Vampire in Japan: Day 10 - Sinking into the Sea of Imagination

21st May 2007

Khaosan Tokyo Annex, Asakusa: Backpacking through the Mind

A closing zip and a torturous climb down 4 storeys marked the end of our 3-night stay in the hostel. While I was extremely apprehensive about the accomodation facilities and conditions initially, the actuality of the situation was rather far from that. I probably still wouldn't say that the stay was anywhere near comfortable, especially when compared to the private rooms with WORKING air-cons in the hotels the week before, but it was definitely more than bearable.

But the biggest insight I gained over the last 3 days was the whole culture behind backpacking / budget accomodation. Over the last 3 days, I had chatted with people from all over the world, small talk, life stories, just something to say to pass time as we were queueing for the bathroom; people from all walks of life from all over the world, a Thai phD. student from the Netherlands, a couple from India, a gal from Holland, a couple from Singapore; everyone had their own little story to tell, own little plans to make, talking about the places they had visited, the places they came from, the places they were going; yet amidst all this, I never once learned any of their names.

I was quite sure they would be receptive towards a proper introduction, and probably even the exchanging of emails or such, but it was entirely in your hands, if you wanted the person to be potentially another acquaintance for the cosmopolitan in you, or purely a passer-by in a foreign land. Fast-friends were probably easy to make under these settings, and the bar only served to further this purpose if you were open to it. Of course there are issues of trust and privacy involved for the less adventurous or less trusting, but I personally left the hostel with a feeling that I would like to experience this sorta culture again, some time else perhaps, some where else maybe.

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Asakusa: Just Like A Pill

We trekked to the train station with our luggage as we surveyed the feasibility of Bob's plan of leaving our luggage at the train station lockers, only to be solemnly warned by the old station master that the lockers were only valid till 1am, after which a fine would be incurred. With this revelation, it occured to all of us that we had to plan our solo flights bearing this stipulation in mind.

Zombie Bob made a quick exit as his intention for his solo day was in Kamakura, an area a little off-Tokyo and had to rush to catch his train. The China-man and I had a lot more time to spare, and headed to Mac to FINALLY get a bite of the Tamago Double Mac, after days of empty talk. It lived up to the hype that Serena generated when she tried it a few days back, two slices of beef patty, cheese, bacon and a nice Egg McMuffin-style egg at the heart of it all, its surprising that its not an staple on the international Mac Menu.

Hunger causes Delusions

The primitive simplistic needs of the China-man and I turned to shelter the moment our hunger was satisfied, as we headed down to the nearby Capsule Hotel that I had sourced online the night before. An amiable old lady greeted us as we entered the building, as we used our broken Japanese and simple English to try to ask her about room booking and to let us see the capsules. The 4th night of our extension was intentionally left free so that we could explore more adventurous forms of accomodation. My intentions were firmy set on either the Love Hotel (preferably with company, but alone if not), or the Capsule Hotels (after watching The Amazing Race). The Experential in me delighted in the novelty of culturally exclusive accomodation such as these, and it was a pity that time didn't leave me enough room to try both.

Capsule Hotels are relatively cheap hotels for tourists or drunk / unlucky locals who missed the last train and refuse to pay for the exhorbidant cabs (for good reason). The rooms usually consists of two rows of (space) capsules (or some like to liken them to coffins) for sleeping in. Each capsule consists of enough space for sitting up, and contains a small overhead TV set, a control panel for the TV, air-con and radio, and also a little machine if you decide to buy porn and let everyone else on the floor hear the moans of horny women as you wank off to the best porn. VERY COOL.

The idea of sleeping in anything remotely like a coffin instantly sold the Vampire on the idea, and the novelty managed to convince the China-man enough to cancel his reservation with another hostel for a different exprience as well, despite his claustrophobia. An unconventional reservation through a ticketing machine (despite the old lady sitting at the counter), and a good 3,000 yen sealed our fates for the night. Storing our remaining stuff in the given lockers later, separation anxiety kicked into full gear as the China-man and I parted ways to fly solo through the Japanese metropolis to meet our different agendas.

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Tokyo Disneysea: Sinking into the Sea of Imagination

Reverse engineering came into full play as I navigated the subways of Tokyo to the Maihama station at the fringe of the metropolis. Every seasoned sailor knows the need for the preperation of the proper food supplies and rum for a voyage, and it just so happens that the Vampire's appetite is small enough to have the two necessities packed into one small box of Brandy and Orange Kit-Kat. Tasted rather familiar, but I just couldn't put my finger on its point of reference.

