Having set aside more time for rest this day, we headed off to Odaiba in the late morning feeling energised and refreshed. It was also yet another cold windy day, but at least the weather was really good and skies were clear.

It was the second time I visited Odaiba, but the previous time was four years ago, travelling with a tour group. Hence, there were still many things to look forward to, such as the DiverCity shopping mall which didn’t exist then, and taking the special Yurikamome train into the island. The Yurikamome works like the Japanese version of Singapore’s LRT system – driverless and short distances between stations. However, it has more cabins and a decent amount of seats unlike LRT trains.

Onboard the Yurikamome, looking out to the tracks.

The train at one point travels alongside cars, and goes directly under the Rainbow Bridge.

Getting off at Daiba station, our first stop would be AquaCity shopping mall, which I had visited before. I’m not sure if I remembered wrongly but the mall’s interior seems to have changed quite a bit since.

The facade of AquaCity Odaiba.

It was already 11.30am when we reached the place so we needed to find lunch. Upon reaching the mall’s entrance, we were handed a flyer advertising a buffet for an unbelievably affordable price. Etine got pretty excited and wanted to try, but seeing the price gave me doubts about the food quality so I brought this up, and we agreed to look for something else. I was feeling like having sashimi, but Etine really wanted to eat omurice, so we made an agreement that she’d choose what to have for lunch and I’d choose dinner.

We settled upon this omurice restaurant called Pomme no Ki, which turned out to be a pretty good choice. The omurice here was absolutely delectable! I regretted not choosing a bigger portion because it was so tasty I wanted more. You could pay 210 yen extra for a medium size (the regular size is called “small”), and 420 yen extra for the biggest size.

Curry doria.

This was also doria but I don’t remember what was inside.

Since it was an omurice restaurant, I stuck with eating omurice.

We still had room after gobbling down the rice, so we ordered the dessert we had been eyeing earlier. The ice cream parfaits didn’t disappoint, and it was very filling. Honestly, I don’t know where you could get such quality desserts in Singapore.

The assorted berries ice cream parfait Etine chose.

Blueberries, cheesecake, strawberry sauce and fresh cream over ice cream. My kind of parfait.

Stuffed with lunch, we were ready to start shopping. We spent quite a lot of time trying and buying clothes. In particular, I aimed for those Japanese brands I knew and you couldn’t find in Singapore. Bought quite few pieces of clothing in the end. I wanted to move on to DECKS, the shopping mall beside AquaCity, to check out Joypolis, the indoor amusement park, but in the end we took it out of the itinerary in order to accommodate more time for shopping.

After finally moving out of AquaCity, we crossed the road to the Fuji TV building. It was apparent that the building was a place that most tourists would just take photos of the exterior or at most probably only step in to look around, since the open-to-public areas here only sell merchandise of shows shown in Japan.

Being a pretty avid Japanese drama watcher, I roughly had in mind which dramas’ merchandise to look out for in F-Island, the name of the Fuji TV goods shop. F-Island is located on the 7th floor of the building, and there’s a long escalator on the exterior of the building that takes you directly outside the shop.

The Fuji TV building.

Escalator up to the seventh floor.

When at the open area outside the shop, I immediately looked for one of the J-drama posters I knew was up here, and it happened to be on the pillar closest to the shop. I got pretty excited and hung around taking a few photos even though the strong winds were killing all of us.

I was not alone in my excitement, since there were two women who spotted the poster and one of them squealed, telling the other she was very happy to see it. She then proceeded to snap a photo with her cellphone. Why the excitement for this particular late night drama? Because a Johnny’s Entertainment idol is starring in it, that’s why. It really was less about the drama and more about seeing this giant poster with him on it.

After enough photos, we went into the shop. This whole Fuji TV stop was mostly for me since Etine and her mum don’t really watch J-drama. After getting a few items off the shelves, we left the place as it was approaching evening light. Etine and I wanted to take photos of the giant Gundam outside DiverCity in daylight.

One of the many giant drama billboards on the pillars outside the shop.

Fuji TV drama goods on sale.

They were filming something on the ground floor outside the building as we left.

Needless to say, it was getting colder and breezier by the hour, so we walked pretty fast. Call me an inexperienced traveller, but I didn’t even know it could be this cold in spring. Of course we checked weather forecasts daily but knowing the temperature and actually feeling it is different. At some point I started trying to walk backwards instead, against the direction of the wind, so it would stop freezing up my face.

Upon reaching DiverCity, Etine’s mom looked around shops while Etine and I bypassed most of the shops. Our priority was making our way to the outside area, where we found the giant Gundam model and the Gundam Cafe.

We decided to go into the cafe first, where Etine happily bought a Haro Latte. I initially wanted to grab one as well but the price made me baulk. I’m not that big of a Gundam fan that it would justify me paying 380 yen for hot latte (but you know, 800 yen for a maid cafe latte is totally reasonable!).

It is pretty cute though.

After which, we went to take photos of the Gundam model in evening light. While waiting for it to become night, we went back into the mall to grab some Gindaco takoyaki (once again). When we were done we went back outside to take photos and it was just nice. The Gundam model looks a lot more imposing at night than in the day thanks to the lighting at the eyes and feet.

Gundam in daylight.

And at night, looking ready for battle.

Finally, we went back inside DiverCity to do shopping. However, the mall surprisingly had nothing much for us – the brands available were more upscale than the ones in AquaCity. We didn’t really find anything here to buy, so we were quickly done with the place. We decided to go towards Odaiba Kaihin Koen (Seaside Park).

We didn’t actually go down to the beach since it was already dark, and we admired the view from the open area outside AquaCity. There were some tourists around here taking photos too.

The view from Kaihin Koen. Tokyo Tower is visible, behind the bridge.

We were actually all kind of disappointed the famous Rainbow Bridge didn’t seem to be doing its rainbow light-ups often seen in postcards. Perhaps it was too early? It was dark, but only around 6pm when we were there looking out.

Since this was our last planned stop in Odaiba, we were about to go, when I spotted the Toys”R”Us sign outside AquaCity and remembered I wanted to visit it but had forgotten to earlier. It was for a lame reason that I wanted to check it out but anyway, I asked if we could make a quick stop at the mall. Etine and her mum were okay with it, so we went back in.

They continued to look at shops again, while I went to Toys”R”Us. When I was done and went back to find them, they were engrossed in trying and buying clothes again. We ended up spending another hour here before making our journey back.

On the train, I caught sight of a Kazoku Game (drama) poster at Shibuya station and quickly snapped a shot.

Reaching back at Shin-Okubo where our hotel was located, we went around the streets to find dinner. Unfortunately I’m not a fan of Korean food so there wasn’t really anything good there. Another unexciting end of day, but still Odaiba was pretty satisfying. In retrospect I wish we actually hadn’t set aside more time for sleeping and allocated more time for shopping, because we missed out Joypolis.

Come this July, Bandai Namco will be opening a brand new amusement park themed after the tremendously popular Weekly Shonen Jump comics. The new theme park, titled J-World Tokyo will open at Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City and will feature areas dedicated to the Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto world and characters. The first concept drawings of the park have been released.

J-World Tokyo follows the success of Bandai’s Gundam Front theme park at Odaiba’s DiverCity. Like the Gundam Front, J-World Tokyo will be an indoor theme park, this time located at the third floor of Ikebukuro Sunshine City. The opening of the new Jump theme park on 11th July will also coincide with the renewal of the Namco Namja Town amusement park located just one floor below.

J-World Tokyo. A JUMP themed amusement park.

While most of the park will be dedicated to zones featuring One Piece, Naruto and Dragon Ball (in order of size), there will also be general areas open to the entire family of Jump’s super stars. Some previews of what J-World Tokyo will look like.

Heroes Arena. Where you’ll find mini-exhibits for the various Shonen Jump titles.

Amusement Arena. Which will contain catcher games and gachapon machines.

Given the popularity of the Shonen Jump characters in Japan (and the rest of the world), we’re quite surprised that it took nearly this long to bring this idea to realization. Unsurprisingly, J-World Tokyo is also part of Japan’s ongoing “Cool Japan” efforts to promote “Japanese culture”, though mainly just anime, overseas.

So far prices for the park are definitely on the steep, if not obscene side of things. Entry alone is planned at 1,300 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for children, exclusive of rides. Individual rides will cost an additional 800 yen a go. Given the fact that given that the park is located indoors, the types of rides available will be severely hindered.

One Piece themed carousel.

Another One Piece ride mockup.

So far, 5 rides have been planned. From One Piece we have the Dock Adventure Ride, an indoor track ride that will take visitors through a series of short animated sequences and a One Piece themed carousel. There will also be a Naruto themed maze and a Dragon Ball treasure hunt, which will be familiar to those who’ve visited Namja Town. Finally, there’s a 3D augmented reality Dragon Ball simulator.

Our impression is that the rides will be primarily targeted towards the comics younger audiences and thus might seem a little underwhelming for adults.

The J-World store will carry some exclusive merchandise.

If their past efforts were any indication though, Bandai Namco will do an amazing job with the merchandising of its goods. Fans of the Jump comics can look forward to exclusive merchandise at the J-World souvenir shop.

Like Namja Town, J-World Tokyo will also have a section dedicated to Jump themed food and snacks with the J-World Kitchen.

J-World Kitchen.

Concept art for some of the planned treats have been previewed, let’s see if you can identify which anime worlds they are theme after.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #1.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #2.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #3.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #4.

Momoiro Clover Z has been at the head of the idol sengoku jidai, a rising group that comes closest to threatening AKB48′s hegemonic hold over the proverbial Iron Throne of Japanese music. In April of 2013, the 5 girls from Stardust Promotions released their second album, titled 5th Dimension. The album reached the top of the Oricon charts, selling a total of nearly 200 thousand copies over three weeks.

The group had a website for their upcoming album before it launched, containing information about the album and its contents. Using crowdsourcing to play the game that was on the site, fans managed to reveal the tracklist, along with the composition and writing credits of each song.  On the hype front, the group couldn’t have done much better; fans around the world were activated to help with the unlocking.

Momoclo continues with an evolution of their theme from previous releases, but this time they took it a step further. Promotional material saw the girls in costumes that came out of science fiction, donning facemasks that would make all but the Hellraiser fans amongst us take a step back. While the radical look should earn some brownie points, one wonders why  it was done in the first place.

The album itself is a 13-track epic that covers more genres than you can shake a stick at. The members themselves have described it as an album with a flowing narrative, and one should listen to it as a concept album as a whole. Personally however, this might have been a lofty goal rather than something the group actually achieved, as there is no indication that it is a concept album. The tracks are individually great, but do not flow into each other as one might imagine in a concept album.

The album perhaps starts a little too ambitious. O Fortune from the Carmina Burana kicks off the album, setting an epic scene only to meet a letdown as Neo Stargate starts proper. It seems like a really awkward way to set the mood, and cheapens one of the most important points of an album. The album picks up steadily, however, and goes into a full gallop at Mugen no Ai. Accompanied by Marty Friedman and operatic backing vocals, Momoclo take their vocal range to the limit and end up with a song that befits their space opera image.

Mugen no Ai is the start of a stretch of solid songs almost unheard of in idol album history. 5 The Power is an organic hip-hop track, Roudou Sanka sounds like it came out of a blaxploitation soundtrack, and Get Down features a ridiculously catchy chorus with an oddly nostalgic sound. If you ever wanted to let your parents hear Momoiro Clover, that song would be your best bet.

Otome Sensou brings back the old Momoclo of yore, and it’s really the first time you hear the ‘idol’ in Momoiro Clover in the album. If you prefer Hashire to any of the songs before this, then Otome Sensou is for you. Tsuki to Gingami rounds up this crazy exploration of genres, and does it with style as the girls sing in harmony to a track that would remind many of Queen.

This is interrupted briefly by Birth Ø Birth, which in this writer’s opinion, is the weakest song of the bunch. Compared to the previous songs, the EDM influence in this song seems rather uninspired and unexciting. While the fact that the Momoiro Clover girls are not the best singers should be known to many, the vocals in this track sound especially bad; while some may appreciate the sentiment of not correcting it, it just sounds grating.

The ending of the album seems to be a homage to history. Jukyou Monogatari is an ode to Momoiro Clover; the excitement is infectious, even without watching them. Sora Tobu would not sound out of place in an old Morning Musume catalog. Saraba rounds up the metal quotient in the album, and Hai to Diamond ends the album on a softer note. It’s an uncharacteristic but poignant end to an album full of experimentation.

Momoiro Clover fans are so for many different reasons. Yet, no matter if you were a fan of their music, their personality or just the zaniness, everything comes through perfectly on 5th Dimension. If there’s only one idol album you should check out for this year, pick up 5th Dimension. You’ll realize why they’ve sold out concerts in 3 minutes and why their rise has been meteoric.

