8.30am - Wakey Wakey
Everybody's tired, so we slept in a little and also took very long to get ready.
Bad news. Our clothes were still not dry from yesterday. Think the dryer was not working or something. We spread the clothes all over the room in an effort to increase surface area, but how could we let the room maid come to a room like this? Clothes covering every inch of the bed, how to make? I don't mind if they didn't make the bed, so don't clean today? Cannot ley, we want her to come in and wash the pot... see we were very nice to soak it in water, although there's still things stuck that required scrubbing.
Final decision, please make the room. I don't know how you are going to do it. Thanks in advance.
10am - Breakfast
We were pretty late today and the breakfast was almost closing. Not much food left, but my staple was still available. Very boring hor me.
Our Out Of Memory problem got solved! Forgot how, I think Brother found a cheap card-reader from the vicinity. With help from the public terminals at the lobby, we can take photos like it's free again.
10.25am - Out And Away
It's gonna be a relaxing (relatively) day. Nothing to catch. Only things to give up if we were out of time. After a good night's sleep, Sotong was ready to roll!
Interesting signboard. The owner probably knew what was going on.
We took the Tozai Line and stopped at Nihombashi 日本橋 and changed to the Toei Asakusa Line. Not much trouble here.
11.34am - Out And Away
We alighted at the Asakusa(Tobu) 浅草 station. Why the bracket, you might ask. It's because there's another station with the same name, but owned by another operator. The one I chose is closer to our area of interest.
The station itself was highly tourist-oriented. Just look at the walls, signs and even the station name when my Sister was looking around for one.
Haven't researched on the direction to take? No problem, just follow lor!
Overcast day, o no! However, it's a warm day at about 17°C.
11.37am - Kaminarimon 雷門
After walking for just 3min, goal! Kaminarimon 雷門 was before us now!
Very crowded, but not to the point of deadlock. Just go with the flow.
11.37am - Nakamise-dori 仲見世通り
Think you are at the destination proper upon seeing the lantern? Not quite yet! 2 rows of tourists traps to dodge *gasp* This is Nakamise-dori 仲見世通り for you.
Of course, Sotong and company were only interested in food.
Daifuku 大福, essentially mochi with stuffing. Not freshly-made on the spot, so Sister didn't buy despite being on the lookout.
Usuyaki うす焼, a kind of thin omelette. Looks suspiciously like the deer senbei, which also sells in a stack.
Ah here's the senbei for human consumption. After a life of Want Want senbei, it's hard to bring myself to buy senbei selling by pieces.
Nearing our goal! Ah so there's more than 1 big red lantern here.
Alright we have reached the end of Nakamise-dori unscathed, but we were not happy! There must be something that we ought to buy, something special.
So, we got this. Manju, a deep fried soft cake with a piece of salty sakura leaf.
And the shop...
Sponsored lanterns...
Creative snack. Even got koala biscuit stuck on it.
I'm not sure if rice stalks are traditionally used as lucky charms, but a tourist will probably believe it to be true.
Wa frying a massive pile of noodles! Got so many people buy meh? Already got a stack there, still need to fry?
Sweet wine, but sure doesn't look palatable with this presentation. Reminded me of mother's diy rice wine.
BBQ seafood skewers that smelled really nice~
Fruit ice stall with a gambling twist. Play the pinball for a chance to win a stick or more!
Brother went to the toilet and took this panorama from around there. Stupid blogger refused to turn the picture around, so there.
12.03am - Sensoji 浅草寺
Yet another giant red lantern. Even the bottom of the lantern sports carvings. Spotted the names of the sponsors painted on the side.
Yes made it through all the money magnets! We were quite successful at keeping our yen shielded. Free entry, yet not run-down. This temple sure receives a lot of donations. Of course, it is the oldest temple in Tokyo.
The five-storied pagoda.
香火很旺哦!
More giant red lantern! This is the entrance to the main temple. The temple was supposed to be under renovation now, but looked like they were done with the main temple already. Everything looked fresh and new.
Going around looking for my entrance. Wa oversized wine cup!
A showcase of Big Boys' Bikes. Out of place ley.
Ok, so was there any way for me to go up at all? After all the renovation, surely they must have done something? Or must we call for assistance and be led to some concealed entrance?
Nothing at the side of the building. We went round to the front again, looking out for signs. Found it!
See see so modern right! And not flooded by abusers.
