Japan Trip (April 2016)
I love Japan. I really do. From their foods to their culture and manners. Of course, they do have their own flaws but who doesn't? I mean, we are all humans, we make mistakes. However, they are just too good to be labeled as bad people. So aligned, so well mannered, always smiling, its wonderful. During the month of April, my family and I went on a holiday to Japan. Tokyo and Osaka. We went to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo before back in the 2012-2013 and this time we are back again. Trust me, I will still want to go back there. I never get bored. xD. Here's are some pictures of my trip to Japan.
Day 1 (20th)
The first day of course, getting ready to go to the airport for our flight. We had to take the transit flight cause of the differences in the price for direct flight vs transit. VERY BIG difference. We had to transit to Hong Kong. Although we need to wait for our flight to Tokyo (Narita) airport, Japan, it was worth it. Cause we can explore Hong Kong airport xD. We manage to get a seat at the F&B area, order food and drinks to fill our stomach before our flight. I'm not sure why but each time we travel, we tend to have a strong craving for FOODS ..unless we are all SUPER full lol. After breakfast, we head to the hotel to drop off our luggage, before we start our activity of the day. YUP, we don't sit and sloth around, we continue to walk and explore the place (planned earlier) where we decided to go before we even come here.
Day 2 (21st)
Since the flight was during midnight, it is technically day 2 already lol. We just slept through the entire flight. When we land in Japan, of course its daylight already and the weather was still cooling (winter but nearly ending). I think the time when we land, Malaysia was still dark out and everyone would still be sleeping except for those who needed to get up early for work. As we land, we took the train to the one of the station near our hotel. We were lucky, the station we came out from, there was a cafe next to it. So, we just decided to have breakfast there. I mean, there's no point walking to the hotel anyways cause we cant even check in yet it was still early in the morning. Then we just sat and clueless-ly trying to order some food xD. My family ordered those basic English breakfast where there were hams or bacon, eggs, bread, coffee or tea and others while i ordered salad and I can tell you, that was the best salad I've ever eaten in my life. No joke. I literally ate salad for breakfast the whole time we were at Tokyo.
Well, since we were in Japan and some of them hardly understand English, we just speak some simple English words, broken them up, pointing at the menu, and also hands swinging everywhere like as if we were giving sign language. However, we definitely manage to order the food correctly and with the help of English menu, we didn't mistook or misunderstand any order hahaha. Oh, and the cafe name is Danny's.Originally I thought it was just a small cafe but, wherever we went in Tokyo, we actually encounter a number of Danny's in some buildings. WOW. :O
When we were done it was of course still morning and we couldn't check in the hotel yet, so we just left our luggage bag in the hotel. Set off to the next destination immediately without wasting time. First destination, fish market. Walking distance from our hotel to the market so we didn't have to take any train or something.
Fish market, its like ..sushi heaven *slurrp*. I was walking around, admiring the sushi restaurants, the fresh fish and other type of foods they have there xD. Sadly, I didn't experience any cause dad and bro don't really fancy Japanese food besides ramen. If any one had tried or experience any, let me know how is it xD. Below are the photos of the fish market. Just couldn't get enough of them. xD
After we walked around, being satisfied with the environment, the feel and the food, we went off to a park nearby thou I can say, I was already 3/4 dead tired. Anymore and i'll collapse ~.~. The park was at Chuo, Hamarikyuteien. There only little sakura flowers left but the rest of the trees and flowers were marvelous as well. The park was huge and we just made a quick walk around the park and then sat on the bench to rest. Inside the park there's a small stall where they sell hot desserts and sweets. I got the danko, one of the japanese famous sweets xD.
AFTER ALL THAT ...we still kept going lol. Of course we went off to look for food. We ate inside a mall? or office I think. Too tired to even really choose what to eat, we just went into a Thai restaurant hahahahaha. The food is not bad seriously. The buffet was kinda worth it but only my mom chose that. To be honest, I was more thirsty than hungry :P. Then when we got enough rest, we sat outside of the building, where they have places to sit, and plan our next destination which was to see the new statue of the dog and the owner reunited.
