Japan Part 4 : The Bonus Continues

(Blogger sucks!!! Some of my photos still can't be rotated even when I've already rotate it offline on my documents. *sigh*. Bear with me, alright?)

Here we are at last, arrived on my last post about my trip to Japan! Are you boring or excited?? For you who excited, that is what I expect and glad you can be as excited as I am! For those who are bored, excuse me lah but I am very excited about my trip so mind me If I'm getting so snotty and self-absorbing during my several past posts because I really want to share guys how exciting my trip in Japan last December. So bear with me for a moment, kay? After all this is gonna be my last post to about Japan.

So, where were we.

Oh right. The interview. After we are done with our interview and politely saying goodbye to all of the committee who arranged the AJE 2012, we rushed to our next destination, Shibuya. Yes, we went to Shibuya again in order to my personal request: I want to go to Parco part I, to Mugiwara Store, a place that has been my ultimate goal to go in Japan. And finally I arrived at the store. It was HEAVEN.

Lots of accessories and merchandise of One Piece:

I just want all this stickers...

Taking photos with Luffy and store plank:

After about 1 hour confused about what to buy to Indonesia, I got a towel with Luffy wanted poster in it, key chains of Pirates Logo, and 1 Thousand Sunny Miniature, for picture see here. I really wanted to say thanks and sorry for Ezra and Tiara who patiently took me and waited me to shop on my dream store. 

Really, thanks.

From Shibuya, we searched for dinner (and totally forgot we didn't have any lunch at all) and we arrived at a shop called Chikarameshi. I ordered Curry Chicken Karaage and it was so gooooood!!!

Finished with our dinner, we walk along Shibuya for about 20 minutes to go to see Harajuku. Don’t expect to see any cosplay player here, because when I went there, it was night already and on weekday. After all, I only walk alongside the shops from Omotesando, to Harajuku Streets and then Takeshita Street. Cosplayers and several strange and unique stuffs only available to be seen on Yoyogi Park (still in Harajuku) on weekdays morning until afternoon, so it is unfortunate for us because we didn't have a chance to see the unique events.

We only went for pure sightseeing here, buying several snacks from 100 yen store, and I managed to find a stocking I've always wanted from Japanese magazine. Lucky I've found them! Here are several photos I manage to take during the walk:

Omotesando:

Harajuku.. here lies lots of Japan indie brand alongside the road.

reaching Takeshita Street:

The lucky box as usually seen on manga where you can randomly pick one box for 1000yen each and after that what you'll got really depends on your luck hahahha

Finished with Shibuya, we off to Shinjuku, to Tokyo Metropolitan Tower which is famous for its sight of Tokyo from the highest point (45th floor). Eventually, i was starting to be very tired here due to long walking trip from early morning until night nonstop and more and more shopping bag added for my every purchase. However, since it was our last day here and our last chance to travel around Tokyo, I strive to keep walking and ignore the sore on my feet.

Arrived in Shinjuku:

On 45th floor, the sight was beautiful and enchanting:

Really different from Indonesia where tall buildings are mostly on the Central of Jakarta, but here, everywhere is already tall buildings and from it emanates lights that makes Tokyo such a beautiful sight at night. Didn’t regret coming here after all. And here born again one of my bucket list: coming here again with my husband in the future hahaha. Wish it will come true J

From Shinjuku, we rushed to go to Tokyo Tower, our final destination. We already rushing a little bit, because it was already getting a bit late and we have to catch up the last train unless we want to go home by taxi and go broke in an instant.

Fighting the time and the tiredness, finally after about 20 minutes in train and 15 minutes walking, we arrived in Tokyo Tower, specifically below the Tokyo Tower. The red light dominating and showing its greatness:

Taking photos again from further point:

Satisfied with the result, we finally decided to went back to hotel, took a good rest and prepare for tomorrow morning check out and departure. Actually, on the hotel I thought that I will do the packing tomorrow morning before check out on 7 a.m, but don’t know why I feel the urge to do the packing as soon as possible after arrived at my room. And my instinct was right, maybe due to the unbearable tiredness, I got up  VERY LATE at 6.45 a.m the next morning (15 minutes before check out time!) and luckily I've already do the packing, all I need to do are sealed my baggage and rushed down to the lobby. Very lucky. Hahahaha.

After taking the shuttle to the airport (sleeping on the whole trip) we arrived at airport and officially leaving Japan in the next 2 hour.

Really, for overall, this is one of the most unforgettable and exciting journey to Japan and I really look forward to go to Japan again in the future. Nomikai, new friends, discussion and debates, party, everything, will really, really miss all this moments.

