Japan 2010, Day 2

Good morning! We checked in after dark yesterday and didn’t get the chance to see the view outside. It was almost pitched dark and we could hear very loud water gushing sound.. so zen ~~~~

And then… I woke up to a fantastic view outside!!

Awesome colors!

The view right outside of our window at the side

View from another corner

Breakfast included. Actually it is quite nice :P Warm breakfast on a cold morning

Soup. Nice way to keep warm :D

Our room name is displayed on the table. Each table are pre-assigned to your room. Meaning no choosing of seats :P

Breakfast ended with nice cuppa coffee ~~~ ah……… perfect!

Back to our room. A nice corner to enjoy the view

So sad that we only stayed one night here. Have to check out today :( Next time should really plan for at least 2 nights.

After checking out, we deposited our luggage at the hotel to take a stroll around the area since we have about 2 hours to spare before taking the train back to Tokyo

Nice autumn color in Winter :P

Another hotel in view. Looks nice! Probably should consider to stay there on the next trip :)

Autumn leaves on the railing

Interesting shadow cast by the furniture

Mini greens. How nice ~~~

On the way, we found these statues. Happy way to start the day :)

We passed by a narrow stretch of road towards the central of Yumoto

Some graffiti in the tunnel

40km/h. That’s the speed the bus drivers really adhere to.

I like how the plant grew over the metal pieces. Looks like art.. :)

Nice views along the way. Very relaxing with the cooling weather

We chanced upon this sign board and decided to go to Tamadare falls since it is only 8 minutes away :)

Along the way, we saw this artistic cascading river. It’s like abstract painting!

I like the red flower against the river as backdrop :)

We arrived at the one of the fall!

Natural drinking water. We tried and even filled our bottle with it!

There is a small sign next to it that says ‘Tamadare no taki, Enmei no wakimizu’ (延命の湧き水) which means ‘Tamadare falls, spring water for longevity’

A bamboo door

Tamadare no Taki

Very refreshing to view the fall up close

On the way back to our hotel, we chanced upon this nice little path. The signed board says that it’s only for their hotel guest. We decided to go explore a little anyway. :P No harm I supposed.. hehe..Anyway, one of the staff spotted us while we were there and is nice enough to let us wander around ^^

After a short walk there, we head back to our hotel, collected our luggage, struggled up the bus and went to take the train back to Tokyo

We checked in to Toyoko Inn located at Ikebukuro. Nice, clean room as always…

After taking a short rest, we went out to explore the Ikebukuro surrounding. We are a little puzzled at the long queue outside Auntie Annie’s. I have never seen such crowd back home :P

Vibrant lighting. A nice stretch of shopping area

Here’s my late lunch. Not too bad. Initially we were seated inside the restaurant. However, after telling the staff that we were interested to order from the lunch set, the staff politely tell us that we should be seated at the counter seat outside the restaurant.. even though the restaurant at that time was relatively empty. lol.. kinda funny

Saizeriya. We have one in Singapore as well :)

We decided to window shop at Yodobashi, Japan electronic store . (Actually I prefer to shop at the Yodobashi outlet in Sapporo, Hokkaido instead. It is more spacious and easier to walk and shop there.)

To give you some idea of the building, I shot the left and right view of the front entrance.

Yodobashi – Left side view

Yodobashi – Right side view

After the disappointing and brief window shopping at Yodobashi, we dropped by Mister Donuts for some drinks and donuts. So sinful.. lol

Good night for day 2 ~~~ Oyasuminasai ~~~

Japan 2010, Day 3

My cam ran out of memory and I had left my spares memory card back at the hotel. Duh…

So.. I only have a few pix for day 3.. which is extremely rare.. lol..

Shibuya street

My last shot before my cam showed me the nice ‘Memory card is full’ message. How smart of me..

On day 3, we were supposed to visit the Ghibli Museum. But unbelievably, we could not find a single Lawson (convenient store) to purchase tickets from! While walking around Shibuya waiting for Shibuya 109 to open, we chanced upon one Lawson! Hiding in some backlanes.. –_- We fiddled around the vending machine and finally found a nice timing. But upon payment, we found that we need to pay using some special cards –_- So we just gave up since it will totally change the plans we have for the day. (Meant for shopping! lol.. )

 

Bought a cute snoopy for my dear niece from Harajuku Kiddyland. They moved from the main street to a nice charming street nearby. Let me see if I can get some photos from my buddy’s cam.. (BIG HINT… )

Some snacks and beer to end the day.. :)

Oyasuminasai, Day 3 ~~~

Japan 2010, Day 4

Good morning ~~~

Breakfast at Toyoko Inn – Onigiri & Miso soup. The prefect combination of breakfast! I always have craving for their onigiri. Maybe cos’ it feels homely.. lol

After breakfast, we ventured out

A mascot outside one of the shop at Ikebukuro

Walking towards Animate shop. The shop is located nearby Sunshine City. You need to cross a main junction where you will see Toyota Amlux. From there, you can easily spot Animate.

Mini K-On figurine!

After visiting the Animate shop, we walked across the road to Sunshine city building and had lunch there. Somehow I noticed that my first choice is almost always Ebi Tempura.. yum yum ~~~

Another cute mascot with a funky hairdo.. :D

After walking around Sunshine City, we decided to go to Ginza

Good thing that it was a Saturday. The long stretch of Ginza street is closed to traffic and tents were set up for people to rest ;) How nice~

We wanted a break and decided to go to MOS café. Noticed it says MOS = Mountain, Ocean, Sun :P

Our drinks. I actually preferred the ice Milk Tea from Mos in Singapore. Was not used to the milk tea in Japan… Hmm.. actually I felt the same when I tried the ice milk tea in Bangkok’s Mos burger as well. :P

Kids walking and playing on the street

It’s relaxing to walk freely on the street :D

A brightly lit side street

Approaching 5pm just before traffic is allowed in again

Last few minutes before the street opens to the traffic… A van with loudspeaker started to warn people about it. The moment the clock strikes 5pm, magic happens. All the barrier were quickly removed at the same time and traffic almost immediately flooded the street. Kudos to the slick operation. Very well organized considering that it’s a long stretch of road with many junctions!

As we walked along the street, we spotted a shop with long queue. Of course, we went to check it out.. hehe..

So this is what they were selling, it’s called Mount Baun Kuchen!

Looks yummy. I actually bought a piece back for us to try it out. I think it’s about USD 7. A lot of time and effort goes into making these.

After Ginza, we proceed to Shinjuku to shop for a few hours. After shopping, we headed back to Ikebukuro to hunt for food.

Finally we settled at Isetan’s restaurant. It’s dinner time! Yummy ~~~

Back at the hotel, we tried the snack bought from Shinjuku early on. The Baun Kuchen (Tree cake) actually taste quite nice.

That’s all for day 4. Oyasuminasai ~~~~

Japan 2010, Day 5

Just before heading home, we decided to go do a bit of shopping at Shinjuku as we still have a few hours to spare before our flight back in the late afternoon. We checked out from Toyoko Inn and deposited our luggage at the hotel.

While wandering around Shinjuku shopping area, we decided to have our lunch at this place called Coffee House Nire as it looks pretty from outside :)

Waiting for our food

I like the table settings! Pretty ~~~

My sandwich lunch. Yum yum ~~~

Tea time!

After the lunch, we went to do quite a fare bit of shopping and then we headed back to our hotel, collected our luggage and had a super hard time stuffing everything we bought to our already-on-the-verge-of-exploding luggage. lol..

 

That’s the end of the trip! Jya mata~~~~ Will be back for sure ;)