#This is one of my favourite things about metropolitan Japan

[toasteloo]

so i have been doing internship for.. a month! and i've been commuting with the local commuter train for an entire month, lets talk about it! because im bored (im procrastinating)

and also i dont want to use twitter to ramble now because im slowly moving away from it

the only line i use is the bogor red line that belongs to the jakarta metropolitan area (jabodetabek) commuter line

the cool thing about this commuter line is they only use ex-jr trains so you can experience japan from the 80s with this line!

this is the common trainset you will see on all lines, including the red line

jr205s! you can see this pretty much everywhere with over 700+ unit of it thats still running around, the trains that we have here are manufactured around 1986 to 1991 (you can tell by the train codes on the lower side of each trains)

there are some differences between the older and newer one notably the door window is much larger on the later model, but the ride quality is not any different and some of the newer trains has different kind of pantograph but i do not know whats the difference is between the two

(notice how the windows on the door has different size, left is the older one and right is the newer one)

the only thing i hate about the 205s is the weird ac positioning, the central ac position only exist near the doors and the other ac is on the side and it also only exist in the middle of the train, and also its weaker so it gets a bit warm very quickly during rush hour

these trains are very reliable and nothing goes wrong, its comfortable and its just fine, there are also a marchen variant of 205s

(not my photobtw)

nothing really different with the regular 205s but they are cool

next up, it's tokyo metro 6000 & 7000!

(also not my photos, i dont took many tm7000/6000 photos)

these are by far my favourite train in the line, it look very modern and overall very sick and the interior is also pretty sick too

the tm6000s are some of the oldest trains thats still in operation in the line going back as far as 1971, despite that, it's still very comfortable, although the interior is slightly yellowed i honestly kinda like it, give that retro feel and whatnot

there are no major downsides for this train based on my experience except the fact that the door usually has to be closed multiple times idk whats up with that

the best thing about tm6000s is that the ac is everywhere regardless of where you are so it is the coldest train in the line, its very nice during rush hour but when its empty it feels like you are in the arctic, freezing away..

there are multiple variant, by multiple i meant only two, the 6000 and 7000, the difference? idk that little window on the front, other than that i couldnt tell

same with the 205s some later model of tm6000/7000 has larger windows and a little screen on top of the door, but nothing really changes in term of ride quality its as comfortable a commuter train can be

now we are getting to the rare trains, first up jr203!

one of the two trains that has a door in the front

as far as i know, 8 sets are remaining for this train as they are slowly retired from the service which is kind of a shame because they look really cool

despite looking really cool this train has a very mediocre ride quality for me, like its fine but holy shit it gets hot, i havent really observed too much as to why its so hot because i only ride on this train twice

one of the most distinct feature of this train is the windows also have vertical bar, why? not sure! but they look interesting thats for sure

overall? its a unique experience because its a rare train but its not very comfortable especially during rush hours

now the most rare train in the entire jakarta metropolitan area commuter line

tokyu 8500!

you want to see rare train in the line? then here you go (also sorry for the blurry photos lol)

this train only has, one (1) set remaining that is still on operation, despite looking very old this train is newer than the entire tm6000 trains with this one is made at 1989

one of the thing that stands out than the rest is how different the interior is compared to the other, instead of plastic trims the interior is mostly dominated with steel bars, no plastic to be seen and also the other thing that stands out is the WIDE gangway

there used to be other set that has a diesel generator for its electricity but unfortunately that train is retired just months before i have internship, kinda unfortunate but oh well

i should mention with the last two trains being retired they are soon getting replaced as soon as 2025 by locally made inka trains and chinese crrc trains

this one is the locally made one, kinda cool imo

the reason why i wrote all of this? idk its just my observation on the trains that exist in the line and i feel like i need to write these down, is anyone gonna read all of this? hell no

that concludes my rambling or yapping about trains that is very long and it took me 2 days to write all of this and i should stop doing this my deadline is looking at me and it looks like its about to kill me

[advancedimagesblog-mel]

Blog Post #4

-What are you passionate about?

I’m quite passionate about illustration, photography, design (obviously), playing video games (specifically the Sims 3), listening to good music, eating good food, and learning stupid things from the internet. All these interests mostly stem from just learning about things I like. Once I’m invested in something I have to know everything about it.

-What culture/geography/region/country do you identify with?

Canada, not really, but I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve actually never been anywhere outside of Ontario and Quebec. I’d love to travel around but I’m not rich :*). I’m also Portuguese, but I've unfortunately never been to Portugal. I’d love to go but I don’t know any of my family over there and they probably don’t know of my existence. However, my boyfriend and I would really like to go to Japan! I don’t personally connect with it, but we made plans to go eventually, sometime after graduation and I’m set on making the trip happen.

-Is there a design, object or product that you love or hate and why?

D2L/Brightspace!!! I hate it (lmao). It’s not awful but there are way too many ways to do the same thing, which makes everyone so confused. Blackboard was surprisingly much easier, and I kind of miss it (like Stockholm syndrome). I just wish I could see my grades properly in 2DL, blackboard had a nice grades panel and you could compare your grades with your classmates anonymously.

-Are there any recent events/news, Canadian or otherwise, that you FEEL for?

Yesterday (Sept. 26th) there was a guy swinging an axe outside of TMU (toronto metropolitan university). My sister goes there, so it was kinda scary. She thankfully is taking a course that operates outside of the campus grounds, but it’s so wild that people would go to a college campus and swing axes.

-Is there an experience that impresses you while travelling [people, place, service]?

I rarely travel, but I went to Italy once in 2021! The people were nice-ish even though I didn’t speak Italian, and the food was quite good. I was shocked however, that they rarely serve vegetables (I was dying for cucumbers or broccoli after the trip). The trains were also quite fast, but it was still a long trip when taking them. My family and I went from the top of Italy (Del Garda) all the way to Rome in one day. We actually went twice, but it was exhausting.

-Do you consider yourself a T-shaped individual? If so, what area/discipline do you know well? What other areas/disciplines do you know to some extent?

I would consider myself a jack of all trades when it comes to art (aside from sculpture, I suck at that). I’m quite good at photography, design, illustration, and pretty much use any kind of physical medium (oil, acrylic, pastel, water colour, ink, pencil crayon…) due to the years I spent doing art over having life experiences (T-T). I would say I have a deeper knowledge in design, as that's what i’m studying, and I like learning more about it to hopefully aid me in future job prospects. However, in terms of weird knowledge (my favourite kind), I know a lot about video games, but with specific video games, I know A LOT about them. More specifically, Undertale…I KNOW cringe. What am I 13? I got invested in the game when it came out and I still get really invested in topics I like. I will go out of my way to learn everything I can about them, almost to the point where I learn things that aren’t even true, just theories (a game theory :0 -matt patt).

[violettelueur]

— GOJO SATORU || HAPPY NEW YEAR

↳ featuring : gojo satoru from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : grammar issues

↳ form : imagine

↳ published : 21 january

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 1.4k

↳ request : can i req gojo with a wife who likes to drink the finest wine on new year's eve and makes all sorts of sweet and delicious food, (she's basically the star of the party since she creates a nice atmosphere that everyone loves to be around) but she's sorta sensitive to loud noises so whenever its time for the fireworks, she just stays indoors and gojo is there by her side and she asks him that it was alright for him to leave her there and go outside but he says that as long as where she's most comfy at, that's where he will find himself in comfort aswell

↳ barista’s notes : i know this is a bit late to post BUT it is still january so it counts Σʕﾟᴥﾟﾉʔﾉ but right now, i have completed the request that are on my ‘orders in progress’ page (wip) but that’s not all the orders in my inbox, so i will update it later on today, so you all can see what to anticipate for ʕ￫ᴥ￩　ʔ but moving on from that, i hope you enjoy you cup of classic black coffee (jujutsu kaisen request!) and please come again soon ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ☆

New years eve. One of the only days where you and Gojo were able to be together without anyone interrupting you both in any way since this was the rare time when most jujutsu sorcerers were given the day off.

Every year, all the jujutsu sorcerer within both Tokyo and Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College was excited for this specific day since this was the only time where you were going to get the chance to make your homemade sweets that they got to delightful enjoy as well as the dishes you made in advance for them to fulfil themselves with the flavours of homemade food made with a hint of motherly love.

To be honest, they always questioned the reason why you willingly wedded the Six Eyes sorcerer and allowed your last name to be replaced with ‘Gojo’ since you were known to be the complete opposite to the man himself. You were on the calm and mature side like your favourite glass of red wine - which was also Gojo’s favourite time to kiss you since the taste of sweet wine with a slight hint of bitterness from your lips was too irresistible for him to keep away - but always knew when you could have a laugh here and there. You were sweet towards the students while Gojo was just plainly annoying and arrogant from time to time, but that was the balance of your marriage. 

However, how could you not marry him? You just had fallen too deep in love with the man and now there was no way you could get back up after and to be honest, the same could be said by the strongest himself.

During the New Year’s Eve, you would always invite the others over to celebrate together since you never knew when it was the last time you all could get together like this - after all, this is a life of a jujutsu sorcerer, you never knew what to expect. 

“Sensei, thank you so much for the food!” Itadori cheered as he continued to munch on the cake that you had made earlier today leading to Kugisaki to yell at him for eating with his mouth full while informing him that it was rude which caused Fushiguro to look at his friends with such annoyance as he silently much on the sweet dessert that he really loved since he was a kid - he just never told you when you had taken care of him the day Gojo took him in.

Smiling gently over the scene, you slyly looked over to see your husband playful teasing Nanami who was casually eating the bowl of Ozoni that you had served him earlier leading you to giggle at the scene since you know the grade one sorcerer was getting annoyed but never express it visibly making you want to have his patience - since sometimes Gojo could become a little more irritating than usual, especially when he was sick.

“Sensei, the fireworks are about to start!” Maki announced to you, causing you to look out of your window for a second to be greeted with the dark midnight sky surrounding the world before you quickly turned back to glance at her while grazing a motherly smile. “Then we should go outside to see them, should we?” you gently asked, causing the students around you to excitedly nod in agreement before quickly making their way outside to have a proper view of the colourful display that was going to happen at any minute.

However, there was always a disadvantage for you during the new years. You couldn’t really handle loud sounds, in fact, you were quite sensitive to any loud. You weren’t sure when it started to be honest. Was it due to your fear of lightening when you were younger? Or was it because your eyes were just sensitive? But this wasn’t a problem for you during work since you were another rare jujutsu sorcerer that could use reverse curse energy that Jujutsu Tech had like your co-worker and friend Ieiri. However, as much as you wished you could celebrate the fireworks with everyone, your ears just weren’t having it at all.

As everyone was making their way out the door and into the outside world under the starlit sky, you leisurely leaned against the side of your front door and looked on ahead at everyone who was anticipated for the sky to light up with its festive colours. To see the excitement on their faces was enough for you to be excited for the New Years and what was ahead for you as well as everyone, even with the hint of panic and nervousness that came along with it.

Suddenly, your ears instantly caught the sound of something being shot up into the sky before a blaring boom came into earshot leading to a beautiful ruby red firework to decorate the sky with its sparkles. However, your body couldn’t help but slightly flinch at the loud sound only for it to suddenly flinch again once another firework decided to appear in the sky, replacing the red one that had disappeared a few second earlier.

Unexpectedly, you felt someone’s arms making their way around your waist before pulling you close to their board chest bringing you a comforting warmth, replacing the icy winds that surrounded you earlier. “You okay honey~?” a playful voice asked, causing you to slightly turn your head to your right side only to instantly feel a slight tickle due to his soft white hair brushing against your cheek since your husband was resting his chin on your shoulder.

“You know you can go outside and see the fireworks, I’ll be okay here,” you mentioned before pressing a light kiss on his temple leading to a small smile to be painted on his face at the small affection that you gave him as he then decided to do the same thing leading to your replicate the same smile that Gojo adored so dearly.

“Nah~ if you’re comfortable here, then I’m comfy here as well,” Gojo stated before he continued with, “it seems like you stop flinching as well, so we can both enjoy the fireworks by our front door ha?”.

Widening your eyes, you suddenly realise that Gojo was right on what he had just mentioned, you had stopped flinching the second he had brought you into his arms causing him to confidently and playfully smile at you, letting you have a clear view of his handsome face that was vaguely being lit up by the different bright colours of the fireworks. On the other hand, the only thing that stayed in colour were his beautiful bright cerulean eyes - that were sneakily behind his classic black circled sunglasses - you treasured so fondly ever since the day you met him.

“Yeah, I’m surprised I hadn’t noticed,” you whispered to him before staring back up at the sky to admire the gorgeous light show that was provided not just for you but all of Japan right now.

“Pretty ha~” Gojo commented as he looked up to also view the show before quickly but slyly going back to admiring his wife. Gojo couldn’t help but appreciate the glow the fireworks were giving you as your skin began to shine a tiny bit more brightly than it had ever today. Of course, you always had a light glow to your complexion every time you woke up till the end of the day but something was different with the multitude of colours that the light show was giving you for him to admire. From your face glistening in sweat from a night of passion to your face being covered in flour due to him being immature and throwing some at you while you were baking, this was the brightest he had ever seen you - not his favourite though.

“But not as pretty as you though, aye,” Gojo teased, causing a bright red hue to paint both your cheeks to express your embarrassment before you quickly looked away from him- too bright that no fireworks could even cover the shade of rose you were showcasing right now.

“Happy new year Y/N,” he then stated, as he gently grabbed the bottom on your chin before turning your head to completely face him leading him to have a perfect view of your glossy lips that were invisibly coated with the red wine that you were drinking before you had placed your glass on the kitchen counter.

“Happy new year Satoru,” you then replied to your husband, only for you to be quickly shut up by his lips being placed on top of yours leading for you both to faint taste of the sweetness that had stained your lips from the classic red wine that Gojo gifted you for the New Years.

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

[kim-chann]

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

       ❝   Siblings  ❞        --       Chef’s Special

            - - - | Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara Kugisaki, Satoru Gojo

                                 Synopsis ;; being siblings with some of my favourites

                                                           ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏ $ 0.00

               - - - Includes slight manga spoilers - - - 

༺ Chef Note: Another Chef’s special! This has been on my mind for quite some time. This is some just some indulgent stuff cause siblings relationships are so fun but the worst at the same time lmao. 

Also!! I’m going to reopen matchups soon once I hit only 5 left. Currently, I have 7 left to write. So if I finish two more today, they’ll reopen later today!

༺ Chef Note: Adding a border, cause this is quite long...

