wanderlust

Day 7 - Asakusa, Ueno

2009-05-13T19:56:00.011+08:00

1 April 2009

Woke up this morning feeling rather sad, as it was our last full day in Japan. Seven short days - hardly enough to experience all that Japan has to offer!

Anyhow, had a great breakfast of toast, salad and some soy + seaweed pasta (mmm fusion), then bid a fond farewell to our inn, and the larger-than-life Mount Fuji.

Thick buttered toast and a surprisingly good salad.

Leaving our mark on the board at Kawaguchiko Station Inn

Left Kawaguchiko for Shinjuku by bus, me sleeping the whole way through (and probably drooling on mummy's shoulder). Hoho. ^^ Transferred straight to Asakusa to dump our luggage at the Asakusa Riverside Capsule Hotel... wheeee capsules! Think that was the highlight of our day. But more on that later. ;)

The capsule hotel - almost right beside Sumida river

We were saving this day for more cherry blossom viewing, as we hoped that there would be more in bloom. However, coz of the dreary rainy weather... most trees had not reached full bloom yet. They were still pretty though!

Strolled leisurely down Sumida river and this is what we saw:

a canopy of sakura...

peach blossoms

geishas on a ~~horse~~man-drawn cart xD

the Asahi beer building with golden "beer foam" on top!

words... fail me.

Lunchtime! Decided to walk into KFC as I had previously seen a commercial on their new limited-time-only Shoyu Fried Chicken... and, susceptible as I am to advertising... I just HAD to try it out. It didn't disappoint. It is, singularly, the most delicious and succulent piece of fried chicken I have EVER had, anywhere. Shoyu is soy sauce... and this piece of boneless chicken was marinated thoroughly in soy sauce, covered in crispy (and just slightly spicy) batter... every bite was amazing! Now KFC will never be the same for meeeeeeeeeee! *wails* Haha. I liked it so much that I went back the same evening to buy somemore... and it was sold out. :( *wails somemore* They should definitely make it part of their regular menu... and this item should definitely come to Malaysia. Wishful thinking, I know. Anyway, I've rambled on too long bout a piece of chicken already. Feast your eyes on the pic! It tastes better than it looks. Haha!

Finger lickin' goooooooood.

Strolled down Nakamise street again, bought enough senbei (rice crackers) to feed a nation, and ate more soft serve icecream. Can you believe the variety of flavours they have for soft-serve icecream? There was caramel, yam, red bean, custard pudding, tangerine, plum, rum and raisin, chestnut, melon, almond jelly, cappuccino, rose, sweet potato and even TOFU! How does tofu icecream taste like? I didn't wanna pay 300 yen to try. ;)

Ridiculously wide selection... we chose green tea and grape! Yum.

Next stop, Ueno, and the first thing we did was go to that delicious potato stall and buy more of that. Watched ducks paddle contentedly along Shinobazu Pond, pretty cherry blossoms reflecting off the water... braved the crowd again to get a lifetime's worth of views of sakura on the main street (who knows when we'll see them again)...

mayo, soysauce, seaweed, butter, potatoes...

these are a list of my favourite things (ala Julie Andrews)

Tranquil.

me, the crowd, and our huge bag of senbei

close to sunset...

swaying gently in the breeze...

Walked back to Ueno station and wandered around Ameyoko for a while. Ameyoko is this market of sorts which used to be a black market for American goods. Now it's lined with seafood stalls, and an assortment of knickknacks. A pretty cool atmosphere... every now and then a train passes by right above your heads... lots of seafood sellers trying to out-shout each other with their cheap deals... plenty of folk rushing here and there.

Before we knew it, night had fallen. Returned to Asakusa, all the while feeling rather wistful... and cheered ourselves up wih a good meal of Unagi at Unatoto. Mummy had the Unachazuke (or something like that... can't remember), which is similar to ochazuke, except with bite-sized pieces of unagi on top! Good stuff. Comes with a pot of green tea to pour into your bowl and sort of eat it like porridge, if you like. Good stuff. I had something similar, except that it was freaking spicy, and that the tea was replaced with a soy-based soup.

Who knew that eel could taste so good?

Then it was off to a konbini for more junk food to buy back home, and back to the capsule hotel for the novel experience of a lifetime! We chose Asakusa Riverside Capsule Hotel coz there aren't that many capsule hotels available for women - the other one available is in Akihabara, which is 1000 yen more expensive.

The whole experience was kinda fun. We purchased our "one night's stay" tickets from the vending machines, stuffed our shoes in the shoe lockers and went up to our floor (women only!) with anticipation.

Keep Out, man! You hear that?! Lol.

What greeted us inside was a warm and dimly-lit walkway with dozens of capsules on each side. Some were already occupied... with people reading, talking in whispers, watching tv, sleeping. Found our capsules and began to camwhore and giggle as quietly as possible. :)

Mummy posing Japanese style...

