In the Hive.

Place: Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Mount Fuji)

Duration: 17 Oct to 28 Oct 2008

Travelled by: Singapore Airline, Japan Railway, Tokyo Metro, Cab, Bicycle, Feet

Stayed in: Toukaisou Ryokan, Asahi Capsule Hotel, K-House Kyoto, K-House Mt Fuji, House Ikebukoro

===

Tokyo (17 Oct)

With a half-sick body and a day of work, I sent myself to Changi Airport, Terminal 3 on the 16th of Oct, night to catch the flight with the girls to Narita Airport. Due to a slight delay of the A380, we got ourselves boarded at 12am. I was rather excited to be on this plane after much publicity of it. More legroom and that was about it. I popped a yellow pill (chlorphenia) after trying watched a bit of Hancock and some refreshment. Expecting a comfortable ride but I could only sleep for an hour or so, waking up with neck aches and tiredness before reaching Japan at 730am. We breathed e air at 21 degrees celsius and took a skyliner limited express to Ueno Station before changing to tokyo metro to Asakusa. We were shocked that there was no lift, no elevater and we got to climb up the long staircase with our enormous luggages from the subway to the road. Finally, we found our first hostel (Toukaisou Ryokan) after 10 mins of walking. We continued dragging our luggages up to the 2nd floor of the hostel after checking in and seeing ly's name on the whiteboard. We tried to knock on theresa's door but no one answered. It was only until the night that we realized that she couldn't hear the knocking sound and she was in the room all the while. Before we knew it, it was already 12 noon. We found a nearby tempura fast food restuarant (tenya). Inaniwa udon + tempura don + oolong tea = our first meal in Tokyo. Oishi~ After a fulfiling lunch, we went on to search for our first destination - Asakusa Sensoji Temple. We walked through a stretch of stalls before reaching the main entrance of the temple. There were freshly baked rice crackers, sweet green tea drink, mochi and many more. Upon reaching, we played with the "qian". Best fortune it said. Happy. After which we walked around, went to daiso and nearby shops before heading to Ameyoko. Our feet were kind of tired and thus, we hopped into a cafe for some afternoon coffee after gg to OICity. It became dark at around 6pm. We settled our dinner at a grilled food place located at the 5th level of a small building. To ask for the waitress, we had to throw a ball to the other side of the wooden panel. We headed to Tokyo Tower after dinner. Excitedly, we bought the tickets and headed to 150m. The night view of tokyo city was pretty. We could see lighted ferris wheel, hanging bridges, roads and disneyland. Not settling for the second best, we went to the 250m. Nice. We played with the tv and tried to find various places. We went on to AM/PM (convenience store) near our hostel. Got our supper supply before heading back to the hostel at 11+pm. Ran into theresa and bf. They saw our tired look and let us go home after a short chat. The first thing Beckii and I did was to soak our tired feet into the hot water. AHhhh.. what a relief!
Tokyo 18 Oct

We woke up at 5+am to reach Tsukiji fish market at 7am. The aution was over. Sigh. Nevertheless, we went for our breakfast. Kaisen Chirashi & Omakase~ Fresh Sashimi! Yummy. Made a fren at the restaurant but I lost her email address. We went on to walk around the fish market. Small cute cars were driving around, big fishes were being frozen. The fishes, crabs, shelfishes were still alive. They were still jumping and breathing. Next, we proceeded to Shinjuku's Isetan at 10am. We were one of the first few customers and as we walked in, all the staffs were behind their respective counters, greeted and bowed. It was like a royal treatment. Isetan in Japan was crazy. Super expensive and they had one building for men and another for the ladies. We visited LV, Muji, Kinokuniya, Matsumoto Kiyoshi (one of our must-visit shop in every one we spotted), Uniqlo, Banana Republic and Gap. Wanted to eat this church-like restuarant but it was only open in the evening. Instead, we settled in our lunch in a small eatery that served udon and soba. They ordered by vending machines. After having small bites again in Isetan (cakes & sausages), we went on to Ginza. There, we saw many people queuing for Manneken waffle and thought it must be quite nice. Hence, we joined the queue for fun. We got ourselves maple waffles and chocolate waffles. The maple waffles was really good. Hot and right from the oven. They also had pumpkin waffle for the halloween special. We moved on and roamed around. Saw this special watch shop. There was a specified, transparent, cylinderical lift for every brand. For example, for swatch, there is a swatch cylinder lift. There was an attendant outside the lift and will open the lift door for you. If the store was down stairs, it will do down and the shop is right there. Interesting concept store. We headed to H&M building but the queue was unimaginable. It was as long as 2 streets. Super crowded and there werent many suitable clothings. Next was Uniqlo (sheena's fav store). Not much things for me. hl, beckii and i decided to head to the cafe for some drink and people-watching while sheena spent another hr for her buys. We went to Burberry Blue Label building. Mostly winter wears and the bags were super expensive. We headed back to the hostel but went to Rox for some shopping in Uniqlo and supper supply at seiyu 24hr supermarket. This time, we got cup noodles, pear, mini apple, drinks, fried chicken and chestnut. We left notes outside ly's and theresa's room. Though we were staying in the same hostel for 2 whole days but haven seen each other. They came into the room at near 12am and we had a good gathering after not seeing one another for so long.

