Buggery!

I'm not sure if this is a global trend, or a kid's 'thing', but on Planet Japan, bugs are big.

We were down at Toys 'R' us this weekend trying to pickup a present for Nicole's friend and right in the centre of the store they were selling... bugs.

Bloody Big Bugs! Not little ants or tiny termites or squishy worms, these are gigantic horned beetles from South America!


These tough little buggers have travelled all the way from some latin american third world hovel, only to be sold in Odaiba to a little snot-nosed Japanese kid. Apparently they sell very well even at US$25-30 a piece and they're rather hardy, a small slice of fruit will keep them going for weeks...


Certainly not my cup of tea, wouldn't want one in the house, what if the little bugger escaped and I sat on it... we'd both be well and truly buggered.

Random Pics

PACHINKO! You won't believe the noise in the palour, it drowns out everything. The way it works is you have to collect the little stainless steel balls and you can trade them in for cash or gifts... ironically, most of the large Pachinko parlours are owned by the... Koreans.

Proof that you can buy almost anything from vending machines... this one sells brollys.

Japanese 'HDB' apartments in Chiba...

View from the top

Over the weekend we had lunch at the top of Ebisu Garden Tower, on the 39th floor. The chinese food was mediocre but the view was spectacular. In truth, the beauty of Tokyo lies up close, when you wonder around the back streets and alleyways and experience the charming stores, smell the grilled chicken from a yakatori restaurant, see the traditional details of old wooden buildings and touch the intricate handicraft.

When you look at Tokyo all the way from the top... it looks like shit.

I've never used a GPS set in Singapore and never needed one (which makes me wonder about some Singaporean posers who have GPS systems in their cars, you know who you are...), but looking at this picture you can see why one would need a good in-car GPS system to navigate the crazy streets of Tokyo. This photo is but a small section of the city, imagine another 1000 similar photos pieced together and you can realize the maze in which we live in.

Furthermore, that's just above ground, now imagine the same amount of commuter traffic under the city and you'll have a clearer picture of the Tokyo train system. Throw in a quake or a godzilla attack and you have absolute chaos...

DisneySea

After a long golden week here in Japan, I decided to take an extra day off and take the family down to Disney Sea. As it turned out, it was the perfect time to go. The weather was great and the golden week crowd was back at work, the park was large but the infamous long queues were practically non-exsistant. The longest wait we faced was all of 15 minutes... perfect!

As Mei and Nicole had already been to Disneyland, we decided to checkout DisneySea, according to them, it is a much better park, with newer attractions and newer facilities. The prices were exhorbitant! ¥5800 for an adult and ¥3800 for a child, to top it off, another ¥2000 to park. We chose to drive because a train ride would have taken over an hour, but from Shinagawa and by the shutto expressway, the drive only took 20 minutes.

The moment you enter the park, it's an assault on the senses, a huge musical spectacular was going on, right in the middle of the bay. Of course all the characters were singing in japanese... very, very strange indeed. The park is clearly geared for the home crowd, imagine Indiana Jones screaming in japanese, or Mickey giggling in japanese... Planet Japan. Even the weird Harajuku girls in there maid and princess costumes fit right in, it was hard to tell whether they were park visitors or park employees... But, having lived here for close to 6 months, there's not much that'll bother me anymore.

All-in-all a mickeylicious time to be had by all.

The Tower of Terror, 3 went in, then 2 chickened out...

A real ship, converted to a lounge and restaurant.

Lunch buffet at one of the countless restaurants within the park...

Can I pick a flower... or two?

Venice in Chiba... very odd.

Jules Verne's Nautilus, perfectly replicated.

What's a visit to Disney without a merry-go-round ride?

I wonder if my water bottle will float, if I threw it in...

End of the day.