When in Japan, do as the Japanese do. ^^

My capsule on top and mum's below

After goodness-knows-how long of camwhoring, we changed into the capsule-issued pajamas (cute! haaa) and trooped off to the public baths to clean ourselves. The public bath was uncomfortably congested. Eh. This place has no private showers, so if you're squeamish then you'll either have to skip showering or... skip showering. ;D

Capsules galore and mummy in pajamas

Enjoyed the view of Sumida River from the top of our hotel for a while, then went back into mummy's capsule to hang out and watch some tv. Two of us could fit comfortably in one capsule. The capsules were nowhere near as small and claustrophobic as I thought they would be.

And thus ended our last night in Japan. :)

Goodnight, Tokyo.

You are dearly missed.

Day 6 - Kawaguchiko

2009-05-03T14:13:00.010+08:00

31 March 2009

Again, got up at some unearthly hour coz the journey from Hakone to Kawaguchiko takes about 3 hours (inclusive of the transit times at two other bus stops). We spent about 20 minutes waiting in the cold for our next bus to arrive -- see below -- so poor thing! Haha...

waiting in the freeeeezing cold... *brrr*

Being the sleepyhead that I am, I slept through most of the journey. Opened my eyes at one point to notice that it was SNOWING. Snow in springtime... when it's supposed to be warm! *feels betrayed* Anyways, by the time we got to Kawaguchiko station, it was already a warm, fuzzy 7 degrees. Haha... shivered all the way to our hotel, Kawaguchiko Station Inn, which thankfully was almost directly opposite the bus station. Left our luggage there, and decided it was too cold to do anything but EAT, so went in search for something soupy to warm ourselves up.

Kawaguchiko is famous for its Houtou Noodles - which is almost similar to ban-mee in its texture, cooked in a hearty soup of pumpkin + potato + other vegetables, and served in a claypot. We walked into this restaurant called Miyashita, a quaint little restaurant managed by a cute elderly couple, and plonked ourselves down for some hearty goodness. I don't know if it's because we were too cold, or too hungry, but the Houtou noodles tasted really really good. :) The nice old aunty gave us some free daikon (pickled radish) as well, and it's the best daikon I've ever eaten.

Claypot!

Good stuff.

The most YUMMY Daikon EVAR!

Feeling all warm and toasty, we made our way to Lake Kawaguchi, the biggest of the five lakes at the foot of Mount Fuji. It was surprisingly quiet - very few tourists around, unlike the tourist trap that was Hakone the day before. Wandered about for a bit, then decided to make our way up to Mount Tenjo via the "Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway" to get a better view of the elusive Mount Fuji.

Mount Tenjo seems to have been designed for little kids - the cable car and the platform up on the mount have cute little racoon and rabbit figures scattered all around. ^^ We met the most adorable child on the way up there, he kept saying "kowai... kowai yo..." (which means "scary")when the ropeway swayed back and forth in the wind. There's this bell that you can ring when you get to the top of Mt Tenjo as well... and he kept hogging it. I WANT ONE! Haha... Guess I have to find myself a Japanese husband first. ;)

Ze entrance.

The racoon that took us up the mount ^^

Lake Kawaguchi

The cutest kid EVAR!

An obscured Mount Fuji and the Bell

How cool are Japanese vending machines? It sold dimsum, hot dogs, takoyaki, yakisoba, fried onigiri and potato chips. o.O

Mount Fuji in hiding >.<

Me eating a Yukimi Daifuku (almost like mochi with icecream)

Spent about 2 hours up there, waiting for the stupid clouds obscuring Mount Fuji to drift away. They drifted away quite fast, but new ones came. So we never had a perfect view of Mount Fuji, but we still had a nice relaxing time anyway, amusing ourselves with the antics of the cute little kid I mentioned above.

For the rest of our afternoon, we wandered aimlessly around the lake. This had to be the day we rushed around the least... it was good though, as the 5 days of rushing around had started to take its toll on us.

Mummy and the lake

(my gosh my captions are so boring and unoriginal...

creativity, what rock are you hiding under?)

My attempt at an artistic shot. Haha. Absolute FAIL.

The epitome of peace

Some super energetic Japanese exercising. Could hear their voices from far across the lake.

Made our way back to the hotel and guess what? Our room was a ROOM with a VIEW! We could see Mount Fuji from our window weih... pretty! I think we sat in front of our window for 30 minutes... just admiring the scenery. Bathed in their indoor bath - also with a view of Mount Fuji. The water here was freaking hot. I was in the bath for about 5 minutes and I could feel all the steam going up to my head already... got up, and wobbled faintly to the exit. Haha... think I would've fainted if I stayed in there longer.

Our spectacular view

Steamy!

Dinner time! Got out of our hotel in time to see the sun set... and by this time the clouds had completely disappeared! Mount Fuji was at its best... its snow capped tip set against the blue sky - magnificent!

Mount Fuji, thou art beautiful

The station's not bad either

The station and the Mount

Closeup!

