JAPAN 09-16 Dec 2008

First and Foremost, my dog Tracce

Slipped into my luggage while was packing few days before the trip

Boarded the United Airlines - Business Class
lookin' soo comfy right ? haha...

Had a nice healthy breakfast on da plane...

Arrive @ JAPAN ! On our way to our Hotel, waiting for the train to come... :)

After we settled down at the hotel we went out to hav a proper dinner though its was rather late ard 10pm already... we were VERY Hungry i remembered. haha... we ANYHOW settled down at a small restaurant by the street and was soon served with these simple BUT Absolutely DeliciOus TaSty dishes... Especially the fried chicken. Argh! Its making me HunGry aGain !!!

This is our first hotel we checked in - Hotel Raizon

ITs actually quite Good. Very Clean and Affordable. Internet Access provided. Toilet is common to all but some can actually choose the open concept which u would actually bathe together with the rest in the same toilet.

Shown above is the hotel lobby - Small but Cosy, on the other side there's actually a small living room with TV n Sofas... :) Cool!

This is our room - Japanese Style

Ni-Jojo Castle @ Kyoto

Top Left Picture - Entrance of Ni-Jojo Castle

Top Right Picture - A Moat Around the Castle

Bottom Left Picture - Its a foot trail filled with japanese trees and vegetation within the castle

Bottom Centre - Its quite a nice n big castle

NOTICE that these steps are quite BiG...

ONE step probably covers half of my upper body

was told of a myth tt ancient people were actually quite tall... as tall as average 2m...

Therefore these steps were build in such a way that they were just nice for them... but Not for us of course. haha

Yasaka-jinja Shrine @ Gion, Kyoto

Top Left - A practice whereby people entering the shrine will rinse their mouth, drink abit of the water and/or wash their hands... for some kinda blessings

Here we threw a coin into a so called temple or catchment and made a wish...

After making a wish, we pulled the thick rope hard so as to make the pots or bells which were above us sound loudly

Here @ KyOto, GiOn their Specialty are sweets and little cake snacks like "Kuei" in hokkien

SEEN HERE above is the Cigarette Vending Machine - InterestinG!

AND

LOOK AT THIS BELOW...

This a picture i took at the train station platform. Its actually a notice board at the platform.

LOok at how many raliway tracks and platforms, and transitions they have at this interchange station.

The train service there is called Japan Rail also known as JR in short.

Over here below is the map of the JR line itself.

Click to Enlarge

LoOk at how complex it is... DOn'T FoRgEt iTs OnLy JuSt the JR LiNe ! There's still Subway LinEs, but in another map. hurrr...

Here abOve we're on dee JR Train

Below here wE're On da Shinkansen - Probably the World's Fastest Railway Train!

Top Left - Look at the train.. its so clean and shiny

Bottom Left - This Royal Milk Tea is Michelle's Favourite Drink there... Its indeed niCe!

Bottom Right - See... I took a picture of some people eating on the train... BUT DOn'T WoRRy... The train is still very clean with no rubbish left behind. After eating they will just pack their food nicely into the plastic bag and dispose it outside when they got out of the train... Impressed!

This is one of the MOST DELICIOUS katsu we had in Japan...

Here we were at Tokyo already, after visiting a popular Shrine @ Harajuku we settled down at this small cosy restaurant which is at the 2nd storey nearby. Btw visiting the shrine was really excruciating... its extremely cold and torturing because of a drizzle ... Grrr~...!

Here above... I'm at a SEX STORE in Ueno

Top Right - If u notice... its actually called CUP NUDE. HaHa!

Bottom Left - Here they also sell panty worn by other girls with their ammonia smell on it. Pictures are shown on the cover but the face is censored. Specially for those perverts like u in front of this monitor nOw... !!! Haha...!

Some storey they actually sell all sorts of costumes like sailor suit, nurse etc. haha... for u to cosplay... Who would like to Cosplay fer mE ? jokes*!

Last but not least, something that might amaze you and you would Not knOw...

Its actually 7-Storey high

for jus a sex store like this over there...

Over here at Ueno, its abit like Bugis Street but of course much better cos its bigger and has more walking space. There are many interesting stuffs and entertainment here just like the PachinkO (Top Left) which is sth like jackpot but its nt jackpot, instead of coins dispensing out from the machine, they use small metallic balls. On the other hand they have this CAPSULE HOTEL (Top Right) which is REely interesting... Find Out MoRe for yourself at this link below. :)

http://www.yesicanusechopsticks.com/capsule/

Above here is sth also very interesting happening here at Ueno, its a chocolate store which they sell all sorts of chocz. Some of them u might NOT seen or heard it before also, like the Green Tea Kit Kat. haha...Well, the most INTERESTING part is HOW THEY SELL ?

They actually throw all different sorts of chOcz into a plastic bag and by the feeling of the weight or weighing machine or "AGARATION", they sell it to you at 1000 YEN = about $16

Sometimes they might still give you more.. just like BOnuS! Lol!

After that we went to 100 Yen Shop which is aka Daiso in Singapore and some other places.

Its a 7-storey high building... Shop unti headache! haha...

Bought aLot of stuffs... See I'm carrying them all... Supposed to have more bags but we Re-packed it so tt we left only with 2 bags to carry... easier to carry around. Cos after that we're goin to Akihabara which like Sim Lim Square selling all the electronics and computer stuffs... but over there its bigger cos its all along the street buildings. Comics are sold there also... occupying a few storeys also in a particular building - See Below! :)

Above here is Akihabara with alot of lightings like Hong Kong street lights...

