Obviously a McDonald's fan...

I was going over photos to blog about when I spotted this photo of me in McDonald's Hangzhou, China with my nephew Joshua clowning around (or should I say declaring me the devil?) behind me when a thought (or should I say a theory?) dawned on me... I seem to have a McDonald's photo in most if not all of my travels.

So I tested this theory and revisited my travel folders the past 5 years and here's the result of all that sleuthing..

2009 March

Hangzhou, China

2008 October

Yokohama, Japan

I remember that day Kana, my friend Satoko's youngest daughter demanded that we eat at McDonald's. Apparently she does not get to eat as often as she likes because okasan does not think it's healthy food. Smart mother..

2008 September

Shanghai, China

In the old town of Puxi (read Pusi) where nothing in the area of food is familiar, seeing this McDonald's was a blessing when we needed sustenance for a bout of shopping. I realized that the pink tote from St. Kitts and Nevis (oh somewhere in the Carribean..) does not do anything for my color..haha!

2008 June

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I died of laughter when I saw this because all the while I thought - no I missed out in Dubai! But no, not true. Trust my brother's friend Richard to take a pic wherever we stopped that day he picked me up at 7am to ride the bus and explore Bur Dubai and the Dubai Museum with me.

2007 November

Macau

I think this is the cutest of them all!

2007 October

Taipei, Taiwan

And no, we were not posing just because it's a McDonald's. This was the McDonald's were the last scene from the famous Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden was filmed. What can I do? I'm hopelessly a fangirl..

2007 June

Bangkok, Thailand

The most unique of all that I've been to. This one I did ask my Ena, my staff who travelled with me to take a photo of me and Ronald greeting everyone "sawadeeka".

2005 December

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

No photo from the exterior of the store, but the evidence is on the table. No doubting where me, Ochie and our Malaysian friends were.

2005 August

Fukuoka, Japan

And lastly, this photo from Fukuoka. My fellow geisha Vic took this photo to remind us that we were running out of money and can only afford a McDonald's meal. We were there to see SMAP's concert but did not realize that when the Japanese says their store is on sale..they really mean sale!!

All this talk about McDonald's is making me hungry. I wonder if someone delivers at 4am?? =)

The Longest Hangover..

One month since I flew out of Manila and 24 days since I came back, my soul is still back there..in Japan. My longest travel hangover ever!!

Maybe because I had the ultimate fangirl experience of watching both SMAP and F4 in one trip..or that I've met fantastic people..or that I just love Japan period. It does not help that I now go to my Nihonggo classes every Saturday and study everyday. I would still catch myself staring into space and remembering everything.

After a busy couple of weeks, I finally downloaded photos I took with my mobile phone (which incidentally died on me yesterday). I can still remember the excitement I felt as we neared Tokyo Dome last September 30th. It was my first time to attend a Tokyo Dome concert and despite the rain, I was so happy to look around. I even wanted to ride the roller coaster if the weather was good (though it did not stop many folks. The coaster kept on operating despite the rain) but I chickened out. Next time...

I braved the rains and did my concert souvenir shopping. I was a good girl and did not bring my camera. I did not want to go through the hassle of leaving them and claiming later. It was a good decision because with 80,000 people trying to leave the dome at the same time after a concert, claiming something might take me forever.

I was overwhelmed with happiness after the SMAP concert that I forgot to take a quick photo with the stage behind me. Thank God I did not forget to snap a shot of me with my concert buddies - Minori, Minori's oneechan (sister) and Vic, whose face almost did not make it to the frame. Gomenasai Vic.

And of course my F4 concert experiences in Yokohama and Tokyo. Both times I was pretty much sitting by myself. I can still remember my excitement to find the arena. It was my first time in Yokohama and I did not get lost. And I cannot forget my 1st night arena seat which gave me a great view of everything especially the boys.

So obviously I can still blabber non-stop about the experience. I am definitely getting the SMAP concert dvd when it comes out on Dec. 17. I am hoping and hoping aloud (paging the folks who produced F4's Japan Tour!!!) that F4 will also come out with their own concert dvd.

