Elmo & Cookie Monster In Universal Studios Japan

（＊＾з＾●） /~~~ オヒサ～♪

I visited USJ (Universal Studios Japan) in 大阪 earlier this winter, specifically January, which was obviously a very, very, very

BIG MISTAKE!!

(Although it might not show in the pictures) 

The weather was freezing cold and to make matters worse, the wind just wouldn't stop.

On the bright side though, at least it was sunny and bright unlike gloomy, depressing London and I managed to take some pretty good pictures.

Here are some Sesame Street characters displayed at the entrance.

I noticed they changed a lot of things inside the park and added a new Sesame Street world compared to when I first visited in 2005.

Gosh, I'm old!!

（≧∇≦）

And here's a picture of me with....

COOKIE MONSTER~!! <3<3<3

He blocked the eyes of my popcorn bucket in this one... o(TヘTo) くぅ 

Oh yay!! You can see the eyes on this one~ ＼(*T▽T*)／

It was such a coincidence because just moments earlier I bought the Cookie Monster popcorn bucket.

Forgot how much it cost but it was somewhere near ¥2000 (RM80)!!

(゜ロ゜)

たかい!!

Fortunately the popcorn was of the sickly sweet crunchy caramel type which just happened to be my absolute favourite~

Popcorn outside Japan always tastes so bland for some reason.

I don't believe that having sweet popcorn makes people fat, I mean, look at all the Japanese girls!!

They have figures to die for...

(*_*)

Speaking of Cookie Monster, this reminds me of 

from Running Man.

(笑)

(If you  know what I mean)

Just when the Cookie Monster queue started to get busy,

someone popped out of nowhere in an attempt to steal the limelight~

It's~~~~~

ELMO~!! <3<3<3

( ＾▽＾)σ)゜ｰ゜)プニッ 

To be honest the only reason why I took an overnight bus all the way to USJ was to try out the new Cookie Monster and Elmo cream puffs they were serving up~

Hence the minute I stepped into the theme park I was searching high and low frantically for the place that sold the puffs.

Eventually, thanks to my high deduction abilities I located the cream puffs inside the Sesame Street playhouse meant for infants and little children.

(笑)

TADAAAAAAAA~!!

I was literally skipping with joy when I saw the puffs and of course, I had to buy both of them.

Ohohohoho~

Although, they do look like the slightly deformed and creepy versions of the real thing...

First up I tried Cookie Monster.

The chocolate filling was rather heavy for me and it left a weird taste on my tongue.

Hmm...

A little disappointing to be honest.

Sorry Cookie Monster I know it's not your fault to be piped with bad filling!! >.<"

Next up was Elmo...

Oh, Elmo................

I could write a book on how delicious Elmo tasted.

(Hmm...That doesn't sound too right...)

(笑)

Smile~!! ^_^

Elmo puff was filled with custard...Which so happened to be my favourite dessert filling and naturally, I preferred Elmo more.

Wanted to buy another one but was getting rather full so I had to pass...

（ｐ>□<ｑ*)

Why don't they have such cute treats in London? 

London has got to be the un-cutest, most boring city in the world and thank goodness I won't have to stay here for very much longer!!

>.<

Towards the exit, I walked into a building filled with machines like these and little kids trying to insert a piece of card into the television screens.

And of course, I wanted to join in the fun.

LOLx

But before I could do that they made me fill in a contest form in Japanese and after that I could choose a souvenir and get a piece of card to access the 'Dream Machine'.

(Ahh, so THAT's what its called~!!)

^_^

I chose a mini Sesame Street tote bag and immediately queued up to insert the card to activate the machine.

What you then do is to write your wish and decorate it in any manner you want.

I used pink (DUH) and placed a cute little Chilly Willy in the bottom right corner.

I think I'd forgotten to mention this but the contest is only meant for teenagers aged 16 and below.
I pretended to be one but while I was handing over the paper to the woman in charge, she might have suspected something but chose to keep quiet instead.

