23 March -
Feeling - not good/great
Weather - forgot (**)

9:00 a.m.
Got the mail from the official page of [Hotel Venus] that due to the success of the movie, they decided to hold several film premieres for fans all over Japan in the coming weekend.  No, no, too hurry.  Besides, they started selling the tickets right after the notice was announced, it was too rush to find the friend in Tokyo for help, aiya......  Totoro found that there will be premieres at Osaka, so called Ah Q at once.  "It's impossible, too rush."  But Totoro could not clam down at all.

1:00 p.m.
Checked the internet during lunch time, knowing that someone was selling the tickets on net, so called Ah Q again.  "Ok, now you check if there is any flight with the travel agent.  If there is, go, or else, you even cannot go to sleep."

Called the travel agent right the way.  "Sure there are seats available."  There are many flights flying to Tokyo everyday, lucky!  But Totoro had to confirm at once due to time constrain.  At that moment, Totoro heard the theme song of [Hotel Venus] through the phone, from the HK radio.  Did it mean.....?!

Therefore, Totoro decided to go to Tokyo, Japan, on Friday just within 10 minutes.

Ah Q did not go with Totoro, but she reminded, "go to watch [Hotel Venus] again at your spare time, we still have the pre sale tickets."  Totoro called Dull and forced her to give me the tickets (thought that she would not have the chance to watch again, cunning Totoro), Dull said that she would like to go too, cause last time she did not go to the premiere.....

9:00 p.m.
Totoro told the friend on icq, "I am going to Tokyo on Friday."  "You are kidding?"  "No, I am serious this time." "You go crazy!"  "Yes, two of us!"
 

24 March
Feeling - good
Weather - still did not remember (**)

10:00 a.m.
Called the agent to confirm the flight.  Ah Q called and said that Ah Den (living in Osaka) would go to Umeta to buy the tickets, asked if Totoro will go?  "Possibly not, cause have to hurry to Osaka."  "If there is ticket?"  "Um..."
 

25 March
Feeling - very tense and excited all day
Weather - raining (remember eventually)

8:30 a.m.
When and where the film premieres at Kansai area, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, will be held, will announce through the official page by 10:00 a.m. (Japanese time).  We should help Ah Den, we thought that the cinema at Umeta would be the place for the premiere, as it is the largest.  We asked Ah Den to go to Umeta early in the morning, once we got the information from the page, we would call her.  So Totoro came back to the office earlier than usual.

9:00 a.m.
Bingo! The Umeta cinema! and..... and? Kishiwada (where is it?) and Kobe!  Called Ah Den at once, she said that there was a queue, but she could buy the tickets.  Ah Q called, "so, will you go to Osaka?"  "Yes for sure, since can get the tickets!"  Totoro yelled.  Hahahaha! See! Who said that "I have to think?"   So had to check the way to go from Tokyo to Osaka at once!

Ah Q said, "Tsuyoshi's schedule is really tight!  For Saturday, 8:30 a.m. & 11:15 a.m. at Umeta,  around 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. at Kishiwada, 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. at Kobe.  Then on Sunday, starting 8:30 a.m. at Hiroshima, then go to 2 different cinemas at Hiroshima, then head to Fukuoka and go to 3 more different cinemas.  Really harsh, but to the fans, really a big gift to them!"

10:30 a.m.
Ah Q said that Ah Den bought the tickets at Umeta, but failed to buy again.  On the other hand, she decided to go to Kishiwada.  Kishiwada is at the country side of Osaka, near the Kansai airport, taking about an hour from Osaka.  So we can try to buy the tickets at 3:00 p.m., but impossible to take the earlier one.  So do the Kobe ones, too far away for us.

1:00 p.m.
Ah Den called and said that she successfully bought the tickets for 3:00 p.m. at Kishiwada, great!  So Totoro must find the transportation from Tokyo to Osaka at once.  Had thought of going to Hiroshima before going back to Hong Kong (cause already bought the air ticket, could not change the destination and date, or else..... change to Monday and follow Tsuyoshi for the whole trip!  Haha!)  But it is really too rush and too crazy, and should concentrate on finding the transportation between Tokyo and Osaka.

Mei agreed to buy the tickets (bus or train) for us.

8:00 p.m.
Met Ah Q and Ah Dull in the forest (though Ah Q did not go, she is our tour guide for this trip).  Mei in Japan told Totoro that all the bus or train tickets to Osaka were sold out, only the most expensive JR Nozomi was available.  "Ok, let's be a big spender, we had already got the tickets, we could not retreat."  Mei said, "maybe Tsuyoshi also take the JR to Osaka on Friday night too."  "But he can take the earliest JR in Saturday morning."  " But if he goes on Friday night, he can take a rest and do not have to wake up early in the morning."  She had the point.  But we did not know the time he will take.  Mei bought us the Nozomi at around 9:30 p.m., after the Tokyo premiere.