Took 10000x pics, then made our way back to Miyashita again (yes we loved it that much), this time to try other things. I had the fried pond smelts and mummy had the wild vegetable pilaf rice. SO GOOD. The old uncle was so cute... he shuffled back and forth to give us tea, a heater, our food, etc, while the old aunty was busy whipping up the meals in the kitchen. Pond smelts are a type of fish... Deep fried to perfection, served with rice, miso soup, a bed of cabbage with Japanese mayo (yum), and more daikon (yumyum). Mummy's wild vegetable pilaf rice may not have looked impressive, but it was freaking delicious. Mouth-watering. It just looks like any other fried rice, but it's so good lah. Must be the sushi rice and the type of soy sauce they use... I don't know. We couldn't figure out why it was so addictive. Haha. Washed the great meal down with more Soft serve Icecream - strawberry and black sesame!

One little, two little, three little FISHIES

*drool*

Icecream!

More Japanese snacks - clockwise from topleft - Calbee potato chips, Mitsuya Cider (waaaaay better than Apple Cider), fruit-flavoured Calpis Water, Strawberry Pudding (again, haha), Baskin and Robbins flavoured Chocolate, peach flavoured sweets.

おわり

Day 5 - Hakone

2009-04-21T21:59:00.014+08:00

30 March 2009

Got up at an unearthly hour (read: 6.30am) to beat the infamous rush hour horde at Shinjuku Station, our transit stop on the way to Hakone. Had to bid a sad farewell to Ryokan Kangetsu and Chidoricho station though. After just 4 days, we had definitely developed some sort of attachment to those two places. :( But it was exciting too - coz there would be a change of scenery - we were going to Hakone (箱根), a touristy area famous for it's Onsen (hot springs), among other things.

To those who are travelling to Japan who intend to make a trip to Hakone, I strongly recommend getting the Hakone Free Pass or Fuji Hakone Pass. As we were going to cover both the Hakone and Fuji Five Lakes area over 3 days, we bought the Fuji Hakone Pass (7200 yen per person = approx RM280). This pass is convenient and it covers almost all of the modes of transport around Hakone and Fuji five lakes (as well as the trip to and from Shinjuku Station), so you end up saving money on transport. We also decided to follow the Hakone Round Trip course recommended by Japan-Guide, which lets you utilise all the different types of transport (train, cable car, ropeway, boat, bus, even walking, haha) while seeing all the different sights that Hakone has to offer.

Step 1:
Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto (箱根湯本) by train

Got to Hakone-Yumoto at 10-ish. Our hotel, Kappa Tengoku (which means "heaven of water sprites", FUAH so whimsical), was located just above Hakone-Yumoto station, so it was quite convenient. Had previously heard so many bad reviews about the gazillion steps you have to climb to get to the hotel, but it wasn't that bad lah. If a 54 year old woman can do it (hehe Mummy roxxors!), so can you! :) Left our luggage there, bought ourselves a yummy brunch consisting of Onsen Manju (red bean paste bun thingy), Gyoza (yes, the love affair with Gyoza continues), and coffee. Sat on a bench overlooking nature, and mused about how good life was. Haha. (How sucky it is in contrast, now that I am back at work! Aisehman...)

Lugging our luggage uphill

Mummy pointing at the number of steps leading to our hotel. Easy Peasy!

Manju, and the cool machine that makes it

Mummy enjoying her daily coffee fix

Gyoza lurrrve

Steps 2, 3 and 4:
Hakone-Yumoto to Gora by train
Gora to Sounzan by cablecar
Sounzan to Owakudani (大湧谷) by ropeway

Hakone is brimming with tourists. Tourists mean congestion. And man, was it congested in the train/cable car areas. More congested than any of the trains that we took in Tokyo. Encountered this cute little ang-moh family in the cablecar - the cute little kids were speaking in Mandarin. Apparently they live in China. Cool. The ropeway was fun, we got a pretty good view of Mount Fuji.

Finally arrived at Owakudani, which is a volcanic valley that spews sulphuric fumes. Quite cool, albeit stinky. The view of Mount Fuji from Owakudani was so clear! Owakudani is famous for its Kuro tamago, which, literally translated, means black eggs. Everyday, huge amounts of eggs are dipped into the volcanic springs - volcanic springs hot enough to cook the eggs. They come out black, stinky, and generally not very appealing to the eyes, but still good. Not much different from the regular boiled egg. You eat it for the novelty, I guess. We had a second brunch (gluttons!) here, eating a total of 5 eggs between the two of us. (And this is where our cholesterol levels shot sky high and never came back down again. Hehe.). The food stalls also sold EGG-flavoured soft-serve icecream (which Japanese call "soft cream"), so obviously we had to try it. Tastes like custard. Good stuff!

Owakudani... steamy!

Me, a slightly obscured Mount Fuji, and ropeway

Smoke gets in your eyeeeeeesssss

Dude dipping hundreds of eggs into the boiling water

Hello, cholesterol

Hello Kitty makes an appearance in a black egg costume! Haha.
I'm holding the Egg-flavoured soft-serve. Yum.

