TsunamiJenn

Small time writer, just here for my fill of all things related to my favorite anime and manga

[pumpkinylink]

Do non-americans realize that the United States is literally just a bunch of countries in a trench coat that agreed to be semi-nice to each other in order to sneak into the Big Boy Club? Because let’s be honest that’s just what the USA is

[pumpkinylink]

The rest of the world: So… you’re a big country?

The states, standing on each other’s shoulders: Y- yes,,,

[pumpkinylink]

I love how everyone who’s reblogged this hasn’t added anything on or tagged anything on it. They’re all just like “Yeah. That’s it. That’s the entire United States summed up in one post-”

[words-writ-in-starlight]

#oh my god is THAT why you guys are so weird

Yeah 100%

[b1s3xualm00n]

Don’t let these tags die omfg

[shieldmaiden19]

10/10 can confirm

[aces-to-apples]

absolutely bonkers that my own tags have crossed my dash like this more than fifteen reblogs after i wrote them

[deerladydisdain]

I moved to another state. 30 minutes away. My family acts like I betrayed them and can’t understand my life choices. It’s completely different way of life, especially during covid. Completely different country.

[bluecrowne]

every single fucking time one of those articles of “things europeans find weird about america” complains that sales tax isn’t included

states set the sales tax!!! it’s literally different across state lines!!! american retailers can’t add it bc they’d have to account for 50 different prices!!!!!!!

[capriceandwhimsy]

It gets even more insane! California’s clean air standards for cars and other such things are so much higher than everyone else’s! So if a car manufacturer in Detroit wants to sell their damn cars in California, they need to build their cars to California clean air standards. But retooling an assembly line and car design to have some cars meet California clean air standards, while building others to other clean air standards is a lot of work, so car manufacturers all over the country have to build all their cars to California clean air standards.

Which is why California went into an uproar earlier this year when the Federal Government tried to argue that states can’t set their own environmental guidelines! “Fuck you!” says California, “we remember Los Angeles in the 80s, how bad the smog gets, go pollute your own damn air over in your own damn state where there isn’t a thermal inversion layer to trap all the smog down near ground level!”

“But you’re making it soooo haaaaaard to sell our cars everywhere else!” they whine.

“Fuck you!” California shouts. “And while we’re at it, we don’t give a shit what you say, Mister President, we’re gonna open our damn states when we’re good and ready, and our friends Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington State agree! Also, we’ve decided to legalize weed!”

“But the Federal Government says it’s illegal!” shouts the other states.

“Fuck you, we make the drug laws in our state, and we say toke up!”

“Now, hang on!” shouts the Federal government. “You can legalize weed in your state, but all banks are federal agencies, so if your weed dispensaries set up bank accounts, those accounts have money from illegal practices in it and are subject to seizure by the federal government!”

“FINE!” shouts California. “Hey, weed guys, you can keep selling weed, but you can only deal in cash!”

“How the fuck is that supposed to work!?”

“I DON’T FUCKING KNOW, TAKE IT UP WITH DC!”

“By the way, if you’re gay married elsewhere, we won’t recognize it,” mutters Texas.

“OH FUCK YOUUUUUUU!” 

And so it goes and so it goes…

[quousque]

“What’s sales tax?” says Montana. “What’s road maintainence?” “also what’s a speed limit?”

[susiephone]

can we all take a moment to offer condolences to the poor soul that was unjustly accused of being from freaking idaho of all places like oh my god i’m so sorry sweetie

[tsunamijenn]

I'm sorry, no. You cannot diss Idaho as a whole. I grew up in Northern Idaho. We have mountains and forests and seasons, and things to do in every season. Do not lump us in with the barren wasteland of a plateau that is Southern Idaho 😤

[minigurumisblog]

Hello!! I'm opening chibi commissions again to help out my with my mom's medical fees. Reblogs are super appreciated!

These crocheted amigurumis are 100% handmade and around 3 inches tall! I can make your rarepairs, OTP's, OC's and self portraits in chibi form too! International shipping is free 🌎

[tsunamijenn]

So cute!!

[plannedparenthood]

Now that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The White House have finalized new nondiscrimination provisions under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, it is more important than ever to know your rights and what to do if you face discrimination. 

To better explain what these protections mean, Out2Enroll partnered with trans comic artist, Dylan Edwards, on a series of illustrated discrimination situations. 

