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Asakusa Kannon Temple: Robbing the Gods
While the rooms in the Shinjuku Prince Hotel were stingy with its room space, their restaurant's breakfast buffet spread was anything but. A heavy feast of Bacon & Eggs later, the entourage was ready all upbeat and ready to battle the rainy weather that awaited us; of course with a little aid from the stylish little transparent umbrellas that the Japs used, which shielded my crown, yet retained the visual glory of beholding it, very nice.A visit to the Asakusa Kannon Temple first thing in the morning had as witnessing the local folk setting up stalls for an upcoming festival, in spite of the rain that had me fully-zipped and shivering. The temple had the architecture of a traditional Chinese temple, yet with a temple trademark of a distinctively Japanese lantern.
A 100-yen donation entitled one to shake for a lot of fortune, where customary to keep the good lots, but tie the bad ones to a rack or something if Lady Luck was graceful. The one thing that I learnt was not to rob from the gods, as Serena tried to be a cheapskate, and not donate the 100 yen, and the gods gave her the divinely bad lot. Later when she decided to show a bit more material grace, the gods apparently returned in kind by giving her an OK lot. Yet, the gods seemed to be kind to the notoriously ill-lucked Sheng; and Sujun thought her message symbolically enlightening.
Shopping in the stalls that lined the temple streets yielded a bountiful harvest of traditional Japanese trinkets and souvenirs. The only problem was the umbrellas and the height of a particular minion walking next to me, as SHE was just the right height to drive her umbrella into my BEAUTIFUL face more than once. The pain made me wanna goof off with a set of Traditional Japanese Mask that I saw, but the watchful eye of the shopkeeper kept me from transforming into Mr. Karate.
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The first thing that struck me when I entered the Magical Kingdom was that somehow, it didn't manage to capture the same essence of the other Disneylands that I've been to. I'm not too sure if this is a hereditary disease that my dad passed to me; the loss-of-amazement-at-the-Disney-magic-with-the-increase-in-age-and-number-of-visits-sitis, or was it really a little underwhelming compared to the Europe and US ones. But still, since I was already standing in the Magical Kingdom, I figured I might as well try to immerse myself into the whole atmosphere and relive my childhood wonder again (minus the Dumbo ride).
Seconds before I kicked Kuma-no-Pooh-san's Ass
The Count, his castle and his Minions
The entourage decided to go for the most thrilling ride first, a recommendation Space Mountain. Queue times were MUCH shorter than Universal Studio thankfully, as the little lambs, Sheng and the China-man, considered bailing out of the queue as the anticipation chewed at them. The ride was very different from what I remembered it to be. It splendidly recreated the atmosphere and sensation of taking a high-speed space craft through a winding path in space, complete with the light-speed effect at the end. Fellow Disney-veteran Siwei agreed that this was probably even better than the US one. And while the ride was not half as thrilling those in USJ, my insistence was / is that "Disney is not about the thrill, its all about the ambience."
But this new-found rekindling quickly dissipated after the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. A stupid kids ride that had us riding this slow-ass vehicle shooting targets with a laser gun as we moved along, not exactly my idea of re-living my childhood. My score sucked for the first half of the ride, till the ride stopped midway and I opportunistically exploited the same target over and over till my points skyrocketed. The worst part: only discovering we could rotate the entire vehicle in the last 10 seconds of the ride. What was more fun however, was goofing off in the store that we exited into, and pulling the China-man along as penance for suggesting the ride.
Now do you think I'm Good-Looking?
The magic was short-lived for some however, as half the entourage were in a hurry to grow up and head for the mayhem of Shibuya. I pitched for a split partially because I didn't believe in spending 8 hours shopping in Shibuya, and also because I wanted to remain as Peter Pan a little longer.
My boyish charisma managed to buy 4 people to my cause (even though I WAS prepared to stay there alone if need be), the couple and Sujun (surprisingly), were willing to play my Wendy, John and Michael (make that a Michelle in this case); while the other 4 braved the rain to leave Never Never Land. With an agreed 6pm rendezvous at Shibuya Station, we had approximately 4 hours to find Tinkerbell and strangle the essence of the Disney Magic out of her.
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Capturing the Magic in 4 Hours
4 Hours is REALLY too short to navigate a theme park with 7 worlds and some 40 rides (including the likes of Dumb-ass Dumbo), and considering the queue times (even IF it was a Thursday), it meant that I had to use my suppressed-years of Disney experience to skip the details and grab the essence of the Disney magic, in 4 simple steps:
1) Fill yourself with Disney Magic: Disneyland Lunch
Description: "The magic has to come from the inside" is what they always say in romance novels or sappy movies. Well, no better way to put this saying to literal meaning than to buy ourselves a surprisingly reasonably-priced Disney Pizza meal, complete with Mickey Mouse Cream Puffs, and internalizing some Disney magic. Too bad as with all things internalized, it'll probably "externalize" at some point or another. Verdict: The reasonable price was accompanied by a rather satisfying meal.
Why was it Essential?: It was lunch, and it was the best use of our time waiting for the heavy rain to simmer down. 'Nuff said.
2) Seeking World Peace: It's a Small World
Description: A trademark Disney boat ride that showcased a miniature alternate-reality world of little mannequins that represented different cultures and promoted the message of world peace. If the sights in the ride failed to get the message across to you, the repeated playing of the song will surely hypnotize you into believing it.
Verdict: Harmless, and sickeningly sweet. My mum's favourite Disney ride probably.
Why was it Essential?: Can you say you've been touched by the Disney magic if you don't believe in World Peace and don't hate the smelly fuck sitting next to you on the bus? I didn't think so.