Steps 5 and 6:
Owakudani to Togendai by ropeway
Togendai to Hakone-Machi by boat (via Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖))

At Togendai, boarded a "pirate ship" and took a leisurely 30 minute cruise through Lake Ashi. It was quite enjoyable, despite the freaking cold and the relentless winds that whipped our hair all over the place (took me 5 mins to untangle my hair later). Couldn't see the elusive Mount Fuji from the lake though, which was a shame. Got off the boat at Hakone-Machi, which has a cute little souvenir shop that sells the cutest soft toys.

Ahoy Matey!

Shades of blue

Chibi Mount Fujis. SO adorable.

I was very tempted to buy this. It's a PEACH! Kawaiiiiii....

Steps 7 and 8:
Hakone Machi to Moto-Hakone by foot
Moto-Hakone back to Hakone-Yumoto by bus

From Hakone-Machi, we walked around Lake Ashi and walked through the ancient cedar tree-lined path to Moto-Hakone. It was a peaceful and relaxing walk, the warm sun glinting prettily off the lake's surface... sunlight creeping through a canopy of towering trees... almost enchanting.

Trees from ages past...

Back at Hakone-Yumoto, we went searching for Hatsuhana, which serves Zaru soba, cold buckwheat noodles dipped into a soy-based sauce. Apparently, Hakone is quite well-known for its Zarusoba. I had the Tenzaru Soba (basically tenpura + zarusoba), mummy wanted something warm so she had the Tenpura Soba (basically tenpura + soba in hot dashi soup). Haha, how unoriginal of us. Didn't dare to try the tsukimi soba - which is soba with a RAW EGG (eww), nor the soba in yam-based broth (it looked mushy). We liked what we ordered though. Delicious...

Look at the size of that prawn!

The spider-like thing you see is deep-fried soba. Yum!

Mummy continues her love affair with Sakura

Hakone-yumoto is pretty at night. That's Hatsuhana on the left

Bought some snacks for dessert (and also as the next day's breakfast), and headed back to our hotel. Kappa Tengoku has an onsen (open air hot spring bath) that's open to the public, and no private shower facilities, so we had to bathe out in the open (all exposed and vulnerable in the freezing cold), then dip ourselves in the toasty hot springs. There were a couple of people there lah, crowded... But then, we figured that since they were strangers we would have no chance of ever meeting again in this life, and since they had the same parts we had, that we should stop being so embarassed. :) It turned out to be pretty relaxing. Went back to our room, watched some Japanese TV (Arashi was on... woohoo!), and fell asleep.

Introducing Japanese snacks: Clockwise from TopLeft: Calpis Water (almost like Yakult but not quite; much better), Caramel flavoured bread snack (almost like croutons, but sweet), more PUDDING, Strawberry cream daifuku (kinda like Mochi...), cheese-flavoured macaroni snack. I LOVE JUNK FOOD.

Hot springs sans naked people

Domokun makes a special appearance in the blog again! Haha.
Travelling in style weih... ^^

Next post - Kawaguchiko. Will probably only post after my Japanese exam which is next Tuesday. Gotta start cramming! :)

Day 4 - Ueno, Harajuku, Aoyama Cemetery

2009-04-15T19:44:00.021+08:00

29 March 2009

Picture-heavy post ahead! Haha. It seems that with every post my need to add lots of photos increases ten-fold. :) We woke up early, intending to get to Ueno park before the masses arrived en-masse. Heh.

Chidoricho station - Densha ni norimasu! ^^

The plan was slightly thwarted when I gave in to my obsession to find the elusive Mochi Cream, which had previously eluded us in all the locations they were supposed to have been available at. Some blog said there was a stall at Shinjuku station. Nada. Some other blog said there was a shop in Mitsukoshi Alcott, Shinjuku. Again, no where to be found. Some other website said there was a stall at Kamata station. FAIL! (Unless we were so blind that we scoured all these places and somehow missed it. *kicks self*) Desperate for a taste of Mochi Cream, I asked some shop assistant at Kamata station who told me that it exists in Kawasaki, just a stop down from Kamata station, in a shopping centre called Lazona. Yippee... so I dragged an unwilling mummy all the way there only to find that it only opens at 10am. By this time, mummy had started griping about how she had never seen someone so obsessed and willing to do anything for food. True, true. Such a glutton I am. ^^ Anyways, waited till 10am... and there, in neat little rows of perfection, were the colourful mochis!

*drools*

*drools somemore*

So, so pretty! Coz they were expensive (150-200 yen each), we only bought four - caramel macchiato, sakura, caramel, and caramel pudding. Caramel overdose yaay! They had so many other flavours - chocolate, raspberry, mango, red bean, green tea, sesame, etc. Anyway, they are amazing. Mochi by itself is already good... imagine biting into the chewy mochi and finding caramel oozing out... too good for words. Satisfied that we had FINALLY found it, we made our way to Ueno park for more pretty cherry blossoms!

First stop, Ueno Park (上野公園)

Got there at about 11am, the station was so crowded that we had to queue up to get out of the station. Crazy! All of that was worth it though... the cherry blossoms there were the prettiest shade of light pink, gently swaying in the wind, an occasional flower drifting to the ground below. So beautiful. I shall say no more and let the (imperfect) pictures do the talking.

human traffic

finally, ueno park!

