Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts

Blazing hazing hectic days!

Posted By: Kimberly

We've been in Tokyo two days and I have to say that it has been quite an experience being here! It feels like Sendai and Yokohama and Osaka all rolled together, and yet somehow a world apart.

Our highlights so far include:

1. Discovery of the Most Amazing Taito Clawgrab place ever
We are staying right next to it, and have been making off with Gloomy cloaks, MonHun Pig towels, Gloomy Claws and random keychains which have cost us an average of 200 yen. The staff there are very helpful, cheerfully resetting the machines on request and all. Not to mention that for once, the machines are actually playable!

2. Freshly Baked Melon Pan

After visiting Sensoji Temple early in the morning, we hung around a store nearby awaiting its opening. We scoped out the place the night before, and the displays of melon breads was just too tempting. The moment it opened, we made our orders and were rewarded with the freshest toasty melon bread ever! It was not too sweet, with a crunchy texture to the top crust while the interior was downy soft... we nearly squashed the bread trying to pull it out of the paper wrapping!

3. DisneySea
Well, it's Tokyo, and it's Disney. What else can I say? While we had to deal with the sad disappointments of having the night's fireworks extravaganza cancelled due to bad weather (just a very cloudy sky) and some key thrill rides not being open, it was still a good experience just going through the various themed areas. I have to say, Disney isn't much for thrill, just flashy over the top showiness mostly. I really liked the obvious effort put into the background stories of the rides and areas, but felt there was too much storytelling and wanted more ZOOOOOOM. I shall have to make up for the lack of real excitement elsewhere.

4. 3D Movie Outing to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Though here it should be more rightly called Johnny Depp's Alice in Wonderland. The cinema was chock full of memorabilia and merchandise featuring his very prominent orange do. It was an interesting experience, being in a cinema in Japan. For one thing, the audience was SILENT. Like if you so much as rustled in your seat, you would be the only source of sound not from the screen. Such a lovely change from the Singaporean movie watching scene! Secondly, the lights in the cinema don't come on till the credits are over. While this isn't great news for those waiting to use the toilet at the end, I think it shows due respect for all the people who put in the effort create the movie. Even if those people aren't there to see it. It does show just how much dedication to respect there is in this society. I must say though, that it was during the end credits that people started putting on jackets and folding up lap blankets. As quietly as possible, of course ;D

Well. This isn't an exhaustive list of the things that we actually did... I mean, we also visited Akihabara and Ueno, and waltzed through Shibuya as well, but they are the things that made my day in Tokyo so far!

One more day left, I wonder what tales I will have to tell after?

Playground fun time!

Wheeee group shot!

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read Comments

What a Rush!

Posted By: Kimberly

Aye, it has been, indeed. There is so much backlog to clear, Agion-related postings, sweet, sweet memories of Kyushu, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Tateyama-Kurobe... OMG.

But one must move with the times, and I will simply have to update for what is the latest ;D Simply consider that I have taken a holiday from working on the blog to celebrate my 30th birthday, eh? :D

In any case, we are now in Tokyo at last, usually the first place that anybody visits when they come to Japan for the first time.

We arrived at Shinjuku from Matsumoto Castle, the temperature is about 16 degrees and we are killing ourselves in our layers. So now the new outfit is Agion at base layer, and a light jacket on top. Heattech just for pants, with my usual trackpants over.

It was a painful arrival, after all the hiking we did around Matsumoto yesterday. Back is aching, bags aren't feeling any lighter with the layers stacked on them instead of on our bodies. So we went and checked out what we thought was a nice place to eat - Royal Host. While resembling Big Boy, we do think that the latter is better value for money for its excellent salad bar and drinks selection. Royal Host has pretty good food at similar prices, but likes to control what the customers get to eat - they give a choice of 3 pre made salads... Bring on the salad bar, I say!

First home in Tokyo: Gera Gera Manga Kissa. Nice place that let us park our bags there while we went and ran all over the place with Edward and Dennis!


Speaking of whom, WELCOME TO JAPAN!
We will be moving in a group and messing around Tokyo for the next few days before we abandon them for Hokkaido and they will go forth to the delights of Osaka instead.

Messing around in Asakusa ;D

Anyway, we met up and had dinner part II, courtesy of Werd's pocket (YAY YAY thankew!) and then went crazy at Taito Station Asakusa, collecting a pile of stuff in winnings. In case anyone thinks we have forgotten our pathetic budget, let me just say that we won an average of 1 item per 200 yen. And both ZsupCreator and I got a GLOOMY BEAR CLOAK - BLACK each for that price, so it was more than worth it! ;D Werd also picked up the same, in pink! ZsupCreator also picked up more stuff because he was trying to get a stuck Gloomy paw... it's all good!

Taito Station Asakusa - The place to Play!

We visited Sensoji Temple after ditching our bags after, and will be returning tomorrow morning for daytime shots!

Sweet night glow!

Giant Lantern Jump Shot

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read Comments