Dear diary,

I’ve composed 5 posts about Tokyo, and this – the sixth one, will be the final one.

My memories of it is not as vivid as when I crafted episode 1 on tokyo, and that’s also the reason why I have to quickly write this down…I must document as much details as  I can, for keeps.

It was Christmas Day I remember…and as planned, our agenda for the day is Odaiba (お台場), a large man made island in Tokyo.

Good Morning Shinjuku! Together with the morning crowd, we took the subway.

Weather was pretty good that day!

Finally, we arrived in Odaiba and bought a day-pass (¥800, approx. RM32), that can be used for unlimited train rides on the island.

It was quite worth it since we’ve already planned to spend the day in Odaiba.

Rainbow Bridge in the morning

Street musicians performing in the cold

Liberty Statue in Japan?!

Somehow I kinda appreciate futuristic/modern architectural design. Not like I know the construction metrics or what, but I’m just quite easily impressed by the overall structure…especially when it’s huge…and unusual….like this:

Fuji TV Station

We just chill at the seaside park since the weather was pretty mild that morning, maybe cos of the morning sunlight.

When it’s lunch time, we went to this Ramen Restaurant inside Aquacity, since we haven’t had any ramen this trip.

I’ve read about it in my Tokyo Guidebook. Its description sounded quite impressive, what 6 most famous chef under one roof bla bla bla.

But in fact, it just wasn’t that good. Very disappointed! Fam (short form for father mother) kept commenting on how they didn’t like it.

There’re 6 different chefs so maybe the other 5 are good.

But anyways what worth mentioning … is the ordering machine. In Japan, usually their ramen or udon restaurants are equipped with it.

Just need to order using the machine. Very efficient, not for first-timer though. We caused a long queue, so paiseh! Cos we can’t read the menu!

By the time we finish lunch and walk around for a bit, it’s already 4pm – sunset …. the thing i dislike about winter, always gets dark so early!

But the sunset view at the Seaside Park overlooking Rainbow Bridge was breathtakingly beautiful!

For this part, no words can describe, so I shall show you photos.

Turn every shot into a masterpiece

Me & my signature retarded smile

Couples at the bay. This photo was taken using wide screen aspect

Then we took the train to Venus Fort…

this mall has got a fake blue sky that looks very real…

Their Christmas decor was superb! Looks very high budget!

Light beams

Blossoms

Barbie Store! Very pink & girly.

Then I spotted some lovely earrings from this store called Rolianne…but quite pricey. Apparently they’re selling it online too.

I bought 2 pairs – one for myself and one for my dear sis…

The selected ones…I grabbed the pictures off their website.

Then we took a walk in History Garage, it’s a car museum that display vintage cars.

Everything there was very retro….

Initial D … vroom!

Toyota Showroom next! It’s so big that you can even test drive inside the showroom.

All the Japanese Toyotas come with a GPS system. Nice!

Pretending it’s mine.

Striking blue Lexus! Stylish!

Palette Town (Venus Fort is part of it) was quite crowded, very happening! Maybe because it’s Christmas Day.

Got some performance going on in the atrium. A man doing some (i feel it’s nothing impressive) stunts.

The Japaneses were so generous, contributing $ to him, giving away 1000 yen like our RM5 here, while the value is actually RM40+

After a lot of walking in Palette Town, we took the train back to Aquacity (where Rainbow Bridge was).

Wonder why’s it called “Rainbow Bridge”? I guess it’s because…

…of its rainbow colour lights at night.

There was some light show going on …

Rainbow Splash

Romantic Purple

Tokyo was so beautiful & all lighted up… because it’s Christmas Day I supposed.

After all the fun, we went back to our hotel and pack our bags…was really sad that we’ll be flying back the next day.

We actually planned to extend our stay because Tokyo was so fun so much to see. But the hotel was fully-booked and we failed to change the date of our return flight.

Oh well, sometimes less is more!

The next morning, we took the Airport Express from Shinjuku to Narita Airport. It’s freaking RM200+ per person.

There weren’t any cheaper alternatives, express coach is also more or less the same price. But we do not want to take risk in beating the morning traffic.

The train was quite comfy though … I slept a bit. >.<

Narita Airport

We had McD breakfast… it’s more or less the same as M’sian version.

Spacious Airport

Traveller

Then we begun the 6-hours journey back home, with JAL.