〄          ⤷ Yūji Itadori | 虎杖悠仁 - - - 

       ☉ Being Yuji’s sibling is a wild game, jesus dude

       ☉ It doesn’t matter if you’re older or younger than him, he’s still as wild as ever

       ☉ Yuji is such a brat, he pulls pranks on you, blasts music in your ear when you’re sleeping, uses your stuff without permission, and overall, just plain rude...

      ☉ Just kidding!! (but he will do those stuff listed above)

      ☉ Being his sibling is the two of you guys being stupid as hell

      ☉ And siblings fights! He’ll always win whenever the two of you guys are wrestling and might accidentally hurt you, and will profusely apologise 

      ☉ Hurting you is the last thing he ever wants to do

      ☉ He’s the type of sibling to throw things at you just to get your attention instead of calling your name

      ☉ Whether it’s from a snack that he’s eating, or even a rock

      ☉ “Heyy, heyyy, I said hey!!”

      ☉ Once Yuji gets bored, he will barge into your room and bother you until he finds something better to do

      ☉ If you’re on a call with your friends, he will embarrass you. I feel like it’s always a siblings job to embarrass the hell out of each other 

      ☉ Yuji will start spilling your deepest secrets in front of your friends and tell the most embarrassing stories about you when you were younger

      ☉ Also! He always does head pats and ruffles your hair whenever he walks past you and doesn’t care if you just fixed your hair or not

      ☉ He will always ruffle it, and there’s nothing stopping him

      ☉ Yuji is also the type of sibling to accidentally break your door down

      ☉ “It was locked!!”

      ☉ “But you didn’t have to kick my door down!”

      ☉ “I didn’t mean to!”

      ☉ That’s... not even an excuse, Yuji

      ☉ Sometimes, he’ll ask for your opinion on a subject cause he trusts your words of wisdom

      ☉ “Hey, (nickname), do you think that my muscles are getting bigger?” He flexes his biceps and even invites you to touch it

     ☉ Once you say that he’s fine, and tell him the answer that he expects, he’s self esteem will boost (honestly, positive comments from siblings just feels more genuine, ya know?)

      ☉Yuji will always ask for homework help and is ass at math

      ☉ “Help meee, I don’t know how to do Geometryyyy” 

      ☉ Yuji is always whining 24/7, which he redeems to be a puppy 

      ☉ If you don’t know how to do geometry either, or forgot, then the two of you will struggle together. 

     ☉ “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.” Yuji whines

      ☉ Can I also say that he will cook for you? (And it’s always delicious, might I add)

      ☉ Be can try to cook you anything you want, by researching recipes, then improvising to make it “tastier,” according to him

      ☉ But somehow, it always tastes better than you expected?? What kind of sorcery does he possess? cursed energy

      ☉Overall, being his sibling consists of the two of you going wild and him making fun of you

〄           ⤷ Megumi Fushiguro | 伏黒恵 - - -

       ☉ Being his sibling is him being protective of you

       ☉ Like Yuji, he doesn’t matter if you’re older than him or not, he will always protect you because “you don’t know what could happen,” Megumi says

      ☉ It’s really sweet, but sometimes, it can get pretty annoying whenever he walks you to a friends place and he makes sure that you get in the house before he leaves

      ☉ Going somewhere? “Let me come.” Leaving the house? “Where are you going?” Eating food? “Can I have some?”

      ☉ Even though it seems like he wants to protect you 24/7, he wants to be with you because honestly, he can get lonely

      ☉ Megumi didn’t really have many friends throughout his life, and since you’re always by his side, he just thinks that you’re his best friend/sibling 

      ☉ He thinks that protecting you is sibling bonds, but if you’re uncomfortable with him doing so, let him know and he will stop

      ☉ Megumi isn’t one of those mom’s who uses an app to track you down and sees whatever web browser history you go through, cause that’s honestly fucked up

      ☉ Megumi respects your boundaries and wants to make sure that you’re comfortable and safe 

      ☉ Sometimes, he’ll even wake you up in morning so you can go on walks with him and even summon his Divine Dogs to have them stretch and walk

      ☉ Since he’s a jujutsu sorcerer, you know about all the curses, grades, and schools around Japan

      ☉ Even if you’re cursed yourself and can see curses or not, Megumi will educate you about them 

      ☉ He’s really reliable on information cause I always see him as a smart boy

      ☉ Need help with homework? He’s got you covered

      ☉ Sometimes, he’ll even offer to do it for you if you’re too tired to (Which is really sweet not gonna lie)

      ☉ He’ll make you coffee in the morning and occasionally cooks for the two of you, and makes sure that you’re okay and well taken care of 

      ☉ Since the two of you didn’t have parents to look up to, he’s basically your sibling and parental figure 

      ☉ He basically raised you, per se

    �� ☉ Overall, he’s a great brother that just wants to see you happy and safe. Cherish him!

〄           ⤷ Norbara Kugisaki | 釘崎野薔薇 - - - 

      ☉ Nobara is a wild sister to have, oh my god

      ☉ She’s pretentious and wants to be the one that’s basically worshiped in the family

      ☉ Nobara hates you with a passion

      ☉ She’s like a spoiled sister that wants everything, and if you ask to borrow something that she has, she’ll say, “Who’re you?”

      ☉ She won’t let you borrow anything and always gets mad if you just go into her room

      ☉ “I can’t talk right now, I’m doing hot girl shit.”

      ☉ Nobara always gives you the stank eye or rolls her eyes whenever you ask her to do something, “can’t you do it yourself? I’m on my phone right now.”

      ☉ “I literally hate you, get away from me.” 

      ☉ Will only do what you say if she’s in a great mood

      ☉ She’s a sister that bullies her older or younger siblings all the time, but will stop if they start to cry, but not with her saying, “don’t be such a baby. Grow up!” 

      ☉ However, if someone is bullying you or made a snarly comment about you, she gets all defensive like she’s the one who got insulted

      ☉ “Excuse me? The hell did you just say?!”

      ☉ She’ll argue towards the person that insulted you, even complimenting you to counter the comment that was made against you

      ☉ Nobara is only allowed to bully you, nobody else!

      ☉ If necessary, she’ll even throw hands against that person to prove that you’re not what they say you are

      ☉ Don’t worry about Nobara losing. Every time she fights, she will win 

      ☉ After the fight, she’ll walk back to you with ruffled clothes and a bloody nose, and say, “If they bother you again, let me know so I can kick their ass.”

      ☉ Sometimes, Nobara spoils you (keyword: sometimes)

      ☉ She’ll buy you something that you’ve been wanting to have, like a new phone or something

      ☉ Once you thank her, she’ll be like, “Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing.”

      ☉ Nobara doesn’t hate you, despite her bullying you in every way possible, but it’s the littlest things she does for you that proves that she loves you as a sibling that she adores

      ☉ Overall, you got a bully for a sibling but makes sure that you’re actually loved 

〄           ⤷ Satoru Gojo | 五条悟- - - 

      ☉ I-- dear lord, how do I even explain this?

      ☉ It’s a bit tough being his sibling at the beginning 

      ☉ So I’m going to explain something else for a minute 

      ☉ When you were born into the Gojo clan, the family often discriminated you because you were an accidental pregnancy 

      ☉ So you were often discriminated as a child instead of getting worshiped and praised by the clan. You were practically a servant to the clan (like Mai and Maki)

      ☉ However, Gojo was always there to protect you because he was worshiped for inheriting the “six eyed,” curse 

      ☉ Gojo has been protective of you ever since you were a child and even helped you with your duties as a “servant.” 

      ☉Even if you inherited a technique or not, the family still looked down because you were not the “six eyed” curse

      ☉ Gojo wouldn’t be surprised if you hated him as a child because the family always compared you to him 

      ☉ So once Gojo was legible to attend Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical High school, he made sure to bring you with him

      ☉ It took his family a lot of arguing and convincing, but in the end, you got your bags packed up and ready to leave for the school

      ☉ If you don’t have cursed energy, and you’re younger than him, you can be trained how to defend yourself along with your brother for you not to get left out (like Maki)

      ☉You’re going to be a first year way earlier than other students, but like what Kamo said, “age doesn’t matter in Jujutsu.”

      ☉ Gojo will sometimes tease you as the two of you are students, but he’s a great mentor whenever you need help about something 

      ☉ Suguru and Shoko will also be your best friend too!

      ☉ Currently, Gojo is still a protective older brother, but goddamn he’s such a tease and a bitch at the same time

      ☉ “(Nickname)~~, what’re you doing?”

      ☉ Like every typical sibling, he can get bored and he will bother you, even if you’re busy

      ☉ If you become a teacher like him, he will randomly interrupt your class and sit down in one of the empty seat and act like nothings wrong 

      ☉ He’ll even act like a student by raising his hand and answering the question

      ☉Gojo disrupts a lot of your activities quite often just because he wants to and sometimes enters your room, stares at you for a few seconds, then leaves

      ☉ Whenever the two of you are free, he’ll invite you to go have some lunch or dinner to take a break from the school

    ☉ Expect him to order a lot of desserts too lmao

      ☉ Gojo honestly pays for anything, even your groceries, necessities, etc

      ☉ Gojo is literally rich, rich, and doesn’t care about his spendings sometimes, and will buy you anything if you ask him

      ☉ He spoils you a lot, to secretly redeem his forgiveness for how the both your parents treated you

      ☉ Overall, he’s a great brother and he’s really fun! Being his sibling is just him being himself, but extra protective 

༺ Chef’s Note: Trying my best to clear my inbox. I have 7 matchups left, wish me luck!

[limjaeseven]

Tomorrow, Today (2/8)

Verse 2: Part 2 of 8

Pairing: Jinyoung X Jaebeom

Genre: Angst

Word Count: 3,534

Summary: Jinyoung and Jaebeom set off on a journey of a lifetime, promising to never let go, but things rarely end up the way you want them to be

Warning(s): Character death

[a/n]: Written as part of @got7writerscollective​‘s Flight Log: The Journey project.

Jaebeom stuffed random clothes into his well-worn leather duffel bag that his father had gifted him for his fifteenth birthday as his mother watched him, her body resting against the door frame of her son’s room. He plucked a few books off his shelf, his diary and some pens from his desk, a few of his favourite hats and some accessories scattered across his room.

“Do you have to do this, Jaebeom?” The man just sighed heavily, turning to his mother and wrapping her in a warm hug.

“It’s time mom, I promised Jinyoung I’d do this for him. If I don’t do it now it’ll never happen,” Jaebeom said, using the cuff of his sleeve to wipe away the stray tear on his mother’s cheek.

Jinyoung stepped out of his building to see Jaebeom in the driver’s seat of his father’s old sedan, his feet up on the dashboard, head resting on his palms behind his head. It was still early in the morning, the sun hadn’t risen properly and there was still a chill in the air. Holding onto the strap of his bag tightly, Jinyoung took a deep breath before knocking on the passenger side glass of the car, grabbing the elder’s attention.

He quickly sat up straight up, pushing the door open for Jinyoung to get in. The younger’s bag was small enough to throw into the back seat through the gap between the two front seats so he dumped it there next to Jaebeom’s leather duffle bag before turning to Jaebeom and nodding.

The drive to the airport was quiet, the radio turned to low as Jinyoung looked out of the window at the Seoul skyline. The ride was short, and before they knew it they were at the airport. Jinyoung didn’t bother asking what Jaebeom would do about the car, he knew that the elder would have planned out everything with at most care.

That was one thing that always surprised Jinyoung, because, for as laid back and carefree Jaebeom looked, he was a perfectionist, needing absolutely everything to be just as he wanted it to be. He had planned his entire life by age sixteen, despite how things would change in the future. Even when things didn’t go his way he considered it a sign and amended his plan to still satisfy his vision.

They didn’t talk much as they got through security, heading to the food court to get some food before heading to the boarding gate to wait for their turn. The airport was crowded, the only two empty seats were with their backs together. Sighing, they sat on either side, the backs of their heads resting against each other’s.

Jaebeom pulled out a book from his bag while Jinyoung put on his earphones to listen to an audio book. When people said they were opposites but somehow the same, they meant it. The two were perfect reflections of each other, exactly the same but different enough to see a difference. It wasn’t long before the announcement was made for their flight, quickly packing up their things before walking to the boarding gate.

Jaebeom got the window seat but after one pout from Jinyoung he ended up between the younger and a middle aged man, not like he really minded it. Like every time they flew together, Jinyoung chose a movie on his screen and gave Jaebeom one of the earbuds, the elder leaning his head against the younger’s shoulder as they settled in for their three hour flight.

Arriving at Asahikawa airport, they headed to the car hire booth. Jaebeom had called them in advance, booking a pick up truck for their trip. After picking up the keys, they went down to the car park and found the vehicle, throwing their bags in the back before climbing in and driving off.

Jinyoung was the one who found the T junction in Hokkaido, he had wanted to visit Japan for a long time and was scrolling through tourist photos when he saw it. Something about it called to him and he showed it to Jaebeom, desperate to see it as soon as he could. Jaebeom’s face faltered for a moment when he saw the photo but promised him that he would personally take the boy there.

They later found out that there were two villages exactly 10 kilometres on either side of the road, both nearly identical, just mirrored, and Jaebeom bet Jinyoung that they’d both walk the distance on either side and find the motel in their respective village and call each other, before retracing their steps back. Jinyoung wrote down the name and number of the motels that very night and had Jaebeom keep the piece of paper he wrote it on in his wallet.

Three years later they were in a pick up truck in Hokkaido, driving the three hundred kilometre drive to their destination. They left the airport at almost noon, a map spread across Jinyoung’s lap, Jaebeom in the driver’s seat, their phones switched off in their bags.

“Hyung, why now?” Jaebeom smiled, his eyes still on the road.

“I just knew it was time. You’re turning twenty five tomorrow, you’re not the small child I met in first grade anymore” He reached over to ruffle the younger’s hair, his expression proud.

“If I’m not a kid anymore then can I finally call you Jaebeom-ah? You’re not even a year older than me, yeah, Lim Jaebeom?”

“Regardless of how old you are, you’ll always be my dongsaeng, brat. Don’t even try to convince me that you don’t need to call me hyung anymore,” Jaebeom just chuckled at Jinyoung’s pouting and whining.

They pulled out of the metropolitan area into the more rural regions of the island, either side of the road lined with wheat plantations, a month too late to be harvested as compared to normal but global warming wasn’t affecting just humans. The roads stretched to as far as the eyes could see, small huts and settlements the only signs of human life.