You cannot leave Okinawa until you’ve visited one of the island’s UNESCO World Heritage sites from the Ryukyu Kingdom. There are several throughout the island and the Zakimi Castle ruins is one of them.

The beauty in ruins.

Located on top of a hill, it dates back to the 15^th century and was declared as a World Heritage site in 2000. Within the past decades, the castle also played a role during World War II and the subsequent US occupation of Okinawa.

An intimate look at the walls that made up a castle.

It’s a picturesque place and the surrounding park around the national historic site gives you a sense of traveling back into time, without much signs of modernity in sight.

The surrounding park gives an added sense of serenity.

While it is interesting to visit a fully restored and reconstructed castle, such as the ever popular Shuri Castle, visiting a castle ruins like Zakimi can give you a closer look at the masonry work of the people of the Ryukyu Kingdom and also a deeper sense of authenticity.

Breathtaking view from the top.

The Yomitan Village History and Folklore Museum is also nearby the site if you’d like to soak in more history and culture.

Zakimi Castle
2975, Zakimi,Yomitan-Village, Okinawa

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After 3 days in Tokyo, we had a slight change of environment in the form of Yokohama. Having a bit of trouble finding the place to buy the special discounted Minatomirai Ticket due to wrongly understanding that it was not sold at Shibuya Station at all, our plans were delayed so during the day we had to cut short some places we intended to visit.

The Minatomirai Ticket included travel on the month-old Tokyu Toyoko Line, which apparently cuts short travel time from central Tokyo to Yokohama, and has been the cause for rise in visitorship to Yokohama. Because their website isn’t exactly clear, we exited at Yokohama station and re-entered before changing to the Minatomirai Line. Turns out it wasn’t needed and we could have just changed lines straight.

The sparkly clean trains of the Minatomirai Line.

Going to the furthest point on the Minatomirai Line, Motomachi-Chukagai Station was where our first stop of the day was. We went to Yokohama Chinatown, the biggest in Japan. Unfortunately, it had been raining on and off since we began the day, and of course walking the streets of Chinatown meant being outdoors most of the time.

Grey clouds looming above the entrance of Chinatown.

A giant panda entrance to a shop.

This was my first experience being in a Chinatown outside of my own country, and I must say it’s interesting to see the Chinese-ish architecture you don’t really see in Singapore’s. Perhaps a little on the exaggerated side but it adds to the atmosphere.

The vibrant streets are a mix of small clothes shops, souvenir shops, streetside dim sum stalls and Chinese food restaurants. We checked out a few shops, but didn’t stop by everything because it was a hassle opening and closing umbrellas. We also bought snacks from the streetside stalls. Since it was cold, piping hot meat buns were a delight.

Shop selling super random souvenirs. Leaf-holding frog figurine for 900 yen, anyone?

There are also a fair amount of men trying to get you to try hot chestnuts so you’ll buy them. I don’t eat chestnuts, so I avoided them all the way. Etine’s mum, however, was curious enough to try one, but this particular guy scolded her when she didn’t want to buy. Not sure if she was just unlucky, but anyone reading this might want to take note.

Although we were supposed to find lunch here, we kept buying dim sum, because everywhere we walked, there would be a streetside stall enticing us. The dim sum is not cheap, but I suppose it’s because it’s more of a rarity in Japan, and that Chinatown is essentially a tourist trap anyway. And apparently, many celebrities have visited Yokohama Chinatown before, so there are many places advertising photos of celebrities at their stalls.

Stall showing celebrities patronising. AKB48′s subunit no3b included.

After a fair bit of walking, we finally decided to settle down at a Shanghai cuisine eatery called Yan Tai, as they were having some price promotions. Living in Singapore, we basically eat Chinese food almost everyday, and this is Japan, so we went in there not really knowing what kind of standard to expect.

It turned out to be good decision to step in, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know if I was hungry and it affected my judgement or anything, but I think it tasted better than a lot of the hawker centre fare I’ve been eating.

Congee. Looks normal but tastes pretty good.

Mapo toufu! This was really really delicious and had just the right amount of spice. Would go back for this.

I don’t really remember what this is… black pepper chicken or something?

Yan Tai’s specialty dumplings. Only 2 were left before I could take a photo… and it actually tasted so-so.

With this yummy meal, we left Chinatown, going back to the station to take the train to Minatomirai. We had intended to visit the Yokohama Marine Tower before leaving this area, but as mentioned earlier, due to delays we decided to forgo this.

Upon reaching Minatomirai, we found that it had stopped raining though the sky was still overcast. We headed towards Yokohama Landmark Square for some shopping, although I limited the time we had there for fear we would not have enough time to cover everything we wanted to.

The majority of our time in this shopping mall was spent at Pokemon Center, where a wide array of official Pokemon merchandise are sold. It was also the place with the most traffic in the entire mall, which says a lot about Pokemon’s popularity in Japan still.

Was excited to see the iconic Landmark Tower, regularly shown in one of my favourite dramas, RESCUE.

Entrance of Pokemon Center. Photography not allowed inside.

Thereafter, we were going to make our way towards Kishamichi Promenade, but spotted something we hadn’t come across while planning the trip (don’t ask us how that happened, I have no idea). There was an observatory on the 69th floor of the Landmark Tower called the Sky Garden. We debated for a while whether to go up, but eventually did. It costs only 1,000 yen for a spectacular 360 degree view of Yokohama, and what’s more, we didn’t have to queue. Tickets are purchased via machines.

The staff were also extremely polite while ushering us up, although they didn’t seem to speak any English. Of course, we possibly don’t look foreign enough, but we were actually going in the same time as this Caucasian family, and the staff continued speaking in Japanese.

I did at least manage to understand that the lift we were taking to the 69th floor was the fastest in all of Japan. There was a speed indicator in the lift showing the staggering speed we were going at. In no time at all, we were on the 69th floor, greeted with breathtaking views.

Inside the lift with the speed indicator and the sparkly, reflective ceiling.

Amazing view of Minatomirai from the Sky Garden.

Another view from the Sky Garden. Yokohama Stadium can be seen in the distance.

We spent about an hour in total taking photographs and admiring the view. Okay, it was mostly my fault actually. Etine and her mum were done looking around in half an hour so they spent the rest of the time sitting down and waiting for me. Meanwhile I was too absorbed in the views to notice that they were already bored, and even spent 100 yen on those payable telescope things.

By the time we were out of the place, I had caused our schedule to delay further, and so we struck out going to check out the Nippon Maru ship museum. It was something we had agreed to strike out if we were more interested in other things than a museum, and we were.

Snaking through the Sunday crowd and getting across the super long travelators, we finally reached Kishamichi Promenade, whereby we took more photos of the scenery while crossing it towards the Akarenga Souko (also known as the Red Brick Warehouses).

Kishamichi Promenade. Sky still looking ready to pour anytime.

Akarenga Souko, with a special flower exhibition for the Spring season. In front of this pretty sight however, was something that looked like a construction dumping ground.

The smaller block of Akarenga Souko was apparently an exhibition space so we didn’t spend time there. The bigger block was filled with stylish cafes and shops. It looked completely different from a 2003 variety show I randomly watched recently, but I guess the interior changed a lot since then.

None of us spent any money here, although it was really interesting to look around. There was one shop in particular, an omurice restaurant called Yokohama Tachibanatei, that attracted a crowd. We poked our heads through to see what people were looking at, and we discovered the kitchen had a glass window for people to view the preparation process of the omurice.

I can’t adequately describe how fascinating watching it was. We actually stuck around watching a few rounds of it. The chef obviously had a lot of experience and was able to flick the omelette from the pan perfectly onto the ketchup rice on a plate. Everyone who came by to watch were so amazed that there would be audible gasps of surprise. And the chef liked to show a victory sign to the crowd. You can actually watch the process in the video on their website, where they got featured in a Korean TV show (skip the very front part of the video).

Watching the chef cook up delicious-looking omurice.

Unfortunately since we were there at neither lunch nor dinner time, we passed on eating there. I would definitely want to go back and try it some time when I get the opportunity.

There’s also this balcony on the second floor of the warehouse, which faces the Japan Coast Guard Museum building. Of course, I took out my camera there ready to capture the scenery, but to my surprise, there was this police-looking guy who was standing in the area directly below the balcony calling out to me and telling me that photography was not allowed.

Then I noticed there were a whole bunch of police-looking people near him, seemingly discussing something. But it was still weird that photography is not allowed from an open balcony, and I wondered if it was just for that day because they were doing something sensitive. There were others on the balcony with us but they were taking photos of themselves against the interior rather than with the view.

Done with the Akarenga Souko, we decided to proceed towards the Cosmo World theme park, where we planned to take the Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel and try to catch the evening to night view. On the way there, it started raining again, and it was so cold that my feet were freezing up and it was starting to hurt while walking, so we hurried towards World Porters Mall first to get some warmth.

The exterior of World Porters Mall.

It seemed the section of the mall we were stuck navigating had like a outdoor concept though, and I didn’t want to stop to look at any shops because of the weather. At some point we saw a pretty big apparel store that Etine’s mum suggested we could walk through from one exit to the other just to warm up. And… well, let’s just say a lot of things caught our eyes in that shop because everything was so attractively priced and they were having a 20% off promotion (last day!) on top of it.

We got stuck in that store for probably more than an hour, so there went the plan for evening views from Cosmo Clock 21, but all of us bought stuff from there so no complaints. Plus I hadn’t really been buying stuff the last three days, so I couldn’t have been more glad to be able to spend some (exchange-rate-dropping, loss-making) yen.

When we reached Cosmo World it was already pretty dark. Quickly purchasing three tickets for the ferris wheel, we went to the 4th floor where a long queue for the attraction awaited us. Let me just mention that I regret not taking a photo of the ticket – I thought we would have it as a keepsake, but the staff just take it from you when you enter the ride. Also, like all theme park attractions, they take a photo of you before you go in, and then try to sell it to you after the ride.

Going up… cabin is actually roomy enough for 8, so the 3 of us moved around a lot.

The inner framework of the ferris wheel is pretty to look at too.

Night view of Queen’s Square.

In 15 minutes, we were back onto the ground. Since the theme park doesn’t have any admission fee, we didn’t desire to take any other rides. We were heading towards the exit when Etine got attracted to one of those throwing game stalls to get prizes. Without any luck, we walked back towards Queen’s Square to find a place for dinner.

After a lengthy debate over what to eat, we eventually settled for this food court that -get this- had McDonalds’, KFC and Subway all in one. Amazing. They were individual stalls but all shared the same dining area. There was also a western cuisine restaurant, named American House, inside the food court and that was where we settled for.

We were so tired from the day that we had forgotten to take photos of the food that we ordered until after we cleared our plates. Thanks to that, my memory is blurry of what we ordered, but I remember there was California Hamburg Steak, Chilli Cheese Hamburger and fries. And they looked and tasted good.

Then, it was time to call it a day and bid Yokohama farewell. And I thankfully remembered to take a photo of the Minatomirai Ticket before the train gantry sucked it away upon completion of a round trip.

Minatomirai Ticket.

Spotted at a train station on the way back – snapped a photo since AAA was on it!

Nakata’s new muse has been having a phenomenal year. Kyary performed at the Nippon Budokan, turned 20, released more great music and is now well under way her first world tour. The music video for Invader Invader, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s upcoming 6th single was released last night. Check it out, it may be one of her best this year yet.

Invader Invader is yet another electro-pop number but there are some surprises built in. It’s being used as the CM song for her new advertisements with GU Japan and we got to see it in full at her YouTube MUSIC WEEK concert.

Compared to his previous acts, Nakata seems to be a lot more experimental with Kyary, and to amazing effect. Kyary’s previous singles have incorporated elements of house and rock. For Invader Invader Kyary Pamyu Pamyu gets all dub steppy.

Invader Invader is Kyary’s second single for GU Japan (the first being Fashion Monster), like the previous it’s a wonderfully catchy song, and judging by its reception at her MUSIC WEEK concert, definitely one for the lives.

Limited Edition Cover.

Invader Invader is scheduled for released next Wednesday on 15th May 2013. It will once again come in two varieties, a 1,800 yen Limited Edition with an extra photobook and a 1,200 yen Regular Edition. First press versions of the regular version will come with a bonus sticker.

Regular Cover.

Some time ago we looked at the Japanese SIM card rental options and deduced that if you’re visiting for a short holiday, the best thing to do would be to stick with your local carrier’s roaming plan. The situation’s changed quite a bit since then and many of the previous SIM card options are now defunct, though the previous conclusion still stands. However for those staying for a longer duration or who require internet access on the go, B-Mobile’s prepaid data cards provide an excellent alternative.