Read up on your rights with this guide from Out2Enroll >> 

[tomhardysteeth]

have i ever told y’all about the greatest moment of my academic career

i was a freshman in college and i had this history teacher who was ~edgy~ and his hotness level on ratemyprofessor was off the charts and he was the first teacher i ever heard use the word “fuck.” anyway he would do this thing every so often where we’d have a “quiz” and the first two questions were always really easy and the last one was hard - they were all similar questions, and the point was to show what you learn about history and what you don’t. 

so one day he’s like okay kids time for a quiz and the first question was who killed abraham lincoln. the second question was who killed JFK. third question was who killed william mckinley. 

we all take a few minutes and write down our answers, and then the teacher asks the questions again so we can shout out the answers. everybody answered the first two with really no problem.

now, keep in mind that this class was at 9 a.m. and i was exhausted All The Time during my freshman year of college so i sat in the back in my sweats and never said a word and the teacher definitely had no clue who i was. 

so you can imagine his surprise when he asked the class who shot william mckinley and without missing a beat i said, “czolgosz,” pronounced correctly and everything. 

my teacher froze and in a very stern voice asked, “what was that? what did someone just say?”

i repeated: czolgosz.

my teacher: “who said that?”

i raised my hand, and my super cool history teacher glared at me. he then asked me how the hell i knew the answer. he said that in the TWENTY YEARS he’d been teaching this stupid class, nobody, not A SINGLE PERSON, had ever known the answer to that question.

i then had to quietly explain to a room full of people that there’s a musical called assassins and there’s a song about czolgosz shooting william mckinley at the great pan american exposition in buffaloooooooo (in buffaloooooooo)

[kamicokrolock]

The arts are important.

I shocked a teacher once because I could recite the preamble to the US Constitution (got bonus points to), She asked why I’d taken it upon myself to memorize it. I had to explain it was in a School House Rock song….

[sparringwoodpecker]

I shocked church with my ‘math skills’ when they were asking how many seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a year, now how about minutes in a year - and I call out five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes without pausing to think, cos Rent

[housetohalf]

Once aced a religion class pop quiz that asked me to list all of Jacob’s sons since they’re the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. The one and only time I’ve been thankful for Andrew Lloyd Webber. I even got points for getting the birth order correct.

[archivistofnerddom]

My little brother got extra points in a social studies class once for knowing “O Canada” in its entirely (we’re American and grew up in Maryland, for context) because my older sister went to undergrad in Maine and her acapella group learned the Canadian National Anthem could sing it whenever the hockey teams played Canadian teams.

Who says the arts don’t have real world benefits?

[ignescent]

When i was in high school, my history teacher asked what historic technology caused the biggest alteration in military tactics. I answered stirrups, and explained that the ability to brace against the horse to use a weapon and the better maneuverability vs a chariot created the entire concept of cavalry, which led to modern tactics, etc. The teacher said I was the first student to ever give that answer and that I was basically correct, and then asked where I had found that out. I then had to explain I had read it in a Star Trek novel.

[ollieofthebeholder]

My dad quizzed me once on the US Presidents, and I knew them all (forty-four at that point, I think). I got stuck on one and had to count in my head, then gave the answer, and he said, “That’s an interesting mnemonic you’re using. What is it?” I then had to tell him that I’d memorized the Presidents Song from Animaniacs, and ended up singing it for him.

Although, to be fair, my dad is the same guy who, in high school, was given the task of memorizing a group of ten elements of his choice. When he was called up to present, the teacher asked which ones he’d learned. He rattled off every single element on the periodic table, rapid-fire, and then had to tell his teacher that it was a Tom Lehrer song.

Side note: I learned the Presidents Song in fourth grade, when we were doing a project on them, because my teacher’s four-year-old son had it memorized and offered to teach it to us. She told us - and I’ve never forgotten this - that as long as you’ve learned something, there’s no such thing as a bad way to learn it.

[tsunamijenn]

To this day, I can still rattle off all 50 US states in alphabetical order because of the stupid '50 Nifty United States' song we had to learn in elementary school.

[bubblebubble03]

[midnightjournalist]

I feel the same about my stories…read the tags people!!!!

[tsunamijenn]

👏🏻Read 👏🏻the👏🏻tags👏🏻

[tsunamijenn]

@lucycamui @crimson-chains

I'm curious to know which shape you think most appropriately describes the murderbirb

[tsunamijenn]

It has begun...

[tsunamijenn]

My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 32

Day 27 - Waterfalls and chicken

Today...today was an adventure.