Called Ah Den again and asked her to buy the night bus from Osaka back to Tokyo for us (the cost is nearly half of Nozomi), and we found tickets for the 8:30 a.m., need Ah Den to contact the seller and arranged payment for us, cause we had to go on the plane early next morning.

Ah Q reminded us to watch Quill too.

1:00 a.m.
Could not go to sleep at all, still very tense and worried about the tickets for Osaka.
 

26 March
Feeling/weather - good ^^

7:30 a.m.
Met Ah Dull at the airport and started our [Hotel Venus] trip.

4:30 p.m.
Wait Mei at Shibashi but she was still at home.  Ah Dull suggested to go to Fuji TV to take a photo of the [Boku II] giant poster.  However, the posters were replaced by the new one.....

5:30 p.m.
Met Mei at Yurakucho, Mei helped us a lot for the premiere tickets and the Nozomi one.

7:15 p.m.
The premiere at Tokyo started.  Tsuyoshi wore a set of leather like jacket and trousers, grey-blue in colour, kakkoii!  But he looked a bit tired.  He thanked the audience for watching the movie and the movie will extend the time of showing.  The host asked which part he like and he said the watching clothes with Sai.  He reminded us to send e-mails to friends and asked them to watch Hotel Venus too.

After Tsuyoshi left, we left too, we had to take the JR.

8:30 p.m.
Totoro did not forget the chance that Tsuyoshi might take Nozomi to Osaka, we arrived at Tokyo Station early.  But baga Totoro forgot to check the time table, we just went to the platform where ours would start, we thought that the earlier one was on the same platform, but the one was going to Nagoya, so we could only say, "no luck."  'Miracle" did happen, after the Nagoya train left, right in front of us, the opposite platform, we saw "Nozomi, Osaka".  "Kidding!" we rushed downstairs to the platform, and "bingo", we saw the security guides standing at the doors of the first class, and two curtains were pulled down, and we saw some fans (around 10) standing at the platform.  We peep into the train and saw Tsuyoshi, who was looking around.  The train left on time~

Baga! Baga! If Totoro remembered to check the time table~~~~

But, this was the Bonus!

9:15 p.m.
Our train started.  Totoro called Ah Den and asked her to go to Osaka Station, and told Mei that she was so correct.  Then had a really sweet dream in the train.

11:30 p.m.
The train arrived at Osaka on time, Totoro and Ah Dull had to find the hotel booked on internet.  We are not familiar with Osaka, so spending nearly an hour to find the hotel, then called Ah Den to confirm the schedule of tomorrow.....

While walking along the streets in Osaka, Totoro said, "I cannot believe that I am in Osaka now, cause I was still in Tokyo 3 hours ago!"
 

27 March
Feeling/weather - sure great ^^

7:00 a.m.
Went to the station to lock our bags first, then headed to the cinema and met Ah Den.

8:30 a.m.
The first show started, each of us got a flower in that movie.  We started watching Hotel Venus, the 4th time for Totoro.  Out of my expectation, Totoro did not fall asleep at all, though Totoro did not sleep well for the past two nights.  (Should Totoro be proud of this? Baga!)

10:45 a.m.
The first premiere at Osaka started.  There were 3 mic stands?  One was set quite low.  "Will that for Sai? (the girl in the movie)"  Ah, the senior manager of SMAP and the producer of Kansai TV were there too.

Tsuyoshi went out, looking great, wearing a light blue/white jacket and his jeans, kakkoii!

What he said was really "official", i.e. sending e-mails to your friends, which part he like...etc.  The host asked him to dance a bit for us..... actually he failed and he laughed.  So kawaii.  (haha, yes, we are blinded!)

"Today we have a special guest."  The host said.  Rin-chan went out with a bunch of flowers!  Sure Tetsuro papa knew that in advance.  The audience went crazy and showed "kawaii Rin-chan".  "My clothes are of the Hotel Venus blue tone."  "Is Kusanagi-san a good father?"  "Yes, he is a nice person."  And Tsuyoshi laughed happily at the side.

11:00 a.m.
The first premiere ended, we rushed out to queue for the second show, and we were not the only one went out.... sure.

11:15 a.m.
There were several cameras setting at the back, with reporters too.  Other than the mic stands set before, one more was set. Who will be coming?  The producer?  Again, surprise!  It was Quill, the dog!  The director of the movie "Quill" went out with Quill, they had the premiere downstairs, so they went here.  Tsuyoshi played with Quill and Quill was so happy and jumped.

When Rin-chan came out, she had to pass by Quill, she was a bit afraid of Quill (Quill was big compared to Rin-chan, haha).  So Tsuyoshi protected her.  Actually Quill was an obedient dog, he just looked at Rin-chan with his tail shaking happily!  Oops, so you know who Totoro was looking at at that moment?  Heehee....

Did not remember what they were talking, Tsuyoshi said, "Me, as the father, and my daughter Rin-chan...."  "and me, the grand-father."  The director suddenly said.  Haha, funny director.