Alright, since this is my last post about Japan, I would like to give some amateur tips about traveling in Japan:

• In my opinion, it is a little bit hard in Japan to find plain drinking water unless you went to a restaurant or bring it yourself. Although there was a lot of vending machine found here, most of them selling flavored drinks and costs around 150yen and up. For you who used to drink plain water so much, better always bring your own drinking bottle.
• Traveling in Japan is all about walking, walking and walking. Train and monorails are already so convenient and comfort here. Security is guaranteed although keep pay attention on your stuffs. Never used taxi though, it was very expensive. For example, about 10 minutes trip cost you almost about 1000yen and up. Walking and public transportation is enough, so use your most comfortable shoes.
• Since I went there on the early winter, the cold are still bearable, however, pay attention for strong wind because it is the wind that will freeze you to death. Hyperbolic  maybe, but its so true. Most of my friends can bear the cold but once the wind blows, they go “AACCCKKKKK”. Like that. Prepare a good coat then, that are thick enough and wind resistant. It helps a lot.

Well, this is it. A short story (not very short,eh?) about my trip to Japan last December. HELL YEAH I am looking for another chance to have another trip to this blissful city. Happy to share with you all, guys!

one last photos :) 

See you again Japan!

n.b: Need a free tour guide to go to Japan?? Maybe I can be one of help even though I still am an amateur. Feel free to ask :)

Japan Part 3 : Paid Off and Here Comes The Bonus!

Hello again! Come again to the continual post of my trip to Japan! Notice that every post getting shorter and shorter, however it will be getting very long maybe on the last post. Hehehee. Don't worry this post isn't going to be the last post J Let’s continue then!

On the final day of workshop, we were given some more time until 12.00 p.m to finish our presentation, have lunch and off to MUJI (Ryohinkeikaku) Headquarter which I kind of forgot where it was (which district it was).

Final presentation is getting a bit on our nerves actually. Suddenly we became very nervous moments before our turn to present, but luckily it all went well thanks God. All of the points and words I've been practicing since last night (yes, I am practicing, afraid that my English speaking skill will be a burden again) can be presented well. Done with the presentation, all 3 teams went back to hotel to have commencement session (to announce the best team presentation from each company) and farewell party. Before that we took photos of our team:

right after the presentations and on the front office of Ryohin:

I have a little incident here. I am briefed here that on the commencement session, we were free to dress as long as it is formal, so I change to my batik. Getting a little bit late for commencement (I’m taking shower first, that’s why) I didn't know that on the last moment the dress code change again into business formal wear and I unfortunately didn't bring my blazer there!! For God Sake, luckily one of the committee borrowed me a scarf to blend me in with the crowd so the difference is not so distinct.

And unlucky after unlucky moments, my team didn't come out as the best team. I kinda already predict that though, looking of how our discussion going and my effort toward this, definitely other team, in this case, Tiara’s team that efforts are so total that deserve as the best team winner. On the 3rd day, while I’m enjoying my time in Odaiba, their team working on the presentation until late, not to mention Tiara’s effort for working until 4 am in the morning. They really worth to be announced as winner after all. Congratulation!

After the nervousness ended, here comes the farewell party! The food was great, the drinks and beers were extraordinary (and yes several of my friends already a little bit drunk even before the food was served) and the mingling was fun! We get to know several people directly from the company and mingling with each other, asking about the chance to work in Japan, the experience, not to mention new friends from other country. Everything was perfect.

With MUJI full team:

Random photos taken:

Notice Dendi's photos almost all blur, 'cause he is already a little bit drunk that time!

Full team AJE 2012:

The photo session close the farewell party and we were very looking forward to meet again sometimes with everyone here, which were together for almost 4 full days J

However, farewell party didn't ended our trip to Japan, still, at least, my trip. Some of us, well, most of us decided to go nomikai once again to Wara-Wara, which indirectly hosted by the man, Hiroki whose in the end pretty confused to lead about 30 people and getting funnily pissed (and kinda regretting why he invited so much people to go nomikai hahaha)

However, this final nomikai night was very fun and kinda messed up in the end. Several people getting very drunk, smashing several plates and glasses (WTF) and puked off. We have drinking competition, wasabi-mixed-up sake, lots of food and so on. Really.

This is the wasabi battle.. sorry guys but idk why blogger can't rotate the photos even I've already rotated it before I upload it...

Realizing how red my face was at that time.. not a good drinker that means.

Everybody starts to fly to drunk-heaven..

Before all of us get too drunk, we decided to went home as soon as possible. Leaving from Wara2, it was like twice as cold as before (maybe due to our rising body heat thanks to Alcohol + colder weather). See it yourself.. (It's in celsius)...

