MEGA CUTE
The composition of the whole photo is great, with the leaves and nature with the traditional temple and bridge against the modern city skyline. So cool.
It’s crazy how much you’ve already done during the Asia Travel Arc, have fun!!
- Congrats on level 50!
- You are so cute!! Could you borrow those clothes or are they yours? very nice
- Explain the minion?!
- OMG your mom has the exact same face as yours, genetics are wild
the third from last is an “OI”, they’re very polite British people ^^
You can buy them, but the prices are out of this planet and since they’re huge pieces of clothing, good luck fitting them into your suitcase 
This was a 2 hour rental, there is a whole corner dedicated just for the rentals and the rentals start at 15k won (~€10), so it’s probably the best deal you can get ^^
For comparison, here’s the blurry pic version of the one my mom wore C:
i’m a quirky animal, of course I’m going to be a fan of all of the other quirky Labubus ^^
September 7th, 2025
- 197 reviews on WaniKani
- 15 lessons on WaniKani
- 23 reviews on Bunpro
- 3 stories on Satori Reader
- Misc: Japanese things in Seoul!
- Book: 57% of the second chapter of 響け！ ユーフォニアム 北宇治高校吹奏楽部へようこそ, 34% of the whole book
Ahh, what a long review block today, the WaniKani marathons are making it hard for me to focus on anything else, and I also get distracted from WaniKani
Pretty glad I’m still burning items though ^^
Kinda wondering if I should have clicked the vacation mode, but I’m aiming to finish level 60 on WaniKani in early November, so let’s see if I’m able to keep up until then ^^
The mouse has been found! Poor mouse, but I’m glad クミコ will have a friend, 黄前久美子 already managed to get a few, but now they’ll torture her at the rehearsals, so the life of Kumikos comes with ups and downs
the goals, at least the mouse has somewhere to run off to
Life
yyy hello FANS OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AND ADVENTURES AND ALL (yes thats you reading this C:)
Still in Seoul, today we tried to go through the parks and see some nature, though compared to Germany, the definition of parks here is very selective tbh xdd
We found this really cool libraromat at the underground station today 
Funny thing: most of the things in Korea are available at least in two languages, but not this one, because they made an expectation that if you are using a library, you know Korean already, which probably wouldn’t have flown in Germany with German language ^^
Anyone wanna adopt a cute KOT from Korea maybe? C:
Day skyline~
We found a really fun and a really colorful gift shop today!
…and a BBC Earth clothes store, wtf xdd
If it were a bit colder, I’d unironically snag that one ^^
And yeah, K-Star Road! Basically one of those star roads in Los Angeles, but for k-pop people ^^
Mostly first gen k-pop stars though, I even recognized some of them xddd
すごい。。。
Oh yeah, and they also had some clear cards from Monogatari Off-season, of course I had to get one!
Good draw, Sugura C:
So who’s doing Korean YouTube careers now? Apparently you need to do makeup in a different way xddd
AND OMG THEY HAVE TAIYAKI IN KOREA (good tasty C:)
Aaaand we made it to actual Gangnam, from the style C:
Food lovers section, we bought way too much food for dinner today xddd
Meatballs soup, gyoza, and fried eggplant with pork ^^
And then it become dark and my camera takes terrible, I mean great, I mean terrible photos at night xddd
I got myself a moisturizing souvenir from Korea, reduced by the tax and a discount coupon and the discount at the store, I love how cute it is xdd
aaand STREETFOOD TIME
…including a Japanese fishy C:
And look, a church cafe! Right next to a karaoke place too!
Tomorrow, we’re still doing the whole day in Seoul and then flying to Tokyo, we will arrive pretty late and might not make it for the final trains of the day, so grabbing a taxi will be fun xddd
Stay tuned though! Tomorrow’s update should be fun too C:
I think I will have put on weight by the end of your travels… I see your food photos and immediately want to order the closest-slightly-flimsy-ripoff I can find available here.
Seoul looks lovely - enjoying all the photos and it is validating how little I know of Korean culture. Squid game and Gangnam style is as far as I’ve got (side note I am very much enjoying the regular gangnam appearances).
Safe flight to Tokyo.
Ai yi yi!
I loved the Korean princess day with photo shoot! So special! My daughter is dying to go to Seoul, and now I want to go with her and copy your trip
So amazing!!
The tower
the sights
the food
The KPop road of fame
taiyaki
September 9th, 2025
- 156 reviews on WaniKani
- 15 lessons on WaniKani
- 19 reviews on Bunpro
- 3 stories on Satori Reader
- Misc: Departing from Seoul!
