july '24 wrap: japan diaries

tokyo trip—with a side of TWICE

Hello! Jotting down some notes from our recent trip to Japan—Tokyo/Yokohama this time around, for the finale of TWICE’s Ready to Be concert series at Nissan Stadium over the last weekend of July. Of course, there’s always TWICE somewhere haha! Regardless, I hope you find something useful/enjoyable here. -K

Our view during Nissan Day 2

Previously—

Last year, we visited Japan for the very first time. We stayed in Osaka, in time for the TWICE concerts at Yanmar Stadium Nagai. It was a literal fly in, fly out affair—we didn’t have time to take a look around, so we promised ourselves that we’d return to Japan to do “touristy things” too, outside of the concert, hopefully for a longer period of time.

Fast forward to July—we somewhat managed to keep our promise to visit Japan again, this time for the Ready to Be Special in Japan concerts: Six shows over the span of three weekends held in Yanmar Stadium in Osaka, Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo and Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, to mark the end of TWICE’s 5th World Tour, which kicked off in Seoul in April last year. Since we were there on Day 1 in Seoul, we thought it would be fitting to be at the very last show as well in Nissan, and as luck would have it, we once again managed to snag a couple of tickets to both shows¹.

BUT… before I get too engrossed with my recounting of TWICE’s concert finale at the MASSIVE 75,000-seater Nissan Stadium, let me back track a little to talk about the rest of the trip—before I forget the details (and to share them in case anyone would find them useful!)

Going to Japan

The weather on our way out was CRAZY. We were legit afraid our flight was going to get terribly delayed or worse cancelled because it had not stopped raining for days. Thankfully, we were only delayed by an hour at most, I think?

We landed after 8, give or take. The lines at immigration were not terribly long, thankfully, so we were able to catch the Skyliner out agad. This was the part of the trip that worried me the most: Given we were landing at night, we had to figure out our train situation quickly lest we miss some trains because it’s already late.

Anyway, thanks to Google Maps, we followed our optimum route at that time of the night, which involved getting on the Skyliner, transferring to the Yamanote line at Nippori Station to get to Nishi-Nippori station², where we could transfer to the Chiyoda line to get to Akasaka station—the one outside our hotel. By the time we got there though, the exit closest to our hotel was already closed (it was open only until 10 p.m.) so it took a bit of extra map reading in the middle of the road in the middle of the night with our huge ass luggage (still empty, pre-budol haha) before we managed to locate the hotel.

Where we stayed

• Sotetsu Fresa Inn Tokyo-Akasaka — This was referred by a friend, endorsed for its great location and true enough it’s right outside the Akasaka station of the Japan Metro. We stayed here for the first leg of our trip, and this served as our base as we explored Shibuya for the half of our trip before the concert. It also has a nearby Family Mart, so you’ll never go hungry (their konbini selections are no joke, why can’t we have nice things too???)

• Court Hotel Shin Yokohama — This was located near Nissan Stadium, and served as our base for the duration of the concerts. It was SO HOT (36-deg at lunch time, are you kidding me) so it’s a blessing to have a hotel room you can retreat to while it’s too hot outside. And since the crowds usually filled the nearby restaurants at lunch and dinner, we also mostly returned to our hotel room to eat before and after the concerts (very accessible to a Family Mart and a 7-11 too).

• Keio Presso Inn Tokyo Station Yaesu — This was located near Tokyo Station. Given how we had to lug around our now-filled suitcases with us on the way to the airport, staying somewhere close to the bus station where we could ride the direct-to-airport buses was actually surprisingly convenient.

Where we went

• Day 0: Arrival at Narita. There was a line for the Welcome Suica which we could not afford to wait for, so we’re thankful we managed to pack our old Icoca and Nimoca cards, which served us just fine during our stay.

• Day 1: Shibuya - On our first full day, we went to Tower Records to buy DIVE CDs and check out their TWICE shelves, among other things. Ended up doing the following:

  • Hachiko quick pic

  • Shibuya crossing (chill lang, parang tawiran lang sa Korea, marami lang taong nagpipicture talaga)

  • TWICE gashapon budol immediately

  • Ichiran for lunch—definitely worth the queue under the noontime sun. They said it was going to be a longer queue, but I think we moved along just fine. Loved the whole setup—you could breeze through the thing without speaking at all. Noodles were GREAT.

  • Cremia ice cream at Cafe Excelsior

  • Pokemon Center³ + Nintendo (ANDAMING TAO OMG)

  • Muji budol

  • Uniqlo budol—full disclosure I did not bring enough shirts so I really had to buy new shirts and mygod all that sweating really. Should have bought more.

  • Tower Records!!! We missed the huge ass DIVE activation from the previous week (which were there in time for the Ajinomoto concerts, and rightfully so) BUT they still played DIVE in the store, which was sweet. Also had the chance to buy some old Japanese albums we missed. THE STORE IS HUGE WTF why can’t we have our music stores back here pls :(

  • So much walking my god my feet died every single day, jsyk

    

    Shibuya snaps: Joining the scramble crossing, lunch at Ichiran, visit to Tower Records

• Day 2: Yokohama - We had to transfer to Yokohama ahead of the concerts so we rode the train to Shin Yokohama station from Akasaka.

