December 01, 2012

Japan Outfit #3 + Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park

The side-trip that we included on our Japan trip was to the Mount Fuji area, but our main objective was not to see the famous mountain, no. Our main destination was the less famous and underrated Theme Park... Fuji-Q Highland!!

By the way, we spent 2 nights at West Inn Fujiyoshida which is very closed to the theme park (15 mins walk) — very recommended! The photos and complete information of the hotel will be posted later.

On the way to Fujikyu Highland.
Fuji-Q (Fujikyu) Highland is an amusement park located in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan. The theme park is near the base of the famous Mount Fuji.

This is the place for you if you love rides and roller-coasters rather than the attractions of say, Disneyland or Disney Sea.

The main entrance that was already decorated in Christmas theme♡
Inside the souvenir shop. Thumbs up for the packaging!
A cute One Piece key/phone strap Jess bought at the shop which has her birthdate on it.
We arrived at around 10am so the queue was not that crowded. Another win point if you stay at our hotel is you can buy the ticket first at the front office so you can save much time! Nevertheless, you can still enjoy queuing here as they provide WI-FI!! (only at the entrance area wtf)

After you got in, there are 2 photo booths at the left side where you can take a picture and have your face on the ticket! :D

TADAAHHH!!
One Piece is literally everywhere in Japan! *happy happy*
So beautiful! The leaves were starting to change color.
A stand where many white papers tied on. We assume it is a "Omikuji - Good Luck, Bad Luck" thing? Not sure...
Kawaii girl spotted when we were queuing for 1,5hours.
Anyway this ride we were queuing for was the least interesting attraction and we feel so stupid because we thought we were queuing for Dodonpa roller coaster (photo below)!! We have asked a person behind us and he was nodding when we asked if we were queuing for Dodonpa! Grrr feel like pulling his hair right now! What's even worse is that this attraction was not fun at all! We could have been queuing for another roller coasters. (╥_╥)
One of the reasons to come back here.


// THE ROLLER COASTERS //

Fuji-Q Highland is known for its extreme and thrilling roller coasters. Here are the highlights:


1. EEJANAIKA "4th Dimension Roller Coaster"
(76 metres tall, 126 km/h)
What makes Eejanaika so unique is that as the train travels around the track, the cars are able to do independent flips and twists!
 
Going up the hill + dropping down backwards.
The train does a complete rotation while the cars on the train ALSO do a full rotation!
Here you can see the seats rotating.  Look at the seat position of the back row versus the front row!
The station where we must took off some of our stuffs like bags, necklaces, watches, shoes, etc. The trains are riding toward where the arrow's pointing to... backwards that is.
So you can imagine we rode this heart-pounding roller coaster without shoes, in freezing weather, holding in our pee!! But it's all worth it. We screamed a lot throughout the ride, got a huge adrenaline rush, and when the ride was over, we were just..... quiet. Like traumatized or something, lol. We are not sure if there is any roller coaster more thrilling than this.

Side note from Jess:
I've tried Insanity Stratosphere (Las Vegas), The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Disney World - Florida), Dragon Challenge / Dueling Dragons (Universal Studios - Florida), been to Six Flags (LA) and rode most of those scary rides inside non-stop, but Eejanaika... is no kidding the scariest ride I've been in! Totally worth the (seemingly unintimidating with all those cute graphics and cute 'eejanaika!' shout outs song) LONG queue.


The certificate says: The roller coaster with the greatest number of inversions is the 4th Dimension Coaster at Fujikyu Highland in Japan. Riders turn upside down a total of 14 times during each 1,153 m (3,782 ft) run. The ride opens to the public in July 2006.

2. FUJIYAMA
(79 metres tall, 130 km/h)

In 1996, "Fujiyama - King of Coasters" opened as the world's tallest coaster.  It held that record for four years.


It was also the world's first "hyper twister" coaster.
The lift-hill. The part where you go, "Omg omg omg I'm gonna dieee..."
The queue when we were about to return to our hotel (5:30pm). Wanted to join but it was already closed (no more passengers allowed because the whole theme park was closed at 6pm *sob).
3. TAKABISHA
 (The world’s steepest steel roller-coaster)

It contains a 121° freefall, as well as seven major twists over 1000 metres of track, and a drop of 43 metres.
We did not manage to ride it, but reading this description from a blogger is enough to give us the heebie jeebies: "First they bring you straight up one side, then they sloooowly bring you over the top. You sloooowly approach the precipice, and then you just hang there for what feels like an eternity. Then you’re taken over a 121 degree vertical drop."

4. DODONPA
(52 metres tall, 172 km/h)

Dodonpa was once the world's fastest and still ranks the fastest in the world for launch time acceleration.

