Tenso Shopping Service~!

Ok, so I know I said last time, that the next review would be of SID's M&W, but since then (as in Tuesday morning) my order that I placed using Tenso arrived! Eeeeeeeep! So now, I'm going to do a run-down of how it worked out. It's not really going to be a review exactly, but anyways. Also, this has ended up pretty damn long, I'm really sorry. ^^;; Here we go.

Now, this was my first time using a shopping service. I'm always extremely, probably unnecessarily, suspicious of buying anything online, especially when I've never ordered from a site before. I'd say the only website I feel 100% comfortable using is CDJapan. So deciding to use a shopping service was a pretty big deal for me. And plus, let's be honest here, most shopping services are really fucking expensive. Yes, maybe their own service fee isn't too unreasonable, but when you add on the cost of your original items, plus the shipping within Japan, plus the international shipping fee (almost all services use EMS)... you're looking at a pretty big number.
I've already briefly explained the reason why I ended up using the service, but I'll explain again quickly.
There were a couple of things listed on CDJapan from SUPER LOVERS that I'd been really wanting. I was just browsing the internet, and I decided to go to the official SL web store, to see the new seasons items, out of curiosity. It turns out that SL are having a huge sale right now (30~70% off!), to make way for the new stock. I checked out the sale, which is a really fantastic sale and if there are any of last seasons items that you were wanting, buy them now from the web store (http://www.rakuten.co.jp/superlovers/)! Even though CDJapan does have some SL things on sale, they have nowhere near as much as the actual web store. It turns out that quite a lot of the things I wanted were included in the sale, but I was able to narrow it down to two things that I wanted the most. Both were around 50% off. And neither of the two were on sale at CDJapan.

SUPER LOVERS uses Rakuten as their shopping platform, but unfortunately they do not ship internationally. So this is where I was like, dude, I need a shopping service. Now. I wasn't going to let this chance slip through my fingers. Obviously I had seen Tenso through Rakuten, and I had read many a good review of it around the internet. So I looked into it a little more, and I was pleasantly surprised. Their service fee is definitely the cheapest, and most reasonable. Yes, they do use EMS shipping, but they actually stick to the EMS rates! I'm going to go off on a slight tangent here. CDJapan MARK UP THE SHIPPING. A LOT. It's actually extremely obvious if you check the EMS Japan rates table, and then compare it to what CDJapan charge (http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/charge/list/ems_all_en.html). I always thought their shipping was quite reasonable, but the heavier your order gets, the more they mark up the shipping. Back on track now, and long story short, I found that even with using Tenso shopping service, it was half the price of what it would have cost for the exact same order from CDJapan. I had to do it, I would have been stupid not to.

Registration with Tenso is free, and upon registering they'll send you and a Japanese address. That address will have your ID number in it, and you MUST make sure that you include that number when entering the shipping address info. You register with your own address, i.e. the address that you want Tenso to ship your package to once they receive it.
I'm not going to tell you exactly how to use Tenso because it's really quite straightforward, their way of breaking it down and explaining how it works is very clear (here's their guide, http://www.tenso.com/en/guide/flow/index.html). Anything you need to know can be found on their site. The breakdown of costs is also simple. It's just:

• Price of your items (from wherever you order from) + shipping fee (from wherever your order from to Tenso warehouse) + handling fee + international shipping fee (from Tenso to your door)

Essentially, the 'handling fee' is the service fee, and it's a very small fee. Their lowest fee is 490 JPY, and that's with orders up to 1kg. You're gonna need to figure out *roughly* what your order will weigh if you want to calculate the total Tenso charge before ordering, using their Calculation Tool, which is down the bottom of the page. But hopefully that won't be too difficult.

The bit that confused me the most was how to enter the Japanese address, because I can't read Japanese, so I didn't know which part of the address went where. Fortunately, I have a Japanese student who helped me out, and she had to rearrange to address in order for it to make more sense. [UPDATE] So Tenso actually have a page where they show you how to enter your address when shopping on Japanese websites, here is the link -> http://www.tenso.com/en/guide/buy/address.html
Their examples are actually still in Japanese, but if you play around with Google translate and just try to work it out as logically as possible, it should be fairly simple (as told by a friend of mine who recently ordered using Tenso). If you're still have trouble, then I recommend emailing Tenso with your query. They're really friendly and should be able to help you out.