I love plane-rides! But it’s very important for me to have:

1. Ample leg space
2. Adjustable Seats
3. In-flight Entertainment
4. In-flight food
5. The list goes on

The food wasn’t very good!

But the Japanese chilled beer & in-flight entertainment were very good!

… So long, Japan!

It was really a nice & memorable trip… I enjoyed the winter very much. Really hope to revisit the city in future …

This marks -The End- of Japan Travelogue.

Dear diary,

Wow  homogod, can’t believe I slept on 10pm last night and is up on 6am now. 2 more hours to my regular waking up time – 8am.

Anyways, recently I’ve downloaded an app called RainAlert. It’s free.

I wanna see if it really works?!

… iphone friendly!

Welcome to browsing on the go.

Dear diary,

One morning, I was walking on the streets of Shinjuku. I remember it was a weekday morning.

The rush in the city was intense. People dressed in their work clothes, hastily walking to the subway stations.

At random, this caught my eye, chili padi for sale at a flower stall.

I stopped and snapped a photo, something to add on to my travelogue.

Right next to the red chilis, there’s another bucket of cabbage for sale.

Japanese are creative, aren’t they?

Dear diary,

Tonight I hope I have a dream like Alice’s. I wanna go to wonderland, to try on wacky Hatter’s cocktail hats. Skip the adventure part, and maybe no Jabberwocky please, I would like to attend the mad tea party.

Alice in Wonderland

Hackneyed twist of fairytale. Adore the mise-en-scène though, particularly the costume make-up bit, feels like a corroboree in gonzo wonderland. Kudos Tim Burton!

Dear diary,

Today, I watched a beautiful Japanese animation titled 秒速5センチメートル (5 Centimeters per Second/秒速五厘米)

It’s a short love story, made up of 3 parts.

I personally love the first part the most! I think the simple & earnest love between the 2 young kids forwarded a very touching tale.

Generally, I admire the way they depict Tokyo city & Japan suburban in drawing, every detail very well taken care of. Coupled with the lovely piano background music, it’s an experience itself to watch it…

Very inspiring, especially for a Monday night.

Dear diary,

Lately I’ve been pretty busy with work, in prep for the upcoming Chap Goh Meh event in Pavilion Shopping Mall.

Looking out of my window right now, the moon could be clearly seen tonight. Very bright, minimal clouds, but not full moon yet.

On Chap Goh Meh itself, it’ll be full moon and hopefully the sky that night will be as clear as tonight.

Anyway to tell you a little something about the event, it’s inspired by the idea that traditionally, single ladies would toss mandarin oranges into the sea, wishing to get a good husband. Of course there’re many different versions of this, nah, full story read it here.

And so we thought, why not do it in the city instead? Since there’re so many Cherry Blossom Trees at the sidewalk of Pavilion, maybe we can toss the handwritten messages onto the beautiful pink trees… wishing for love, good luck, longer legs, taller nose, bigger b..okays this’s getting ridiculous … so that’s how this visualization gonna turn real this Sunday!

oh that’s not my love message. I’m gonna do mine this Sunday. It belongs to this beautiful young lady named Jayz:

If you’re wondering, her ceongsam is sponsored by Salabianca.

While this love message in French belongs to Jade from Geneva.

We work under one roof.

Of course besides the mass toss, I’m pretty excited about the Kun Seng Keng lion dance, apparently they’re the world championship! btw, this’ll only be my 2nd lion dance this CNY, and of course it’ll be the last one…boo, CNY’s gonna be over soon

Anyways, if you happen to/you could intentionally pop-by Pavilion that evening, to join the mass toss, got free goodies & shopping vouchers to win.

The trees won’t be there forever … Sunday will be the last day to pose with them.

Okays see ya then!

Gonna get some sleep now. *yawns*

Dear diary,

On Christmas eve, which is also the fifth day of Tokyo, we joined the Viator tour (JTB Sunrise Tours) to Hakone & Mt. Fuji.

Of course all this were planned before the trip, I booked the tour through this site. There’re lots of good reviews for the Mt. Fuji tour, and so we decided to give it a try, since I really wanted to see the winter Mt. Fuji.

It’s not cheap though, RM 600+ per pax – day trip to Hakone, Mt. Fuji & Lake Ashi; transportation back to Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train) was included.

No regrets though, it was really a good trip! The tour guide speaks good English and is very knowledgeable. Later I found out the tour guide is 77 years old but look nothing like his age. I thought he’s 50 years old. And unlike the typical tour, this one won’t just bring you to places that make you buy stuff…they tell you a lot of stories about Japan.

