i'm sure most of you have heard of my infamous disappearing act. yes, i escaped from school to the land of the rising sun (not without Murphy's goodwill and having to miss my mid-terms), in hot pursuit of my lifelong dream - to catch my favourite band live in action.

L'arc~en~ciel.

i've loved them since sec one. and i love them even more now.

while watching the concert, all i could think of was how far they have come, and how proud i am of them. all these years of being a huge fan of their music and ardently supporting them was indeed worthwhile. every single cent spent on their CDs, VCDs, DVDs, exclusive L'arc merchandise, all the times i've spent surfing the net for their news and updates, learning their history, memorizing song lyrics and finding out the meaning, even flying to Tokyo against all odds and queuing up for two hours in the rain, just for that 2 hours of pure inexplicable ecstasy.

yes, memory and experience of a lifetime that i will never forget. how Hyde's voice touched me in a way no other singer can, how he communicated to me without the need for translation.

of course it was all worth it.

Hyde is my Kami.

(and he was just 50m away from me. hallelujah!)

that's tet-chan!

the interior of the famed Tokyo Dome (three storeys all filled - ahh the power of L'arc.)

sacred concert tickets

fellow hard core L'arc fans, mar-san and xuan-san, came along with me for the trip. together, the three of us (armed with that limited knowledge of Japanese and moolah) experienced Tokyo with zest and overweening enthusiasm.

of course, what trip with the lethal combination of mar, xuan and i wouldn't be without the occurrences of a few mishaps or embarrassing incidents? for one, we actually missed our flight back home!! the train system was far too complicated for us to fully comprehend, and we had like four luggage bags each to lug all the way to the airport. hence when we reached the airport, all bruised and tired, we were already 15 mins late. thank goodness we had enough emergency cash on us to book the next flight home haha.

in Tokyo, mar the ignorant actually plucked up the courage to ask an elderly japanese man for directions with the well-known phrase "sumimasen", only to malu herself by embarrassingly mispronouncing it as "SUSHImasen". "hayaku" mutated into "hayakuLA". while changing money, xuan had to re-fill a bank form due to numerous cancellations caused by miscommunication.

and how could we ever forget the disturbing memory of a very kind and harmless (or so we thought) old man whom we approached to help, only to find out that he had just come out from a hotel and that his fly was still left open!! hentai desu ne. speaking of which, we also got picked up (or rather, harassed) by two blacks on the train, who even kissed our hands, took our photos, and gave us their numbers urgh.

the most unfortunate yet thrilling incident was the meeting with a mini typhoon which swept us out of Tokyo Dome! we braved the strong winds and traveled back to our hostel in Minamisenju in our mini skirts and heels shivering like jellies, all bent over with only the help of a kasa (umbrella) hahaha.

well, despite many setbacks, we did manage to get around (mostly on our own, but sometimes with the help of very kind passers-by) and explore many wonderful places. in fact, i got to shop around Shibuya - the hip-hop setting of one of my favorite manga reads Harlem Beat :)

Shibuya

the sights and sounds of Shibuya!

we ventured into the player's area

the cranky shopkeeper of a hip-hop shop in Shibuya. We gave him Singapore 2 bucks as a present heheh

he cooks real tasty ramen

Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba province, where we instantly turned into excited lil' kids and rushed around taking all the rides till the last gate threatened to lock us in, was a must-visit. Rui, xuan's friend residing in Tokyo, did her best as a hostess and brought us around.

Tokyo Disneyland

Alice in Wonderland

THIS IS THE SLUG PHOTO muahahaha

"O, wherefore art thou Love?"

"aye aye matey!"

feels magical, doesn't it?

EVIL MICKEY! I love the Halloween theme heh

the cinderella castle (which turned out to be haunted.)

beautiful mosaic walls inside of the castle

we also visited Asakusa (the location of Tokyo's most famous temple, rickshaw rides and traditional shops), Odaiba (the newest shopping area complete with a very scary ghost house in which mar and i almost broke a leg), Roppongi Hills (in which we clubbed all night and ate ramen till 5am in the morning cause we missed the last train home), Tokyo Dome area (before and after L'arc Awake concert) and Ueno (zoo with ling ling the panda!)

Asakusa

the largest temple in Tokyo

kawaii kimono girls brightened our day

the traditional shops near the temple. even the hello kitty dolls on sale have donned traditional temple clothes.

buying amulet for granny

huff puff!

drool at the rickshaw boys haha

jolly toy sellers by the roadside :)

interesting shop selling vintage movie posters

Odaiba

bored on the train to Odaiba

the helpless trio

the very shy shopkeeper who sold me my anna sui watch

xuan acting sweet and demure.

mar acting sweet and demure.

cannot make it la

the vintage level - Ultraman in berms!

Roppongi

the attack of the giant spider!

white trash charms hah!

time to hit the dance floor~

in a club owned by rui's friend

Tokyo Dome

we met many cosplay L'arc fans before and after the concert.

beware of the blood-suckers...

the scene people

Ueno

this is the best paparazzi shot taken (courtesy of pro photographer mar.) the boyfriend's helping his girlfriend massage her tired legs after walking around the huge Ueno zoo. amai desuyo.

a hybrid!

ling ling the fatty who refused to look at us

helpful shopkeepers of the hat shop in Ueno

forgot the names of these places

neko house

mar with mr. squashed-in-face, my favourite neko.

scared stiff of my monster lips! muahahah

street flyer-givers. i swear the japanese love taking photos and making peace signs.

adorable and timid japanese students

mar with japanese fake-tan ah lians

Yes, LOVE is the word.

7 storeys of anime and manga stuff - this is the transformers section.

hentai old man entering an adult shop heh

the very spontaneous japanese crowd gladly posed for a picture after i asked "shyashin, isshoni?" (picture, together?)

our favourite sign

food, one of our major concerns, was very oishii. even 7-11 food was hell good! ahh how i miss the delicious snoopy omu rice balls, japanese curry rice, omelet rice, ramen, some yong tau fu looking thing, and even the cup noodles filled with goodies. the macs and mos burgers in japan are also much bigger and stuffed with more ingredients than those back at home here. service in all parts of Tokyo was also ichiban - even though we went into shops without the obvious intention of purchasing anything, the shopkeepers were always very courteous, friendly and helpful towards us.

oishii 7-11 food!

meiji haven

even the cashier looks this good. no wonder minamisenju's 7-11 is our favourite haunt heh.

Tokyo is abounded with kakkoi/ kawaii/ kirei people :) everywhere i turned i'd bump into good-lookers with great fashion sense. even with what we would consider the most outrageous dressing (think skull and stripped leggings), we blended in perfectly. daijyobu!

our paparazzi shots unveiled:

more photos here. enjoy!