http://www.animelyrics.com/jpop/smap/
(J-Pop) SMAP: Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana
(The one and only flower in the world)



Lyrics by Makihara Noriyuki
Music by Makihara Noriyuki

Labels: Japan

can't see me in the pic....i'm blocked by Ferry-san...

then it was 4+am and we went to check-in and said goodbye to those who came to send us off...

xuehui, kahying n me.. bye bye Changi! bye bye Singapore!

the plane ride was about 6 hours and 45 minutes...my seat was far away from the rest, somehow.. but i enjoyed the plane ride nonetheless..there was an empty seat between me and another passenger, so i got to put my bag and stuff there while i enjoy the movies, games and sleep.. i tried to watch King Kong but i slept through 1/3 of it i guess..haha..

reached Narita airport, Tokyo Japan at 2.26pm local time (1 hour earlier than Sg n Msia)...took an Express train to Tokyo city...

ferry-san, boss, ky, ME, xh n tn on our 1st ride in a Japanese train... (^_^)v.. by the way, their seats are cushioned.. like in long distance buses kind.. not the plastic type like in Singapore's MRT...

at around 5.35pm, we reached Iidabashi station which is the stop nearest to our hotel..We stayed in Hotel Metropolitan Edmont..a 3 star hotel.. but it was a great place.. plus we only spend a few hours in the hotel each day.. for sleeping and bathing only..

At 6pm, we met at the lobby for our dinner.. the adults (haha..the officer went for their official thing)..while the kids (us!) were left with Eiji-san ( Japanese friend of a Japanese exchange student who joined NUSHO when she was in NUS).. Eiji-san brought us to Akihabara (the electric town..somewhat equivalent to Sim Lim but it's not just a building, it's practically a small town of Sim Lim's...haha)

we saw a lot of zero yen mobile phone.. but you have to sign up for the line.. then we found out that the mobile phone cannot be used outside Japan because they do not use SIM card.. i don't know what they use..but it's different from ours.. and their phones looked like plastic toys..haha.. but very nice!!

Before we walked around, we wen to have our dinner...

They have vending machine-like machines where you can put in your money, press the button of the food that you want and receive the order ticket, which you give to the cook inside...and they will make the food..and you eat them while standing around this tall tables.. our 1st meal in Japan! yummy.. warm soba in a cool night... The temperature on our 1st nite there was quite cold..

After Akihabara, we went to Odaiba ( got longer name but can't remember..hehe).. where there was a shopping complex... and it's near the Odaiba Beach.. a small Statue of Liberty was there.. the weather was so cold... some of us wore 4 layers of clothes? haha... we took the train passed the most beautiful bridge in Tokyo, the Rainbow Bridge..it was quite difficult to take photos as we were in the train and all we could get was our own reflection in the train mirror.. the bridge has 2 levels, where the cars and other vehicles go above while the train goes below.. Eiji-san even treated us a special ice cream called "Dipping Dots" which were like normal ice cream except that they are in small beads... i got a "Strawberry and Cheese" flavoured one.. yummy! We walked around somemore on the beach.. and disturbed a lot of couples with our loud voices and laughter..whoops.. reached hotel around 11.40pm.. and went to sleep..tired... the bed was super comfortable.. zzz...

Day 2 (Monday)

some of us went to have breakfast at 6am... i didnt go cause i was lazy..hehe... they ate at Yoshinoya near our hotel.. at 7.50am, we gathered at the lobby... day 2 was performance day.. we would be performing in 2 primary schools and Waseda University.. at 9.30am, we reached Hasuda Minami Primary School..

all of us walking into the primary school.. by the way, we were greeted by 3 black cars with advanced GPRS system, which sent us to the primary schools.. when we reached, the principals and teachers were lining at the gate welcoming us.. wahhahaha.. felt like some big shot... all of us had to change into the school's slippers and kept our shoes in the proper shoes locker.. cute!

sitting in one of their classrooms... acting like primary school kids with green teas provided by the school..we rested a while, had some practices..(see my altohorn lying there).... then it was performance time at 10am (local time)...

the kids were all waiting for us in the hall.. so cute!! no pix of them cause we left all our belongings in the classroom..only brought our harmonicas there.. (but i think the officer might have..I haven't looked through all the pix..had been trying though... but there are just too many of them.... )

anyway, Mr Watani performed about 4 songs in total, and we did two.. and Mr. Watani had a short song-guessing session with the kids.. all of them were so enthusiastic.. shouting "haik! haik!" and raising their hands high up..sometimes even before the song was played.. kawaii!

one interesting thing we saw in the school was these kids jumping ropes.. non-stop! in perfect synchrony.. they queue up in a line and jump continuously across the spinning rope.. best!

then we went around the school...

the children were writing in that black ink.. just like chinese's...

off we went to the second primary school... Hasuda Central Primary School..

we had free lunch there! Jap rice with pork, bean sprouts, vege, soup, milk, and mochi! nice nice... we had a short tour around the school ..

the children were having lunch! very cute.. all in caps and aprons..after eating, they helped to clean up and then brush their teeth...

then again, we practised and rehearsed.. 1.55pm was our performance time...

and the we said bye bye to the kids! they were running along our taxis and shouting "sayonara!"..hahaha.. felt like superstars eh...

this little boy is very cute! he saw us taking photos...us being very ulu people, there were many things we had never seen before..so we kept on taking pictures of this and that..anyway, this boy did a brushing teeth pose for me to take..when we were outside later, i realised this boy loves being in pictures.. he stood right beside us when we were taking photos outside.. so we let him into our pictures.. and he told us his name..which i forgot.. @_@

then we went back to the hotel to rest.. before the cultural exchange at Waseda University...

ok..the picture of Waseda Uni Harmonica Society performing can't be transferred for the moment.. only this happy pic of us eating pizza buffet in Shakey's Pizza.. i'd never eaten so much in a pizza place before! our table ate the most.. the food that the other table couldnt finished up, we helped them to finish.. (^_^)v -with Daichi, Toru, Asami and Shoko from Waseda U...

