BLOG -- My trip to Japan V.3 -- RANDOM THOUGHTS + SWAG / PURCHASES

So in this blog, I'll be listing any miscellaneous thoughts or observations I had while in Japan. Then we'll go into my swag / purchases. That section will be sorta photo-heavy. If you want to jump straight to that section, do a search for "swag/purchases" (make sure there are no spaces between the "/"), though you probably won't need to since there aren't too many new thoughts / observations this time. I think this makes sense as I get more accustomed to Japan every time I visit.

I should note that some items I bought aren't shown here, since they were gifts. Annnd some items that are shown I don't have anymore, since they were given away as gifts, and I'm too lazy to do re-takes. I'll mention in the captions what I don't have anymore, lol.

If you wanna read my previous entries to see what thoughts / observations I had before, here they are:

2016 entry
2014 entry

MY MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS OR OBSERVATIONS

- Almost no questioning to what you are buying. If cashiers actually judge what you purchase, they must have great poker faces. From my experience, all transactions were treated professionally and efficiently -- no reactions of any sort. Granted, I didn't buy anything really worthy of a cringe or sneer or something, but -- it kinda surprised me, especially for times when I purchased a ton of stuff. The only time I got a reaction was when I was buying double of something -- it was usually to confirm that I did want to buy two of that thing, which I can appreciate.

- Wi-Fi works in the subways! To me, this was an amazing discovery. This allowed me to play FFBE while commuting or check Google maps or whatever else. It also allowed me, my sister, and her hubby to stay in contact while underground. We created a BBM group to send messages. My commuting experience has now been spoiled, hahaha.

MY SWAG/PURCHASES

Skirt from WEGO. I still like my pleated skirts, hahaha.

Things that I bought from Daiso (100 yen shop). A jar / bottle cap opener, 
a pack of pens, hairbands, a towel handkerchief, a black tie. 
I don't have the tie anymore.

More things from Daiso. Blank word cards (for whenever I start learning Kanji), washi memo pads, shikishi (autograph) boards.

The things I really needed to buy from Daiso: cheap, cheap earbuds, hahaha.
For its value, it lasts for a pretty long time!

Things I got from Namco Namjatown. Funwari (like chiffon) cakes, 
admission ticket, free stickers that came with the admission, washi tape, memo pad.

The funwari cakes. When I actually opened it, I read that one of the flavours 
was cheese. I gave all those to my sister, hahaha.

Takoyaki handkerchief. I got this from a small gift shop at the takoyaki museum.

I was so tempted to get more stuff from there...

there were so many tako (octopus) plushies, hahaha.

Stuff from the Ghibli museum gift shop. A clear folder featuring parts 

from the "Delicious! Animating Memorable Meals" exhibition, 

a blank greeting card with a pretty stained glass design.

More things from the Ghibli museum gift shop. Boro the caterpillar plushie, 
white bunny plushie from Totoro, soot plushie from Totoro, a tin of cookies.
I initially thought of buying those cookies as a gift, 
but that tin... that's a quality-looking tin!
I don't have the soot plushie anymore.

Inside the cookie tin. There were various flavours. From what I would read: sesame, chocolate, maple. My favourite was the sesame -- sooo delicious!! <3

Things I bought from the Capcom cafe gift shop. 
Two clear Monster Hunter-themed folders and one Okami-themed clear folder. 
One of the clear Monster Hunter folders was for my sister.

More things from the Capcom cafe gift shop. Pens featuring Okami, Mega Man, 
Monster Hunter; a hand towel featuring Resident Evil, a placemat for purchasing 
a certain value (I chose the Resident Evil one), a mini tote bag.
I don't have the hand towel nor the mini tote.

The Phoenix Wright stuff I got from the Capcom Cafe!! Kyaaa~~~ lol. 
Edgeworth-smelling perfume, Phoenix Wright-smelling perfume, 
bookmark / rulers, random character boards.
One of the bookmarks / rulers was given away.

A closer shot of the perfumes.
I can't wait to smell like Edgeworth some day! Hahaha xD

Some slime cookies and FFXIV job pins from Artnia.
I don't have the metallic slime cookies anymore.

Stuff I got from the Conan pop-up shop at The Loft. Two random character boards, 
a sleek-looking thermos, an accordion-style notebook 
(I thought it was a regular notebook until I opened it, hahaha), 
bookmarks, some gifts I got for purchasing a certain amount.
I really need to continue reading / watching this series...

Another thing I got from the Conan pop-up shop and a couple things I got from The Loft.
Conan-themed towel, a random Kirby figure, a mini 3D puzzle of a beef mug.
I gave the 3D puzzle away.

A couple things I got from Nakano Broadway. The shop sold a lot of 
fan-made goods (so many SMT goods! But so pricey ;___;) and some official collectibles. 
I got a Pixie keychain (from the SMT series), a character board of Shinichi and Ran.

Persona 5 original soundtrack and Sakurako Ohara's Nakitai Kurai CD single 
from Tower Records. Getting that CD single was like a mini-mission for me, hahaha.