Following the rise of smart phones in Japan, B-Mobile began marketing their local 3G  enabled prepaid data SIM cards between the end of 2010 and 2011. For roughly 3,000 yen, B-Mobile’s data cards offer a month’s worth of data usage. They tap onto the existing NTT DoCoMo networks to provide speedy mobile internet access to just about any part of Japan. Recognizing the demand for data cards by foreigners visiting Japan, B-Mobile have also released special “Visitor Sim” cards last year though I wouldn’t recommend them for reasons explained below.

B-Mobile offers a wide range of different prepaid cards for sale off the shelf at most major electronic shops in Japan like Yodobashi Camera or Bic Camera. Their data cards are available in standard, Micro and Nano sized SIMs (at least for the newer SIMs). Do make sure that you get the correctly labelled package, otherwise you’d have to find some means to cut the card to the desired size.

It is important to note that all of the B-Mobile SIMs are data-only, giving you mobile internet access in Japan, but no traditional phone time or SMS. You can see the full range of B-Mobile products here, however only a few are relevant to travellers, their classic U300 and 1GB Fixed cards and their rebranded equivalents targeted at tourists.

U300. 1 month of unlimited data capped at 300kbps.

U300

The first data SIM card that was offered by B-Mobile is the U300. U300 in this case stands for Unlimited 300 as the U300 data card gives users unlimited data access for a month, which is capped at 300kbps. There are also additional limits to the U300 card in that it does not allow for Voice Over IP services like Skype or LINE or streaming videos. Sustained streaming have been disabled in the card.

The U300 card is the cheapest at 2,980 yen. Given these limitations though, there is little point for unlimited data access, but if you find yourself in Japan without any other forms of internet access this may be attractive to some visitors. The lack of phone calls may be overcoming by using a messaging application.

Since the U300 is considered an older product, you may have a little bit of trouble finding it at out of the way electronic stores. Sometimes it is not displayed prominently either, leading some to believe that they are not available in stores. In the case that you do not see it displayed, some have had luck asking the sales staff at the electronic stores as they may be tucked away with the rest of the less sellable stocks.

1GB Fixed. 1gb of uncapped data usable over a month.

1GB Fixed

The second data card introduced and the one that should interest most visitors is the B-Mobile 1GB Fixed data SIM. It costs slightly more at 3,480 yen but removes the restrictions on VoIP and streaming services. The access speed is also not capped at 300kbps, allowing for lightning fast 3G and 4G LTE access. Our experience with the 1GB Fixed card speeds was very satisfactory. Being Japan, we found the internet access to be much faster than any equivalent Singapore connections, even while traveling on the train, in the middle of the countryside. The downside to this is that data access is capped at 1GB.

With VoIP, one can use services like Skype or LINE to replace the occasional call in Japan. The 1GB data limit is sufficient for a couple hours of total calls and just about as much messaging or surfing you’d ned for a month. If you’re on holiday in Japan and using anything more than that, chances are you’re not enjoying the trip to its fullest.

Note: The one and biggest downside to the above two SIM Cards is that they were only created with the local user in mind and were meant to supplement existing lines. In order to begin using the B-Mobile data SIMs you will need to dial up a toll-free number and enter the product code into the automated systems with normal Japanese cellphone.

If you have access to a friend in Japan who can do this for you, then this is a minor issue. Picking up the U300 or a 1GB data card directly from an electronic store is the cheapest option, since you can forgo any extra shipping charges. However in our last trip, we found it extremely difficult to get anyone to help. I have heard stories where the shop assistants at certain electronic retailers would help tourists to activate their cards, but this is not the norm. In fact with the new B-Mobile Visitor cards, I might suspect some have been told not to.

Getting the SIM card to work without the help of a Japanese friend is much more troublesome. B-Mobile offers a hotline that can be accessed by landline, however to deter tourists from using this SIM activating your card this way now costs an additional 2,500 yen.

One possible solution is to get the B-Mobile data SIMs through local resellers. There are people living in Japan who have taken the opportunity to sell pre-activated B-Mobile cards albeit at a heavily marked up price. This should only be considered if you’re planning to stay in Japan for more than 14 days. Getting a reseller to activate the card and then ship it to you not only costs more, but you’d also be losing at least one day of data access in the process.

Visitor SIMs. More expensive, less days.

Visitor SIM 14-days Prepaid and Visitor SIM 1GB Prepaid

The Visitor SIM 14-days Prepaid and Visitor SIM 1GB Prepaid cards are the two B-Mobiles SIM cards targeted toward tourists and they follow the typical Japanese practice of taking foreigners for suckers.

If you’re visiting the B-Mobile website in anything other Japanese, these will be the only two cards that are displayed to visitors. Both cards are identical to the the regular U300 and 1GB Fixed cards respectively, with the exception that data access is capped to only 14 days, rather than the usual month.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the visitor SIMs also cost more than their Japanese counterparts at 3,980 yen each.

However, if you’re only planning to stay in Japan for a maximum of 14 days and want to do without the hassle of getting the SIM card activated yourself, the Visitor SIM 1GB Prepaid is still a viable alternative as the prices for the visitor cards are inclusive of delivery charges to your hotel when ordered online. All the cards come pre-activated so you can place an order in advance and have it delivered on the day in which you arrive at a hotel for maximum convenience. Airport pickups are also available but cost an additional 210 yen more.

Edit: The B-Mobile link above shows which SIM cards are available in which sizes, but for clarity do take note that only the newer Vistor cards are available as Nano size SIMs. The local versions of the U300 and 1GB Fixed are available in standard and micro sizes only.

We started off the next day waking up early, in order to pack up our stuff, check-out and move to our next hotel which was located one stop away from Shinjuku Station on the Yamanote Line. The initial plan was to take a taxi there since we had to carry all our luggage, but realising that we wouldn’t have to change train lines at all if we took one from Tokyo Station, we decide to save the money. Our hotel in Hatchobori did provide a free shuttle to Tokyo Station anyway, and most guests checking out took advantage of it.

Leaving our luggage at the reception of our next hotel, Shin-Okubo Sekitei, as it was not check-in time yet, we headed for the nearby branch of Gyoza no Ohsho to have lunch. Like its name suggests, it’s a shop known for its gyoza. We had a quick lunch here with all of us ordering sets that included gyoza, and it didn’t disappoint.

Here, I regret to inform that there won’t be any photos for today’s travel and food. We kept our cameras away in the luggage as Etine and I would be going for a concert right after, and didn’t want to risk any trouble with the bag check. We would also be splitting up from her mum, who would be doing her own shopping in Shin-Okubo and Shinjuku while we went for the concert.

The concert we would be going for was the opening day of AAA’s Eighth Wonder tour. For the uninitiated, their name stands for Attack All Around, and the group consists of 5 men and 2 women. They do a variety of genres in accordance with their name – what they’re attacking are actually genres. They’re also titled a “super performance group”, giving energetic dances and singing at the same time without lip-syncing. With their debut single BLOOD on FIRE, they won Best Newcomer at the Japan Record Award.

Lately they’ve been leaning towards a more electronic sound. Here’s their latest release.

So anyway, we made for concert venue, which was in Hachioji City, 1 hour away from central Tokyo. On the way there we started to feel kind of sleepy due to the long train ride after a filling meal. But the moment I got out of the train I regained my energy and started getting super excited because in Hachioji Station itself I could already spot other fans who were carrying AAA goods.

All along the station’s exit till Southern Sky Tower, there were a ton of fans decked out in AAA gear, ranging from official goods, self-made t-shirts, and cosplay outfits of the members’ costumes. There was also a dance cover group in the open area outside the shopping mall, but we didn’t stop to watch as we were freezing in the cold. The 9 – 11 degrees temperature was already cold, but adding were strong winds that happened to be blowing in that area. It was too much for my Singapore-bred self. I think Etine was able to put up with it a little better though.

Heeding the advice of online forums, we were there at the concert venue, Olympus Hall Hachioji (located on the 4th floor of Southern Sky Tower), at about 2pm. It was one hour later than intended due to several minor delays in the morning, but I’m glad we didn’t reach earlier because we ended up with too much free time.

AAA B2-size posters for sale on display.

The advice on forums said to be at a venue at least 3 hours before the doors open (4.30pm in our case), if you absolutely wanted to get your hands on goods. However, I guess this didn’t really apply to us as it was the first day of the tour and there’s less chance of things being sold out. So anyway when we got to the queue for buying goods, we got an official tour light stick and towel each, and I bought some a~panda keychains, the AAA mascot.

Other merchandise on display near the goods counter.

When we were done buying, we didn’t stick around the area since it was crowded with fans sitting around chatting. It was still 2 hours til the doors opened so we decided to walk around Southern Sky Tower, which was a shopping mall.

Most of the shops around were restaurants, but there was a supermarket and a 100-yen shop as well, so we spent our time in those. Etine ended up buying strawberries from the supermarket as they were cheap. Also, when we visited the washroom, it was filled with AAA fans who were there to change into their AAA cosplays.

Close to 4pm, we returned to the waiting area outside the hall. Finding an empty corner, we sat ourselves there. There were plenty of other fans around but none tried to talk to us, to which I was kind of sad, but then I didn’t approach anyone to chat either because I was afraid. Around 4.30pm, staff started shouting for people to form a queue to enter the place. Since there was no English spoken, I was only half-sure of what I had understood. Anyway, we joined the queue since there was nothing to lose (nothing to win either – the concert is ticketed seating).

This display was also near the counter, on the floor where staff checked tickets for entry to the concert hall.

We had to climb two floors of stairs after entering the place since our seats were on the third floor. Despite it being the third floor, the view we had was clear without any blockage. Props to Olympus Hall here – each row of seats are elevated so high that you had no possibility of being blocked by the front row unless you had a 2m-tall man in front of you.

When the hall started filling up, I noticed the Japanese fan beside me was holding a pair of binoculars… and that is when I realised how stupid we were to not foresee the usefulness of bringing binoculars when you’re seated this far from the stage. You can’t really see facial expressions from this distance.

It was not long before the lights switched off, squeals from the audience were heard, and colourful moving lights appeared on the screens that were on the stage itself. The thumping dramatic music at the beginning really got everybody into the mood and even Etine, who wasn’t a hardcore fan like I was, got excited.

Opening up with a totally new song which was very electronic-sounding, it set the pace for the concert. Most of the songs for the day’s setlist would be upbeat. The setlist consisted of songs from recent years (Still Love You, CALL, etc), most recently released singles (Miss you, PARTY IT UP), and new songs from their upcoming album. We were treated to a total of five new songs that would be in AAA’s upcoming album – this meant everyone in the audience on this day were the first fans to listen to these songs. After the encore there was also a medley of older songs that were fan favourites. Here’s one of them.

The MC portions were also enjoyable and you can witness how comfortable they are with the stage after 7 years since debuting. With my limited Japanese though it was still not easy catching what they were saying, and there were a few times where I was clueless when the audience laughed. I also tried explaining the parts I could, to Etine who totally didn’t understand anything.

During the encore MC, AAA also showed their appreciativeness to fans, and they specially asked for the lights on the third level to be turned on so they could see us and wave to us. Naturally, everyone on the third level waved back enthusiastically.

Being immersed in the music I like, watching the high-energy dances and entertaining skit, waving my light stick along with everyone in the audience to the rhythm, and swinging my towel to their song together with a friend, I could say that this was hands down one of the best times I’ve had in my life. Of course, there were many other songs I love that weren’t performed, but I was very satisfied with the show. Etine was also satisfied and ended up buying a~pandas because she became a bigger fan of one of the members.

The concert in total was about 2 and a half hours which was what I expected. 5pm is an early time to start a concert, but I think it was done in consideration of fans – it ended nicely at dinner time. Since we came all the way out to Hachioji, Etine suggested finding dinner in the area. The opposite side of Hachioji Station seemed to be quite a bustling place so we headed off to find food there.

Loot for the day, including Etine’s a~pandas and some flyers. Actually didn’t buy much.

On the way I spotted an electronics shop, so I quickly took a look inside to find the earphone model I had been searching for. And this time, I found it. Still 30 dollars cheaper than in Singapore, so I promptly bought it, then we continued on our journey for food. It was also raining at this time, so it became unbearably cold walking around the streets.

At one point we wandered into an alley with a sign that said “Lingerie Cafe” or something so I tried to stop Etine from going further into this alley. She, still a little blur, walked on a bit before spotting some dubious-looking men and turned back to me and said “Let’s go back to the main street.” Feeling a little scared of what else we could accidentally wander into, we in the end settled for…friendly old McDonalds’.

