Highlights of the Japan trip

Day 1: Plane ride – Shinjuku – Keika Ramen

Had dinner with mum and sisters at Changi Airport before leaving. Kampong fried rice was disappointing. Golden Rooster is so much better! Following that was plane ride to Nippon – Land of Rising Sun (just nice, it was morning when we got there). Zoe Tay and family were on the same plane, it must be sad that she can’t avoid curious stares even when she’s on vacation. I’m glad there’re no kiddos on the same flight as us!

First day was spent walking around the Shinjuku area, getting tickets for ghibili museum and hakone trip.  Dinner was at Keika Ramen, which coincidentally was the restaurant that we were looking for but under a wrong name (keiko). Mouth-watering braised fatty pork meat, it must be the best that I’ve eaten so far! However, the broth tasted too porky, and the noodles were so-so.  We saw a bike overturned at the junction in Shinjuku. It was scary. Fortunately the cyclist was okay and able to pick himself up.

Day 2: Ghibli museum (Mitaka) – Ton katsu at Ginza

We went to Ghibli museum (宫崎峻!!). Saw my favourite characters – catbus and howl’s moving castle. I spent much time watching the children climb on the huge catbus plush toy and throwing dustballs around. Children having pure simple fun are such a joy to watch. More pictures of the place at the official website cos you can’t take photos in the museum itself   http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/

After which we went to the park behind the museum and saw more people there – there were a mother and her toddler (her son was having fun playing with the leaves on the ground :)), two girls kicking a ball that looked like sepak tekraw, and parents picking their kids up at a nearby school. We spent abt half an hour taking jumpshots which was quite hilarious cos there would always be someone jumping out of sync with the rest (OK, I admit, I’m one of the LSS as mei would have said). Following that was tasty katsu don in Ginza (with the meat in layers inside the katsu instead of the usual big chunk of meat, very interesting). I left Ginza earlier cos I wasn’t that interested in shopping and went to Shimbashi to try and find the wet market that I went to the last time. It wasn’t the right place, but I managed to get myself some cup noodles and fruits in the supermart. Had a quick dinner and settled down to try and sleep despite the trobbing headache that was bothering me the whole day

Day 3: Torodoki – Jiyugaoka - Nakano

The rest of the peeps went to Disney today, I went on my nature walk to Torodoki and visited the Keikoku valley. It was a nice walk beside the flowing water and rustling trees. Saw the cave tomb that was supposedly built in the 7/8th century (pity the glass cover was fogged up and I couldn’t see wat’s inside). Took a walk in the garden at the end of the valley and took some nice photos of the maple leaves.. The sweet shop next to the temple wasn’t open! Pity…

Jiyugaoka was next on the itinerary. An up and coming residential + shopping area, it’s an interesting place to visit with lots of individual shops (lots of fashion, esp children’s clothing) and long stretches of chill out areas with benches for people to sit on. There were many mums with their children (babies, toddlers, kids), all dressed up to the nines. Suddenly, it feels fashionable to be a mum. Haha.. I bought my takoball machine at a huge electronic store there!

Wanted to visit Fukato-Tamagawa for the Tama River (it’s supposed to be a popular spot for exercise and relaxing like ECP) but it was quite late so I decided to go to Nakano directly. Spent 300Y to store the heavy ‘loot’ from JYG at the station’s locker. Nakano Broadway Mall is like mecca for anime/manga fans, they have everything and other related merchandise (less touristy than Aikhabara). Actually, its mostly Mandarake that has interesting selections of  manga/electronics/TV serials/action figurines/toys/cosplay costumes, dating way back into the 50s when it all started! Old Japanese action figurines, game consoles, anime sketchings and more! For an arm and leg, you can own one of those toys (game sets/action figures) that you used to play with back in the good old days! If you are interested to see how the Japanese subculture developed over the years, you should really visit that place! More pictures and an interesting writeup on the place at http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/523/Nakano+Broadway.html 

Dinner at 元祖寿司, a revolving sushi restuarant (finally ate at one of these places!), where I managed to grab a plate of crabstick mayo (this was the only plate of COOKED sushi I saw, Japanese only eat raw food -.-) and washed it down with two more plates of salmon mayo sushi (no choice, others looked more raw :S) and a chawanmushi.