きれい　なあ。。。

breathtakingly beautiful

pinkish white

pretty flowers against a blue sky

how i miss you...

Bae yong jun lookalike in the crowd. Haha.

ojisans and obasans having a hanami party! so cute! ^^

We then decided to join the Japanese in their tradition of picnicing under the flowers - found a nice spot and tucked into some yummy gyoza (similar to Guo Tie), taiyaki (fish shaped cake thingy with chocolate / yoghurt / lemon / caramel filling), mochi cream and strawberry pudding! Yums. Also had some sakura-flavoured icecream. Yums.

Mmm gyoza!

yumyum Taiyaki!

Mochi cream おいしい！

Strawberry pudding!

Next stop, Harajuku (原宿)

Returned to Harajuku again for the Sunday freakshow parade! Again, I mean this in the nicest way possible. :) It's actually quite facinating, the way these teenagers go to such trouble to dress up and pose for hours at the bridge leading to Yoyogi-koen. It was quite funny though, there were only a handful of dressed-up teens, greatly outnumbered by the tourists gawking at them. Some of them are nice - they agree to pose with you. The others just talk among themselves and act like the tourists and cameras in their faces don't exist. Hehe... Picture time!

My bro thinks this girl is pretty :)

We gave this goth dude a wide berth. Hehe.

The blonde guy is HOT. Anime-HOT!

Gothic.

Who's the odd one out?

Erm. Yes. Haha.

This how the Japanese cam-whore

Er. I think she's trying to be a doll.

Then, we walked a pretty tree-lined path to Meiji Shrine, where we witnessed about 4 to 5 weddings taking place. Japanese wedding ceremonies are vastly different from ours - silent, solemn affairs. What a contrast to the typical fanfare and glitz of Chinese weddings!

Meiji-shrine entrance

Pretty little wedding party

The silent march taking place.

Teatime! Went off to find Sakura-tei (near Takeshita street) for Okonomiyaki. Yum. This restaurant is fun - you get to 'fry' your own okonomiyaki! After a mishap or two (like how mummy accidentally poured half a cup of oil over the hot plate, haha :p), we ate our Sakura Okonomiyaki - squid, prawns, mushrooms, pork strips, onions and egg... topped with lots of sauce, mayo, bonito flakes and kelp. Good stuff.

Mummy showing off her mad frying skillz

"Eat Me!" says the smiley-face. (:

Last stop, Aoyama Cemetery (青山霊園)

Last hanami spot of the day... we decided to go to Aoyama (near Harajuku) to look for Aoyama rei-en, the largest cemetery in central Tokyo. It was so cold in Aoyama, and it was getting dark - we almost gave up looking for the place. But we found it! And it was worth the stop. The cemetery was large... we probably only walked through 10% of it. It was very serene and peaceful, so quiet it was almost spooooky. Couldn't help but think that it would be a nice final resting place. You get to "sleep" under a canopy of cherry blossoms... :)

Pretty. Pretty spooooooky...

Went back to Harajuku for a ramen dinner, then went home. This was our last full day in Tokyo, so I felt kinda sad that day. Ah... wistful feelings...

Another bowl of Kyushu Jangara Ramen for the weary traveller.

Next post, Hakone and the magnificent Mount Fuji. :)

Day 3 - Yasukuni Jinja, Chidorigafuchi, Kichijoji

2009-04-12T17:01:00.013+08:00

28 March 2009

This day was Cherry Blossom viewing (hanami はなみ) day! Cherry blossoms, or Sakura (さくら) are celebrated and even obsessed over in Japan - as they are exquisitely beautiful, but only last for about 1 week after full bloom. We deliberately planned this trip to coincide with the blooming period - but as the weather took a turn for the cold (lucky us, haha), blooming was slightly delayed. We were there when the sakura was partially bloomed - not as magnificent as they would've been in full bloom, but still breathtakingly pretty anyway.

First stop - Yasukuni Jinja (靖國神社)

Yasukuni Jinja is a shrine built to honour the Japanese people who died in War - the innocent civilians, the everyday soldier, and, most notoriously, the well-known convicted war criminals of World War II. As this place has sparked such controversy over the past few decades, I thought I'd check it out. Turns out that it looks like any other shrine - no huge statues of the war criminals or anything like that. The streets leading towards the shrine were lined with food stalls. Yum. :) We bought some takoyaki (the takoyaki are SO HUGE), and enjoyed them under some partially bloomed Sakura trees.

The imposing entrance to the shrine

Takoyaki swimming in a sea of sauce, mayo and fish flakes ^^

Pretty pretty blossoms

Pink!

An overjoyed mummy

The infamous shrine

A Dango stall - a rice flour dumpling popular during Sakura season

Next stop - Chidorigafuchi (千鳥ヶ淵)

Just across the road from Yasukuni Shrine, is the Chidorigafuchi Moat - a beautiful sakura viewing area located within the Imperial palace grounds. So pretty, the branches of cherry blossoms waving gently over the pond.