Persona Super Live 2015 (music concert) Blu-ray, Ace and Sanji keychains, 
Kurama keychain (kyaaaa!!~~~ <3), Yu Yu Hakusho-themed pen, washi tape, 
and Conan washi tape. One day I'll blog about my anime guy crushes, hahaha.

All the things I bought from Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo. A tin of chocolate cookies, 
keychains of Mimikyu and Pikachu, two pens, Pikachu stickers, Ditto gacha, 
and a clear postcard they were giving away for free.
I gave the Pikachu stickers away.

I got this mainly for the tin, but the cookies were actually very good! 
If you visit a Pokemon Center and want a lightly crunchy chocolatey cookie, get this!!

I got this Vivi figure from one of those "shady" shops in Nakano Broadway. This figure is supposed to be a crane game prize, but I bought it outright from that shop.

I also bought this Boa Hancock figure from a "shady" shop, but in Akihabara.

I just think this outfit is really nice... and it's Boa Hancock! 

She must be so happy in this dress, hahaha. Watch out, Luffy!

Stuff from the One Piece gift shop at One Piece Tokyo Tower. I bought a lot of stuff! 
As you will soon see. Here are Ace mango gummies, Luffy grape gummies, 
Ace and Luffy cloths, a 2018 calendar. I know 2018 is already more than 
half gone... so I'll just use this another year when the dates line up to 2018, hahaha.
I don't have one of the Luffy gummies.
Ace's gummy, while good, has a slight kick!

An expensive Ace pen (I spent 2500 yen just on that pen...!), a tin of 
chocolatey crunchy snacks, another tin of snacks, a random figure, 
a 3D puzzle of the Gomu Gomu devil fruit.

Inside one of the tins. These were okay. I was surprised by 
how soft the nutty, crunchy-looking one was.

More stuffs, lol. Stickers I got from playing Franky's attraction at 
One Piece Tokyo Tower, a mini guide that came with purchasing admission to 
Live Attraction 3, pics of Nami, Sanji, Usopp. I got them from filling out their 
respective "shopping card". I explained this in my last blog, but here it is again:

At the store, they have a shopping card system where every 500 yen spent gets you a stamp on a character card. When you get 10 stamps (i.e. have spent 5000 yen), you get a pic of the character. The first character to fill out is always Luffy, and it goes in a specific order. When I went last time, there were only 10 character cards available, but since then there are more. I was a little afraid that this card system would have discontinued by now, so I'm glad that it's still going. I'm currently on the seventh character card, which is Robin's.

An Easter-themed cushion of Sanji (Zoro is on the other side), more random figures, 
a medal of Sanji, a chain for the medal, customized Ace stickers, a pic of Chopper. 
The medal and stickers you can buy from vending machines inside the shop.

A close-up shot of the Sanji medal.

For an extra 100 yen, I was able to get the medals engraved. 
The message was... "Still yours". Hahaha. ^-^'

An umbrella that I will probably never use. The designs are really nice.
I had to re-jig my packing to fit this in my luggage.

Law figure that I got from a limited-time game at One Piece Tokyo Tower. In the game there were a bunch of strings, and the ends of those strings led to various prize tiers. You could only pull one string. The Law figure was... A tier, I think? There were other figures among the A tier, but what you received would be random. The Sanji sticker card was B tier and my sister gave that to me. The Luffy card came with my order at Mugiwara cafe for ordering Luffy's burger. And then a pic of me, my sister, and her hubby and our score from doing Robin's attraction. If we pay 1000 yen, we could get a photo like this. We had the highest score that day. Can you guess who I am? **Please don't say the far left! Hahaha**

Souvenirs I bought from Haneda airport on our way back. Hello Kitty-themed Tokyo Banana, and melon-flavoured Kit Kats.

 The inside of the Hello Kitty-themed Tokyo Banana.
It tasted very apple and was so soft.

Cost of Swag / Purchases (in Yen) (NOT counting what I gave to friends)
WEGO (Skirt): 1990
Daiso: 1016
Namja Namjatown: 1224
Takoyaki handkerchief: 500
Ghibli Museum gift shop: 4700
Capcom Cafe gift shop: 18090 (Those perfumes really burned a whole in my wallet, hahaha)
Artnia gift shop: 2600
The Loft: 1400
Conan Pop-up shop: 6900
Nakano broadway shops: 2957
Tower Records: 5500
Animate: 9300
Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo: 4008
Akihabara "shady" shop (Boa Hancock figure): 1177 (It would definitely cost me more if I tried via crane game)
One Piece gift shop (at Tokyo Tower): 20600 (I definitely splurged a lot here, hahaha)
Airport gift shop: 2600
7-11 (PSN cards): 5000 (I have no pic of this because it looks like a regular PSN card)


Grand Total (excluding gifts for friends): 89562 yen

I mailed away some items and had my sister declare some of them to reduce my declaration value (thank goodness!!). Next time, though, I would like to stay within my limit. Shipping away items is getting more costly.

Thank you so much for reading!! If I can, there might be one more Japan blog and then I'll be entrenched in Fan Expo, which is happening this week. Oh my goodness -- I'll be so busy, hahaha... >__>!!

Until next time and take care! :)