We woke up 5am to get ready, as we have to be at the pick-up point by 7am. After all the hassle, finally get on the coach that will bring us to Mt. Fuji.

While heading out of the city, caught a view of the suburban, industrial and rural sight of Tokyo. It was an experience itself to see the not so touristy side of Tokyo, but still very nicely organized and not to say very under-developed.

#1 Construction

#2 Caught a glimpse of Tokyo Tower

Fortunately the weather was good that day! And as we’re nearer, the sight of Mt Fuji became clearer.

#3 This was taken while on the coach.

We were fortunate to be able to go up until the Fifth Station. Usually during winter, the area will be covered with snow and if the snow is too thick, the station will be closed.

#4 At the Fifth Station

On the way up, the scenery is just beyond my expectation.

For a while, you’ll see the summit of Mt. Fuji; the next minute, you might be entertained by white beautiful woods like this:

#5 The snow on the ground is just amazing!

Looks very surreal and because you’re so immersed in the beautiful scenery, you wouldn’t sense the sharp turns up/down the winding mountain roads at all.

#6 Fluffy cotton clouds

I imagined that it would be cloudy, damp and dark. But no, nothing like what I’ve imagined…

#7 A view of the other snow mountains too…

The tour guide told us that we were really lucky as it’s one of the 100 days (throughout the year) that the summit of Mt Fuji could be seen so clearly.

The scenery at the Fifth Station was really beautiful! Or even before Fifth station; on the fourth & third stations, the scenery has already taken my breath away.

#8 The Mt. Fuji’s Story

First thing first when we arrived at the 5th station, we were told to go into the shop to collect a lucky bell.

In the shops, there’s a post office counter where you can write a postcard and post it back home. I didn’t do so bcos I didn’t have enough time. *regrets*

#9 And then we took a stroll at the Fifth Station. There’re some shops and a shrine. Most shops are closed because it’s winter.

#10 Winter Wonderland

The tour guide told us to go to the shrine if we want to get the best view of Mt. Fuji. Turns out that it was true, the view of Mt. Fuji from the shrine is astonishing!

#11 The summit.

#12 Against the white backdrop, the bright red shrine is very outstanding.

#13 The combi of blue sky and snowy ground made up a perfect view for the eyes…… and the lens.

So me and my dad started to snap pictures of each other, a lot of them!

He kept saying, since we paid so much money for this, faster take a lot of photos!

#14 The natural lighting that day is very good for portrait shots.

#15 My dad was like, “do more patterns for me to take.”  So I looked away …. =.=’

And oh btw, it’s my first time seeing real snow! Was very excited about it.

If I’m allowed to, I would love to have longer time here than the 45 minutes given.

Oh well, sometimes, less is more.

I didn’t bring my shades as I thought it’s winter so my shades won’t be useful. But I’m wrong as the sun that day was quite glaring!

So if you’re planning to goto Mt. Fuji, bring your shades.

After Mt. Fuji, it’s lunch time. When booking the package, you can select whether you want the Jap lunch or not, but of course that option would cost you more.

We didn’t opt for the lunch. By ourselves, we dined in this Japanese Italian Restaurant called Angelo Mio.

#16 You know I don’t really like Pasta. But this is super yummy! *salivate*

We ordered 2 big plates to share. I forgot the name. But anyway it’s Seafood something and  Salmon Mentai something.

#17

#18 Yum! This’s really really good!

Then we started our journey to the next destination - Lake Ashi, the lake that was formed in the caldera of Mount Hakone after the volcano’s last eruption 3000 years ago.

In the coach, the tour guide taught us how to make paper volcano using origami paper…

#19 With thoughtful agenda like this, the journey didn’t seem long at all…

Outside the bus window, there’s beautiful scenery of Japanese countryside as well…

#20 Paddy fields..

We also saw this….

#21 This is the famous Fuji Q Highland Theme Park!

#22 Look at this… the very scary Fujiyama Coaster. It’s one of the tallest and longest coasters in the world. I can feel my bones breaking when imagining myself on the ride.

Then we arrived at Lake Ashi…

#23 NICE!

#24 Why I look so tired… hehe.

#25 Fed some Japanese carps by the lakeside. The water is so clear! Just wondering, aren’t the fishes cold during winter?

And then we hop onto the cruise ship!