I did not expect it to be that far. No, I was not talking about from the station to the University of Tokyo but the university itself is HUGE. Maybe there was a subway that was closer to the statue that we missed or we didn't know how to get there, I'm not sure but that time when we got off the train and then encounter the university we were really really glad to have found it but hesitant as we did not see the statue anywhere. We asked the guard and he happily showed us where is the statue. There was a map for the university, and he pointed that the statue is all the way at the end. So, we thought "oh ok, its at that end. No prob, just a little more walk, under the rain (drizzle) and we are there". But he were so wrong. ...so so wrong ...Like I said, we didn't know how big the compound was. We walked and walked, we were afraid we missed it but all the time we were alert and on the look out, and still we could not see the statue that time.
I had to take pit stop in the middle as my back waist was really really hurting already. We walked to the end, a T-junction but we still could not find the statue. Feeling lost, and thinking that we may not see the statue, we decided to ask one last time, to an officer that was at the junction. He POINTED that it was the other end, which meant, we needed to STILL walk to see the statue. We laughed, we cursed but we finally able to see the statue after we walked some more. I practically collapse on the bench and didn't bother to take out my phone to take picture yet. TOO TIRED. heeeehhhh. Still thou, wonderful experience and we know that we definitely don't have to experience it again xD. We took as much picture as we can. We look and admire it as long as we can as well as rested as much as we can before we head to another location. LOL.
Believe it or not, we did all that, and it was still around 2-3pm? ..However, we have to head to the spots we need to before sun down and Japan's sun set is earlier than Malaysia's. We went to Chidoya, Kudankita. There's a shrine there, we just visited that place awhile, took pictures, encounter a lot of school kids as it was time for them to go back home from school. Then we went to eat in a chinese restaurant, in the subway. I think all I wanted to just rest and/or go back to the hotel and sleep. x.x. Pictures are shown below.
Day 3 (22nd)
The its only the second day in Japan cause the first day spent was in airport. Today we had our breakfast at the same place again which was at Denny's. I had the salad and pancakes again. Honestly, it was really delicious that I was not bored of it at all. We were completely satisfied with the food, no arguments there :P. The first place we were going to was a park at Shibuya, Yoyogikamizonocho. It was huge park, since it was nearly the end of the winter, it was still cooling. Nice to walk around. The only regret was, I could had worn something not so thick. LOL. There were historical sake barrels with descriptions on the board next to it. And luckily for us, we encounter a wed couple, having their wedding photoshoot in parts of the shrine with their traditional wedding clothes. I did not manage to take any photo of them perfectly but my bro had cause they were already surrounded with tourist when they walked out.
After walking around for abit, we went inside a shop and sat to have a snack. RAMEN. LOL. I love their fired potato (forgot the name). Its savory and sweet at the same time. I love how in Japan we have to clean up after ourselves, I mean , it happens just naturally. I feel bad for not always doing it in my own country but I do do it some times when I see the waste cart xD. We chatted, rested and then head to the next location which was Akihabara, the technology town. Just a short visit to that place cause my bro wanted to see some stuff. Like as usual, my dad won't have any interest in these things so only a short walk in the building and then he say he will walk out and find a seat outside. My mom walked abit more with us then say she should join my dad before he was bored to death. She gave us money to use for anything that we need to get.
I was in AWE cause I saw a lot of anime and pokemon stuff but couldn't specifically get it cause it was really expensive :( . Ones we were done, we were off to find our parents. First attempt fail cause when we were out, we couldn't find them and thought they were in another entrance or something. End up we just called my mom and they were just outside outside of the entrance we came out from. They were eating MCD. O.O. LOL. Next we went to another ..yes, a park ..in Shinjuku, Naitomachi. IF I remembered correctly, this park is filled with sakura trees though most of them had fallen off but there were still a handful amount of sakura flowers to view.