Tokyo (19 Oct)

The 8 of us went out for breakfast at a nearby soba shop. We headed to Harajuku! To the biggest LV, we went again. This time, the building even had lift. We also went to Shu Umera, Agnes B, La Foret and Takeshi Street. We went on separate ways after lunchin in the food court. Takeshi Street was filled with small cute shops that sell all kind of stuffs from undergarment to mobile straps. There were also Daiso and Matsumoto Kiyoshi in the street. We had crepe while shopping. We also went to the handphones stalls and played with their handphones. Understood from the attendant that only Japanese could buy handphone from the shop. I wanted to have a haircut badly due to my missing hairstylist, Brenda. Finally, I found one - Hair & Make. The hairstylist was pretty and amiable. The rest went shopping at Uniqlo. Finally done, we met at La Foret for some last minute shopping. Ending up having Yoshinoya for dinner and Macdonald for supper. Haha. Massive eating.

Tokyo (20 Oct)

It was disneysea day. 6 of us got really early and went to activate our JR pass to go to disneysea and booked train tickets to Osaka! The disneyland monorail was decorated with mickey's stuffs. We took pictures with Donald, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and many more! Wow it felt like another world. It seemed like we had entered the cartoon and became as cute as them. The disney effect we say. The first thing we did was to head into the souvenir shop and bot ourselves many souvenirs. We wore the headbands and roam around in disneysea. We had mickey mouse ice cream, turkey leg, bao for lunch. We watched the show put up by the cartoon characters in the sea. Wow I saw Chip n Dale!!! AhH so Cute!!! Looks so huggable on the human size. The first ride we took was the journey to the centre of the earth. Hmmm was quite scared at the steep part but the whole ride was still ok. Next, we moved on to Indiania Jones Adventure. Quite fun and not scary. Hahaz. We went on to Aladdin's land while the rest went to play the roller coaster. Played a few ball games but only managed to win 2 collar pins. We tried to search for popcorn with pretty tupperware. All we could find was black pepper, curry, seasalt, caramel and cappucino. I got mine at the mermaid lagoon. There, we took the jelly fish rides. Sheena got a tinklebell one while hl and beckii got mickey mouse ones. We were so tired that we sat down on the bench and started to munching 4 big tubs of popcorns. Faint. After which, we went on to watch the dragon and water fountain show on the sea, followed by fireworks display to end the whole disney experience. Before we left, we went on to get some more souvenirs. Hahaz. We had our dinner at 11pm at the sushi ichiban just near our hostel. Yummy sushi and umeshu! Slept and packed to move on to Osaka.
Osaka (21 Oct)

Early morning at 8am, 6 of us checked out, got our bento sets, dragged our luggage and moved on to Osaka. First time on the shinkansen. It was a 3 hours ride from Tokyo to Osaka. Slept throughout the whole journey. We got a bit confused with the Osaka Loop Line and took a few wrong rides but managed to see a bit more of Osaka. Finally, we got to Namba station after changing countless time of train. Reached Asahi Capsule Hotel and explored the whole hotel. Wow. Everything seems complete. Suana, Hot Bath, Washing Machine, Relaxing Room, Jackpots, Vending Machine, Nightwear, Shower Foam, Towels etc. We walked around Amerika Mura, explored different places and saw the beautiful neon lights. Of cos, we did not miss the Matsumoto Kiyoshi there. We went to Glico shop, an old shop museum, had roasted chestnuts and did our dinner at Grilled Food resturant. Tasty. Umeshu once again! It was cheap (as compared to sg) and nice! We went back to the hotel, did our washing, bathed and slept at almost 2am. It was Kyoto the very next day.

