A place filled with polite people A land that is said to have futuristic technologies A setting that I could actually breathe easily That land where I would be happier to walk than to ride vehicles But more importantly, IT’S THAT COUNTRY WHERE ANIME WAIFU HAD COME FROM!!!!

Yes mina-san! Indeed!

IT’S JAPAN (whoosh 🎇🎆🎉)

So, here’s the thing, I’ve always wanted to go to Japan ever since I was young. Mainly because of anime (which had been introduced to me by my uncle when I was around the age of 10).  So pretty much, I was an otaku who wants to experience the life of the things he is seeing in the computer screen, but devil fruits does not exist in real life (or is it though), neither a pocket where you could store anything, nor a world full of elves or any other supernatural whatnot. But obviously, the closest thing to any of that is of course, the place where they were originated. And that is Japan. Ever since that realization came to me, I would constantly drop a hint or finally ask my mom (when I finally had the guts to act like a spoiled kid) that I would like to go to Japan, and so she promised that we would right after I graduated Junior High (the trip happened in my Senior High years uwu). So here we are, Welcome aboard my friends, we will now have a trip to my travel experience in Japan! (Originally, we spent 9 days in Japan but since I have to pass this blog within 6 hours from now, I would just share my travel experience in our first three days in Tokyo. We spent the remaining 6 day in Osaka, and I would include pictures of them at the end).

FIRST DAY

Of course, all out-of-the-country trips starts with the airport. Well, things are normal here in NAIA airport, that same boring airport we would go to every time my dad would go back home here in Philippines from his work overseas. So, let’s skip ahead when we were now right above Japan! Let me just start it with , H****F**** (my teacher is reading this). WOW, it’s beautiful! The view from the above is magnificent, you can easily tell where are the cities because the greens are separated from the buildings. Speaking of green, it’s so green! So many trees! Yes, Trees! Just from the look of that, I know that I could actually breathe in this place without dying from the inside. Also the the lakes or rivers, from the above, it looks like art, as if they were deliberately drawn in a piece of paper.

And finally, we landed and the first people who greeted me in my seat INSIDE THE PLANE are the Japanese crews OUTSIDE THE PLANE (those people that guide the pilot for the parking) If you’re thinking, how? Well of course I won’t be able to hear them, they just simply bow to us, and that’s a big thing to me, cause I’ve never seen such feat in other countries. So now here goes inside the airport, first impression? IT’S REALLY HUGE and of course neat, nothing really more special aside from the really polite airport employees, signs and posters I don’t understand, some stores and booth that I don’t recognize and finally, the airport is connected to trains? Is this special or its just that my country never thought of this? (well perhaps the other countries I’ve been to also had this but I just clearly don’t remember)

So, first day, I’ve always experienced bad first days (as if you care, right?) but this one is really good. The train ride from airport to the city where we are now (forgot the name of the city cause I tend to forgot things easily and this is around 8 months ago already) was cool enough, it’s so organize, people actually line up to ride the train (or it is just that people from my country are undisciplined? filipino dudes out there who rides the train, am i right?) Yup, out of the train, we walked going to the place where we would stay into, and the first thing I noticed: K-pop is so popular in Japan! K-pop store here, K-pop there, K-pop that. Well, forget Korean stuff first, other things I’ve noticed is that tactile pavings are everywhere! (you know, those distinctive surface that guides blind people). Another one would be that traffic light for the pedestrian is actually working! (Again, filipino dudes out there) and the people are actually following it! There are more other things I’ve noticed, but let’s skip those since it’s obvious (street foods, restaurants, establishments, kakkoii dudes and kawaii gals and, so on). We finally arrived at the place we are staying at, nothing special really, except for that futuristic toilet (^.^) And so, we rest for a while and we headed out for some dinner!! Right outside, we walked around Tokyo and wow, there are a lot of people and the city lights are mesmerizing.

Even though there are a lot of people, it wasn’t actually hard to breathe, yes, the air is good by the way. About the food, well I don’t really like taking pictures of food, cause “don’t let the food waiting to be eaten” as said by my dad every single time. But indeed, the food is delicious as expected (Sorry I forgot what we ate that night, all I remember was it was delicious and wow, K-pop is actually interesting *they are playing K-pop music video in the tv near our seats*)  Right after we ate, nothing special, we just walked around Tokyo and finally, head back on to  sleep. We were tired.

