Japan - Tokyo - Last day in Tokyo! Day 4

Hope all of you guys had a good chinese new year with all the good food!

This is my last post on Tokyo, there are more japan photos to come, but I will have to sort them out first. School starts this week so I will be busy. Will try to update as much as possible!

On our last day, we went to Disneyland, it was my first trip to Disneyland. When I was young, I was always sooo jealous when other kids get to go to Disneyland. Now i am a full grown adult and have my own money, I can go to Disneyland TOO!!

It's like stepping into a magical land. I felt like a kid again, my partner was not as excited as me as he had been to every disneyland (except hk). boooo one of the lucky kids...

Food was nice and quite reasonably priced. Do not bother bringing your own food to save a few bucks (i heard a lot of people do that) because it is all about being totally sucked into this disney commercialism and dining in one of their cute restaurants! (you won't regret it)

I spent about aud$20 on this stitch bento which comes with burger, salad, fries and drink. AND i get to keep the bento! - which is with my sister now

The mickey mouse shaped pizza was delicious too.

Then I went to get their churros, I tried their original cinnamon one, and lemon&honey churros. The lemon and honey one was nicer! These sugar coated crunchy sticks tasted really good and is an instant mood booster. Both were very satisfying and were essential after a traumatic space mountain ride which was my first and last roller coaster ride in my entire life.

At night when all the lights were lit, it just felt so magical and majestic. I am looking forward to my next disneyland!

We regretted not staying in the disneyland resort for the night as it would have been so enjoyable. Plus you won't be lost in the crowd when everyone is rushing to get home after the fireworks. *note to future tourists*

Took the nozomi shinkansen back to Osaka - kobe (JR pass was not needed as we didn't travel much). Bought some pastries and japanese milk tea for my journey back

Once we reached Kobe, we went to the Lumanarie ( a lighted walkway + cathedral ) to commemorate the Kobe Earthquake which destroyed a lot of houses. My relatives were very lucky to survive because they showed me photos of their house after the earthquake, and it was a miracle anyone could survive that!

There was also a night market with lots of food stores selling street food beside Luminarie. Crowded as usual with most places in japan but it was magnificent. Reminds us to be grateful with how lucky we are.

Japan - Tokyo Day 3

Harajuku . Ginza . Shibuya

View from the Tokyo Government Metropolitan Building.

Had tempura don for lunch at Shinjuku Station (it has a shopping mall inside). Dont underestimate the size of Shinjuku station as it took us about 20 minute to walk from one exit to the other. The restaurant served really nice tempura! The batter was just right and it was very crispy. The price was very reasonable too, probably around Aud $10 for a set.

Harajuku

I couldn't wait to try the harajuku crepe that everyone has been talking about! There were two really famous one located directly opposite each other, but i chose angel's heart because it looks cuter. haha

oooo bought the crepe with the half-baked cheesecake inside. The taste was DIVINE, the crepe was warm, thin, chewy and soft. The ingredients inside went so well together. It was the best crepe ever! I am very determined to find a crepe that can rival this one, and i will let you guys know about the progress...

Ginza

We were supposed to meet my friend for dinner at Shibuya but we were early, so we stopped by Ginza to have a look at the most upscale area in Tokyo. Too bad our legs gave way and we could not walk any longer (walking around japan at our pace is suicidal) so we stopped at some random cafe for a cup of honey milk tea while watching all the fashionable japanese walk by. Most Japanese are soooo well dressed it is always fun to people watch and get some real life fashion tips.

Shibuya

That's the famous Shibuya crossing which I get to cross twice yay!

Poor Hachinko Dog statue swarmed by smokers, and used as an arm rest. Anyway, I met my lovely friend from high school and we went to a Japanese Steamboat place after being convinced by the staff who was trying to get customers off the street. THANK GOD my friend spoke japanese so I don't have to do handsignalling or use my very limited japanese and look like a fool. :) Thank you wp san! As a joke, i said "who will add collagen jelly to the stock? That's so gross!" So we ended up ordering collagen jelly for our stock (sort of like a dare). Apparently Japanese are very health conscious and collagen jelly is really good for your complexion etc. I couldnt even taste the jelly and i dont think my complexion improved after the meal. But this may be the secret ingredient to Japanese's good complexion. The soup was soooo nice i think it was a soy-based soup, very thick and creamy. We also had two rounds of their marinated chicken wings which were so addictive.

Walked around Shibuya after dinner and ended off our night here.

written by mff perth

Japan - Tokyo Day 2

Let the pictures do the talking....

Sensoji Temple (Asakusa station)

Nakamise Shopping Street on the way to the temple (one of the major highlights of my Tokyo trip)

Piping hot red bean cake. It took less than 1 minute for the stall owner to take it out of the oven and place it on my hand. So fresh!

dog in pearl necklace - nice !

Pretty boxes of cakes and cookes to buy.