They drove at a calm pace, enjoying the fresh air and beautiful scenery, stopping every hour or two to take a few pictures here and there. Just as they were about to start looking for a place to find some food, they drove by a small roadside restaurant selling cheap meals. Parking their truck a few meters down the road, they stepped out and walked across to the establishment and ordered two bowls of ramen.

The tables were made of wood and there were long benches on either side instead of chairs in the restaurant. Jaebeom and Jinyoung settled on either side of the table, their food arriving soon after. Watching the two of them eat together was fascinating, as Jaebeom stuffed his mouth full of noodles while Jinyoung ate small bites, picking at his food.

Filled to the brim with hot soup, they stocked up on some water and snacks before setting off again, looking for a clear patch of land to spend the night. There was a small clearing among the fields that was big enough for their tent a few kilometres down from the restaurant so they parked their truck by the side of the road and set up.

It wasn’t cold enough for them to need a fire, curling up close in a big sleeping bag was enough heat to get them through the night. They laid outside the tent on the dry grass for a while, gazing at the stars once the sun set.

“Hyung, do you think that there’s a star in the sky for the ones we’ve lost?” Jinyoung mused.

“I hope so, sometimes. That way I can look over you once I’m gone” Jaebeom whined as Jinyoung hit his arm

“Who said you’re allowed to die before me? Just cause you’re a few months older doesn’t mean you’re going first. I’ll become a ghost and haunt you till you die, instead” They laughed together at the younger’s childishness, sharing some snacks between themselves.

“I’m serious Nyoungie, I’ll always be with you, regardless of where we are” Jinyoung turned on his side, resting his head against his hand and looked down at Jaebeom, smiling as the elder looked away from the sky to lock eyes with him.

“You’re so melodramatic, hyung” Jinyoung said, dropping back onto the grass, one hand searching for Jaebeom’s. He laced their fingers together once he found it, holding it against his chest as they continued to talk about random things, worries floating away with the soft breeze of the night.

When Jinyoung started yawning, Jaebeom decided it was time to call it night, pulling the younger into the tent to lie down. They cuddled close to each other, sleeping bag pulled tightly around their bodies. Jinyoung felt an unexplainable sense of safety, wrapped in Jaebeom’s broad shoulders, his firm chest cradling the younger’s back as they whispered nonsense in each other’s ears.

It made Jinyoung recall the countless nights they spent in his backyard, the few square feet of open space, their own little world, one with no one but them. Jinyoung had told Jaebeom every thought, every memory, every secret during those nights, protected by the black sky and the arms around his waist as he sat in the elder’s lap, his back resting against a worn out lawn chair. 

It was just before dawn when Jinyoung’s eyes opened, the warmth around his body missing. Panic took over his system for a moment as he tried to rack his brain to figure out why he was alone. Just as he was about to shout for Jaebeom, the elder stepped back inside the tent to call Jinyoung to watch the sunrise, the soft smile on his face flooding Jinyoung’s body with relief. They had a breakfast of mandarins and granola bars before packing their things up and getting back into the truck.  

The roads were clear everywhere they went, not a soul in sight. Fields turned to trees turned to proper forests on either side of their path, becoming their only companions on the journey. The conversation flowed easily, topics light, changing quickly like the vegetation around them.

Jinyoung doesn’t remember a time when Jaebeom had smiled so brightly. For most of the time that he had known the elder, it felt like Jaebeom was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He doesn’t remember seeing the elder laugh so loudly, with his head thrown back at Jinyoung’s dad jokes.

There was always a reason for Jaebeom to hate the world, for as wise and kind he was, it always felt like he was fighting demons that no one but Jinyoung could see, but even then, the younger never knew what they were. Jinyoung remembers the day he told Jaebeom about Japan, after that one brief moment, as the idea sunk into his body, as he accepted it into his heart, it became part of Jaebeom’s grand plan.

There would be days where he would talk about nothing but their trip, like it was the one thing that kept him going. Jinyoung couldn’t lie that his heart fluttered when Jaebeom talked about spending that experience of his life with the younger, proof that he meant as much to the elder as the elder meant to him.

As they reached a part of the forest that was nothing but dark green, reminding Jinyoung of the fences of his backyard that made up the borders of his world, he asked the elder to stop. They stepped out of the truck, Jaebeom pulling out his camera to click some photos before finding his book and sitting down on the road, facing the way they just came. Jinyoung grabbed his earphones and a sketchbook, sitting with his back against Jaebeom’s, facing the route they would take ahead.

About an hour later Jaebeom checks his watch, a gift from his mother to him and Jinyoung, who had a matching one in silver as compared to Jaebeom’s one in gold. The watch ran on their heartbeat, as long as they were breathing and alive, the watch would keep running. They had about five minutes to rest if they wanted to reach the junction before sunset. He bent one arm back to tap at Jinyoung’s shoulder, who jumped at the touch, having been lost in his sketch.

They got back on the road soon after, the drive rather quiet as they took in the fresh air, pulling the windows down and admiring the view. Halfway through Jaebeom was sick of driving so they stopped to switch places but instead of climbing into the front, he hopped into the back of the truck, smiling at Jinyoung through the small window between them.

He sat like that for the following hour plus, just admiring the path behind them as Jinyoung surged forward. After a while Jinyoung started whining, complaining that he was too lonely so they stopped again and Jaebeom got out of the back to sit in the front, next to Jinyoung.

“Hyung, where do you see yourself five years into the future?” Jaebeom chuckled at the question, a hint of bitterness laced in his voice as he pondered for a moment.

“By your side” Jinyoung just whined at the elder’s cheesy answer.

“I’m serious, hyung. Would you have found a pretty girl by then? You’d be 30, would you want to settle down, perhaps?” Jinyoung took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at the elder’s face, perplexed at the knowing smile on his face.

“Wouldn’t you want to know, Jinyoungie?” The elder teased.

“Don’t tell me you have a secret girlfriend you haven’t told me about, that would break my heart Lim Jaebeom,” The elder just chuckled, much to Jinyoung’s dismay.

“Don’t worry Jinyoung, I would never hide anything from my best friend” Jinyoung beamed at the elder, his suspicions slowly fading, despite the hint of guilt on the elder’s face.

They stopped at a farmer’s market they stumbled across to restock on food before they took off on the last leg of their journey. According to the map and their calculations, it would take less than two hours for them to reach the junction.

Jaebeom pulled out a few mandarins from the bag and peeled them as Jinyoung drove, feeding pieces to the younger to make sure he kept his eyes on the road.

“What about you, Jinyoung? Where do you see yourself in five years?” Jinyoung held back a comment about the lack of creativity in Jaebeom’s question as he thought about his answer.

“Probably buying a house and working a better job. I love living with my parents, but I feel like its high time I lived on my own”

“What about you finding a girl? Do you have a secret girlfriend I don’t know about, Nyoungie?” Jinyoung didn’t answer the question, but he couldn’t stop the redness from rising to his ears.

“Don’t tell me, you found someone, didn’t you? How could you not tell your hyung, Jinyoung? I’m so hurt. And there you were, accusing me of having a girlfriend” Jinyoung vehemently denied the elder’s accusations, mumbling something under his breath that sounded like ‘if only you knew’ before Jaebeom dropped the topic.

Jinyoung’s face lit up though, when he started recognising the scenery he had seen in the photos, slowing the truck down as the junction came into sight, right in front of them. He stopped just before it, both of them pushing the doors open to run towards it.

“Ready?” It was all Jinyoung could say at that moment, overwhelmed by emotions. They were finally where they had dreamed to be for years. They left their bags in the truck, knowing that they should reach either side before sunset.

Once more, they pressed their backs against each other’s mirroring the large arrows signalling the directions just behind them. Their fingers laced at their sides, and two deep breaths later they set off, with a promise to not look back.

Jinyoung walked confidently, determined to not turn. They had promised each other that they wouldn’t chicken out, not even glance back at each other as they walked. Jinyoung didn’t stop once, he let his feet drag him forward at an even pace.

The scenery was gorgeous, one side covered in trees and the other with flat fields that stretched out infinitely. He kept walking, ignoring the welling urge to turn back. Even after he was far enough to be sure that he wouldn’t be able to see the elder even if he turned around, he still felt the pull inside himself, just to check once.

A story he had heard once came to his mind. Yugyeom, his cousin, was a big fan of Greek mythology and had narrated to him the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, of how young Orpheus’s love, Eurydice had died of a viper bite and he went down to hell to bring her back. Hades had accepted his request with the one condition that he would not turn back to look at her.

Determined to leave with her he had walked on, but the urge became too strong as he doubted the lord of the underworld and wondered if he had tricked the poor man. In the end he did turn back, and Eurydice was there, but she would no longer follow him back home.

Jinyoung scolded himself for recollecting the tragedy, it only spurred on his fear that something might be wrong, that Jaebeom himself turned around to walk towards Jinyoung. The younger looked at his watch to check the time, it read 1:29. He had been walking for nearly an hour and he was growing far too worried.

That’s when he did it, he turned around and looked back. As he had expected, he could see nothing but the endless road in front of him, not a sign of Jaebeom anywhere. It was as if the world had stopped around him for a moment, and he checked his watch once more to make sure it didn’t. The second hand seemed to hesitate for just a second, as if counting the same second twice, before running back as normal. It counted twice at 1:31:23.

It was almost four in the afternoon by the time he reached the village, immediately recognising the motel from his research. Walking in, he asked the receptionist if they had received a call from one Lim Jaebeom but they said they hadn’t which meant that Jaebeom hadn’t arrived yet. He waited for ten minutes before ringing up the other motel and described Jaebeom to them, asking them to inform the elder when he arrived and tell him to call back.

Deciding to take the extra time to take some rest before he set off back to the truck, Jinyoung bought a peach flavoured water from the vending machine in the lobby and settled down on one of the couches. Before he could put his wallet back though, he saw a piece of paper in it that he didn’t recall putting there.

Opening it, he realised it was a print out of their e tickets Jaebeom had booked for the trip. He would have put it in his wallet at some point during the security check, Jinyoung thought to himself. But as he read through it, his eyes blew open.

Jaebeom had only booked three tickets in total, one ticket to and from Hokkaido for Jinyoung but only a single ticket for Jaebeom to Hokkaido. The elder had not booked himself a return ticket. Jinyoung tried to convince himself that it was probably a mistake but he knew Jaebeom way too well. Was the elder not planning to go back with him? Was he planning to ditch him? A million thoughts ran through Jinyoung’s head but he was pulled out of it when the landline at the reception rang.

“Hello? Mr. Park? We have some unfortunate news to share with you” Jinyoung felt his knees wobble as he heard the voice of the old lady on the other end of the landline.

The next thing he knew he was surrounded by stark white walls and the smell of disinfectant. He didn’t even get to see Jaebeom, he just met the doctor outside the ICU who stopped him from rushing inside. The man held him back and kept saying something that Jinyoung couldn’t hear, he just wanted to see his hyung and see him that very moment.

BREAKING NEWS

Lim Jaebeom, a 25 year old man from Korea found collapsed by the road turning left from the famous Hokkaido T junction. He was pronounced dead on arrival. The man was found to be suffering from a rare type of cancer diagnosed at birth, which was declared the cause of death.

Jinyoung doesn’t remember fainting, he just knew that his eyes opened to see a picture of Jaebeom laying on the road, the news reporter speaking in Japanese that Jinyoung could barely decipher. The elder’s face was turned away from the camera, the only thing that Jinyoung could see through the tears was his watch. It read 1:31:23.

[sherryaptx4869]

Put a Ring on It

A gift for @jackel-gull happy holidays! 😊

Prompt: Coffee shop AU

(Also on ao3)

---

“Excuse me Ma’am, a muffin from that handsome gentleman over there,” the female staff interrupted Shiho as she is very busy typing at her laptop.

She looked over to the direction the staff is pointing to. She is in a rush because her laboratory report is due in just a few minutes. She needs to proofread everything before passing her output to her very strict professor, thus every minute counts. She’s a bit irritated that her momentum is ruined by the ‘gentleman’ the staff is pertaining to.

When she turned to look, the man waved at her. She merely nodded and proceeded to hunch over her laptop. She likes to do her academic papers at Poirot Café because 1) she gets the space she needs, 2) they really have delicious bread and pastries plus their drinks are top-tier, 3) they also have strong wifi connection. 4) It’s also a ten-minute walk from the university she is attending. Very convenient.

Five minutes before the deadline, she breathed a sigh of relief when she hit the send button with her report as an attachment to an email she sent to her professor. She massaged her temples and briefly closed her eyes keeping the impending headache at bay. She only has fifteen minutes before her next class starts. She allowed herself to relax for a bit when she sensed another presence at the table she is currently occupying.

She smelled him before she saw him. She smelled a faint, subtle smell that is not overpowering. Her trained observation skills as a scientist approves of his choice of perfume.

She opened her eyes, removed her earphones and eyed him. Up close, the guy looked just about her age- probably in his 4th year of college too. She noticed his lean body, and his calves are well-defined. She noticed a tan line in his arm when he waved earlier. He’s probably into sports.

She raised her eyebrow and regarded the stranger.

“Hi, I’m Kudo Shinichi and you are?” he said, flashing her a smile as he held out his hand for a handshake.

“And I was just leaving,” she said as she gathered her laptop, her papers and her books, stacked them all in her backpack and leaving not even sparing a backward glance.

---

“Wow, that girl is something.” Heiji teased Shinichi for the nth time.

“I wish I was there to see it when your ego was deflated and brought you back to earth,” Heiji continued. “I mean man, she rejected Kudo Shinichi, the great detective of the East!” Heiji is now clutching his stomach from laughing too hard, tears at the corner of his eyes.

Shinichi glared at him but that did not stop Heiji from laughing.

“Should I wait for you to finish laughing or are we doing detective work on her?” he asked Heiji.

“Huh, what work?” That caught Heiji’s attention.

“Returning this to its rightful owner,” Shinichi said as he fished a card from his pocket.

So Miyano Shiho is the name of the beautiful, auburn-haired woman.

---

In her rush to gather her things earlier, Shiho did not notice her library card slipped and fell to the floor of the café. Now, she stood at the heavenly doors of the library but not quite entering because her library card is missing. She meant to return the books and browse for other titles. Without her card, she couldn’t really enter, but what’s more important is that she can’t loan out books.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Upon checking, she saw she got an email from an unlisted account.

“Hello Miyano-san, I got your email address from the library card you dropped at Poirot Café earlier today. If you want, I can go to your university and return it there. – Kudo Shinichi, Detective of the East”, she noticed he’s studying at another top university in Japan from his email address. So he is the famous detective of the east.