SECOND DAY

Right, morning, woke up around 3:30 am and head out around 5:30 am, early bird catches the early worm. Well, it doesn’t seem like 5:30 am at all compared to where I live, it’s decently bright. Also, the air is quite cold (uwu).

For this day, we had our Hakone tour. So basically, we visited Mt. Fuji, we rode this sightseeing boat around the lake and we rode a cable car up to a mountain that is decently far away from Mt. Fuji. Anyway before we start with Mt. Fuji, the tour guide was really nice. So here Mt Fuji:

Honestly, there is nothing really special about this one. If you think that we climbed Mt. Fuji, well sadly no, we’ve only stayed at this high altitude place near Mt. Fuji. All you would do in here is to take pictures, or perhaps buy something in the souvenir shop (we bought green tea kitkat!) Though, I must give more details. Well, this place is freezing! I wished that I brought more layers but no I didn’t. Also there are a lot of people, but not that much, only a decent handful of people that would destroy the beauty of your pictures. Also, my Japanese friend is right, Mt. Fuji isn’t really beautiful up close, it’s beautiful if you’re looking at it from afar (sorry Mt. Fuji-chan)

Right after Mt. Fuji is lunch! So, what I had is a large bowl full of soup and noodles, deep fried vegetables, fried fish and shrimp, vegetables, really milky tofu and rice.

Also here, enjoy a picture of me in a samurai outfit (cause apparently they have that in the restaurant):

After lunch, we had to ride this sightseeing boat (I don’t know what is it called as) around the lake. Well, that’s basically it. The sight is good, the air is cold and fresh and, I’m not thinking of any academic deadlines. So here, enjoy this picture I took from the boat:

Now the cable car, this is the most exciting thing that day. Basically, the cable car goes up the mountain wherein you could see Mt. Fuji in the left (?) and pacific ocean in the right (?) (not sure which was left and right at that time, but that description is base on my current position at that day) And heck, the view is good. My friend is telling the truth, Mt. Fuji-chan is so beautiful from afar (sadly, I have no picture of it, as well as for the pacific ocean part). But that’s not the thing that makes me excite the most, it’s the walk! Right, the end of the cable car is not the top of the mountain, so we have to walk more and the path isn’t really that bad, but that’s not the point. The air is so good! Also there’s a shrine at the top of the mountain, it’s cool! Yup, that’s it, I just love walking when the air is fresh.

That’s the end of the trip of our second day. Though last highlight of that day is when we met the tour guide again in the train (he is nice). And that’s all for the second day. The way I’ve been describing it might not sound really fun, but trust me, it is fun. (it’s just that I have to pass this blog to our teacher in 6 hours).

THIRD DAY

Well, here it is. The day I’ve been waiting for. It’s the day we will go to Akihabara! If you guys are not familiar to anime, manga or Japanese light novels, Akihabara is the heaven for otakus and gamers. Basically, you could buy a lot of things in here that is related to anime, manga, Japanese LN, games, gadgets and so much more, and they are relatively cheaper. Well before that, we had to meet our aunt first in Ueno park. here’s Ueno park (I wish Philippines have parks like this): 

So basically, we met my aunt. Had a little chat while walking around Ueno park (and again, the air is so nice). So apparently, she is our tour guide for that day. First thing we did is that we visited this small Shinto shrine, offer coins, say our wishes and ring the bell (Just like in anime. anyway, not sure if it was a Shinto shrine, also I wished that I would pass the UPCAT uwu). Ah yes I forgot breakfast, we had ramen (yes for breakfast, really heavy).

Right after that, we visited a really famous temple in Asakusa, i think it was called Sensoji temple. I’ve said already that it is famous! So obviously, it’s really crowded! Now that actually gave me a hard time. What we did there is we just looked at what is inside the temple. What’s inside is nothing really different compared to other temples (ok, I’m sorry if I’m not good at describing things like this, but that’s my best for a quick blog). Although, an ice cream really make the trip really worth, an ice cream that is flavored as green tea. I recommend it!