It’s not as disappointing as you might imagine. The McDonalds’ in Japan has a different menu from Singapore, and after trying the food, I’ve got to say the standard is so much better there. Etine ordered the ebi burger together with seaweed shaker fries. Except it wasn’t called “seaweed shaker” there. I first saw the photo so we mistakenly thought we could just ask for “seaweed shaker” and the staff gave us a confused look. Turns out, when I looked at the menu a second time, it was called “shaka-shaka potato”.

I ordered a teritama burger meal and it was really good. I wish it was available in Singapore too! We sat near a window where we stared back into the same dubious alley we had gotten out from. This time, I spotted even more dubious signs, and was glad we didn’t hang around in there long.

After we finished eating, we headed straight to the train station, since going back would take another hour and we didn’t want to be back too late.

Images and videos of AAA from avex trax/avex management inc.

Still reeling from the disappointment of missing the Tsukiji tuna auction in the morning, we took the train for tech gadget and anime paradise Akihabara, which would hopefully make the day better. Since it was still pretty early when we reached, there weren’t too many people.

Initially looking kind of sleepy, my friend, Etine, quickly perked up upon spotting a To Aru Kagaku no Railgun billboard poster in the distance. It was a little amusing. We headed for the Akihabara UDX building first as it was the closest to the station exit we had come out from. Etine, being an anime otaku, wanted to visit the Tokyo Anime Center in the building. We found out we were a little too early as the center hadn’t opened yet, so we loitered around until it did.

I’m a pretty casual anime watcher myself, but I gotta say I expected more than what we were greeted with, which was basically a bunch of flat TVs showing various anime, a small goods shop, and an exhibition for the hot anime of the moment, Kakumeiki Valvrave. Actually I didn’t know of the anime before, but seeing the number of seiyuus’ names I could recognise off the autograph board, I guess it’s quite a big production.

Those hexagonal shapes pieced together really remind me of Evangelion.

After looking through the place a bit, we went to the Tokyo Anime Center official shop which was a few floors down. This was much better, but still any anime shop around the vicinity could easily win it in terms of goods variety and amount. Etine ended up buying quite a lot of things anyway. We moved on to another anime shop, Animate, which was just around the corner in another building. Animate apparently spans 8 floors if I remember right, and we spent a fair deal of time in there. I still didn’t buy anything since nothing actually caught my eye.

By the time we were out of Animate, all of us had started to feel hungry. We didn’t have to decide what we wanted to eat this time, because we had it already planned in the itinerary, and it was the highlight of the day! @home cafe, one of the bigger maid cafes in the area, was our dining choice for the afternoon.

Once we were shown in to our seats by the cute maids, Etine and I became super excited. While I initially thought we would be the odd ones out, there were actually other female patrons in the shop. The maid serving us was named “Pyon” and she was really cute. My attention was mainly focused on Pyon, Etine was admiring every single maid in the cafe, while her mother didn’t look all that interested but it was understandable.

Etine ordered a banana milkshake while I ordered mocha latte for drinks, while her mum was fine with plain water. All of us ordered set meals as they were the most value-for-money on the menu. The drinks alone were already pretty expensive, because of the fanservice that comes with them. To be honest, I usually stay away from coffee on non-school days due to its particularly strong effects on me, but this was an exception.

Most expensive non-alcoholic drink I’ve bought. But the bunny drawing was worth the 700 yen.

My mocha latte came with the fanservice of the maid drawing with chocolate sauce on the foam of the coffee. I was asked to pick between cat, bear or bunny, and I chose bunny because the maid’s name was Pyon. With Etine’s banana milkshake, Pyon mixed the drink in a shaker, and while shaking it she required us to say the “magic words” along with her, which consisted of mostly cute-sounding onomatopoeic Japanese words, and then finally “Become delicious!”

The mocha latte tasted like any other coffee and the bunny was ruined within the first sip, so nothing special there. I also had a taste of the banana milkshake, and it was not bad but we both agreed it was a tad too sweet.

Following which, we were pretty much left alone for maybe 30 minutes. It took a long long long wait for the food to actually come. In the meantime we observed the neighbouring patrons playing games with the maids (chargeable). One of the maids spoke to us in broken English upon realising we weren’t local and asked where we were from. When the food finally came, it was another maid that served us because Pyon was taking a polaroid with another patron (chargeable). We were asked to pick a toothpick flag with a design we liked, so I picked a bear design because it was the cutest one. Etine ended up getting teased because she picked a flag that said “fujoshi” on it. Since Etine doesn’t really read or speak much Japanese she was a bit clueless.

Almost couldn’t bear to eat it.

So, after waiting that long for the food, how did it fare in the taste test? All 3 of us felt it tasted surprisingly good. It’s not that the food was amazing, but it was decent. And against our low expectations, it being a maid cafe (expecting a rip-off), it was good. Also, looking at the amount of different things on the plate and how detailed the decorations are, one can guess what took so long in the kitchen.

With our stomachs filled, we decided to pass on dessert and pay the bill. A pleasant surprise was that the entry fee was actually 300 yen for females instead of 600 yen. This wasn’t displayed on their website so I didn’t know beforehand. And then after we paid the bill, the maid presented to each of us a loyalty reward card of sorts where you’d get stamps for every visit after. It has a different front design for males and females.

We were asked how to write our names, and because it’s in English, the maid wrote it on tissue paper first to confirm with us. Then she proceeded to write our names in permanent ink in a really cute handwriting on the back of the card. It included titling us as “ojousama”s, a simple animal drawing beside the name, and a heart drawn into the visit date. All in all, it made our maid cafe experience a really good one and I’ll definitely return if I have the chance.

Making our way out of the DonQuijote building, we spotted a nail salon on the first floor, doing anime nail art and we were really interested in doing it (particularly so for me because they displayed Evangelion nail art). But we found out it would take 2 hours. Agreeing that it was too long (on hindsight, it wasn’t…), we passed it up and moved on. After walking around Akihabara a bit more and admiring the Gundam and AKB48 cafes from the exterior, we moved on to Tokyo Dome City (TDC).

The sky was overcast and it was cold so my photos dropped in quality as my hands were freezing.

It seemed we were there too early on a weekday as the place was pretty empty and the rides were hardly in operation since no one was taking them. I actually thought they were shut down or something because of bad weather. In the end we didn’t take anything since it felt really lame and no fun to take rides by ourselves. The star attraction of TDC, the Thunder Dolphin rollercoaster, had also been closed down for more than two years since the Tohoku Earthquake.

Workers seen on the Thunder Dolphin. One wonders what exactly they are repairing.

What do you do at TDC if not taking rides? Shopping, of course. We headed for LaQua, the shopping mall inside TDC. Here, we spent roughly two hours, including some time chilling at a green tea shop. There was also a CD shop where I found a rather rare Limited Edition of a CD I wanted to buy, but didn’t because I stupidly thought I would be able to find a Used version for less, in the coming days (spoiler: no such luck and am still kicking myself for this).

Although we had planned in our itinerary to spend the rest of the day here, it seemed we had already exhausted the place and didn’t know what else to do here. Then I remembered Etine was saying that she wished we had more time in Akihabara, so I proposed taking the train back there to continue shopping, since anyway from Akihabara we wouldn’t have to change train lines to go back to our hotel later on.

But before we could leave TDC, we stopped by MOMI&TOY’S to try their crepes. Definitely not disappointed. I never knew fresh cream could be this delicious!

Too yummy for words.

By the way, being a Japanese music fan and knowing Tokyo Dome, I didn’t neglect to take a closer look at the massive stadium since we were already at TDC. Of course you can’t walk into the stadium freely, but I looked around the outside area and took photos. Hopefully one day in the near future I’ll be able to attend a concert here!

Tokyo Dome’s gate guide.

After that, we made our way back to Suidobashi Station. We were dismayed to find the trains terribly packed. I had forgotten my own warnings to Etine prior to the trip to avoid taking the trains around 5 to 6pm as it would be rush hour. But with no choice since we were already there, we managed to squeeze into the second train that came.

By the time we reached Akihabara again, it was dark. This time, Etine’s mum decided to look at another mall in the area which had clothing stores, so we split ways until dinner. Keeping in mind many businesses in Japan close at 8pm, we quickened our footsteps, heading for Mandarake, another anime goods store. On the way, we passed by an Aoki suits store, with a big Kamenashi Kazuya endorsement poster displayed. Naturally, being a KAT-TUN fangirl, I paused to take a photo of it. However, stopping on a crowded sidewalk isn’t exactly the best idea, so I tried to take it quickly. Unfortunately no matter how many times I took the photo, there was bound to be someone walking into frame.

Hastily taken photo.

Mandarake was interesting to look at for the first few moments but due to the amount of things on display it was really cramped and I felt like I had a lack of oxygen. I guess it didn’t help being surrounded by anime figurines, something I’m not really interested in.

We walked around several electronics stores trying to look for a particular model of earphones which was on my to-buy list, because I was expecting it to sell for cheaper in Japan than in Singapore. Find it we did at a much much cheaper price, like about 30 dollars less, but the colour I wanted was out of stock. Sigh.

Afterwards we met back up with Etine’s mum at a Starbucks, wondering what to have for dinner. Finding that everything in the vicinity were expensive and it was late, we made the decision to go back to our hotel area and buy bentos from the nearby convenience store. A rather unexciting roundup to the day, but we were content with it since we were all tired from walking.

AKB48 theater photos are are series of photographs produced directly by AKS themselves. They’re the second main type of AKB48 collectible photos and with the ceasing of B.L.T. photographs can now be considered the most popular kind to be collected. AKB48 theater photos, in their current form emerged in 2009 as a more common alternative to B.L.T. photographs.

AKB48 Theater Photos

AKB48 theater photos and their matching colored bars.

Release: Monthly (Since July 2009)
Quantity: Medium
Price: Medium

AKB48 Theater Photographs are referred to as such since they are sold at the  AKB48 shop below the theater on the 5th floor of Akihabara’s Don Quixote building. The photographs are sold on the 26th of each month. Though in recent years, the number of days where photos are sold have expanded to 2, and now 5 days. During days where the theater photos are sold, you’ll be able to see a long queue spanning outside of the Don Quixote building in the morning.

Theater photos mimic regular B.L.T. photographs somewhat in that they are a number of studio shots of the AKB48 members. It also has a bar across the bottom of the photo. The theater bar details the name of the member, her team, and month of print of the photo. Unlike B.L.T. photographs, the theater bar changes in color each month (usually to match the costume worn in the photo). Theater photos also differ from B.L.T.s in that there are 4 to a set. The photos are always taken against a plain white background and feature the members in a different theater outfit each month.

When B.L.T. photos were still available, theater photos were considered of inferior quality and less sought after. All theater photos from prior to end 2010 were printed on low quality stock paper as if they were printed from a home inkjet printer (and quite possibly so). The quality of prints improved a little in 2010, before finally adopting proper photo prints in 2011. Even then, the actual technicalities of the taken photos continue to leave much to be desired.

AKB48 theater photos are cheaper than their B.L.T. counterparts. At a time when they ran simultaneously, theater photos consistently fetched almost exactly half the price of B.L.T. photos. This was due either to the poorer quality leading to a lower demand, or (much more likely) because of the higher supply and cheaper cost.

Theater photos are released in packets that cost 1,000 yen each. Each person in queue is limited to purchasing five packets at a time. The packets are sorted by team and each packet contains 5 somewhat random photographs of members from the respective team. It is not totally random, in that each packet contains a fair spread of popular and less popular members. In 2010, approximately 600 packets of theater photos were released each month per team. Assuming that all members were given an equal print run, this means that approximately 46 sets of 4 photographs exists for each member. The figures were later increased to about 1,000 packets per team in 2011 (~78 sets per member).

Now that AKB48 B.L.T. photographs have halted, AKB48 theaters have become the generic AKB48 photos to collect. Recognizing the increased demand, AKS has increased the print of theater sets to anywhere between 650 to 1,900 sets per team, multiplied by 5 days. Here’s the statistics for their most recent set: Team A: 800 packs, Team K: 600 packs, Team B: 1,100 packs, Kenkyuusei: 500 packs per day, for 5 days.

This puts the total at 4000, 3000, 5,500 and 2,500 packs respectively, or (assuming all are released equally) about 238, 187, 312 and 156 sets of photos in existence per member for teams A, K, B and the Kenkyuusei respectively.

The number of theater photo sets in print have multiplied many fold, but more interesting is the fact that even AKS has given up any subtlety to the fact that not all of their members sell as well. Because of the probable increased demand for theater photos now that B.L.T.s have ceased production, prices of theater sets have remain relatively unfazed by the increased print run.

