, "Are you finished?  People are waiting.  Please cooperate and let other people use it."

First of all, I was in a stall in the woman's bathroom, but the poster featured two men.

Second, eating bento in the bathroom stall?  Has Japanese society become so unbearable that people cannot feel comfortable eating outside the bathroom?

Lastly, this must have happened so often that station staff put up a poster for it.  Again, what has happened to the Japanese society?

Ghibli Museum Ticket Buying Process

Originally Posted on 14 June 2023

Buying entrance tickets for Ghibli Museum exemplifies a very typical Japanese business operation.

I tried for two months to buy tickets to no avail.  This month I finally read carefully.  The website stated if I wanted tickets for July, I needed to buy tickets starting 10 June.  Here came 10 June.  Because it was an important task, I decided to use the English website so that I didn't mis-read any information.

The English website put me in a holding pen with 200+ people in front of me, waiting for buy tickets.  I got annoyed.  I went to the Japanese website.  I was able to get in immediately.  Therefore, if you could barely read any Japanese, use the Japanese website.

To buy tickets, I needed to create an online account with Lawson convenience store.  Why Lawson had monopoly over Ghibli Museum entrance tickets, I didn't know, but fine!  All companies wanted my personal information nowadays.  I started creating an account.

• Name:  type in kanji only.  You can copy and paste a random Japanese name off of the internet.  However, this will come back later.
• Phone number:  if you don't have a Japanese cell phone number, you can randomly input ###-####-####.  The website will not call you.  However, you'll need this number when picking up tickets later.  So remember the random numbers you inputted.
• Address:  if you don't have a Japanese address, copy one from any random address you find online.
• Birthday:  o...k...

All right.  An account was created.  I could buy tickets now.  Oh, no.  Ghibli Museum's Japanese website only accepted credit cards issued in Japan.  Foreign credit cards were not allowed.  So I could only reserve the tickets.  I have 48 hours to pick them up.  At Lawson convenience store only.

I went to the closest Lawson to me.  The cashier told me no.  It was a Lawson 100 shop; it did not have a Loppi machine that allowed me to pay for the tickets.

Fine.  I went to a regular Lawson convenience store.  The cashier pointed me to the Loppi machine.  I inputted the phone number that I had used to create the account.  Then Loppi printed out a piece of paper and told me I had 30 minutes to pay for the tickets.

ARE YOU SAYING I WAS NOT ABLE TO PAY AND PICK UP THE TICKETS AT THIS POINT?  WHY THE F?  I already created an online account, reserved tickets online, went to two Lawson stores, used the Loppi machine.  WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?!

I grabbed a few drinks and food in Lawson and went to the cashier to pay for everything.  I finally saw the actual tickets that the cashier grabbed behind the counter.  WHY COULDN'T I JUST COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE TO BUY TICKETS???  Then the cashier wanted me to sign the receipt, in KATAKANA!  WHY THE F!  I inputted my name in the online account in kanji.  Now I need to sign in katakana?  Why the F this language has three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, kanji)?

For the life of me, I couldn't remember how to write my name in katakana while standing in front of the cashier.  So I decided to write my last name in katakana and my first name in hiragana.  The cashier didn't care.  He handed me the tickets without even looking at the receipt.  He probably threw that away as soon as I walked out of the store.

All right.  I finally got my tickets.  Next step is to actually get into the museum.  I probably need to sign my name in blood.

03 July 2023 Update:  Finally arrived at Ghibli Museum.  Three staff checked my tickets before entering.  Why three?  The first staff tore apart the two tickets stuck together and gave one to each me and Math Teacher.  The second staff tore off the entry stubs.  The third one handed me museum guides and another two tickets for a free short movie.  Why one staff couldn't perform all three functions?  That was a very good question.  Why I needed more tickets when I was already inside the museum?  That was another very good question.

