We spent the whole day at Universal Studios Japan. The last time I have been to Universal was when I was a ten year old girl during the summer of 2002. I remember how fun it was to run around to different rides and shows despite the high temperatures and long wait times. Today was a reminiscent of my childhood and how things were different give or take a decade ago.

Our group arrived before the gate even opened and there was already a lot of people waiting in line to get in. Groups of students going on fieldtrips (sweet eh?!), families, couples, couples, and more couples. Is it because Japan has a bigger population, therefore couples are more prominent, or couples are just everywhere you go in general? Anyhow, FYI, I would say 1 in 2 Japanese girls have dyed caramel colour hair, owns or wears a caramel colour coat, wears fake eyelashes, has heavy amounts of make up on, and if their pupils look dilated-they're definitely wearing circle lens. In my opinion, they look fake, and they all try to be very doll like, hence the term 'dolled up' right? I don't know if all guys like this type of girl, but I felt like they were all products of Japan, all resembling those hair models on the faces of Japanese hair products in TnT, in Ann's words "very homogenize."

Back to the topic, well in Japan, Universal Studio was definitely smaller and the map was just one big circle. From what I can recall, a lot of the rides were similar such as Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. The only thing the one in the States wouldn't have is the Snoopy and Hello Kitty themed area catering to kids and those whom are fans to these characters in Japan. Also, all the characters were dubbed in Japanese and even though we couldn't comprehend what Shrek or Spiderman was saying in the shows and rides, we still had a lot of fun. It was also quite a chilly day to be outdoors and waiting in line all day, but the 40min wait for the outdoor roller coaster didn't stop us. We ended up getting the first row of seats on the roller coaster and feeling as if we were about to fall out the whole time.

Dinner was on our own tonight as as there was a three storey mall of food next to Universal, we headed there to eat at the...get this... wait for it...TAKOYAKI MUSEUM! MMMM. It wasn't really much of a 'museum,' but there were at least five to six different eateries that sold different flavors of takoyaki. You first order from a vending machine and then hand your receipt to the person serving you. We got four different flavors and looked back on our day while eating these octopus filled balls. SO GOOD. We couldn't leave Japan not having tried their ramen, so we finished our dinner with a bowl of authentic Japanese ramen. To be honest, the ramen tasted similar to the ones you can get in Edmonton.
Before we called it a day, our tour made a final stop at the Fisherman's Wharf for us to capture some photos of Japan's darkened skyline. I wonder what will be in store ten years from now...