Movie Outing & Birthday Dinner

Short note: I was asked by a promoter at Jusco yesterday, whether I am mixed. I said no, and he asked me if I am a Japanese. Again I said no, but I should have told him I am an alien haha. Anyway, it is weird, because there has never been a Japanese who thought I am a Japanese. The closest call was by Mich, who thought I looked like an Indian when she first saw my picture =.=

It was a three-day holidays again this weekend, as today is a public holiday to mark the Labour Thanksgiving Day in Japan. Left with not much things to do (to be honest, I would say nothing at all lol), I went out for an movie outing. Back in the olden days (actually not too far distance back, just a couple of years ago only haha), Nagaoka didn't have any cinemas. I still remember we used to take a thirty-minute train ride to the nearest town in Sanjo to watch movies. My first movie in Japan was Transformers, but I fell asleep halfway watching that movie haha. That is one of the main reason why I rarely see any movies nowadays.

Since last year however, there is this new cinema, built just next to a relatively new shopping mall - Riverside Senshu Apita.

It might not as big as Midvalley, but still better than nothing.

Watching movie in Japan require you to make huge investment. The reason is because on average, it would cost you 1,800yen (RM60) per movie. With a student ID, it is slightly cheaper at 1,500yen (RM50). You can actually get an even cheaper price at 1,000yen (RM30) but unless you are ready to call yourself a senior citizen, that you can forget about getting that price haha.

I know I shouldn't make a direct conversion here, but it is still expensive, right?

I see more elderly people watch movies in Japan, compared to Malaysia.

Michael Jackson's "This Is It" was extended until November 27th.

Unlike the system back home, here you get your number first.

You wait at the lobby until your number are called for ticket purchase at the counter.

The spacious space equipped with sofa for people to wait for their turns.

There are ten screens in this cinema.

I was rushing for my movie, so I just got my ticket at the ticket machine.

Ohh, did I mention that I watched not one, but two movies in one day. Sounds crazy, which I feel it is quite unbelievable myself because usually, I will sleep halfway when watching movies in the cinema haha.

The first thing that Mich asked me after my movie was, "Did you sleep??" haha.

2012.

Got into a much bigger Golden Theater for the second movie.

The second one was the much-hyped "2012". I don't understand why people are saying it is a great movie, because I personally feel it was average. Like Wee Kien said, the storyline was boring and too predictable, which I have expected even before I watch this kind of end-of-the-world movies. The graphics was okay, but to see how the heros in the movie managed to escape every time is kinda fake. Perhaps my standard is too high, or I don't know how to appreciate movies. Given a choice, I would say "This Is It" is better than "2012".

As usual, the Japanese remained in the cinema until the credits ended. It is definitely one of the obvious difference compared to the audience in Malaysia, when we would exit the cinema once the show is over. I guess the Japanese just wanna make the money they paid totally worthwhile.

I was Skyping with my Mom last night, and she also just watched "2012" a few days back. When I told her what I think of the movie, she told me it was a great movie and when the movie reaches its climax with action part, she was so into the movie that she was shouting "Faster! Run faster!" to the people in the movie haha. And another thing was, she even cried halfway through the movie haha. Okay-lah, I admit I felt touched and emo-ed a bit at the ending part too, when they managed to close the ark's tailgate.

Lunch time.

In between my two movies, I had my lunch at 五頭の山茂登 (Gozu-no Yamamotou), a restaurant which specialises in traditional Japanese rice dish cooked in an iron pot, better known as 釜飯 (kamameshi).

One thing special about this restaurant is that the customers have to remove their shoes before entering the restaurant. As far as I could remember, I have never been to such restaurant before, if you exclude those restaurants with 和室 (washitsu) or Japanese-style rooms.

The restaurant has a smooth wooden floor.

It was lunch time and it was almost full house.

Different kinds of kamameshi, depending on what ingredients you prefer.

A guide on how to eat kamameshi the right way to optimise its taste.

I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone who is not ready to wait until the order is served. I was made to wait for more than twenty-minutes until my 五目釜飯 (Gomoku-kamameshi) was served. Another thing is that kamameshi might not suit the taste bud of people who are not used to food with plain taste.

The reason I came to this restaurant is just to try how kamameshi taste like, as it is one of the dish often associated to Nagaoka.

五目釜飯 (Gomoku-kamameshi), served with miso soup and side dishes like pickles.

The rice is a mixture of a few kinds of wild vegetables with prawns and salmon.

By the time I finished my second movie, I joined the rest to have our buffet-dinner at Global Baiking. This is my first time coming to this restaurant after more than two years in Nagaoka.

This gathering was to celebrate the 22nd birthday for the birthday boy, Shah.

The food were all placed under green roofs which make them look like stalls.

Gyoza, potato wedges, fried chicken, sausages.

Ebi fry, takoyaki, yakitori, apple pie.

Meats ready to be grilled.

Baby octopus, squid, scallops.

Chao tar scallops haha.

Strawberry and cheese cake.

Poor ice-cream, which I didn't manage to finish them haha.

Time for some pictures. First up would be the birthday boy, who was busy the whole night catching up with the millions of phone calls that came haha.

Muka ganas a.k.a. birthday boy haha.

Muka tengah makan halfway lol.

Senior and junior from Penang.

I don't know why the birthday boy was the only one who didn't look at the camera.

But if there is one picture that I would vote as the picture of the day, it would be this one.

Wrong finger-lah, Hong Yao.

Paiseh-har, I forgot to censor this picture.

Sanpuru

Short note: 「チンチン好吗？」と日本人のクラスメートに話しかけられちゃった。
Greeted by my Japanese classmate, who took Mandarin as his optional subject - "How is your [insert that body part]?"

Sanpuru is the Japanese version of the word "sample", which refers to the plastic food display which you see so often in front of the restaurants in Japan. Perhaps it is not a trend in the restaurants, including the Japanese restaurant in Malaysia, to have a set of plastic food displayed at the entrance of the restaurants, but it is a very common sight here in Japan. Maybe one day, we also can have our own nasi lemak and char koey teow which are made from plastic to be displayed in front of the stalls.

These sanpuru shops can be found along the Kappabashi Street, which is located in between Ueno and Asakusa in Tokyo.

No, no, no. A sanpuru shop doesn't sell this huge pig haha.

So, what exactly can you find in a sanpuru shop? Since it came from the word "sample", you might guessed that these shops sells sample food stuff. But no, that is not what exactly sanpuru shops sell. To make this a simple entry, I will not write much, just pictures taken from a couple of these shops.

Entrance to the shop.

Big lobsters are not for sale haha.

Colourful sushi. They call this nigiri sushi (握り寿司).

This would be temaki zushi (手巻き寿司).

Onigiri with different kinds of filling.

Various kinds of ramen.

Meats for yakiniku and other common Japanese dishes.

Ebi tenpura.

Grilled fishes.

These plastic food are made to look so real that sometimes I thought the food displayed in restaurants are real. But they are quite pricey at the same time. Some were made into little key chains and magnets to be sold as souvenirs. There are also some other shops which sells plastic bento sets and I bet those stuff look even cuter. Too bad it was a Sunday and most shops are usually closed on the day. Maybe I will go there again one day.

Mich suggested that I get a whole set of the food from this shops so that we would not have to cook everyday in the future. Just buy these plastic food and put them on the table every time it is eating time. Save time and cost haha.

Cakes and buns.

Pizzas and breads.

Breads.

Beers, which look really real.

Ice creams.

Fruits. No durians though.

Vegetables.

Of so many stuff displayed there, I was only interested on one thing.

Japanese curry rice and of course, naan!

Don't you feel like taking a bite on the naan haha.