Tokyo Comic Con 2018

[sunstarsunset]

Its the same venue as last year correct?

 

[joeson]

Day 3a - AEON Supermarket + Tokyo comic con

Day 3 saw us waking up slightly later than usual after a full day at Disneyland the previous day, which wasn't a bad thing - the comic convention only started at 12pm. As such, we chilled a bit, and had brunch at the AEON mall, located next to Shin-Urayasu station.

Call me biased, but I feel that the AEON mall in Japan feels so much more welcoming than the ones in our neighbour up north.

Kaisendon for brunch!

Advertisements for luxury bento sets for bonenkais held during the year end.

So on to the Tokyo Comic Convention proper! Overseas visitors to the comic convention would have to purchase tickets online via Hollycon Tokyo (can choose between one and two day entry passes; we opted for the latter), print out the email confirmation slip with the QR code and scan it at the entry points. Simple!

If you're cosplaying like what I did, there's also options for you to gain entry to the changing area and luggage storage facility, both of which were utilized by us.

The one and only Captain America.

that's me!

Booth with free masks!

Spiderman booth that was advertising the upcoming animated movie. Of course, I was roped in to take photos for them.

 

[joeson]

Day 3b - Tokyo comic con (part 2)

The problem with cosplaying as Spiderman is that you can't really see through the faceshell and lens; so for most of the time, I had to rely on my travel buddy who was cosplaying as Flash, since his costume didn't involve any face masks that obscured his vision.

One of the few cosplay photos I had with other cosplayers.

On a whole, I felt that the comic convention was very similar to that of Singapore's; the only difference I felt was the changing area and luggage storage.

The changing area was a nice touch, given that us cosplayers didn't have to change in public toilets in the surrounding shopping mall/convention centre, which is something that Singapore's organizing committee could look into.

Another nice touch was the luggage storage area - not too sure if SG's had such a dedicated area, but for Tokyo, the area was just next to the changing area. So it was very convenient for us - after changing, we simply wheeled our luggage to the storage area. And as a bonus, the staff manning the area were all in costume too!

It was around evening when we finally left the convention; changed out of our costumes and went shopping at Makuhari Outlet Mall, which was located just next to the station. Settled dinner there, and thus marked the end of our 3rd day!

 

[joeson]

Its the same venue as last year correct?

yup! Makuhari Messe convention area!

 

[joeson]

My visit was a day after yours lol. The night show was excellent but I think slightly too long especially need to withstand the cold winds and pee.

oo nice! haha ya ya, i remember i was shivering slightly even though I had my thick jacket on. the moment the show ended, I told my friend, eh I cannot tahan liao meet you at the souvenir shop then hurried off to the toilet in the most unglam and kancheong way.

 

[joeson]

Day 4a - Back to Tokyo

Day 4 saw us checking out of the really nice Mitsui Garden hotel that we had been sleeping in for the past three nights - I highly recommend it, despite the off-central location. This time round, we had Mcdonalds at Makuhari Station for breakfast - I know, super unoriginal, but I had this strange craving for their hashbrowns.

Station front

The supermarket section at AEON mall was strangely entertaining, so even though we had initially planned a quick 30 minutes stroll inside (cos we weren't cosplaying for the 2nd day of the comic convention, so we didn't enter it too early), it somehow became an hour.

These were breads, IIRC.

Attending the comic convention as a regular visitor was a different feeling as compared to cosplaying; for starters, you could behave as yourself and not as the character you're cosplaying. And for characters who had masks, you can finally see the convention's contents in their full glory and not through tinted lenses!

We left the convention area around lunchtime, as we were moving to Shinjuku for a night as a quick transit point.

En route back to Toyko

A hearty bowl of goodness.

By the time we reached Shinjuku, it had already turned dark (sigh, winter). Checked in to our hotel - Citadines Central Shinjuku -, and went shopping. Compared to our spacious room in Mitsui Garden, our Shinjuku hotel room was just....... cramped. It literally felt like half of MG's.