As theater sets are sold physically at the AKB48 theater building, this creates the opportunity for trade. I’ll go into this in greater detail in another guide, but the gist of it is that people tend to trade into complete sets, either of this favorite members or simply since complete sets will be more likely to sell on the second hand market. But whatever the reason, the result is that you’ll find a lot more consolidated theater sets than other types of AKB48 pictures. As full sets have become the norm, the demand for lose pictures seem to be low. On a per photo basis, prices for individual theater pictures tend to be lower than their completed sets.

AKB48 theater photos were originally derived from “gacha” photos (which will be explained below). One of the incentives for purchasing theater photos (that were carried over from its gacha days) are in inclusion of random “2-shot” tickets randomly included in the 1,000 yen theater photo packets. These special tickets allow one to take a 2-shot, a photograph together with any performing member at the theater. Needless to say the 2-shot tickets are extremely rare and extremely valuable. In the past, the 2-shot coupons would go for approximately $300-500 dollars, but later with the popularity of AKB48, tickets could go for as much as 2 to 3 thousand dollars.

Gacha

A gacha back from April 2008.

Release: 2007-2009
Quantity: Low
Price: Low

Gacha were the original form of AKB48 theater photos that ran all the way until 2009 and even simultaneously with modern theater photos for a while as the system was being phased out. Like theater photos, these gacha were printed on low quality paper. Gacha’s featured the members in costumes mirroring those of B.L.T. photographs of the time. However gacha photos lack any bar or markings to identify the photo’s member or month, only a “©AKS” copyright notice.

Unlike their newer derivative, gacha were 3 to a set, rather than 4, at least when they could be considered a set. There were also months where the gacha pictures followed no apparent guidelines, breaking into a different number of photos, collections of “live” photos taken from their concerts, group photo shoots or even completely different costumes in each photo. The later sets would more resemble the format of theater photo sets as fans now know them.

Gacha are known as such because they were obtained from a gacha (capsule toy) machine at the AKB48 theater. Each go at the machine used to cost 300 yen and would give you a chance at winning you a random AKB48 related goody. Some of the other things that could be obtained from the gacha machine included member autographs, 2 and 3-shot tickets, the legendary 100-chu tickets which granted you automatic admission to any theater show of your choice and even some of their personal belongings. Many of these prizes have since been retired or adapted into other AKB48 traditions. Of course most people ended up getting the consolation prizes of AKB48 button pins, stickers or the gacha photos.

The low quality and general “looseness” of gacha make them unpopular with collectors, and they are generally considered less desirable than regular theaters to all except the most hardcore fans. Complete sets of popular members gacha might be worth quite a bit, but are so rare that we almost never see them being traded.

AKB48 Singapore theater photos. Some of the pictures were slightly off color.

Localized AKB48 Theater Photos

Release: Various
Quantity: Various
Price: Various

The overseas AKB48 shops have taken to distributing their own versions of AKB48 Theater Photos. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore each have their own versions of the photo sets, though distribution of the Singapore ones have ceased since January 2013 (for the November 2012 sets).

Like the Japanese equivalent, the localized AKB48 theater sets are produced by AKS. The photos are delivered once a month to the overseas shops for distribution. Initial sets of the photos were almost identical to the Japanese theater counterparts, the difference is that overseas theater sets always use a black color bar and are labelled with the overseas country’s 48 presence.

The newer Hong Kong and Taiwan sets now share unique poses for their pictures, but still follow the same costume for any given month. These Taiwan shop refers to them as “Let’s Exchange! AKB48 Photo Collection Oversea Version”. The photos feature the AKB48 members in the same costumes as the Japanese set for the month but in a separate 3 pose set exclusive to Hong Kong and Taiwan. The solid color bar is also noticeably absent from the new photos but the logo and names and team of the members are still printed at the bottom of the photo.

Overseas theater sets are also sold in packets of 5 random photos separated by team. Photos for Team A, K, B and 4 have been sold, at least while it existed. The research student photo sets were not sold overseas. Photo packs cost SGD$22 in Singapore, NTD$480 in Taiwan and HKD$130 in Hong Kong, approximately $20 all round.

Due to a smaller print count, overseas theater sets tend to be rarer than their Japanese counterparts, but are balanced out by their decreased demand. While I cannot give an exact number for the Taiwan based sets, we have a picture of the Hong Kong and Singapore sets.

The initial April 2011 run of the Singapore sets released less than 100 packets for exactly 3 complete photo sets per member. This stayed the same for a couple months before it was increased to 5 sets. Print numbers for teams A, K and B in the later sets were further inflated to approximately 120 packs per team each month (or about 10 complete sets per member). Due to the perceived lower demand, Team 4 photos sets were sold at about half the quantity. These were sold over the course of 3 to 4 weekends.

The AKB48 Official Shop Hong Kong is surprisingly fair, offering an equal amount of sets for all 3 teams. Currently, a total of 1,000 sets are sold each month (334 for Team A, 333 for B and 333 for K) or about 20 complete sets per member.

In the next guide, we identify the different sister group equivalents of theater photos.

Hi, I’m Grace, yet another Singaporean obsessed with many things Japanese. I’ll be writing about my experience of my recent week-long trip to Japan on this site.

It’s been almost two years since I had last been to Japan. I’ve gone to Japan twice before, one in central Japan and the other in Hokkaido, but they were both on tour groups. This was the first time I was going on a free and easy trip so it was easily a lot more exciting.

Actually, I had been yearning for this trip for a really long time, and as a graduation trip of sorts, it was part of what spurred me on to finish my polytechnic education. My plan back then was to take a solo trip, but my parents wouldn’t hear of it since they couldn’t trust me to be all alone in another country. I then pulled along my best friend from poly who also loves Japan and I believed I would have no trouble travelling with.

However, my parents were still not convinced it would be okay, while my friend’s parents are also strict and didn’t allow her to travel with just friends. In the end it was settled that we would be travelling with her mum, which put both my parents and her parents to a better peace of mind. Not what I had in mind initially but it’s still better than travelling with my own family members.

The itinerary was still completely planned by my friend and I, so very skewed towards our interests, and her mum was like a kind of guardian throughout the trip who followed what we planned. There’s also days where we split up, for my friend and I to do our own things and her mum would go somewhere else to do her own things. Anyway, we’re both waiting for graduation so we were pretty free. It seemed like waiting for the trip to come took forever but it finally did.

Waiting to board the plane.

On my previous trips to Japan, I’ve taken both JAL and ANA. This time, we took Scoot, the low-cost carrier under Singapore Airlines which started operating in June last year, as the prices were attractive.

We heard quite a lot of things about Scoot both online and through word-of-mouth and so we knew what we were in for. The seats were normally comfortable as like any other airline, and leg space was considered pretty good for a budget carrier. There’s no leg rest and the headrest area is just flat which is a little uncomfortable. They also don’t turn off the lights in the cabin besides for take off and landing. A small exception was when we were flying there they did dim the lights for a couple hours at about 3am. Well, all these are probably how they entice people to buy their neck pillow, blanket and eyemask pack.

We also heard from friends who had taken Scoot, that no matter how hungry you get, to never purchase their hot meals on board, because they taste really bad and you will feel like throwing it away after eating a bit. So we duly noted their advice and steered clear of the plane food. On the going journey it’s not hard to endure hunger since it’s the wee hours of the morning, but if you think you’re gonna be hungry, you might want to sneak sweets or small snacks on board. They clearly state that they don’t allow outside food of course, so be careful if you do.

Our departure was delayed by some passenger who didn’t turn up for the flight, so in the end we were about half an hour behind our itinerary but it wasn’t that bad since our first day wasn’t packed. Flying to Narita Airport by Scoot is undoubtedly cheap, but you also fly for longer hours because there’s a transit at Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport. You still take the same plane after the transit. To me transiting was a bit confusing, maybe because I had never been to Taoyuan Airport. The staff will direct those continuing on to Tokyo towards a counter to collect your transit card. You’ll have to go through scanning your handcarry bags once more and then wait for departure again. In case you get lost or anything, make sure you know Scoot in Mandarin is known as ku4 hang2 (酷航).

Transit card for use at Taoyuan Airport.

If you’re trying to catch sleep on the flight I recommend plugging in to music or wearing earplugs. Because the flight includes transiting, every single announcement they make on the plane comes in English, Mandarin and Japanese. It gets pretty annoying and longwinded and at some point I felt really pissed off. It wasn’t because I was trying to sleep but because the constant announcements were giving me a headache. Other than that it’s basically a smooth ride.

Anyway, upon reaching Narita Airport we headed to find lunch since we were famished from not eating anything on the flight. Since we wouldn’t be able to check-in to our hotel until 3pm, we ate at the airport in a slightly pricey udon and soba shop. The food was normally delicious.

Delicious tamagotoji udon.

Our original intention was to take the limousine bus to get to Tokyo Station. However, when we wanted to buy the tickets at the limousine bus counter, the kind counter staff referred us to a rival bus company, Keisei Bus, which was having a promotion – 900 yen to Tokyo Station. This was more than 3 times cheaper than taking the limousine bus so we were all pleasantly surprised and promptly bought the Keisei Bus tickets.

Roughly a little more than an hour later, we came to our stop at Tokyo Station. Here, we wasted quite a lot of time being lost trying to find the line that went to Hatchobori Station, just one stop away. Our hotel, Dormy Inn Tokyo Hatchobori, was located near Hatchobori Station. We underestimated the size of Tokyo Station for sure, but it didn’t help at all that the direction signs were confusing. We climbed up and down stairs with our luggage just trying to find the entrance to the correct line. I was quite frustrated by the time we found the train line. By the time we reached our hotel, it was already an hour past check-in time. We quickly put down our stuff in the hotel room.

Heading out again, we took the train towards Oshiage Station where the Tokyo Skytree was located. From joining the queue for tickets until we actually bought the tickets, the total time taken was around 25 minutes. We also learnt that there were strong winds and the Skytree would be closed the next day, while for the rest of this day the staff was restricting the number of people going up the lift at a time. Hence, it was another 35 minutes before we were able to take the lift up.

It’s so tall that when you look up, it looks like it’ll fall on you.

However, all the wait was certainly worth it when we saw the amazing view. We were lucky enough to catch the last of the day view and watch the city slowly light up as night fell. After spending ages snapping shots of the view, we finally decided to make our way back down. It was decided that we wouldn’t spend another 1000 yen to go up to the higher deck because the view would mostly be the same anyway, and we had already spent 2000 yen to come up to the lower deck.

Evening view from the Skytree.

Had a quick look through the Skytree shop located on the same level but there didn’t seem to be anything worth buying, so none of us bought anything. The strong winds were unfortunately still going on, so when we got to the lobby area, we were dismayed to find a long snaking queue for the lift down worse than the one we waited for when heading up.

Along the queue just a short distance before the lift, there was a glass floor feature. It took me a few minutes before I could bring myself to stand on it because it was kind of scary. My friend however didn’t waste any time and simply stood on it. I guess I’m weak. We took a few photos there then rejoined the queue for the lift. It was a total 40 minutes queuing before we finally took the lift down and got out.

The scary glass floor could use a little cleaning though.

Feeling cold and hungry, we went into Tokyo Solamachi just next to the Skytree. We couldn’t decide what to eat though, so we walked around. Then I remembered that I wanted to visit the official Rilakkuma store that was in this mall and so made my way there, while my companions looked at other shops. Finally, we regrouped and suddenly right in front of us we noticed there was a takoyaki shop in the form of Gindaco which looked darn good to us there and then.

So we ended up eating takoyaki… which didn’t turn out to be a bad decision and it tastes better than the Gindaco branch in Singapore. But okay, that was not really counted as dinner. We knew our hotel actually served free ramen at night so after the takoyaki we made our way back for the ramen. It was decent and definitely not what you would expect for something free.

Official Rilakkuma store in Tokyo Solamachi.

That isn’t the end of the day though. Back at the hotel we caught a few hours of sleep, and then woke up to head for Tsukiji Market as planned. However, we couldn’t find the ticket selling point for the tuna auction so it took some effort following people around. This was a bit of a failure in planning as we should have printed out a map or woke up even earlier. By the time we got to the place, we were told that tickets for the day had been sold out! It was a real disappointment, especially after waking up this early for it.

We thought about trying again the next day but then gave up the idea eventually as we would be even more exhausted without adequate sleep and the following day we had to wake early to change hotels. Unfortunately, for me at least, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to see the famous tuna auction at Tsukiji before the market moves to Toyosu in 2015.

Since we made the effort to come out anyway, we had sushi breakfast (the sushi we had was alright but not particularly worth mentioning to be honest) before heading back to the hotel again to catch a bit more shut-eye.