“If it’s not too much to ask, I can meet you back at Poirot Café in thirty minutes. I just need to finish some stuff here and I’ll go over there,” she replied.

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” is his instant reply.

---

Shiho debated on meeting the stranger. Even if he is Kudo Shinchi, strangers are not to be trusted. And he’s definitely a stranger.

Dang it, her loaned books would have to be returned three days from now and if she doesn’t return them on time, she will accumulate penalties for her overdue books. She won’t be able to borrow more books on top of that.

She really has to meet with the stranger if she wanted her library card back. It will take a week for the library to process lost ID cards. And she needed hers asap.

She made up her mind, she’s meeting him and get it over with.

---

It’s 6:30pm. Upon her entrance at the Poirot Café for the second time that day, she immediately looked around and searched for some dark brown-haired guy. There were a few college students openly ogling the very handsome barista, Amuro-san. She spotted Shinichi at the back of the café. She approached him.

“Kudo-kun,” she tentatively called out to get his attention.

“Oh hi, Miyano-san.” He said as he got up to his feet and pulled the chair for her to sit.

“Thank you.”, she said.

“About earlier, I’m sorry if I came on as an arrogant guy. I was just being friendly with people who have the same interests as I do.” he offered an explanation.

She gave her a questioning look.

“Well, I saw you carrying Arthur Conan Doyle’s book and I got a bit excited to see a fellow Sherlockian fan,” he continued.

“I see. I was in a hurry myself earlier and I just don’t like dealing with strangers especially when I’m in a hurry. I didn’t want to be late for class,” she said without more ado.

“I also enjoy reading mystery novels, it’s just that I need my library card to borrow books from the lib.” She offered.

He handed her lib card and as his fingers skimmed over her hands, she felt a zap from the point of contact. Apparently, he felt it too.

To ease the sudden awkwardness of the situation, he said “Why don’t we start over? I’m Kudo Shinichi”

“I’m Miyano Shiho,” she said and shook hands with him.

“Shiho,” he repeated testing the roll of her name on his tongue.

The sparks from their hands touching is undeniably there. They quickly let go of each other’s hands and pretended to go over the menu. Shiho felt the blood rushing to her cheeks and she felt warm. Shinichi on the other hand felt his face flush. This beautiful woman elicited such a boyish response from him is something he could not rationalize.

They found out more about each other as the night deepens. From the café, they went to take a walk at the park. When it is apparent that they need to get some rest, Kudo offered to walk her home in her dorm.

The night has a certain chill to it, “It’s really nice talking to you Kudo-kun”, Shiho said as she’s getting ready to enter the building.

“We should do this again sometime, if it’s not too much to ask, Shiho” Shinichi replied.

“It’s too much given my schedule, but I’d like that,” Shiho said. She smiled before darting inside.

As Shinichi walked back to his own dorm, he mused over the evening. He got a big smile on his face even when Heiji kept one pestering him to share what happened with Shiho.

---

They fell in the same routine, meeting at the café, going on a trip together and having conversations about deep things, shallow things, whatever comes their way. They went out for a year. By then, Shiho graduated and is already working as a university researcher and Shinichi is on his first year of taking criminal law while still extending assistance to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

On Christmas day, they are at their favourite café where they first encountered each other.

“Do you remember the first time you rejected me here?” Shinichi asked Shiho.

“I may have remembered a little bit of that,” Shiho smirked.

“Heiji kept on rubbing it in my face how pitiful I looked back then,” Shinichi relayed.

“You need that to keep you grounded before your inflated ego take you away,” Shiho said before drinking her coffee.

“Heiji said that too. You’re in cahoots with that guy?” Shinichi pouted.

Shiho merely laughed. Her laugh is music to his ears. Not to be cliché but it just is. He never thought that this wonderful woman is willing to spend time with him. He hoped she still feels the same way for the rest of their lives.

Before his thoughts strayed any further, he gave her his Christmas present and planted a kiss on her mouth. It’s a bath bomb designed for aromatherapy. Her job at the research laboratory seemed to take a toll on her lately, she also catches colds easily.

Back at her apartment, she decided to use the bath bomb Shinichi gave her. She took a book by Agatha Christie to read while she soaked in the tub with the bath bomb still fizzing. She is basking at the sweet, floral scent from the lavender essential oil when her curiosity is piqued by a floating material. There were no fun additives for aesthetics such as glitter and flower petals in Shinichi’s present so why is there a floating thing at the tub? She grabbed the thing and a smile made its way on her face. Hmmn, she might play a little prank on Kudo-kun tomorrow when they see each other.

---

The following day when they met each other to eat lunch at the Kudo residence,

“How was your sleep?” Shinichi inquired when they were settled on his car on the way to the Kudo mansion.

“It’s good. Thanks for the special oils in the bath bomb, they really cleared my thoughts.” She purposefully avoided mentioning the ring embedded in the bath bomb.

“Did you find anything to your liking?” Shinichi pressed on.

‘He’s not his usual blunt, confident self,’ Shiho noted. ‘He’s skirting around the ring topic.’

“Well, I liked the lavender scent. I’d like to try the one with eucalyptus too, it clears the sinus,” she still did not give the answer he clearly wanted to hear.

He merely nodded. After that, he stopped speaking. Shiho made it look like she busied herself on her phone.

He’s clearly upset that Shiho did not find his surprise. It’s written all over his face, from his grip to the steering wheel.

They stopped by at a flower shop to buy flowers for Yukiko, Shinichi’s mom. While they are waiting for the store clerk to wrap the flowers,

“Shin, your phone pinged several times already,” Shiho informed Shinichi.

He checked and is a bit taken aback when his notification box is about to explode from congratulatory messages and best wishes. He clicked to see that Shiho tagged him in a post. His jaw nearly touched the floor when he turned to look at a smirking Shiho who put up her ten fingers on the air flexing his claim on her.

In her post where Shinichi is tagged, she uploaded a picture of her left hand wearing the exquisite ring with the caption, “Does this ring make me look engaged?”

Shinichi captured her in an embrace and kissed her hand.

“Yes, you look engaged and you look amazing with the ring too, future Mrs. Kudo” he whispered in her ear before fully capturing her lips with a kiss that is the promise of a lifetime together.

[sturlsons]

one anon sent me an ask about if all of my fic locations were based on real life locations but i deleted it like a dumbass so i’m sending it to myself

secret i do this all the time when i accidentally delete shit bc i’m actually really good at remembering the exact wording of asks but it’s 8 AM so

HI. so okay, most of the locations i refer to in fic are based at least loosely off places i’ve been to in real life. i’m assuming you’re talking about things like bars and restaurants etc ofc. 

in petersburg - the whole thing is set in stras so Every. single thing is real. eren and armin’s apartment is based off an apartment down the street from where i used to live, though i barely describe it. it’s near the main station. (i don’t usually describe living spaces a lot. tbh i barely describe anything i’m very curious about ur question actually.) jean’s apartment is near gallia and based off the ex-apartment that my friends oscar and hernan used to share. i wrote some scenes while getting trashed at theirs. the boat bar in which jean calls eren shorty and ymir is like, serving tequila or something, is barco latino. it used to be off the quais of gallia but it’s at rivetoile now. the cathedral is, well, the cathedral. the cafe is based off a now-closed cafe next to our physics institute. 

jaywalkers - so funnily enough, the Iconic vertigo and le petit whatever are actually just built from scratch. vertigo gets its name from an actual club called vertigo in grenoble that i either never went to or have no memory of going - it’s just special to me because my first real night out, this girl i met kept saying we should go there because it’s lit. le petit bum is possibly lowkey based off this chain of cafés we have in india called café coffee day, because those are really cozy if you ignore the demanding indian metropolis sprawling outside. very warm colours, couches, all that. but yeah. also, i know it’s impossible basically anywhere let alone metropolitan japan but in my head le petit cube is just that. a cube. like. this cafe in the middle of a parking lot kinda thing, not attached to any other building or anything. improbable? yes. but what are u gonna do. kill me. ANYWAY all this to say that jaywalkers which is like arguably my Biggest Thing is actually not based off anything, it was funny enough that i had to mention it here. that being said the library tsukki studies in is based off the library of my faculty. 

heretic - tsukki’s apartment is based off the apartment of the architect who designed my house in india. kuroo’s place is designed after the first apartment i have a memory of, from my childhood, where i lived for about three or four years. funnily enough, every time i imagine an apartment for kuroo and tsukki, it ends up being that one. the apartment in ephemerides, the one they used to share in moonfall, and even the one they’ll own later in jaywalkers. anyway. the club in heretic is based off this random club i went to in prague when i was trashed. don’t ask me the name, i don’t even know how i was standing on two legs at that point. 

s;b - oooh so AGAIN, my childhood apartment. jimin and jk’s place is based off it. i think there’s something about the design that just made so much sense to me. taehyung’s penthouse is imaginary i’ve never been to a penthouse lel. gd and tabi’s mansion is based off our country house in the woods of south gujarat. taejin’s engagement thing hotel is real. kibum and CL’s club is like a much larger version of a bar we have in stras called le 21. blue lights, very chic, etc. boongi’s club is based off this place in grenoble called the phoenix, but like, smaller and greener lel. 

11:58:30 - suho’s place is based off someone’s country house but i cannot remember who, definitely somewhere in india. we’ve got chemistry is one hundred percent our chemistry faculty’s bar. 

buttergingers - FUCK i meant fingers but that’s funny i’ll keep it. seokjin’s is based off a cafe we have in stras called oh my goodness. soooo fucking cute. 

poppy seeds - vmin’s apartment is based off my ex’s apartment, minus the fact that q and his roomies were. Special and had a collection of stolen street signs, a giant traffic cone that they use to gather bottle caps, and also one metal horse pogo kinda thing that they stole from a playground. so none of that. but definitely the apartment. same-ish apartment used for that hopekook fic where jungkook’s a giant theatre nerd. i basically default to this apartment for all extreme party situations in fic bc that’s what we still do when we go there. he lives with two girls now so it’s much more Sensible but that apartment is HAUNTED. anyway. that board game singing kinda cafe they go to is a combination of two of my favourite places in grenoble, kfee des jeux and brown’s which has since closed down. biggest tragedy of my life. 

that namjin indie cafe fic - so seokjin’s cafe is just a tiny generic indie cafe but namjoon’s cafe is based off this like place in stras that has since closed down/switched owners so the decor is nothing like it, but basically this place was a front for a secret bar like it’d always be empty and you’d go to the bouncer like table for 3 and he’ll look you in the eyes like We’re Full Sorry and you’re like what. i actually did that 4 times before i found out it’s a secret bar and you have to like waggle your eyebrows and go table for 3 UPSTAIRS and they let you up the stairs and you can enter if you figure out 1) where the door is 2) how to open it. fun times. it’s a great bar, it’s called moonshiners. BEST. COCKTAILS. EVER. 

rockstar fic - ehhh. the system is based off a bar in stras called delirium. i actually fucking hate delirium lel you can barely hear yourself bc it’s so huge and filled w ppl talking. they serve you piña coladas in coconut shells though and there’s this bartender called martin or marvin or MATHIEU THAT’S IT who will give you haribo if you ask nicely. the hotel they stay at is based off the hyatt at jeju. i mean it IS the hyatt. i just didn’t mention it bc like that’s whatever. kth’s studio is based off that one really cozy studio that coke studio pakistan often films in. i think it’s in laage re nain by ayesha something. also JIMMY’S. based off jimmy’s bar in strasbourg. beautiful. i lived practically across from it until last week, just moved. but i’m only 2 minutes further i literally moved like 500m away, life is good.

tuesday wednesday - ok so nothing special here but like their first Battle Moment on campus is definitely on my campus. in general if i vaguely mention Campus™ somewhere outside jaywalkers, you can rest assured that i mean EXACTLY this area: 

SO YES THERE YOU HAVE IT. now as a bonus for Big Boy it’s based in seoul (which i haven’t been to) but for the most part in paris (which i have been to and like lived in) and for The Most part the louvre. bonus appearances from moscow, st petersburg, new york, tokyo, and singapore. taehyung’s apartment is.........hilariously based on the apartment i just moved to. it’s hilarious because when i started writing (it opens at his apartment) i.....hadn’t seen this apartment yet? but i visualised it perfectly and when i saw it irl i was like oh it’s you. so fun times. 

[kioraxerxo]

Rules: answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better

Tagged by:  @killer-killer-queen thanks dear!💗💗💗

Nickname: Ella

Zodiac: Libra

Height: 5′5″ (??)  

Last movie I saw: About Time (2013) This is super sweet and I needed it to inspire me for writing Kairos

Last thing I googled:  Orlando by Virgina Woolf pdf 

Favourite musician: The Beatles (also Queen I love you but I only had to pick one im sorry) 

Song stuck in my head: Dust in the Wind by Kansas

Other blogs: I used to have a writing blog for high school but I deleted it years ago

Do I get asks: It’s usually composed of ships but sometimes there’s a random person showing some love and that really brightens my day! 

Blogs following: Tons of Queen and Beatles blogs lmao

Amount of sleep:  Since I’m from a different timezone and tumblr is awake when I’m supposed to be asleep I usually go for a day without sleep and if I do it’s usually 3-4 hours. But my sickness has fixed that and now I sleep around 9pm and wake up around 5am

Lucky number: 3 or 7 maybe idk 

What I’m wearing: A really fuckin large campaign shirt with a candidate I abhor. It was given to me by my uncle and I can’t refuse lest they find out I’m an activist lmao but its super comfy and light. I’m also wearing my mom’s pyjamas and some socks. I’m really sick guys hahahha

Dream job: Ooof questions that trigger existential questions haha I recently quit law school and I’m in the process of looking for a job. I have such big dreams, I want to be a writer, a director, an artist but I’m so afraid of the 9-5 work and underpayment. I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I may never live up to my childhood dreams. Shit like this makes me cry hahahaha

Dream trip:  Japan! Not really in the metropolitan area but the ones in the countryside. I’m in love with Shintoism and I just want to see the temples. 

Favourite food: Blueberry cheesecakes also sinigang (Filipino dish)

Play any instruments:  Taught myself the uke 

Languages: English and Filipino

Favourite songs: In my life - The Beatles, Under Pressure -Queen, Kashmir - Led Zeppelin, Black Smoke Rising - Greta Van Fleet, Have we Met Before - Tom Rosenthal, Mykonos - Fleet Foxes, The Luckiest - Tim Halperin

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: mom jeans, sunflowers, hanging plants, yellow socks, knitted sweaters

Tagging: @moonvinyls @intheyear-39 @grooveei @ceruleanrainblues @sneakydeakyy @sweet-ladyy @

[alternativewinxcontinuity]

Sailor Moon Sailor Moon Z A survivor of the Dark Kingdom gets revenge by means of a Zombie Apocalypse. Merging of Classic Anime and Manga canons.