And I spent lots of money on taxis.

So...unlike places like Tokyo, where a train or bus will arrive every couple of minutes, in Kyushu, it’s one train every several hours.

I got to the train station early, and asked about how to get to the Mikaeri no Taki Falls, since Google maps came up with a big fat nothing other than driving a car.

So, for anyone that wants to know how to see the falls, this is what you do.

Take the train from Karatsu station to Ochi station. You can’t use a pasmo or suica card. The station literally has no reader. You’ll need to buy a ticket to get through the gates...or what I had to do, since I didn’t know about this beforehand, was bring your receipt back to Karatsu station, after-the-fact, that says you paid for your trip, and they’ll cancel the reading on your card.

From Ochi, you either call a taxi yourself, or the station attendant can call one for you. I had the lady at the tourist desk in Karatsu station write me a sticky note saying where I wanted to go in Japanese so there would be no misunderstandings, and the lady at Ochi station called a taxi for me. She ended up being a godsend and so patient with my non-Japanese speaking self. Bless her soul.

A taxi arrived a couple minutes later, the attendant told him where I wanted to go, and away we went.

We arrived, and it cost ¥1240. He gave me a card with his number so I could get ahold of him when I was ready to head back to the station.

It was beautiful and peaceful. You’re up in the middle of these mountains, far away from all the houses, hardly any cell phone reception.

There are a couple trails for your to walk around on in the area.

It was wonderful.

There was even a small shine up the hill on the side of the falls...

...but I quickly backed away from it all, since the general area was covered in large spiders and their webs and I’m pretty sure I’m a borderline arachnophobe, so it was not an ideal situation for my heart rate. Pretty sure they were just Banana Spiders, which aren’t particularly nasty spiders, but still...

...they were everywhere...

*shudders*

I would definitely say no standing under the waterfall. One, I couldn’t even tell if there was something to stand on just below water level in the plunge pool. And two, it was coming down way to hard for it to be even reasonable to stand under.

But you could still sit on some of the nearby rocks and get close.

Once I had sat in relaxed for a bit, I went and found one of the family members living and working at the falls, and with surprisingly little trouble, got across that I needed her to call my taxi back and handed her the card.

He soon arrived, and drove me back to the train station, which was another ¥1240. Once I reached the station, with lots of help from Google translate and pantomiming (again, bless this woman’s patience. She never even seemed remotely irritated to be dealing with someone that didn’t speak the language), she told me the next train to take me to my next planned destination wouldn’t be for several hours, and the next bus would be in just a little over two. Wanting to save some money, I decided to wait for the bus. I waited for about an hour before I caved, and asked her to call me a taxi. My hunger was too overwhelming.

I hopped in, and requested Drive-In Tori, a restaurant that was about a 20 minute drive away, in the nearby city of Imari, and cost  ¥4520. Dude was flying down the empty roads in the middle of nowhere. It was fantastic.

Now, remember this picture? #1 was the udon restaurant I had gone to the day before. #2 was today.

I walked in, they looked at the white foreign girl in the middle of nowhere Japan, looked at my Hot Topic YOI shirt, and promptly sat me by a YOI poster.

Though, to be fair, they had them scattered about everywhere.

So this place is pretty much like a Korean BBQ place, but they only serve chicken.

And it was soooo gooood!

I inhaled my food because I couldn’t help myself, savored my ice cream dessert, then walked to the front counter to pay and ask for another taxi to be called. And bless the woman at the front. Before I could even turn around to see what they had sitting in the lobby, she asked if I wanted my picture taken with Yuuri.

So I got a picture taken with Yuuri.

Have I mentioned I love Japan?

I love Japan.

And the people. They’re amazing.

Anyways. My taxi arrived, and I asked him to take me back to Karatsu station (you know, gotta get my pasmo taken care of). He spoke just enough English to make a bit of small talk on the 30+ minute drive. This was the longest, and most expensive drive of the day, costing ¥7350.

Then once I got my pasmo cleared, I hopped right back in another taxi, and asked to go to the top of Mt. Kagamiyama. I took his card just in case, but asked him to meet me back in an hour, since I only had one stop to make. And that was the Mt. Kagamiyama West Observation Deck.

From there, You overlook the entire area. All of Karatsu and it’s surrounding areas.

I shed a few tears, because I was now apparently an emotional mess, even though it wasn’t my last day, and just stared out of the city and soaked in the sun, until my hour was up and I had to return to my taxi. I returned to my room and had an early night for once.