AND believe it or not, we did all of that and it was only 12pm +++ noon. We found a chinese based food around the corner of a small alley. The food was great of course but some was salty. We then walked to the subway to get to Chiyoda and also Bunkyo. We wanted to see the shrine that actually worship mobile phones? or technology lol. But sadly couldnt find it. We went back after that long walk to rest and shower. During the night, after hours of hunting the stations we need to head to, we went to Daiba. The reason why we went there was to see the Giant Gundam! hahahhaa. But we missed the show where the Gundam actually will move. Of course we had our dinner first in a mall before going there. I'll post the pictures below.
Day 4 (23th)
DAY 4! The last day in Tokyo but the would be the first day at Osaka. Again, breakfast was salad again! At Denny's. Got ready to go to the Tokyo castle? I think lol. I'm bad at this. We packed every of our stuff and checked out of the hotel of course. We planned to put our luggage bags in the locker in the Tokyo subway since we were gonna take the Shinkansen to Osaka after our visit to the Tokyo castle. The place was huge ...so DEFINITELY 100%, we could not walked the whole park. We only had 1-2 hours? before we have to get onto the bullet train. So the pictures available for that is only a little. And my back was hurting anyways, did not had the mood to take photos.
After that, we walked back to the station, bought some food and snacks, then waited for the train. When we reached Osaka, the place we stay is a homestay so the owner met us at the station like she said in my bro's fb chat. We were worried we could not make it in time as Japanese citizen are always either early or on time. It ticks my dad off if anyone of us are slightly slow cause he does not want to be late. She was kind, and friendly, she's able to speak chinese ! cause she went to china to study before? if I'm not mistaken. When we arrived, we were satisfied with that place, it was cozy and well equip with house hold items. At that moment, my aunty just reached the Osaka station (yes, she joined us when we were in Osaka). My parents went back to the station to get my aunty while me and my bro just laid back and relax at 'home' xD. We showered, unpacked stuff and bring necessities to our next destination, the Pokemon Centre ~~ .
The mall was connected to the subway, we took the lift all the way to the floor for pokemon centre and ones the doors were opened, we literally see pokemon stuff everywhere. Me and my bro practically ran to the shop after getting money from my mom. lol. My dad wanted to faint seeing the pokemons hahahaha. My parents and my aunty went to Uniqlo to shop. I think my dad somehow after that, found a place to sit lol. The centre was in Umeda, in a mall lol. Me and my bro were having difficult time to choose what we wanted to get. I wanted a huge pokemon stuff toy but T.T ..my bro got one and the one I wan was huge ..hugeeeeee. (Bulbasour). So I only manage to take picture with it however, its on my bro's camera lol. Then, we gathered together and rush to Dotombori, cause we wanted to visit an owl cafe before it closes. We reached there just enough minutes to spare for us to take pictures and view the owls. Only me and my bro went in thou, need to pay entrance free before entering and take pictures of them. Nevertheless, it was fun. My parents and my aunty went to find a place for dinner, sure enough they found a place, that serves porks (theres literally a pig sign hanging outside the door lol.). Its Japan, so the place was kinda small and narrow but luckily they have second floor, my family was there. Ones we were done, we called and we head to the place. After that, we drag ourselves back home and sleep. Believe me, thats the thing that we really wanted to do after a long day of activities. Next day would be hectic again because we were going to Takayama (one night stay).