However despite all the happiness (and drunk-ness) I’m kinda sad though, this is the night when actually we informally say goodbye to each other, especially MUJI team from Indonesia (me, Ezra and Tiara) which will depart from Japan on the next 2 days not tomorrow, so we will not seeing them again on the next day. And yes, after we went back to hotel and get up in the next morning, everybody already left and we didn't have a chance to say goodbye to all of them.

However, 1 thing to be grateful is, a day for everybody to depart from Japan and go home means one extra day for us Indonesian MUJI team to have another full day Tokyo sightseeing again! The reason we have an extra day because we were arranged as the last team to have an interview on 3 p.m. and there were not anymore flight to Indonesia after this 3 p.m. so we were scheduled to leave on the next morning! Hooray!!

Luckily there is Ezra, who already familiar with Japan due to his internship lately for 3 months in Japan so he can take us wherever we want and be our guide for the day! On the 5th day, firstly we went to Gundam Realsize Statue in Odaiba. Tiara really wanted to go there and since we have the whole day to travel, why not? Actually we have to go back to the workshop place at 3 p.m. to have our interview for 1 hour and it’s free time again! Arrived in Odaiba, before reaching Gundam Statue:

This is us, arrived at Gundam Statue, and didn't forgot to take photos too:

*sorry again guys for the un-rotated photos.. blame blogger!

Since there is Gundam Store and Cafe beside the Statue, we went in too. This is what it looks like on the inside, they're selling Gundam souvenirs and even waffles:

After satisfying our self with all the Gundam accessories, we went once again to Asakusa because me and Tiara felt that on the first day we still hadn't got enough souvenirs to be brought to Indonesia. After buying lots of stuffs as fast as we could, we took several photos near Tokyo Skytower and Asahi Statue there:

We have quite a good walk here. The weather was quite good and sunny, so it was very perfect to take photos and sight-see  From Asakusa, we decided to go back to our workshop place near our hotel and take our interview session as best as we could.

The interview was a panel interview where several people directly interviewed 3 of us. I am quite nervous at the beginning but actually getting more calm after several questions answered. Finished with the interview and the hell with the result, we rushed again to several sites we always wanted to go: Shibuya especially Mugiwara Store, Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Tokyo Tower.

Stay tuned until my next post, wait for the climax of my trip J

Japan Part 2 : Work Hard, Play Hard and Again, Sightseeing!

Continuing from previous day, the workshop start on the next morning, the second day. The workshop place took only 5 minutes walking from our hotel, very convenient. Firstly we are greeted by the whole AJE 2012 committee and were given a clear introduction about the whole program. After that, we are divided based on our company application into separate rooms, where we were given a more specific introduction about the tasks from our company, which is MUJI in my case.

Before that, we were separated into 3 different groups contains of people from different regions and we have to work together to finish our grand tasks: to make business proposal for Muji’s flagship store in our chosen country. Here, I met Lim from China and Milan from HK, Hoang from Vietnam, Hensley from Sg, and the ultimate man, Hiroki, from Japan as my teammates. The surprising thing is, at first I thought that Hiroki was a permanent employee working for MUJI already, however in the end I found that he is just one of the contestant for MUJI. WTF blame his look. He is nowhere near 22, it’s like he’s 26 and up already. *no offense*

However, the program was very fun! For the grand tasks, On the first day, we got the privilege to hear the presentation from MUJI Yurakucho flagship store’s Manager. And then we were brought directly to MUJI Yurakucho to sight-see and observe! MUJI Yurakucho is veeeeery different from MUJI in Indonesia I'm surprised. It was so big and crowded! I wish in Indonesia, MUJI is as grande as that ~

Here is our photo in front of MUJI Yurakucho store:

Taking photos inside MUJI, unfortunately this is the only photo I can take, its an edible MUJI Town miniature exhibition. SO fuckin cute and tempting to be grabbed and eaten..

After observing MUJI Yurakucho ad asked the manager several questions we’d like to ask, the observation session ended and we went back to the Hotel. And then, our journey of sighseeing Tokyo begin again! However on the second day we only managed to go to 2 places, Shibuya and Ebisu, but still it is so damn fun.

Shibuya, is one kind of a place that is very crowded even in the night. It was known for its youngster hangout place, scramble road, and shopping district. If you go to Japan, I think Shibuya is a place yo must visit. The district is very distinct than the other, everybody is very stylish, the buildings and roads are very bright from all the billboards and neons, and music everywhere. I noticed that in every roadlight attached one speaker that continuously playing music so you can hear music even outside the building.

Here is some photos:

The famous dog, Hachiko Statue in Shibuya,

Scrambled road, where tons of people crossing the road once the green light is on for crossing road. What a sight! I wanted to take photos in the middle of the road though but was very afraid to be crashed by lots of people haha.

