Last Day of 2014

2014 menjadi tahun yang spesial karena banyak hal terjadi tahun ini. Banyak hal baru yang gw rasakan, enak maupun ngga enak.

Yang paling memorable adalah 2 mimpi gw terkabul di tahun ini. Gw akhirnya menjejakan kaki di tanah Majapahit pada bulan Mei, dan negri sakura di bulan Oktober. Tahun ini gw lumayan banyak jalan-jalan, dan untungnya dengan segala kekurangan dan kelebihan semuanya bisa gw nikmati dengan sebaik-baiknya.

Sadly, dalam urusan kerja, tahun ini gw merasa kurang perform. Tapi mungkin saking stucknya gw jadi banyak refleksi diri dan makin punya gambaran sama apa yang sebenernya gw inginkan di tahun-tahun selanjutnya. Selama ini gw selalu pake banyak alasan untuk ngga berkarya dan gw sudah capek. Gw harus ngilangin sikap setengah-setengah gw untuk mimpi-mimpi gw di tahun-tahun selanjutnya.

Tahun ini juga menjadi tahun politik yang paling panas dan emosional bagi bangsa ini, termasuk untuk gw. Banyak hal yang berubah sejak pemilu, termasuk di lingkungan tempat gw kerja. Gw jadi rada menghindar ngomongin politik atau ekonomi di kantor, karena buntut2nya pasti ada aja yang nyinyir. Namun di sisi lain di tahun ini gw jauh lebih banyak mau tahu dan cari tahu soal 2 urusan itu.

Ngomong-ngomong kantor, tahun ini juga jadi tahun perpisahan. Beberapa rekan kerja memutuskan untuk keluar setelah sekian lama bersama-sama. Yah, gw rasa lumayan lumrah dimanapun pasti ada yang keluar dan ada yang masuk, tapi gw lumayan merasa kehilangan. Rasanya 2015 bakal berasa beda banget suasana disini.

Dari dunia komik, gw banyak nemu judul-judul bagus yang gw bener-bener nikmatin dan tunggu-tunggu setiap chapternya. Beberapa mungkin dah keluar dari tahun-tahun lalu tapi baru gw temukan sekarang. Yang paling favorit buat gw adalah Shoukoku no Altair, Otoyomegatari, dan Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun. Sementara anime mungkin bisa dibilang cuma 2 yang gw tonton tahun ini. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun yang gw tonton karena komiknya cukup berhasil membuat gw akhirnya memutuskan ngikutin animenya, lalu yang kedua Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Yang terakhir ini gw putuskan nonton gara-gara twitter temen gw yang bikin kepo dan gara-gara musiknya dibikin sama Yuki Kajiura. Ternyata emang ini anime mindfuck yang membohongi penonton pake karakter magical girls... : |

Sebagai penutup tahun ini, gw juga turut berduka untuk kecelakaan QZ8501 Air Asia. Semoga seluruh keluarga korban diberikan kekuatan dan ketabahan. Gw selalu berdoa agar semua proses evakuasi dapat berjalan dengan baik dan lancar sampai selesai.

Farewell 2014, I really enjoy this year. Hello 2015, please take a good care of me.

The Bustling Metropolis of Tokyo

At last... we set our foot at the capital of Japan, the big metropolis, the most busy place of all over Japan. The sensation when I arrived were kind of similar to the time after a several days trip around Java and finally back to Jakarta where finally back to the concrete forest. I'm not saying there're no tall building in Osaka and Kyoto, but the scale are quite different. And plus, I just came from Kawaguchiko so it was really a contrast scenery.

There are so many things to do in Tokyo, but not much time left. I secretly wished for our flight to be delayed, though. xD; We really want to go back to Japan again, mostly because there are a lot of things we still want to do in Tokyo Area.

As crowded as it's people, Tokyo local train and subway lines are much more complicated. It's a good decision we arrived at Osaka and Kyoto first so we've already used with Japanese train and bus system.

I find Tokyo people dress in much more variations of types and colors, but nothing weird like in anime. I rarely people in spiky hair unless they're cosplaying. Speaking of cosplay, it was Halloween when we were there. So many people dressed in costume around after hours. Many shops also had some Halloween decorations and Halloween themed products.

