Day 1: Thursday 19th Feburary, in Tokyo to attend the Asia in comics 2004~ Comics by Asian women forum. At the airport, i made the first of my numberous blunders and was rightly laughed by the airport officer .......(/ D \)>.(Travelling can be disastrous and fatal, being a Dyslexic) The bus trip from Narita airport to ANA hotel was a quiet 2 hr journey, and the hotel was such a grandeur that i felt like a cave squid in space without a space suit. The weather was refreshing that night, so i went out to explore and bought dinner at Lawson, and yen has so many digits and zeros that, i panicked, forgot how to count and paid the wrong amount. My hotel room was splendid It has a great window view of the street and stuff, and a TV with wonderful sound system. (= D =) ahhhhhahaha

bus journey (2.4mb)..... hmm?.... dolls...dollsss

Day 2: Friday 20th Feburary, went out for a morning walk with a map. I was looking for the jinja around the area, but was stopped and questioned by a policeman near the Amercian Embassy perimeter. It was quite embarrassing......During lunch we met many people...manymanniiimaae......the artists and editors and panelists were really friendly and humble. Later We had a breifing on the Saturday and Sunday schedules. That evening after taking a walk with Terry and Tina, i was lucky to bumped into Park, the artist from Korea, her editor, Kim and her daughter, and Sajima san, their friend and also one of the panelists. They were so kind to let me tag along with them to Ginza even though we couldn't understand one another. We took the subway there.Surprisingly, the subway wasn't as confusing as i had imagined it to be ^^)>~3. The toy departmental store in Ginza closes at 8pm. Dinner was posh....at least, to me it was...it was grand. the food was pretty.

the exhibits:clip1(2.2mb)...clip2(3.6mb) ....singapore works:1..2..3..4 ....briefing(4.5mb)

Day 3: Saturday 21st Feburary, had a trigger-happy morning, was snapping pictures everywhere, at everything, all morning. It was cheery.... maybe it was because i had the children's TV channel on. Had lunch with Park, the Kims and Sajima san at Starbucks before we headed for Akasaka Twin tower for the Saturday session: Techniques for editing comics by Asian Women. Ratna(from Indonesia), Kim(from Korea), Terry(from Philippines), Yamauchi san, Sajima san and Kimura san((from Japan) talked about the situations of comics, the market, the influences and etc etc ....Sitting among the audiences, they were a silent bunch. Towards the end of that day's session, things got a little confusing, with many journalists trying to talk to, and take picutres of the artists. It was kinda awkward standing among a buzzling crowd, so i left them be to take some pictures. Later, out in the hall i got the meet Oshiguchi san and Sakamoto san from Manga no Mori......i met so many people during this trip, it was overwhelming, it was dizzy. i kept losing namecards, and those i held on tight, i had to doodle little faces on them just soi won't forget who's whose and whom to when and where....bleebleeblahblah my peanut brain was toasting like explosive popcorns.

morning walk:1...2....3....4....5....6....7....sakura on the floor:1...2 ........dinner:1...2...lights

Day 4: Sunday 22nd Feburary, 2nd day of the event. It's the artists' turn to speak...nervewrecking.. but we got to meet Watase Yuu sensei!(* -- *);;; it was amazing. She's very sweet and pretty. The audiences were silent as usual. I spotted one dozing. Artists(Anzu, Park, Tina, Watase Yuu) talked about um...themselves, their history and working environments etc etc. During the 10 minutes interval break, ^___^ a very nice reader who came all the way from Hokkaido gave me a box of chocolate, and i didn't even got to thank him (>_<);;;; properly.... Towards the end, during the QnA session, an Otaku asked what Yuu sensei eat...(0_o)u....or something like that, and later, she had to leave by the backdoor that evening because that otaku was loitering in the hall waiting for her. That evening i got to meet a fellow countryman...girl ^____^) she helped me solved much communication misunderstandings... but it's sad that i didn't get to talked to her much or even thank her (/ _\). That night we had dinner with a large group of people, where i got to know and talked to Kukhee, who, studying in Texas, and researching on Japanese comics, is a multiligunal talent. She speaks English, Korean and Japanese. Park and me communicated through her quite a bit.(= D =) Everyone i met over the dinner that night were really nice, we had soba. The soba was really good, but i was so stuffed i couldn't stomach any more food. That night, I visited Park and Kim's room and watched a bit of Korean TV. They visited my room too XD. I was the only one among all panelists to have a room all to myself (- D -) heh. yo.... nothing creepy happened, though, they played the Gothika trailer on TV quite a bit.