Kyoto (22 Oct)

Due to the late night in Osaka, we missed the bullet train timing and took normal JR there. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan and where astroboy was born. Guided by the kyoto tower, lawson and mini-stop convenient store, we found K-House Kyoto quite easily. It was super crowded with people of different nationalities. We dropped our luggage in the tatami room and left for lunch. Initially, we wanted to rent bicycles to travel around but unfortunately, all were rented out. Therefore, we headed to Isetan at JR Kyoto station for lunch. We had fried sticks with rice this time. Fried sticks consist of quail eggs, octopus, chicken, huge asparagus etc. A fulfilling meal. It started raining when we wanted to set off to our first destination, Jidai Festival. This traditional event was held at the Kyoto Imperial Palace. There were many people dressed in their traditional costumes and props such as weapons, horses, carriages of different era and parade on the road. Traffic policemen were there to control the situation. It lasted for a few hours. We could only catch a glimpse of it when we came out from the subway. As it was pouring, we started towards the Imperial Palace and hid under a tree for some shelter as the palace was deep in. The road leading to the palace was full of small stones and our feet hurt badly. When we finally reach the palace's entrance, we were told that the visiting hours were over. Faint. We stayed in their canteen for a while before moving on to Nishijo market for their traditional food stores. On the way, we "borrowed" umbrellas from Daimaru. Keke. We walked to takashimaya and had mos burger for dinner. After which, we went some shopping and headed home on our feet. On the way, we passed by f-mart and family mart. We got ourselves some snacks while walking in the rain. Upon reaching the guesthouse, we took out our buys and took pictures. Lol. After which, we went to the common room (kitchen, lounge, internet, washing machine) and started cooking our cup noodles for supper. Realized that we were out of milk, sheena and i headed down to mini-stop for meiji milk~ Done with our eating, we went for a bath, layed our matteress and zzz.
Kyoto (23 Oct)

Our appetite grew as the days went. As Kyoto was quite famous with okonomiyaki (sheena called it oki in short), we found the restaurant in Isetan again. The fried noodles were served on the hotplate. The servings were huge. We struggled to finish the 4 large pieces. Of cos, we managed to. This day, we went to Saga Arashiyama. We almost wanted to take the Romantic train ride but couldnt make it for the timing. We rented bicycles and headed to our first stop - Yojiya (a shop that specialize in japanese skincare products). Hahaz, that was not our main aim to Saga Arashiyama though. It was tennoji shrine. There were beautiful trees and leaves at the tenryuji shrine. We spent some time there. There was a sudden downpour and we went this randen train station for shelter. There, we chanced upon a foot onsen. Came right in time for our tired feet. After soaking in the warm water, we continued our journey. We took our bicycles and went to have ice cream!! I had the 2 flavors one - brown sugar and green tea! Not so sweet, just right. We went to the Sagano Bamboo Forest and visited Nonomiya shrines. There was also a nearby railway track and we took some nostalgic pictures there. At almost 5pm, we had to return our bicycles and proceeded to Togetsukyo brigde. By the time we reached there, it was already quite dark and we cant see the nice autumn leaves. However, we got some geisha in action. We headed back to hostel after a tiring day. On the way back, we popped by a restuarant called "zhuang ya" and the meal was the best for the entire trip! *drooling even when thinking back* We went back to k-house, backed our luggage and it was time to head to Mt Fuji the very next morning.
Mount Fuji (24 Oct)

We woke up at 8am to take the bullet train to Mishima station. It was a 2 hour ride. As usual, we got our bento set for our brunch. We took the fujikyo bus to go to Gotemba station to change to Kawaguchiko station. By the time we reach Gotemba station, it was almost 4pm. Hence, we decided to head to Gotemba Premium outlets before heading to K-house Mt Fuji. We took a shuttle bus with our luggages to the huge Gotemba Premium outlets. The place was a like small town of factory outlets. It was divided into north and south wings. Eagerly, we took our maps and chose the outlets we wanted to go due to the time constraint (the outlets closes at 8pm). There were Gap, Gucci, Adidas, Puma, Nike, Diesel, Laura Ashley, United Colors of Benetton, Replay, Coach etc etc. Faint. We took the last bus from Gotemba station to Kawaguchiko station. It was another an hr ride. By the time we reach there, it was cold, quite dark and there was no1 at the station. We took a cab and reached k-house at almost 10pm. The reception had closed but they left the key on the table and a note pasted on the sliding door. This time, there was no lift in the k-house and we had to drag our luggage to the 3rd level. Gosh. The luggages were super heavy. We left the luggages in the room and went to look for food. We had ramen this time. We had early sleep that day.
Mount Fuji (25 Oct)