And finally, it’s Akihabara time! We had to take the train going there, we tried taxi but five people isn’t allowed in it. Just following the rules. And yeah, I can’t believe I haven’t describe what is it like in Japan’s train. Well, it’s quiet and people respect other people’s little personal space. Also, it’s not shaky (Again, filipino dudes out there).  

Well, Akihabara, if you know anime, you would know what to expect. There are a lot of anime billboards, anime related shops, cafe, malls and other bizarre establishments.

Most of our experience in there is (drum roll) being lost: Because apparently, my aunt had never been in Akihabara despite working in Japan for a long time already and google map is being weird that day. Like I said, if you watch anime, you know what to expect. So for the sake of “share your travel experience” I must share things I did. First thing I did is GET A GUDETAMA FROM GACHAPON! And, we spend the next three hours looking for the unknown gadget my dad is looking for and buying anime figurines. The figurines that we bought are: chopper from One Piece, Rem from Re:Zero, Eriri from Saenai and more Gudetama. Anyway, Eriri is not really the girl that I would like to win in Saenai, it’s just that the figurine is so beautiful (So whoever that Japanese cashier is, I just wanna say that I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, i know that you like Megumi) That anime is actually crazy famous in Japan, there’s even posters of it inside the trains.

I’ve said that if you watch anime, then you know what to expect from Akihabara. Although, I didn’t expected that around afternoon, they would close down the road and let people walk around in the middle:

Before we part our ways that day with my aunt, we decided that we should try the Mario kart. Basically, you could drive a kart around the city dressing as a character from games related to Mario, of course. Although, sadly, you need to bring your driving license in order to try that one, so fair warning. If you wanna try that, bring your driving license.

So, that concludes our third day. So is this blog. Before we end, I must say that it’s true, 7-11 ready packaged food is better than a decent number of restaurants in the Philippines! We tried it in our third day since we were dead tired and hungry. Lastly, it saddens me that I won’t be able to share my remaining 6 days I had in Osaka, from the bullet train ride, castles, shrines, temples, famous markets, Universal studio, deers roaming around freely and the foods that I actually still remember. But as promised, here are some of the pictures I had in Osaka:

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The tiresome plot of time-travelling odyssey, a disappointing story regression of body-swap rom-com, the lame disaster prevention plot that always lead to an exaggerated drama and, the cliché tale of two soul mates challenged by the temporal physical distance between them. Now, imagine all of this in a single film, but EXCEPT it isn’t tiresome or disappointing or lame or cliché, Just a devastatingly gorgeous film, a pure art. How is that? Sure, these story lines or plots I’ve mentioned might be overused and cliché but obviously, mixing them all together is now a different story (Pardon my puns), a brilliant one if I may say so.

With all of these things I’ve mentioned (with the photo at the top), I’m pretty sure you must have the hang of what I’m talking about. Yes, Kimi no Na Wa (Your Name), that film that won various of awards and even became the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film, the 11^th highest grossing non-English film worldwide but more importantly, it’s that film that makes you cry like a baby resulting into the depletion of your tissue supply.

Now, I’m not here to tell the story rather, this is basically a creative movie review of Kimi no Na Wa. If you haven’t watched the movie yet, I advise that you should watch the movie first, then later on read my review after recovering from the tearjerker. Simply because, one – my review does contain spoiler and two- because you won’t understand a thing while weeping. If you previously watched the movie before and you are not interested to other people’s opinions, not my problem just read it.  

BREATHTAKING

This film is just simply breathtaking. The animation is really smooth and neat and, the details in the art is really detailed. I especially admire the backgrounds, sights and the faithful representation of Tokyo and Hida. I’ve watched this film for around 6 times already and it never fails to astonish me just base on the visuals. Even if you don’t watch it in HD, the visual would still come out as amazing. I must say that the whole movie itself is an eye candy. It is honestly the best part of the film, the art. Although, it’s just not all about the art; the plot, character development and the story progression really played out well also. The story is honestly so cute and sweet despite the pain and sadness exhibited within it. I can’t get enough of it but I have to save this discussion about the plot for my next point.