Ghibli Museum 1

Ghibli Museum 2

Ghibli Museum 3

Snacks not at Ghibli Museum

Eggslut

Saw this restaurant at Shinjuku train station (Tokyo, Japan).

Eggslut Shinjuku

Is it selling eggs?

But it has a big picture of a hamburger.

But then the word "Luke's" is embedded inside a lobster.

But I thought "Boulange" means bakery.

Maybe "Eggslut" is not English.  I'm not sophisticated enough to understand.  Or I'm simply a dumb American that doesn't speak another language.

Sapporo 6-Days 5-Nights

It wasn't six days.  Day 1 and day 6 were travel days (trains + flights).  So it was really four days only.

Sapporo Snow Festival:  the only reason non-athletic tourists came to Sapporo in winter.  The festival was cancelled for three years due to covid.  This year it finally started back up.  The scale was much smaller with only four giant sculptures.  Some of the smaller snow sculptures looked like the teachers told the students to create one as homework, and the students dumped the snow in a pile and called it a day.

Sapporo Tower

Ice sculptures:  these were much better because they at least looked like they were created by professionals.  They were also in Susukino section of the city, the entertainment section.  We got to see pretty boys and girls billboards everywhere, and a video of a geisha trying to undress.

Suntory Whisky

Dragon God

Wrath of the Ocean

Asahi Beer

Sapporo Beer

Otaru canal candlelight walk:  another must-see for tourists after the snow festival.  It was a very romantic walk because the canal was slippery due to icy snow, and we must hold hands to help each other balance.

Otaru Canal

Sushi & grilled corn

Candlellight

Thriller Karaoke

• Yabuhan Soba:  very popular with foreigners probably because it has detailed English menu.  Good soba noodles, but not good enough for 50-minute wait.

Yabuhan Soba

Hokkaido University Museum:  so what was one to do if one didn't do snow activities?  Museum for us because we wanted to avoid the cold.  It was not a real museum.  It was a school building with each department/major curating their own exhibits.  Some looked like they just stuffed anything on the shelves.  The building was cold; lighting wasn't too good, but at least they had several real and fake prehistoric animal bones.

Hitsujigaoka park: finally we decided it would be a waste if we came to Hokkaido and didn't do any snow activities.  This park was perfect for a beginner like me because it catered to children.  The skiing slope was easier than bunny slope.  Lots of tube sliding opportunities.  I had so much fun.  I didn't trip and fall; a great personal improvement.

Hitsujigaoka Park:  ¥530/person

Food and drink: we were surprised to find specialty coffee shops everywhere.  We had ramen, soba, udon, sushi, bento, Indian, Italian.  Desserts were plenty.  Everything was delicious.

• Organic+:  The grilled avocado & daikon with balsamic vinegar dressing.  So simple yet so good.

Organic+:  grilled avocado & daikon

• 茶語:  a wonderful Chinese tea place on the fourth floor of Daimaru Sapporo Department Store.  The desserts were delicious, but the tea was great.  It was how tea was supposed to be, hot water through roasted tea leaves.  We smelled and tasted simple fragrance of the tea.

This was my third time in Sapporo, all during winter.  Hopefully I'll come back some time to see the city's actual ground not covered by snow.

おせち 2022

The beautiful Japanese new year bento that I must buy every year.  It was delicious, flavor, and colorful.

Kanazawa

This city is so filthy rich.  So wealthy.  So much gold!  Everyone here eats gold and poops gold.  It's unbelievable.

Dragon Sunrise

King of Dragon

Royal Dragon

Desserts with Gold Flakes

Tea at dinner

Breakfast at Tokyu Stay Kanazawa

Moron Cafe

Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Beer

Dark Ale

Koshihikari Ale

Pale Ale

Shirakawa-Go UNESCO site

Shirakawa-Go was so beautiful.  It was so difficult to get to, but we got lucky.  What a beautiful sunny day.  Everything was bright and colorful.  We even hiked a tiny hill for 10 minutes.