Day 5 (24th)
We packed some stuff, like one night clothes and all, and then we set off while leaving our huge luggage in the homestay. We walked to the Osaka station, finding for breakfast. End up, we just ate Mcd for breakfast (I got the nano blocks~). Funny, cause we don't really eat fast food for breakfast back in Msia. Anyways, ones we were done, we had to take the train to (i forgot exactly where) Toyosaki to wait for the bus to take us to Takayama. We apparently were there early so, we just sat, and hanged out there. Lucky there was a toilet there cause my bro needed to poo badly. When the bus arrived, we got on, and off we go, it was a 3-4 hours ride? Tiring. We did stop at rest stops for lunch and also for toilet xD. There's one stop where I had to go to the toilet badly and I think I was late, everyone was waiting and my dad got mad, as usual. I did not have the mood and i just slept to our destination. ( OH one of the toilets have a indicator board, red and green dots, one shows as occupied and the other as vacancy of the toilet xD )
The bus did not stop exactly at the place we were gonna stay. It stopped at a hotel. We had to walk for a few more minutes to reach our, motel? or hostel. Either one. Its a shared toilet and bathroom base. We had 2 rooms, one was in the second floor and the other on the third floor. We left our luggage and rested abit and then headed out to the old village in Takayama. The most famous tourist area there. But to our disappointment, it was full with China tourist. I don't want to say anything bad here but their behavior is definitely is out of this world. We took photos, enjoyed the view, the food, the ice cream xD and others. I can't get over the green tea ice cream haahhaa. We walked the entire village and then left to find food. We ate ramen and also their fried chicken in a small restaurant. Then we continued to walk around that area. There were a lot to see and we were in need to find a grocery shop? We needed to get fruits, so that we can go toilet properly and other food to bring back to the hostel to cook and eat. Almost everything closed at 5pm, so we just walked till the last shop closed. We even bought sakura and sake ice cream. To be honest, I was disappointed with the sakura ice cream lol. But I love the sake ice cream xD hahaha.
Well, that's all for that day I guess cause the bus ride just takes all the time away. We went back, took the fruits and instant noodles out, and ate our dinner. We went back up, batch by batch, went back down to the bathroom to take a bath. Then ones we were done, me, my mom and my aunty went to the third floor. We did not expect for the room to be that big cause when we were resting in the second floor room, it was small lol. Lucky that most of the time in Japan that they have wifi, I could text back to ppl back home at least ;). Oh, the temperature in Takayama was WAY colder than Tokyo and Osaka. lucky we did not slack on bringing long sleeves clothes.
Day 6 (25th)
We had to wake up early cause we need to get to the bus where its gonna head to Shirakawa~ We ate Mcd for breakfast. Then after that we thought we were late and we thought the bus left or something. But, we found the Indonesia couple again and they said the bus have not arrived "phew". Its tour bus, so we have a tour guide, the guy was really funny and fun. I enjoyed my time on the bus but I really wanted to sleep because I was feeling nausea. He talked about himself, about Shirakawa, the historical buildings, the famous houses in Shirakawa, and the Sarubobo (a doll, which means monkey baby). He gave us a map also. First stop was the observation deck, where we can see the whole village. It was a wonderful sight. We took pictures and also purchase some stuff especially the Sarubobo doll. After that we head to the village. The tour guide gave us time to walk around. And as usual, my family manage to walk around the village in the nick of time and also picked up the pace when we saw the group of china tourist were coming. We went into one of the houses, tour the whole house and also sat to drink some tea. Ones we were done, we quickly head to the sake house before any other came and cramp the whole place. We sat to watch the history then we walked around inside the place to see the displays of its history. THEN the best part, trying the sake. HOWEVER, we did not know it was the concentrated sake. We thought it was the one we had before at Mt. Fuji last time. lol. But I liked it xD I refilled like 3 times hahahhaha.
After all that, we head back to the bus, relaxed. The bus dropped us off at the bus station where they drop us in the morning. We went to find food. I finally get to eat my sashimi. ONLY I ate sashimi. The rest ate rice and chicken or etc etc. We went back to the hostel, packed our stuff and head out. We we still very early, but we went out to walk anyways, me, my bro and my dad sat near the hotel and then my mom and aunty went to walk somewhere cause we had 2 hours to wait for the bus. I slept all the way in the bus except when we stop at the rest stop. When we reach osaka, it was night time already. We walked back to the station to find food again LOL. We ate chinese food again. Went to a pharmacy and buy some stuff. Then head back home. We freshen up, changed and slept.
