Hara Hiroshi is also e architect behind Umeda Sky Building, a place e cat intends to explore when it visits Osaka in e future. read about e construction of e building's sky garden.
waiting for e 新快速 shin kaisoku service bound for 網干 Aboshi in 姫路 Himeji:
hopefully e cat is waiting for e right train at e right place. or it will be a long long way full of wrong trains & wrong connections & missed flights back to Singapore....*touch wood*
where to stand? after two whole weeks e cat finally realises what this bunch of signs hanging at regular intervals along e entire platform mean:
they indicate where to stand in order to board e correct train car - so that you won't end up waiting at e position for carriage #12 for a train that is only 9 carriages long....or settle into a comfy seat in carriage #7, when e train will be 'split' at some other station into carriages #1-6 heading towards your destination without you, & #7-12 heading somewhere else far far away with you on board....e latter almost happened to e Nikko-bound cat in 2002 ;) & if you think this is complex, apparently some services are even more complicated e.g. split into #1-4 headed for A & #5-12 headed for B on weekdays, & #1-7 headed for A & #8-12 headed for B on weekends & public holidays....!
cat barang:
backpack + shoulder sling bag (one of e most practical & heavily utilised birthday gifts ever, from SPS friends *grin*) + 2 carrier bags full of edibles & inedibles (contents revealed further below) for family, friends & colleagues. on hindsight e cat should have bought a lot more matcha & kurogoma edibles & konbini junkfood for itself to lessen e effects of konbini-withdrawal syndrome. especially when it had slightly over SGD200 left from its budget for this trip. & especially when e cat's mum finished off e entire box of kurogoma 八ツ橋 yatsuhashi in e couple of hours after e cat touched down at Changi. when it woke up e next morning only e beautiful box was left *weep*
Kansai International Airport on e artificial island:
here e cat caught e last day of e WW2 60th anniversary exhibition on 'Japan in e Eyes of Americans', a collection of colour photos of postwar Japan taken mostly by US occupation forces between 1945-1951. there photos of scenes like an oxcart along a street in Tokyo's Akihabara, new houses rising from amid burnt rubble, Tokyo's Marunouchi district without any skyscrapers, wreckage of a kamikaze plane, etc.
over (geologic?) time, all of these will sink underwater to become Japan's version of Atlantis? (but Japan already has Yonaguni)
ended up in a bulkhead window seat next to an exit....plenty of legroom for e tall German guy that e cat had to sit next to all e way back to Changi, useless legroom for e katek cat, room in front of us for passengers to queue for e loo, & room for an elderly Japanese oka-san to collapse on top of it when she passed out suddenly (standing up too fast after venous pooling --> syncope?), stunning everyone. e German glanced over & wondered where e cat had gone (UNDERNEATH LAH!!).
e cat had to 'hug' her up into its seat & she recovered after a matter of minutes. damn lucky no DVT, that she was small & light (if not she had better crash onto e German instead =P), & that it wasn't mealtime, or it would have been a waste of good Malaysian Airlines food (even better when e stuff comes from Japanese flight kitchens - could have eaten two whole sets), & e cat's clothes would have been ruined.
cat's loot:
- scraps of kimono fabric from Kitano-Tenmangu temple fair
- Uji matcha chocolate
- assorted wagashi
- nekobus keychain for Kuan
- matcha wagashi
- kyumei byoto 24 ji series 3 OST CD from Tower Records Kawaramachi OPA
- Hajime Mizoguchi 'Far East' album from Jeugia Sanjo
- Hajime Mizoguchi 'Espace II' album from Jeugia Shijo
- leftover Hello Kitty postcards after long distance Hello Kitty-ing e 'family'
- magazine full of JPMM photos for e 'family' guys
- wine Kit Kat (didn't know Cold Storage was going to bring it into Singapore) for colleagues & e 'family'
- o-mamori from Sanzen-in for e cat's mum, LKB & e baby
- grape Kit Kat (didn't know Watsons was going to bring it into Singapore)
- maple wagashi
- new year postcards & cat note paper from Loft @ VIVRE for LKB, PET, littlesunshine, & others
- matcha + chocolate cake
e cat dreams of transplanting one outlet each of LAWSON, 7-Eleven Japan, ministop, Family Mart & Circle K & SunKus with their entire bento + ice cream + junkfood selections (plus a few hyaku-en shops - Daiso @ IMM isn't enough =P) back to Singapore.
an incredible two weeks, & e cat will be back for MORE!!
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