- Arriving to Tokyo! Reading some stuff in Tokyo
- Book: 73% of the second chapter of 響け！ ユーフォニアム 北宇治高校吹奏楽部へようこそ, 38% of the whole book
- Magazine: Momomag issue 4, on-flight magazine
ah yeah, the famous teacher in 北宇治高校, I need to find my old pictures from the trip to 宇治 xddd
LOOK AT THE DEDICATION TRYING TO DO REVIEWS WAITING FOR THE LUGGAGE PICKUP
i didnt manage to do all the reviews before 2am, so some will awkwardly linger after midnight tomorrow, but oh well xdd
Also, in terms of Japanese language, there was a letter left from a Japanese person in the public area at the Seoul hotel we were staying at, very cute C:
And an on-flight magazine that had an interesting article:
What is your "ハレの日”? Definitely better than the ケ day ^^
Also, tips for the Hong Kong trip in that magazine! I don’t know, I just love mascots
Now that I don’t need to capture text, back to the blurry camera pics xdd C:
Life
Speaking of…
…you know the mascot of the Seoul Subway, Ddota?
As one of the scavenger hunt goals for today, we tried to get the merchandise from that mascot, and it wasn’t simple, let me tell you xddd
But I got a pen, in a horribly blurry quality C: xddd
I LOVE MASCOTS WHAT CAN I SAY
SPEAKING OF
Here’s Peter the Pet Rock, he’s so cute and he wears a beanie and has a home and all
His gimmick is that he has a substance in himself that makes him wet around his eyes 90% of the time, and he looks like he’s absorbing all of your sadnesses of the world and OMG SO CUTE
Ended up not getting it, but this is a genius business idea and love elaborating on the Everything, Everywhere, All At Once idea xddd
We went to Seongsu today, pretty trendy neighborhood ^^
And mahjong is real D:
And then we went to the tallest building in Korea, Lotte World Tower, at 555 meters
Right next to it, there was a amusement park called Lotte World Adventure, the tickets were really expensive though…
…but they had a Japan-centric section of the shopping mall right next to it, so we essentially started our Japan trip one day early xdddddd
My Melody cafe! Animate!
My mom didn’t understand why I audibly gasped when I saw this, someone educate her xddd
And Cheon-Ho Rodeo, had a lot of Japanese restaurants there for some reason 
And yeah, last cafe in Seoul and off we go to Tokyo…
Oh, and Korean TV, prETTY REMINISCENT, HUH
…and I already managed to talk to the taxi driver and ask him for the flat rate for the arrival to the city and I got my first 日本語上手 of the trip, so hey, we made it C:
Tomorrow, huge day in Tokyo! Planning Ueno to get my mom a Welcome Suica (they don’t issue them after midnight), then at one point in the day, Shibuya and Shinjuku, fingers crossed we make it ^^ C:
See you tomorrow!
Say hi to the building TV kitties for me! 
you mean, Godzilla in TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku? i dont know what other TV kitties would there be xdd
The only other thing that comes to my mind is 謎めぐり, but it hasn’t started yet, I will buy the set as soon as it becomes available on Thursday, (I’ll miss the actual trip though ) xdd
September 9th, 2025
- 172 reviews on WaniKani
- 15 lessons on WaniKani
- 18 reviews on Bunpro
- 3 stories on Satori Reader
- Misc: Trip around Tokyo! Tons of reading here and there C:
So we went Nippori → Ueno → Tokyo → Ginza → Minato → Shibuya → Shinjuku today, what a day xddd
We’ve got to have some good luck after those, we’ve been blessed with their presence C:
Our hotel is pretty close by to Nippori, so we took a walk to get my mom a Welcome Suica to Ueno
The park in Ueno is huge, right next to the National Museum C:
…and here’s 3F at the Ueno station, oof C:
Reminds me of the Tiktoks from China from walking on the ground between buildings at their 53F, and that people from 1F never get to see the sunlight ^^
We made it through and our IC cards work properly now, so yay for Ueno! Yay for JR East!
Here’s Tokyo Station (they ripped us off for 150 yen just for walking through the ticket gate to the other side of it xddd)
We entered the midtown and the elevation is huge there
And then I took my mom to my favorite shop in Ginza, Itoya, a stationery store that’s 12 floors tall xdd
LOOK AT THOSE 43 DISTINCT BANANA STICKERS
And also they didn’t necessarily buy my mom into the “”“LIFELOGGING”“” hobby, I’m already doing pretty good at it ^^
We had a pączek with matcha and azuki, very tasty C:
Then, popup display at Muji, that every sort of creativity pays off and you should be creative C:
Uniqlo, my mom loved the Uniqlo Flowers and the dangling shirts on 1F xdd
And then we went to Ginza Six, Tsutaya Books ^^
Important: they had all the A24 screenplay books and a leaflet about I Saw The TV Glow, a movie I absolutely adore ^^
ALSO, AN EXHIBITION FROM THE PERSON WHO DREW EGOIST??? HUH???
