Hosoya Yoshimasa's Planetarium Show and Miyano Mamoru x Joysound Karaoke in Ikebukuro, Tokyo!
As I've mentioned in my previous post, I'll be breaking down on the details of my trip to Japan. For some of the days, I'll combine them together and if the day itself is busy enough, I'll just make it into a single post.
On my first few days, I was in Tokyo!
I landed in Haneda in the evening and the sky was very dark. The sunset time in Japan is about 4.35pm so it isn't a surprise when you wake up from a nap and realize that it's really dark out there when you are in Japan!
On my first and second day, I planned to watch the same show of the planetarium in Sunshine City's Konica Minolta Planetarium 'Manten'. The show's name is 'Iruka no hoshi', which means 'The Planet of Dolphins'. The trailer video is as follow (and it contains a few phrases in the show too). The music is by Serph and the combination are just beyond perfect.
Each ticket cost me 1,800 yen so I spent a total of 3,600 yen for both shows that are actually of the same content (no regrets on it though!). The show is narrated by my favorite voice actor, Hosoya Yoshimasa-san. He's known for various roles such as Shiraishi from Prince of Tennis, Yamazaki Sousuke from Free! Eternal Summer, Asahi from Haikyuu!!, Doppo Kunikida from Bungo Stray Dogs, Arata from Chihayafuru and also Tsukiuta, and many, many other roles in anime such as Attack on Titan, his involvement in mobile games, and dubbing various foreign movies.
I loved his voice because it's really soothing, and during my first show, I've came across this signed board where he said that it's completely okay to fall asleep, and I actually did. And because I was at the late show, I rushed back to Itabashi, which was where I lived right after the show. Itabashi is one station after Ikebukuro via the JR Saikyo Line.
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| Iruka no Hoshi, Narrated by Hosoya Yoshimasa |
There ends my first day.
And on my second day, I've been wandering around Ikebukuro a lot. Since I was unfortunate enough to lose 90% of my photos I can only describe what I did with words.
In order to avoid rush hours, I went out at 9 in the morning. My first stop was Jiyugakuen Myonichikan, which used to serve as an all-girls school but right now, it offers classes for cultural heritage purposes. The inner architecture is beautiful and the classroom settings are well-preserved. It took me almost 30 minutes of walk to there from the Ikebukuro station because my GPS have failed me miserably and the locals that I tried asking has no clue about that place. Entry to Jiyugakuen Myonichikan was 600 yen if not mistaken.
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| Outside of Jiyugakuen Myonichikan in Ikebukuro, Japan |
After dropping by Jiyugakuen Myonichikan, I wanted to check out the disaster prevention center because they have free tours on disaster prevention and detailed explanation about what you should and shouldn't do when disasters such as earthquakes occur. However, as I walk I found out that the tour is going to take HOURS and I eventually gave up and walked past it to realize that the police stations, fire fighting center (is that how you say it in English lol) and waterworks are all in the same area. Such convenience, unlike my hometown where everything is so far apart.
And as I continued walking I found myself at the back door of the parking lot of this majestic place where there was actually also a charity performance event by various companies for the recent earthquake in Japan (that happened on the day of my arrival). I stayed there for about 40 minutes to watch their performances and they are absolutely beautiful. There were also stalls beside the public performance area that you can buy food! Most of them sell oden, though. Probably because the weather was about 15 degrees.
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| Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Ikebukuro, Japan |
I also went shopping around Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Don Quijote (or in short, Donki/ Donkey lololololol) and some 100 yen stores. I got my indoor slippers, some sweets, pain killer and pain-relief patches for my ankle and sore muscles. I also looked into Taito station (for arcades) but I am really not good at those so I didn't play at all.
I got lost a lot thanks to my failing GPS, so my legs were really sore, and I spent about 20 minutes resting in front of the Ikebukuro Station at 2pm. Never once I've expected myself to encounter a creep in my trip to Japan.
I was already tired, but he approached me all of a sudden and spoke to me in Japanese, where I'll roughly translate our conversation as follow:
Him: Do you have a moment?
Me: *Didn't listen very well, misheard the question* Did you mean what time is it?
Him: No, no, I mean, are you free at the moment?
Inner Me: Huh does this man need help or something? Or is he trying to get me to fill in some surveys?
Me: I do have some time to spare right now... But my Japanese is not fluent so I'm not sure what I could help you with...
Him: Would you go out for a short walk with me?
Me: Uh... I have an appointment at 5pm but before that I'll need to go somewhere else so I don't think I could... I'm sorry.
Him: There is still plenty of time until 5pm. I'll pay you money later.
Inner Me: Uh, what the ****?
Me: I really don't think that I could, I'm sorry.
Him: *Speaking in English* I have money.
Me: I'm sorry, I really can't.
Also me: *bows and quickly make my escape, sprains ankle along the way*
And because of that I arrived Animate's Head Office in Ikebukuro earlier than I planned to, but my sprained ankle hurt so bad that I can't take it anymore that I sat down in a corner until a really nice staff came over and asked if I were okay. I told her that my legs are in pain because I had a fracture during March on my left ankle, and I just sprained my right ankle like X minutes ago. She helped me to carry some of my stuff and led me to another corner where I have a very clear view of the elevators (with Utapri characters on it ahhhh). She also brought me a chair and assured that it's okay for me to sit there until my legs feel better and just leave the chair there as it is. It was so touching ;w;
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| Front door of Animate Ikebukuro on my day of visit |
And ultimately I took plenty of rest and also bought some stuff from the store, and continued walking along the Otome Road to Planetarium Manten for the same show (I swear if I'm a trust fund kid I'd probably watch the show again and again and again lololol). This round, I promised myself to try my best on not to fall asleep because I honestly wanted to know what happened when I was asleep in the previous round. This time, my show starts at 6pm, but I arrived Sunshine City at 5:10pm and on my way there I also grabbed some riceballs for a quick bite because I honestly feel so afraid of being late for the show despite knowing I wouldn't be late. The entry is right on time so if you are late, too bad for you because your access would most likely be denied.
