Missed my Jetstar transit flight

The following post contains a lot of profanity which is deserved for the huge amount of stupidity involved. You have been warned.






Ok, took my flight from Narita to Cairns. No problem. I had of course turned on flight mode for my phone but didn't turn it back on. Had a 5 hour wait at Cairns airport for my next flight. Went to the domestic departure lounge and the sign on top of the check in counters said that check in time for Melbourne was 8.35. There was this huge queue for this Sydney flight that stretched forever. Most of the Jetstar counters said Sydney checking in now while the 3 Melbourne counters still had 8.35 as check in time.

8.35 came and the counters still said check in at 8.35. I figured they started check in slow for the Sydney flight. Saw a second line form and asked the dude at the end whether it was for Melbourne and was told he was going Sydney.

The announcement sign for departured said that Melbourne was delayed. Oh well. Most of the queue was gone and there were some people waiting. The counters for Melbourne still said close. I went to ask them whether they were waiting for the Melbourne counter to open and was told they were going to Brisbane. WTF. I looked up and saw that the departure sign was saying 'now boarding' for Melbourne! Holy shit.

Then the lady who told me that the Melbourne counters opened at 8.35 noticed me and said that Melbourne had gone. WTF I couldn't believe it. It wasn't 10.30 yet! Then I realised that because I didn't switch flight mode off, the bloody clock on my phone did not synch with the local time! Fuck fuck fuck. It was past 10.30 and the plane had gone. Fuck. If only I had fucking asked a staff member instead of the people in queue. If only I had fucking noticed the clock on the departure timetable. If only I had fucking turned off my flight mode.

Was told that the next Jetstar flight was on Saturday!! WTF. Four fucking days in Cairns??!!!! No fucking way. And I had to pay $500 to book that flight. There seemed to be a flight leaving for Melbourne at 11.30 on the Tiger Airways counter next to Jetstar. I asked the lady on the counter whether I could get a ticket from there.

"Good luck", she replied. Apparenly because of some volcanic ash stuff all flights are booked out. I was fucking looking at spending $500 and paying for four freaking days in sunny Cairns. Look, if I missed my Tokyo flight and was told I need to wait another 4 days, whatever. It just means the powers that be want me to contribute more to the Japanese economy. Four freaking days in a tropical so called city? No effing way. Then she mentioned Qantas might have a flight on Thursday.

Had to line up at the Qantas sales counter and was told they couldn't tell me anything because I did not have a previous booking with Qantas. I had to book online. I asked whether I could book by phone and was told it would be very busy. Shit. Now I had to use my 200mb 3G internet on my phone. Which I had not never used because 200mb is nothing and all the horror stories about overbilling scared me.

Looked up Tiger Airways first and flights are all booked out. Next was Qantas and they had a connecting flight tomorrow!!!!! The fucking damage for that as $1200!!!!!!!!! WTF???!!!!!! $500 for Jetstar flying on Thursday or $1200 for tomorrow. I had no fucking choice. I had shot my self in the foot with my fucking stupidity. No time to fucking regret but to do it.

The thing that pisses me off is that there were a lot of things in Japan that I wanted to do but didn't because I had already spent a shit lot of money. I wanted to spend another 3000 yen on my last night in Osaka but I had spent too much. I wanted to go back to Happy Honey for a massage. I wanted to buy that awesome Berserk figure. Fuck. I could have bought that Guts armour figure in Asakusabashi and would still have had change.

Fuck. I just spent the money for my 3D tv.

Fuck, I just spent the money for my Japan trip next year.

Fuck, I was right there and threw away one fucking day and $1200 because I didn't ask a staff member and assumed that the Melbourne counter had not opened. I always say asumption is the mother of all fuck-ups and this is a huge fuck-up.

Fuck fuck fuck.

I'm going to bloody spend the night at the airport because enought bloody money has been wasted. Screw the poor bastards who have to sit next to me tomorrow and endure my 2 days of stink. Fuck my stupidity. No point dwelling on the ifs and hows. Now I got to survive a day in an airport. I got my psp but no convertor since its a Japanese version. My psp will last 7 hours at most. Internet is 12.50 for two hours but the pc can't access the files on my phone or usb.