Or maybe...
Just maybe...
I DO look like a 16 year old!!
Woohoo!!
(I know...How shameful...)

Literal Translation: Next Year, Oxford!! (Which actually meant that I wanted to enter Oxford University next year)

Unfortunately, my Oxford dream may have to wait a few more years.
I applied to Japan instead because I couldn't stand drabby ol' England no more.
ヽ(ー_ー )ノ

MaiDreamin & @Home Maid Cafe

▽・ｗ・▽こんばんわんこ ~

今日は...

メイド喫茶!!

 I absolutely love Maid Cafes~

I visit at least once a week even though I'm a girl and definitely not an Otaku!!
>.<"
Why??
Because I absolutely adore the cute food and cute uniforms and and and....
EVERYTHING IS めちゃかわいいいいい~!!!

Some customers however are most certainly creepy.
They go there just to order a drink and gawk at the maids.
(Although that's actually the selling point)
Σ(●ﾟдﾟ●)
And there's actually one very scary looking guy who is always there no matter where or when I visit the Cafe!!
He must be very rich, to be able to stay there for the entire day.
-_-

The average amount spent per visit is around 3000-4000 if you have a meal and a drink.
This includes an entry fee of 500円 per hour.
It sounds like a lot, but most themed restaurants and cafes include what they call a 'Charm' fee that ranges from 300-600円.
Food and drink prices are exactly the same as you would pay for a meal at a normal restaurant outside.
Souviener pictures with the maids cost 500円 each and during special events, you can take Harem pictures with 2 maids at once!!
（≧∇≦）ぶぁっはっはっ！！
There's also various games and activities and shows that you can request, for a fee of course.
(_-ω-)

As an uber fan of メイド喫茶s,
below are the obvious member cards that I possess~!!

The first one is the card from my favourite cafe, MaiDreamin~!!
^_^

MaiDreamin Card

MaiDreamin Card

The rules on the card are:

1. Please show the card when you enter the kingdom

2. Each time you pay 1000 Reamin, you get a stamp

3. Each 10 points earned will get you a free soft drink worth up to 580 Reamin or a Beer or a Highball (Whisky in Japanese)

4. If you lose your card, all your stamps will become invalid so please be careful

5. If the special small red stamp is not stamped (as seen on the card), your points for that period will become invalid so please be careful

6. After you've collected 50 points, your rank will be upgraded and this card will be taken from you (悲し過ぎ!! I don't ever wanna give up my card that has so many stamps on it!! ヽ(≧Д≦)ノ ｳﾜｧｧﾝ!! )

7. When redeeming the free drinks, you are not allowed to use it in conjunction with other promotions or coupons

I love everything about MaiDreamin,

the atmosphere, the food, the activities, the friendliness of the maids...

But it's soooo difficult to level up!!

You need to spend around 50000円, which is equal to about GBP350 or RM1800.

(T-T )

The second card I have is from the most popular maid cafe in Japan,

@Home Cafe.

Most Japanese men love this place even though I can never understand why.

The maids aren't as friendly, and they never engage in conversation with you.

The cafe has too many stupid rules and are extremely uptight and inflexible.

Probably the only good thing about this place is that its really quite easy to level up.

You only need to visit 6 times to qualify.

Oh, and the card looks amazing too.

@Home Maid Cafe Card

@Home Maid Cafe Card

If you look closely at both cards, they've wrote my name differently.

I used to use ニキタ but all my Japanese friends called me ニキータ (Niki-ta)so eventually I changed the way I write my name in Japanese as well~

（ ´^ー^｀)

Next,

my collection of pictures with the maids!!

^_^

If you look closer,

you'll notice that 3 of the pictures are taken with the same maid.

It's an amazing story really.

I visited the Shibuya branch last year in August,

and when I came back to Tokyo this year and visited the Akihabara branch,

I met the same maid who served me the last time!!

Isn't that amazing??

Even if I don't believe in fate,

this must be one amazing coincidence!!

＼(*T▽T*)／ﾜｰｲ♪

August 2012

And after that, I made sure I took a picture with her every time~!!