A short wait on the monorail docking bay, 3 stations in the Mickey Train, and 5,500 Yen (SGD 70+) poorer, I was all set to embark on my journey into the Sea of Imagination. Tokyo Disneysea is a 5-year old Disney Theme park exclusive to Japan, and features rides based on other popular imaginative works aside from the Disney staple. I wonder if its due to copyright issues that can only be secured in Japan? Similar to Disneyland, Disneysea was (aptly) divided into 7 seas, and I was all set to play a vampiric Sindbad out to chart an experential seachart.

Mediterranean Harbor

Greeted by an contrast to the scene at the entrance, I witnessed throngs of Japs sitting around waiting for the Grand water parade that was about to take place in 15 minutes. The Mediterranean waterfront was a serene tribute to the land and the time of classic street lamps and cultural buildings. While I had initially intended to slyly skirt by the crowd to the rides while they were distracted by the parade, a little camera problem had me staying in the zone long enough for the parade to start and catch my attention.

The parade was a spectacular potpourri of boats, water spouts and fireworks, but as with the fundamental problem with all things in Japan, the show was entirely in Japanese and I could only be dazzled by the spouts and sparkles SO many times. Albeit getting lost in translation, the show was rather impressive, probably more so than that of the grand parade at Disneyland. Then again, maybe looking at some Chic on a platform in the middle of the sea appealed to me a lot more than the waving pants-less obese retarded Bear with jaundice that deserves a nice middle-finger.

American Waterfront

A classic 1940s American decor lined the streets of this harbor. Housing an almost life-sized sail boat, a lighthouse and traditional American yachts, this particular sea proved to capture the essence of historical America, but Deja Vu quickly set in as comparisons were drawn to Frontierland in Disneyland, which had a similar 1940s concept. Either way, the setting resounded my earlier statement about "Disney being all about the ambience", a statement further set in stone with the highlight of the American Waterfront.

There has to be an Obvious reason why the Janitor taking the photo used "Po-su" instead of "Chee-su"

The highlight of the sea had to be the theme park's newest ride, the Tower of Terror. A 35-minute queue time built up the anticipation for the free-fall experience. Memories of the Haunted Mansion seeped into my mind as I witnessed the magical presentation prior to the ride. The ride proper was a sugar-coated adrenaline rush, seated in a lift while the lift ascended, opening at different floors, showing a little of the Japanese jibberish storyline, the lift continued to rise, sunlight streamed in, blinding me momentarily, when I recovered my visual focus, I realised I was overlooking Disneysea through a window in the building, and then... Freefall. A short sharp jerking stop, before the process repeated. The adrenaline... addictive; the ambience... absolute. In short, my favourite ride between both theme parks.

Terror on Terror

Port Discovery

Similarities to Disneyland continued to stream in as in sailed into Port Discovery, a futuristic-themed space port very much in the vein of Tomorrowland. The whole zone was a little small, and only housed 3 not terribly exciting rides. The Electric Railway was a sure pass, as it looked like a potential afternoon-napping spot considering its leisure pace; while Aquatopia was a two-seater ride which made you rotate around a giant pool with not-so-convicing scares or being led through fountains and waterfalls. I gave that a pass as well as I thought it would probably look retarded for a grown rock-star to feint mock-fear of getting wet alone despite fully knowing that the ride leaves you very much high and dry (maybe not so much high).

On the Contrary, taking the ride would make me more of a Pussy than skipping it.

In the end, I only submitted to the Storm Rider, a(nother) 4-D ride which was quite a bastard hybrid of say, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and well, Shrek 4-D, inclusive of the water-spitting and the inappropriate Jap-dub. A flight experience about delivering a missle or something to the eye of a storm provided the narrative backdrop for the lots of tilting, tumbling and excessive water-spitting. I've always been on the fence with this kinda 4-D rides, and this ride didn't do anything to change my opinion.

Deceptively Wetter than the other Ride

Lost River Delta

Anticipation built as I made my way into Lost River Delta, a jungle-themed land complete with psuedo-Mayan pyramids. The land only featured two rides, but supposedly two of the more exciting ones in the whole park. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull gave me a shocking sense of Deja Vu as I winded through the queueing rooms to the start of the ride. Childhood memories of the ride in Euro-Disney overloaded my senses as I sat in anticipation for the ride to start. I remembered it to be a rather fast and jerky ride... well, I either grew up fast or my memory didn't serve me very well, as this time round, it felt a lot less jerky, and even less fast.

Raging Spirits was touted as a "roller coaster with a 360 degree loop," something which I thought was rare for a Disney ride. Upon sight, I felt that my mantra of "Not about the thrill; but its all about the ambience" towards Disney came around and kicked me in my vampiric ass, as it really wasn't about the thrill... AT ALL. The roller coaster was small, and yes, there was a 360-degree loop alright, a REALLY virgin-tight one. The ride was as underwhelming as it looked, as I kept my hands up throughout trying to give myself a high from the risk of having my hands getting stuck in the overhanging pieces of wood.

