Alice in Wonderland restaurant

There's a lot of theme restaurants and bars in Tokyo and this time I finally tried one of the Alice in wonderland restaurants!
I've seen pictures and read about it, but I had not yet got myself there until now. There are seven of them in Japan, including the ones in Nagoya and Osaka. In Tokyo however they are located in Shibuya, Ginza, Ikebukuro and then two in Shinjuku. Everone of them looks different and has a individual name, I went to the one in Shibuya called Alice in a dancing land.

 The menu was inside a bick clock, and it acctually worked!

Of course these restaurants go all in the theme, the staff is dressed as characters (we were led in by the Mad hatter) or just in costumes to match the story. Also, our appetizer came with a tiny card, saying "eat me", and when the waitress arrived with it she told us that we should be careful because it might make us bigger (like in the story!).
About the food, you can get a whole menu, which lasts for tw or three hours, or you can just order seperate dishes or smaller menus, which I did. Me and my friend did one of the smaller menus, including an appetizer, main dish and dessert. They had various drinks and also original cocktails, so I decided to try the Cheshire cat drink. My menu was as below!

It's not that visible in the picture, but the drink acctually glowed, no idea how that worked...

 Appetizer, buttery bicuits with soup.

 Avocado and salmon sallad, green sallad and chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce.

Pasta with shrimps and vegetables.

When we arrived, we also got bunny ears to put on, white or black. I was acctually suprised that the food was as good as it was. I didn't have any high expectations at all, concidering I assumed you paid for the experience more than the food. In the background they played Disney music, made me feel very nostalgic. Since all of the restaurants have different interior and style it's an experience just sitting there and enjoying it. For example, at this restaurant they have a merry go round, in which the tables are located.

After we paid our bill and was about to leave, our waitress arrived with a bag of tea, saying we should drink this to get to our normal size again. Some might think this kind of roleplay is silly, but I absolutely love it! That's one of the things which is so amazing about Tokyo, you can find anything here. The staff was very kind, when we were leaving the Mad hatter saw that we were taking picture in front of one of the cards, so he helped us getting a picture together!

I don't acctually remember the total I paid but I believe it was somewhere around 3500-4000 yen, which it was totally worth! They have a table fee of 500yen each, be aware. Reservations can be made through their webpage, but you have to have a Japanese cellphone. However it wasn't crowded at all when I went (around 18.30 on a weekday).

Check them out!
http://alice-restaurant.com/

HIZAKI Birthday Live 「Elizabeth」

I've realised that I'm not keeping up very good with updating here. I'm doing awesome things all the time and yet I never find the time to write about it. This entry is dedicated to the Hizaki solo gig on the 17th at Shibuya Rex!
I wasn't sure if I was going to go to this gig acctually. I was tempted since I really liked Hizaki's solo album Rosario but then again, I'm not a huge fan and I'm not rich so I thought about not going until when I went to Family Mart to pick up my Schwarz Stein ticket. For those who don't know, Family Mart offers a ticket service by using their machines, the Fami Port. You can search for tickets, or pay or pick them up. I was going to pick mine up, but this time it was a bit different and I had the wrong code, so I never got the Schwarz Stein tickets. However, being an awkward person I felt weird going in, especially since the machine at this store was right infront of the register, without getting anything. So I ended up buying a concert ticket! (Yeah I know it sounds stupid).
I felt kind of bad about it, even until the day of the gig, especially since my ticket number was kind of bad (C :P), but now I certainly don't regret it!

I got there right after school, and I had not been at Shibuya Rex for quite some time so I felt a bit nervous about finding my way, I really don't want to get lost, I have the worst sense of direction. I did find it, and I even saw the people who sat next to me at the Versailles concert! (Not that I talked to them, the guy next to me stared at me like I was an alien, I just remember him because he looked like hide). I assumed Rex would be all full and I'd stand in the back concidering my number, but oh no. Most people stood in the back and either the ticket's were limited in numbers or some people never showed up because I can't believe that I had a C ticket and the club was that "empty" when I got in. I checked the merch and they sold some photosets, a pamphlet, Rosario of course, clearfiles and then they had this paper in yellow stating 1000yen and then lots of Japanese. I began reading what I could read and finally I understood that you could pay 1000 yen to take a cheki with Hizaki! I got so excited because I've never been to a gig where they offer that, usually it's limited to either fanclub or instore events. Not a huge fan, but Hizaki's been with me since high school so obviously I wanted a cheki with him! I didn't quite get when and how this would happen, so I went to buy something thinking I could ask the woman at the merch table. Before me however was another foreigner, who did not speak Japanese, so they tried to tell her the rules in some simple Japanese/English, and I finally understood that everyone was welcome to participate and that you'd pay after the gig and also take the photo then.

The gig was a bit late, but hey most are. Hizaki and the support members got on stage while Elizabeth was playing, and I really love that song so I got so excited! Hizaki was really pretty, he wore the Rosario dress (same as the one he has on the photoset below) but with another hairstyle. He basically played all of Rosario except for Presto, and I really got to appreciate songs that I haven't payed that much attention to while listening to the cd, such as Silent Knight and Church Candle. Seeing Hizaki play in itself is an event. I really admire how awesome he is at it, he is so skilled! Seeing him play live was such an experience, it was great to see how carefully he plays to get certain sounds and how many different techniques he really uses! As a special guest for the day of honour, being his birthday event, Teru joined in and played with Hizaki for a couple of songs. I thought there would be even more people there especially since Teru would be a guest, I mean if Versailles could play Budoukan, how could not more people come when two of the members play a smaller venue?
Anyway, Hizaki did some MC inbetween and at one point they talked about the previous touring in Europe and said it was nice to be back, and then Hizaki pointed out that there was a lot of foreigners in the audience today, so he said welcome to Japan in English X). I didn't really notice until later that there was A LOT of foreigners, perhaps many came to Japan just for the Versailles concert? Also Zin came in on stage with a tiny cake and some flowers for Hizaki. It was kind of funny, because at first I didn't see it was him, I don't listen to Jupiter so I don't keep up with his looks, also he wasn't in costume. Hizaki pointed that out as well, how different he looks without make up.
Before the gig a fan handed out those crackers which explode into strips of paper (no idea what they're called), I was kind of suprised but it was a cute gesture I think. Well, by the time for the cake and flowers we all used those, I was unfortunatley a bit late, hehe. One fun surprise was that Hizaki acctually played a cover of Sara Brightman's Time to say goodbye! He said it was the first time he did it, and it was really nice made as a guitarcover.
When the gig was over it was time to wait for the staff to start the cheki taking. Basically we just waited until everyone had left the floor, so we who wanted to have a photo with Hizaki got to wait in line outside. I was a bit late so I ended up outside for real, and it was cold :P When I got into the club again I saw that they had put up some walls to create a more private space and I could spot Hizaki in there. You were allowed to take several pictures and you could also pose with his guitar! When it was my turn I wished him happy birthday and I decided to just have the photo taken with him, so I had my arm around his waist and he acctually got close enough so that our heads met X) I sort of expected him to be a bit reserved so I wasn't sure I could even tough him but he was totally fine with it. I got my picture and left. The sad thing about polaroid pictures is that they develope slow, I went to pick up my stuff and when I look at it I notice that I closed my eyes! How could I f** do that, I get 1 photo with Hizaki and I'm not even looking!!! XD I'm so pissed at myself.

I had a very nice evening though, and I'm super happy I went! I'm really looking forward to the live DVD he'll be releasing and also future albums! (he mentioned a mini album) Might not be able to see him live again though, since I'm working on getting my ass to that Schwarz Stein/Közi gig in June X)