Bottom Right is a picture i took, cos i find the building quite niCe.

~~~

I WiLL BlOg abOut My ExPeriEnCes @ DiSnEyLaNd, UniversaL StudiO, TokyO TOweR, Mich's Auntie's PlaCe at HaChiNoHe etc. in MORE DETAIL... and with MORE PiCtUrEs in the UpCominG PoSts... sOoo StAy TUNED!!!

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Below Here is the WHOLE Itinerary of Our Trip ... Basically wad we did over there everyday through out the 8 Days - No wonder we bought 8 Days Magazine before boarding the plane!

09, Tues
· Reach Japan, Narita Airport at ard 1+ pm (Time here is faster by about 1 hr)
· Travel by Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train which is not cheap to travel, even for some Japanese) to Shin-Osaka and took a Subway Train to Dobutsuen-mae
· Reach our Hotel, Hotel Raizon in e evening time
· Had a simple but delicious dinner at one of the shophouse along the street
· Went to “TAMADE” (Sounds like the Hokkien Vulgarity… lol! ) Supermarket

10, Wed
· Had Onigiri (Jap Rice with some ingredients like tuna wrapped with Seaweed Vegetables in a triangular shape) for breakfast while on the way to Shin-Imamiya station
· Travelled to Universal Studio
- Had Lunch there
- Had fun ard there with all e rides and 3-D/4-D effect movies
- Shop for souvenirs n gifts for friends and even tracce (my dog)
- Had Takoyaki & MacDonald's in e evening – Some of the Mac meals & burgers are not available in Singapore… so jus try lor… J
- Shop ard there for Mich's flat-based shoes & my winter gloves

11, Thu
· Woke up pretty early and had Onigiri for breakfast again
· Travelled to Kyoto - had sandwiches & and cuppucino @ the Kyoto Station
· Took a bus to Ni-Jojo Castle where we learnt the history of Shogun and looked at things which are probably a few hundred years ago…
· Went to Yasaka-jinja Shrine @ Gion - threw a coin into a temple and made a wish
· Bought some snacks n sweets which is their specialty @ Gion
· Tried some of their local delights there also
· Had Thai Fried Rice & Tom Yam noodles for dinner there
· On the way back to Shin-Imamiya, we had E-claires & Ice-cream buns during the transition @ Shin-Osaka Station
· Went back to Shin-Imamiya, shopped @ 100 Yen Shop and bought my gloves finally and a tweezer, bought Royal Milk Tea (Mich’s favourite) for tmr's breakfast
· Went to family mart bought breads for tmr's breakfast
· Went back to pack luggage for tmr morning’s trip to Hachinohe

12, Fri
· Woke up at 9am, had breakfast and travelled to Hachinohe for about 6 hrs by Shin-kansen.
· Reached Mich's auntie's apartment at ard 6 pm
· Had simple but delicious home-cooked food at her apartment
· Watched Discovery & National Geographic channels after auntie left for work – thinking back watching tv tt time together was pretty enjoyable as we seldom hav gt the time to sit down n watch tv, together, and moreover its very enriching after watching it J

13, Sat
· Woke up very early at ard 7am, had home-made breakfast with coffee mixed with honey by auntie – its really nice to hav breakfast made for u by someone else
· Went to her very own home nearby and visited her daughter
· Went to try the hot spring bath which is nearby also – truly enjoyable n relaxing
· Auntie brought us to a supermarket to buy some dried foods so tt we can bring back to Singapore
· Auntie's daughter, Mai treated us to a Sushi Restaurant
· After the meal, we went outside to get the car and it start to SnOw….! Its my FiRsT TiME seeing snow… its absolutely Exciting! Miss that!
· Auntie sent us back to the train station to catch our train (Shin-Kansen)
· Reach Tokyo at ard 4 plus and check-in to Tokyo Inn
· After tt we visited the Tokyo Tower – Its rather pre-destined tt we went its 50th Anniversary since it opened in 1958.

14, Sun
· Had simple breakfast in the hotel room - bought from the SunKus convenient store opp our hotel ytd
· Went to visit the one of the popular Shrine of Tokyo at Harajuku – Its quite torturing as we walked our way in to the Shrine cos its drizzling and hence very very cold, my fingers were totally numbed
· Later we went to Ueno where some of the Japanese sex stores are there, visited a 7-storey one, its a lot different from the Condomania we saw in Singapore
· Went to shop at the 7-storey Daiso @ Funabashi – they call it the 100 Yen Shop, after converting to SGD$, 100 Yen is only about $1.60, Cheaper than the Daiso in Singapore!
· Went to Akihabara where many electronics and computer items as well as Japanese comics are sold there...
· Had Dinner @ MacDonalds again, this time ordering different set meal, some of the meals are not available in Singapore

15, Mon
· Had a hearty breakfast at our hotel restaurant called COCO's
· Travelled with our JR Pass for the last day to Maihama - DisneyLand!
· Had lotsa fun there, goin thru the rides and stuffs, till evening about 10 pm
· Head back to hotel to pack our luggage for checking out tmr morning

16, Tues
· Checked out before 10 am
· Had breakfast at Excelsior Caffe located @ Gotanda
· Wrote post cards to our friends at the cafe till nearing 12pm
· Went back to our hotel to get our luggage and head for Narita Airport where we will fly back to Singapore from there
· Had a nice lunch before we enter the boarding area and Mich had her last Original Japanese Udon before we fly back to Singapore :)

Thank you for your time reading . . .