Arabian Coast

I could have sworn that Euro-Disney had some Arabian / Aladdin-themed as well as I continued to dig out some seemingly repressed Disney-memories from my childhood. The rides were totally new though, a Caravan Carousel with horses substituted with Genies, a Magic Lamp Theater special effects show which was closed or I had missed the timing or something, and Sinbad's Storybook Voyage (how ironic, consider my earlier reference in this entry). Irony drew me to the Sindbad ride and man, was it irony at its fullest, considering the ride almost put me to sleep with its Small-world-esque leisure-boat-ride pacing, and some stupid Japanese theme song REPEATEDLY blaring into my ears. I could have sworn I had momentary narcotic spells throughout the ride. Oh well, at least I left the ride with the "Follow the compass of your heart" theme song ringing in my head... great.

Abusing Random Janitors to assist in my Photowhoring...

What was really surprising though, was that despite all the rides, they had MUCH shorter queue lengths than that of a little games stand, in which Jap kids tried to roll the balls up some pseudo-bowling thing to win plush toys. I guess the appeal of the Baby Mickey plush is too much for a cute Jap chic or her metrosexual boyfriend to resist.

....Again and Again

Mermaid Lagoon

The mandatory kid's area of Disneysea. Deceptively plain from the exterior, a walk to the interior astounded with a perfect "Under the Sea" ambience, carefully crafted to exquisite detail. The rides, while too mild for my liking, were carefully chosen to fit into the theme of the zone, such as a Jumpin' Jellyfish ride which featured, *ahem* Jumping Jellyfish lift-like things, or a Sea-themed playground. Everything felt totally in place in this land, and it was probably the land with the most cohesive ambience in the entire park, despite its target market being tots who probably couldn't tell better.

Mysterious Island

The final leg of the voyage took me to Mysterious Island, within the heart of the Central Volcano, Mount Prometheus. The interior of the beastly volcano looked liked it had been thoroughly ravaged by 19th-century explorers, complete with mine-carts and steam equipment. It was a pity that the volcano only housed 2 rides, both based on the works of Jules Verne. I relished the originality of these rides as they not only gave a more than competent visual depiction of the stories that I read in my childhood, playing right to my imagination.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth was a rather thrilling roller-coaster ride through the hollows of the volcano that managed to provide both small-adrenaline rushes and imaginative visual scenes from the pages of the novel, or at least what I remember from it. Oh, and in classic Disney fashion, it was given the pre-ride ambience building treatment which had you riding down a lift with increasing temperature as you felt the lift going lower and lower.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea served less adrenaline on its platter, but held up in the imaginative visual department pretty well. Sitting in 3-man capsules, each capsule was surrounded by some plastic and water bubbles which gave an illusion of being underwater while witnessing a Giant Squid frying its electrical ass off. Quite cool I must say, and the 2 rides were easily 2 of the best Disneysea had to offer.

Return to Mediterrean Harbor

The spirit of Columbus took me on a round trip back to my starting point, as I marked the end of my voyage. I climbed a fort to explore its secrets back in the Mediterranean Harbor, and also to get a final view of the landscape under the evening sky. The dazzling rows of traditional street lamps gave the Mediterranean Harbor a totally different look in contrast to what I perceived of it in the day. I stood at the top of the fort, admiring the view while cursing myself for fiddling with my camera problem so much in the day that the battery couldn't hold out long enough for me to grab a photo of the scene. Thoughts of asking passer-bys to help me grab a photo of the view flushed through my mind, as I really wanted to capture the essence of the moment. Language played a hindering part however, and ironically, language is all I can use now to recollect the essence of the moment.

A lone vampire, standing at the top of the fort, recollecting his thoughts and experiences to one whole day of fun alone. Sure, theme parks would probably be more fun with more people; but I sure was glad I didn't compromise my desires for the sake of company, a mantra that I hold onto in my life. The view at the end of the day reminded me of that, that the beauty before my eyes was something that I had to see and experience personally to appreciate its full splendor. And that is the bottomline with many things in life, that you have to be there to experience it personally, with or without company, because in the end, it is YOUR experience, and no one else's.

Personally, I enjoyed Disneysea more than Disneyland, probably because of its novelty. I still think that for Disney-virgins, Disneyland is more essential in the itinery, if purely for justifying the hype; but for seasoned Disney-whores like myself, Disneysea would probably prove to be more refreshing. I took one more deep breath to absorb the essence of the beauty. Mount Prometheus erupted at a timely 8pm, as if beckoning me to be on my way. I stepped down from the top of the world and headed for the exit with a smile on my face and an imaginary hand on my back for flying solo. But the night was still young, and nothing could prepare me for what was installed for me for the rest of the night...