When Metaria's dark cloud swarmed over the world, Indicolite was undercover in the CDC, trying to find a way to use her favourite bacterial agents as agents for the Dark Kingdom.

While the bodies started dropping around her, drained and overwhelmed by Materia's presence, Indicolite sat at her desk sipping tea, revelling in the feel of the great ruler's dark energy.

When the purifying essence of the Silver Crystal swept over the world, the origin point too far to hurt her, but erasing Metaria, Indicolite shrieked and screamed, and destroyed her teacup, her computer, her chair, and the face of an assistant.

She erased the footage from the cameras and claimed they'd been attacked during the darkness.

After everything had settled down, almost a week later, Indicolite made her way the Dark Kingdom's headquarters at D-point in the North Pole. There was no trace of any other denizen of the Kingdom, the entire area felt almost Holy in its cleanliness. It made her sick to her stomach.

What she did find however, was equipment left of from the various schemes of the four generals, tools and schematics.

Indicolite wasn't one for sentimentality, but any excuse for vengeance would do.

First, she'd need energy.

Unlike the generals, she didn't go to Japan, went everywhere else in fact, and didn't drain people to unconsciousness. She set up small drains in the metropolitan cities of the world, skimming off the millions of people who walked around unaware.

Unlike Beryl, Indicolite didn't need all the energy in an instant, she was happy to wait for the big haul; after all, she still had work to do. Using the resources of the CDC and their various contacts Indicolite set about creating her masterpiece, augmented by the relics of the Dark Kingdom, but something was missing, some piece that would allow her creation to not only work, but defend against the power of the Senshi.

She needed more data on them.

With that in mind, she did what she'd told herself she wouldn't do until it was too late to be stopped: Indicolite went to Tokyo.

She stayed out of sight, didn't take any energy, didn't attack anyone, she merely tracked down the interesting energy sources until she found the five girls who matched the Senshi's description. She followed them, studied them, scanned them for days. But she couldn't figure out how to take one without alerting the others.

Then her scanning equipment blipped.

It turned out, their were eight Senshi in the Tokyo area. Of the other three, two of them seemed to be dating, but the third was almost always alone. The little dark haired girl was sickly, rarely left the house, and it appeared the other Senshi knew nothing about her.

Indicolite killed the girl's guardian, made it look like an accident, and took off with the child, days before anyone knew anything had happened.

The child was to scared to fight back, didn't even know what was happening most of the time. When Indicolite realised which Senshi she'd grabbed, and what her powers were, the Dark Kingdom witch decided it was Fate.

With the Power of the Senshi of Saturn, not only could Indicolite protect her creation from Sailor Moon's healing spells, she could infuse it with so much more magic, an endless cycle of it.

Her laughter was manic, as she imagined the soon to come death, destruction and panic.

Only after vaccinating herself and Saturn did she release the virus, in aerosol canisters through the major cities of the world, including Japan. She waited four days before activating it. Then she sat back and watched the world burn.

Ami was the first Senshi to know about the attack. Her mother called in the early hours of the morning panicked.

“Ami? Oh God, Ami, are you safe!?”

“I'm fine, why are you whispering?”

“They're everywhere, Ami I want you to stay inside, lock the door and stay inside. I'm safe for now but I need you to promise me! I need you to be safe”

“I- Mum, what's going on, who is everywhere?”

“I don't know, they won't die, they're eating people! It's not like before, they're actually eating people! MH!”

“Mum?”

“They're outside the room.”

“Hang on mum, I'll come get you.”

“NO!” The stage whisper was followed but a gasp and silence.

“Mum?”

“I think they heard me. Please just be safe. I love you so much.”

The line went dead. Ami dropped the phone.

Rei was the second to find out. She woke early for morning prayer, to find Yuiichiro had become a flesh eating monster. An early morning jogger who stopped by on their way home every morning was dead in front of him, throat gone and blood still cooling as he ate.

She and her grandpa tried exorcism for an hour. When Yuiichiro's meal woke up and tried to eat them, Rei put an arrow through its eye, followed by Yuiichiro's.

The Police never arrived.

Usagi, Minako and Makoto found out at about the same time. Minako was receiving a call from Rei, Makoto was getting one from Ami, and Usagi's dad was leaving the house.

“Ah, mister Tanaka, good morning, you're looking a little unwell, rough night?” Ikuko, standing at the door watching her husband leave, shrieked when their friendly neighbour Mr Tanaka attacked. Her children where behind her in an instant.

“Get back inside!” She didn't know if she was screaming to the children or to her husband. From further up the street, more of their neighbours came walking along the road, a few of them even looked like they'd been mauled by something. Her husband was managing to fend of Mr Tanaka, who looked like he was trying to eat Kenji, until the deranged neighbour wrenched his briefcase from his grip. Her husband fell backwards, a flash of blonde streaked past her, and before she knew what she was seeing, Usagi used their Burglar-Bat to smack Mr Tanaka in the face so hard he was struck to the ground, his head hitting with a loud crack.

“Daddy, you need to get up.” With his daughter's help he managed to get to his feet and back inside. They locked the door and added a chair to wedge it shut. The table went on its side against the glass sliding doors as the other neighbours began converging on the house.

Their phone rang, Usagi was beside it, answering before the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Usako! Are you alright? Have you been bitten? Are they even there yet?”

“Yes, no, yes. Mamo-chan, what's going on?”

“I don't know, I went for a jog-” a grunt of exertion came over the phone, “and they were just everywhere, I saw the police trying to fight them earlier, they only seemed to stay dead when they got shot in the head.”

Usagi called for her brother.

“Shingo, talk to Mamo-chan a sec I need to check something.”

“Hello?”

“Hi, Shingo ri-” another short shout of exertion, Shingo thought he heard something heavy hit the ground.

“Sorry about that, the way back to my apartment is swarming with these things, I'm going to try to make it to your place. I noticed they're attracted to sound; and don't let them bite you, I saw someone die from a bite earlier. It was only a small one. Just stay inside and stay safe. Tell Usako I love her.”

Before Shingo could say anything, there came the sound of fighting from the speaker, it moved away. This 'Mamo-chan' must have been calling from a pay phone, Shingo realised, hanging up.

“Shingo! Why'd you hang up?”

“Sorry sis, guy said he had to move, he's going to try to make it here, the way to his apartment is swarmed.” Shingo related the massage he'd been left. Then took a second look at his now devastated sister.

“You went upstairs to put on a new brooch?” Their parents sidled up to them.

“What's going on, who was on the phone?”

“Mamo-chan called, he said the police were fighting those people, but they only died when they got shot in the head. Mr Tanaka hasn't gotten up yet.”

“He said people died from a single bite too,” Shingo added, “and they're attracted to sound. He's on his way here. And Usagi decided to take a break from protecting our home from crazy people to put on a new brooch!”

The glass doors broke, the horde of - whatever the heck they were – toppling over the table and into the house.

“You three get upstairs!” The command in Usagi's voice shocked her family. “Now!” They moved, about halfway up the stairs they heard her call out again.

“Moon Crystal Power, Make up!” They turned just in time to see Usagi covered in a bright light for an instant before Sailor Moon was suddenly standing where Usagi had been.

“Moon Healing Escalation!” The wand that had appeared in her hand let of a burst of energy, it washed over the pile of infected trying to stand, but did nothing.

With her free hand Sailor moon tugged off her tiara.

“Moon Tiara Stardust! Moon Healing Escalation!”

While the Tiara doused the group, the wand sent another wave of energy over them.

“Sailor Moon!” The trio on the stairs turned to the new intruder, but found only their cat. Which began talking. “Sailor Moon, I'm sorry but you can't help these people, the Crescent Moon Wand would have healed them if it could. The only thing you can do now is grant them a merciful send off.”

Sailor Moon looked ready to cry, or throw up and she caught her tiara.

“Moon Tiara Activation!” Her hand waved through the air, directing the flying weapon in the compact space of the house.

The phone rang a second time as the last body dropped.

Sailor Moon answered.

“Hello?”

“Usagi! Usagi they are strange people attacking the store, but they don't seem to be interested in the jewellery. They keep coming after Mama and me.”

“Did either of you get bit?”

“No.”

“Okay, lock yourselves in somewhere, I'm going to come get you. Don't get bitten and stay quiet, if you can, aim for the head, it's the only way we know to stop them so far. I'm coming to get you Naru, just hold on.”

“I will. Usagi, they're coming, I have to go.”

“Be safe.” Usagi's last words were answered by the dial tone.

“You're Sailor Moon?” Shingo asked incredulous, their parents still hadn't recovered from the shock.

“Yeah, surprised me too when I first found out. Look, from the sounds of things, this is happening all over Tokyo, possibly all over Japan, and right now, I'm the only Sailor Senshi with powers that will be of any use against these things.

“Just when I thought we were done fighting... right focus. Luna, I need the wands for the others, and communicators for more than just the five of us. Mum, dad, Shingo: get what food you can, we're going to barricade upstairs until we come up with a better plan.”

The family of four collected what they could and hauled it upstairs, Luna disappeared back into Usagi's room.

Once the barricade was in place Ikuko asked her daughter “What now?” Sailor Moon looked at her.

“I don't...”

“You said 'we're going to barricade upstairs,' but I heard you promise Naru you'd go get her. How will we defend ourselves without you?”

“I've managed to summon some old Moon Kingdom guns, they should work, and they're quiet compared to modern firearms.” The family flinched, they'd been trying to repress the memory of the cat talking.

“Thanks Luna, you four take care of yourselves, I'll call in an hour to let you know I'm okay.”

“Be safe.”

“No! I forbid you to leave this house young lady, it's not safe out there!”

“I know daddy, that's why I have to go. I love you all so much.”

Sailor Moon ducked into her bedroom with Luna, scooping the new wands and communicators into a backpack.

“Luna's going to stay, to show us how to use the guns right?” Shingo asked from the door.

“I am,” the mautian replied.

“So who's going to watch your back? You said the other Senshi didn't have the power right now.”

“That's what the wands are for, I'm going to give them their powers back. I know it's complicated-”

“You should pin your hair up.”

“Huh?”

“The... zombies, or whatever they are, might grab it. You should out it up like you do for the bath.”

“Ah you're right, I guess I never thought about it like that, the monsters we used to fight never really grabbed my hair before.”

Sailor Moon landed on Makoto's balcony, tapping the glass quietly. The curtain didn't even rustle. She tried opening the sliding door. It wasn't locked. There was a note on the table, boxed lunches in the fridge and cupboard.

'Gone to get Motoki.'

She ran into Sailor V half way to the arcade.

“Minako!”

“Usagi, I'm so glad you're alright, how are you transformed though?”

“How are you transformed? I've got new gear from Luna, I have a pen and wand for you.” Sailor moon rummaged through the bag until she found the pen for Venus and her new communicator. “Here.”

“Thanks, I wasn't sure how much longer the V compact was going to last, hold Artemis a sec?” The white mautian looked put out at being handled like luggage.

“Oh! The new wand has a new phrase, it's 'star power' now.”

“Got it, Venus Star Power, Make Up!” An instant later Sailor Venus was there.

“I need to find the others, I have gear for them too.”

“I've already spoken to Rei... she had to kill Yuiichiro this morning, he was eating someone and exorcism didn't work and his victim woke up from the dead. I knew I'd have to fight monsters, but these are full on zombies.”

“It gets worse, my Crescent Moon wand can't heal them.”

“Oh Usagi.”

“Do you think Rei can hold out a little longer?”

“Yeah, she said she and her grandpa are just standing at the top of the stairs and shooting anyone who comes up. Any one who is a zombie anyway. They've had a few survivors so far, but this thing is all over Tokyo.”

“Makoto went to find Motoki, if he was already at work he may have headed down to the control room.”

“I can head over there and check, that's where we were going, Artemis wanted to see if he could figure out what's going on. The Dark Kingdom is gone, and this happened way to sudden to be natural.”

“Then I'll get Ami, and we'll head over to Rei. Here, take these to Makoto.”

“Be careful princess.”

“You too Venus.”

Ami was waiting on the Balcony, watching the hordes move about, when Sailor Moon landed.

“My mother was at the hospital when this broke out, she managed to call me a few hours ago.”

“We'll look for her, but not yet. I have new gear for you, but we need to get to the temple to help Rei, she has a group of survivors. Venus is dropping Artemis off at the Control room and heading out to find Makoto, who went looking for Motoki.”

“What? I told her not too! It's too dangerous without our powers!”

“I know, but if anyone could, it's Makoto, and when we find her, you can give her a stern talking to.”

“Let me get the medical supplies and some food, and I want to leave a note for my mother just in case.”

“Alright.”

Rei whirled and fired an arrow into the walking dead-thing that had managed to sneak through the forest around the shrine. She cursed all the zombie movies who'd said zombies were slow, these things moved at normal human speeds, some of them even moved faster.

She turned back to the stairs, grasping at her quiver, only to meet empty air.

“Grandpa, I need more arrows.”

The man was silent, she glanced over, he shook his head, they were out of arrows. She'd have to make another trip down the stairs to pull arrows from corpses. One of the survivors screamed, Rei spun, alarmed, more zombies were emerging from the forest.

“Moon Tiara Activation!”

A golden disk of light swept through the undead, cutting their heads in half.

“Sorry we're late, I had to pack supplies,” Sailor mercury explained, dropping down beside the priestess.

“Just in time,” Rei waved off her apology, “that was my last arrow,” she pointed to the corpse she'd downed a moment ago.

Then she gave a pointed look at Mercury's outfit and her own.

“Sailor Moon bought new wands and communicators from Luna, we just heard from Artemis in the Control Room, he and Venus have found Makoto and Motoki. Mamoru showed up at Usagi's a few minutes ago. Venus and Jupiter are on their way over to us, the boys are going to ready the Control Room for guests. Once we have your survivors safe we're going to the hospital for my mother, then Osa-P for Naru and her mother.”

“What about Usagi and Minako's families?”

“The Tsukinos are barricaded in with Mamoru and Luna, they have weapons and food, Minako said her parents were locked in their panic room when she left, so they're all safe for now.”

Sailor Moon, who'd been talking to survivors, appeared by Rei's side.

“Didn't want to try the Crescent Moon Wand?” Rei asked, cranky from the horrific morning she'd had, the memory of Yuiichiro's dead face, with her arrow sticking out, swimming behind her eyes.