Shibuya shops and roads:

Emiri took us to take a purikura toon (means photobox)! Really, purikura in Japan was so unique. There are several effects that we can choose: eye enlarging, leg lenghtening, skin smoothing and so on. We took the eye effect one. Notice our eyes (even all the male eyes) were getting very ginormous, somehow cute, somehow scary:

After sightseeing for a while in Shibuya, we went to our next and last place of the day, Ebisu, which is famous for its beer, even though we didnt went for any beer though. Arriving there, the most funny line Lim said was “Hell no. I’m getting jealous by all the couple here this place is so fuckin for dating huh”. Hahaha. Yes, Ebisu is soo beautiful at night. SO much lighting from the Christmast tree and roadlights and so on no wonder it is the perfect place to have a date. Haha.

Here are some photos:

Roads full of lights, somehow feels like in Orchard Road Singapore at night:

And this is the Baccardi Eternal lights at the end of the road, made from hundreds of Baccardi glass bottle and the writing stone described that the light is going to be forever on until January 2013 (forever on huh..).

After taking several photos and chatting, we went back to the hotel and preparing our self for tomorrow workshop session. Will be missing Ebisu very much..

On the next day which is the 3rd day, we continue our workshop session to complete our task for business proposal. After getting the broader image of a flagship store and some knowledge about retail store from the manager, the rest is up to us to make our business proposal as good and as fast as possible.

Actually, on the 3rd day, the session is all about discussion and another interview to the external relation manager of MUJI, where we can get another info about proposing store outside Japan (our task is to choose a country which suitable for building a new flagship store and explain why including the income proforma and business design). The whole day is about discussion.

Actually, on this day, I’m getting a little bit stressed here. For some reason, I can’t get along with my friends here on the discussion. I blame it for my English speaking skill actually. Sometimes it is kinda hard to express something in English and when I do that, my words aren't convincing enough. I know that my friends English speaking level must be far above me, they are very used to speak English, on the other hand I don't  so I kinda can’t catch up with their discussion and debates so I decided to work on my own tasks which already divided on the beginning of the discussion.

Furthermore, I thought that in my team, everyone striving to dominate! WTF. Debates going on and on and were having a hard time even to agree on some point of discussion. Everyone having their own opinion and strive to defend it. Since it is not going so well with me getting over debates, I agree whatever they agreed on and working my own part as best as I could and swear that I’m gonna polish my speaking skill better and better.

Finally the 3rd day session ended and yes I am very fucking tired from all the pressure and cant wait to have another Tokyo sightseeing session. However, knowing that tomorrow is our final day for presenting our ideas, several of us didn't want to go out that night and choose to work on the tasks but hell, I need a refreshment. Lucky me, Hiroki really wanted to go too. So we decided to finish our task as soon as possible and went out.

Finally, 4 of us, me, Dendi (outsider from Idemitsu, haha), Lim, and Hiroki went out that night. However, we decided to go somewhere near the hotel because it is already a bit late. So, we went to Odaiba City that night.

Arrived on Odaiba City, we were so excited seeing the Liberty Statue and Rainbow bridge. So, we’re taking photos as much as possible although most of the photos went blur because it was dark and windy. Oh, fuckin very windy and cold WTF we are taking photos and freezing at the same time!!

Here are some lousy result:

3 of them were so fucking happy leh..

However don't mind the result, mind the moments!

Finish taking photos, we get in to the Odaiba City Mall. Although most of the shops already closed, I’ve found something unexpected here! One Piece New Movie Promotional Site here. Taking photo is a must:

See the ship there? Actually moments after I took off from that place, some smoke shots were getting out from the Thousand Sunny bazooka there, and I missed that moment!! So fuckin pissed off.

After walking some more inside the mall, we found an indoor theme park here, called as Joypolis. Seeing the brochure, we, no, me, Dendi and Hiroki impulsively really wanted to go in but Lim decided to go back to Hotel. After paying for about 2000yen per person, we can play all the facilities there as much as we want, and really, we HAVE NO REGRET because at first I though that 2000yen per person is a bit expensive but its all worth it in the end.

The theme park was so FUCKIN FUCKIN FUN. We have no idea that an indoor theme park can be built in that place and they had lots of fucking exciting machine there, such as mini extreme roller coaster, virtual skate game, rolling racing game and so on. After getting on several games Dendi got very dizzy and we said that it is the same as the effect of alcohol hahaha. Too bad we didn't take any photo of the place simply because we forgot and enjoy the excitement very much.

After we cant take any of the dizziness anymore, we went back to the hotel and somewhat (me and Hiroki) feeling insecure about or task, so after we arrived at the hotel, we decided to search for Milan and the other to discuss and finish our task together and prepare for the best for tomorrow.

However, still, lets call it a night, to remember J

Next Post! About the final presentation day and another 1 full day of sightseeing!