After going to Tokyo Disneyland earlier this year, I
knew I had to experience the other side of Japanese theme parks, Universal.
What better time to do this than during October, when all the cuteness was
juxtaposed by zombies roaming the streets after 6pm. Since one side of Kohei’s
family lives in nearby Kishiwada, this trip really did kill two birds with one
stone (with me being one of the birds absolutely flapping about meeting the
fam).
USJ was more than I could have expected,
especially after visiting Universal in America so many times. The atmosphere is
really amplified with everyone dressing in costumes just like they do at Disney,
so of course I jumped on the bandwagon. I have to say I was pretty impressed
with our DIY Cookie Monster and cookie costumes, which so many people
complemented and I made the night before our trip. I’ve got no idea where this
wave of artistic talent has come from, but I’m praying it lasts until Halloween
so I don’t look like a complete knob in my planned outfit.
Being the big child I am I was more interested in
the whole Minion aspect more than anything else, and was thrilled to find even
the minion meat buns were Halloween themed too. Who needs to go to Harry Potter
and battle the crowds when you can see hundreds of cute kids running around
dressed like Minions.
In Osaka we made a quick visit to a reptile café,
which had so many it was hard to choose which one to hold. All I wanted was to
hold a chameleon, but guess whose day off it was. Despite being a little bitter
about that (come on, have you seen how cute a chameleons hands are?) I got to
hold this thing. I don’t even know what animal it is, but oh my god I need one.
On the Sunday, Kohei and I ventured into Kyoto to
visit a pug café which was frankly the most relaxing experience of my life. The
puppies were even wearing nappies and I think Kohei’s developed a new found
love for small dogs. That being said, no pug can replace Mimi Hattori in my
life, even if little Yuzu-chan in her nappy came close.
Meeting Kohei’s family and friends was super
overwhelming at times, especially with me being sick combined with their
Osaka-ben Japanese, but overall I think it went well. I got gifted so much
omiyage for my return, a bunch of oranges from Wakayama prefecture where his
dad visited during our trip, and his auntie even messages me on LINE now.
Despite
scaring his step-sister into oblivion when she woke up to see me in the
kitchen, I think I made an impression on the little 2 year old munchkin. We’re
going to be best friends when I see her again, especially after I taught her
how to make animal noises in English and she taught me to “nyan nyan” like a
cat.