So so pretty

So very pretty (haha, you know I'm not referring to myself)

Tayasumon gate - mummy and huge stone slabs

Last stop - Kichijoji (吉祥寺)

Kichijoji is a suburb to the west of the Tokyo city centre, which houses another popular hanami spot - Inokashira Park. We got to Kichijoji station, followed the crowd, and arrived at a park crowded with people (mostly drunk), picnicing on any available surface. The Japanese like to have hanami parties - fun, food, flowers and BOOZE. We could actually smell the stench (haha) of alcohol in the air.

So mummy and I decided to have a little picnic of our own! We sat down on an available bench, looking out at the flowers and the lake, and ate pudding. Pudding is a popular thing in Japan - so milky, so soft and smooth and creamy and melt-in-your-mouth, with a thin layer of almost-bitter caramel at the end. It's delectable. I think we spent every day after that trying out the different types of puddings we found in stores. Heh.

Drunken people drinking sake

Our pudding came in a brown paper bag that says:

"How to cook a husband" xD heehee

Pudding is YUMMAY!

Emo shot

A beautiful weeping cherry blossom tree

Me again! :)

After this we decided to return to the Kichijoji shopping district to look for Steakhouse Satou - a restaurant that sells Menchi-katsu, deep fried minced beef cutlets that ROCK your SOCKS. Got lost looking for it, asked for directions, and this kind lady actually brought us there. SO NICE! This would never happen in Malaysia. Anyways, back to the minced beef cutlets. It's made using Matsuzaka beef - which is said to be as good as Kobe beef. Truly, I have never enjoyed beef so much. The minced beef was mixed with onions and fried to perfection - crispy on the outside, juicy and flavourful on the inside. No hint of oilyness at all. Well worth the 30 minutes of queueing.

Yum yum.

*drool*

Then, we decided to go home to enjoy a long and languorous dip in the open-air bath. Cam-whored a little (but not going to show you! haha). We were so lucky to not bump into anyone the three days we were there. I don't think I would've been as relaxed if there were strangers naked next to me.

Nice and rosy after the bath.

After that, we popped over to the sushi restaurant opposite our hotel, since we hadn't had any sushi since arriving in Japan yet. And how can you not have SUSHI when you are in JAPAN? The restaurant is called Kiyo Sushi, it's this small shop managed by a husband and wife. Very cozy and quaint. The husband, the sushi chef, reminded me of the Hayashi rice chef in Ryusei no Kizuna. Warm and crinkly-eyed, he folded a little paper crane chopstick holder for me, which I sadly forgot to bring back. :( He asked us where we were from and I actually managed to hold a conversation with him in Japanese! Other patrons of the restaurant chimed in on the conversation... one guy was hilarious, he mentioned the so-called "HARIMAU", with his hands stretched out like claws to make himself understood. HAHA. Funny to know that people associate Malaysia with tigers. ^^ The other guy kept calling me "kawaii" (which means cute), which was incredibly flattering... but I think he was drunk. Haha. And really old. Haha.

Anyway, I digress. The sushi was amazing. So fresh - no hint of fishiness at all, so creamy and tasty and good. They don't give you wasabi - the wasabi is already in between the fish and the rice. We ordered an extra from the set - Ootoro - fatty tuna belly - the most exquisite, soft and rich piece of sushi I've ever had. It was expensive. Oh well. Haha. Sushi back here will never taste the same again - it will never be fresh enough, the atmosphere will never be authentic enough. I left the restaurant content, and had a wonderful night's sleep.

I miss you!

Our beautiful slab of Ootoro

Day 2 - Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku

2009-04-09T18:52:00.015+08:00

27 March 2009

After a wonderful night of sleep, we got up at 8am, ate a breakfast consisting of apples (mummy insisted, you know, for fibre content) and green tea (free from the Ryokan), and set off for the more "happening" places - Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku. This was undoubtedly our longest day out. :)

First stop - Shibuya (渋谷)

Shopping district! Not that we planned to shop that much (since we were on miniscule budget). Not that the clothes sold there would suit me (too glam! too small! too stylo-mylo!). We went there just to witness the 5 way crossing under giant buildings and tv screens. You can really feel the hustle and bustle of city life when standing there.

Shibuya Station - that's Ohno's handsome mug on the top right

A herd of ~~wildebeest~~ humans :p

Walked around looking for Tokyu Hands - the multi-storeyed decorative DIY store. (Asked for directions quite a lot throughout the whole trip. Thank goodness my limited Japanese didn't fail me. And the people we spoke to were always so nice and accommodating). On the way there we found Choco-Cro - home of the delicious croissant with an entire bar of chocolate baked into it. You can't beat that (unless you're a croissant with an entire bar of butter inside... mmm sinful). The chocolate bars come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and green tea chocolate. All good (yes we tried all, they have a shop in Harajuku too). They even have strawberry croissants! We didn't eat this though - it was sold out on the day we wanted to try it. :(

So that's all we did in Shibuya - gawk at people crossing the road, gawk at people in shopping centres, and eat croissants. Haha. ^^

Yummy melty chocolatey goodness!