^_^

January 18, 2013

January 28, 2013

Sadly, the last time I visited a few days ago, I was a bit too early and she hadn't turned up for work yet.

So I took a picture with another maid, who recognised me after I visited a few times,

and she even remembered my name~!!

ヽ(･∀･)ﾉ 

January 30, 2013

By the way, the maid I kept bumping into's name is ひまわり,

which means Sunflower.

I'm quite sure this isn't her real name though, but,

here's Himawari-ちゃん's profile on the website~!!

^_^

(And no, I'm not an Otaku girl or stalker.)

(笑)

I just think it's amazing that I keep bumping into her and she's really nice to me every time I visit~!!

｡*:★(´・ω・人・ω・`)｡:゜★｡ 

ひまわりちゃん~ ○＾ω＾○

For a full list of all the maids working in all branches of MaiDreamin, 

check out their homepage (Japanese):

http://maidreamin.com/cast/maid

Each of them has their own blog as well~

ぜひみっててね~

^_^

And finally,

for the best part of the maid cafes,

FOOD~!!

φ(ω・＠)ｲﾀﾀﾞｷﾏｽ 

When I visited MaiDreamin with my cousin,

I had a parfait as it was sometime during late afternoon.

にゃんにゃん~ ヽ(=^･ω･^=)丿

にゃんにゃん Parfait~ めちゃうま~!! ^_^b

Then a few days later,

I visited MaiDreamin with a classmate of mine and his other friend.

However, aside from the customary "お帰りなさいお嬢様",

This time though they kept asking me if I was a maid at a different Cafe!!

Σq|ﾟДﾟ|pﾜｵｫ 

How can that be~??

I can accept if they think my face looks like one but the body...

Maybe if I lost 10kgs.

(笑)

Even the shop manager insisted that I should try out some day.

Perhaps it's their tactic to get customers to come back but I don't deny a job as a maid would be super cute and awesome!!

^_^

If I manage to come back next term, I'm definitely applying for a position!!

This is most certainly the awesomeness バイト ever!!

OK,

back to the FOOD~!!

I decided to try the Kumaたん Curry Rice this time round~

And it was delicious!!

No kidding~ It tasted as good as any curry served in curry houses in Japan.

ヾ(@⌒_⌒@)ﾉ ｳﾏﾋｨ

Kumaたん Curry Rice

Kumaたん Curry Rice with Rilakkuma drawn in Worcestershire sauce~

My classmates' friend ordered the Kuma pancakes~

Kuma Pancakes

And my classmate ordered an Omurice (the most popular item in maid cafes) with Porcino cream sauce.

Omurice with Porcino Cream Sauce and Winnie The Pooh drawn in Ketchup

My classmate's friend insisted that we visit @Home Maid Cafe as he wouldn't be here for long and wanted to see the difference between both cafes.

Perhaps he didn't trust that I made the better choice.

o( _ _ )o

But we were already so full from MaiDreamin that we only had space for drinks.

The one thing they have here that MaiDreamin doesn't is the Character Iced Coffees.

As usual, you can request any characters you like to be drawn on your drink.

My classmate decided he would have more fun trying to complicate things for the maids by requesting difficult cartoon characters.

However, this time he failed to trip up the maid as she somehow managed to draw a perfect looking Totoro on his Iced Latte.

トトロちゃん~

As usual, I asked for my customary Rilakkuma~

くまたん~

Sure, the drinks here are really cute but...

They tasted rather...

Plain.

コーヒーの味なかった，砂糖も入れなかった~!!

あとあと，

It felt like I was drinking plain water!!

I've never had food or drinks that were not tasty or bad in Japan before but I dare say this is the worst drink so far.

I feel so sad for the Totoro and Rilakkuma~!!

（†〇†) ジーーン

It's true their members card is super cute and it's very easy to level up but,

絶対もう一回行きたくないわよ~!!

The last time I went was with another classmate.