I really like the Japanese's huge donation box placed right in front. You really need a hide metres thick to fish money from there.
The devotees pray before entering, and from the centre only.
Ceiling murals. Who says only European churches have them?
The deities and their golden houses protected from the outside world. Good idea. Less cleaning to do.
Sister and I 求签 again. See how our luck has changed in 8 days. 吉 for me this time! Ah Sensoji is indeed more tourist-oriented. Check out the lots with English translation! As usual, I won't reveal my destiny, but I can't help but announce that even the deities agree that this trip is the best decision I have made this year! As for my sister, the deities were literally telling her not to go home...! As per tradition, you don't bring your bad lot home, so Sister tied hers at a rack together with the other unlucky people. C'mon... what's so bad about extending your holiday (provided you still have money)? Anyway, she took another slip of the lot home for keepsake :P
Wait, Sensoji has left something out in her tourist-orientation effort. The drawers where the slips of lots are kept were numbered in Chinese... the angmohs cannot understand lah! This was precisely the problem the angmohs behind us faced, so we told them the roman numerals. Have fun!
We left the main temple and out to another shopping belt, a shorter one though.
Beautiful (and expensive) wood carvings.
Smelled nice, but absolutely no idea what that was! I thought I spotted a chicken heart.
Selling bolsters like Singapore pasar malam? Look again, they were COTTON CANDY! That's one huge bag!
12.40am - To Asakusa(Tsukuba) Station 浅草(つくば)駅
Done with the temple grounds pretty quickly. Now to look out for lunch and make our way to the other Asakusa station.
Another sheltered shopping street? Stay away! Let's change the scenery.
Creative attention-capturer! The chopsticks and noodles move up and down like how a person eats noodles.
I noticed a relatively higher number of middle-aged men sitting around the area than usual. No need to work? OR because it's lunchtime? But they looked like the Japanese version of our beer uncles.
Our answer was just a few steps away. WINS, the turf club.
Shall we buy a ticket too? Aiyah dunwan lah, dunno how to buy lor. Horse-racing very chim one, Singapore's I already don't understand liao.
Another decorated drain cover. Flower~
The main street. It should be right if we turn left...
1.18pm - Akihabara Station 秋葉原駅
In just 5min, we arrived at our destination.
Up to the surface... you might have already guessed - there's only a few things one can do here.
1.25pm - Yodobashi-Akiba ヨドバシ-Akiba
Geek and otaku paradise!
Heading for the restaurant level. Wow just look at the number of floors! Amazing!
Anyway, we finally got our asses up to the restaurant and faced the what-to-eat multi-lemma again. Western, Chinese (a few of them, in fact), various Japanese... ahhh dunno which one! But not Chinese and Western for sure. Want to eat Chinese, go home eat zichar ba. Conveyor belt sushi? Nah we'll save that for Tsukiji. Anyway the stuff don't look cheap either!
Finally, we decided on this.
1.55pm - Hamakatsu 浜勝
The entrance was rather narrow. There's a step, but fortunately a ramp was factored in.
Love the table full of condiments and goodies in a Japanese restaurant. Uniquely them were sesame and 2 teapots of sauces, 1 for the sesame dip and the other for the salad. Inedibles were free tissue for Sotong to clear her nose before a meal (ya, still running lor, lazy to mention everyday liao) and a bell!
We had been proudly introduced to the Tonkichi restaurant in Ngee Ann City by Sister, so she's already familiar with the preparation of the dip. She began by pouring the sauce into the bowl... WRONG LIAO! So much for being the expert. Next bowl~
The waitress came to show us the ritual of eating tonkatsu - and was probably suspecting that we thought the teapot contained tea and poured out into one of the mortars. No no 误会, 误会! Anyway, she introduced the sesame dip and salad dressing. Thanks!
Sister got it right this time with the new mortar - grind the sesame first.
Our food~ Salad, pickles, rice and miso (red and white) were free-flow.
O dear, I have been raving about the side dishes. The main was passable lah, I think I prefer Tonkichi. And I'm not a big fan of fried food because the crispy part cuts my mouth. So painful why people like? Aiyoh.
3.10pm - Yodobashi-Akiba... Proper
Looking at the time, I think we would have to give Ginza up. Aiyah, the main attraction was only to see the Chuo Dori transform into a giant pedestrian zone (1200-1700 only) and then have Japanese Ippudo for dinner lah. And then on to see Tokyo Tower... from below. Scrap that also lor.
