The Baker in Me ~ Bake, Baking, Baked.

Japan Day 10 - Shinjuku & Home

>> Sunday, July 12, 2009

Alas! D-day came. All good things come to an end!
Since we had to check out by 10am, and could not go anywhere with our luggages, we decided to head to Narita earlier.
I return with new resolve to buck up my listening and conversational skills.

Japan Day 9 - Shibuya

>> Saturday, July 11, 2009

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Our second last day was spent at Shibuya. It's another shopping area for the young and trendy, and another place where we see lots of pretty girls since Osaka.

Had lunch at MoMo Paradise which was a 1.5hr buffet for ￥1400. You have a choice of shabu shabu or sukiyaki, with free flow meats and vegetables.

More street shots of Shibuya.

I began to boldly shoot photos of people as I walked, well, specifically of the prettier girls. Managed to catch some pretty ones as well as some high school students. They always wear their skirts really short.

Another crazy crowd towards the evening.

Japan Day 8 - Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Tokyo Tower

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Made a brief stop at the Sensouji Temple, which had the iconic huge lantern - Kaminarimon. Apart from that and a short touristy kind of shops, there was pretty much nothing else there.

We headed to Akihabara, the geek town of Japan, where all the electronics shops are gathered.

Pretty boring since it's not like we were looking for anything in particular. I guess the highlight is entering a porn shop since it you cannot find such a place in Singapore! Photography was not allowed and I took this in secret...haha!

A vending machine selling hot foods like ramen and oden in cans.

Since there was nothing much else left, we made an unscheduled stop at Ikebukuro.

Cute Onigiri-man!!

Had our dinner there at Kamakura Ramen which sells Tonkatsu Ramen.

Lastly, we proceeded to Tokyo Tower. At the observatory where everyone was looking at the sunset.

Tokyo city sunset.

Starfish in Tokyo.

Up close and personal with the tower. Somehow, I think it looked more grand and magnificent from far at Mori Tower.

Japan Day 7 - Tsukiji, Ginza, Odaiba

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Went to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market at around 9+ in the morning, since the tuna auction was way too early in the morning. They even had a traffic warden directing traffic flow at a busy intersection within the market. The yellow little vehicle you see in the pic is a common sight there.

An area of the market selling dry goods.

The wet area where they had stalls with boxes of seafood.

While at Tsukiji, of course we had to try the sushi places. We choose Daiwa. It was one of the two which had long queues. Daiwa had the shorter of the two.

A set of mix variety of about 8 pieces costs ￥3500. It was pretty fresh and made right in front of you and served as you eat. The place was squeezy though, and it was more like a eat-and-scram kind of thing.

On our way to Ginza, we had to transfer stations at Shinbashi, where briefly stopped at Nippon Televsion Building.

A little girl looking at An-pan Man!

It was a hot and clear day with blue skies, unlike the past few days which were main drizzling or cloudy. Ginza is more of a high-end shopping area, but I think it would have been a prettier sight at night when the billboards are lit up.

Actually one of the objectives in coming to Ginza was to look for Cozy Corner. They supposedly had amazing cream puffs. The main store is located in Ginza and it had a cafe. We stopped for a rest and drink. I had an amazing dessert - Fruity Mieulle Crepe. It was basically layers of crepe stacked one over another with cream in between, forming a slice of cake and served with some fresh fruits and raspberry sherbert. Some amazing shit! The crepe was soft and the cream was very aromatic. On top of that, the slight sour taste of the fruits and sherbert balanced the sweet creams.

Of course the cream puff which we tried later did not disappoint as well. The cream was thicker in texture, and eaten cold with the soft pastry was simply refreshing!

We headed for Odaiba next, riding the Yurikamome line which was actually a a monorail. Some pics along the way.

The interior of the monorail.

In Odaiba, there's a huge shopping area. Toyota had a permanent floor showcasing their vehicles - past, present and future.

The area where all their models are displayed.

An old old model.

Some concept cars of the future.

I saw this cute car moving around outside and seemed like a ride. Turns out to be an automated mini eco-car which gives you a 7-min ride around the place for ￥200.

Just next to Megaweb was Venusfort - another high-end shopping area styled like Venice with sky ceilings. Basically it's just like The Venetian at Las Vegas or Venetian Macao in Macau.