Keripo's Corner Figures, Dollfies, Projects, Gaming, and TYPE-MOON
So right after finishing university, my friends and I decided to go to Japan for our graduation trip (May-June 2012). Japan was a high in our choice of destination for a vacation. For my friends, it was of cultural interest and a new place to see. For me, it was the Holy Land of anime, and also the place where my figure collecting hobby would emerge. But the loots and food blog entries will come at the end.
The following series of “Japan Trip 2012” blog posts will simply be pictorial guides of my adventure through Japan. I’ll try to caption most of the pictures and include as many anime-related pictures as possible. Sets of photos are roughly in chronological order, though some places (aka Akihabara) will have multiple sets since we went back there multiple times. There’s 30 or so albums of photos from my Japan trip, and each blog post will contain 2-4 albums worth, so prepare your mouse for a lot of scrolling. So without further ado, enjoy the tour!
Finding Yogi Bear Yoyogi Park
Felt like I was on a bicycle and time had stopped…
RIDE ON SHOOTING STARRRR!
Park admission ticket
Map of the park – we ended up covering maybe a quarter of it?
Reduce, reuse, recycle!
Beautiful place, nothing much else to say…
Dunno, I just liked this shot
Japanese street signs can be confusing sometimes…
We got lost on our way back to the trainstation and a super friendly local on a bike got off and led us to the way. Turned out he was going in the completely different direction too! Japanese sure are nice folks if you approach them politely!
Have you ever kissed a zombie girl?
Moar Japanese signs <3
Unlike all the other places we’ve visited so far, Washinomiya is a small town with a small population. The target this time is the Washinomiya Shrine, the shine at which Hiiragi Kagami and Hiiragi Tsukasa from Lucky Star served as mikos at. It is a famous otaku pilgrimage site, especially for Lucky Star fans such as myself (Kagami too tsundere~). It was also the one place that required the most convincing for my friends (since it was quite out of the way from the rest of our planned destinations). Apart from the shrine, however, the town of Washinomiya and surrounding areas are quite quiet and seemingly still aren’t all that used to/welcoming of visitors (we had a awkward/embarrasing run-in with a local who was quite angry at us, but that’s a story for another day).
Yup, we got off at the right station. There’s a history behind this too (search it up).
Some of the stores near the station and along the road to the shrine have embraced the tourist opportunities, but I found them relatively uncommon (probably due to the time of the year – when a friend of mine went on New Years day, it was apparently quite festive in town)
Banners along the road mark the path to the shrine
Pretty standard Shinto shrine…
…or not
I’ve seen pictures online but its far more impressive up close, in person.
Otherwise, standard shrine stuff. A tad bit fancier than others, considering that its one of the oldest Shinto shrines.
There was a beautiful peacock in a cage on the side. I’m sure it’s a bringer of luck, but it breaks my heart seeing beautiful birds in captivity ; /
There’s a nice foresty path in the back. Was good to walk through. Most of my friends didn’t want to though, in fear of mosquitoes.
Good fortune ^_^
Bought a luck charm for a friend
Moar signs ^_^
There’s a story behind this. I forgot it.
MyFigureCollection: http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/6237
Flickr Yoyogi Park: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157641647834643/
Flickr Washinomiya Shrine: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157641663554534/
