Oooookay... here we go! The first part report of my last trip to Japan. Came back just a few days ago and still drowsy but don't mind me. This time I want to start writing before I forget more things. The age don't lie... brain is not what it used to be :D
I bought the tickets for this trip at the same time as when I bought the tickets for the previous trip in June. It was the same Singapore Airline travel fair and I was so happy that I got a good deal. Bought it from my friend at TX Travel Ambassador when I was in Bali for work. They are always helpful. Just in case you need it, you can send them a Whatsapp message at +6287883440609. I also bought the JR Pass vouchers from them. Not getting any commission here :P
On this trip, I went only with DH. We flew out in the morning and of course, we transited in Singapore Changi Airport.
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| Transit in Changi |
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| At Haneda Airport |
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| Waiting for our luggages |
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| On the bus to Shinjuku |
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| Beef bowl with green onions and egg |
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| Original beef bowl |
From there we continued hauling our suitcases to the apartment. For practical purposes, I decided that we were each to bring a cabin sized suitcase and a backpack for this trip. Hauling them was much easier. Well especially if DH hauls both suitcases. Hohohooo....
On the way to the apartment, we saw this Luxury Capsule Hotel and DH decided that he had to take a picture of it. :D
And of me. Finally! Pictures of me on a trip! Lol....
The apartment was not too far from Shinjuku Station, though there is a Subway station located closer. It was near the Kabuki-cho famous for their night life but it was totally fine. The apartment interior was very similar to the one in Shibuya but I personally prefer the Shibuya location. We still had some energy left after we dropped off our luggages, so we headed to the nearest Lawson to buy some drinks and snacks, and also tickets to Doraemon Museum at the Lopy machine. After getting some help and struggling with my very limited Japanese, I found out that I needed a local phone number to buy. So it was unsuccessful. Kainai kainai, he said. I could not buy. Anyhow, check out this little guy at one of the shelves.
We had some sleep the first night, even though I woke up several times because some emergency cars with loud sirens passed by. First on our list that day was the Tsukiji Fish Market. It was at the top of our list, especially because it has been scheduled to be demolished and moved to a new location in a month or two.
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| I like how the host provided a full length mirror in the apartment. |
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| Locking the apartment door |
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| View from apartment corridor |
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| In front of the apartment building |
On the way, we spotted a sign for this dance studio. The sign said "Shinoda Sports Dance Club"
The subway trains are not as nice as JR trains, IMHO, but it is nice that they also have clear digital information monitor on them.
Japan is a very organized country, they even had signs on the stairs to tell people which side of the stairs to go up and down on. Some people don't follow them though...
We arrived at the market area and it was so busy! Hustling and bustling with people and seafood. A lot of tourists were there.
We walked around and became hungry, so we tried to choose a restaurant. We didn't want to go line up in one of the popular ones, so we figured any sushi restaurant would do. There were so many options and we chose one that looked good. They were full with a 20 minute wait. We decided to move on. Finally I decided to go to a small restaurant with an extra friendly grandpa advertising at the front. It was called Tsukijiya つきじや. The sushi was good, but somehow it was not satisfying enough. And somehow I couldn't find a picture of DH's sushi set. Oh well... Found it!
After lunch we walked around some more and had some snacks. DH got some grilled seafood on a stick and I got myself a box of king crab. The crab looked better than it tasted. :(
At the market they also sold fruits and vegetables, and I came across a fruit store that sold these grapes in small portions. A tiny little cup of giant grapes for 100 yen each. The grapes was so good and was different from the grapes I've tasted in Indonesia or in North America. DH said they were similar to the ones he had in Europe. Anyway, sooooooo goooood!
We stopped at one of the knife shops there. This shop we stopped at apparently used to make swords in the olden days. They kept the tradition and made knives now.
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| Multi purpose knives |
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| Long knives for cutting tuna (as in a whole tuna) |
It was such good weather but it made me thirsty and overheated. So I decided to stop at a coffee shop米本珈琲 本店 (ヨネモト・コーヒーショップ). I was so thirsty I ordered myself two drinks. The coffee wasn't so good so I didn't finish it.
We had enough of the market and headed back to Shinjuku. I like how they now have English on most of the information board.
Does anyone remember Kobo-chan? ;)
Tokyo has a lot of posters like this one. It says "Are your manners in good shape? Look where you're going, not at your phone."
In Shinjuku we stopped at another Lawson store to buy the Doraemon tickets, this time I got permission from my dear friend to use her local phone number. Lucky!
We were quite hungry after walking around Shinjuku for a while and we couldn't decide what to eat. So I suggested to go to Shibuya, and ate at Midori Sushi 美登利総本店 渋谷店. I knew from the last trip that they were usually busy with a long lineup at the front so I took my bet that it was good. It was located in Shibuya Mark City on the 3rd floor. Luckily it was way past lunch time so we were able to get a seat right away. The restaurant though was not empty. At first, they gave us a table far in the corner but we requested to sit at the bar. That was a good idea. The sushi was awesome and I dare say they were more satisfying than the one I had at the fish market that morning.
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| Maguro, ootoro, chutoro, and negitoro. |
Undeterred from our full stomachs after sushi, I dragged the two of us to L'OCCITANE Café 渋谷店 in hopes of getting Ichigo no Tiramisu (Strawberry Tiramisu). However, it was considered fall and they now serve Mango Tiramisu instead. So that's what we had and it was just as good if not better than the strawberry version. This location is a perfect spot for watching and videotaping the famous Shibuya Crossing in action.
After that, we went to my most favourite store in Tokyo: Tokyu Hands
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| How many calories? |
On our first visit to Japan, we found by chance a very yummy Korean restaurant in Shinjuku. So we headed there for dinner. DH was quite diligent with checking in at Foursquare, so we were able to find the restaurant name and location from his history no problem. とん豚テジ 新宿店 is the name of the restaurant. Their specialty was thin sliced pork BBQ with mustard sauce.
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| They used a slanted grill to drip the fat out |
Hungry yet? :)
Stay tuned for the next part!
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