Hot take, I’m still a fan of Guilty Crown 15 years later, sorry not sorry xddd
Then, walking to the Tokyo Tower…
…and a buddhist temple right in front of it…
…and there we were C:
(but its real) xdd
Walking together with the sunset to…
…HACHIKO THE DOG IN SHIBUYA :DDD
And here’s the crossing ^^
I took my mom to 109 and UHHH, we lost over an hour there, and I came out with a complete outfit xddd
…would recommend ^^
And yeah,
…obligatory Parco 6F trip xdd
Found my absolute favorite GL section at HMV at Modi 6F C:
…Towa Records, Ado is in C:
…and so are Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift xddd
…Fangamer at GIGO Shibuya C:
And then, yyyy, I purposefully tried to drain my mom out of stamina by subjecting her to this prison for an hour+ xdd
…I came out with a free sticker and a new tiny DONKI xddd
Very loud, very bright, very obnoxious, but my mom kept up xddd
And then, Shinjuku!
We had some fried squid and sushi with a ton of different sashimi ^^
and then… MY MOM PLAYED TAIKO THE DRUM MASTER WITH ME :DDDDDD
She did amazing for the first try, I’m so proud of her C:
aaand we didn’t get the cat out of the claw machine xdd
We made it back to Nippori and starting tomorrow with Akihabara and then Ikebukuro, I know I’m a sadist, but what can you do xddd
Amazing day today, 35k steps walked at least, tinnitus in the ears, I should be back in Shinjuku in the evening though for a super super special study log encounter
See you tomorrow! C:
These building kitties
I’m not sure why the only picture I can find on my phone is one where the illusion doesn’t work
But also him
I love that place!
I’m pretty sure that’s against the Geneva Convention
Excited and jealous! I’d love a 35k step day in Tokyo rn (but none of the travel and planning to make it happen ).
It’s happening ?! The double pokemon encounter !
SQUEEEE!!!
I kinda would have liked to go around Tokyo with you and your mom… Because I didn’t know what to go see/do really…
I STILL have a big smile plastered on my face about playing Taiko drum together
It’s STILL one of my favorite memories from my first trip to Japan when we played that together! SO FUN!
I can’t wait to see your outfit from 109
im looking around the study logs and everyone has a tea party and revered conversations about acquiring multiple language skills and im there being like “HEY I TOOK MY MOM TO AKIHABARA SHE PREFERS THE DRESSED PLASTIC DOLLS TO THE NON-DRESSED ONES AND AERITH IS HER FAVE” xdddd
don’t worry, i have a lot more language rants until the N2 exam, i just need to arrive in an approximate vicinity of 5000 kilometers away from home 2030 or something xddd
WELL IT HID AWAY FROM ME SO DONT FEEL BAD ABOUT YOUR PICTURE ANGLE xdddd
But pretend it is there xddd
being a fan of an intellectual property or five or one hundred helps immensely
suddenly it seems that liking even something as shitty as Guilty Crown on this trip got me to:
- go to a collaboration event with a bookstore with them
- find out more about the artist and their artbooks
- go to karaoke and tear my throat at the first opening
- explain to my mom who are those characters in akihabara
and so on, and so forth C:
Me too, but it’s an AUTUMN outfit with a sweater and a long skirt, and it’s like 34 degrees outside, so that might have to wait until Berlin sadly xdd
So happy for you! I’m glad you cherish those memories C:
September 10th, 2025
- 153 reviews on WaniKani
- 15 lessons on WaniKani
- 9 reviews on Bunpro (huh???) xdd
- 3 stories on Satori Reader
- とう きょう トリップ （お母さんと！）
yyyy so you know how ドンキ is this shop with a penguin that’s actually not a donkey and also not a penguin because it’s don quijote?
it is a different thing as well xddd
donki arrested in the tracks, i knew he was suspicious xdd
Life
It rained today in the morning, and I’m not a glasses-wearer, but I imagine that this is the closest from wearing glasses that you can get on a camera that gets steamed xddd
One quick wipe, and, huh? xddd
Station cats (very cute) (Nippori is very cats oriented for some reason) (I like cats) xddd
And first destination today, <sighs>, Akihabara xddd
With the previous places I used to say that it’s my hell, but Akihabara is just a special kind of hell altogether xddd
Akihabara Radio Kaikan:
Though not gonna lie, those DIY dolls were really cute C:
Very loud, very high pitched, very exhausting, FUN xddd
We ended up going to a maid cafe, just for the experience together, and it was really, really sweet,
I tried to play along in Japanese to make the waitresses feel like the job of making our hearts go KYUN KYUN and feeling MOE is a bit easier, and yeah, my mom got some of that energy too C:
We ended up taking an instax picture with the waitress that took us around, there is a whole competition there being like “WHICH ONE OF THE MAIDS IS THE CUTEST??? WHICH ONE SHOULD HAVE A PICTURE TAKEN WITH YOU???” and both me and my mom were like “…this is sex work already…”, we took the maid that took us over because it just felt fair and we didn’t want to participate in the whole popularity contest kind of a thing xddd
Also, U S A, AMERICA, AMERICA, AMERICA
Animate in Akiba…
And then we were off to Ikebukuro!
