Monster Hunting in Japan

April 2018 - April 2024

Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto Read more

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Traveler Monster Hunting in Japan
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- Apr 8, 2018, 8:14am
- ⛅ 21 °C
- Altitude: 15 m
- Australia Queensland Brisbane Brisbane Airport -27.40448, 153.1098127°24’16” S 153°6’35” E
Day 1
Goodbye Porpoise Spit!
April 8, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Ashley and I are just like Muriel and Rhonda at the end of Muriel's Wedding, only we are going to Japan! I've decided I'm Rhonda. Only without the smoking or the paraplegia. And we didn't really yell out the taxi because the windows were closed. And we aren't as cool as Muriel and Rhonda.

Observations: Duty free sales assistants are just as judgemental as Border Force, only they do it under a friendly face.

Kaiju Collected: One last flat white and a really expensive croissant.Read more
Traveler Happy travels
4/7/18Reply
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Traveler Monster Hunting in Japan
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- Apr 8, 2018, 10:46am
- ⛅ 25 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- Australia Queensland Brisbane Brisbane Airport -27.40533, 153.1092927°24’19” S 153°6’33” E
Day 1
Tickets! Money! Passports!
April 8, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Alas our plane is missing some of the things required to keep it in controlled flight so they just took us off it to fiddle with the dimmer switch.

Observations: The mysterious "Mr Graham". Is it really a passenger on his way to LA, or is it just an announcement code for something else...

Kaiju Collected: One game of Battleship won. One game of Reversee lost. Though technically that game was interrupted by technical difficulties and I had "not yet begun to fight".Read more
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- Apr 8, 2018, 7:56pm
- 🌙 10 °C
- Altitude: 48 m
- Japan Chiba Sanrizuka Narita International Airport 35.7749, 140.3915835°46’30” N 140°23’30” E
Day 1
Narita Skeeta
April 8, 2018 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 10 °C
First world fears is your data roaming doesn't work when you turn your phone back on at the airport. First world fears absolved.

Observations: always pick a comedy on the in flight entertainment.

Kaiju Collected: "It's a me!!" Mario was our flight attendant. No sign of Princess Peach. One picnic in the sky. One request for a passenger with medical training. One warning about communicable diseases. Pretty sure I'm not patient zero. Yet.Read more
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- Apr 8, 2018, 10:00pm
- 🌙 11 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Japan Chiba Chidori Tokyo Disney Sea Station Eki 35.62598, 139.8890635°37’34” N 139°53’21” E
Day 1
MiraCosta Lady of the House Speaking
April 8, 2018 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
If you really want to have a Hyacinth moment then share a shuttle bus with the peasants. When you rock up to a fracking palace, everyone starts to reconsider their hotel choices.

And they haven't even seen inside yet...

Observations: the staff here are so ridiculously friendly but it's in a really endearing geeky way. Everyone in Japan is a Huffle-claw.

Kaiju Collections: the lobby is a giant compass, each of the points of the compass are represented by a ship themed to that direction: north is a Viking longship; south is a Polynesian trimaran; east is an east Asian junk; west is a Spanish galleon.Read more
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- Apr 9, 2018, 8:04am
- ☀️ 12 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- Japan Chiba Chidori Tokyo Disney Sea Station Eki 35.62605, 139.8886635°37’34” N 139°53’19” E
Day 2
Morning Joe vs the Volcano
April 9, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
The picture doesn't really do it justice but this is the coolest breakfast view ever. Particularly when the thing goes off.

Observations: Japan does an English Breakfast far better than the English. "You don't make friends with salad" does not apply here - everyone makes friends with the salad, the salad is everyone's friend.

Kaiju Collections: One really cool breakfast. Missed one large latte with an extra shot.Read more
Traveler Stuff memories are made of. Soak it up.
4/9/18Reply
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Traveler Monster Hunting in Japan
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- Apr 9, 2018, 9:47am
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Japan Chiba Chidori Tokyo Disney Sea Station Eki 35.62599, 139.8890335°37’34” N 139°53’21” E
Day 2
Around the World in 80 Fastpasses
April 9, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
"Oh my gaaaawd the crowds are massive and we have to wait forever!" Just means you failed to use your time as a tourist effectively.

Tokyo DisneySea has a reputation for long lines but we never waited longer than 20 min managed by observing the following rules:

1. Don't be a cultural imperialist - learn the local holiday times, don't base them off your own.

Sounds obvious, but the number of gaijin who rock up at a Japanese attraction in Golden Week on a Saturday or Sunday and complain about lines is crazy. It only takes a few minutes online to avoid hours of impotent rage, they even have apps for this stuff. Unless impotent rage is your thing, in which case avoid public places in general.