The trains go up and down at 90 degree angles!
Cute pink polkadot trains :D

// OTHER ATTRACTIONS //


This is our first ride here which also gave us a crazy experience (it swings back and forth and sometimes we are facing upside-down), but still, it is nothing compared to Eejanaika.
Another cute coaster.
The famous haunted hospital which is our main reason that drives us to come here! It is the world's second largest haunted attraction and we read somewhere that they remade the exact building as the real hospital which is believed to be haunted. Sadly it was already closed when we finished the Eejanaika ride (at 5pm). Definitely must come back for this!!
Snapshots taken from my phone.
Some photos and information courtesy of:

We'd also like to thank our dear friend, Wisnu Tejakusuma who recommended this place! X

For more information visit: Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park website.

// THE OUTFITS //

JESS': Gowigasa Tie-dyed Boy Top and Striped Net Cardigan | Unbranded Ripped Denim Pants | Bunny Gloves+Shawl from Japan
ELLE's: Romwe Shredded Cat Sweater | Gowigasa Cat Ears Beanie, Triangle Necklace, Skull Studded Bag with Tassels | Face2Face Black Boots (Japan)

HAPPY SATURDAY

X O X O,
Elle and Jess

November 26, 2012

Elle's Japan Outfit #2 + Sushi Bar


I've told you about the freezing weather in Japan right? The good news is the temperature will be a lot warmer in the afternoon (and less windy!), that's why I could happily wear this pastel nets sweater paired with cream high-waisted skirt from Gowigasa :D
But of course I didn't forget to bring my coat and socks for a cold night that awaited us... ╥_╥


For the accessories, I wore this soft pink cat-ears beanie and cat-face print stockings that I think match very well with the whole outfit.

As I've shared on my Instagram, these flat shoes from Comfit are amazingly comfortable. I was very thankful I brought them with me on our full-of-walking-around trip! They are also my everyday shoes here in Jakarta :)

That day we opted to eat at a Sushi Bar near our hotel, named Ganso Zushi. 
It is a sushi bar chain and has many locations scattered all over Japan.

(Fyi, we went there twice and the photos below are from the first visit, except for the last one!)

You can see how small this place is, but no need to worry about not getting seats because the turnover is quite high as people eat fast here.
Cool sushi clock! Notice that the hands of the clock resemble chopsticks and the exterior of the clock looks like a bento bowl.
Yes, we make our own ocha (green tea) here with the hot water dispenser and green tea powder (at first I thought it was wasabi).
There are two kinds of green tea powder, and I personally like the roasted rice mix better.
The conveyor belt *om nom nom*
Look at how nice the ratio of fish-to-rice is! :D The unagi one is my favorite (1st pic)!
You can never have enough sushi.
There is a little drawer inside the chopstick's holder where they stock toothpicks. Talk about efficiency.
More packed in the afternoon (when we went there for the second time).
Ok, enough sushi for today! Thank you for reading and see you on my next post! ;)


GOWIGASA Pastel Nets Sweater, Cream High-Waisted Skater Skirt, Soft Pink Cat-Ears Beanie, Cat-Face Print Stockings | H&M Top (as inner) | Gucci Sukey Tote | Comfit Vega Camel Flats

November 22, 2012

Elle's Japan Outfit #1


Hi guys!!
Finally this blog is alive again, hehe.. We hope you've been doing well!! X
Honestly we are a bit confused as to what we have to blog first about our Japan trip, because we took like thousands of photos and we haven't decided yet how are we going to post them in this blog (in chronological order or per-activity or maybe every place we visited deserves its own blog post? hmm...)

That being said, I think I am going to post every outfit I wore in Japan in separate blog entries (like this one).
However I didn't get a chance to snap pictures for each outfit due to many different conditions, e.g. forgot to bring my camera, was in a hurry, it was already night time (I'm not a fan of camera flash), was too busy enjoying every bit of Japan that I forgot to take any photos, etc etc.

SO, for that forgotten outfits I'm going to take the photos in Jakarta!!! (no yay? okay...)

About this outfit:
☺ I wore it when we went to Shibuya 109 for the second time and Akihabara (Anime slash geek heaven).

☺ The location of this shoot is near our 4th hotel (Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku) before we took off to the train station.

☺ Actually I put on my black coat over my outfit when I was going out because the weather was freaking cold outside. And if you noticed, I also wore nude stockings to cover my legs. 

☺ Top, black leather skirt, skull studded bag from GOWIGASA // Rivet denim jacket from Romwe // Boots from Japan // Socks from Uniqlo.

GOWIGASA updates:
We will upload our new arrivals as soon as possible (sorry to have kept you waiting!). The photoshoot hopefully can be done this week. Please follow our Twitter and Instagram (@gowigasa) to keep updated! :)♥


November 02, 2012

RED VELVET


There are so many trends happening this Fall, and one of my personal favorite is... Velvet! Yes, how could you not love the fact that it adds a richness and elegance to any look no matter what color you choose? :)


GOWIGASA red velvet skirt | Unbranded top | GOWIGASA bag | Swaychic red velvet platforms | GOWIGASA hat
Can't stress enough how much I love this pair of platforms from Swaychic! The true color is more like the ones in the full-body photographs above.

Anywayyy, the VIDEO that I was talking about is up on our YouTube channel!
Click here to watch! (︶ω︶)


(It's a video of Jess and I announcing Gowigasa holiday. Importance lvl: 100)