(笑)

It feels like I'm a maid cafe tour guide, as most people are quite shy to go alone.

(∩_∩；)

I wanted to order something different so I went for the Carbonara, which was amazingly tasty as well!!

Spaghetti Carbonara

I also ordered a float,

which I could not choose the flavour nor decoration.

The float you get depends on the maid who prepares it for you and today,

I got a Toy Poodle~!!

Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ ﾜｰｲ♪

Toy Poodle Coke Float

My classmate ordered the Kumaたん Curry Rice and had a Turtle Parfait for dessert, 

which consists of Green Tea ice-cream and Azuki beans.

Kameちゃん Parfait

The maids like to put on headbands on you and this time I got a cat's ear and a maid's hair band.

Please forgive the ugly picture. I wasn't looking at the camera properly.
>.<"

I might visit the MaiDreamin for one last time before I leave Tokyo,

so stay tuned for more pictures~!! 

(▼ω▼)ｼﾞｰｰ

虫チョコボランティア

みんなお久しぶり~!!

ヽ(；▽；)ノおひさっ！！

Instead of spending my time only playing around Tokyo, I decided to apply for a volunteer job~!!

I emailed the organisation and got the job immediately!!

＼(*T▽T*)／ﾜｰｲ♪

Interested in what I did??

But first~

昼ご飯!!

Very cheap Singaporean food for only 880円 for the entire set~

The normal portions, even without 大盛り are humongous, about double the size of normal Japanese portions in other restaurants.

Hohoho~

The best thing is that it's located just about 20 steps away from my school.

I didn't get a chance to return to the restaurant however, as I was spoilt with choice on what to have for lunch everyday.

The food was good indeed, but I craved other types of food most of the time, like Ichiran ramen (which I will blog about later)~!!

（*´ー`) フッ

Fried Kuey Teow

Fried Vegetables with Scrambled Eggs

Vegetable Soup

Apples

And of course~ The customary Sambal~!! ^_^

After lunch I went all the way to 御徒町 to start my volunteer work.

It was really easy to find the office but it was really rather far from the station, around 10 minutes walk away.

This is rather unusual as most places I've ever wanted to go to never took me more than 7 minutes to walk from the station.

The organisation I volunteered for deals with child labour in Africa and India.

I've always been more inclined towards charities for animals and children so this was right up my street.

But the main reason I applied was because this wasn't just any normal type of volunteer work.

It involved making chocolates!!

∩(´∀｀)∩ﾜｧｲ♪

And not just any chocolates!!

They're super cute Ladybug chocolates!!

わぁい ヽ(∇⌒ヽ)(ノ⌒∇)ノ わぁい♪ 

写真見ってて~

かわいいっしょう?? ^_^

なんかわんぱくな笑顔ね~ (笑)

First you wrap the chocolates in the ladybug wrapper.

Then you stick on the cardboard legs.

You then put them in pairs in a small clear plastic bag.

I almost wanted to steal some home~ >.<

Finally you clip them onto a card and stick a nutrition information sticker on the back of the card.

出来上がり~!!

すごく簡単っすよ~!!

I made around 400 of these in a day.

^_^

You can buy the chocolates on their website but its only available for delivery within Japan and costs around 1500円 if I'm not mistaken.

They might be expensive but are highly in demand.

The organisation has sold 60000 packs of these chocolates since the start of the chocolate selling campaign 2 years ago!!

 The company's staff are really kind and we have breaks in between where they serve us green tea in cute Miffy cups and of course, more chocolates~!! 

（･∀･）ﾆﾔﾆﾔ 

 (￣□ヾ) ネムー

目を開けたまま〜〜 （・＿・）...zzzZZZ

I'll make a few more posts tomorrow as it's a Saturday~!!

Stay tuned~!!

^_^

Kamakura School Trip

みんな~

おひさしぶり~!!

★★＼(；　；)オヒサ(；　；)／★★

試験の為に忙し過ぎ!!

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past month but I've been so busy with my upcoming exams, spending anywhere from 10-12 hours each day doing nothing but studying.