Watching the concert dvds and reminiscing about my special trip will probably shut me up...or not?! =)

Kimura Takuya..on my mind

For the past 4 years, Kimura Takuya has been tattooed in my mind. So it's no wonder that when I was back in Japan, all I was pre-occupied with when walking all over Tokyo.

This one I spotted Sept. 30th while walking in the Shinjuku area. It was raining but I did not care, Vic just had to take my pic in the rain!

This next pic was taken in between buildings! We were walking through Harajuku St. last Oct 1 when I spotted this big billboard. I had to click the camera just at the right time because it was a busy street and cars zipped back and forth. Success!!
And on our walk back, I was happy that we were taking that road. So with quick fingers, travel sister Vic had to take this shot. LOL!
We spotted this Fujitsu shop across the street in the Ginza walk. Again, it took all effort to take a clean shot!

And then we spotted this "mojakura" billboard towards the subway exit to Roponggi Hills. I loved this shot of me taken by none other than Vic, my travel sister.

And would I have insisted to my host family that I would like to see the Sankaku-hashi bridge if not for Takuya's 2004 drama Pride? Of course not! But no self-respecting member of Takuya's harem will miss being on this bridge if they find themselves in Yokohama.

And who would have thought of going to the Parliament building and have their photo taken in the middle of the street if not for the memorable scene in Takuya's latest drama CHANGE?

And I couldn't go home without seeing Odaiba and Fuji TV. It was a no brainer choice between Fuji TV and Tokyo Tower. Hahahaha!! Fuji TV is the home studio of Takuya and his group SMAP and their long-running variety show SMAPXSMAP.

For 2 years, I have envied Ochie for her pic in this mini-set of SMAPXSMAP's Bistro. So when I sat down and had my pic taken by Rachel, I felt such satisfaction that when we left Fuji TV, I said to myself "I am ready to come home".

There are more photos of billboard sightings which just goes to show what sort of "superstar" Kimura Takuya is in Japan - huge! For the rest of the photos, please click the link below.
http://gigidm.multiply.com/photos/album/46/Kimura_Takuya..Tattoed_on_my_Mind

F4 Japan Tour 2008 in Yokohama...All to Myself

Last night, I had F4 all to myself at the Yokohama Arena because I ended up watching the kick-off concert of F4’s 3 city, 7 show tour hitori ne – alone. For some reason whoever was supposed to watch with me did not show up.

I was even excited to go to the arena from where I am staying in the suburbs of Tsurugamine, Yokohama. I arrived at Shin-Yokohama (some 8 local train stations away and 5 subway stations from downtown Yokohama) at 5pm. My ticket said gates will open at 6m and show will start at 7pm. Since I was early and hungry, I decided to find a good place to eat and gladly found it not far away from the arena.

I was back at the arena as the gates were just opened. Following the throng of people, I went about finding my seat. My F8-39 seat was a lower level seat on eye level with the stage. My SMAP concert arena tickets would still be “the” arena ticket for me so far in my fangirl days but I’m not complaining since the venue is not as gigantic as the Tokyo Dome. I can still see them clearly without having to resort to binoculars.

Lights went off at 7:15 pm and the show started. The concept of the introduction was legends and knights. There were 4 legends from the North, South, East and West. I could not remember who is which because I was focused on the entrance of each member from the 4 ends of the stage. The member nearest me was Zaizai. Perfect! =)

Opening number is obviously Waiting for You. All 10,000 plus ladies in the house went wild. Jerry was handsome and looking cool. Zaizai was his usual smiling self, gained weight (sexy...) with his blue hair. Ken thank God shaved all the hair on his face and looks healthy (he is not fat! just filled out nicely with a tiny belly..hahaha!) Vanness on the other is buffed as usual and for some reason looks like the Asian version of Prince. I love the guy but he just went a bit overboard with the eyeliner.

