After that life-changing tour at KKDAY, our bus dropped us off on the same stop at Shinjuku. It was early evening already. I exchanged thank yous with Carl and then we parted ways (I hope he heard me say goodbye 😅). Then, I was alone again.

After walking for several more minutes under the drizzly and windy weather, I finally arrived at the ramen shop! I actually got confused for a bit because the entrance was not that obvious, and there were only Japanese characters in the signages. I had to check Google to verify if this was the place.

Imagine seeing this sign at a gloomy night in Tokyo. As always, Google saves the day. 😅(📷: Google Maps)

I folded my umbrella and placed it at the stand by the entrance. I noticed all of the other umbrellas placed there looked similar to mine. They say it's common incident in Japan to have your umbrellas stolen because people unintentionally grab the wrong one. Praying that it won't happen to me, I tied a knot with the button of my umbrella to mark it from the rest of the pile.

Upon entering, I recognized that the setup of the restaurant is similar with Mendokoro. Good thing I already had some ramen house experience. Upon spotting the ticket vending machine, I knew what I must do.

Good thing the vending machine had English menu. I survived. 🤟 I ordered Tsukemen and some black tea.

It was a busy Wednesday night. The place was almost packed. I felt comfortable with that, because that means I won't stand out. I think I was the only foreigner inside LOL. I spotted an empty chair and settled there. I then handed my ticket stubs to a staff, and eagerly waited for my order.

As more people arrived in the restaurant, the noisier the place became. There were lots of chattering and laughter here and there. I remember -- on my left, a guy and a gal were happily chattering, while there was a solo man on my right. At that point I thought it would have been fun to eavesdrop on their conversations. Too bad, my Japanese skill is not at par to do that.

This is the first and best tsukemen I've had. (please excuse those splatters of soup 😂)

The noodles' texture was something new to me. The flavor of the soup coats the noodles upon dipping and the taste was just a match made in heavenly taste buds. The meat also tasted so good (my heart is aching while writing this... I badly want to have this tsukemen again now). It's so tender and flavorful. And the eggs...😭 The yolk was just as soft as I liked it to be (I am really torturing myself now huhu I wanna teleport to Tokyo!!!)


Good thing I didn't eat that much throughout that day. This meal was heavy!

With a happy heart and a super satisfied tummy, I finished my meal. I didn't know what I should do with my bowl and stuff so I was waiting for others so I could observe. I saw one customer place the bowl on the counter top in front of him. So that's what I did. I wanted to say "thank you for the food!" but since I didn't know how, I just said a soft arigatou gozaimasu and went on my way outside the restaurant. 😅


I'm happy to confirm that my umbrella was still there. I opened it up and started walking towards the nearest subway station. It was still chilly. While strolling along the busy Shinjuku streets, I went all emo mode again and just contemplated on all the wonderful things that happened today. Everything were all slowly sinking in.

I'm now already half-way the dream sequence. I can't wait to share with you the rest of my experiences in this journey. ❤️ Stay tuned for the rest of my Tokyo posts!

I think I just experienced a precious moment with this band.

Joan (stylized as joan) is an indie pop duo (composed of Alan Thomas and Steven Rutherford) from Arkansas. Their music style is similar to LANY and The 1975 (now I know why I like them LOL 😂) but they are continuing to make a name for themselves, especially here in the Philippines. The band was previously part of the Wanderland Music Fest this year and they are starting to build a fanbase here because this time, all thanks to Karpos Multimedia, they are holding 7 shows around Metro Manila. I wasn't able to catch them during Wanderland, but fortunately, I finally saw them during their first show at Glorietta, Makati.


They shared the stage with another featured band named Honne. I didn't know anything about that band though. Also, I had no idea which one of them would come up on stage at first. To my surprise, it was joan who opened the show. So I guess Honne is the more popular one, eh? I found this an advantage for me. At least I won't need to wait that long to see them. 😅


And this is the moment I treasured the most -- seeing the band I like before they're famous. When they performed, not much people were screaming, and not many cameras were up and recording them. People were just listening to their music. They're curious so they were silent. I was one of those proud fans who sang along to their music. I love all of their songs so I couldn't help but just sing and dance to them even if I was the only one in the crowd doing so.


With every song they performed, more people clapped, more people cheered. And I was just so proud of them during that moment. 

When Alan played the opening chords of i loved you first, I melted on the spot. I super love that song, and now I'm seeing it played live before my eyes.

This duo creates the loveliest tunes.

Ahh, I remember my journey as a fan of The 1975. I first saw them live when they still just had one album out. Now they have 3 and already very famous around the globe. I just want to cherish this moment with joan when they are still my little secret.