Snatched this picture off their hotel website. I was just too spoiled by Mitsui Garden, so I didn't take any pic of the hotel room. I remembered it was so cramped that we thought of moving the chair at the table out into the corridor just to create some additional space for our luggages.

Maybe it was because we had more luggage + our loots from the comic con and the outlet park; or maybe it was because we had booked the normal double room and not a deluxe version of it, but when I entered the room, I really felt it was very squeezy and I asked my travel buddy in all seriousness on whether he wanted to forgo the room and stay in those manga cafes for the night since we were staying in Shinjuku for one night only. After some discussion, we decided that since we had already paid for the hotel and that we were moving out early the next morning, we just tahan-ed.

Downtown Shinjuku

 

[joeson]

Day 4b - Shinjuku, animate

In order to brighten up my mood, travel buddy suggested heading to deviate from our original itinerary and instead, head to animate in Ikebukuro, knowing that my love for such anime stuffs would help. I agreed.

Interior of animate: I only noticed the no photography sign next to it after taking it.

Advertising the launch of a new anime.

Was tempted to enter the pachinko parlour, but didn't do so in the end.

Since we had deviated from our original itinerary and missed our reserved dinner at a **** restaurant, our dinner was settled in Ikebukuro and at, of all places, Matsuya, a local beef bowl chain.

Oily AF, but great tasting AF too.

Lounged around the area after dinner, and came across this arcade, think it was SEGA Round One.

Not a good option to play this ride if you had a heavy meal prior.

This is not Jurong East/City Hall during a train breakdown. This was Shinjuku at 11.21pm.

Headed back to our hotel room close to midnight, washed up and slept.

 

[joeson]

Day 5a - Nikko

We woke up around 6am - our limited express Nikko leaves Shinjuku station at 0730 hours, so after a quick wash up, we checked out and walked over to the busiest train station, located the correct platform and brought out breakfast onboard the train.

I liked this series of facial masks so much I bought three boxes of it back to Singapore. They're lying in my cupboard collecting dust at home.

Autumn views as we made our way to Nikko.

slept for most of the trip towards Nikko, so when I finally woke up, we had just reached our destination.

To ease your travelling, just get this day pass at the train station. It's highly useful, and you make a profit the moment you take three or more buses. Which you definitely will, unless you like a lot of walking.

Futarasan Shrine 二荒山神社
According to japan-guide, Futarasan Shrine is dedicated to the deities of Nikko's three most sacred mountains: Mount Nantai, Mount Nyoho and Mount Taro. And its apt for our starting point of our Nikko trip.

Feeling very thankful that we left our main luggages in the luggage lockers at Nikko station.

Main gate to the main hall.

This scene just looks so surreal and so welcoming. Since it was early in the morning, I had the whole area to myself.

 

[joeson]

Day 5b - Nikko

Just look at the intricate carvings of the dragon!

Toshugu Shrine 東照宮
This has to be the main highlight of all the visitors who come to Central Nikko. And it is very evident: there were tour buses dropping off overseas visitors when we left the shrine and headed towards it.

Main gate towards the main entrance and hall of the shrine.

The famed 5-story pagoda. Don't recall that we were allowed to climb up though.

Another one of those omg i'm in japan pictures, although this one evokes more of the wuxia environment.

Probably the most famous carving in the whole area. What you don't see is the number of handphone-toting tourists taking selfies with it.

Yes, those are gold glistening in the sunlight.

 

[joeson]

Day 5c - Nikko

More intricate carvings for you to spoil your eyes looking at it.

Inukimon gate.

I had to zoom in to capture the sleeping cat carving here.

The mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, surprisingly, wasn't featured in many travelogues when I was doing research on it. Which is a pity, because although it wasn't full of fancy carvings or gold plated sculptures, it still managed to give off a sense of grandeur. And the fact that you had to queue up a rather long stone staircase to get to it (it's perched on a hillside) added to it's sense of grandness.