<-Previous Post - My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 31 - Day 26: Anime vs. Real Life - Official art, inside Karatsu Station, the beach, and Katsudon

Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. ? - Day 28

Master List of posts

[tsunamijenn]

My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 31

Day 26: Anime vs. Real Life - Official art, inside Karatsu Station, the beach, and Katsudon

Heeeyyyyy, so I’m back

orz

Please forgive my massive delay in finishing these posts. Lots has been going on, either to me or around me. Spinal surgeries, car accidents, conventions etc. It’s been wild. And I’m not gonna lie and say that I haven’t been a bit lazy. So without further ado...

More reasons why I love the people I met here:

They recreate with me!!

We headed back to the castle one more time so they could get last minute souvenirs for people.

And then we temporarily split ways. They had things they wanted to do as it was their last day in town, and I had things I had to do if I was to see everything I wanted to see and eat everywhere I wanted to eat before I left.

And yes, there’s a tree in front irl as well, but its right at the edge of the sidewalk, and it’s a main road, so I was not about to wander into traffic for a picture...

And I found the Makka. The collection of pictures is complete!

Yuuri in Karatsu Station

Yuri in Kyomachi shopping district

Victor outside Karatsu Castle

Makka at the animal clinic

Then I was off to lunch.

So some of the banners inside Ice Castle Hasetsu are real places. Food places to be specific. And today, I was eating at #1: Maki no Udon

I couldn’t get the same angle, cuz there were, ya know, people eating at the tables, so I just snapped a quick picture from the bar where I was seated.

After, I met back up with my peeps at Kyomachi for one last round of pictures.

Expectation:

Reality:

People were just walking by, staring at the group of white girls doing stereotypical white girl stuff, but we were laughing so hard it didn’t matter to us.

Once we finally got one of all of us in the air, we headed to the train station. There was, of course, more goodies.

And I finally got my inside comparison shots.

We rode the train a couple stops down, and got off and went to the beach!

We swam for a bit, tried to do the graceful backward hair flip out of the water, failed miserably, got touched by something unknown, freaked and scrambled out of the water, and then headed over to enjoy the showers.

Sadly, they had removed one handle from each shower head, so we could not do the shot with Victor ruffling Yuuri’s hair under the water. So we did just Victor.

I thought the water wouldn’t feel too bad after the cold ocean.

I was wrong...

It wasn’t super cold or anything...it just took getting over that initial shock of cooler water temp compared to ambient air temp...

And for anyone unaware of how the Japanese feel about tattoos, the shirt was not for temperature, but just to cover all my tattoos on my arms and shoulder blades.

...yeah...I’m no where near as graceful as Victor under that shower...

*hides in shame*

NOTE!! There is another set of shower heads further down the beach (about 2 blocks further away from Karatsu city proper) but they are not the same showers. The shape of the pipes on top are not the same.

Instead of having that bend in the middle, they just stick straight out, and the shower heads themselves face down. Just fyi for anyone that might visit.

After we were satisfied with our pictures and figured we had wasted enough water, we actually showered all the salt water off of ourselves, and walked back to the train station since my friends had to get back to Fukuoka to catch their flight back to Tokyo.

And then I was on my own again.

Before? I was totally cool being on my own. I had no issues not having to work with what other people wanted to do.

After? Once I got myself back to my room later that night, I cried because I was now lonely and the past couple days with other YOI fans had been so much fun.

BUT!!

There was no time to be sad. I had much more food to eat.

Specifically: Katsudon

Yes...

YES...

Guys...

It was heaven.

Legit heaven.

Like, I will never eat katsudon back in the states ever again.

I’ve tried it at many places around where I live. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compares to this. And I refuse to ruin the memory of this most amazing meal.

I channeled my inner Victor for a hot minute and inhaled that bowl so fast.

If you did nothing in Karatsu except get the katsudon at Kagamiyama Onsen, you would not regret it.

As I expected, they don’t allow tattoos in the bath areas, so I wasn’t able to experience that, which sucks, but having 5 decent sized tattoos, I’m used to not being allowed in certain places in Japan.

No remember. I had udon for lunch, went to the beach for a little, then had katsudon a couple hours later.

Well, after the katsudon, I had to rush back to my ryokan...because I had wanted dinner.

So for my third full sized meal in several hours was meat shabu shabu.