So, go about ordering from the webstore the way you would any other site. When you go to check out, you'll need to use all your own details, like your own name, and payment details (like credit card, PayPal etc). Also, use your own email address. It's just when you get to the shipping address that you put the Tenso address you were given, not forgetting your number. That's all, all other information you enter should be your own. PLEASE NOTE, you pay for this order separately to the Tenso fee, i.e. you pay the price of your items plus shipping to Tenso when you order from the web store. Your payement to Tenso, for handling and international shipping fee, comes later, once Tenso actually receive your package (they will notify you via email once they do). Then proceed to checkout, and proceed to freak out, if you're like me. I joke, I joke, don't freak out. I only did because I'd never used a shopping service before.

You'll get the automatic confirmation email from the web store you ordered from, use Google Translate if you want to double check things. And then you wait! Because the store that I ordered from only accepted credit card or cash payment, not PayPal, I had to wait a while for my payment to go through. But when it did, I got an email from the store that said, with the help of Translate, that my payment had gone through and my order had been posted to my Tenso address. Then, when Tenso receives your package, they'll email you with their fee (handling + international shipping) and you follow the instructions to pay for all that. Don't worry, I know this description is vague, but it will be very easy to follow if you use the service - they'll give you links and everything in their emails to you. Oh, Tenso allows PayPal. Once they've got your payment, they'll email you saying so and that your package is being processed, and then a final email saying that it's been shipped to you. Because they use EMS, you should get your shizz within 3-5 days! And that's it!

So, here's how the pricing, of my order at least, went:

• Item (1) - 3938 JPY 
• Item (2) - 2888 JPY
• Shipping (to Tenso) - I forgot, but it wasn't a huge amount. Maybe like 800 JPY?

The total of this is what you pay for first, with your own credit card or whatever. You pay it to the actual store you order from.

Then:

• Tenso handling fee - 490 JPY
• International shipping fee - 1000 JPY. I ordered when they were having a promotion, all international shipping was 1000 JPY, or something.

The total of THIS is the price you pay to Tenso.
So you make two seperate payments.

This is how they packaged my order. (Sorry, the second and third photos are the wrong way round. I'm learning~! Also, sorry for the crap quality... they were taken with my iPod camera x.x;;)

As you can see, there was a small rip on the back of the bag, but luckily it had an internal lining, and no damage was done to my stuff. 

My stuuuuff~ It's cute that they sent me the original bag, too.

Alright, I think that's everything covered. Reading back through this, I've realised that some things may not make much sense. I'm really sorry if that's the case, I just can't think of how else to explain/word it. Please, if you have a question, feel free to ask me! I'd be more than happy to help in any way I can. I have only used the service once, so I may not be the most knowledgeable, but I can try to advise and guide you, based on my own experience. ^^

I hope all this is useful to at least one person. If just one person gains something or benefits from this, then I'll be very happy. And I hope this has erased any doubts that you have about using Tenso. Believe me, I understand that you may be wary and that you can never be too careful. Tenso is a reliable and easy to use shopping service, their customer service is brilliant, and I would recommend them to anyone. Seriously. I'll never worry about ordering from Japanese web stores again. I can't say the same for other services, as I've never used any others, but from what I've found, Tenso is your best choice anyway. 10/10 all round. So get out there and get shopping, children!

NP - Recipe by vistlip

G.O.T.C.H.A.6.K.A~!

For a while now I've been thinking that I should update my blog. You know, change the layout and format and all that. And I really would like to, because honestly, this one that I have now I super fucking boring. It's been the same since I first started this blog just over three years ago. The thing is, I just really don't like any of the other pre-set layouts provided by Blogger, and I'm waaay to technologically impaired to make my own. Seriously, I am clueless when it comes to HTML and coding... Which is actually quite funny, considering that I've been taking Web Design as a subject for the past two years. I don't actually do any work in that class, though. It's like my second free subject. When we have work to do, I just ask my teacher and he basically tells me exactly what to do. Um, tangent, ok... Anyway, I'm going to take another look at the pre-set templates and see if I can find something a little more exciting. I guess I'll just have to play around with it a little and see what I can work out, and what I come up with. I might need to wait a bit though, until I have enough time to really get stuck in and focus on it. I have mid-term exams coming up in two weeks, so from now on I'll be super busy and nerdy with studying... Or at least, I'll pretend that's what I'm doing. I've never really been that good at studying, but I surprisingly manage to get by with pretty good grades. Maybe just for now I'll try to find a pre-set template that's a little more interesting than this, that I'll use temporarily.
Also, one of these days I'll figure out how add photos to these posts... I bet it's probably not even that difficult, I'm just an idiot. I guess I'll do that at the same time as the layout shizz. At least this way, it gives me enough time to figure out what to post photos of. I'm not really very confident with myself at all, so I wouldn't really want to post photos of my face... And my clothes aren't really cool enough to do outfit posts. I'm just generally quite plain and average. Ahh, well. I'll figure it out. I just feel like having photos will make my blog at least a little more interesting. And I need all the interesting I can get. ><;;

Writing this post is making me feel really dizzy. I haven't been feeling so good for the last two days, and I'm off school today. I probably shouldn't be using my computer at all, I knoooow. But I'm so bored~ There isn't even any entertaining trash on E! channel. Just E! News and boring THS junk.