Next stop - Harajuku (原宿)

Home of the outlandishly-dressed teenagers! We didn't see that many oddly dressed (by Japanese standards) people around though - to see the extremes you have to go on a Sunday, to the bridge that leads to Yoyogi Koen. That's where the freaks come out to play (and pose for strangers). And I mean freaks in the nicest possible way. :)

Lunchtime - so we ate at Kyushu Jangara Ramen, which has the most amazing and satisfying Ramen ever. So, so, so good. I cannot rave about it enough. Mummy and I ordered the Kyushu Jangara soup (you can choose from different types) - Zenbuiri (all toppings included). It comes with the most chewy (in Hokkien I believe it's called "kiu kiu", hehe) noodles, chasiu pork, spicy cod roe, mushrooms, a boiled egg and amazingly flavourful stewed pork belly. Normally I'm quite averse to fatty meats... but this was so good I gobbled all of it down. Mmm. *licks lips* And the best part is the tonkotsu (pork bone) broth. Warm, rich, and hearty. *drools*

The epitome of comfort food

So, bellies fed and completely satiated, we walked down Omotesando street in search for Kiddyland, Uniqlo and Oriental Bazaar. I LOVE Kiddyland. I think mummy and I spent 2 hours in there, exploring every nook and cranny of every floor. Everything was SO CUTE I wanted to bring the whole store home with me. In the end we settled for a Domokun for Wenshi and some Totoro merchandise. On to the pictures!

Domokun roxxors your soxxors xD

Yes, those are thumb drives

Adowable

You have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful!

Freakish Elmos - imagine if a horde of this visited you at night - Spooky!

These are peas (out of their pods) - Edamame. Haha. How'd you like to have a vegetable for a softtoy?

After the cute-fest that was Kiddyland, we traipsed off to Oriental Bazaar and bought some Japan-inspired souvenirs for our friends and family back home. Was tempted to buy a Yukata but refrained... coz what I am gonna do with it here? Wear it to fancy dress parties? Heh.

Next up was Uniqlo, which is a super cool casual clothes store with row after row of bottled t-shirts. Bought an anime-inspired tee for Wen Shi and a cutesy Unicorn flying over a galaxy of stars tee for myself. The tees range from 1000-1500 yen, which is considered cheap in Japan. Ouch.

Bottled tees are cool.

Walked down Takeshita street next - jam-packed with people. Had a delicious crepe at the Angels Heart crepe stand - Strawberries, strawberry cheese cake and cream. おいしい！

Crepes galore!

Last stop - Shinjuku (新宿)

Arrived at the hugemongous and confusing Shinjuku station, somehow found our way to the Odakyu sightseeing centre to purchase our Fuji-Hakone passes, then made our way out of one of the many exits to look for Mentsu-Dan, an Udon shop that this blog recommended.

Mummy had an atsukake udon and I had a cheese-egg udon. We topped it up with some eggplant and prawn tenpura. Yum yum! This place was cheap too!

Cheese + Egg + Udon = happy well-fed me

As we had the directions to all the places we wanted to go defined by Shinjuku station exits, we went through the station again to exit near Takashimaya Times Square (note: they charge you a minimum of 160 yen everytime you enter through the station, even if you didn't travel anywhere). Takashimaya Times Square is hugemongous. We went straight to the 14th floor and had a second dinner at Katsukura (I know I know... GLUTTONS). :D Again, this place was recommended by Camemberu and For the Love of Food.

Katsukura sells Tonkatsu - a deep fried pork cutlet which you dip in yummy sesame-soy based sauce. We had the yummy fillet cutlet and snow crab cream croquette set. It came with more pickles (I love Japanese pickles), miso soup, sushi rice and tons and tons of cabbage (which was yummy too!).

*drool*

Right before tucking in

Mummy mixing the sesame and soy-based sauce

After that we went to the basement of Takashimaya to drool at the exquisite and unique food items that were crazy expensive but oh-so-tempting. Beautifully crafted cakes, sweets and biscuits, cherry blossom-themed food delicacies, grilled seafood of all sorts, creatively designed bento sets... we were in heaven. Obviously couldn't eat anything after 2 dinners though. Haha.

Decided to walk off our bloatedness by walking to Kabukicho in the slight drizzle - the red light district of Tokyo! Kabukicho was just like we expected - lots of bling, "girl's bars", pachinko parlours, drunken people, and tourists out to experience the night life. Didn't see any Yakuza, or wouldn't recognise them if we did anyway. There were lots of men standing around holding umbrellas... random men (mostly in suits, looking like they just came from a long day at work) would pass by, duck under their umbrellas and disappear "discretely" into one of those girl's bars. I shudder to think at how many of them have wives and children waiting at home. No sight of the famed host clubs though. Not that I was looking. Haha.

Bling bling. The hot guy on the top left corner is a host! I only found out after I googled "smappa". Heh.

Tired after a long day of walking, we decided to return to our hotel... got back around 10.30pm. Zzz. After bathing, mummy promptly fell asleep... and it is here that the adventures of Domokun begin! MOOhaha.

Domokun escapes the scary clutches of the plastic bag and surveys the strange land before him.