“I did,” the princess defended, “twice. It doesn't work on this. Luna and Artemis said it might be because it's a virus and not magical in origin.”

“Oh, I'm sorry.”

“No, Ami told me what happened to...” The pair silently looked away from each other, before wrapping one another in a tight hug.

“Whatever this is, we'll get through it, together.”

[ebanoryokou]

Day 25 東京

Due to a scheduled late start today, and the excitement of being in 東京, I got up for an adventure at breakfast time. 

Arnold, Kaitlyn, Ryan and I met for breakfast, then to go out and about in 品川区 (Shinagawa Ward) before the shops opened. While Kaitlyn and I were happy to walk the quiet streets simply observing things, Ryan was a little disgruntled that despite being a busy city, not much is open before 10am. But that’s the tradeoff; if you get late nights, you don’t get early mornings. We found a map on a street corner with directions to a nearby shrine. Despite having seen so many on this trip, I was still keen to see another. A small, local shrine often has a very different feeling to one that has become a tourist attraction. 

As it turned out, we walked in completely the wrong direction. None of us particularly minded however, as we’d set off rather aimlessly in the first place. Although we didn’t up at the shrine we were first looking for, we found a temple that had a large Buddha holding what looked like a garlic out the front. Upon entering, we discovered the story of お地蔵 (Ojizo), carved into stone, and お地蔵 dotted around the grounds. A little while later, we came across a shrine with Ginkgo trees and I remembered what I’d seen on TV the night before: the Tokyo Metropolitan symbol is a green shape quite similar to one of the Gingko tree’s yellow leaves. As it turns out, this is pure coincidence, and the symbol is not related to the common tree in any way.

As we approached the meeting time with the rest of the group, we headed back to the hotel. As we did, I felt my excitement building. Not only was I excited to be in 東京, but I’d actually been looking forward to what was happening this afternoon for the past ten years. Today was the day we would visit スタジオジブリ美術館 (Studio Ghibli Museum). But first, we visited 吉祥寺 (Kichijoji), and 井の頭公園 (Inokashira Park) within it. 

吉祥寺 lies just outside the 23 main 区 (wards) that make up 東京都 (Tokyo City), but is still part of the sprawling metropolis. It may be one of my favourite areas of the city. Home to many foreign restaurants and vintage clothes stores, this area was bustling and lively, but felt more peaceful than areas like 渋谷 (Shibuya) or 新宿 (Shinjuku). This is surely thanks to 井の頭公園 (Inokashira Park), which has a film dedicated to it called パークス (Parks). I watched this film about a year ago, after I got back from Japan last time. Watching made me desperately want to return to Japan, and especially made me want to visit this park. To actually be there was so exciting, as I could recognise so many of the places from the film. 

Although 井の頭公園 was extremely photogenic, my mind was slightly in another place. I was counting down the hours, then minutes, until we’d be in 三鷹 (Mitaka), just on the other side of the park, where the museum was nestled into a forest. 

Tragically, no photos are allowed inside the museum, but the shots I got of the outside were enough. I think the visit will be imprinted in vivid detail in my memory for quite a while. 

The intricacy, attention to detail, and not to mention whimsical quality of the architecture fit perfectly with films that exist in the studio’s portfolio. Not only this, but the exhibits inside, with rooms dedicated to the history of animation, where the studio gets its inspiration from, and offices full of concept art, pieces in development, and interactive gadgets showing how the films are made, were so perfectly curated. It felt like being inside the mind of 宮崎 (Miyazaki) and 高畑 (Takahata). 

We also got to see a film broadcast only at the museum. Todays short was 「パン種とたまご姫」(Yeast and the Egg Princess). It contained all the elements of a classic Ghibli film: witches, magic, delicious-looking food, adventure, and humble protagonists. How they managed to fit so much into such a neat little frame of time astounds me. i will never not be in awe of this studio. 

[the-cryptographer]

You may choose between Trustshipping or Angstshipping for the meme, if you'd like!

I’m sorry. If you give me two options I’m gonna probably always pick both. Hope you don’t mind :’D

Under the cut:

Isis/Seto.

What they watch during movie dates and what kind of snacks they get from concessions.

Isis is probably the one that actually likes avant gardefilm, and the most obscure foreign films, and really quiet personal dramas.Seto finds all of it utterly boring, but he tags along anyhow and, ifeverything goes according to plan, he falls asleep within the first half hour,and Isis gets to enjoy the screen, her junior mints, and Seto’s adorablesleeping face. And Seto wakes up refreshed from his power nap so it was awin-win for everyone.

Which one gets in to a fight with the other’s parents.

Everyone’s parents are so dead. But let me say Isis andMokuba get along stunningly well, but Seto and Malik are always at each other’s throats. It probably starts with mild irritation from the way Battle City wentdown, but then it starts magnifying. Both Malik and Seto are rude and failedtheir anger management classes after all, so small infringements on eachother’s space start to add up, and then eventually the worst of both of themstarts to show, and Isis becomes the battleground for their possessiveness, andnow they avoid so much as being in the same room as one another. Seto andRishid also don’t get along great, although not nearly as bad as Seto andMalik. They both make super stern faces at each other, and don’t say anything,and refuse to break eye contact for five minutes, until finally one of them hassomething else that requires their attention. And it seems to everybody theydon’t get along, but really on the inside of their head they’re like ??? andcompletely unable to interpret each other, and both of them are wondering ifthey did something to offend the other but neither can think of anything. Badat communicating bros.

What kind of street performance they’d put on to raise money if they were stranded somewhere.

Isis had the necklace in canon, of course, but I wonder ifshe’s a skilled cold-reader? I can see her being good at something like that.She recruits Seto to help her set up a stand for palm reading, and gives reallyvague but good advice and puts on a bit of a show and completely charms thepeople walking by. Seto is really grumpy about it – first of all fortunetelling is BS, and second of all Isis is totally playing up her ‘exotic’foreignness. But then Isis tells him to buzz off – what would he know aboutbeing foreign in Japan/France, or being a cave-dwelling Egyptian with anunusual phenotype, and she’s only doing this so they can afford a room for thenight so he can suck it up and be appreciative of her amazing skills pls.

How they’d be as parents if they had-a-kid/someone-forced-a-kid-on-them.

Emotionally distant parents… haha. Unplanned (or at leasthalf-unplanned) trustshipping baby is actually one of my favourite headcanons.Somehow they overlooked something obvious~Anyhow, Isis is a little better at being soft, compared to Seto, and definitelybetter at being attentive. I wouldn’t call her understanding, exactly, butshe’s not really going to hold what she doesn’t understand against you – if youget me? She’s also more physically affectionate – kisses to the brow, andwashing the kid’s hair in warm water, and sleeping cuddled next to baby. But,otherwise, they’re both kind of inclined to do the same kind of parenting jobs– handling the soft-quiet moments before bedtime, and being a unified wall ofice when they need to discipline. And, anyhow, they’re both really into theircareers, so I think they’d hire somebody to take care of the kid in themornings – feed breakfast, and pack lunch, and drive to school. They kind ofsplit the evening shift between them then.

Who would cause the most trouble during a camping trip and how.

See, unlike Seto and Jounouchi where I could imagineJounouchi dragging Seto out on a recreational camping trip (sort of) againsthis will, I can’t imagine either Seto or Isis going camping unless there wassome reason they needed to gocamping. Maybe they’re visiting some remote archaeological site, and Setocouldn’t get clearance to fly the Blue Eyes jet in. Or there isn’t a place toland the Blue Eyes jet and Isis refuses to jump from a moving plane, lmao. Ormaybe they’re stuck in virtual reality or (netherworld) Ancient Egpyt or somefantasy AU or are just stranded in the middle of nowhere after some traumaticevent? Since they are comrades in ‘can this be over already?’ they worktogether with terrible efficiency. They are neat and direct and to the pointwhile setting up camp and making meals and packing up. Neither idly causestrouble. I think the worst of it is maybe that Isis isn’t quite as athleticallyinclined as Seto, or rather her stride is much shorter, so while they’re walkingthere’s a moment where she’s exhausted and fallen quite a bit behind, andSeto’s like ‘what’s wrong? hurry up.’ And Isis, who is kind of embarrassed thatshe’s struggling is finally tired of sucking it up and is like, ‘can we restfor half and hour,’ except it’s not really a question. And then Seto is like,‘Hn,’ kind of annoyed, but they both sit so Isis can catch her breath and eatsomething.

What they would give each other as both a serious gift and a troll gift.

I think Isis likes gift giving type traditions, so she mightinsist upon it until it actually makes it through Seto’s skull. Isis puts a lotof thought into getting beautiful wood carvings and vases and other home goods,and Seto just thinks all of it is terrible trash, lol. Comparatively Seto buysher things like leather wallets and purses and dresses without thinking, andIsis actually cherishes them, lol. Eventually I think both of them happen uponbetter methods though. Seto finds the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store magazineand actually gets a clue. And Isis starts to buy him books instead – not everyone is a winner, but Seto enjoys at least half her picks so~Would- Would either of them buy troll gifts? Isis might buy Seto sillykeychains with little kites or blue eyes just for fun. But even that’s not thattrolly.

Who moves in with them as an unfortunate third wheel roommate.

MALIK.

How they feel about handholding and sudden kisses in the ear-cheek vicinity.

Handholding: no. not casually at least. Sudden kisses: inpublic – no. in private – one of the few joys in Seto’s life. Soooo, sameanswers as for JouKai. But Jou kind of is disposed towards casually touchingSeto anyhow though in a way that Isis is definitely not – ie. clasping Seto’sshoulder, pushing Seto in one direction or another, dragging Seto somewhere bythe arm. Isis and Seto are one of those couples who never touch each other inpublic at all, and you think they must be really frigid with each other in privateand are only together for cerebral reasons. But actually that’s not true atall, it’s just they’re just not… touchy-feely.

Who’s always snapping photos and who’s pack-ratting clutter.

Mokuba is the one with the camera. If it wasn’t for him andtheir other friends and the Kaiba Corp security cameras, there would be nophotographic record of either of them, lol.And Isis is the pack rat, I guess. She’s collected too much artwork and toomany artefacts and too many things from the museum store. A lot of it justspends time collecting dust in storage. It’s all very nice clutter though. Her and Seto are both very obnoxiously upperclass, so their house is all minimalist and everything in place.

Who hogs the bathroom in the morning and who causes toothpaste related drama.

Isis probably takes longer in the bathroom since she wearscosmetics and all, but I’m not sure either of them is a bathroom hog. And Isisboops Seto on the nose with a gob of toothpaste and then kisses it off and Setowas experiencing whiplash with the way he went from being furious to charmed inzero seconds.

What their matching costumes were for that one party.

They went to that one party as a couple of obscurehistorical or literary figures – so obscure even I have no idea who. Literallynobody got it except Malik, who thought it was dumb.

If I think they’d get married and why or why not.

Maaaaybe? In an emotional sense, I think Isis would want tobe married to Seto more than the other way around. I don’t think it’d be amake-or-break issue for her, but she might end up feeling him out on the topicinstead of the other way around, so long as there wasn’t an outside factorinvolved. Like, going with unplanned pregnancy, Seto might suck up hisreservations and suggest marriage first out of a sense of responsibility and I’m not gonna not give my child my name.And if immigration and citizenship became an issue that could be resolved withmarriage, I don’t think Seto would rule it out as a practical solution. Itdepends on where they’re living too – I think the name thing would likely be anissue with Isis too, but if they’re getting married in a place like Francewhere they don’t have to share a name and entry into the koseki isn’t an issue,it seems more likely. But, then, I’m not always sure these guys have a typicalkind of relationship that they’d understand through marriage in the firstplace. I don’t typically think Kaiba’s interested in living outside Japan, andI don’t typically think Isis is interested in living outside of Northern Africaor Western Europe – and there are lots of circumstances where it might happenanyhow, but sometimes I think they’re a kind of friends on the phone and acouple while in town kind of ship. I’m not sure either of them would feel theburdening NEED for a constant romantic or sexual relationship in their life, sothey might be satisfied with that kind of thing. Maybe when they’re old andhave more free time they want to be closer, so they move in together somewherein their sixties or seventies, but by that point who cares about marriage?They’ve got their own thing going on~ There are so many ways this could go…

Who has over a thousand unread emails in their inbox or five hundred icons on their computer desktop and how the other reacts to this gross mismanagement.

Kaiba more so than Isis, but their emails and computerdesktops are both disaster zones. Their actual desks are also disaster zones –paperclip explosion. They’re both kind of annoyed with each other about it, butreally they’re more annoyed with themselves about it. I think Isis catches onthe hypocrisy sooner than Seto, but they both learn quickly that attacking thestate of each other’s desk means attacking their own organisational failure so…

What their hidden artistic talents are and how appreciative the other is of these talents.

Isis encourages Seto’s singing A LOT. And Seto’s reallyembarrassed about it and secretly a little flattered.

What they consider each other’s most attractive quality and/or their favourite thing about the other.

Isis is so elegant. And it’s a perpetual mystery to Seto howIsis can manage people and be so in-charge while also not being a screamingbanshee. That Isis can get people to do what she wants while being so kind andcomposed is a crazy skill, and he doesn’t get it but he can get behind it. AndSeto’s belief in his own agency and self-worth and in his ability to be thechange he wants to see in the world and all that literally saved Isis fromdespair in canon. I don’t really think there’s anything about him that Isiscould possibly admire more given the amount of personal significance that heldfor her. Shit, I love this ship so much. This might be how you feel aboutrivalshipping. I want Isis and Seto to be friends so, so badly. He utterlysaved her, and I don’t think he even recognises or realises the inherent worthin himself for having grasped the life and the future she’d lost in his hands,and throwing it back to her. I want him to see and to know how precious andcomplete that gesture was – that he cannot be a failure so long as he’s savedsomebody. gdi, let them be friends!!!

==

==

Malik/Ryou.

What they watch during movie dates and what kind of snacks they get from concessions.

Malik’s favourite films are probably big budget actionyfilms starring overpowered ‘badass’ 2kul4skul antiheros, who walk away from the explosion at the end of the filmand drive off into the sunset. And Ryou just thinks this is the dumbest shitever. Ryou canonically likes the spooky scaries oc but, while it’s not going toput Malik to sleep, Malik does kind of go between being creeped out by horrorfilms and rolling his eyes because so fake – listen, he’s seen some shit. Youcannot even approach the level of FEAR. I think they sit through the moviesthey don’t particularly like for each other, but their favourites to seetogether are documentaries, since that’s something they both enjoy.Documentaries about the natural world, documentaries about scientificinvestigations, documentaries about weird phases in human history and culture –and there must be some documentaries out there about the history of the occult.They each buy a variety of popcorn and soft drinks and candy, and they don’teven ask before reaching over and stealing snacks from the other or drinkingusing the other’s straw.