2. Cost and value aren't the same thing - if you are time poor it actually works out better to stay at a Disney hotel.

It costs more to stay at a Disney hotel, and the MiraCosta at DisneySea is at the higher price range of them - but if you are a tourist, it's totally worth it.

Not only do you skip the starting line mosh pit/running race, in DisneySea the 15 minute head start is enough to get a coveted Toy Story Mania Fastpass and walk on to Tower of Terror with not wait before the first sprinters get there*

3. Fastpass as much as you can, standby lines are for chumps.

Get on the Fastpass cycle as soon as possible, claim your next one as soon as you can. Wander around in between and only go on rides opportunistically when times are low. DisneySea is the best themed park in the world - wandering around letting the awesome sink in is part of the attraction.

Observations: *Japanese people seem to run or jog a lot. All ages, no exceptions. But it's a totally cool excitement factor rather than some misguided competiveness. E.g. they will totally get excited about a parade.

Kaiju Collections: Might have been a little "too" successful, totally wasted by the end of it.

American Watetfront: Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror (x2), Electric Railway

Mysterious Island: 20,000 Leagues, Journey to the Center of the Earth

Port Discovery: Aquatopia (x2)

Lost River Delta: Crystal Skull (x2), Raging Rapids

Arabian Coast: Sinbad

Mermaid Lagoon: Ariel's Flip Show (not real name)

Mediterranean Harbour: Fantasmic and lunch at the CanalletoRead more
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- Apr 10, 2018, 9:59am
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 6 m
- Japan Chiba Maihama Tokyo Disney Land 35.63361, 139.8794135°38’1” N 139°52’46” E
Day 3
How to serve aliens
April 10, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Japanese really like cute. Including food.

Observations: Behind the disarming smiles... the food is frequently healthy and tasty. Or at least, it feels like they trend towards vegetarian when given the choice.

E.g. they could have gone alien green but this one is actually melon bread.

Kaiju Collections: Mike Wazowski Melon Bread, Mickey Meat.

Still looking for a decent strength latte.Read more
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- Apr 10, 2018, 12:03pm
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Japan Chiba Maihama Tokyo Disney Land 35.63459, 139.8804135°38’5” N 139°52’49” E
Day 3
Everyone is a Potential Flashmobber
April 10, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
The routine is for the cleaner and cast member to just start breakdancing to music that suddenly comes from nowhere. But this is Japan - the locals not only stop to politely form a circle to show their appreciation, they all follow along with the choreography as instructed.

Observations: Everyone joins in.

Kaiju Collections: one choreographed flashmob with only 2 actual cast members.Read more
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Traveler Monster Hunting in Japan
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- Apr 10, 2018, 8:00pm
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Japan Chiba Chidori Tokyo Disney Sea Station Eki 35.62598, 139.8890335°37’34” N 139°53’21” E
Day 3
Take the Toiletries
April 10, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
This happens everywhere really, but the hotel you stay in changes the quality of the merchandise they are desperate for you to take.

Observations:

Disney hotels offer the best toiletries because they are usually themed, but they also go through anniversary syndrome and periodically replace everything with a new range of stock anyway. Since we stayed at a Disney hotel as they were transitioning from normal stock to 35th Anniversary stock, the desperation to get rid of it on use became more... desperate...

If you take any of it, they put more out. If you don't take it, they put more out.

If you are a collector of Disney themed products on the other hand, you should really stay at a Disney hotel to harvest the goods.

If you aren't a collector, but have spent all your money on a holiday you can recoup some of the costs by harvesting the toiletries and never buying any soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and never paying for any of them at home for years - or till the next trip.

Kaiju Collected:

Commemorative tins and cups only - not enough space to harvest a few year's supply of toiletries this time.Read more
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- Apr 11, 2018, 8:33am
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Japan Chiba Chidori Tokyo Disney Sea Station Eki 35.62599, 139.8890335°37’34” N 139°53’21” E
Day 4
Rule Breaking Breakfast
April 11, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
The Japanese have such a Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw way of approaching rules and risk management.

Observations:

Super rules based yes - if you don't tick the boxes enough on the set menu they will say so. But the motivation is along the lines of: oh no! You might miss out on a main breakfast! If you say nah that's cool, the response is: oh no! You might pay too much! So I have changed your order within the rules required to ensure you do not pay too much.

Americans seem to be more Slytherin in their approach to rules - litigation begets fine print loop holes to be exploited.

Australians are more Gryffindor - rules are for the righteous, if you don't fill out your immigration documents correctly you get incarcerated for bad character.

Kaiju Collected: an appropriately proportioned continental breakfast with fancy setting within the required rules.

Still looking for a strong enough coffee tho.Read more
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