Oh, I ordered more things on Sunday! Well, this time it was just one thing. I ordered it from Rakuten again, this time from a seller/store called Mansaiya. Whenever I search for things on Rakuten, this seller always comes up. I guess that's because I mostly search for clothes like SUPER LOVERS. And, they ship to my country, so I don't have to go through a shopping service. Again, I ordered from here because it worked out to be much cheaper than CDJapan.
BUT, I'm not going to lie, I'm getting a little worried about both of my recent orders. I ordered from the SUPER LOVERS online/Rakuten shop on Thursday last week. I did get the automatic confirmation email and everything, but it's now Tuesday afternoon and I haven't heard anything more from them. They haven't emailed me saying that it's been posted to my Tenso address, and Tenso certainly haven't received it yet. I'm hoping that it's something to do with the fact that I payed by credit card, and that it will take a while for the payment to go through. Then once they get my payment, they'll post my order.
I have similar concerns for my Mansaiya order, although I did only order on Sunday, so I'm not as concerned. But still, I haven't heard anything from this store either... I'm not sure what to do. How long should I wait until I email the sellers? I dunno maaaaan. I guess I'm just over-thinking and such because I've never ordered from here before. It'll be fine. I'm sure it will be fine. Whoo~

In other *fangirl* news, FUCKING YES GOTCHAROCKA NICONICO. When I saw the announcement   that they were going to be on a live stream, I so nearly cried. I'm so happy, I don't even care that it's way late here and I'm sick as fuck. After missing their last one, because I'm the biggest retard ever and got the timing/dates all wrong, I was so heart shattered, and I was beginning to think that I missed the only chance.
I actually started this before the broadcast was on... it was done with purpose, though, because I wanted to be able to fangirl after watching it. So, here goes...
OMFGSAFSDGDFG. THEY'RE SO PERFECT. I really, really loved watching them. It doesn't matter in the slightest that I couldn't understand a word. Just seeing them all laugh and smile made me so, so happy. They're a really great bunch of guys. You know how I like to ramble on about bands, and their band dynamic? Well, GOTCHAROCKA's band dynamic is so out of this world. They are perfect together as a band. I have no worries about them at all, I feel that they're going to be together for a long time. Ahhh I'm still buzzing about seeing them. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This morning I was listening to them, and going through Toya's blog images, and I actually felt like I was going to cry. Happy tears, not sad tears! I was just like... I love these guys so fucking much. I am so thankful to Jun for bringing me to GOTCHAROCKA. It was also really great being able to chat with the WARPS/ROCKAS again... although, it wasn't quite the same as Jun's old Niconicos... oh well, it was something. And for that I'm extremely grateful~!
Also, I realised how much I love and adore Toya! I mean, I already new I loved him, but wow... He's so gorgeous and precious and perfect! He's way up there man, but of course, Jun is always number one in my heart~ Alright, fangirl spazz end.

Alright, now I really feel like junk. Time for a cup of tea then a nap~

NP - 4 minutes for you by GOTCHAROCKA

Your Gut Says He's Evil~!

My gut says he's good! Let's put our guts together, and end this funky feud~!
Yeah. Guess who's watching Adventure Time. As usual... Anyway, on with the show~