Which one gets in to a fight with the other’s parents.

Do we know if Ryou’s dad is alive anymore? I’m pretty surehe is, and I’m pretty sure Malik wants to kill him for being a neglectfulsonnuvabitch. Ryou would, of course, prefer Malik not, but it’s a littleflattering Malik feels so impassioned on his behalf. (I mean, even without thathuge strike against him, Malik would still probably fight with Ryou’s dad.Self-centred cultural imperialist. Also vastly different personal and ethicalstandards.) And Malik probably also feels he has a bone to pick with Amane andRyou’s mom too. He curses them out one day. ‘You know Ryou is still sad aboutlosing you guys! How dare you walk out on him like this! He has better thingsto do than worry all the time about your sorry asses!’ And Ryou’s like, ‘That’senough.’ Really upset as he drags Malik away from the gravesite. (But, still,he’s a tiny bit flattered. That he means more to somebody alive than his motherand sister do dead.)

What kind of street performance they’d put on to raise money if they were stranded somewhere.

I’m really completely blanking on this one. Ryou wouldprobably try a combination of tarot reading and asking people, really politely,if they could spare some change. But I think Malik’s probably the one thatpulls out some improbable genius skill and accurately interprets what somerandom passer-by needs and draws in success by putting in half the effort. Andthen Ryou’s like, ‘wow’ and claps for him. I just don’t know what thatimprobable genius skill is.

How they’d be as parents if they had-a-kid/someone-forced-a-kid-on-them.

Malik would just be… so terrible, lmao. Not only do I thinkhe’s completely uninterested in fatherhood, there is also nobody too importantto not fade into utter insignificance in the face of his episodes. Even if hewas an ever present factor in a child’s life, he’s totally a Disneyland dad.Let’s go out and do the fun thing, but then he gets bored after that’s over andit doesn’t matter if the kid is tired/hungry/needy now – whatever~ I’m actuallytrying to think of a situation where Malik would ever be stuck parentingsomebody alone with Ryou and… it’s not pretty. Malik himself is aware he’s notcut out for this. Isis and Rishid are both aware he’s not cut out for this. Theonly circumstance I can think of is something terrible happening to both Isisand Rishid and Malik’s taking care of his niece(s)/nephew(s) bc he’s not goingto have them go into foster care and… it’s just terrible. He’s terrible andneglectful, and he knows it, and he’s cries daily about it, but he just- can’t. Ryou would be picking up all ofthe slack really, bless him, but even he can’t really bridge the gap. Ryouwould be a patient and kind father, if a little lacking in sturdiness. He patsthe children’s heads softly and makes really simple breakfasts and packs warmlunches. He asks Malik and the kids to take shifts making dinner, and to lookafter getting themselves through their daily routines. He asks like it’s afavour to him and, for the most part, nobody wants to disappoint him, but he’sstill not sure what to do when he’s met with resistance – it’s hard for him tobe firm. It’s hard when the kids come to him for advice too. Ryou is spreadthin, and those kids are gonna have to parent themselves to a large extent…In less terrible situations though, Ryou and Rishid would probably beco-parenting if somehow Malik or Ryou got a hold of a child. Rishid is a littlebetter at at least pretending to be firm, haha. If he talks at all it’s obvioushe’s made of marshmallow, but he can make an intimidating look and wait insilence until the other party cracks. And between Ryou and Rishid there is moreenergy to look after kiddos properly and direct attention away fromfaildad!Malik.

Who would cause the most trouble during a camping trip and how.

Tbh, I think Ryou would have absolutely no concept of whatto do on a camping trip. He stares at the fire starter and the packed tent forabout an hour trying to figure out how they work and the mysteries haven’trevealed themselves, heh. Ryou was also unsure how to handle a deer approaching him, and that time hefumbled the can opener and spilled all the veges on the ground, oh dear. Malikhas to take over the practical realities of camping, which he’s not too excitedabout, but it ends up being okay because Ryou holds his hand and points out theconstellations at night and the world is as it should be.

What they would give each other as both a serious gift and a troll gift.

I don’t think they give gifts often but, when they do, Ithink they try to make it special and personal. Like Malik probably thinks up areally nice gift for when Ryou gets his degree – a commissioned piece ofartwork, or some old tome about Ryou’s field of study, and also a bottle ofnice scotch. And Ryou probably does the same when Malik manages someaccomplishment with work – gets him a nice leather bag, or a flashy new helmetfor his motorbike. For troll gifts, they might give each other silly decorativehair ties, and Malik gets weird earrings, and Ryou gets silly pop astrologybooks that piss him off because it’s not properastrology, and Malik doesn’t even believe in any of this shit in the firstplace.

Who moves in with them as an unfortunate third wheel roommate.

I mean, I’m pretty sure Rishid lives with them for a whileat least. But it’s more like Ryou is the weird third wheel interrupting Malik& Rishid’s bromance, heh.Actually, I think Rishid probably grew up under the assumption that he wouldnever be allowed to have a wife or kids bc he was basically intended to be aforever slave to Malik and Isis, but then Malik was like, ‘wtf, no. you canhave a family if you want. Fuck everything dad said.’ And Rishid got !!! really excited!!! Omg, he never dreamed!!! He’sreally happy about this!!!And that all sounded fine and dandy to Malik until Rishid actually met somebodyand he realised that either (1) Rishid would have to move out, or (2) Rishid’swife would have to move in. And Malik hates both of these ideas, it isliterally the worst. How dare you ruin mylife like this, Rishid, after all I’ve done for you… So, yeah, there’s agood possibility Rishid’s wife is the unfortunate forth wheel roommate, lol.Malik will get used to it.Also, Yuugi’s not really an unfortunate roommate to have at all, but I reallylike that collection of Millennium Roommate comics and am very pro-Yuugi-hanging-out-with-these-two,so that could be really cute~But also, it should be Jou too. Yes.

How they feel about handholding and sudden kisses in the ear-cheek vicinity.

Yes, definitely, on both accounts. But holding hands all thetime. They hold hands loosely and then curl their fingertips around each otherwhen they stray too far away.

Who’s always snapping photos and who’s pack-ratting clutter.

Ryou takes photos periodically, but not in any kind ofmethodological or constant way. Everyone’s always smiling in the photos bc Ryouwon’t take frowny ones or surprise ones  :-)And Ryou’s the pack rat. He buys a lot of crystals and gift items from thestationary shop. Textbooks and manuals. Half-used pens and pencils he picked upabsentmindedly here and there. Strange leaves and rocks he found out walking.Later he runs into certain things and wonders why he has them, but herationalises he must have kept it for a reason, and so it stays.

Who hogs the bathroom in the morning and who causes toothpaste related drama.

Malik takes forever in the bath, and forever getting readyin the morning. He’s a bit narcissistic and also gotta apply that kohl. Ryou onthe other hand showers quickly and throws on wrinkly clothes in five secondsand somehow every woman he’s ever met still falls over themselves around him.And Malik is totally a toothpaste drama queen. He gets angry and squeezes toomuch toothpaste out and then eviscerates the tube and throws it at the mirrorand is just in general as FRUSTRATE about the toothpaste as he can be aboutanything. Ryou doesn’t care though because if he made a deal out of everystupid outburst? And especially an outburst where all at stake was a tube oftoothpaste and a dirty mirror? Pls.

What their matching costumes were for that one party.

Sorry. I’m again getting too lazy to try and research the kinds of details I’d want. I feel like they’d dress up as a pair from some ancient culture’s mythology, but probably not Ancient Egyptian mythology so… I’m not sure what Ryou would like, heh.But for another party, they might go dressed up as each other. Or one dresses up as the other and they both try to trick people into thinking there are two Maliks or two Ryous. haha, this seems like a kind of concept that would appeal to Ryou again.

If I think they’d get married and why or why not.

I don’t know. I get the feeling either Ryou would be reallyfor it, or really against it – for a reason that’s more ideological than personal– and then Malik would be like ‘sure’ either way. Ryou has a whole speech abouthow marriage exists as a societal institution and why it is or isn’t importantfor them to get married as a gay couple and Malik’s like ‘sure’. ‘Sure.’

Who has over a thousand unread emails in their inbox or five hundred icons on their computer desktop and how the other reacts to this gross mismanagement.

Ryou’s the one that’s more attached to his computer, but Idon’t think he has more than a dozen desktop icons, or thirty or so unreademails. It’s very whatever. Malik has fewer emails, but he’s ignoring the onesfrom Isis’s work about how he needs to do this or that for the museum. Ryouscolds him about this.

What their hidden artistic talents are and how appreciative the other is of these talents.

Malik might be musically inclined. He knows how to play thequanun and guitar. Also, if it can be considered an art, Malik’s really good atdoing literary translation work. Ryou’s pretty impressed on both accounts. Hegets a little blown away by Malik’s casual genius.And Ryou’s pretty crafty. He might do carving or wood burning – he made all theMonster World figurines himself, yes? Malik likes looking over his shoulder andwatching the process. They both find it soothing.

What they consider each other’s most attractive quality and/or their favourite thing about the other.

I don’t know how to explain. They’re both really straightforward in different ways. I think they like what they perceive as the honestly and simplicity in the other, compared to how they, themselves, feel deceitful. There’s something really earnest in Ryou’s kindness and demeanor and passionate love of his hobbies, and there’s something really earnest and simple in Malik being able to voice what he wants - a significant amount of which is completely normal stuff like not wanting to be hoarded underground? I think they’re drawn to that in each other. Along with a kind of… underutilised intelligence they see in each other? Ah, I’m just rambling inarticulately now. Meme over. Thank you for your ask!!

[everlastingbutterfly]

Hey! It's the Japan traveller anon, lol. I wish I had a Tumblr account to message you privately, but unfortunately I don't. (Btw, I live in Sydney, as well). I was thinking of spending 4 days in Tokyo and 3 days in Osaka. Maybe I can squeeze in 1-2 days to go to Kyoto? I don't know.. Do you think it's possible? Also, I'm more like you. I like shopping and food but not that much. I prefer seeing the sites and learning about the culture. I'd really love to hear your suggestions. Thank you, again!

Oh that’s cool! We could’ve passed each other in the street and never known lol. 

*cracks knuckles* Okay, let’s get down to business (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶

These are only /some/ of my suggestions, and you can of course pick and choose as you like. They’re organised by city for convenience. I’m also going to put it under a cut cause it might get long lol.

Tokyo

Akihabara* Known for it’s denki town. You shouldn’t really buy electronics because it won’t work well on our voltage.* Mostly a good place for anime and manga related things, if you’re not interested I would honestly skip!* Good places to visit: gachapon kaikan (tonnes of gacha), mandarake (for manga/anime), honey toast cafe!!Harajuku*Meiji Jingu* Line Friends Store (if you like their characters)* La Foret -> has some nice clothes* A three level Daiso, for all your 100 yen needs lol (I love my 100 yen stores okay)

Ginza* Hakuhinkan Toy Park (it’s a toy store) - sells many character goods* A 12 level uniqlo, possibly the biggest (but don’t quote me on that)* Manneken waffles* Ginza is full of luxury goods and the expensive brand stores, so if you’re not into that there isn’t too much to see!Marunouchi (Central Tokyo)* Imperial Palance East Garden* Tokyo Character Street* Tokyo Ramen Street (contrary to the name, you will find plenty of things other than ramen to eat!)Shinjuku (hell yeahhhhh, I like to think of Shinjuku as my Japanese “hometown”)* Shinjuku Gyoen (so pretty in Autumn)* Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices -> it’s /almost/ as tall as Tokyo Tower, and free! Totally worth.* lots of places to go shopping

Asakusa* Tokyo Sky Tree (keep in mind though it costs $20 and $30 USD for the 350m and 450m observation decks respectively, personally I didn’t do it cause not worth)* Senso-ji and Kaminarimon* Nakamise-dori -> plenty of stalls selling very Japanese food. It’s the street that leads up to Senso-jiRoppongi* Tokyo Tower

Odaiba (one of my favourite cities!! Fun fact: it’s an artificial island)* Venus Fort -> shopping centre, an awesome ceiling that imitates the sky with sunrises and sunsets and sometimes even snow* Tokyo Joypolis (indoor amusement park)* Palette Town* Rainbow Bridge* Aquacity Odaiba as well as Diver City (more shopping)* There used to be a giant gundam, but last I heard it got taken down to put up an even bigger one. Don’t know if that’s been done yet

Shibuya* the famous Shibuya crossing and Hachiko statue* Shibuya 109 for clothes* Tokyu Hands, plenty of levels and you can find souvenirs and things you didn’t know you needed

Osaka

It’s up to you, but I think you can totally squeeze in Kyoto and Nara instead of doing 3 days of Osaka. Kyoto, Nara and Osaka are like a triangle, and each city is connected by a 40-50 minute train.

If you aren’t going to Universal Studios Japan, you can either do 2 days Osaka, 1 day Kyoto or vice versa. Put Nara as a half day trip on any day if you would like to go there. All up to you! If you are going to USJ though, that’ll be a whole day thing.

Main sites in Osaka: Osaka Prefecture Government Sakishima Office Observatory(Cosmo Tower), dotonbori and shinsaibashi (for shopping and food - you HAVE to get takoyaki), Umeda Sky Building, Osaka Station City (within Osaka station, plenty to buy and eat), Osaka Castle (not that fascinating but written in case). 

If you only go one place, go to Cosmo Tower!!! I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to sit up there and stare out at the sunset and the ocean, it’s very calming. Easily wins over the view you get from Tokyo Tower. 

Kyoto

A city known for its green tea, shrines and temples. If you don’t like these kinds of things you can feel free to skip but I feel like it’s definitely part of the Japan experience. 

Main sites in Kyoto: Kiyomizu-dera, Iwatayama Monkey Park, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Ryoanji (zen garden), Kinkakuji.

Nara

Won’t take you long here at all. The main site is the deer! Go buy some deer biscuits and try not to get mauled by deer lol.

Let me know how you go and hope this sort of helps!