I heard that Ikebukuro is a bit more of a girly district, so when I sold it to my mom she was really raving to go C:
So yeah, what do girls do in a big district such as Ikebukur…THEY GO TO BOOK-OFF OF COURSE THEY DO
USED MANGA WOOO xddd
We even found an international section ^^
But noo, we went to Sunshine City proper ^^
Of course, Pokemon Center, Snoopy Shop,
And then, Bandai Namco store, a huge area almost exclusively made out of Gachapons and Blind Boxes…
And, Halloween season is big in Japan right now!
…Ghibli…
…tAIYAKI WITH MELTED BUTTER :DDDDD
SPECIAL EVENT ALERT YEES
Aaaand it was the time to meet with a certain sleep-inspired Pokemon, more like, イケメン-inspired Pokemon as it turns out xddd
@Malinkal!
I left my mom alone to go to Shibuya and stayed behind to meet up with him ^^
100% got it right btw xddd
We went to 思い出横丁 together, it absolutely is a tourist trap xddd
can you imagine that MY SKEWER HERE WAS 1200 YEN? what a rip off xddd
Conversations flew pretty nicely, finally got a few more details about the dating experience 
, Malinkal definitely has the rambly persona really reminiscent to his study log and he’s every bit as charming as in writing ^^
I’d go do a karaoke duet with him, and that’s high praise from a lesbian C: xdd
Then we went to 紀伊國屋 and I was like SO MISSING OUT on this store
Got a few recommendations from him in terms of what books to read and bought another one ^^
Also, scaled in rerelease of SLAM DUNK for some reason xdd
Also, the whole 50k+ kanji map fOR SOME REASON
And surprise surprise, Malinkal is better at kanji than I am, reading novels does pay off ^^
We checked the language section and made fun of English textbooks for Japanese people being open-ended in terms of questions, and that Korean textbooks for Japanese people can lead to all sorts of false friends aaand we set off back to Shinjuku Station ^^
He was an N1 boy, she was an N2 girl, you know how the story goes ^^ xddd
MALINKAL IS REAL YALL (for real)
And then, I took my mom to a Karaoke in Shibuya and HOOO C:
As my mom was warming up, I went with my introductory setlist, My Dearest, 君の知らない物語 and 残酷な天使のテーゼ, and then we did a Bryan Adams duet together and I gave my mom a few solos ^^
And yeah, that’s it for 渋谷, see you sometime in the future!
And all of you - see you tomorrow, after walking in Tokyo until 8pm and then going at 10:30pm to Taipei: should also be fun!
All the photos you share are absolutely meowgnificent, but these are breathtakingly so! 
So wholesome meetup, thanks for the report 
always nice to see when people survive meeting internet strangers xD
haha fully agree. Maximum Wholesomeness. On a less wholesome note if he’s not sharing the juicy bits about dates in his own log, now we have another source
I don’t care how much it was that skewer looks DELICIOUS and I want one.
Probably too early to ask, but are your travels so far having any impact on your perspective to your language learning? Appreciating it is not your first rodeo there.
Jealous!!! can we all get a highly personalised book recommendation from Malinkal please, what’s with this favouritism
Super happy y’all met and had a nice time! I was gushing about the meet to my sister with almost no context and was like “omg Bidoof and Malinkal are meeting today” and she was very confused lol
That sounds adorableeee!!!
Cannot wait to see the food and street pics 
Akasheila LoL @ surviving IRL meeting between “Internet friends”
Sending youv ladies Vibes for energy to sustain you arriving at the next part of this Asia travel arc
Omg no way 
Tbf it was a lvl 59 which is relatively common-ish in novels 
WaniKani / Kanji / 睦
Oh stop it you 
Also for anyone wondering, Bidoof is indeed as talkative and energetic as her log IRL, perhaps even more so?? (in a good way of course, I can see why she always has tales here of people opening up to her, very easy to open up to!)
Have a good time in Taipei!
They were actually surprisingly delicious (still overpriced as hell). I say surprisingly, but all yakitori in Japan is delicious.
Fine come to 新宿紀伊国屋 then 
I hope you were describing it to her as a once-in-a-generation crossover event between two people who are super duper amazing at Japanese
Easyy, I’ll be there tomorrow 
Duh of course, nothing less than that