The Tsukiji Market shop area in the early early morning.

As with all travelling  there are two major concerns when planning a trip to Japan: the first concern is what to do while you’re vacationing in the “Land of the Rising Sun”. The second, equally pressing concern, is affording the trip.

As young travellers, many people are stuck between when to pay off debt and when to save. Japan has so many attractions, like the amazing Nagoya Aquarium, and cultural experiences, like the Asakusa Temple, and anybody who can make the trip, should. If you’re lucky enough to be in a comfortable position financially, affording a trip to Japan is definitely a possibility. Below are four tips for planning a culture-filled trip to Japan while on a budget.

It helps to check out the transport routes ahead of time.

Plan ahead of time. One of the best ways to save on any kind of travelling is to plan well in advance. Starting to plan early affords the advantages of getting early-bird specials and having time to compare rates on the various expenses you will have like airfare and hotels. A good rule of thumb is to plan at least 11 months in advance. With nearly a year to plan, you will be able to find all of the best deals available to you in Japan.

Cash in rewards and club discounts. Savvy travellers know that there are all kinds of advantages from credit card rewards and discounts from club memberships to be taken advantage of when travelling. Most credit card companies offer perks such as frequent flyer miles and points, both of which can be cashed in for discounts on travel and expenses when you’re planning your trip to Japan. Club memberships, like AAA and AAPR, also offer members discounts on travel. As a cardholder or member you are entitled to and have earned these benefits, so don’t be afraid to take advantage. That’s what they’re there for!

Sometimes it can be helpful to mark out things that cannot be missed, like flights and work around these.

Set priorities. Every time you travel to a new place, there will always be more things that you want to than you can do. Restrictive factors like time and money see to this. To make the most of your vacation without breaking the bank, make a list of all of the things you want to do while in Japan. When you prioritize like this, you can give yourself a better sense of what attractions fit into your time and monetary budgets best. Another benefit of creating a priority list is that it can help you see the different attractions in spacial relation to one another, which can help you to better plan your transportation while in Japan.

Visit during the off season. Because of Japan’s long north-to-south formation, the country is home to a range of seasonal attractions. Travel to each region of Japan is more costly in each respective region’s travel season. For example, the Sapporo area of Japan celebrates its Snow Festival in February, so travelling to Kyoto or Hiroshima is cheaper during that time. What regions of Japan you plan to travel to should determine what time of year you travel, if you want to save money. Once you know what you’d like to see and do while in Japan, you’ll have a better idea of when is the best, and cheapest, time to travel.

The above a just a few of the many, many travel tips that can help you save on your trip to Japan. You can save even more if you’re travelling as a couple on a budget. The world is a fascinating and enriching place, and you should take every opportunity you can to visit all of its extravagant locales, Japan and beyond, without having to worry about money.

In this second part of our ongoing guide on collectible AKB48 photos, we take a look at the other special photographs released by B.L.T.. Like in the previous part, we’ll run through all the different types of limited edition B.L.T. photographs, along with how they are obtained. We’ll leave the market information and price speculation to another time, but given their limited print, may be more difficult to get your hands on.

U-17

U-17s are unique for their candid shoots.

Release: Every 3 Months
Quantity: Medium
Price: Medium

U-17 is a seasonal B.L.T. gravure publication featuring idols and actresses which are under 17 years of age. The trend for it is to have front and reverse covers, featuring a small number of members from a 48 group on one side and a model, actress or other idol group on the other. Like the regular B.L.T. magazines, U-17 magazines are ordered online through the official site. At time of ordering, you can choose between receiving 48 related photographs, or those of the other featured girls. U-17s cost 1,500 yen each and come with 3 random photographs. Unlike regular B.L.T. magazines, there is usually no limit to how many U-17s one can buy.

Physically U-17 magazines are a much better buy themselves. They are usually pretty thick and are chocked full of photographs and interviews with the featured artists, provided you’re in to that sort of stuff. Though it works out to the same on a per photo basis, the additional weight and shipping costs involved, coupled with the limited number of members featured tends to limit the sales of the magazine. As such, U-17 edition photographs are pretty rare, and can be expensive when it features popular members. The price usually increases greatly when the issue mixes popular and unpopular members, since the random factor creates a greater risk.

U-17s usually feature 4-6 members of any particular group in candid photographs. U-17s always have a red bar with the current season stated but otherwise follow a similar format as regular BLTs. Traditionally, most special B.L.T.s have a red bar, though the later sets also sometimes used black bars too. Each individual girl will have 2 candid individual photographs and a 3rd photograph that is shared with another member. Finally, there is a group shot of all the members involved in the shoot. This group photo used to be pretty common but recent issues have made it rarer, causing its value to be grossly inflated.

Individual U-17s sell for anywhere between 500 to up to 2,000 yen for popular members, with the group photo going for many times more. While we cannot give an accurate estimation of how many U-17s are available, the number is low, with the number actually in circulation being negligible.

Weekly Calendar

All calendar sets feature digital “writing” from the members.

Release: Yearly
Quantity: Very-Low
Price: High

The AKB48 B.L.T. Weekly Calendar was a calendar sold once a year featuring images of the group’s members. Like many of the other AKB48 B.L.T. publications, these have ceased production (Try-X handle the AKB48′s calendars now) but as of 2012-2013 were still available for the rival and sister groups.

Each calendar costs 2,500 yen and contains 5 random photographs. While there are a total of 7 different designs per member, one for each day of the week. The members are encouraged to add in designs to the photographs (usually the names of the days of the week in a stylized manner) and these are digitally printed onto the photographs themselves. The Weekly Calendar photographs are quite typical of normal B.L.T. photographs, except that they usually feature the members in their own plain clothes.

The weekly calendars are one of the few B.L.T. products which you can purchase directly from third party stores that ship overseas like CDJapan, or certain physical book store. Pretty much every other B.L.T. type product requires you to make a pre-order directly from the B.L.T. website itself, which does not ship overseas (though you may use a deputy service). Unlike regular calendars though, the 46/48 group calendars are released at different times of the year, so you have to keep a look out.

Again the cost per photograph is strategically kept the same, and you get a nifty wall calendar too. However not as many collect the weekly calendar photographs, due to the high difficulty of completing a set of 7 photographs. The larger investment per calendar and the fact that the photos do not fall under the regular B.L.T. series also deter collectors. Weekly Calendar photographs are thus quite a bit rare than the previously mentioned B.L.T. types but as a result of their lower demand, the individual prices of calendar photos tend to be not too different from regular B.L.T.s.

T-Shirt

T-shirts come with one B.L.T. photo of the respective member.

Release: Yearly
Quantity: Low-Medium
Price: Medium-Very High

AKB48 and the sister groups used to release annual self-designed t-shirts through B.L.T. as well. Nogizaka46 still released some B.L.T. tees last year but the trend now is for the 48 groups to release the shirts themselves. The B.L.T. shirts are available on a pre-order basis only. A few months before the shirts are actually released, designs for all available members are announced on their website.

The B.L.T. shirts cost 3,000 yen each and come with one limited B.L.T. photograph (usually of the member wearing the tee). Fans are limited to purchasing 10 shirts per shipping address, this couple with the high cost, makes the B.L.T. t-shirt photos some of the rarest, especially for the less popular members. Since one gets to choose which member’s tee to purchase, and thus which photograph to receive, there is a very limited market for trade.

The trend is for popular members to see a surplus of t-shirts due to third parties ordering them in bulk in hopes of reselling them, so you can sometimes find popular members tees for sale on the secondary market. Less popular members tees and photos are especially rare and can fetch very high prices. Due to the nature of the item prices for previous years tees can reach exorbitant prices (think hundreds) when unused and with photograph intact.

Like other B.L.T. products, 1 autographed photograph and 5 autographed tees are randomly distributed to those ordering. Much like autographed jerseys, depending on the popularity of the individual member, these shirts can fetch between a few hundred, to about a thousand dollars.

Others

B.L.T. has had many other one-shot AKB48 publications with bonus photos.

Release: Various
Quantity: Various
Price: Various

While sometimes not explicitly labelled as such, there were a number of other one shot publications that can be credited to B.L.T. or their publisher Tokyo News Service. This includes Kashiwagi Yuki’s first photobook and the PHOTORE series featuring Kashiwagi as well. The bi-yearly AKB48 Visual Book is a good example in that included photographs following the existing B.L.T. format, but in sets of 9 or 16.

Prices of all these other random publications vary greatly. Depending on the size of the run and demand, some of these photographs may fetch quite a price. However many of these books tended to have a larger print runs, or stay in print for a while. As a result the value of individual photographs tended to be lower. For example, each issue of the 2,500 yen PHOTORE books came with 12 photographs out of 150 designs and are thus valued lower than regular B.L.T.s.

In the next guide, we begin exploring the expansive world of AKB48 theater photographs.

There comes a times in every AKB48 fan’s life where they they come across the expansive selection of AKB48 merchandise. While some are content with supporting their idols through the occasional CD purchases, others dive head on into the world of collectible nama shashin. If you’ve reading this, then you’re probably at least considered purchasing some some.

Here’s our long overdue guide to everything about AKB48 photos. From pre-order store bonuses that come free with every single release to theater photos that are purchased directly each month, there are a wide range of different types of AKB48 photos. With a bit of experience each of these can be neatly categorized into one of the following types. Due to length, we’d be splitting this guide into a number of still sizable chunks. Over the next few posts, we’ll first take a look at the different categories of photographs and then offer some insights into the state of the second hand photo markets.

AKB48 B.L.T. Photos

The older B.L.T. sets only consisted of 1 or 2 photos.

Release: 2007-2011
Quantity: Low
Price: High

Commonly referred to as just “BLTs”, B.L.T photos are one of the most popular and commonly collected photo types (apart from theater photos). BLTs are directly obtained from purchasing 48-branded copies of the Beautiful Lady & Television TV guide. As of December 2011, exactly 5 years after it first started, AKB48 B.L.T. photos have ceased production, though the other sister groups (and Nogizaka46) continue to have their equivalent issues. 1 random photograph is obtained with the purchase of each magazine which costs 500 yen each.

BLTs can be easily identified by their colored bars below each picture which contains the series name, product id and name of the member in the photo. There is one BLT collection for each month, in which the girls would be seen in one of their recent single outfits, or a random theater costume. At first there started with only 1, then 2 photographs per member. For the most part though these consisted of a set of 3 photographs for each of the group’s members, for a total 144 or so designs. Each set consists of the member in a medium, close up and extreme close up pose. Later, they shifted to a set of 9 photographs per member, with 3 sets of 3 photos in similar poses, except with different background colors.

AKB48 BLT photos initially came about from an exclusively photo deal with the magazine publisher which allowed B.L.T. magazine to monetize photographs of its members. It would seem that that deal has no longer been renewed. BLT photos were considered one of the highest quality and most sought out collectibles by fans since all B.L.T. published photographs (with the exception of the PHOTORE ones) tend to use an exclusive grade of high quality photo prints. Quality-wise they’re quite a bit better than the other non-B.L.T. AKB48 photographs.

Initially, copies of AKB48 version of the magazine were sold physically once a month on Akihabara, with the girls being physically present to offer handshakes to those purchasing, creating long queues to purchase the magazine. Perhaps due to complaints of littering (where fans would simply toss the magazine after taking out the photos) this was later changed to an online order system only.

The B.L.T. “bar”.

Needless to say, the physical magazines were only an excuse to sell the photographs. There are only a few pages to each booklet, making them more of brochures than actual magazines. There was a limit of 5 copies of the magazine per person, which still applies to other B.L.T. publications now but fans have found ways around this limitation, causing a small number of mass buyers to had dominated the secondary market.

During 2010 to 2011, each B.L.T. photograph sold on the second hand market for about 300, 500-800 and 1,000-2,000 yen for theater, under and senbatsu girls respectively. We’ll go into more specifics about the prices of photographs in a later post. Due to the high cost of the magazine and increasing number of members, not many were willing to take the risk on purchasing the magazines. Getting anything less than a high undergirl would result in an automatic “loss”. Further worsening the second hand situation.

To encourage sales, special versions of each photograph, autographed by hand by the members were sent out at random. There are up to 3 autographed photos per design. These “signed” photographs would fetch hundreds of dollars each. Later they also added “digital” autograph messages that were printed on the photographs themselves. These were more common and less sought after.

Considering that between 300-500 people queued up during each release when they were sold in Akihabara and there was a limit to how many you could buy, the number of photos in print for the original 2007 sets were estimated to be as low as 10 copies per picture for the earlier sets.