Labels: Japan

Labels: Japan

Labels: Japan

will be going to Ginza area and maybe walk around the city and experience the spring night of Tokyo... pls don't rain! x(>_<)x weather forecast says it will rain in the day i think... haihz... 5-6 out of the 7 days we are there will be rainy days... how to play in Disneyland?! how to go sight-seeing?! so, please don't don't rain! and it will be super cold if it rains.. :`(

The next day, we will be performing at elementary schools.. 2 of them.. we will be having guests..and Mr Yasuo Watani will be performing with us.. Mr Watani is a leading chromatic harmonica soloist who also teaches chromatic harmonica at the Hohner Konservatorium, Trossingen, Germany... and he had been performing with the NUS Harmonica Orchestra on several occasion including our annual concert Soiree 2006.... and we are very pleased to have him hosting us in Japan! Then it's more tour around Tokyo...

i think the sceneries there will be very nice! Argh! I don't have my own camera! my friend said i should have one of my own.. cause i'll be so tempted to take so many pictures.. and all i could do now is wait for my friends to take pictures... m(>_<)m Erm..then we will leave for Kyoto on Tue (?)... not too sure cause i misplaced my itinerary.. which is super bad..especially when i have to write a 1000-word report of the trip when i am back in Singapore.. for the uni magazine for promotion of the Harmonica Orchestra.. @_@ anyway, we will have "free-and-easy" again in Kyoto.... we will spend 2 days there and i really hope we can get to see geisha! from what i read, if we go to Gion district in the early evening, we will get to see geishas setting out... great!

then it's back to Tokyo... by the way, we will be taking the bullet train to Kyoto and back..and the bullet train tickets cost a lot!

but it's a once in a lifetime experience i guess.. unless i get really rich next time, and i will certainly go to Japan again! (whoa..saying this even before i step into Japan... so sure that i will like Japan..hahah..) just like i always missed the time i was in Hong Kong... i think Hong Kong is a very nice place to visit... will surely go back when i have the money...

we will not be visiting Mount Fuji too..cause we heard that the mountain looks best from afar.. haha.. hot spring? don't know..maybe..the others are not too keen i guess..

We will have an exchange with the Harmonica Society of Waseda University.. will perform about 5 songs there and hopefully interact with the undergrads! ^_^ hopefully our performance is okay..cause the Japanese are really good at playing the harmonica...

On Friday, we will be going to Tokyo Disneyland! for the whole day! yes! can't wait!

On Saturday, we will be visiting the Tombo Factory that makes harmonica.. our alto horn harmonicas are from this factory.. we will get the chance to talk to the CEO of the company and tell him what can be changed on the alto horn harmonica to make it as versatile as the chromatic harmonica... haha.. i don't know what i'm going to ask..

leaving Japan via Narita Airport again..towards Changi Airport, Singapore... will reach Singapore at 1.20am (local time)....

this marks the end of the most wonderful week in my entire life (to date)...

all the photos above are not taken by me lar... I am still waiting for the time to come to leave Singapore... will be heading to the airport in 6.5 hours time.... now is napping time... cause will be "sleeping" in the airport tonight.. most probably is "bridge" til the time to check in..

updates once i'm back.. unless i get to go online in Japan... ^_^

Labels: Japan

was browsing through the website to see the attractions available, and I am definitely going to Fantasyland! It is where all your childhood fairy tales characters are!! I am so excited, I can hardly wait... I want to see Mickey and Minnie! hahhaha.. seems so childish...but i really do love Disney cartoon characters... I like Peter Pan a lot! and Chip and Dale.. Pinocchio....Aladdin and Princess Jasmine... Belle...(>_<)

hahhaa.. I am so excited..erm..I had said "I am so excited" so many times... but i really am excited!! hahaha...

on the other hand, kinda worried... mainly about money as things in Japan are really expensive.. hopefully have enough money to buy some souvenirs back... especially for the family.. (^_^) and take a lot lot lot pix! too bad i don't have my own camera... :( and eat some ramen by the roadside! I am excited...

the other thing is the weather... weather forecast says the temperature will be around 14-22C.. but it will be colder at night in Kyoto where the temperature can drop to 12C... I am very afraid of cold.. I can't really stand Genting in December where the temperature is about 16C? (I wore 3 layers).. plus it will be raining...Will bring a big big jacket...which my sis wore in China during WINTER! haha.. and bring 2 more...wahaha.. I am really afraid of cold la.. @_@ my friend's friends and relatives who just went said that it is still very cold there even though it's nearing end of Spring and start of Summer... *brrrr*... we are late by a few weeks or we could see the blooming Sakura! would be so beautiful... and it's the most beautiful in Tokyo, where we will be heading.. but too bad it's end of Spring already..

I shall repack now...to put in my thick thick jacket and re-shuffle the things to bring.. have to bring our own music stands @_@...so heavy... and my alto horn harmonica.. by the way, the harmonica is insured too! hahhaha... our practice so far is quite alright.. hopefully the performance will be alright! and have fun!! woohoo!!!

for the last time, I am SO EXCITED!!

Momo

and shall continue watching now... good life.. happy happy..

p/s: i'm not in love..