Day 7 (26th)
LAST DAY IN JAPAN. Today is a little different. Cause me and my bro was gonna be separated with my parents and my aunty lol. We were headed toooooooooo Universal Studio Japan, USJ xD. Just me and my bro. FUN. First, all of us headed to the Osaka station, had breakfast at a cafe called Estacion cafe. lol and then we part ways. Of course after the check this and check that with my parents, then we left. There was a specific train to Universal Studio and it was packed with people. I was surprised there were that many people. When we arrived, we realize there were a lot of school kids and we were like, urm ..school holiday? or what. SInce there where that many people, we just queue for the express tickets. It was worth it anyways. We did not have to queue. Some had a very long queue. When we first entered, my bro spotted a cape he wanted. The one they had in an anime called the Titan. xD. The rides here are of course more extreme than Disneyland. But my bro was not prepared for all those. So we skipped quite a number of rides. I wanted to get a lot of stuff there especially something from Harry Potter but it was really really expensive. I was so so so saddddddd. All we have is the picture from a ride in Harry potter.
THAT particular 4k ride, (we did not know) made us all dizzy and nausea. We had to sit down and rest for quite a bit. I manage to make my bro sit some rides so that he would not regret it after that. The theme park was huge. We sat as much ride as we can. We visited almost all the rides and sites. Except the anime section. We were already pooped when we walked around the main area. So we did not enter the anime side. We went into the gift shop and walked around to see if there is anything cheaper LOL. Like that was possible. I was still so upset that I could not get anything Harry Potter themed. I managed to get a minion popcorn container thou. Its cute and its now become my pen container hahahha. They have wonderland section like snoopy, hello kitty and etc for the kids. We had early lunch before we went to other rides before to the JAWs ride. We ate pizza~ They have set and thats the only thing that my bro would eat so we just went there and eat.
The JAWs ride was wonderful, the worker was so into acting, and I got jumpscared on one of the part where the shark just pops out from the water. LOL. After that, we walked around, took pictures, sat and rest, then we went into the Terminator movie ride? I guess. My parents and aunty went to Nara. I wish I can be there also cause there are deers there, you can feed and pet them, they are all over the streets. Then we head to the Jurassic park. We had to line up for the water ride cause the express card we used it on JAWs. It was a long wait, my bro was not feeling well so I said, after that ride, we can sit down somewhere to rest and eat. (yes, eat again). We went to the Jurassic cafe. There's one set called the t-rex tail set, I think, I ordered that hhahaha. Then after that we just walked. When we were done, I called my mom to ask where was she.
Right on time, they said they were gonna go back and was surprised that we were done already. Both of us just head to the station and went back to the Osaka station, our meeting point. I forgot if we had our dinner outside or in the house lol. But I do remember that our dessert was the famous cheese cake, from Pablo. YUM YUM YUM. A wonderful way to end our day in Japan. We packed our stuff, chatted, stay up abit. Then we went to sleep.
Day 8 (27th)
We had the worse morning ever. Since we did not take any cab or bus, we took the train. We miscalculated. The train took really long to reach to the airport. So, we almost missed our flight. My dad was moody. We almost went to the wrong side of the building. When we checked in, my mom basically cut line ...with permission cause we were late. Luckily we were able to catch our plane but we had to rush which my dad hates. But what can we do, we miscalculated and it was the first time we took the train to the airport. The last time we came we used the cab. We slowly relax in the plane. We had our meal, it was delicious, I wish I took a photo of the food eventhough it was only plane food. When we landed, we went back to the same shop, to sit and eat the ramen. I think I chose something with salmon in it. I think. From morning till noon, from Japan to Hongkong (transit), then from noon till night time (from Hongkong to KLIA). We were exhausted. But guess what, my bf came all the way to the airport to see me and my family off to our cars. I felt bad cause he had to come all the way to the airport after work. My dad invited him for dinner at a R&R but he already went off back home. I was happy to see him of course xD.
PS: My mom saw someone and took picture with her. I'll post the photo below and you guys will know is who xD.
END of MY HOLIDAY.
PS: I actually posted this blog in another website, the link is here > yumiko11. All the photos are there. I can't post it here cause there were too many, this blog is gonna be waaayyyyy too long if I posted everything lol.
Thank you ~