morning walk:1...2.... Sunday session:1....2....3....4.....5

Day 5: Monday 23rd Feburary, is a free day! i tagged along with our korean friends to Shibuya. We shopped for stationary, and as usual, i was all clumsy and couldn't count. Later we went to Mandarake and bought many 2nd hand comics ^-^)> weee. Sibuya is a bustling place, music and people everywhere. That day, i was having a tummyache, and kept escaping to the restroom.(= _=); blah, the ache took me concentration away and made me disastrously clumsy. I kept making stupid brainless mistakes (<> _ <>) it was hideous. but ohh never mind that...We also visited the Ghibli museum that day. It was speechlessly lovely, cosy and innocent. \(T D T)\ wahhh /(TDT)/ wahhh \(T DT)\ wahhh~......... ...... At night we went back to Shibya for Shabushabu...it's a zillion times better than Steamboat :9... On the way back ^___^ Sajima san bought a few miniature guitars, we saw a band performed(7mb) on the street near the train station, and an eldery or middleaged man grabbed a lady and tried to talk to her...or something like that... i'm confused. After returning to the hotel, i finally got a chance to chat with Ratna and Anzu, who gave me a bar of chocolate ^___^. They are so sweet,... i mean Ratna and Anzu. The chocolate was sweet too.

shi~buyaaa ...1 ...2 ...lunch ...lunchee ...littly boy ...Kukhee ...yum!...sure is!

GHibli muesum:1...3...4...5...6...7...8...9....10...11...12 ...13...14 and the train ride(16mb..not worth downloading)

Day 6: Tuesday 24th Feburary, Park and the Kims went back to Korea, and Sajima san went back to work. we were supposed to go on a city tour on this day. I skipped that because i made a promise to Oshiguchi and Sakamoto san that i'd visit their shop. So i went ^^)g.wee. The Comix was a very neat little shop just opposite Mandarake! and i actually failed to notice it the day before! (X Ex)g" how impossibly scattercurdy brain can i be?!! ...ehh.. anyway ^^) the first floor is filled with comics, many of which, Amercian comics. The second floor is filled with toys and figurines. The comix opens at 12 noon.... Later we went to Abe sensei's Haibane Renmei Exhibition (= D =) Amazing! (==== D ===) ;;; .*drool*... ehem... After which, we went to Oshiguchi san's manga no Mori main branch... he has so many artists original artworks on display (= D=) and i was drooling all over them. There i watched video clips of the movie Innocence, which made my jaws dropped to the ground and piggys stampeded through a dozen times. It was beautiful, stunningly beautiful. I was so transfixed, i forgot to take photos of the shop...dohdohdoo ........ Later we had curry for lunch. I like curry, sweet Japanese curry too, because it goes well with Japanese rice...... At 3pm there's a meeting with local female comic artists at the manga association. They looked kinda stern, so i picked up some of their books and began reading. Then everyone started talking and my brain began to space out into the spectrum. Helen, the cute lady from China, whom we met over dinner with Kimura san, and who draws, wanted to ask me a few questions. But my brain was so stonned i talked all slow and stupid. I think the professional lady mangakas there didn't have a very good impression of me (/ D\)>"" guwaa. We had dinner at a restaurant in the Akasaka twin tower with many many local established mangakas...it was unbelievable, and everyone was really friendly and chatty, there's no air of arrogance from them at all. none.

dinner:1....2....3....4.... speedy goodbye(8mb.clip gone haywire) ......pandada chewww

Day 7: Wednesday 25th Feburary, Terry, Tina and i were supposed to check out of the hotel before 6am (Ratna and Anzu 'd be staying till Sunday). i had packed and set my alarm at 4 am....but still i overslept and amazinly woke up just 10 minutes before 6...it's crazy. In the rush i forgot to pack 2 of the books i was reading the night before (T___T)"" ..... ..... .... *sigh* How i managed to wake up at all was kinda creepy... heehee maybe i got some help from some invisible friends. ^^)

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pages from the booklet: cover... pg1 ...pg2

impromtus stuff: clothpeg1... clothpeg2 ...namecard....sketch for Ratna

omiyage!: 1....2....3....4....5...5b....6....7....8....9....10....11....12....12b ....Qoo! and fishy!

(T D T):1....2.....3.....4.....5.....6 ..... Innocence movie special preview at Catsuka.com

Autographs: 1....2....3....4....5....6

Sketches:01.. 02.. 03.. 04.. 05.. 06.. 07.. 08.. 09.. 10.. 11