If you’ve never had shabu shabu, it goes like this:

Take food

Put in pot and swirl

Remove when cooked

Dip in sauce

And along the way, eat the veggies boiling in the pot as well.

After stuffing myself to the point where I felt like the sheer amount of food in my stomach was pushing back up my esophagus, I waddled my extremely fat ass back to my room as passed out in a food coma for the night.

<-Previous Post - My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 30 - Day 25: Caravan (again) and fireworks on the beach!

Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 32 - Day 27: Waterfalls and chicken

Master List of posts

[tsunamijenn]

Yuri!!! on Ice Guide - Japan – Google My Maps

A map and guide to all locations associated with Yuri!!! on Ice in Japan.

Hey everyone!

Sorry for taking so long to actually finish this. My husband and I both had surgery when I got back from my trip (my foot for me, disc replacement in his neck for him) soooooo we’ve been invalids and lazy for a while.

ANYWAYS!

Here’s my map guide to all things Yuri!!! on Ice related (in Japan at least). If you have any questions, or if I missed anything, please let me know!

Otherwise, enjoy!

[tsunamijenn]

So I ordered katsudon...

In honor of the Yuri!!! on Ice marathon tomorrow, and because I'm a fatass, I wanted to eat Yuuri's favorite food.

It looked promising.

But then I started eating...

...

...

aaaaaaaaand I got this:

There's like, a salad under my pork.

Never in the history of ever (either in America or Japan) have I had katsudon served like this...

NO ONE WANTS TO PICK THROUGH CABBAGE AND CARROTS AND OTHER THINGS TO GET TO THE RICE GOODNESS!

The carrots themselves created an unpleasant clashing of flavors.

I am upset by this...

[tsunamijenn]

My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 30

Day 25: Caravan (again) and fireworks on the beach!

So I started my day by going BACK to Caravan, for lunch this time. Same deliciousness...I just got a smaller portion, because I’m not made of money. There were many cons and other events skipped over the previous year to save for my trip.

He didn’t have the Portuguese flag printed, and the Swedish flag was flipped, but the effort was still appreciated by all.

Now I had all sorts of plans of things to do, places to see. But I wanted a picture with chef with our YOI banners (well, mine was a banner...his was a towel), and he didn’t have time to pose for pictures until after lunch was over.

And then immediately after, we were invited to a BBQ (again, huge thanks to chef for the new, not common experience!), so there just wasn’t time to do anything I had pre-planned.

And it was 1000% worth it!

One of the girls was dressing up as Yuri, and another was dressing up as Mila, and while I didn’t really have cosplay clothing specifically, I think I made it work. I had just gotten my Yuuri glasses (prescription lenses already in in less than 24 hours after ordering...thank you Japan), so I just dressed in Sagan Tosu gear, since that doesn’t show my hair much.

And to the beach for a Yuri!!! on Ice BBQ we went!!

The music we listened to in the car was YOI.

The music we listened to at the actual BBQ was YOI.

The decorations were all different YOI nendoroids/nendoroid heads.

There was even a banana boat!

The food was incredible.

The view at sunset was gorgeous.

There was even a small surprise birthday celebration.

And yes, the cake was brought out by Coach Victor.

Then the best part of the night.

Fireworks!

Sparklers, to be specific.

Since you can’t really say you’re doing a trip re-creating parts of the show if you don’t have 5 different phones and one bluetooth speaker playing You Only Live Once on repeat while you run on the beach with sparklers.

Now, just as a heads up. I know many people (especially Americans) don’t often consider sparklers the same as the fireworks that fly up into the air and go boom, but Japan does. Fireworks of any kind (at least in Karatsu...I don’t know details about other cities) are not allowed without first submitting a request with the city and getting approval. So even though you can buy packets of sparklers, it’s not something you can just light off. And again, I don’t know everything because my Japanese comprehension is spectacularly sub-par, but arrest was thrown out as something that would happen if there was no city permission first.

So the fact that we got to do this, thanks to Chef or whoever else submitted the request, was unique, and I will forever be grateful for the experience.

.....I’m not nearly as graceful.....

Then once everyone was settling down and started to leave, we discovered we were invited to the after-party that ended up being at Diro’s.

It was after midnight. The Yu(u)ri’s were sleepy...

Ai-san, the one that was dressed as Coach Victor, was also there...

...and then he changed...

...don’t ask me why, I don’t know. Needless to say, everyone got a good laugh.

It was a magical night, and I will always remember it.