Time to explore this massive electronics and hobbies store! Expect to find the latest gadgets (not necessarily cheaper) and weird products that might never reach our shores. It's more of a guys' building, but I don't think it'll be boring. Just take a look lah!
Like the branch in Shinjuku, it's a place of "too much" - the lights are wayyy too bright (makes me wonder how they look like in the climate of power crunch due to the nuclear disaster) and constant bombardment of announcements targeted at Chinese tourists.
Brother was looking for a figurine, so we went to the hobbies level. Lots and lots of wares, so much that I wonder how they were going to offload them, resulting in narrow aisles. Plus the Saturday crowd, I don't like lah.
For the local railway fanatic, to recreate their own network in their bedroom. Seriously!
3-D models of tourist attractions to place next to their train stations. O... maybe the Taiwan's 小人国 is made from these lah...
No point sticking together, so we split up, with me following Sister. We'll gather at 5pm, our mobile phones reduced to a pager.
She was looking for Conan videos, so to the video section we went. Stuff there not cheap lah.
O o there's a beauty section! Smaller relatively, but still larger than an average drugstore. Sister went looking for her body exfoliator again while I was done scanning through for foundation powder. Her exfoliator "popular in Japan" proved to be elusive - not found in Osaka and Tokyo! And worse still, the sales assistant never heard of it! Really so popular or not?
5.10pm - Otaku Time@Akihabara 秋葉原
Change building time~ so where is this Otaku area we've read about? Just turn right from Yodabashi's entrance and they are all there.
We split up again. The shops were even tinier and harder for me to move around. Many shops are also in buildings without lifts, or you need to climb stairs to get to the lift. Anyway... just wanna walk walk see see only lah.
Spotted in a shop - hiring sales assistant, wage about ￥800/hr (if I remember correctly)! Half pay for probation period though. Cool lor! With this kind of pay, no wonder Japan's service standard is so high! If we could have this in Singapore, service wouldn't be a part-time job anymore. But oh well, remember their higher cost of living...
In the stairs, in between floors. So I'm not at... er... 1 1/3 floor?
A building full of ero and roleplay stuff for your fetish pleasure.
We came to a drugstore selling lots and lots of beauty products, so Sister went to look for her exfoliator again. So messy lor, how to find? Faster ask for help lah. She was struggling to get her point across to the sales assistant in broken Japanese, with not much luck. Then the sales assistant heard us talking and revealed that she's from China, pointing to her nametag with a Chinese name! Aiyah! So next time must look at nametag first. Anyway, she didn't find it again. The sales assistant said she had never heard of the product and introduced what was truly popular, but Sister didn't want it.
6.40pm, time to leave the geeky place for somewhere hippier. This was a last minute itinerary adaptation, so I didn't have the instructions for getting to that place. No problem, take out the map and stare very X10 hard! O, so it's actually along the same line as our original plan, Ginza. Just take the Metro Hibiya Line, no need to change train. Great! Now, we gotta find the Metro, Tsukuba no more. So... where? Lift conveniently located at the entrance of Yodobashi-Akiba!
7pm - Roppongi 六本木
25min later, we were out to be hip for the night yeah yeah! Sister seized the (last) chance to find her highly-recommended-by-a-Japanese Japanese dessert shop, which has an outlet in Tokyo Midtown. Never was she going to let it go again. I opposed to the idea as the building looked rather far from the Metro station and I didn't think we should be spending time to look for something, but since Brother was ok with it too, then ok lor. I'm not walking anyway... heehee.
Before getting into the wild, locate our destination on the map. Orientate ourselves and find the right exit. Scanning for Tokyo Midtown...
Finally, we figured that it's at south-west of our location. Snap a picture of the map!
Went inside the connected Roppongi Hills and exited to the open.
Spotted Ichiran ramen! Not on the first storey, not easily visible. Can consider for later :D
7.15pm - Tokyo Midtown 東京ミッドタウン
6min later, we found Tokyo Midtown! But wait, first check that this was indeed It by finding the shop in the shop directory on the building exterior. Ok Sister, your shop, your job. Scan the directory at top speed! Test your Japanese-reading time!
But I sort of didn't expect her to find it lah. Help her lor. Indeed, she didn't find it, but I did. O well, let's go in.