For some reasons my appetite turn to worse in Tokyo. I really wanted to eat and tried more kind of foods but I couldn't find the will to eat or fully enjoy my meal, even though I was hungry. It's not because the food is bad, though, since we found the best pork ramen of our life in Tokyo. Maybe it's because of the accumulated tiredness or because the cold weather... It quite hindered us from really enjoying this city, and I hope we could go back to experience what we've missed. Nevertheless, we're still enjoyed our city tour very much.

Tokyo Tower
The city's most famous iconic structure that appears in many anime and comic books. Although nowadays people recommend Tokyo Sky Tree more than this one. We only took pictures of this tower as we feel our visit to Tokyo won't be complete without seeing this one with our own eyes. It's near Akabanebashi Station. :)

Ikebukuro
Ikebukuro is like Akihabara for female since here lies the famous Otome Road. The scale might be smaller than Akihabara, though. Many people are cosplaying when we came here. Since our inn located around Ikebukuro we have a good access to this area. We choose Nekorobi Cat Cafe as our first animal cafe also because of the location.

There are anime related shops like Animate and Mandarake. They're targeting women more in this area. I only visited Animate and I can tell it's a paradise for fujoshi, with many yaoi mangas displayed in the first floor and Bakumatsu Rock exhibition(?) on the top floor. My brother kinda freak out everytime he found himself as the only man in the floor. But there are also boys in merchandise floor and he feel more in his elements as the merchandise displayed here are from general anime and manga.

We also visited Tokyu Hands because we want to buy some good quality nail clipper and sewing scissor for our mother (She's a dressmaker). It has an aura "we sell everything you need here" so we went inside despite we didn't really know if we will find what we're looking for. And yes, we found them, although prices here are quite expensive... ^^;

If you like ramen, you might want to try Bankara Ramen in this area. The portion are big, the broth are thickly rich and delicious, and the pork chop are scrumptiously thick yet so tender as it melts perfectly in your mouth. We ordered their number one tonkotsu ramen and tsukemen. Both were delicious but the pork ramen was really incredible. Ugh, I really miss that ramen...

Best Seller Tonkotsu Ramen

Tsukemen, it's ramen but in separated noodle and broth

I'm not sure if it's the same branch, but there's also Bankara Ramen in Jakarta, at Lottle Shopping Avenue Ciputra World on the 4th Floor. Their menu and their ramen really looks like the Japanese Bankara Ramen, but the one we had in Ikebukuro are much better especially for the tonkotsu.

Odaiba
To get here, we go to Tokyo Teleport Station. As we went out from the station, we can see the buildings have unique and modern architecture in this area and there's an amusement park across the road.

But the only reason why we came here is to pay our respect for the 1:1 scale Gundam Statue in Diver City, and that's all. Initially we also wanted to look around in the shopping mall. But we came to early and shops aren't opened yet.

Meiji Temple
Located in Yoyogi Park and near Harajuku, talk about a huge contrast... Meiji Jingu Mae Station is also known as Harajuku Station. Many important Shinto rituals or ceremonies are happened here. And again, even though I know I'm in the middle of big cities, the atmosphere was so nice with big trees all over the place as if we're surrounded by small forest.

There seemed to be some ikebana and other exhibitions, and also a ritual prepared. Those who attend for religious activities were dressed finely. We only saw procession of priests walking in through torii gates to the main temple, but we don't know what kind of ritual were they doing.

Harajuku
Harajuku is one place where you can find more Japanese people dressed in striking colors (the majority of them always use calm and earthy colors). Many people come here to shop for clothes, cute stuffs, and crepes. There are many crepe stalls in this area and we tried two of them. Just choose which crepe number you want from the display and tell the number at the cashier, pay, and then wait for it. They're cost around 300-700 Yen each according to the toppings.

Harajuku is also near Omotesando area. But my feet was already started to killing me and we didn't look around that much. We just went inside the station and took subway to Shibuya.

Shibuya
We get here to pay a visit to the famous Hachiko Statue, and take a look around the shopping district. I wonder how is it in weekdays, but it's really crowded in Saturday. The light rain was making people walked around in their umbrellas.

I found Shibuya as high-end shopping district since most of the shops are branded and seems expensive. But we still have our otaku time here at Parco building when we visit Mugiwara Store and all shops around it. :3


We also have great time in Genki Sushi Shibuya where they served sushi in new system of conveyor belt. I'm not even sure it's a conveyor belt. People ordered from a monitor/tablet and the sushi will arrived in front of you via train belt. It's fun and pretty efficient since it's fast, people will get what they want, no spoiled sushi, and they only need fewer waiter with this system.

