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Japan Part 3 - Tokyo
We took the Shinkansen back to Shinagawa in Tokyo. Our hotel was the Takanawa Hotel, part of the Grand Prince group.
in the same area, they have 3 other hotels : New Takanawa, Sakura Tower and Prince Hotel.
As we were informed that the hotel was a 5 minute walk away, we decided to push our luggages to the hotel.
Note to self: 5 minute = 5 minute sprint without luggage. With luggage, make that a hot and tired journey after 20 minutes.
Even though the weather was cool, poor him was sweating profusely by the time we arrived at the reception.
Luckily, the room was ready and we could go up to the room immediately to refresh ourselves.
Our first day in Tokyo was spent in Shibuya area. After the relative peace of Kyoto and Osaka, we were kind of shocked by the number of people using the trains. We never had any trouble getting seats in Kyoto and Osaka but here, there is so many people!
Thank goodness we have never met the rush hour.
Shibuya is crowded. Very crowded.
The junctions have a system where the pedestrains can cross in all directions at once. All the cars will have to stop and the human traffic will flow.
It's actually quite messy but the locals are used to it.
Almost every restaurant and cafe is filled. You have to wait to be seated. Lucky us managed to find a fruit dessert cafe without a queue and were seated immediately.
10 minutes after our arrival, the cafe was filled.
I managed to get a cardigan in Shibuya 109 but I don't really like 109. It's crowded and small, the shop assistants keep repeating their greetings and it grates on the ears after a while. He couldn't stand it especially because their voices are pitched high and cute but take a good look at the owner of the voices and you will revise the opinion of cute (his thoughts exactly).
Space is a premium so most shopping centres go upwards. The departmental stores here are easily 7-8 stories high.
Before heading back to the hotel to rest, I grabbed some Jill Stuart costmetics and happily trotted back to the hotel for an early night.
Day 6 - Saturday
We headed to the Meiji Shrine today and we managed to catch some brides in their traditional dresses.
we even watched part of the bridal procession.
After choosing some charms, we headed back to the Harajuku Station and walked around the Harajuku area.
We didn't follow our guide and just sort of let our instincts lead us. As usual, we had our cafe stop before continuing our stroll.
We walked into Takeshita-dori Street without realising but it was here that I love it! So many things to buy but I can't buy everything. Sigh....
But this street...is really really crowded. It's shoulder to shoulder and in some parts, we could hardly move.
After emerging from the street, I took a look back and all I see were people, people and more people. Actually, it's really like the Comex situation in Singapore. Except this probably happens every weekend in Harajuku,
I happily bought even more things in Harajuku. Oops.
After Harajuku, we tried to take the JR to Shinjuku but something was wrong at the train station. People seem to be stuck and no one was moving at all. After hanging around 5 minutes, he decided to take a cab instead. Luckily Shinjuku is nearby so our cab fare was not sky high.
We wandered around Takashimaya in Shinjuku and he was not feeling well. His right knee was giving him trouble and he was limping quite badly. So we decided to call it a day after an early dinner and headed back to the hotel.
Day 7 - Sunday
We decided to take it easy today because his knee was still hurting a little. We went back to Harajuku and walked to Omotesando Hills. Luckily, his knee was much better and we took a leisurely stroll as who knows but the Samantha Thavasa store was located all the way at the other end of Omotesando Hills. =__=
I bought a Samantha Thavasa bag! I really like it. It's a cute small white bag. He chose the colour as it seems the bag came in 13 colours.
He decided that white was the cutest and since I already have a pink Miu Miu, I shouldn't get another pink bag.
After that, we tried to find the Burbuerry Blue Label store and we had some help from the Burberry store. After another of our usual cafe stops, we reached the blue label store and window shopped.
The goal here is to get a wallet for Aelynna but I didn't see any satisfactory. The new short wallets had double metal closures for the coin compartment and the other wallet was slightly longer. In the end I decided on the longer one but I only got it 2 days later.
After Omotesando hills, we headed to LaQua. The objective here was Mother Garden. Or more accurately, Shirotan!
LaQua is next to Tokyo Dome and it's an amusement park with a shopping complex attached. The roller coaster was built with it's track curving around the shopping complex and it's actually quite cool. In the shopping complex, you can't hear the roller coaster or screams at all.
I admit, I really had my Shirotan fix here.
I now have Bumble Bee and Pink Strawberry added to my collection.
The sales assistant was asking if the items were gifts and he told her, no, they are all gifts for herself. TMD.
We wandered around the Tokyo Dome and looked at baseball memorabilia. We also had sushi at a restaurant in the Tokyo Dome. After a while, we noticed the crowd increasing and it seems that there was a baseball game. We were proven right when we switched on the TV in the hotel room later that night and there was a baseball game between the Tokyo Giants and Hiroshima Carps.