Will I finally finish reading Game of Thrones or just stare into space pondering the limitlessness of my idiocy?

Oh well, fuck me.

Day 17 part 1 - Mano Erina Hatachi no Otome live at Zepp Osaka 11/6/11

Bloody drizzling in Osaka on Saturday. Had a late night drinking on Friday at Gift and then woke up early and had breakfast at 9.30. Took the Osaka loops line to Bentencho and then the Chuo line straight to Cosmo Square, wherever that that is and arrived around 10. .

That`s the maritime museum. Cosmo Square is basically a harbour and lots and lots of housing flats with a couple of combinis. Wanted to go really early to have enough time in case I got lost and stuff like that.

It was pretty easy to find my way to Zepp Osaka. A queue had already formed at 10+ in the morning for a concert starting at 2.30! Something must be up.

Goddamn gloomy skies and constant drizzle.

Wait, what`s this, it looks like they are setting up stalls! Ah, so the line was to get first dibs at the merchandise! I think the merchandise stand opened up at 11.30 or so.

Horrible, horrible t-shirt that I should have not bought. Notice the matching wrist bands. Why can`t they just put her face on it or something?

The ultimate swag, a Mano Erina towel which I have yet to defile by wiping myself with it. They had posters, photos and stuff but I couldn`t be stuffed cause I already have her awesome 2011 calender.

Good thing they had glowsticks on sale. I had a couple of hours to kill so it was basically sitting down with an umbrella, smoking cigarettes and praying that this will be worth it in the end.

About 1ish the queues restarted. It doesn`t really matter cause I got a seat number anyway. You might be able to notice some ojisans who are old enough to be Mano Erina`s father and should be home playing with their kids on a Saturday morning. There are normal looking dudes like me but there are a lot of fans who look like they came out of Densha Otoko and some people who would be too extreme to be in Densha. I kept wondering about how Mano Erina thinks of her audience. If you are a small time idol, this is the audience you have to cater to.

More people coming to line up. Bframe5, if you`re reading this, I tripled checked before I pulled the key from the coin locker.

The anticipation mounts!

The view of the stage from my seat. I was at I-30 so 9 seats from the front and pretty close to the stage. The doors opened at 12.30 and I got in at 12.45 so it was a lot of fidgeting and going to the toilet twice to make sure I didn`t need to during the concert.

When Mano Erina finally appeared on stage, I had freaking goosebumps all over. The first thing that pops into my head is that she is a freaking goddess. Better looking in real life than in pictures and videos.

- Finally after so many freaking years of listening to Hello Project stuff, I finally get to chant L O V E Lovely Erina! and Erina, hey! (jump up)

- I didn`t know half the songs which I assumed were B-sides of her recent singles. I`m not that huge of a Mano Erina fan but I really like how she started as a piano playing idol with songs which don`t sound very HelloProish. There was this very nice retro-groovish tune that she sang where she touched the microphone stand a lot that I liked. Will have to look it up.

- At the Scandal concert, it was basically doing the chop or a variation of it to the beats of the song. At a Mano Erina concert, it is matching your glowstick waving/chopping to HER actions. The scary part are the dudes who knew all the actions.

- There were about maybe 8 girls at the concert. Big props to the girls who came without a boyfriend in tow.

- I was very happy when Mano-chan played her three piano songs, Mano Piano, Lalala Sososo and Otome no Inori. Bloody Tsunku stop making her into generic HP idol and get her on the piano/keyboard more! God, I love those 3 songs. I think if I had actually started my trip 1 week earlier to make it to the Dream Momusu concert, I would have died of happiness.

- I can`t believe she sang Sekai wa Summer party as part of a medley! Gah, I wanted the full song! At least she sang it unlike the bloody Scandal live that left out so many songs.

