Unforgettable: Big Bang Dome Concert

So many of my friends have been to concerts in Japan and I've always wanted to experience a large concert while I was here. Enter Big Bang. They're a very popular group from Korea and have a large fanbase in Japan as well (they release songs in both languages). I listen to a lot of their songs and randomly decided to see if they had any upcoming concerts in Japan this year. Imagine my surprise and shock when I found out that they had a concert in Osaka!! Two of my friends and I bought our tickets for about 9,800 yen and we made it out there on a Saturday :] I've never been to a large concert before in my life, so this one will remain unforgettable to me :) 

If you're part of their official fanclub, you enter in this area 

Big Bang merchandise and I was shocked by how much people bought! Clothes, towels, hats, pens, light sticks, jewelry, keychains, etc. were all available for fans. 

They were a lot of young children here as well-- I saw many elementary students and junior high school students with their siblings or parents. This girl was sporting one of the bags (over 6,000 yen)

Many fans dressed up to the nines for this concert and wore every piece of Big Bang merchandise that they owned. Colored face masks were extremely popular since Big Bang's record label, YG Entertainment, is known to use them in performances and whatnot. 

It was pretty cold, but apparently not cold enough to stop some girls from wearing shorts in the winter weather..

Their glow stick! I caved and bought one because I've secretly wanted to use one in a concert :) When all the fans are waving these during the concert, it literally looks like a sea of lights. This was the only picture I could get inside Osaka Dome because they were rather strict about taking pictures indoors :( 

Three and a half hours later, the concert was over, but it was, to say the least, epic. All of the members have a very strong stage presence and their live singing didn't disappoint :) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Minatogawakoen Handicraft Market: Buy Local

I haven't gone to the Minatogawakoen Handicraft Market since summer, but decided to go this past weekend :) It's held on the fourth Saturday of every month and is located literally on top of the station at Minatogawakoen! Just go up the stairs as you exit and you'll find yourself at a large park area with all of the tents. There were some new vendors in addition to some familiar ones as well and I was able to pick up a couple of gifts for my parents there! :D I love supporting local businesses so I asked vendors for their business cards or blog sites if I took pictures of their products. I'll have those sites below in the pictures if they gave me one! ^^Please be sure to check them out :) They would make wonderful gifts and omiyage as well!

This was one of the first vendors that I stopped by and I couldn't decide what I wanted to get so I ended up coming back again :) I'll link the blog in their last picture.

So you can carry your water bottle in style :) It'll be the cutest one out there!

Musubi pouch? Too good to be true :D

Their blog can be found here

I was really tempted to buy more from this vendor! He and his wife were very nice to me while I asked them about a couple of their products. They have a blog so I'll link it at the last picture.

Blog can be found here

The owner was extremely nice to me when I asked her if I could photograph her sweets. She nodded enthusiastically and asked if I could put it on my blog and then gave me her business card as well! ^^ Ended up buying some chicken curry and those cute animal cookies on the right :) 

She also sold an assortment of jams and the yuzu jam looked really tempting to buy! Her blog can be found here and her online site here

More bakery goodness :)

Really liked her setup :)

Blog can be found here

Blog can be found here

Online store can be found here

Site can be found here

One of my favorite vendors. Chatted with him for awhile and he told me that this was his first time selling at a market so he didn't have a blog or site yet, but he encouraged me to take lots of pictures :)

If I had a real-life tree house like this, I wouldn't come out of it :D

This man made clocks out of everyday items!

Blog can be found here

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Mie: Weekend Getaway

My friend's twin sister lives in Mie Prefecture and often visits her during three-day weekends so I was incredibly lucky when I was able to tag along! :) I had been planning on traveling there for awhile, but never got around to doing it. We left Friday night and spent the weekend with her sister before leaving Monday afternoon. It took us about five hours each way, but it was also way cheaper and saved us quite a bit of money, so I had absolutely no complaints. My friend's sister lives in Toin, a small town about thirty minutes from Kuwana with many old, traditional houses and rice fields. It was a nice change from the busy city of Kobe and while we took it easy during our stay, our main goal was to go to Nabana no Sato, a popular garden that is famous for its winter illuminations. After seeing a picture of it on Pinterest, I wrote it down on my list of places to visit in Japan :D The entrance fee is a bit higher during their winter illumination-- it was about 2,100 yen, but included a 1,000 voucher that you could use at any of the restaurants or stores so I ended up using mine to buy omiyage for my teachers. 

Train station at Toin.

On a clear day, you can see Gozaisho Peak in the back :)

The entire place was lit up with thousands of solar-powered lights.

Definitely a couple/family event.

There was a spectacular light show after coming out of the tunnel and the lights and designs would change colors according to the music. 

Waterfall filling up the lake

And another tunnel with green and pink lights :) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!