The signed board in my previous photo is outside of the waiting area. There are also other shows that are collaborations with other voice actors or artists! My show is the more expensive one because it belongs to the 'healing series'. I chose the regular seat for both rounds, but I think my seats are perfect because I can see the entire screen without moving my head :D There are also cute seats (strongly suggested for couples) where you can lie on grass with mochi pillows or cloud pillows that are actually very comfortable too. But of course, those cost higher and my friend couldn't come with me, which was one of the reasons why I picked regular seats in the end.
In the waiting room, there's also this place where they have a tracking camera. If you stand in front of the screen and move around, you will feel super magical as the stars will go around you and you would look like you could cast magic where pretty stars will come out from your arms! It's really beautiful. There are also restrooms so there's no worries about looking for one too. However, you gotta make sure to take off your outer layer of jacket before entering the planetarium or you might actually feel toasted to death. (Wear the jacket back after the show because outdoors were so cold brrr)
The show explains about how dolphins have their horoscope based on mythology, and also a story on how dolphins used to live on land, but in the end returned to the sea. There are also viewing of various sceneries, stars and constellations and they are really, really beautiful and relaxing. I was trying so hard not to fall asleep, because Hosoya-san's voice is really soothing in this show. And even after the show, I feel rather sleepy and hence the following photo. :'D
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| If you can't see how tired I am I'm rather sure you could be friends with V because you can't see either |
Right after that show I went off to meet my Japanese friend that I haven't seen him for more than a year, but it's a little unfortunate that he still had to work so we only spent about an hour for dinner in KFC. My GPS was being all hopeless that I almost went to Tokyo Tower and I panicked, and walked back to Tamachi station and hopelessly getting disappointed of myself until my friend came to the rescue. :'D
Anyways, we had Chizza! Which is actually pizza topping on a large piece of flattened chicken sliced into four! But my appetite was not very good on the day so I only had half and had another half as takeaway. If I were in Malaysia, I'd have gotten myself a second Chizza www
After dinner, I was sent off to Roppongi because I wanted to see the giant spider and I've also heard about the entertainment stuff under TV Asahi. However, on my way to TV Asahi in the Roppongi Hills, it started to rain so I chose to stay above TV Asahi and stared at the night illuminations on the Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori. They change colors every now and then and they are really beautiful! You can also see the Tokyo Tower from here.
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| Giant Spider of Roppongi - No worries, it doesn't walk. |
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| Jumin Han level of photography ft. Tokyo Tower at Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori |
After that, it's my
I arrived Joysound about 25 minutes earlier than my appointed time slot and texted my friends that I sprained my ankle and they were like "GET SOME ICE AND PUT THEM ON THE ANKLE GODAMMIT" and I approached the staff and asked for some ice and towel for that and they tried their best to help. Though they didn't have a towel, they gave me a huge bag of ice for my ankle. :'D
And also there's a note to all who plan to get to Miyano Mamoru's room whether in Nagoya or Ikebukuro, if you plan to go ALONE, you are expected to pay for TWO PERSON and order at least TWO drinks. Then again I really needed to drink something so I ordered 3 drinks anyway. The maximum hour to be in the room is 2 hours.
The menu items are only drinks, and the item names are based on the four new songs of Miyano Mamoru: Tempest, Gravity, Sugar, Sugar and The Birth. The first three are sweet and has fruits like berries, pineapples and mango but The Birth is coffee. I would get really worn out after drinking coffee so I ordered the first three and got three coasters. The most disappointing thing would be... 75% of the drink is actually ICE CUBES. Which in the end I regretted not getting The Birth so that I can collect all four coasters. (sobbing quietly)
Additionally, during my time of visit there's actually another room for IDOLiSH7 but I didn't enter that one lol Mamoroom is enough for me to be broke. My total bill was near 4,000 JPY.
Anyways for you curious people, Mamo room looks like this in Ikebukuro. I have no idea how the Mamo room will look like in Nagoya but I suppose there should be at least one wall image that is different. :D
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| Miyano Mamoru x Joysound collaboration room |
A friend of mine also called again and again for about 50+ times to get her booking in the room too. I swear to god it's crazy unless you are willing to take a midnight slot that would eventually cause you to miss your train home. Which was my case.
I was actually happily singing in the room from 12 a.m. without realizing that the last train to home for me was 0:44 am and when I got out of Joysound it's already 1:10 a.m. and I was like OH GOD THIS IS NOT HAPPENING but it DID happen.
I wanted to use Uber, but my credit card company failed me COMPLETELY so I couldn't hire Uber at all. Ended up spending 2,000 yen on taxi to get home because I refuse to walk any further with a sprained ankle. To be honest, my house is about 2.6km from Joysound that if my ankle weren't sprained I'd take my time to walk back home instead.
So there's 6,000 yen burnt because of this room, about 7,000 yen spent in shopping and food, and 3,600 yen spent on planetarium tickets.
Tokyo, you really had a lot of my money with only two days.
Will update about the other days when I could. Until next time!