Had lunch at this Udon shop along the street. Had their lunch special (look out for Japan's lunch specials as they are good value for money). So delicious! I ordered the unagi set which consists of plain udon, with unagi over rice, and egg custard. Everything was yummy, my partner enjoyed his tempura set as well.

Approaching Sensoji Temple at snail pace as there were so many things to see

Went to the Dougugai street which was walking distance away from sensoji temple. This is the place where they sell all food-related products like plastic models of food/utensils/bentos etc

Bought really cheap bentos!

Akihabara

that was the MOST DELICIOUS takoyaki we had during our japan trip. Please go there and try this! Even better than Osaka. This takoyaki was not the chewy kind, it was super soft and the filling was so hot (as it was freshly made) i burnt my tongue. We had a few takoyaki in japan but this was the best one we've tried.

After a long day out we went back to shinjuku where our hotel was.

The Shinjuku Southern Lights were so pretty. The entire stretch of road was filled with these bright lights.

Took a really short rest then went to explore shinjuku. It was impossible to stay in the room when u know the city is bustling outside even though it was past midnight

Even though we don't know japanese, we just walked into a izakaya (jap pub where they sell yummy side dishes) to experience the japanese culture.The yakitori WAS AMAZINGGGGGG. I've always liked yakitori but i've never tasted such delicious one before. The chicken was really tender, and the asparagus roll, potato wrapped with pork, beef, eggs, grilled chicken skin (freaking crispy) were all so yummy. And we get to see our order sizzling right before us. The food tasted so good with sake, should have ordered beer too!

We walked around the street and went to some arcade. These prizemachines were so addictive I couldnt stop!! All the games were also very advanced unlike the ones i've seen. We had a blast!

My 'prize' of the night. I don't know what it is actually. haha

Japan - Tokyo Day 1

I've sorted out the Japan photos by day and my trip started off in Tokyo.

We put off our luggage at my Auntie's house in Kobe, then went to the nearby supermarket to check out the colourful and yummy Japanese snacks

There are so many varieties available and they all look so yummy! I particularly loved their BIG apples where there were small traces of honey inside. My auntie told me that the honey was infused inside the apple

This was just a normal walk around the suburb in Kobe, note the red arrows which show that there are vending machines at every corner! In the city, you can see a vending machine almost everytime you turn your head. The drinks are cheap too (aud$1+) and they have a lot of variety. I buy the hot coffee all the time as it was winter and it's a good and cheap way to warm myself up! I also need to extra energy for walking so much everyday.

Took the Nozomi Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo after lunch. We didn't buy the JR pass as we were only going to use the Shinkansen once and it wasn't worth it. There are more Nozomi trains than Hikari trains which means there will be minimal waiting time in between. Anyway, you can see that in the shinkansen station, there are shops selling bentos for you to buy and bring on-board.

The train-attendant will push a cart with magazines, snacks, coffee or tea for your to enjoy while on board. Their service is so impeccable they will bow at the passengers before leaving each cabin. Their toilets (like most japanese toilets) are so clean. The seats on the shinkansen are also so spacious and comfortable, i really enjoyed the journey!

We reached our hotel at about 8pm. This is the first hotel (Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku) we stayed in Tokyo and it is conveniently located at the Shinjuku Station. We just cross the road and we will reach takashimaya. I think location is very important in choosing a hotel (esp. in japan) as most people will be too tired to walk back to their hotels at the end of the day. I usually bring my own toiletries when I travel because hotels give crappy ones. However, hotels here give really good quality shampoos etc, like this one, we got Pola toiletries. I immediately put my shampoos aside and used them!

I will definitely recommend this hotel as they are reasonably priced, the location is one of the best and the room is very clean and comfortable.

After settling down we went to walk around our hotel. Went to Shinjuku Station and randomly walked through electric city towards Isetan for dinner.

We must have walked about 2years to reach Isetan (by now my feet have swollen up so much my toes have merged into one)

Reached just in time before they close, so their bentos were all going at discounted prices (as recommended by lonely planet japan). As i was walking past all the stalls with the staff screaming for business, my heart was racing. I don't do well under pressure so I ended up buying the bentos from whoever was shouting (which was basically everyone). All of the food was presented so nicely and perfectly as the japanese are really particular in this aspect. The variety of food was amazing and I would definitely recommend travellers to go to one of the big departmental store's food hall for this unique experience.

Bought this odenoden (im not sure) bento which was delicious and contained food that we normally put in steamboats like crabstick, fish cake, tofu etc.

Look at the amount of food we bought for the night! Every stall was tempting and I couldn't resist! Bought yummyyyyy sushi, chicken, ebi prawns, onigiri and sashimi sushi too.

After dinner, my feet have woken up and we decided to go to Tokyo Tower at 11pm in the freezing winter condition to take some photos. Apparently, this was built as a replica of the Eiffel tower and is slightly taller. Beautiful....

This is the end of Day 1. Stay tuned for Day 2 as it will be a very long entry with lots of photos!

written by mff perth