Japan 2013: 大阪 & 京都

Extra from our Ueno day: posing with march koala. Nice high school boys offered to take picture of us yayy!

Okay so, after hanagumi senshuuraku and visiting Disney Land we headed to Osaka by night bus. We had accidentally booked a room from a love hotel! It was kinda far away from the station and hard to find, but it was the cheapest one and kinda near to Takarazuka. The staff were as confused as we were lol. Everytime our doorbell rang, porn started to play on tv ?? ??? ? There was also pantsu vending machine in the closet ? ? ? But the room was nice and BIG. What a funny experience.

Toyonaka was a really pretty place! I'd love to live there.

The next day we were real tourists and visited Kyoto with team S!

We didn't have too much time but we first went to Fushimi Inari Taisha and walked there a bit. Then to Gion in hopes to see a maiko. (and we even saw one!) Then we kind of got lost and walked the long way back to the station..

愛と革命の詩－アンドレア・シェニエ－ / Mr. Swing! 千秋楽

Sunday was the main reason of our trip: Mr. Swing senshuuraku, which meant it'd be the last chance to see our beloved sienne, Harukaze Misato. We planned to go to see irimachi that day, but it had ended before we even got there, and we weren't even very late, maybe at a bit before 9 am?? Well, at least we had time to take tourist pictures at the theatre then. 

Happy but sad girl before the last show of one of her favorite siennes.

Ella's view vs. my view, Ella's is on the 16th row on the 2nd floor and mine in the middle of 16th row on the 1st floor. We had seen the show once before on Thursday, from the first row. But this time we had paid a fortune for the tickets instead of the normal price, and got this kind of seats.  I loved both the play and the revue, but this time I didn't cry nonstop like on the first time. Mostly I just tried to spot Masa and Miichan with opera glasses, whoops. But when the taidan speeches started I also started to cry. (also I was really surprised that I understood almost everything!) Miichan was too beautiful and the sound of all the sobbing fans filled the hall. Some siennes were crying and the rest looked like they were having hard time holding it. 

I'm not good at writing reviews so I'll just say that the show was awesome, and the taidan show was an unique experience. I don't regret spending all the money on that at all. やっぱり花組最高♡

I didn't see Miichan's taidan demachi, because it was a now-or-never chance to find Masa's unofficial fanclub. I found a few fans waiting for her and I was allowed to join them. In the end it was one of the best days of my life. 

Ueno Zoo

I'm writing about the trip in a really random order, depending on what I feel like writing. 

On the 16th we visited Ueno Zoo, because both of us LOVE elephants, but never had seen one.  

The zoo isn't very near the station, but Ueno is really beautiful park-like area in the middle of a huge city, so we were happy to take a walk in there. We really didn't know what way to go, but following lovey-dovey couples and families with small children led us to the entrance.

 We were standing and watching elephants a loooonng time. (surprise) When we came back at the exhibit just before leaving the zoo, one elephant was swinging its trunk like it'd be dancing. ♡ So cute!

 We also love parrots like crazy so here's a cute pic of a lovebird.

The scenery was just so awesome. The weather was especially good that day, it felt like a really warm spring day in Finland

Ella was a happy girl that day ♡

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland was magical. 

We visited Disneyland mainly because our night bus was leaving from there, but I also had dreamed about going there for many years, so why not to spend a few dozens to get in and another for all the merchandise. But the feeling inside the park was super, it was like being in a movie world for one day. We also took (only) one ride, since queuing took so much time. But I honestly think Space Mountain was really worth of 2 hours of waiting, so scary and so cool!

First days in Japan

We've been surprisingly busy all the time here! Leaving the hotel at about 9 am and getting back late at night.

The flight was long and painful. I usually get motion sick easily, and even though I had medicine for that I felt nauseous almost all the 9 hours from Helsinki to Tokyo. Thank god I was able to eat everything and sleep a few hours. Otherwise the flight was really smooth and I think it helped a bit with my fear of flying!

After landing we wandered a bit around the airport and were really confused by the train system. In the end we found ourselves at Tokyo station and then happened to walk to Takarazuka theater to spend our money on Quatre Reves. After getting lost a few times we finally got to our hotel and went to sleep super early.

This is how it looks like around our hotel, いいね！



On 2nd day we got up early to go see irimachi at the theater, after that we went to Harajuku and Shibuya to do some shopping! We also met Momoko at Takeshita dori and she was a great guide there ♡

The next day we bounced around Akihabara, finding otaku stuff and admiring awesome city lights.

After Akihabara it was karaoke time! At first I was really shy to sing alone, but after a while it went fine! There were a bunch of Takarazuka songs and many others I had wanted to sing at karaoke! The little karaoke box was really comfy and the equipment was kinda easy to use after a while. We really need a karaoke culture like this in Finland...

Destination: Japan

In July one of my favorite Takarazuka actresses was announced to retire on November 17th. First I didn't think I could make it there because I didn't want to go alone, but somehow we (me and Ella) managed to gather all the money to go to Japan.

But soon one of my dreams finally comes true: I'm really going to Japan! I've been dreaming about it something like 10 years, and planning a trip for about 5 years more or less seriously. 

I'm actually sitting at Helsinki-Vantaa airport right now, waiting for the flight to depart. Yesterday we went to Tallinn, spent a night in a hotel, and today flew back to Helsinki. Logic? Yes, it was almost 200 euros cheaper that way. And it's good to have an adventure once in a while so why not. (The funniest thing about this is that I live like 5kms away from the airport.) 

In Japan we are going to visit Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Takarazuka, shopping, Disney land, Takarazuka, temples, food, and a bit more shopping... And did I already mention Takarazuka? So much to do and so little time.

行ってきます！