  • Our Yokohama hotel was a bit of a hot walk from the station but it’s manageable. It’s just REALLY REALLY HOT. Like above 30s, so humid, hot. Highly recommend procuring those Biore/Gatsby cool body sheets/wipes in tandem with a personal fan + umbrella for survival.

  • After leaving our luggage, we ate at Gyukatsu near the Shin Yokohama Station (five stars), then we dropped by the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, which was such a kitschy surprise! We had our personalized ramen printed (don’t ask)⁴, then we ate at the underground ramen row underneath the museum. (Yes, it’s as quirky as it sounds!)

  • That night, we also walked to the Nissan Stadium just to see where it was and oh my god, Day 2 of feet dying.

• Day 3 and 4: Concerts at Nissan Stadium. SO GOOD.

  • I thought I knew what a Ready to Be concert was, having been to Seoul, Osaka, Singapore and Philippine Arena previously, but NOOooo… as it turns out it was a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONCERT with a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SET LIST.

  • I swear to God, TWICE’s Japanese discography is something else⁵. It’s on another level entirely. They opened with Perfect World back to back with Breakthrough. First two songs and we were already severely gagged. And none of us could take a video to remember it by (I swear I could not find a stadium fan recording of that moment in Breakthrough where all the girls are flashed on the screen, larger than life. That was a moment. Also security was serious about kicking people out and I was not about to get kicked out!)

  • I mean, check out this set list for the very last show.

    • Revamped almost all the solo stages (MiSaMo stage for the Japanese members, longer Nightmare arrangement for Jihyo, ABCD for Nayeon, new covers for Jeongyeon, Dahyun and Tzuyu. Perhaps the only stage that stayed the same was Chaeyoung’s original solo stage to My Guitar, but even then they gave her a GIANT TEDDY BEAR to sit on). Here, have a clip of Jeongyeon’s solo—it’s a cover of ONE OK ROCK, and it’s so emotionally affecting, it’s my favorite.
      

    • Presented new stages to new songs (so so happy to finally witness I GOT YOU and ONE SPARK live, as well as DIVE and Here I Am!)

    • New stage arrangement altogether—this time the extended stage was wayyyy back, and they had to ride carts at the side to reach them. The optics were fantastic—the camera angle caught them with the crowd behind them while dancing + that giant ass Nissan Billboard with “Ready to Be Special”. Ganda.

    • Live renditions of other Twice JP songs - Fake & True! Voices of Delight! In the Summer! Love Warning! Fanfare! BDZ (always a fave!)

    • New arrangements for RTB faves like Moonlight Sunrise, Go Hard, and Fancy. No more elevated platforms in the extended stage like the previous RTB stops, just the one on the main stage. Still so pretty.

    • Three words: New TT Choreo (!!!!)

    • Dancers and band mashups of TWICE KR hits!!!! what a hard working crew! Obviously they’re very proud to have been a part of this tour!!! well-deserved and well done.

    • That finale to Hare Hare with all the fireworks!!! In Osaka we heard Hare Hare as a carts song UNDER THE RAIN huhu, but this time around it was an actual stage, like Talk that Talk for Japan and it was AMAZING. Truly a fitting ending to a superb series. Thankful that the skies were already dark enough + clear enough for fireworks, too!

  • Some non-concert notes:

    • The queue for merch was INSANE. We were in queue for approximately two hours, under the noon time sun—and sa lagay na yun, mabilis pa ang usad ng pila, though in terms of execution, Osaka merch line pa rin > Nissan Stadium merch line, kahit maulan sa Osaka. At Nissan, where the temp peaked at 35-deg I think, the dehydration/heatstroke risk was very real; people legit were being wheeled out on wheelchairs/assisted by medics out of the line. The water we had on us got warmer in our bags and when we took them out it almost felt like drinking tea out of a plastic bottle. Our fans did their best, in tandem with the cooling wipes and YogaLove. I have a tanline under my watch to prove it.

    • WE MET THE LABURIS OH MY GOD. They’re so cute pls. Laburis are TWICE’s Japanese mascots and they usually just show up before the concert, going around the venue. Like Jollibee or Guyito, yes. We caught them near the merch line and they were hamming it up for their small, amused audience. Core memory.