We can estimate the later 2010 and 2011 sets to be more plentiful but still far lower in count than theater pictures. Judging from the prices, we can estimate the total quantity in print during this time to be about 1/2 of theater photos, i.e., about 30-50 of each picture in existence. Because the photos are shipped directly to people in Japan, many of the photos are spread out, with many sets going uncompleted. It can be extremely difficult to get hold of complete sets of BLT photographs, even on the secondary market.

SKE48/NMB48/HKT48/Nogizaka46 B.L.T. Photos

The related groups B.L.T. photos follow a similar format.

Release: Monthly
Quantity: Low
Price: High

SKE48 B.L.T.s seem to have been halted too, but the rest of the other groups still continue to release B.L.T. issues and its photographs each month. And for the most part, the of the other groups’ B.L.T.s follow an almost identical format to AKB48′s (one photograph per 500 yen magazine).

The exception to this is that the newer SKE48′s B.L.T.s were sold in two alternate cover magazines each month, each which its own set of bonus B.L.T. photographs, for a total of 2 x 3 photographs per member, as opposed to just 3 for the other groups. The SKE48 sets from both versions each month contained pictures of identical costumes, but with different colored backgrounds.

Due to the more niched markets, direct sales for the other group photos are somewhat smaller in number. While unpopular member photographs may be adequate or even plentiful, the more popular members have their B.L.T. photographs driven up to even higher than AKB48 standards.

Stay tuned until our next post where we discuss the other B.L.T. published photographs.

The Arashiyama mountain west of Kyoto is home to about 130 wild monkeys. On one side of the mountain a small nature reserve has been set up to observe and feed these monkeys. During the day, the monkeys come down to the Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama to greet visitors and to laze around at the clearing here. For a token entry fee, one can visit the park to meet and interact with the Japanese macaques up close.

Overview

Popularly referred to as snow monkeys by tourists, the Japanese macaques are the only species of primate native to Japan. While you will most definitely come across these Japanese monkeys in zoos, apart from the Jigokudani Monkey Park at Nakano, Arashiyama is one of the few places in Japan where you can actually come close to these monkeys in the wild. Japanese macaques are unique in that they are the species of monkey to live in the coldest environments and the most northern dwelling primates. They’re a highly intelligent and have adopted some unique behaviours such as bathing in hot springs.

View Larger Map

Getting to Arashiyama

Arashiyama is a mountain a short distance to the west of Kyoto. You can access Arashiyama via local trains from Kyoto, Osaka or any of the other nearby cities. There isn’t a single direct train there, so you’ll need to be prepared to switch lines a few times to get there.

There are three stations which you can alight from. If you insist on using a rail pass, then you’d need to alight at Saga-Arashiyama station which is the furthest. There’s also the Keifuku Arashiyama Station a local tram station, which is connected to Saga-Arashiyama. If you’re traveling from elsewhere, then most likely the most convenient station to access the monkey park will be the Hankyu Arashiyama Station.

For those interested, we got to Arashiyama from Osaka by taking the Hankyu train from Minamikata near Shin-Osaka, changing at Awaji and Katsura, before finally alighting at the Hankyu Arashiyama Station. Hankyu operates their small, classic looking trains through many of the scenic areas around the Kansai region, so the ride there was quite pleasing. The entire journey took just under an hour and cost just 360 yen (SGD$4.50).

Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama is located on the Hozu (south-west) side of the iconic Togetsukyou Bridge.

Visiting the Monkey Park

The entrance to Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama is located along the southern bank of the Hozu River, across from the main shopping streets. If you’re arriving via the Hankyu Station, then you should already be at the correct side. Otherwise, you’d need to cross over the Togetsukyou Bridge to get there. The entrance to the park is actually hidden beside a temple along the mountainside but there are signs pointing out the way there so it shouldn’t be difficult to find it, once you’ve made it this far.

Short trek up the mountain side.

Entry to the grounds costs 550 yen for adults and 250 yen for children (4-15), those younger may enter free. The opening hours vary slightly between the seasons but the park opens daily at 9 AM to around 5 PM with no fixed closing days, except for when it rains or snows very heavily. Chances are no one would want to visit in such weather, but in the rather case that you do, check if they’re open during the blizzard first on their website. I’m pretty sure it’d be interesting to visit during the winter when the mountain is coated in snow. There are blossoming sakura trees on the mountain during spring.

Learning boards along the way up.

The wild macaques at Arashiyama roam around freely on the mountain. The Monkey Park Iwatayama is just a minuscule portion of their entire grounds. In order to attract the monkeys over for study, the park has been set up here and they offer food to them during the day.

The halfway mark.

There is an uphill climb to the 160 meter high area of the park area where most of the sociable wild monkeys hang around. For this, you’d want to come prepared for a little trekking. Rubber sandals can be borrowed from the front counter as a last resort. Along the way up, we ran into the occasional resident scurrying past, but the majority just stick around the top. As these are wild monkeys, you are cautioned against approaching or staring directly at the macaques.

Do not stare at them in the eyes.

Free roaming.

Yet, Arashiyama’s monkeys are surprisingly well behaved, mostly going about their own business as if we weren’t even there. Quite the contrast to the the monkeys you’d find at tourist attractions in other parts of Asia.

Clearing at the top.

Nice view of the surrounding landscape.

There’s a wide clearing at the top. From here, you can not only get a nice aerial view of Kyoto, but it’s also where most of the monkeys hang out. The building here serves as a rest stop for visitors, as headquarters for the park’s observation work, and also where you can actually interact with the monkeys. The staff feed the monkeys but you can also purchase generously sized bags of treats for 100 yen. It’s a small price to pay for the experience.

Rest stop and viewing area.

Small hut where the staff stay.

Nice backdrop.

Names for the ones that hang around the hut.

Above, there’s another clearing where more monkeys hung out at, at least during this Autumn season, to bask in the afternoon sun. The staff there followed us around to make sure that the monkeys behaved themselves. Impressively, they were able to name and identify them individually and the monkeys responded to them.

Let’s you get really up close with the mountain’s inhabitants.

Popular with the monkeys.

Fighting with the little one.

If you’re visiting by Kyoto or Osaka, Arashiyama’s Monkey Park Iwatayama makes for a nice side trip. It ended up being one of the most enjoyable experiences. It’s great fun meeting the Japanese macaques, who were unbelievably civilised and intelligent. Being able to visit and observe the monkeys in their natural habitat is an experience unlike any other.

Just chilling, with a mountain view.

Grooming each other.

First few pictures are courtesy of Randy.

There’s really nothing particularly wrong with Kagi no Kakatta Heya. Last year’s take on what must seem like the necessary yearly forensics crime mystery offering, the show features an all-star cast and an even more spectacular list of guests. But somehow manages to leave the viewer feeling somewhat, empty.

Kagi no Kakatta Heya (鍵のかかった部屋), literally The Locked Room (though changed to The Locked Room Murders in English) stars Arashi’s Ohno Satoshi (Maou), Toda Erika (BOSS, Code Blue, LIAR GAME) and Sato Koichi (Pride, Suppli). As the name suggests, the show focuses on  the three solving various locked room cases.

The cast break the fourth wall during each opening sequence to describe the case. and offer some clues

The drama is based off the series of novels and short stories by Kishi Yusuke, which in turn may have been inspired by Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy from the 1980s. The show follows a episodic format so the various stories have been scattered in no particular order. The result though, is that there is very little, if any real overarching plot for Kagi no Kakatta Heya.

As is common with Japanese forensics stories, Ohno plays the story’s “genius”, solving cases with his keen sense of observation and his knowledge of security systems. While no fault of himself, Ohno’s character is shown to be a mysterious, eccentric character with an obsession for unlocking puzzles. He even barricades himself in a similarly cluttered basement to Fukuyama Masaharu. Ohno does a good job of portraying the role but the character itself is as generic as it gets. The shows actors are no strangers to mystery dramas, though Toda seems to be especially familiar with them. A lawyer, she approaches Ohno each episode to assist with a new locked room case.

Sato Koichi as Toda’s narcissistic but good hearted boss.

There are many parallels between Kagi no Kakatta Heya and the classic Trick series. Kagi no Kakatta Heya borrows cinema elements used in Trick to create an uncomfortably strange atmosphere in each episode and all of the show’s characters are not without quirks of their own. The main characters are all well likeable, which makes it a waste that none of them are developed beyond the first episode.

Nounen Rena also plays a minor role as Sato’s assistant.

The show also attempts to involve viewers directly in the mystery solving each episode. Balancing this right can be difficult. So often, mystery shows fall at extreme ends. Some mystery dramas stretch it too far from reality that they seem ridiculous, while others like Mr. Brain treat viewers as if they were idiots, explaining every simple action in unnecessary detail. Kagi no Kakatta no Heya greatest strength is that it strikes a pretty good balance. In most episodes at least, viewers are presented with all the clues they need to solve each mystery. Provided they know where to look.

The trio solve their cases in a cluttered basement.

Visually, Kagi no Kakatta Heya looks really good. The drama uses almost only creamy close ups and plenty of establishing shots, the later allowing viewers to mentally map out the crime scene themselves to help with the mystery solving. Coupled with a soft filter, this also has the side effect of making the drama look like a higher budget movie instead. It is perhaps this cinematic quality that has helped Kagi no Kakatta Hey net the best drama awards for the 3rd quarter of 2012.

Ohno’s moment of inspiration.

If you’re a fan of mystery dramas, there are far worst than Kagi no Kakatta Heya. In fact, Kagi no Kakatta Heya might even be considered one of the better ones in at least the past couple of years. The popular cast and guests help ease things and experienced viewers of the genre might enjoy how the plot points are presented in a straightforward manner, while still being sufficiently well thought out.

Osaka’s Shinsekai is as touristy as it gets. But ignoring our own good advice, we somehow found ourselves wandering around the slum streets being approached by street touters at every turn. While dodging their assail we came across this sushi shop in a secluded corner and were pleased with the surprisingly affordable prices for such an area.

For some reason, it’s a universal rule that lust and gluttony go hand in hand in shady areas like Osaka Shinsekai. There’s no shortage of variety of food to choose from at this infamous neighbourhood. Some come for the famous Kushikatsu skewered meats at Daruma, but at an average of 200 yen a stick, it’s not really practical for when traveling on a budget.

Affordable prices. (Click for larger picture)

Enter Yamatoya, an un-intimidating chain restaurant at the end of the left corner of Shinsekai. Like the majority of shops around here, Yamatoya also operates a kushikatsu store, but for some reason they also offer an affordable sushi alternative.

I hope they don’t sushi them.

There isn’t really much to say about Yamatoya that cannot be said for other similar sushi restaurants in Japan. Most should be familiar with the simple setting, with an option of table or counter seats. The day’s recommendations are displayed prominently, the morning’s catch being placed at the counter.

Inside.

What was surprising though were the generous servings, despite the ridiculously low prices which they cost. A simple set of about 10 to 12 pieces of sushi cost only 1,000 yen, or slightly more than $12 Singapore dollars. These weren’t the choicest of cuts of course, but were fresh, so there really wasn’t much to complain about given the price.

1,000 yen set.

If you aren’t fussy with food, it goes to show that you can really get away with some really enjoyable meals without having to pay much. Given that a large portion of Japan’s produce and catches are obtained locally and the high level of competition between restaurants, you’ll actually have a hard time finding sushi (and other Japanese dishes in general) that isn’t fresher than what you’d be able to obtain elsewhere.

1,200 yen set.

Yamatoya
3-3-10 Ebisuhigashi
Naniwa Ward, Osaka City
Osaka 556-0002

Part of the fun of going on a trip is trying out new experiences. These don’t always have to be planned for. Often out of adventure or sheer desperation, we find ourselves trying out random cafes and restaurants that we come across. At times, the results of these experiments can be disappointing but every so often we are surprised to find something quite enjoyable.

Friendship, a small restaurant in Morinomiya was one of those positive finds. Located across the road from Osaka Castle Park, we first came across the restaurant in winter 2011 when attempting to seek cover from a sudden assault of sleet. The promise of shelter and hearty western-styled cuisine was enough to draw us in quite quickly.

Western Cuisine and Beer.

Sometimes you can run into surprisingly good on the street by chance.

Though the sign outside says Yashoku and Beer (洋食 とビール), the real shop name is actually Grill Friendship (グリル フレンドシップ). We had first though the place to be a privately owned restaurant, and you can’t really blame us for mistaking. The inside of the restaurant resembles your typical small family run cafe with its homely setting. It turns out however that Friendship is actually opened by the founder of the popular Tokumasa Curry Udon franchise.

Small yoshoku restaurant.

Being a yoshoku restaurant, Friendship is carries all the Japanese derived western standards such as omurice, curry and hamburgs. Prices are typical of other “shokudo” restaurants, around 1,000-1,500 yen a meal. Based on its location, it is highly likely that Friendship caters to tourists, both local and overseas that come to visit Osaka’s castle. Thankfully, quality is not sacrificed.