After Waiting for You, F4 sang the old familiar Can’t Help Falling in Love with You. A flash back of all their most popular music videos were shown and then Ken came on for a solo. He sang a song which I could not remember the title (something about a new day) and Lalala which everyone was happy to sing along with. Then Zaizai came on to do his solo of some jazzy song with a cute choreography. Yes folks, Zaizai danced! After the upbeat number Zaizai sang Missing You. Next to come on is Jerry introduced via a little boy fantasy concept singing a newly arrange song which again I could not remember the title (Memory Pieces! It was my LSS the whole day today..hahaha!). The cute number ended with a lucky fan getting a cute and big Winnie the Pooh teddy bear from Jerry.

Zaizai came on to fill in a gap and asked the audience to do the wave and then Vanness came on to do a solo. He sang a song I like (Mama?) with back-up vocals, then another ballad and finally segueing to Listen to Your Heart. By this time, the boy (oops, he’s already 30 now!) has already thrown his top away. I was actually waiting when he would do it. =)

Then it was Ken again. And to my surprise and delight, he tapped danced and sang a jazzy version of Ai Bu Ding Tian. The guy obviously used his idle time well because he was just perfect tapping away. I just wished he practiced the dance while singing because there were times that I could not hear his voice from gasping for air. Nevertheless he deserved a huge applause which the crowd did give. Ken’s next number was well-timed because he sang an acoustic ballad in English. Folks, sorry about my many senior moments. I will just edit my post later when I’ve done a little digging in my files.

Up next was Zaizai again singing two Japanese songs in a row – his own Wherever you Are and the national romantic ballad of the Japanese I Love You. The Japanese ladies in the house, which is most of them, can only exclaim sugoii! If he forgot even a word of the songs, I did not notice. Then there was about 3 seconds of dead silence and Vanness came back on singing something about Lucky Love with a guest DJ/rapper who I don’t know (hahaha!!). It was Jerry again after Vanness and sang (was it? it is!) One Meter. My ears ached but I forgave him after a second because he was just looking so hot!! =) After his gut wrenching song he walked over to a piano and played a bar of the scintillating Twinkle, twinkle little stars moving on to his cover of the Japanese version of Wo Ke Yi (part of Mars OST). While singing this song, the trailer of his new drama Starlit was being played at the big screen. It looked like its going to be a good drama.

I never thought I’d hear Mama Zuo sang live but last night Zaizai delighted his fans with his airport where in the world theme number. Aside from dancing, Zaizai went on a harness and did back flips and all sorts of flying antics. It became my favourite solo of the show!

As the show seem to be winding down, out came Ken and Vanness singing Wo Bushi F4 rock version! It was a fantastic number and fantastic to hear them singing Zaizai’s song. And then Zaizai popped out of center stage wearing a hospital jacket...of course everyone guessed that he will sing Jerry’s song from the drama. Suddenly Jerry came out also wearing the hospital jacket so the whole arena went wild because they sang duet. It was such a great segment that it became my favourite group number of the whole show.

Then the boys sang old favourites from At the First Step and Season of Fireworks. Thank you speeches followed and finally Goodbye from the latest album. As they disappeared from the stage, the crowd kept on clapping and chanting F4. We knew they would come out again. They have not sung the F4 global anthem!

They all came out at my side of the stage and I almost fell off my seat with how tight and skinny Zaizai’s jeans are. Both he and Jerry were wearing jeans and boots but Jerry’s was a bit loose. I would have died twice if Jerry was wearing skin tight jeans too! So of course they sang Can’t Lose You and Meteor Rain as the encore numbers. Now it’s perfect.

As I run outside of the arena to catch my trains, I thought to myself that though it was the first show and there were some off key singing the overall grade for the show in my opinion is excellent. The costumes were not too over the top. Although the stage is simple and set up like a cross, overall direction and production design was good. Visual and hydraulic equipment were used very well and they did not scrimp on hiring back-up dancers. The band is of course from Taiwan and all are friends of Vanness. The re-arrangement of their old songs was fantastic.

Congratulations F4! Wish to see you...in Tokyo.

** Sorry no photos. Cameras were not allowed too.