- In the middle of the live, she did some stupid skit playing this wanted cowboy like character called Eri with some fight choreography and jokes like impersonating Fujimoto Miki but ugh, can`t we just have more singing? I just don`t get the need to waste time with skits.

- Mano Erina has turned 20 and during one of the short videos in between costume change, she said that she wanted to visit Australia for the koalas. Note to self, buy koala costume.

- She was crying during one song but I can`t remember which one. Gah. So kawaii.

- There was an ojisan who was staring at her throughout the concert using his binoculars. They don`t allow cameras but they allow old men to zoom in on her body parts?

- Genki Mono de Iko is one awesome participation song. As much fun as Scandal`s Doll. Definitely worth the price of admission. They need to rerelease this song as a donation drive for the red cross or something. This song is pretty much impossible to Mano-chan to do well towards the end but it didn`t matter cause we were all singing along.

- She did her new song which hasn`t been released yet as the 2nd last one and some people actually knew the moves.

- Last song was Matsuge no Saki ni Kimi ga Iru which is an awesome song that should have been a single. Genki mono de ikou should have been the last one though. After the concert, we basically got a video montage of Mano-chan rehearsing in the morning and some highlights from the concert. Awesome stuff. After that was a video of some fundraising song with Tsunku, Hello Project members and people I don`t know. Oh, it also had the Sharan Q guitarist and he still looks the same.

This lifetime experience would not have been possible without Bframe5 who managed to secure me awesome seats. Okini! I think I need to go to a concert where I know every song like Dream Momusu or the Zone reunion in August. Gah, why did they announce that Zone thing so late? The only thing I could have asked for more from the Mano Erina concert was a full version of Sekai wa Summer Party. Can`t actually believe that I went to a Hello Project concert, lol.

Forgot to mention that Mano Erina is really pro at doing what she does now especially compared with her earlier nervous performances. I remember her second concert series where she screwed on the piano and started crying. Ah, so touching.

Day 16 - Back in Osaka

Nothing starts your day like yakiniku from Matsuya.

Goodbye Tokyo, I shall be back!

Got to Osaka station and saw something interesting. It was weird how when I got to Osaka I had this sense of unfamiliarity. I was running around Osaka last week and now I wasn`t even sure what line to take to Fukushima.

Its time to check out Pokemon Centre Osaka! For those who never heard of Pokemon, its the story about this evil boy called Satoshi/Ash who kidnaps innocent animals and forces them to fight for his amusements.

Instead of complaining about Japanese killing whales, the WWF should campaign against a tv show where the hero locks up animals in small jails called pokeballs and uses them for his violent amusement.

If anyone in Melbourne wants pokemon t-shirts or caps, let me know.

Picture of an actual cooking school where all the young wives gather to learn how to cook, lol. Sorry for poor quality but I did the walk past pretending to check something on phone thing. Maybe I should enroll for a class myself.

Tower at the end of the shopping district past Den Den town/Nipponbashi

Another view of the tower. It was strangely quiet being Friday evening and all.

Love Hotel outside Namba station. Forgot to type the directions to Club Sega Avion in Namba during my last post. Basically get out at Namba station north exit and turn right. You`ll be walking on top of Namba walk.

Keep walking until you see this and Aeion pachinko on the right. Turn right.

Keep walking until you see this station.

Turn left, then right and keep walking towards the Taito game centre in the picture. You can`t miss Club Sega. There was a AA Oni and A Yun there. Decided to forgo my card because I was sure I would lose and WTF I somehow beat Oni. Goddamit, that would have been a lot of points. All the effort for nothing. At last I learnt random rolling works against Oni spamming that demon palm. Then lost to the A Yun. Gah, wanted revenge and then lost to a cardless Sagat because I was too impatient. Went for dinner, came back and this cardless Dictator was on a 7 game winning streak against the AA Oni.

Walking around Nipponbashi and was thinking about going to a maid cafe. Came across this bar with no hourly charge and two cute girls in maid costumes! The menu had omurice for 1000 yen and beer for 600 yen. Unfortunately, it was not yet opening time.