So, I know that it was announced a little while ago now, but it still hasn't quite sunk in yet that LILT will be disbanding soon. Really soon, in fact. I really adore LILT. I realise that I say this about a lot of bands, but every time I say it it's completely true. As for LILT, their music is just so fucking positive and upbeat, it's impossible to feel depressed or upset when listening to them. They may not be the greatest band in the world, and they may not be the most skilled musicians in the world (although I think they're all great - particularly Rei, he is amazing~), but their messages are strong and their passion is clearly just as powerful. I think when the members of a band are obviously loving what they do, and really enjoy being in a band together, it makes the experience all the more enjoyable; for the members and fans alike. I think I've actually already said something like this before, except in relation to THE KIDDIE. I truly believe it, for any band, the functionality of the band depends on the dynamic of the band and the relationships of the members. Ok, so I guess that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense... it sounded better in my head. Anyway, I guess what brought this on was the fact that I was derping on YouTube and I stumbled across LILT's PV for Sakuretsu Freedom. And the only thing I could think was that they all look so happy, like they're having so much fun together. It made me happy too, but sad at the same time. Happy, because... I guess it was just like an infectious happiness that came from that video. You can't not smile with them. I mean, Kou, Rubia and Rei's smiles are just too fucking precious, and while Tsuakasa may not smile quite as much, when he does it's just like a big D'AWWW. And they smiled and laughed together, while making this great, uplifting music that never fails to make my day that much brighter. And so for the same reason, it made me sad. Because there isn't going to be any more of that. Sure, I can always just listen to what they have released. But it won't be the same, knowing that these awesome guys that I love so much and bring me so much happiness are no longer together. No longer making their awesome music together, no more laughing during the making of PVs together. And it just makes me wonder what happened. What was it that lead them to the decision to disband? I know, we will probably never know the reason why. That's how it always is. But they just seemed so happy together, and they had so much potential. Their music was improving a lot, CxLOSE was a really good release, I was so excited about it. I thought that they would keep going, and keep improving, with each new release being better than the last. But I guess crying and booing about it won't change anything. They're going to disband. All I can do now is hope and pray that we see Kou, Tsukasa, Rubia, Rei and Yuuha again soon in new projects, and support them in whatever they choose to take on next. I really wish to see at least a couple of the members in the same new band at some point. Because I refuse to think that their disbanding was due to the members arguing and not getting along. There's no way. Their band dynamic really worked. And even if they aren't in the same band, I want to see them again soon in the visual kei scene anyway, because they're all great musicians, and great guys.
As for my personal thoughts on why they disbanded, and this is only an uneducated guess/musing more like, but maybe it was because they felt they had reached their limit musically-speaking as a band. Like, if they continued, there would be nowhere for their music to go - their musical direction would be at a dead end. So, that way, it's not an issue with the members. It's just that maybe they reached their limit as a band. Who knows, maybe they'll all come back together as a new band, kind of like SINCREA to Fest Vainqueur.
I know, this LILT-disbandment contemplation post is getting pretty long, but I just have one more thing. I kind of feel sorry for Yuuha, the newer member. I mean, he only got to be in the band for what, seven months or something? Having only one release with them. It kinda sucks for him. And he was really cool too! I was looking forward to seeing more of his skills and what he can do. Oh well, I hope to see him again soon.

Ok, wow, sorry. That was a really long rant(?), of sorts, for lack of a better word. And it was probably really incoherent and doesn't make much sense but ehhhh... I'm trying~! Ok, so moving on.
I used a shopping service for the first time yesterday. I used Tenso, because it seems like the most reliable - even Rakuten directs you to them. I wanted to order from the SUPER LOVERS online shop, because they had some things on sale that I've been wanting from CDJapan, but they aren't on sale there. So, I've placed my order and paid, and hopefully my items will be on their way to the Tenso address I was given, where Tenso will then mail them to me. I'm really fucking nervous, because I've never used a shopping service before, so here's hoping it all goes well. I'll do a better review-ish post once I actually get my stuff (and maybe by then I will have figured out how to add photos to a post~) .

Speaking of mail, I really can't wait to get my AYABIE and SID albums. Whaaaa hurry up mailman! I'll admit to downloading AYABIE's album already... I couldn't wait. And it's really fantastic, I love it. I think one of the best things is the intro song, and the way it flows into Rise. It's such a cute intro, and I love that it's the melody to Ryuusei, the last song on the album. Well played, AYABIE! It really pulled me into the album. But, again, I wanna talk about it more when I actually get my own copy... I think this post is long enough already. ^^;;

Today I was walking to school by myself, as always, listening to music in my own world. And acquaintance of mine caught up to me and started walking beside me. It took me a couple of seconds to notice, but when I did I stopped walking and was like, "What are you doing?". They said that they were walking with me, but I was just like, "No, thanks~". And then they were all, wtf... okay... and walked on ahead. I did feel a little mean, but I just really hate being interrupted on my walks to school. I like walking by myself, I choose to do it. It's the only time during the day when I'm not at home where I can be by myself and just think, gather my thoughts and be in my own world and such. I don't have to socialise (wow, I'm a loser...) and I can just be alone with my thoughts. Idk. Just let me have my alone time, dammit!

I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS LONG BORING POST. These are just the things that were predominantly playing on my mind when I decided to write this. I'm trying to be a more interesting person, but it's exhausting... please wait for me a little longer! ><

NP - LIVE Maniac by Jackman