So Chef, I know you probably won’t see this, and even if you did, idk if you’d be able to read it, but thank you for everything you included me in! You and everyone else in Karatsu that was friendly and did their best to accommodate the one person that couldn’t speak Japanese means the world to me!!

<-Previous Post - My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.3 - Day 24: Caravan and Minako’s Bar

Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 31 - Day 26: Anime vs. Real Life - Official art, inside Karatsu Station, the beach, and Katsudon

Master List of posts

[tsunamijenn]

My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.3

Day 24: Caravan and Minako’s Bar

So, anyone that goes to Karatsu (and is comfortable with their bank account) NEEDS to eat at Caravan. But definitely call and make a reservation, because otherwise you might not get in.

Now, when I say you need to be comfortable with your bank account, I mean it. This might be small town Karatsu, but the food is so good that this restaurant has earned a Michelin Star, and thus, the prices reflect that. If you get the high quality Saga beef, Imari cattle rank A5, the smallest portion you can buy is 4 oz. at ¥7000 (current Google exchange puts that at ~$61.96 USD). Now, you don’t have to get the Saga beef, and it the prices will be lower, but 4 oz. will still be ¥2500.

But half the fun of coming here is because Chef is a HUGE YOI fan.

When you’re seated, he’ll put the YOI people on one end of the bar, and regular customers on the other end. And while everything is being prepared, he invites you to behold the glory that is his YOI collection.

And here’s some pictures if the video doesn’t want to load.

He even has a TV in that sectioned off part of the restaurant, and will play all the episodes while you’re there, so you can either focus on the normal background music playing, or you can listen to YOI while you eat.

And because I’m American, he brought this out and placed it in front of me.

(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

But let’s get to the food.

It was phenomenal. The beef melted in your mouth. The veggies were grilled to perfection. Even all the small sides were delicious. I could’ve eaten so much more if it wasn’t so expensive.

Now, you may or may not be wondering “hmm...what is that bottle I see in the background of that last picture?”

Well, it’s part of a YOI collection of course.

So in the show itself, you see it briefly in the background in Yu-Topia Katsuki, and it’s the food you see as the small break in episode 3 (if I remember correctly), and it’s even the label for the small bottle that comes with the Casual Yuuri Nendoroid.

Even the shot glass I used for the shot of sake Chef gave us was from the same place.

It’s a real life company in Kyushu called  (資)光武酒造場, or Google translated to (Mitsuaki) Mitsutake Brewery, located in Kashima.

It’s about 3 hours away (by train) from Karatsu. I personally didn’t have the time to go to the brewery itself, but I was ok with it since you could still find it’s YOI products in several places in Karatsu.

They have 4 variations of the drink, three are YOI specific. Victor (pink), Yuuri (blue), Yuri (yellow), and regular.

When you order one, you get to pick whatever stir sticks you want and whatever color straw you want. I, of course, ordered all three over the course of my meal.

And then when you were done, you could take the bottles back as souvenirs.

And because Chef is so into YOI, he does a small ceremony when the first set of drinks are ordered.

Eventually we were done eating, but the 4 of us that were there because of YOI were still talking. So Chef cleared a table for us in the room of goodies, and brought us desserts and tea so that we could continue to enjoy ourselves, but would clear the counter space for the next customers.

Now this is when Chef went above and beyond.

As we were all definitely of age, when we were finishing, he asked if we knew where the real life Minako’s Bar was located. I said I did, and he said he has a bottle there, and that we could go and tell them that Chef sent us, and we could drink at Minako’s bar.

Let me put this into perspective with how big of a deal that was for us.

Minako’s bar, and it’s real life counterpart, is a snack bar. Now, snack bars in Japan are not what their names make them out to be.

A "snack bar" (スナックバー sunakku bā), or "snack" for short, refers to a kind of hostess bar, an alcohol-serving bar that employs female staff who are paid to serve and flirt with male customers. Although they do not charge an entry fee (and often have no set prices on their menus), they usually either have an arbitrary charge or charge a set hourly fee plus a "bottle charge". (Customers purchase a bottle in their own name, and it is kept for future visits.)

So this isn’t some ordinary bar. This is: you buy a bottle, you put your name on it, it stays there, and they use it to mix your drinks whenever you go. Aka, not something you can just willy-nilly walk into for one night.

If that doesn’t make you pause, then think about this. A bunch of people have posted pictures of the hallway outside the bar, but how many pictures have you seen of the inside? Before my trip, I personally wasn’t able to find any.

