BLOG -- My trip to Japan V.3 -- EXTRA -- My down time in the hotel

So... I'm not sure how interesting this entry will be, but I kinda wanted to document it for myself, and talk about some of the interesting things I experienced while in my hotel room. I mean, I wasn't just experiencing Japan whenever I was outdoors -- I was experiencing some of it as well indoors. As a general rule for myself, whenever I was in my hotel room, even if I was doing other things, I kept the TV on as often as possible. Even for those days I woke up at 4 AM, if I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, I turned on the TV. I didn't have access to a ton of channels, but it was enough.

This entry will cover some of the shows / things I watched / caught while in the hotel.

From the window of my hotel room. I think the sun was just starting to rise.

Infomercials

This was something I enjoyed watching if they were advertising interesting products. The first time I tuned in, they were selling a super sharp knife that could cut through an avocado pit. The assistant's impressed reaction was great. 

The next time I tuned in, they were selling a steam iron set and claimed it could iron your clothes quickly without damaging them. They even held up a blown balloon and whacked it against the iron's surface to demonstrate the iron's safety (the balloon didn't pop). I would kinda like a steam iron myself after watching this, hahaha.

Whenever the infomercial sold clothes or jewelry, though, I switched channels.

The steam iron set they were selling. Steam Q.

Music Station

In all my visits to Japan, I never tuned into Music Station, although I really should have. As mentioned in an earlier Japan blog, Music Station is a show that invites various artists to speak a little and then do a performance.

When this show started, I was still switching between channels to see what else was on. I missed the first performance, but was lucky to catch the rest. Below are a couple that I enjoyed.

Sakurako Ohara x Takeru's performance for "Nakitai Kurai".

The volume is really low so turn up to listen. 

It was this performance that drove me to buy the CD single. 

It was just sweet overall, and that guy can really move, hahaha. :3

A medley from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra featuring Nargo.

Again, the volume is really low so turn up to listen.

I like some of the sounds here.

-Something- Bookarisuto Cup

(Karaoke battle competition)

I tuned into this partway. I really wished I watched it from the beginning. Pretty much a person sings and gets graded for each line they sing, based on if they used enough / right inflection, hit the right notes, etc. And then at the end of the song, they would receive a grade out of 100%. From when I started watching, they were down to the last three finalists.

It was a very interesting watch. Supposedly one of three finalists hit a 100% score in an earlier song, so she probably had lots of pressure to do well. Fortunately for her, she won in the end!

The winning song. She performed Sarah Brightman's "Stand Alone".

Again, please turn up the volume.

I think she sings really nicely.

The final scores.

The Goldbergs in Japanese dubbing

I was surprised to find episodes of The Goldbergs playing... in Japanese dubbing. BUT -- it was a good kind of surprised! In some ways, it doesn't surprise me that The Goldbergs made their way into Japanese TV. The show has a lot of wholesome themes, and the core always comes back to family (at least from what I've watched). 

What did surprise me was the quality of the Japanese dubbing. They didn't dub it based on their own interpretation of what the characters would sound like -- they dubbed it to be close to the original actors' voices. And they did a fantastic job! I recorded some clips, but I messed up and the volume came out really soft... even much softer than the videos I already uploaded. :( Maybe if it's still on the next time I visit Japan I'll try again.

Various anime series

So I was quite lucky to catch some anime series. Maybe I just didn't have the right channels, but anime does NOT play every hour of every day, despite all the new anime series that come out every year. From my experience, I would often catch anime playing starting from around 8-9 PM on weekdays and only on about few channels. On weekends I caught some anime playing in the morning, but series that were targeted more for kids. A few of the shows I caught during my channel surfings (that I could remember) were Hyaku Houshin Engi (I had no idea that they re-booted this series), Cardfight!! Vanguard, the opening credits to Steins;Gate 0 (It was around 1:30 AM when I saw those opening credits and thought 'I need to sleep!' Also, I still haven't played Stein;Gate 0 so I have to do that first!)

Just as a record for myself, the last time I visited Japan by myself, I caught an episode of 12-Sai: Chicca na Mune no Tokimeki. I thought the main character looked so much like Sana from Kodocha. This series is on my radar, lol. Hopefully I can watch it one day.

Arashi ni shiyagare

This is a variety show starring Arashi members and other celebrity guests. I'm not a huge Arashi fan, but I do like some of their songs, especially "Truth" (their outfits look so hot, lol).

It was kinda interesting. I had fun watching one of the Arashi members trying to beat another guest at a snowboarding arcade game.

One of the Arashi members making a face. 

A segment where various celebrities came out dressed like somebody else.

This one is dressed as Jackie Chan.

This one is dressed as Toshi from X-Japan.

Miscellaneous

Below are pics I took from various shows / news segments and other things.

A game show. This person was tasked with figuring out the 

monetary value of all the coins in 10 seconds.

A show where the hosts were going around Tokyo, looking for good curry.

I should try doing that next time!

Another place selling curry buns. Wahh, I want some!

A news segment reporting on crows flying about 

Shibuya station and stealing Suica cards.

Watch out for them!

The REAL Toshi from X-Japan singing "Forever Love" while playing on a keyboard. 

It was very lovely!

I recorded this just for Persona. I did not realize till later that it was 

a commercial for Puzzles & Dragons, lol.

Just like with other videos, this volume needs to be turned up.

And that is it for my Japan blogs for this year!

If you have read from the beginning all the way to the end, thank you soooooo much T___T *huuuugs* It was really hard for me to start blogging about Japan because every time I thought about it, I just wanted to be back there -- back on my vacation, back when I didn't have to worry much about my spending, back in the whole experience. So... thank you for all your patience!

Next time I go back, I'm really hoping to what I've been wanting since my first trip: to catch the cherry blossoms falling!

Now to rest up and ready myself for the walking / waiting / Cosplay fest that is Fan Expo.

Have a wonderful week and thanks again for reading!!