I want to have more intimate shows with them in the future. Come back to Manila again, please. ❤️

It's been a while since I did a review of a game! Just like last time, I purchased a game online as a reward for myself for an achievement that I have unlocked (wohoo!). After all the hardwork, we need to treat ourselves, right? Well my original intention of playing the game was for me to get some sort of entertainment... but 'lo and behold, I was in for a "stressful" kind of adventure instead (all because I'm such a scaredy-cat 😅).

The game's promotional poster. (📷: Steam)

I have been seeing this game randomly on Steam. What made me choose this from the thousands of online games available there was a recommendation by a colleague. I have mentioned to him how I really enjoyed playing Inside and Limbo, and he said given that, Little Nightmares would surely be my cup of tea. Well, he was right, I did enjoy playing this game, although to be honest, the game was too spooky for my taste. Although I enjoyed the adrenaline rush of escaping the janitor and the twin cooks, I hated all the parts where there were leeches involved. 😤 And that thing that's moving under the water? I was super disgusted with it! But this just proves how great this game is, because I get emotionally moved by it.

What did I expect, from a game that falls under the survival-horror category? The cute aesthetics made me think it's a cute game. LOL.(📷: allkeyshop)

The sound effects of the game were so effective for me. Like I was not stressed enough with the game's premise, the sounds successfully double the stress! 😫

I have always been behind with the latest games (uh I think the last one I religiously played was Pokemon: Yellow Version, and that was more than a decade ago 😂) so I easily get amazed with the graphics and the depth of details that new games have. For this one, I really enjoyed solving all the puzzles and interacting with the characters of the story. There were parts that I needed to consult walkthroughs online though because I got stuck at that part for a while. I recommend you to do this as a last resort because it really takes away the thrill of the game.

The identity of Six, the game's protagonist, is all shrouded in mystery. There are lots of things about her world and of the Maw (the name of the ship where she's in) that I am very curious about and I hate to admit it but I enjoyed divulging myself in all of the videos in Youtube that discussed such interesting fan theories.

And that ending, it really left my whole body in shivers. I was just staring incredulously at my PC's screen while the ending scenes rolled in. Aside from the over-all gameplay, that ending made this game even more memorable for me.

I somehow couldn't forgive myself that I am just writing about this amazing concert months after it happened. During my first and second time seeing them, I could still remember that I still had that adrenaline rush while writing about my precious memories of experiencing their music.

Yes, this is the third time I've seen them live. And that's a milestone for me. The 1975 is the only band (so far) that I have seen thrice. And I think I will be seeing them more in the future (hopefully!)

I was almost at the same distance as I was during the In The Mix concert. After seeing them live during that time, I vowed to myself that I would be getting the mosh pit ticket next time they have a show here. But I don't know what happened -- I guess I was still not ready for the real The 1975 concert experience, huh? This decision made me feel some regret during this show. I chose the VIP seated ticket because I wanted to be able to rest during down times in the concert. But it was worthless, because I was up on my feet all the time anyway. And I was jumping a lot at my seat. I should have just bought that damn mosh pit ticket (next time, I'm telling myself again now... next time...)!

This concert was really a treat for me because the front act, No Rome, is also an artist that I adore. I was all Filipino-pride mode because he is from my own country. He was originally based here in Manila, but Matty Healy himself made him to fly to UK to work with him because he liked his craft so much. No Rome has already worked on several projects with The 1975. He helped a lot in the creative process of the band's third album and even featured them in one of his own songs.

No Rome rocking it out on stage.

When The 1975 got up on stage that night, it felt like I was welcoming dear old friends into my open arms again. As soon as the stage lit up, I knew that it was the correct decision to not watch any of clips of this tour online. I was at surprised and at awe at how similar and different the stage was at the same time for this tour.

Oh yes, I missed that rectangle neon sign... for dear life. ❤️

Every penny I spent for this concert was so worth it. Their concert will be one of those few wherein I was just waiting which favorite song they would be singing live next. I enjoyed EVERY. SINGLE. TUNE. THEY. PERFORMED. ON. THAT. STAGE. Yes, even People.

That was actually their opening track.

With every song they performed, I was pulled into the memory and emotions that I have implanted in it. There were songs wherein I sang with my eyes closed, while mostly others I was dancing like crazy. No one knew me there anyway, so I was able to embrace that freedom of just being truly one with their music.

Seeing my favorite people on stage just fills my heart with so much joy!

All I can say is -- I was able to enjoy this concert fully. The Universe made sure of that.

It was always a different high seeing this band live. I don't know what's in them, but I think it's safe to say that I will still be following their activities for some time.

I think I'm ready to see them from the mosh pit. 🤘