But Chef gave us permission to drink the alcohol he had already purchased. He gave us his name to give at the door so we could enjoy this rare experience.

So without further ado:

Minako’s Bar!

Chef’s very distinct bottle.

They brought out a white paint pen so we could add to the bottle.

They even let us behind the bar to take pictures.

I spent the rest of the night wondering how my life ended up like this, but also thanking ever deity that it still happened. I’m also 100% convinced that if I had been the only YOI person at Caravan that day, with no one that spoke Japanese that could act as a translator, that the offer wouldn’t have been made.

Moral of the story: If you’re going to do a YOI trip, learn Japanese!!!!!!!

Kanpai!!

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Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 30 - Day 25: Caravan (again) and fireworks on the beach!

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My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.2

Day 24: New friend adventures!

Ok, but before I get to those, I have one more Castle picture I forgot to add in the last post. Whoops!

Ok, NOW I’m moving on.

So, around this time, it was determined that food was absolutely needed before anything else. So on the recommendation of those who had been here previously, we went to a little cafe called Diro’s. Diro is the local ‘Otabek’ in town, having a motorcycle that looks quite similar, and is quite the Otabek/Yuri fan. I just don’t know if he considers them OTP or BrOTP.

After, we went across the street and got a couple more pictures in front of the statue in front of Karatsu Station.

After, I suggested the Hikiyama Exhibition Hall, which none of us had been to yet, since they last time they came, the associated artwork had not been released, so they had no reason to visit when they were on a YOI specific trip.

Not gonna lie, I entire get the point of this artwork, but it still irks me slightly, because none of the 14 districts that actually pull the giant floats are anywhere near where Yuuri lives...either across the bridge from the Castle, or way over by the Kagamiyama Onsen...so what he’s wearing is technically incorrect.

ANYWAYS

I had a bit more time to spare before my dinner reservations, so we decided to stop by their hotel, the Karatsu Royal Hotel, since it had some YOI stuff in the lobby and shop.

We did make a pit stop in Kyomachi though.

They wanted pictures.

I needed Katsuki Yuuri glasses.

From Karatsu

From Kyomachi specifically.

They even had YOI stuff (both for sale and not for sale)

Which I bought.

Because I have no self control.

But we finally dragged ourselves from all the shopping and got back to their hotel, where we took a few pictures...

...and I did even more shopping >.<

And then I was off to dinner. And boy howdy was it more than I expected...

<-Previous Post - My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.1 - Day 24: Anime vs. Real Life - Karatsu Castle

Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.3 - Day 24: Caravan and Minako’s Bar

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My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.1

Day 24: Anime vs. Real Life

Karatsu Castle:

Moving on to the other side of the bridge.

From the right side..

...and from the left side.

For those that are still unaware, Ice Castle Hasetsu does not exist in Karatsu. There is actually no rink in Karatsu. Instead, the building below the castle is Waseda Junior & Senior High School.

See?

But I digress. Let’s get a closer look at the Karatsu Castle grounds.

Now can I just take a moment to say that yes, I get he’s a professional athlete, so he’s already in superb shape. But after walking these stairs? Damn, Yuuri. Running up steps in general sucks. But duuuuude. These steps are all over the place.

There are gaps, they’re at slightly different heights. There were multiple times I almost face planted because I stopped looking down...and I was slowly walking! I’d kill myself if I tried to run up these steps. So my most sincere kudos to best boi for doing his exercises without tripping and dying.

Aaaand look who I found!

Did I totally take my selfie with the castle on the wrong side and the wrong hand in the shot?? You betcha I did!!!

┬┴┬┴┤( ͡° ͜ ʖ ͡°) ├┬┴┬┴

┬┴┬┴┤ ͜ʖ ͡°) ├┬┴┬┴

┬┴┬┴┤ ͡°) ├┬┴┬┴

┬┴┬┴┤├┬┴┬┴

Please forgive me for that super fail...

...

...

INTO THE CASTLE WE GO!!

And once you get near the top, you see some familiar faces.

And!

AND!!

AND!!!

TWINSIES!!

*cough* ehem

Moving all the way to the top

Unfortunately, unlike the artwork, the roof extends out past the red railing, so I was not able to get a picture of the shachihoko, even with my selfie stick.

So I cheated and took a picture of the ones on the lower roofs.

Then, when you finally make your way downstairs, you see some more familiar faces, and a whole corner where you can blow even MORE money!

bank account cries

ALSO!