There's a Genki Sushi branch too in Jakarta's Plaza Senayan. But I feel it's much cheaper in Shibuya, since I found myself ordering almost 12 plates of various sushi but pay a little cheaper and more satisfied than 'when we don't even eat that much but pay a bit more expensive' in Jakarta. I even try different fishes this time, other than tuna and salmon. And my brother loves to find pork sushi there.

Akihabara
Practically Otaku Heaven... Lots of action figures, plastic models, maid cafes, and specialty shops. We walked around Yodobashi and some action figure shops, but there's more than just anime-related products around here.

Inside Yodobashi Camera, after a while, you will notice the curious Yodobashi song played over and over again. I really wonder how all the staffs feels since in works they only hear this music for almost everyday. It's really brainwashing. And now, I'm trying to brainwash you too. Let's join the dark side of Yodobashi Camera... :V



People said you will hate this song after two hours inside Yodobashi, but you will really miss it after you leave Japan. Aside of the song, my brother buy some Gundam plastic models here. It's quite cheaper compared to the price in Indonesia, but of course since there's no shipping fee and such. The item sellection is much better too. I'm also curious with all of the food or kitchen related electronic products. But the staff always approached us with their big smile and sparkly eyes, makes me feel bad since I didn't plan to buy any...

There's Sushizanmai, a sushi restaurant in the ground floor just outside of Yodobashi Camera for delicious sushi in reasonable price. It's near an escalator towards subway station.

Asakusa
Asakusa is famous for their Japanese traditional style shopping alley that leads to Senso-ji Temple, the main attraction of this area. Both are exciting experience. We tried some fried mochi (we're not sure that's the name, though...) for snacks and buy some souvenirs for our friends and family. It seems that Asakusa always packed with tourist from all over the world who wanted to experience a bit traditional Japanese atmosphere in Modern Tokyo. People also like to get omikuji (fortune telling paper) and buy omamori (good-luck charm) in Sensoji Temple.

Note. Tokyo Banana and White Chocolate Daifuku Mochi. this is the most loved snack souvenirs. Everyone who I gave this always gobbled them happily, except for those who don't like banana. We found them sold only in Asakusa, but maybe there is another place we just didn't notice.

You can see Tokyo Sky Tree, the highest skyscraper in this city, from Asakusa. We didn't go there due to the lack of time (and we choose Tori no Iru Cafe instead for the love of owls). It's more to the east from Senso-ji Temple, across the river.

Shimokitazawa
We came here to search for the rabbit cafe, but we're pretty surprised to also found cute alleys with a lot of cute shops in this area. It's only one station from Shibuya and it feels really different already, almost like suburban feeling. Most of the shops are cafes, small clothing stores, or artsy souvenirs, makes us wonder if there are many artsy people in this area. It's not as crowded as other places I've visited in Tokyo, so we had more relaxing atmosphere here. We would love to come back here and explore more around this area. :)

Haneda Airport
I expected Haneda will be a little better than Kansai airport, but it's more than that. Haneda International Airport is the best and the most enjoyable airport I've ever experienced so far. The structure is big and very modern, but they give a touch of traditional Japan style with Edo Koji Alley. This alley is for shops and restaurants so visitor could enjoy their time while waiting for flight or baggage check in. The toilet room is our best Japanese hi-tech toilet experience with spacious area in each room, many buttons for your needs, including dryer, and they're very clean. Some of them are still in squat toilet for people who prefer that one.

On the upper floor around the back, there are character souvenir shops, heaven for those who love certain characters and cute characters such as Hello Kitty and Rilakuma. The famous planetarium cafe also located around here. If we go to the back door, we'll reach observatory area where people can see the plane take off, like in those dramas or comic scenes where they're departed with their loved ones. But it's night and raining, so... not much to see at that time. :S

After immigration process, there are still quite many shops inside. But we spent too much time before immigration so we didn't have chance to properly look around. Our gate is pretty far and we still need to dragged our sore feet to the plane. There was something like transport vehicle, like the one for cleaning the floor, but little bigger and it can bring some passengers. But it's only for elderly, sick people, pregnant women, and mother with small child. I don't think my hurt feet is reason enough for it to bring me along...

Finally we get into our plane and it's time to say goodbye. After all those adventure I felt really hard when we had to departed to Jakarta. Hopefully not too far in the future, we can have another escapade to this wonderful country. And I hope they can fix their nuclear reactor problems too... :S

Arigatou, Nippon~ Until we meet again~ ^^