Friday, April 13, 2012

In Japan - Planetarium Danger

There is a planetarium in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City. Yep, it's where Namja Town, Gyouza Stadium and Ice Cream City are.

I haven't been to a planetarium in my whole life so I was so totally gung-ho for a visit. Since the cat cafe Nekorobi was just next to Sunshine City I decided to go to the planetarium. And I thought you had to go at night to planetarium. Stupid me.

The planetarium is located on the rooftop of the building, and there is a cosmic theme decorated lobby in front of the planetarium entrance. The show starts every other hour, so make sure you come at the right time.

The planetarium was sponsored by Konica Minolta, and it was very pretty. The back seat can be lowered so you can face the dome better. The seat was very comfortable and at the beginning of the show they released rose tea fragrance while explaining about the fragrance on the dome screen. It made me feel very relaxed.

I got a little bored in the middle of the show because I'm not the type of person who can sit in a chair for 1 hour doing nothing. And at times I get a little dizzy from looking at the dome screen for too long.

The overall experience was pleasing, although there was one big problem when I went there: I was alone. When you're in Japan, NEVER GO TO A PLANETARIUM ALONE NO MATTER WHAT THE REASON IS. Bring your friend, your mom, your dad (might be a little awkward if you're a son), your son, your daughter, your granpa, your grandma, your neighbor, or whoever it is, along with you. I totally did not enjoy the unpleasant stares and whispers behind my back about "why is this girl alone". The ticketing lady whispered to her co-worker about it after I left the counter. The people behind me whispered about that too. And the person in front of me dropped her cell phone, I picked it up, returned to her, and as I left her boyfriend whispered to her in Japanese, "OMG she's alone!?"

=.=

You know, I was there because I was curious about the planetarium. No other reason. I'm not broken hearted or anything. Please. I was dying to know what a planetarium was. I once flew on the plane at night and saw billions of stars on the sky and I was mesmerized by them. I love starry skies. And I'm a friggin' tourist, so to speak. Do you expect me to have a lot of friends within less than a week being here who also want to pay 1000 yen to go to a planetarium? 1000 yen can buy you at least two cheap meals. The people I've known so far seem to be a little frugal about spending money, I can't expect them to pay 1000 yen to go with me. And their classes are in the afternoon, while mine is the only one in the morning.

At the end of the show I just walked as fast as I could to avoid even more unpleasant stares. Meh.

Lesson learnt.

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