I MADE FRIENDS!!!

There were 3 other girls (one from Sweden, one from Portugal, and one from Switzerland...all in Yokohama for school) that were also there for YOI adventures. It was the second trip for 2 of them, and the first trip for the 3rd. We banded together.

Apparently they saw me first, but weren’t sure if they should talk to me. Then I saw them around the corner at the top of Karatsu Castle, but I wasn’t sure if I should approach them. So I continued to walk around the top level. And they hadn’t moved, so I ran into them. So I forced myself to be a social human being and say hello. It was a very, VERY wise decision.

We bonded over YOI. They spoke Japanese. I was saved from many awkward situations where I would’ve been otherwise lost with my essentially non-existent Japanese speaking skills.

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Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.2 - Day 24: New friend adventures!

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My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29

Day 24: Anime vs. Real Life

Maizurubashi Bridge:

Thee famous bridge. Now to make this easier to keep organized, and for anyone that may do their own trip in the future, I have organized it by sections of the bridge, as follows:

So without further ado:

Section 1:

Was there a random guy fishing?! Heck yes there was a random guy fishing!!

Section 1.5:

Section 2:

Section 3:

Others:

Now in the anime, these two shots would’ve been taken from basically on a boat. Since I was not able to do that, I went alongside the mouth of the river a bit, and took them from the shore, and they’re just zoomed in, so sorry if they’re a bit blurry.

orz

Also, why is Tumblr letting me put more than 10 photos per post right now? Idk. Has this more than 10 photos been a thing for other people for a while? Who knows. All I know is that when I was uploading previously, it just popped up with that stupid warning. Am I going to take full advantage of this from here on out? Heck yes. Am I going to go back and re-edit my other posts so that there aren’t so many per day? Heck no. Already posted. Already done. If you really want to know if I have more photos of something because I was skimping to accommodate the post limits, just message me, and I’ll let you know.

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Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29.1 - Day 24: Anime vs. Real Life - Karatsu Castle

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My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 28.4

Day 23: Yōyōkaku

As you may or may not know, the onsen that the Yu-Topia was based on is just baths and a restaurant. They do not have rooms to sleep in. It is also decently far away from Karatsu Castle.

I don’t remember where exactly I read or heard it, but I remember something about the actual location for Yu-Topia was supposed to be just across the Maizurubashi Bridge.

And there’s only one ryokan that’s just across the bridge, and that’s Yōyōkaku.

And it is amaaaaaazing.

The building itself is beautiful.

The staff are absurdly friendly. My room is to die for.

They made me tea while I got settled in and they showed me where everything was. Then they asked me what time I would like dinner. I shrugged, they asked 6? So I said ok.

Promptly, at 6pm, there was a knock on my door, and I was escorted down to dinner.

The food even more so to die for.

This was my dinner. Each room (so however many people are staying in that room) get their own private room for dinner, and each course is brought out to you and the old plates are taken away. Tea is made. Food is delivered. Several warm towels are provided throughout the meal. It was heaven...

Other than what was already set out, each picture was a new course that they brought to me throughout my meal. Did I know what most of it was? Not at all. I know it was a fish course (they also have a shabu-shabu course I’m going to try next), but what of fish and seafood each serving was is a big, fat question mark. Dinner itself took about an hour and a half. Even the owner came in and asked how I was enjoying my food and my room.

And it’s hard to tell, but you can even see my room in the second to last picture above. It the second floor, back corner room.

Anyways.

Did I mention I love this place? Cuz I love this place.

AND!!

Best of all!

They allow people with tattoos in their public bath areas.

So after dinner, my fat and happy self marched upstairs to my room, and noticed the door was closed. And yup, while I was eating, they prepared my futon for me.

I changed into my robe...

...and marched right back downstairs to the baths. I had to make a pit-stop at the front desk though. Because I have tattoos, I’ve never actually been in a public bath area, and while I googled the proper ‘what to do’ and etiquette, I still wanted to know what the rules were here. Turns out there was nothing different than what the internet said.

After I felt like I had turned into a pile of goo because I was so relaxed, I headed back upstairs, unpacked slightly...

...got all my YOI related clothing hanging up in the closet, called and made dinner reservations for tomorrow, then headed to bed.

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Next Post -> My YOI Nerd Pilgrimage pt. 29 - Day 24:  Anime vs. Real Life - Maizurubashi Bridge

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