Day 4: Asakusa – Saboteur card game

Fell sick due to the cold weather but fortunately revived by pc’s 葛根汤. Woke up after a good sleep to join the rest on their trip to Sensoji temple at Asakusa. It was raining hard that day (fortunately the only day it did during our trip). Ate a rice biscuit that was quite hard and drank some nice sweet sake (I suspect its the same as amasake in Hakone -see day 7). We decided to head back to the hotel early today (thankfully!)as the weather was SUPER cold and got our dinner at nearby Lawson’s mart. Spent abt an hour eating and playing Saboteur in our room before we retired for the night. One more packet of GGT and finally my headache went away after three days of suffering..

Day 5: Odaiba -Miraikan museum – Palette town

Caught the Yurikamome line to Odaiba and had brunch at Macs in Decks (as we baked in the morning sun). Popped over to Fuji TV building which was crowded as they seemed to be having a carnival of some sort there. Saw a giant Nodame Cantabile poster, the movie is coming to town on 19 Dec! I hope it would be available in Singapore soon.. excited!

Next we headed on to Mirakan – National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. We spent the most time at the Food Science special exhibition which has interesting exhibits beginning from growing of food (agriculture), food processing (e.g. perservation, storage, manufacture), right up to how they are served (in macs for e.g., how they serve a customer in 50s). It was informative and the information were presented in many different modes e.g. posters, models (which you can play with), exhibits, interactive screens, tv programmes etc. I wished my camera had not died on me then We also watched a 3D omni movie on the birth of the galaxy but all of us (except pc) fell asleep soon aft the show started as the seats were too comfy

After rushing through the other exhibits before the museum closes (5pm!), we went on to Palatte town to catch the giant ferris wheel. Saw a LONG queue which we mistook to be that for the wheel. It turned out that they (mainly women, think there weren’t any guys) were waiting to enter 玉木宏’s concert at the culture centre! Pity I didn’t managed to see him -Chiaki senpai!!!- Walked around Venus Fort after the ride. Had the good luck to be there when fake snow started falling around the fountain area (it’s actually foam I think). We saw a sumo wrestler too (with his hair tied in a topknot and dressed in a yukata and wooden sandals)!

Dinner was a good end to the day. We had cheap and good curry rice at C&C restaurant in Shinjuku station where we stood to eat our food :)

Day 6: Meiji Shrine – Harajuku - Shibuya

Brunch at this interesting ramen restuarant where I ordered the 人气 No.1 ramen that has everything: chasu, braised fatty pork meat, prawn roe, egg. Although the meat wasn’t as tasty as Keika, but the broth and noodles were wonderful!

 They also had funny posters on courage and hard work on the door of their washroom. I wonder why

After food, Meiji Jingu was our first destination in Harajuku. Saw Zoe Tay and family again at the entrance. The rows of sake barrels are gone! We went into the shrine and saw a Japanese marriage procession going on!! Exciting!! Pc said that the groom was quite good-looking but I tot he looked sleepy (The bride was elusive, I didn’t managed to get a good look at her until the end). Today must be a auspicious day cos we saw another 3-4 couples subsequently. We hovered around this garden where the couples gathered to take their family portraits. It took quite long for them to get ready as everyone had to be in the right position (optimum distance from one another), the kimono must fold nicely over the seat (for ladies) and if you have uncooperative kids who refuse to look at the camera, that would add more time. Talk about Japanese perfectionistic streak… No wonder you need three people to help out, in addition to the photographer. Just before we left, the first couple came over to have their portrait taken. And pc was proven right about this couple being the most good looking :)

Next we went shopping at Takeshitadori, next to Harajuku station. The number of people there was crazy!! But not many cosplay pp today.. think I only saw like two the whole day? I saw more the last time I went on a weekday! Disappointing..