#himbo moment: "eh, wouldn't his body have disintegrated after all those years?" "its a Mausoleum, not a tomb."

Autumn leaves.

 

[joeson]

Shinkyo Bridge & Rinnoji Temple 輪王寺
This bridge has to be the most overrated attraction if you ask me - you needed to pay 300 yen to walk across it, which we didn't. :X to us, it was just a simple bridge that yes, spanned across a river, but nah. and think we had a lack of sleep from the previous night, so we didn't bother to go.

we took this pic from the passageway leading towards it. hah.

tofu skin was the region's specialty, so we had it for lunch!

downtown nikko

random scene at Nikko station.

Most travellers, I feel, wouldn't stay at Nikko area; after all, it was just like a normal Japanese town. rather, I feel, they would go for the onsens - similarly, for us, we opted to stay at the Kinugawa onsen area. So after lunch, we boarded the local train that brought us to Kinugawa onsen station, and caught the Tobu bus to our lodging for the night - Hotel Sunshine Kinugawa.

 

[joeson]

Hotel Sunshine Kinugawa review

Since it was the last night of our trip, we booked the special Japanese-styled rooms for the hotel. And thankfully, it didn't disappoint us.

Exterior facade of the hotel.

Check in process was smooth, and after confirming our dinner and breakfast details, this elderly ah ma staff brought us up to our room on the 14th floor (yay top floor!).

Our top floor room. I liked the sliding wooden screen that was in front of our hotel room door.

Like true Japan-hour style, she helped us open the room's door, showed us the various facilities, before she proceeded to make green tea for us in the room!! OMG! and the way she made the tea is not like any ordinary style - she actually knelt all the way: from taking the kettle and tea powder, to making the tea itself and even when she left. wah is really 感动.

service to the max - she also provided us with the warm towels and some mochi. 爽到~~~~~ to top it all off, she even helped us to arrange our overnight bags properly when we simply chucked them aside in the room.

View from our room. Simply spectacular.

Day time setting of the room. To the left, you can see our bags that the ah ma so kindly helped us to arrange.

Our reservation was half-board; but since it wasn't dinner time yet, we went to the hot springs for a bath. The hotel had two kinds of baths, which were rotated daily, so guests could enjoy both versions during their stay.

The first kind, 'kikokubiyu', is a large public bath with black granite tiles that reflects the greenery of Kinugawa's mountains onto the bath floor; the other one, 'kihakubiyu', is constructed with white marble in which the colors of the four seasons sparkle.

Personally, i liked the first one better; especially it's outdoor bath, which has views of both the Kinugawa river and the valleys in the background. Obviously, no photos were allowed, but I sneaked one cos there wasn't anyone. shhh.

The secret picture I took whilst no one was around.

Hotel provided image of the other onsen, kihakubiyu. credits: Hotel Sunshine Kinugawa.

After soaking our tired bones, we dried ourselves and went to the restaurant downstairs for dinner in our yukata!

 

[invigo79]

Thanks for the lovely pictures.

Sent from HUAWEI ELE-L29 using GAGT

 

[joeson]

Hotel sunshine Kinugawa dinner review

Dinner at the hotel was a buffet style one - when I was booking for the room, I didn't manage to see the option for getting the traditional japanese cuisine for some reason.

I like that they partitioned the plate nicely, so the zhup from a dish won't spill over to the others and ruin the taste.

Main dining hall located at the 1/F of the hotel.

Our after-dinner activities were pretty limited; after all, we were in an hot springs area that wasn't as developed as say, Gunma, so there was no onsen town square or anything similar.

Night time set up for the room was done when we were having dinner.

Retro-looking arcade next to the restaurant where we had our dinner.

Check out their old-fashioned room keys. Been ages since I've had one of those whilst holidaying.

Went for a nighttime soak, before retiring for the night!