      

      I mean, look at these guys—they have their own paparazzi T___T

    • Other activations around the concert venue (so so huge)—

      • Fanclub lottery (we won ONE E prize haha thankfully a Jively pin protector (??));

      • Tower Records DIVE lottery (which brought us pretty PCs);

      • TWICE laburi gacha (initially only available to previously determined lottery winners, but turned free-for-all 3 hours before the start of the concert)—managed to get most of the member laburi, except dubchaeng T__T;

      • cafeteria (RTB water hahaha 9/9 stars very refreshing⁶);

      • Superstar JYP Japan (took photo of booth, posted with hashtags, got SSJYP group PC in return—our first and ONLY SSJYP card haha);

      • RTB Special Photobooth (of course)

      • We also bought some support banners from the fansites who were selling them outside of the venue grounds

    • Activations elsewhere—because Japan is truly TWICE country, there were banners everywhere??

      • The Family Mart near our hotel had these TWICE 7th Anniv/5th World Tour streamers and played classic TWICE throughout the concert days, it was SO CUTE.

      • At the train station, there were whole ass Google ads congratulating MiSaMo for their first anniversary

      • The giant Lux ad at the Shin Yokohama station please, what a sight

      • Then there are random member skincare/makeup endorsement in stores, you practically just walk into a drug store and see Momo or Sana. Or Nayeon or Chaeyoung, for that matter.

        

        

        

        TWICE everywhere you look

• Day 5: Tokyo Station —After the concerts, we transferred to a hotel near the Tokyo Station to get us closer to more accessible transportation to the airport.

  • On the way to Tokyo Station, we dropped by Yokohama to shop for C’s shoes at a New Balance store there.

  • At Tokyo Station we ate at this Tonkatsu store, Kurokatsu-Tei.

  • Tokyo Station is so busy and overwhelming :( Probably not the best idea after days of walking on end. My feet just noped out of the whole situation ALTHOUGH we did manage to buy some pasalubong. Pagod lang talaga.

• Day 6: Departure from Narita—Rode the Airport bus from Tokyo Station to Narita—it’s super convenient! We took the 10:20am trip and arrived with comfortable lead time + enough time for lunch at the airport for our 3pm flight. It’s straightforward, cheaper than express trains, and since it’s at-grade, we didn’t have to walk extra to locate elevators or escalators to accommodate the luggage. Bus has luggage storage too! Buy a ticket at the nearby JR counter before boarding—can do it via kiosk, but you can only buy a ticket on the same day you’re taking the bus (we had wanted to buy the night before, for a next-day trip, but couldn’t.)

  • Narita Airport notes: Pretty straightforward, no super long queues from check-in/baggage drop, to security, to immigration.

  • There’s a big food hall after immigration that you could eat in before your flight, with variety of options. Also very well-lit. (There are also food choices BEFORE immigration, just up at the 2nd floor, and C ordered Takoyaki which we both enjoyed.)

  • Fantastic matcha latte at Kanno Coffee near the entrance.

    

    Narita airport snaps

Looking at all of that, it truly is no wonder that we averaged 14,000++ steps every single day of this vacation haha. We still missed a few items—we wanted to go to a Mega Donki and a Capybara/Cat cafe, but couldn’t squeeze it in (the spirit was willing, the wallet was faltering, the legs were dying, etc) and the Imperial Palace was sadly closed on Mondays, which was when we were nearby.

IN ANY CASE—I suppose this just means we should be back… some other time. At least, we now know the transportation/logistics a bit better (Osaka was such a blur, we didn’t really learn much about the transport system during our visit because it was so short plus the rains were kinda a deterrent).

Stream DIVE~

I will end this by also noting that TWICE’s Japanese comeback also dropped in the middle of July, and their title track DIVE’s music video is so pretty!

The album is also a chill banger—perfect for meandering drives, or if you’re just hanging out or waiting. My favorite track is LOVE WARNING⁷.

So yes, sorry this has been long, and mostly for my reference haha but I do hope it’s been enjoyable or informative, at some point. Thanks for indulging!

XO,

K

1. Initially only for Day 2, borne out of C’s luck during the initial lotteries, all of which I also joined and subsequently lost lol. Meanwhile, our Day 1 tickets, we managed to get only via the reselling platform, when we were already in Tokyo, a couple of days before the said concert day. NICE.

2. Medyo nangangain ng tanga ang shift from Skyliner to JR, pero tumatanggap ng IC card buti na lang.

3. Pokemon budol was real—the line was so long, so I immediately queued while C went around—she ended up buying a Mudkip plushie pls he was her first pokemon :((

4. Actually, ask anyway:

5. And yet, even with this nearly all-Japanese track set list, we still have manyyyy JP tracks left unseen without stages just yet—Kura Kura? Better? The concerts that are coming will still have their unique bangers.

6. I was told to review RTB water properly—I think it was on the heavy side of water?? Does that make sense? Compared to the suntory water (bottled water bias lmao) which was lighter, RTB water tasted a bit sweeter, thicker, heavier.

7. —which they also sang during the encore at Nissan, WHILE THEY WERE GOING AROUND IN THE AUDIENCE WTF. On Day 1, we were seated in a section that was NEAR THE AISLE where Jihyo and her half of the team—we saw Nayeon and Chaeyoung, too, I think?—walked and I’m still. Well. Mostly in disbelief.