Shibuya was our last stop for the day. RT managed to find her phiten shop and I got most of the local snacks that I wanted to get (hikoyo honpo for gar and other snacks for pp in school). Declared bankruptcy after today so had to get some emergency money from sisters in order to survive the nx three days :P

Day 7: Hakone – Old Tokaido stone paved road – the Detached Palace – Onsen

Woke up early to catch the Odakyu line to Hakone Yumoto. As expected, Hakone was much colder than Tokyo, but at least it didn’t rained. We checked in, left our luggage and caught a free ride back to Hakone Yumoto station. I said goodbye to the rest as they went on their freepass tour and took the bus to Moto-Hakone (which costs Y930 one way! I should have gotten the freepass ). I had wanted to start with the Detached Palace first, but ended up following the sign to the old Tokaido Highway (behind a small Japanese cemetary). The front part of the walk was relatively easy with a few steps, a flat gravel path and signboards stating the history of this highway as an essential and difficult passage for travellers from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo) in the past. In front of me was a group of senior citizens who quickly disappeared on a path at the opposite side of the road. I followed them, thinking that it didn’t look difficult as the sign said, unknowing of what was in store. Soon I came to the REAL stone paved road (by now, the group had disappeared) and before long I realised that walking on a road paved with large, slippery stones was not easy at all (in fact I took 2+ hours to reach the Rest Station).

After about 45 min on a seemingly endless road of stones, I wondered if I should turn back to Moto-Hakone. But a sign that points in the direction of Amazakechaya (甘酒茶屋) made me decide to go on. It sounded like an interesting place to go for food. 

I almost gave up at a steep downslope (I still have a fear of downslope from my butt ride down in Sapa valley a few years back) if not for this elderly couple who stopped to check if I’m alright (yes I am moving from STONE to STONE) and invited me to join them. Of cos I politely declined (I can’t hold them back, I’m practically crawling!), and they happily went downslope within a minute or so and disappeared round the bend. I sat down, got a drink and told myself – I can do this. And I did afterall. It’s all in the mind, that’s a lesson that I learnt today. 

I got to Amazake chaya Teahouse, had amasake (甘酒) which tasted like cereal drink and mochi for lunch. Popped over to the Rest station of the Hakone old Tokaido Road which was just next door. Saw some interesting exhibits on how the road was used by travellers in the past. I could understand how they must have felt back then but of cos I had the option of taking the bus back to Moto-Hakone now

The Detached Palace Garden was next and I was rewarded with spectacular views of the mountain ranges in the region at the observatory tower. Lake Ashi is really pretty.

After I came out by the Cedar Avenue, I actually met the rest of the peeps at the Moto-Hakone Tozan bus station! It was really a pleasant surprise cos earlier on I was contemplating if I should wait and see if I could catch them after their pirate ship ride Haha… So our day ended with us enjoying a nice dip in the onsen back in the hotel and a good Japanese dinner with a dining room all to ourselves! 

Day 8: Little Prince museum – Shinjuku

After we checked out early morning, we rushed off to the Little Prince museum which was the last sightseeing place for our trip.

Following that, we took the train back to Shinjuku and the rest of the day was spent scouring the various shopping centres for Agnes B. and the likes. Met a Singaporean family who bought a S$200+ A.B. as a school-bag for their girl (abt 7-8 yrs old). Really, I hope the girl understands the value of what she was given but I seriously doubt it..

Day 9: Narita Express – Plane ride – HOME!

Woke up super early to check out and catch the narita express for our morning flight back. Everyone managed to pack all their stuff into their luggages afterall.. Heh. And we didn’t exceed the luggage limit! Watched a few shows on the inflight entertainment: UP!, Gokusen and House. UP is a really nice show, and I cried when Ellie died… But it was really quite touching when Carl re-read the adventure book and Ellie thanked him for the wonderful adventure he has given her in their time together even if she didn’t manage to go to Paradise Falls.. You may not have achieved what you wanted to do, but that doesn’t mean the process wasn’t meaningful in its own right. Do watch it if you have the chance!

 I was really happy to be back, seeing my mum waiting by the arrival gate (poor her, she waited for 2 hours as the flight was delayed) and receiving an sms that made my day (even if its contents didn’t)! Though it was quite late by the time uncle came and sent us home, I really felt very blessed and glad. This is home, truly