So instead, let’s move on to another really awesome aspect of this film that made it as simply breathtaking. The music. I honestly never heard of RADWIMPS before, I’ve only ever heard of One Ok Rock and back number (and of course, goose house, but this isn’t rock band). But that odd doesn’t stop me from knowing them quite deeply, Afterall, who won’t fall in love with this band after hearing their song in this film, it is aurally stunning indeed. The music they’ve written were perfect for the various part of the film, it really fits well with the emotion being conveyed of these certain parts. It has the sadness, the joy, the excitement, the romantic feeing and a character. It’s catchy and good to the ears, but more importantly, the lyrics actually means something deep! Not just some gibberish non-sense music that is made just to gain millions of green (I mean this is a common sense, it’s from Japan, their music is usually deep). Overall, I’m glad that RADWIMPS did the soundtrack in this film after all, their music is a masterpiece.

SIMILARLY, DIFFERENT

As I’ve said, this film combined plots or storylines that is really common already in the world of anime or in general, stories. Although, mixing it up really brings a different kind of picture. This is why Kimi no Na Wa is quite similar yet so different to the others. With this in mind, it could be concluded that the plot of this film is unique. Although, unique doesn’t always mean it’s beautiful. That’s true indeed, so that’s what makes Kimi no Na Wa more impressive, they were able to uniquely combine all of this plots in a less than two hours film and yet the result is beautiful. How could I say it’s beautiful? Well, the flow of the story, character development, climax and the other elements didn’t failed to impress. The flow wasn’t messy, characters were developed properly, climax never fails to lift us up in our sits and so. This is something that the other stories are lacking off, even though their plot is linear, they would still fail in the execution or there would be flaws somewhere in the line. My next point would even contribute more to this point, as why this film is uniquely beautiful.

THE SMALL DETAILS TELLS A STORY

I’ve already mentioned how beautiful the animation is, how well euphonious the music brought and, how innovative the plot could get. Although, that’s not the main beauty of this film, its main beauty is actually encrypted deeper than what meets the eye (or is it though?). Simply, the beauty of this film would be the intricated details lying around the story. These are the details that you won’t notice maybe because you’ve only watched it once, you are not familiar to Japanese language or, you are not familiar to certain legends, myths and beliefs. Personally, these details are the main reason why I fell in love with this film. I’m not particularly a fan of stories that is shallow, I don’t like reading or watching stories that won’t make me think and dig deeper. I would very much love the idea to elaborate on these details although I’m afraid that this blog would be too long (you can just search it up, though that wrings my heart, I would very like to share my own theories regarding on this little details).

 I guess I would just mention little details like how Makoto Shinkai placed references around the film based on his previous work. Sure, this is quite a common playful Easter egg, but the way he deliberately put it in the film is different.

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I also like the usage of “the red thread of fate” (I’m very fond of this belief) in the film as a symbolism of not only love but also time, as explained by the grandmother in the term of “musubi”.

Makoto Shinkai also included details that is connected to the 2011 Earthquake that hit japan. This really brings out the impression that every little detail in this film brings out a story.  Another detail that I bet everyone misses is the fact that the shrine ritual/traditional dance that Mitsuha danced in the film actually describe the impending tragedy that is coming. This means that Makoto didn’t just insert some non-sense dance in the film, he actually took advantage of it as a way to deliver deeper story.  

Another one would be the fact that Mitsuha is 3 years older than Taki as there was a 3 years gap in the timeline during the phenomena. This small detail is really important as it shows how Taki was travelling back to the past and how Mitsuha was travelling to the future, thus making the film comprehensible.  There are a lot (a ton) more details but I should really wrap this up, so I’m just going to mention a few word play of Makoto Shinaki, these are: Mitsuha’s family name and each individual’s name (I have a theory that their individual name might be connected to the Irish beliefs of clover, you would understand what am I talking about after you search it up), The name of the comet “Tiamat” could be read as “Te Amat” which means “It loves you” (comet symbolizes a predestined love), Kawatare-doki could be translated as The Time of He-is-Who  (long story short, this word foreshadowed the encounter of Taki and Mitsuha in the mountain and so), Tasokare could be translated as The Time of Who-is-He and it symbolizes nostalgia as well (emblematic for the fleeting memory and the recollection of Taki and Mitsuha).