3) The (Epi)Tome of Ambience: Haunted Mansion
Description: Using cool special effects, the Haunted Mansion ride was more hauntingly beautiful than it was meant to scare the living hell out of us. The way in which they built the atmosphere and anticipation up for the ride in the lift has always been a memorable moment in Disney for me.
Verdict: If Disney is all about ambience, then the Haunted Mansion ride is the epitome of this. Very cool stuff.
Why was it Essential?: Probably one of the best rides in terms of atmosphere created, a pity the movie sucked ass.
4) Mountain to Molehill: Thunder Mountain Railroad
Description: The second most visible landmark in Disneyland besides the big-ass castle, Thunder Mountain Railroad is a semi-roller-coaster train ride that takes you through a winding rides in the gold mines.
Verdict: The US one had the Dinosaur bones, the European version had the train splashing through water, and the Japanese one had... American 20th Century Gold Miners who could speak Japanese. Very mild.
Why was it Essential?: The mountian is a landmark of Frontier land and practically screams "Ride me" at you when you look at it.
Manliness is a contagious Disease
Queue times left us too constrained to really venture into Critter Country or Adventureland (damn!), making us miss some good rides like Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean (I wonder if they found a way to put Jack Sparrow into the ride?), and Jungle Cruise. I really wished we had the time to stay a little longer. But either way, the magic of Disney in me was rejuvenated enough to believe that my kid deserves to grow up to Disney (that is IF the Mentos doesn't get to me / him first). Still, the cruelty of time forced us to leave Never Never Land and grow into REAL men (and women). Oh well, at least we got to eat our Maple Churros and left with "A small world" still ringing in our heads. And it was probably the time that I actually bonded with the couple the most, since most of the time, they were quite in a world of their own.
Real Men Don't Care About Schoolgirls looking at them Pose
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Shibuya: Metropolitan Mayhem
A little navigation on the seemingly complex subway system of Tokyo got us to Shibuya without too much trouble, except wondering why the train stopped at lesser stops than what we counted (which I found out later was due to different express subway services). Meeting up with the rest of the empty-handed entourage allowed us to gain two pieces of information, the place was confusing as hell, and that the stuff they sold were expensive as hell.
Surfacing from the subway station, the first thing that caught my attention was the HUGE LCD screens at a very busy junction, with multitudes upon multitudes of fashionable Jap people crossing in all directions. While I had gotten used to seeing cross-junction pedestrian-crossings by then, this particular crossing at Shibuya was even more radical. It was practically an asterisk, and for one minute or so, all cars would stop and chaotic-pedestrian-mayhem would ensue. This junction was also the junction that is regarded as a Tokyo landmark, with cameos in the Amazing Race and Death Note.
However, I didn't know that THAT was the junction that I was looking for till a few days later, as I clearly remembered there being some bronze statue; and since I couldn't find the statue, I didn't think it the landmark that I was seeking. It was only later, that I found out that the statue of a loyal dog, Hachiko, was supposedly melted down and stolen by a group of masked robbers, and the process was caught on video. The irony of removing the statue of a loyal dog from its guard post sounds rather intentional, if you ask me.
Shibuya is basically a fan-shaped area from the junction, with a centre main road running through it and probably 3 or 5 other small veins in the fan. Thousands of shops littered either side of either road in the entire area. The area was practically Orchard Road on steroids and Ecstasy at the same time. People were VERY fashionably dressed, as if it was a silent code amongst them that this WAS the area to see and be seen. Particularly eye-catching were the Shibuya chics, (artificially) tanned gals who would dye their locks a strikingly shade of white or even rainbow-coloured, for the effect of stark contrast. Either way, the overwhelmingly-fashionable people probably made the entire entourage seem touristically-underdressed, even the Rock Star, and that's saying quite a lot.
Dinner was a reasonable and pleasant affair of Tori-don. And a little walking in the famous Shibuya-109s later, but the prices had us beckoning for a quick exit. Coincidence was probably playing her hand as we caught some familiar faces as we were exiting Shibuya 109, which is really queer, how I don't seem to run into such coincidences in puny Singapore and yet can find the needle in the Japanese haystack.
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Shinjuku: Enter Mighty Exaggerate Legendary Fish - Ootoro
The hunt for the much-hyped legendary Fatty Tuna Belly took us back to Shinjuku, to a Sushi Bar that has been at the back of our minds since the night before. The arrogant claim of "when I am not around, you all can't seem to find your way" by a member of the entourage who was out due to bodily weakness the night before left quite a few imaginary fist at the verge of his nose-bridge.
Still, a little navigation and a little difficulty in communicating with the poor waiter later, we were presented with our 400-yen-per-piece (SGD 6) slices of heaven. An initial nibble to the edge of heaven actually registered "fruit" rather than Sashimi. Somehow, the texture of the legendary fish tasted like... watermelon. Sure, it was an obvious grade above the normal Maguro (Tuna Sashimi) that we normally eat, but it didn't give me the melt-in-your-mouth orgasmic feel that I had anticipated. A little overrated.
While the gourmets at the conveyor strip went on to order other exquisite cuisine, the Mickey Mouse Club settled for a cheaper combination Sashimi plate of regular Sashimi. Surprisingly, the regular Sashimi was not so regular after all, in fact, it was EXCELLENT. Great value for money, especially when you consider the fact that 3 out of 4 of the gourmets had some sort of bowel disorder after that.
The last night of memories for some, and comfort for others, ended on a definitive low, as the entourage failed to capture the essence of the final night and let it slip away into peaceful slumber.. a waste I would think, considering they had days ahead to sleep all they wanted back in their respective abodes, but well, to each his own.
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