Oh well back to Snack Gift. The best talking girl was not there and the English speaking one was not working this week. Gah. But met this very cute 19 year old girl studying hairdressing. Why I cannot for the life of me remember her name is embarrassing. Met another patron of the snack who has actually been to my freaking hometown. Its funny meeting a Japanese who knows about my small town in Borneo. Big day tomorrow, gotta get some sleep. I have spent so much money on snacks I dare not calculate the total cost.

Day 15 - Ryu ga Gotoku Of the End release day!

Saw this in front of Yodobashi Akiba and the first thing that pops in my head is isn`t the game out tomorrow? I remember checking and thinking that it was unfortunate I would have to be in Osaka that day cause I think Nagoshi came to Yodobashi Akiba for the launch. I first assumed it to be a preorder event thing.

When I went closer I realised that the line was for buying the game! And you even get to do that spinning thing with the small balls afterwards to get a prize!

Unfortunately, I got this plastic sleeve thing which I have no idea what its supposed to be used for.

The game and ganbarou nippon stickers which was mentioned at Andriasang. Probably the thing I`m most looking forward to his Majima`s karaoke.

A  freaking cd of the karaoke songs! I doubt very much they are full songs though. Saves me ripping the songs from youtube for my mp3 player.

Wait, wtf is Haruka`s Change Myself and Summer Memories?????!! Wait, they`ve got a full version of Get to the top? Actually the songs probably won`t sound as good without Kiryu`s L O V E Haruka! H A R U K A Haruka! and all the oi oi oi.

Went to the Yodobashi food court and tried looking for this ramen place I went with Rei last year but couldn`t find it. Might have been at Yodobashi Osaka. Came across this place called Pepper Lunch and 1000 yen for 300 grams of wild juicy steak with rice!!!!!!!!

Instructions on how to prepare the food.

Basically it came to me on this sizzling plate and I had to put the butter on it, turn it over and wait for it to cook. The dude next to me folded his instructions over the food to cover the smoke and I did the same..

Wait for it to be cooked, put in some sweet/chilly sauce, sprinkle lots of pepper and there you have a very very delicious lunch. Bloody hell, why did it take me so long to discover Pepper Lunch?! Guess where I went for dinner? Yup, Pepper Lunch in a lane in Akiba for the beef pepper rice. Its not as filling but its 780 yen 1000 yen for wild juicy steak. The most filling cheap meal is still Matsuya`s pork bara something for 880 yen.

Flowers and water bottles for the victims of the Akiba incident some years back.

Huge crowd at Akiba gamers for some sort of flyer hand out. Oh yeah, saw this handshake/signing event at Ishimaru with a real cute chick who I assume is some seiyuu. Unfortunately there were a few scary looking dudes looking around so I`m pretty sure I would have gotten into trouble if I had pulled out my phone.

VF and Tekken machines at Club Sega. Tried out VF5 Final Showdown for the first time and OMG, it is even more different than VF5R from VF5. Standing throws must end with f/b/neutral P+G and all low throws df/d/dbP+G. Have they actually removed Jeffrey`s signature splash mountain? Managed to get out his toe kick into splash mountain though. They`ve really changed the way crumple works and the removed auto button attacks after a long dodge is so weird. At least Sega is serious about balancing this game unlike those people at Capcom who are trying to fit a square peg into a circular hole with SFxT.

The characters of Aquapazza, this fighting game testing at Hey Akiba. It features Arawn and a few girls from Tears to Tiara as well as chicks from To Heart and various games/anime I have not heard of.

No surprise that no one actually chose Arawn cause such a stupid name.

Day 14 - Maid Cafe and Yasukuni Shrine; polar opposites of Japanese culture

Trust me when I say Yua-chan is very very kawaii. Stupid crappy Galaxy S camera. Maybe I should have gotten a Nokia camera instead. I went in without asking for the English menu and used my extremely slow katakana skill to order. So slow that I ended up ordering the top items because it would take me too long to read the list.