（；´д｀ ） トホホ

Please be sure to check back again for loads of new updates, now that my exams are over!!

(I have so many posts to publish but the exams did not treat me kindly. They're deprived me of all social and blogging life)

(_　_|||) 

とりあえず，今日のトッピク~

鎌倉日帰り旅行!!

出発しよう~!!

ヾ(＠⌒▽⌒＠)ﾉﾜｰｲ!

With my classmates on the school bus

WARNING: PICTURE FILLED POST

Anyway, I'll just let them do the talking and butt in only when necessary~!! ^_^"

This was our first stop though I can't remember the name of the Shrine.
>.<"

Lotus Flowers

I was very curious as to what they were setting up and stood there for 5 minutes or so.

In the end, I gave up.

I was completely clueless.

What are they doing??!!

The customary cleansing ritual before we enter the shrine.
Here our teacher is trying to take a picture at the same time as me. We probably have each other's face on the picture we both took. (￣￣▽￣￣) 

Barrels of Sake donated to the shrine. Why?! Are priests and monks allowed to drink?! It seems like a big waste if the Sake is left sitting there for decades. もったいないっしょ?!

(笑)
Ignoring the bimbotic comment above, the Sake barrels displayed outside the Shrine are merely replicas and are all empty. Companies only donate a small bottle to the Shrine and the barrels are merely a token of appreciation and recognition. The priests then use the bottle of Sake in religious ceremonies where they take a sip as a gesture of goodwill to the Gods.
Apparently Sake is the drink that binds and connects the Gods and normal humans.

Soon after walking past the barrels,
Guess what I spotted??

Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ 

No idea??

Look closer!! ^_^

It's a Baby Minnie~!! ｖ（≧∀≦）ｖキャワイイ過ぎ~!!

And here is where it gets interesting.

We were very lucky to be there when the daily ceremony started so I took a shot of every step that the priests took on the way down from the Shrine.

びゃははは　(≧ω≦)ｂ

Why, you ask? Well...

I was just bored and this was the most exciting thing that moved in the place.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm just not much into temples or shrines as I've seen far too many of them in my lifetime to be fascinated any longer!!)

It's starting!! Woohoo!!

I wonder how they manage to walk down the stairs in their heavy outfits and high heeled shoes. 大変そう~!! (゜ロ゜)ギョェ 

But they did manage it nonetheless. (Duh!!) ^_^

And away they go....

Now it's out turn to walk up to the Shrine!!

After briefly glancing around the interior of the shrine, the entire class decided to go for 御神籤s (おみくじ).
御神籤s are basically small pieces of fortune that you get after shaking a can filled with long sticks and a hole to release one long stick which contains the number corresponding to your fortune.
It's exactly identical to the ones you find in Chinese temples as well.

Obviously, it can't be very accurate for obvious reasons. If everyone's fortune is confined to only 35 different types or so, wouldn't the world be so very boring?

It doesn't make sense whatsoever but it was the fun-nest thing in Kamakura and it satisfied everyone's curiosities for a mere 150円.

The 御神籤 booth

My classmates scrambling to get their fortunes 

Now, I've never believed in anything or anyone being able to predict my future.

For example, my parents kept holding on to the belief that I would one day become a very successful and rich woman in the corporate world, as apparently a few fortune tellers told them that.

Since then, they have tried to brainwash me into the wonders of the corporate world and even went as far as to insist that I study a professional course such as law or accounting, which ironically IS what I did but studying something I hated was more stressful than anything you can ever imagine. I even had bouts of depression and still have. 

(Unfortunately I'm still in the process of accounting studies. Oh the horror!!!! （●´･△･｀）はぁ〜 )

What the prediction is couldn't be any further from the truth.

#1: I hate working in the corporate world

#2: I hate professional courses. They are so far from what I'm interested in

End of story.

Undoubtedly it would be great if the successful part came true but definitely not in the field that they insisted I work in.