Omurice and Croquette.

The omurice at Friendship is great, not nearly as amazing as Asakusa Nobu but still better than the norm, while the curry rice benefits from the founder’s experience with the successful curry udon franchise.

Curry omelette rice.

During this last year, I had the chance to revisit Friendship, amusingly once again to take shelter from the weather. Remembered the promise to try out the shop’s hamburg steak, which looked especially popular with its customers. It was actually pretty good, despite not being a particular fan of hamburgs.

Hamburg steak.

I wouldn’t  order more than one dish per person at Friendship though, since the servings here are extremely generous. Out of the three, the omurice seems to be the hot fave so go with that if you ever find yourself stumbling upon this restaurant. Interestingly, Osaka is thought to be the birth place of the Japanese concept of omelette rice, at least by some accounts.

Friendship.

Grill Friendship
16-15 Morinomiyachuo Ichome
Chuo Ward, Osaka City
Osaka, 540-0003

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The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium is one of Japan’s largest aquariums. It is both more expansive and holds a larger wider variety of sea creatures than even Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan which is popularly regarded as the second best aquarium in Japan, after Okinawa’s Churaumi Aquarium. We found Nagoya Aquarium to be competitive with Osaka Aquarium, if not better, but take a look inside and decide for yourself.

Getting to Nagoya Aquarium

As it’s name suggests Nagoya’s Aquarium is located at Nagoya Port. Unlike Osaka, Nagoya Port is pretty devoid of attractions apart from the aquarium and its related museums. Thankfully it’s pretty convenient getting to and out of Nagoya Port. It’s just 260 yen and 15-20 minutes from the city center to Nagoyako, the nearest subway station. From there, Nagoya Aquarium is just a short distance away on foot.

Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium
1-3 Minatomachi
Minato Ward, Nagoya City
Aichi 455-0033

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Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.

Visiting Nagoya Aquarium

Entry to Nagoya Aquarium is surprisingly affordable at 2,000 yen (SGD$25). Cheaper than Osaka Aquarium and much less than what you would expect to pay for an aquarium of this size. There’s also a combination pass for 2,400 yen which bundles the aquarium with the other related attractions at the port. For just 5,000 yen, one can get unlimited access to the aquarium for a year.

Entrance.

At Osaka Aquarium

Osaka and Nagoya Aquariums are two very different experiences. While Osaka Aquarium employs a more modern design that simulates an undersea environment by surrounding visitors all round with tanks, Nagoya Aquarium contains many large, widely spaced out tanks, great for accommodating a throng of visitors. That’s not to say that Nagoya Aquarium isn’t any less beautiful that Osaka’s, but the ambiance here is more typical of a marine park.

Lots of wide open spaces.

The highlight of Nagoya Aquarium is definitely the the many bigger tanks, each holding a number of large sea creatures. Nagoya Aquarium is home to a family of orca, beluga whales and many more dolphins. Comparatively, there’s a much higher concentration of bigger inhabitants here than in Osaka.

Definitely one of the aquarium’s highlights.

Orca.

Hovering gracefully.

The orca and dolphins were extremely intelligent and very active. There are a number of interconnected viewing tanks and hidden pools at the back which the creatures could pass through freely. The majestic creatures came up to greet visitors and in the case of the dolphins, even spun around playfully in front of visitors in much the same way puppies would greet their owners.

Many dolphin tanks.

Dolphins were really active.

Overall, Nagoya Aquarium feels more traditional in terms of concept, like one expansive underwater zoo. It feels more family-centric, as compared to Osaka’s, which feels more like somewhere you’d go for dates. A good amount of space is given to educational exhibits and a couple of learning centers where younger visitors can discover more about marine ecology. The exhibits are pretty impressive though, even for older visitors.

Giant to scale models.

Kind of intimidating.

Fossil displays.

Nagoya Aquarium is split into two buildings. The first houses most of the aquariums larger animals. There’s an especially spacious central tank which is connected to the other viewing tanks which serves as a dolphinarium where the dolphins and orca can move between. Directly above this is the stadium where you can view the aquarium’s dolphin and orca shows.

Wide underwater viewing area.

The largest central tank.

Measuring 60 x 30 x 12 meters, the aquarium’s outdoor tank is the largest of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, at time of writing Nagoya’s orca shows had been temporarily put on hold but they should now be back in session. There are 3 dolphin shows (4 or 5 on weekends and public holidays) and 2 orca shows at the outdoor tank each day. The stadium built around the tank sits up to 2,500 people so getting seats shouldn’t be a problem, except in the most busy of seasons.

Dolphin show.

Each dolphin show spans 30 minutes and is very enjoyable. The whole thing is framed like a musical concert and after the stars of the show are introduced in turn, they go on to perform a continuous span of tricks. As with such shows, those sitting in front should be prepared to get wet. Prior to each show, the staff advises though sitting in the marked danger zones to store away any electronic devices.

Giant screen for closeups.

Performing tricks in time to the music.

All of the performing animals are very well trained. After the show they are lead back to their respective tanks where they continue to be rewarded by their trainers. For the rest time outside of shows, you can observe the dolphins and orca in their viewing tanks from above here as well. You may also chance upon some of the “dolphin challenge” training sessions throughout the day. One of the strengths of Nagoya Aquarium is its fairly open concept that allows you to view these and many of the other main tanks from alternate views.

Rewarding them after the show.

For example, in the man made cover beside the dolphinarium there’s a large enclosure dedicated to just a beluga whale. The aquarium’s mascot, there are daily shows for the beluga whale observable from the top floor too. Here the beluga whale and its recent offspring were introduced in detail during one of the interactive training sessions.

In a man made cover beside.

Beluga Whale.

Back downstairs, you’ll find the accessway to the aquarium’s other building. The link leads to this pitch dark “deep sea” area where you’ll find most of the aquariums smaller creatures as well as the impressive “Sardine Tornado” display. The aquarium’s next largest tank, the sardine tornado consists of hundreds of tiny sardines spiraling around the tank in unison. It’s a fantastical sight that can’t be witnessed otherwise. The large tank also houses a number of sharks and an elusive ocean sunfish to complete the illusion of an under sea experience.

Sardine Tornado.

The rest of the Deep Sea Gallery is slightly less impressive. While there is an admirable collection of small creatures, Nagoya’s display of jellyfish pales by far in comparison to Osaka’s. There are only 5 varieties of small jellyfish on display. To make up for this, the aquarium offers preserved specimens of various deep sea fishes, 3D holographic shows and a free in-house IMAX Theater to further enrich their offerings. It is worth noting that after factoring in all the other sea creatures, the overall number of actual different species of marine inhabitants still tips in favor of Nagoya Aquarium.

Small fishes.

Jellyfishes.

Jellyfish collection is meager though.

The end of the deep sea area breaks out into the main section of the south building. Entering the section, visitors past through a colorful coral reef tunnel with giant groupers and other tropical fishes. Here, the aquarium’s tropical and freshwater lifeforms are spread over the building’s three floors.

Reef fishes.

Of interest here is a tank containing loggerhead sea turtles. There are also other species of smaller sea turtles in the surrounding tanks, but with some of the loggerheads being as large as a kindergartener this particular tank looked kind of crowded. You can witness all of the sea creatures at the aquarium being fed at particular times of the day, and at least in the case of the turtles even take part in the feeding too from upstairs.

Sea turtles.

Tiny ones too.

Apart from the turtle feeding area and an adjacent restaurant where you can feed yourself, the top floor of the south wing marks the last of the aquarium’s exhibits, with its freshwater and Antarctic sections. Coming from this side of the world, the freshwater exhibit wasn’t too notable since it contained many fishes that we should already be all too familiar with but the Antarctic section is worth your time.

Australian freshwater tank.

The penguin enclosure is pretty big. It’s a little narrow but spans across a wide area. It’s built in such a way to resemble their natural habitat. Various species of penguin share the same enclosure together. Again, these were some of the most active penguins I’ve seen. A flock of them swam quickly from end to end of the pool.

Penguin enclosure.

Penguin habitat.

A bunch of them made fast laps back and forth.

More penguins.

It’s no surprise why Nagoya Aquarium had come so highly recommended to us. True to its claim, it’s one of the largest and best aquariums you’d find in Japan. If you like marine animals, especially the larger ones, a visit to Nagoya Aquarium is quite the treat. Regardless of age, it’s nice meeting the aquarium’s healthy, active and surprisingly intelligent inhabitants.

The affordable entry fee means you’ll be more tempted to spend at either of the aquarium’s two souvenir shops. There’s an assortment of original goods featuring the marine park’s mascot and popular residents.

3D goods.

The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium is a must visit attraction for anyone headed to the city. You won’t regret it. For those who have already been there, do share with us your experiences.

Kani Doraku is a popular Japanese restaurant chain that specialises in all sorts of crab dishes. There are Kani Doraku stores all around Japan, but here we had the chance to visit the original store located just beside the Shinsaibashi Bridge at Dotonbori, Namba Osaka’s famous nightlife district.

Dotonbori is famous for the many outrageous store signs that the restaurants there incorporate, with Kani Doraku’s giant mechanical crab being one of the most iconic. The giant billboard outside each Kani Doraku outlet marks the restaurant’s speciality, and also makes spotting an outlet easy.

Kani Doraku’s famous giant crab signboard.

The “honten” or original Kani Doraku shop at Dotonbori, is able to accomodate more than 300 customers at a time. The first 4 floors contain regular walk-in seats while the top floor houses special VIP rooms for special functions. Though we didn’t have problems getting a table, it was already nearing closing time, yet most of the seats were still occupied. Business was good here. You can probably expect the place to be packed during peak hours.

Kani Doraku Original Shop at Namba Osaka’s Dotonbori.

In the lobby, a dozen live crabs were squeezed into one tiny fountain. After checking if we wanted to smoke and confirming that we were fine with only having one hour left, we were lead upstairs to a window-side table on the 4th floor where we could get a wonderful view of the Namba canal below.

The restaurant is furnished in traditional Japanese style, so you put your shoes into wooden capsule boxes before entering and have to sit at low tables. Thankfully, the spaces under each table is hollow so you don’t actually have to sit kneeling down. The service at Kani Doraku was good, despite us being so rude as to arrive just before closing time.

Impeccable service.

The multi-story restaurant was packed with customers.

Though it also serves other types of crabs, Kani Doraku’s main is of course Japanese snow crabs. Snow crabs are perhaps the most common type of crab to Japan, though it is often mistakenly referred to as Hokkaido crabs in Singapore. The majority of Japanese snow crabs are caught between the seas north of the Hyogo and Fukui Prefectures. Thus, the reason why an Osakan shop has become nationally famous for crabs. The crabs at Kani Doraku were immensely fresh.

Raw crab appetizer.

Feeling a little lavish, we each went with one of their seasonal course meals which cost about 6,000 yen each. The meal opened up with the freshest raw crabs any of us had ever had the chance to taste and slowly worked its way through various other dishes, all made with crab. Every treat we were brought was a new experience and much enjoyed.

More appetizers.

Egg custard.

The highlight for the meal was definitely the large crab legs provided to us raw to grill to one’s own liking. As recommended by the staff, these were simply passed over the grill lightly to sear the outsides and dipped into a sauce made from crab innards that was served to us on a mini-fondue pot. Regardless of whether you’re having one of the permanent menu sets or a seasonal set, the grilled crab meats seems to be common to many sets.

More raw pieces to gril as you please.

Lightly seared.

Accompanying the crab legs were some fresh greens to grill too. Afterwards were given some pieces of different types of crab sushi. They were really good too. We had seen some bento sushi boxes for sale outside fo the shop too. It seems you can get some of the sushi (at least those that keep) to go.

Some of the sushi pieces.

Sweet potato cubes with jelly and ice cream.

Despite the somewhat severe price, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Kani Doraku. So much that the rest would had been keen on paying it another visit sometime again. Every dollar was well spent for this experience. If you haven’t already given the popular chain a try, I would recommend at least visiting Kani Doraku once.

If the plastic displays here were any indication, Kani Doraku also offers some really attractive crab sushi bento boxes to take with you on the go. The prices, between 1,400 to 1,800 yen seriously give just about any Ekiben a run for their money and seems like a heavenly treat to take along with you for long shinkansen rides. Anyone has any experience with these? Will definitely want to give them a try in the future.

Affordable bento boxes are available for takeout too.

Kani Doraku Honten
6-18 Dotonbori Ichome
Chuo Ward, Osaka City
Osaka 542-0071
(Open 11 AM to 11 PM Daily)

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