Went for an omurice with picture combo. I could choose between something, a lighter or a buromido. I reread the katakana bu-ro-mi-do at least three times and thought it sounded familiar. Turns out bromide is a term for picture. If you google for bromide, its a chemical but I now remember that the term was used for a picture in Lunar. Hhhmm, need to download and play Lunar in Japanese on my psp.

Unfortunately, Yua-chan`s bromide was no longer in stock and I had to settle for Hina chan`s. On the wall of the cafe there is a picture of this maid called Riri/Lily? who looks absolutely hot. Come to think of it, I should have gotten her bromide! Aaaaaaggghhhh. What the fuck was I thinking????? Tempted to go back for more Yua or to see Riri. Actually an hour at the maid cafe cost me the same as an hour at a snack which was 3200 yen. Of course it could have been cheaper forgoing the picture option and going just for a drink. Hhhmm, I think if I go the second time, I`ll see who`s around before deciding how much money to spend. Oh yeah, they actually thought I was Japanese and that Michael was my fake name lol. I would like to say my Japanese has improved but most of the time its nodding my head and catching important words to get my answer. Ordinary Japanese speech is way too fast for me.

After that I go more browsing in Akiba. When you go there, make sure to check every nook and cranny because a lame looking card shop can hold many wonderful items upstairs. After that it was time to head off to Yasukani Shrine. I actually wanted to go straight after lunch but I forgot to bring the directions with me. Went back got my directions and got on the Chuo/Sobu line straight for Chiyoda. The picture above is the fishing thingie that you see in Jdoramas which can be seen from Chiyoda station.

Get out from the station and keep walking straight. It was just past 4pm and there were many many schoolgirls walking to the station. Only when I got to the shrine did I realised I should have taken lots of pictures. Oh well.

For those who don`t know, Yasukuni Shrine is like the host for all the souls of the dead who have fought and died in the service of Japan. Every time the Prime Minister of Japan goes to the shrine to honour the dead, China makes a big fuss about it. Why? Because the shrine also enshrines those WW2 criminals and people involved in things like the rape of Nanking.

Historial whiteouting aside, the Yasukuni Shrine area is absolutely beautiful.

I think that`s the temple where Japanese go to to pray to the souls of the dead. Sort of like how Chinese always have those ancestorial things in the homes.

The museum which is the most interesting part of this trip.

Why are there statues of a horse, fox and a woman with two kids?

WW2 plane from ground floor entrance of the museum. Unfortunately to access the other parts of the museum, a donation of 800 yen is required and I had 45 minutes till closing time at 5pm. How big can be exhibition be?

There were no camera signs everything in the main exhibition so I can`t show you how awesome it is. It is basically an exhibition of Japanese military history so you start of with samurai, Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration, Sino War, Russian war etc. At 4.45 I had only gone through 6 rooms and a cute employee told me that there were 22 rooms so I better hurry up.

The exhibits are amazing. You had real samurai swords and armour, personal artifacts from the royal family and lots of old stuff. Most of the stuff have English translations and for someone like me who only knows bits of pieces of Japanese history it was nice to see it in order. A lot of things sound very propaganda like but being raised in Malaysia, I`m used to it. Besides, after having seen how North Korea rewrites it history, nothing can shock me more.

Problem is I didn`t have time to take it in. Bloody tempted to go back tomorrow and take my slow time though everything. Even doing the 6 rooms in 30 minutes I wasn`t reading everything. The 800 yen though is a put off. Shouldn`t have gone today with less than an hour.

Some of the historical statements made in the exhibit made me go wtf and I am going to look some of it up after this post.

Despite concern over some historical stuff, I still think the museum is a must see. When I walked in and saw all those real samurai swords, it felt more than just a museum. It was looking at how Japan saw herself and her history.

I got so freaking excited when I saw the words Tokyo University. OMG, did I just stumble onto Todai? My heart sank when I saw the words `of Science` below it. Maybe I should look up where Todai actually is after this. I think the museum at Yasukuni is a must see.

Crowd at Shinjuku station. Or was it Ikebukuro?