Only got a 小吉 (Sho Kichi = Small Fortune). But it was way better than some of my classmates who got a 凶 (Kyo = Misfortune) 

Another type of 御神籤 which costs more than the previous one. This is 200円 each.

A path that leads to a secluded forest. Everyone was too chicken to go there. (笑) I kid. It was raining very heavily and we couldn't venture out of the 御神籤 stand which has a shade above it

Lunch time!!
┏ご飯┓φ(ω・＠)ｲﾀﾀﾞｷﾏｽ

They served us 定食 (Teishoku = Set Meal),
which was already prepared and laid out on the table before we arrived.

Rice with Minced Meat and a Beancurd Sheet

Different types of accompaniments

Mushroom, Vegetable and Beancurd Soup

They even gave us a small delicious bowl of soba!!

Although the meal didn't look like a lot,
I was actually so stuffed by the time I finished (and I'm a relatively big eater!!).

Japanese Tee. Hohoho. （ ´^ー^｀)

Next on the itinerary: The 大仏 (Daibutsu = Big Buddha)

The interior of the Buddha

Information on the construction of the Buddha

And this is my favourite part of the trip and most probably the highlight of the day.
I managed to persuade a group of Japanese primary school kids to take a picture with me!!
Woohoo!!
(笑)
Although, the main reason for the photo is a class assignment to take a picture with a random stranger during our trip.
I must say I certainly fulfilled the requirement by taking a picture with 12 strangers!!

Aren't they adorable? ξ＼(^。^ ))）））

Moving on...

Entrance ticket to 長谷寺 (Hasedera)

Ticket Machine. (Although, I didn't get a chance to try it as our tickets were pre-bought by the teacher)

Words on the board: No smoking anywhere in the entire mountain.

The Love Kuan Yin (A famous female deity who was originally a man. Long story. Google for more.) (笑)

Apparently if you touch the Love Kuan Yin, you will find love and happiness very soon.
So what happens if you already have love and happiness?
Some guys started to touch the Love Kuan Yin thinking that they could get a 2nd girlfriend on top of the one they already have.
LOLx

A cricket!!

I'm hungry!! Feed me!! o(´○`)o ｱｧｰｰｰﾝ♪

The entrance of a very scary looking cave

The interior of the cave is pitch black,

save with a few lights here and there.

To continue on towards the next part of the cave,
you have to duck really low and walk across a dark tunnel to get to the other side.

And this is what awaits you~
An army full of mini figures of different types of Gods and Deities.

Kinda reminds me of Terracotta Soldiers. *shivers*

Next, upon exiting the eerie cave,
I saw a wall of 絵馬 (Ema = Wooden Plaques).

Until now I still cannot believe that people from all over the world are THAT fascinated with Japan!!

Here's a Caucasian guy who obviously has a Japanese girlfriend or wife!!

And this is written by a 9 year old Japanese primary school child who wants to meet a K-POP idol.
(笑)

A very nice couple who wished for the happiness of another couple.

There's even one from Siberia.
Unfortunately they wrote a word wrong and left out the き in 大好き.
But it's amazing how people try and learn the language of another country.
I've always admired people who could speak multiple languages (like me!!).
Haha~ ^_^"

And here's one from Germany~

Unfortunately, though there are many nice and sincere wishes written down,

I found one which undoubtedly proved to be the worst wish ever,

obviously written by a money-minded Chinese.

Her wish was to strike the lottery.

Are you kidding me?! People come here to wish for meaningful things,

and I hate people like this who make nonsensical requests without wanting to work hard for it.

Ridiculous!!

（＃｀д´）ﾅﾆﾔｯﾂﾄﾝｼﾞｬｧ!ﾎﾞｹｪ!! 

To help calm my anger after that,
luckily this was what I stumbled across on my way back to the bus.

A cute smiling statue of a monk

My coordinate today.
I love Liz Lisa dresses soooooo very much.
びゃははは　(≧ω≦)

And finally,
a souvenir biscuit from our teacher on the bus back home~!!
^_^
今日は楽しかったな~!!