Christmas decorations were up. Let's take a look, since I never do in Singapore.
Rainbow-like thing with colors running across it. I've never seen anything like that before, nice!
Ah here's something even more awesome. Infinity cubes!
Inside, streamers all over to add to the festive mood and hopefully ignites the shopping mood too.
Ok it's getting late. We should hit the shop directly liao. Info counter! And we were told that it's... just on our right only!! Wa pa jiao lor!
7.35pm - Toraya 虎屋
There's Uniqlo and Sister had always wanted to see what they have in Japan. Winterwear everywhere, nothing much for us. Actually, she was just looking to replace her cardigan which got destroyed after one wash. Personally, I found it weird to replace something so fragile with... the same item, when there's probably better ones out there. Fwah, the stuff here not any cheaper also lor. Some cardigan craze she was having lah. Came out empty-handed.
Peculiar sign spotted at the lift lobby. Pets allowed? That's rare.
What's for dinner? Nothing in particular caught our eyes. Ichiran ramen sounded good, if not for the lack of shared tables and "highlight" of eating in individual cubicles.
We passed by a tiny ramen shop and started studying it from the outside. The waitress saw us and immediately came out to attend to invite us in. We weren't sure if we wanted to eat there yet, but we could see that the sole table was already occupied by a couple and only counter seats were left (a whole row to choose from too), so we declined. She asked us to wait and we 笨笨 waited, wondering what for. Guess what, she chased the couple away lor!! Wa biang, stun lor! Now bo bian, better eat! Apologized to the couple as they were leaving. So damn paiseh.
8.40pm - Ramen Dinner@無雙ラーメン
No other patrons except us on a Saturday night. This shop got problem? ~_~ Inspected the ice cubes and found them to contain the black specks too. Sigh, looks like it's from the same factory. Common problem ba. Just drink lor, so far we hadn't fallen ill from it. 接受现实吧 *Shrugs*
Ah here comes our food. Bonito shavings with ramen, that's something new.
Walked back to Roppongi Hills for the final highlight of the day. It's 9.22pm already, yet many shops were still open. That's how things should be!
Wow firewood oven! Dang should have eaten here. It's always on hindsight. Just like if we saw this first, we wouldn't decide to eat it.
9.45pm - Tokyo City View 東京シティビュー
Nope, we didn't come to Roppongi Hills for the shopping. Sister had wanted to see Tokyo from up above. I convinced her to go for Tokyo City View instead of Tokyo Tower as it is newer, taller, cheaper and had longer opening hours. After passing by so many towers in various cities, we were finally going up one!
Ok this was a bomb. HALF of the observatory out of bounds, for a freakin' Mercedes exhibition, yet still had the cheek to charge full price?? Should give 50% discount man! Damn thick-skinned can!
￥1500 each.
We queued up to wait to be led into one of the lifts. Felt the staff's face very black ley. There's no 电梯小姐 to introduce the observatory at breakneck pace. Instead, it was done by a recorded message. The lights dimmed and changed color like a mood lamp... good for a few seconds of shut-eye.
Here we were, 250m above sea level at the 52nd storey.
The culprit? The same Mercedes exhibition. The biggest wtf was that the sign downstairs failed to disclose that apart from the half the floor space being out of bounds, the powerful giant spotlights exhibition were still left on despite the exhibition being closed for the day. How to see anything like that?!
The solution? Press your face against the glass lor. 高难度 for sotong. Crap. As for taking photos, Sister had to do this.
Pink!
Then the pink disappeared level by level and turned into the more familiar gold.
Cafe for high-floor dining.
10.50pm - Roppongi Hills 六本木ヒルズ
Done with the place. We would never find out what we missed.
When we came down, we saw this sign. So it's true, Sky Deck is not for me.
The shops were dead-close already. Now to find our way down to the Metro. Ah wait, Christmas lights!
Anything wrong with this picture?
Gentle spiral stairs to spiral your way down. Even I could take ^_^
No memory of how we got back. Probably via the Hibiya Line and changing train at Kayabacho 茅場町. Super late now, faster go back!
When we stepped into our room, we had a pleasant surprise. Our room was kept and guess what, the clothes that we left lying around had been laid back!!! Amazing! Which meant after keeping the bed, the room maid put the clothes back. The pot was washed. Thumbs up for the exemplary service!
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