Too bad the Tokyo Giants lost the game.
Day 8 - Monday
We have been really having a relaxing holiday. We would wake up around 9 and take our own sweet time to leave the hotel. Since both of us are not into clubbing and checking our night life, we were usually back in our hotel after dinner.
But today, both of us were up at 6am. We dragged ourselves up and had breakfast at the hotel bakery at 730am.
By 750am, we were in front of the New Takanawa and waiting for the complimentary shuttle to DisneySea.
We arrived DisneySea bright and early at 830am. That's when we realised that the ticketing booths only opens at 9 and the park only opens at 10. *Faints*
We really did enjoy DisneySea. We took our time, caught a few shows and rides (especially those that did not require much queuing) and slowly walked the whole park.
That's also because we had a lot of time in the park. Our shuttle back to the hotel was at 1005pm.
There was a special show called BravisSEAmo and it's held in the main lake. Its about the love between the spirit of water and spirit of fire. the spirit of water was represented by a fountain on a boat. The spirit of fire was a structure in the water. When it appeared, it slowly rose our of the water, it's a metallic structure that at first looked at Dr Octo in spiderman. When it was fully extended, it looked like a dragon or a hydra. It's really impressive.
The whole show was beautiful and left a very deep impression on us.
We waited for the fireworks at 830pm but due to wind, it was canceled, sigh...no fireworks for us. But BravisSeamo more then made up for it.
And as usual, I overspent at Disney. Sigh....
A funny thing about Disney. As we were walking around, we saw people carrying this bear. It turns out to be called Duffy the explorer bear and is part of the Disney merchandise giant. Some of the bears were plain, while others were dressed up in clothes. There were even slightly smaller versions that were made for hanging off bags.
A lot of teens and kids were carrying the bear.
In the end, he got himself a Duffy bear too as he said, since everyone has one, he must also get one even though he does not know why since this is the Singapore spirit.
Okaye....
By the time we reached the hotel, it was 1040pm. But when we were very near the hotel, the bus encountered an empty parked car in the middle of the road, resulting in it not being able to pass through. The bus was forced to turn around and use an alternative road that was very narrow and I'm sure a tour bus had no business being in. But we still made it back to our hotel.
Day 9 - Tuesday
Our second last day in Japan.
Today we visited Ginza. Actually we were trying to find Burberry Blue Label and we found it in Seibu. The side result was a short tour of the Ginza shopping area.
I finally decided on a wallet for Aelynna which both him and I thought was nice.
After doing the tax refund in Seibu, we took the train to Akihabara.
This area is really like Sim Lim, except it's spread over a few streets. I had fun wandering around the streets and we even found one of the maid cafes in the area.
We had a late lunch at the maid cafe and it was quite an experience. The waitresses were all dressed like french maids and would kneel besides your table. when serving your beverage, they will prepare it for you. If you order milk tea, they will open the small container of milk and stir it into the drink for you.
After serving your food, they will ask you to do a smal chant with them in order the make the food more delicious.
Well, I'm not sure if the chant worked but the food was quite nice.
After the late lunch, I bought some snacks and we headed back to the hotel.
We bought more snacks at the supermarket near Shinagawa train station before taking a cab back to the hotel.
My right leg and lower back were protesting at the nonstop walking and today, they decided to stage a rebellion. So he decided no more walking and back to the hotel to rest.
Since we were leaving tomorrow, I decided to pack the luggage.
My half full luggage miraculously became very full. And that is not including my shirotans.
I suppose since my heavy coat is now in the luggage, it should take up more space but I didn't remember buying so much stuff!
So shirotans will be handcarried which I suppose is allowed. I packed his snacks into my luggage and now, my luggage is so full. And my boots are not in my luggage yet, Arggghhhh!
Day 10 - Wednesday
Today is the day back to Singapore.
One last top at Harajuku and we will be catching the Airport Limo back to Narita Airport.
It was in Harajuku that I spent all my money. Actually, I think I spent some of his too. :p
I bought a pet carrier for Minou!
Now she as a pet carrier I can bring her to the vet for a checkup. :p
It was in this pet carrier that I stuffed my last minute shopping.
The ride to the airport took 90 minutes and we were more then ready to go home to Singapore.
This has been a nice trip and I really love Japan, especially Tokyo and Osaka.
Already, I can feel myself missing Japan and hoping to go back for another holiday in the next couple of years!
Ay gal... holiday blog must have peektures~!
I wan see peektures!!
:p
Thanks for helping me source for wallet, let me know what's the amount I shd transfer you k?
posted by Aelynna :
April 15, 2009 1:06 PM
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Saturday, April 11, 2009