Domokun tentatively approaches the huge head, waiting for the right moment to prance.

"PREPARE TO DIE, HUGE HEAD!"

The huge head is a bit too big though. Hmm...

"I shall FEAST on TOES instead!"

Err. Yes. So. Ahem. After a nice and fulfilling meal of toes... Domokun drifted off into peaceful slumber, and so did I. ^^

Day 1 - Akihabara, Asakusa, Ginza

2009-04-07T22:29:00.008+08:00

26th March 2009

preface --

Mummy and I had been talking and dreaming about this trip to Japan since last year... so when the cheap MAS promotion came along, we couldn't resist! So off we went to Japan for some mother-daughter bonding time, leaving the men in our lives (daddy and Wen Shi) to their own devices, and to give them some long-overdue man-to-man bonding time too. Haha.

The night before, mummy and I happily left Malaysia and arrived at Tokyo airport bright and early. Went through customs relatively fast, bought our Suica cards (like Malaysia's touch and go cards, useable at all train/bus/subway stations), and went forth and braved the convoluted train/subway system.

There were, needless to say, many confused moments of staring at subway maps and many bewildered exclamations from mummy. 3 train/subway line changes later, we arrived at the station near Ryokan Kangetsu (our lovely hotel), and promptly got lost looking for it again (haha, I know, we suck). Found it eventually, and Jun An and his girl friend Yun Qi were already there waiting for us!

Checked in, and then it was OFF to see Tokyo in all its glory! :)

First stop, Akihabara (秋葉原)

Didn't do much there... I'm not much of an electronics person, and neither is mummy. Tried scoping the audience for Otaku and Maids... only found one maid, out promoting the maid cafe she works for:

Can't really see her maid outfit, as it was SO COLD OUT!

The one cool thing we did at Akiba was eat Tendon at Tenya... the most amazing tenpura I've eaten in my life (HUGE prawns and amazing SAUCE). *drools* And the udon is SO smoooooth. Mmm. Even the rice was good. :)

Next stop, Asakusa (浅草)

This place is known as the heart of old Tokyo. A huge lantern greets you at the Kaminarimon (translated as Thunder gate), and a street (Nakamise) selling all sorts of yummy foods (kibidango, ningyoyaki, manju, senbei) and touristy trinkets leads up to Sensoji, a huge and popular temple. We had lots of fun exploring the little shops and getting lost in the throng of tourists and locals that crowded the area.

Kaminarimon

Pretty

Mummy trying to soak up as much incense as possible

Wandered about the area and then went off looking for Kappabashi dori - the street where they sell plastic food samples so real they could fool anyone. There's a huge market for this, since all restaurants display their menus in the form of plastic food in front of their stores to entice the hungry.

Yum. Can you believe that these samples are more expensive than the real thing?

Last stop, Ginza (銀座)

Took a few photos outside Kabukiza - a theatre famous for their Kabuki plays. Didn't go see one, coz we wouldn't understand it anyway. Reminds me a bit of the Chinese "Da Xi" where they wear scary white face paint and act/sing/dance.

We went there mainly for the restaurant Hachinoya, coz I found out online that they sell Hayashi Rice! I've been wanting to try the real thing after watching Ryuusei no Kizuna. The real thing was damn good... warm, rich and creamy beef stew, accompanied by some pickles and a crab cream croquette. Yum.

After this, bid Jun An and Yun Qi goodbye (they're so Japanified they bowed at mummy! So cute!) and went back to Ryokan Kangetsu to soak in the nice hot open air bath and take multiple pics of ourselves wearing Yukata (the wrong way... haha, the left side is supposed to go over the right. Oops!).

Back from Japan, and...

2009-04-06T21:20:00.007+08:00

I miss Japan already...!

Here's a little photo summary before I go into detailed daybyday accounts:-

In the land of the rising sun, I -

Gazed at pretty sakura... so exquisite, yet so transient.

Gaped in awe at the magnificent snow-capped Mount Fuji.

Savoured the most delicious food. とても　おいしかった！

Gawked at unique Harajuku fashion.

Braved the complex and intimidating train stations.

Relaxed in the lovely warm open-air baths.

Wore Yukata and slept in a warm Futon bed.

Slept in a Capsule - surprisingly spacious and comfortable.

... and SO much more! The pictures, the words... they just can't quantify the overall experience.

I love Japan.

Part of me wanted to stay there forever!

First Post!

2009-03-08T17:09:00.003+08:00

I suffer from:

wan.der.lust /ˈwɒndərˌlʌst/ [won-der-luhst]
–noun
a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

Hehe.

There are so many places I want to go,
So many places that I've visited that I want to revisit,
So many memories from these travels that I want to post up in this little corner of the World Wide Web, lest I forget them someday.

Next stop - Japan!
Am so excited I can hardly contain myself.

Cherry blossoms, Harajuku girls, Mount Fuji, butt-naked Onsen experiences, complicated as hell train routes, the food OH THE FOOD...

Will be back with day-by-day accounts of the misadventures of Mummy and Me!

Till then,
love,
jueying* :)