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/health/the-most-talked-about-japanese-restaurants-of-chennai/

The Most Talked-About Japanese Restaurants Of Chennai

Highlights

Fuji’s interiors are minimalist – elegant, not opulent

Yakiniku rounds up popular Japanese dishes from different region

Pan Asian is one of the largest restaurants in any luxury hotel in India

There are preconceived notions that visitors form about a city even before they truly discover that city, and then there are better-informed opinions that are formed as you keep peeling layers of a city. Chennai is one city that is deceptive. Many visitors (and locals too) are quick to dismiss the city’s culinary scene as ‘not happening’. They’ve probably not made the effort to discover the many facets of the city’s F&B scene, including a range of options for Japanese cuisine. Not surprising, given that according to unofficial estimates, the city’s Japanese expatriate population is only second to Delhi in India. I’m partial to Japanese cuisine and I never run out of options in the city. This list combines standalone restaurants and fine dining restaurants in luxury hotels that serve Japanese cuisine:

Fuji

One of the best Japanese standalones in the city, Fuji’s interiors are minimalist – elegant, not opulent. There’s a section that offers traditional Japanese-style low seating. Fuji doesn’t skimp on ingredients or sourcing the right ingredients. It’s why their sushi and sashimi platters are top class. The menu doesn’t end here. You can also choose from a host of Agemono (deep-fried options). Their bento-style lunch plates are a great bet for first time visitors. 

Where: Chamiers Road, Nandanam

Fuji doesn’t skimp on ingredients or sourcing the right ingredients. It’s why their sushi and sashimi platters are top class.

  Hokkaido

Hokkaido takes its name from Japan’s northern-most island that is also one of the country’s most popular culinary hotspots. It’s walking distance from Fuji. That’s a good thing, given both these restaurants are packed during weekends – the constant stream of Japanese visitors is a testament to the authenticity of this restaurant. It’s easy to drive past this tiny restaurant with cramped interiors but their lunch platters more than make up. 

Where: Cenotaph Road, Teynampet 

Yakiniku, Hyatt Regency

Yakiniku is that rare pop-up restaurant in Chennai – this wasn’t originally designed to be a Japanese restaurant. Yakiniku loosely translates to grilled meat cuisine but there’s more than just meat on this compact menu. This dinner-only restaurant rounds up popular Japanese dishes from different regions, including a wide selection of sushi and Okonomiyaki – Japanese style savoury pancakes that are popular in and around Hiroshima. 

Where: Hyatt Regency, Anna Salai  

Yakiniku is that rare pop-up restaurant in Chennai – this wasn’t originally designed to be a Japanese restaurant.

  A2, the Park Chennai

Distress chic is the big design idea for the Park Chennai’s newest dining space. A ripped ceiling is one of the many standout design elements in this rooftop restaurant that also offers a selection of Japanese dishes and cocktails with bold Japanese notes. The Sushi rolls are among the best in Chennai and combine classic and new age options – the dynamite maki with jalapeno bits is a wicked twist. 

Where: The Park Chennai, Anna Salai

The Sushi rolls are among the best in Chennai and combine classic and new age options.

  Pan Asian, ITC Grand Chola

Pan Asian is one of the largest restaurants in any luxury hotel in India. My favourite design element is the ‘Temptation Walk’ that adds an element of intrigue even before you step into the restaurant. The Japanese selection is one of the highlights of the restaurant’s Pan Asian menu. You can watch the chefs carve Sashimi rolls with Japanese precision in the display kitchen. The fish flies in from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market – there’s probably no better fatty tuna anywhere in Chennai.

Where: ITC Grand Chola, Anna Salai, Guindy 

Pan Asian is one of the largest restaurants in any luxury hotel in India.

  Go Go Ramen

It’s been about half a decade since India’s first Ramen shop debuted in Chennai. The packed interiors might evoke images of a pokey noodle bar in Tokyo. The concise menu features Gyoza – Japanese style pan-fried dumplings – and Yakisoba. But it’s their Ramen bowls that are their biggest draw and has helped Go Go Ramen build a cult following with expatriates and local gourmands alike. 

Where: TTK Road, Alwarpet 

The city’s Japanese options also include Sushi in a Box, a casual Japanese eatery, and Sora Jima at Accord Metropolitan hotel that began as a true blue Japanese restaurant a few years ago, but tilts more towards fusion dishes that incorporate Indian flavours into quintessential Japanese dishes (like a chicken tikka sushi). Whether you need a Sushi platter for lunch or a multi-course Japanese meal for dinner, you will find your Japanese fix in Chennai.

Disclaimer:

The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

[yon-nyan]

The Shortcomings of Anime in 2017

Today, I decided to focus on my favourite pass-time (second to reading, of course): watching anime, but as I sat down to do it, I felt completely uninspired. This year has been a colossal titan of slumps and ruts, which has prevented me from enjoying many things that I normally turn to for fun and relaxation. Being able to watch anime definitely took a severe hit, but after deeper contemplation I have come to the realisation that the most logical reason behind my anime watching slumps have been the content that’s been available for 2017. Most of this year’s creations have been terrible and unpleasant, thus making it much easier for me to fall into an unintentional anime watching vacation.

I recently finished watching the first season of Inuyasha, which is a favourite of mine, however, it wasn’t always. While I remember having liked it very much upon my first watch-through, it wasn’t until this re-visit that I came to understand how much I love Inuyasha and why I love it so much. Long story short: it was fantastic in almost every single way. There’s great, consistent storytelling, amazing visuals that still hold up rather well, interesting and multi-faceted characters, and narratives within the series as a whole that could resonate with almost every sort of person on one level or another. It wasn’t a perfect series, most serials rarely are, but it was phenomenal and beautifully engaging. Modern anime sufficiently lacks many of the qualities that originally made me fall in love with the medium, qualities that can be found in a series like Inuyasha.

The 2017 seasons have mostly consisted of new additions to long-time familiars, and whatever new shows did sprout up, were laced with appalling tropes, poor storytelling, cringe-worthy humour, or it just focused so much on fan-service that it drowned out virtually everything else. While there are a few that have stood out and been remarkable, such as The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, March Comes in Like a Lion, Sakura Quest, and Tsuki ga Kirei, (and a couple others) most of them have been so disappointing that before I could realise what was happening, I had stopped watching them almost entirely.

Modern day anime caters more to the Western spheres and audiences rather than what works in Japan, and has worked there for many years. As this medium gains more popularity, spreading farther and farther to the corners of the world, the demand for genuine and consistently original content seems to have diminished in the face of common stereotypes. You would assume that the opposite affect would happen, but it didn’t. A lot of people who have grown to watch anime in the modern age, did so in the wake of shows like One Piece, Naruto, and shows revolving around musical idols. There’s nothing wrong with these if they float your fancy, but they aren’t the only things that this glorious medium has to offer. Originality, pure and intellectual creations of brilliance, are unwanted because then they’re too different from these mainstream titles.

Common tropes, usually dripping with moe, and over-the-top action are the preferred flavours. If a show isn’t following these tropes, then they result to absolutely ridiculous storytelling dynamics simply for the shock value and to say that it’s “different.” A perfect example of this is Elegant Yokai Apartment Life. It was a series that had the potential to resonate with feel-good vibes akin to Natsume’s Book of Friends, but instead progressed forward with some of the worst, what-the-fuck moments that I have ever seen. Most of it was a horrid mixture of lacklustre stereotypes and forced, incoherent jaw-droppers (that were more boring than anything else) that made it seem like even the writers didn’t know what to do with it.

Tsuki ga Kirei was a phenomenal series about awkward first romances around the pre-teen age that was genuine and honest. Yet a lot of people didn’t care for it because it didn’t have fan-service, or due to its slow progression (it’s very much a story-driven title). Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju is a masterful exploration of rakugo, or Japanese verbal storytelling. It’s quite an intricate and beautiful performing art. The series exhibits traditional Japanese culture, while examining how it’s a struggling art form in contemporary Japanese society. But it’s quite unknown in many circles because it’s not filled with tedious action sequences, and focuses too heavily on a concept that is very much alien to Western audiences.

Another example is Sakura Quest. This show is mostly popular due to the fact it has cute young women in it. However, when I try to discuss other parts of the series that really drew me into it, aspects unrelated to the ladies or other cutesy things, I lose whomever I’m speaking with. This show is a marvellous piece on how small towns in Japan struggle to survive, particularly where tourism is concerned, when compared to much larger metropolitan cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. It shows the audience how many old-time traditions that Japan was originally built upon are being squished out of existence, and how these small communities are faced with the difficulties of keeping their traditions and heritage alive. But no one wants to talk about this, not when this character has big breasts and this other one is moe incarnate.

Look, I love anime, I really fucking do. I’m wholeheartedly stoked that anime is becoming much more than just a strange hobby that weird nerds do in the basement. The medium has a lot to offer, both artistically and scientifically (computer science). As someone who has a deep-rooted passion for exceptional storytelling, I must say that anime has exposed me to plenty of the finest narratives that I’ve ever come across. Nonetheless, I don’t want to see popularity strangle the brilliant potential out of the medium. Tropes are great when utilised with originality and creativity, but we need those things to keep anime great: originality, creativity, thinking outside of the popular box, allowing it to be genuine and true to it’s source rather than burying it in Western influences–those kinds of things.

While I didn’t set out to rant about my disappointments with anime in 2017, I am glad that I did so. I’m also very glad that it all came straight from the heart because a conversation like this needs to be genuine and real. In 2018, while I shall be more reserved about the offerings, I’m also going to be really hopeful. This isn’t the first time that anime has lost its way in the crowd of recognition and celebrity, and I doubt it will be the last. Nevertheless, I trust that it will find its way back to the masterful and innovative storytelling as it has plenty of times before… and if it doesn’t… in the words of Spike, “Oh well, whatever happens, happens.”

[rosesvoyages]

When should you visit Japan?

The eternal question. There are obviously pros and cons to travelling to Japan at any time of year and having lived a whole year’s worth of seasons I would say each has their perks.  I have listed below my opinions for each season for your perusal in order of my preference for visiting:

1. Spring:

Average Temperature Tokyo:  Mar 9˚C Apr 14˚C May 18˚C

 I am not immune to the charms of spring in Japan.  I was sceptical before I lived there, what’s the big deal about blossom trees, I thought? Spring begins with the plum blossoms in early March, the smaller and less glamorous cousins of the cherry blossoms. Then the sakura come into bloom in late March, unmissable, in your face, every tree seemingly is a cheery cherry blossom.  There is a forecast of how the cherry blossom front moves throughout Japan from numerous sources including here.  I fell in love with cherry blossom and I always love to see them.  They are spectacular and so many themed goods are also available. Every food is sakura flavoured, including coffees and a carnival atmosphere descends on uptight Japanese society.  Public drinking in parks is the norm, everyone goes to hanami (blossom viewing) and in general it is a lovely time to visit.

I would say, temperatures can be fairly bracing.  Whilst nowhere near as bitterly cold as winter, a jacket is still required and it can often be quite rainy.  The other main con is the constant tourists who clog up the sites and drive up the prices. Flights are about £100-£200 more than usual during this period.  Just after sakura season (i.e. 8th-22nd April) is normally a nice time to travel, you can still catch the end of the blossoms, much more impressive than the beginning and all the themed goods.  The weather is getting slightly warmer, around 14˚C each day in Tokyo, and I find it better than the rush of the final week of March/first week of April.

2. Autumn:

Average Temperature Tokyo: Sep 23˚C Oct 18˚C Nov 12˚C

 Second best is Autumn. Little known by comparison to Sakura is Momiji or Koyo.  Domestically, the red leaves of autumn are almost as popular as the cherry blossoms.  Resplendent, and let’s face it a more mature colour pallet for us all to get behind, the russets, golds and oranges of autumn are a wonderful backdrop to view Japan.  The weather is often more pleasant to go sightseeing in than the more extreme seasons of summer and winter.  September is what I as an English woman would call summer weather, and even October is still warm.  There is also Momiji themed food and other cute items to buy so I think it is a firm second place season.

A con of travelling in autumn is that you may think it would be boring.  Red leaves are not that interesting, although they are very impressive in Japan.  It may lack the extreme wow factor held by the other months, although I do believe taking all things into account this is a real contender and a dark horse. Sometimes, it can be rainy and November starts to get a little frosty and grey.

3. Winter:

Average Temperature Tokyo: Dec 8 ˚C Jan 5˚C Feb 6˚C

 Now I must say it is a tossup between winter and summer for me and my ‘third favourite’ season to visit. Winter has won this position simply because of the quaint charm and festive period.  There is warming foods such as oden (boiled goods soups).  If you think of Japan in winter one famous image is the snow macaque monkeys bathing in hot springs.  This is viewable all year round in Jigokudani, near Nagano about 4 hours outside of Tokyo, although there is something special about the idea of snow monkeys!  Japan is very picturesque and snow certainly shows it off.  There is the famous Sapporo Snow Festival where giant snow sculptures are exhibited if you fancy travelling as far north as Hokkaido.  Of course there is also skiing, if you’re into that. Christmas in Japan is purely aesthetic and consumerist, with KFC being the traditional Christmas meal for most, so that is a fun culture shock if you fancy spending that period abroad.  New Year’s is more comparable to a western Christmas idea and is a family and religious celebration.  Oshougatsu as it is called in Japanese is also the time for lucky bags (pot luck discount bags from shops) and mass sales.

Cons include the bitter, bitter cold weather.  Japan certainly gets cold in winter and in metropolitan areas it may not snow that much. When it does snow it may mean that the usually very good transport system can shut down and of course getting around can be less pleasant by foot with ice and slush on the ground.  Traditional Japanese buildings can be badly insulated.

4. Summer:

Average Temperature Tokyo: Jun 21˚C Jul 25˚C Aug 26˚C

 Summer is a joyous time in Japan.  There are frequent matsuri or festivals, meaning that there are firework displays and yukata (summer kimonos) almost every day.  There is more or less constant sunshine so sightseeing need not be impeded by bad weather.  Every building will have air con to help you relax in the heat.  Japan has many beaches and whilst it may not strike one as the obvious place to go for bikini sessions, why not take a refreshing swim in the sea or a lake to keep cool in the summer?!

The biggest problem is the extreme heat and humidity.  I have never known anything like it, although I am a heat wuss.  It is often too hot to move around and so seeing things outside a building can be unpleasant.  Obviously, the solution is to take constant breaks for drinks and stay hydrated, so it is not an insurmountable problem!  In August there is also Obon, a big Japanese festival which involves everyone travelling biblical style back to their home towns, so check ahead to ensure you don’t get caught in the melee.  A note for foreigners, shoulders should be covered to be respectful and it is very common to see Japanese women, despite the extreme heat wearing t shirts under their outfits to keep modest!

[yipocuyi-blog]

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