During the photo section, they all looked at the right side, while Quill was still looking at the left side, so Rin-chan tried to get his notice, haha, kawaii!

Tsuyoshi held Rin-chan so tight, and taught her to make the Cho Nan post.  Didn't know if Rin-chan go to play at Osaka?

Totoro was cho-happy at that moment, first Rin-chan, then Quill!  Totoro told Ah Den, "I don't know if I should look at Quill, or Tsuyoshi?"  Ah Den nearly fainted at once!

11:45 a.m.
In order to catch the 3:00 p.m. premiere at Kishiwada, we left the cinema at once.  Many fans crowded at the entrance of the car park, they were waiting for Tsuyoshi?  Sure we waited.  However, after around 30 minutes, a staff said, "Kusanagi-san has left already."  The crowd dispersed, but would that be a trick?  So we decided to wait for a bit more and took some photos outside the cinema.

The director of Kansai TV came to us, "can we ask you some questions about the movie?"  "But we are not Japanese."  Ah Den told him.  "We are from Hong Kong."  Totoro said.  The director's face turned pale at once, "that's ok then."  We teased, "that's ok, cause maybe though they interviewed us, when checking the clips, 'oh, this Totoro is too big on the screen, cut this out', haha!"

We headed to Kishiwada then.

1:00 p.m.
We had our lunch and then went to the cinema.  That Kansai TV crew was at the entrance and when they saw us..... "Ha? Them again?" told from the face of the director, heehee.....

3:00 p.m.
The forth premiere in Osaka, our third, started.  Cause the cinema is quite far from the city, only Tsuyoshi came, Rin-chan did not show up.  The premiere only longed for 10 minutes.

6:00 p.m.
We were shopping at Nanbo area, and went to karaok.  The children version of "hana" is really cute.  Singing "Toilet paper man" is not easy, the lyric goes fast, sugoi Nakai!  We found the song sang by Shingo in 1996, a Takashi song, a very good song.

8:00 p.m.
Had a feast in a 1,200 yens all you can eat sushi shop!

10:00 p.m.
Say "bye" to Ah Den and went to Osaka Station for the night bus.

11:35 p.m.
The bus moved, this was the first time Totoro took the night bus, quite fun.  Eventually we left Osaka after 24 hours!  Totoro did think, Tsuyoshi should have been to Hiroshima at that moment, cause he had to go to a premiere early next day, hope he had a good sleep.
 

28 March -
Feeling - a bit lost, cause could not see Tsuyoshi today
Weather - sunny/warm

7:35 a.m.
The bus arrived at Shinjuku on time.  Went to Ueno to lock the bags (a bit heavy after buying some magazines), then went to Yurakucho to watch Quill.

9:00 a.m.
So nice that Ah Dull also watched Quill, Totoro went crazy when seeing those souvenirs for Quill.

Quill is a very touching film.  Totoro started crying right in the middle of the movie.  If Hong Kong shows this movie, Totoro must go again!

11:00 a.m.
Always think of the road at Tatsumi, and if the sakura blossom it will be beautiful!  So paid a visit again!  Wah!  Totally different from what we saw last time!  People all over here and there, cause the sakura blossom.  Besides, Mei said that it rained all the week before, started sunny on Saturday, so the Japanese all went out, especially on Sunday.

They held various kind of parties under the sakura, really fun.  And there are many little food stores on the two sides of the road, just like a carnival.  Really a big different compared to 3 weeks ago.....

The road with sakura is really not the same!

1:00 p.m.
We went to Asakusa to find the famous eel shop (introduced by Dochi cooking).

5:00 p.m.
Arrived at Narita International Airport, our tight and crazy [Hotel Venus] trip ended again.
 
 

Special thanks:-

Mei in Japan  - Thanks for buying the Tokyo premiere tickets for us.
                           Thanks for buying the Nozomi tickets for us, especially you were still working.
                           And delivery the tickets to us at Yurakucho, thanks!
                           Ah! must thanks again for your advise to take Nozomi, so we had a glance at Tsuyoshi!

Ah Den - Thanks for going both to Umeta and Kishiwada to buy the tickets,
                 so that we can see "nama Tsuyoshi" three times within 1 day!
                Thanks for arranging the tickets for us, and
                Accompany us to play around at Osaka.

Ah Dull - Thanks for accompany Totoro.

Ah Q - Please accept my deepest thanks cause though you did not go,
            you helped us a lot in finding relevant information, advising us what to do...etc.
            And helped us in contacting Ah Den on Friday and Saturday.

Tsuyoshi -
It is you, who let Totoro make a decision just within 10 minutes.  Right or wrong?  Sure is right!
It is you, who let Totoro fly from Hong Kong to Tokyo then to Osaka just within 1 day,
              take the JR and take the night bus, adding valuable experience to my journey.
It is you, who let Totoro see Rin-chan and Quill (haha!)
Because of you, Totoro always have a WONDERFUL LIFE!

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY TOTORO 2004
 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY TOTORO 2004