The weather was so nice to sleep in. We woke up a little bit later and went to Kawaguchiko lake first. The trees were tall and the leaves were orange, yellow and red. There were many ducks (yuan yang) in the lake. There also people fishing, having picnic and taking strolls around the lake. We found a restaurant (Happy Days cafe) up the slope. I had mentaiko (cod fish roe) pasta with guava juice. When the waitress told us that mt fuji was just before our eyes, we immediately took out our cameras, changed to highest mega-pixels and captured the beautiful scene. After breakfast, we took a slow walk to kawaguchiko station and took a 50-min bus up to 2000+m of mt fuji (5th station). I was trembling as it was terribly cold. The wind was strong. The view there was magnificent. We were above the white fluffy clouds. As we walked up the mountain, we saw the summit of mt fuji. The summit was coated with white snow.The trees surrounding the mountain were yellow. Wow! It was beautiful. Excitedly, we took many many pictures of it. Hee. Not long, it was 3pm and we had to take the last bus down to the station. At the station, we bot our postcards. For lunch, we had their hotoi noodle. There was no meat inside, entirely veggies. Tasted like dried ban mian. On the way back to the hostel, we shopped and bot grocery to cook for the night. Unloaded our stuffs and we headed to onsenji for hot spring! long awaited. We had suana first and there were 3 different pools. I liked the open air the best!! Felt like fainting after being in it for too long. After a good soak in the hot spring water, we went back to cook. Oops we realized we bot the wrong kind of noodle and it had no seasoning inside. We used what we could find in the kitchen and cooked a large pot of noodle soup. There was golden mushroom, quail egg, tomato, veggie, pork, crabstick and tofu in it. An early rest for the night before heading back to tokyo.

Tokyo (26 Oct)

We left Mt Fuji at 9+am for a 2+ hr back to Tokyo - Shinjuku Station. From there, we headed to our next stay - House Ikebukuro. On the way, we met a helpful lady who brought us from the station right to the doorstep of House Ikebukuro. There are really many nice and helpful people in Japan. The room was just enough for 4 mattresses. Nevertheless, we went on to Yokohama's Ramen Museum for lunch. It was another long way from Ikebukuro. We could see the history of ramen. The ramen's soup was rather oily but it was nice. We also bot our Ghibli musuem ticket from the loppi machine in lawson there. We wanted to head to Yoyogi park to see the cosplay that we missed the previous sunday but we were too late. Therefore, we went to Harajuku again to seek for any last minute buys. Next, we went to Roponggi Hills for dinner. We went into this small shop whereby there were 2 tables. There was no English menu this time. We just order off-hand. Lol. We headed back to Ikebukuro by one of the last few trains. As there was no milk, we went out to the mini-stop opp our place. On the way, while crossing the road, i tripped and fell. Argh so clumsy.
Tokyo (27 Oct)

We had katsu don at a nearby restaurant before heading to Shibuya 109. Once again, there was a building for ladies and another for men. The stuffs there were all on a higher price. After some shopping and chestnut-eating, we took the train and bus to Ghili muesum at 4pm. I saw the huge totoro right infront of the entrance. We changed our voucher for the ticket. Wow, the tickets were in the form of filmstrips. The animation was amazing. Felt like a child in it. We went on the gift shop at the top level. It was super crowded. I couldnt find anything about Haku but got a charcoal keychain and a Howl collar pin. Prefer him with black hair though. We also went for a 16 min animation about some kids. Almost fell asleep during the show. Not that it was boring but I was just too tired. After that, we went back to Harajuku for some last min shopping again. Hahaz. Next, we head to Shinjuku for a super expensive dinner in this building called luminus est. My last umeshu! It was served with a big round ice. Our last meal in Japan was steamboat, tuna sashimi, unagi yaki, asparagus yaki, shishamo, fried chicken, grilled scallops, wagyu beef on hot stone served in brandy, cold udon and soba. At the end of the steamboat, we used the remaining soup, added in rice and eggs to have congee. We headed back to House Ikebukuro and moved to our Annex Suite. With a difference of 1500yen, we actually got a whole unit by ourselves! There was a dining table, fridge, bathroom, toilet, computer, oven and flask! We unloaded our buys and went to 3 convenient stores to get our supply of snacks to bring back to singapore!! After finishing all the packings and stuffs, we slept at 3+am.

Tokyo - Singapore (28 Oct)

At 4+am, we woke up and prepared our journey back. We took the Narita Express train at 6am to reach Narita airport at 730am. We had our cold noodles for breakfast and bought many more snacks at the airport. Lol. Plane flew at 1120am. I watched Harry Potter for the 1st 3 hours before falling asleep. Plane touched down at 6pm. We had dinner at Earle Swensens in T3 before heading back home for a good rest!
==

Result: Wow what a trip.Gone so fast. Arm muscles had developed from pulling the luggages from places to places. Grew fatter as well for eating almost 7 meals a day. I like the trendiness in Tokyo, the pretty neon lights in Osaka, the yummy food in Kyoto and the beautiful, breath-taking, stunning Mt Fuji. Kirei desu! Missing Japan....