#26 It’s very very windy! *shivers*

#27 But I just want to take a lot of photos – capturing the momment! Cos it was so damm beautiful!

#28 On the top deck.

#29 Looking chubby with so many layers of clothes on me.

#30 The air was very fresh! Actually my nose is kinda blocked already by then, because the wind was so strong.

#31 Random

#32 Passed by somebody’s lakeside mansion

#33 Then I went from the deck to inside the ship, and drank Kirin beer. During cold weather like this, it feels nice when you drink beer. It helps to keep you warm.

#34 Mom just shaking her head and said “Aiyo, you this alcoholic!” I said “Like father like daughther!”

Then 3 of us burst into laughter.

After the lake cruise …. we went on a cable car ride.

#35 Komagatake Ropeway

#36 At the entrance…

#37 On our way up…

The view up there is …………like a wall painting!

#38 There’s a little shrine on top of the hill…

At first it was covered by fog:

#39 But the next minute the shrine could be seen so clearly.

#40 It’s like magic!

#41 Despite the temperamental weather, the view is just amazing!

#42 The sun…so well-defined.

#43 All I see is…fog.

After we get off the cable-car, there’re some shops around, hence, we shopped a bit.

#44 Hello Kitty vending machine

Later that evening, we left Hakone by Shinkansen…

#45

#46 We got up at 小田原 station….what a cute name!

#47 Waiting for the train… cold!

#48 …they look like they’re shivering. hehe.

Inside the train….

#49 Finally a pic of me and daddy! Mom’s DSLR skills put into test. Not bad not bad! The seats are quite cosy.

#50 You may buy food inside the train, just like Air Asia!

#51 Only 30 minutes and we’re in Tokyo city already…

#52 It’s all dark already, but the city-lights are so vibrant, tempting me to take pictures again!

At the train station, there’s this after-work crowd queuing up to buy Christmas cakes since it’s Christmas eve.

#53 The bakery’s signage is very lovely!

#54 In Japan, Christmas is commercialized by the bakeries.
But I could not deny the fact that…the cakes look really beautiful and yummy!

I queued up too, but not to buy Christmas cakes, I bought…

#55 Macaroons! It’s 1000 yen for a box of 5 (approx. RM40). Very exp! But I just wanna try it, at least once.

#56 Sinful Sweetness! It tasted good!

Then we went to the Government Metropolitan Building’s Observatory in Shinjuku… to see the city’s night view. Free admission anyway.

This… is Tokyo city at night:

#57 After that we went for dinner …. walked around Shinjuku area and found this restaurant…Negishi Restaurant.

…which I think it’s the best dinner throughout my trip.

#58 Grilled beef, grilled pork and grilled chicken, oxtail soup, barley rice. The price is quite reasonable too. It’s about RM40-50 (1000 Yen+) for a set.

#59 Hehe, this means something!

They’ve many branches in Japan. If you’re treavelling on your own and happen to be at Shibuya/Shinjuku area, this could be a nice place to dine-in!

That marks the end of my day 5 in Tokyo! Pls stay tuned for my day 6 post- where I explore Odaiba!

Meanwhile, you may read about:
Day 1 – Akihabara, Asakusa & Ueno
Day 2- Tokyo Disneyland
Day 3 – Tokyo Disney Sea
Day 4 – Harajuku-Shibuya

Dear diary,

I watched an award-winning film called “Easy Virtue” over lunch just now.

It’s about a young Englishman that marries a glamorous American… and when he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future – blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window…

Simple story, but conveys a very meaningful point – difference in love.
Certain differences in love can be tolerated, but there are some things (esp those in your roots) that you can’t change or others can’t change; and that’s what leads a relationship to an end.

Nice music too. Quite annoyed with the ancient English accent though. hehe.

Sometimes there’s this weirdness in me that I find overly-commercialized stuff (film especially) unattractive. Or I’m just very selective esp when it requires my time.
Can you believe that I’ve never watched Harry Potter (except for the first sequel) or I can never understand why’s Avatar or Twilight creating such a big hype…
I’ve this rebellious liking in me…the desire for non-mainstream stuff. And I feel, it’s very difficult or nearly impossible to find someone that’s like myself. *lonely*
Nevermind, I’m sure I’ll meet weird people like that one day later.

Dear diary,

This has been my daily water bottle for one month or so. It’s small, light and has got a body-like grip – Jean Paul Gaultier inspired.

Bought it from Kiddyland in Tokyo. The thing about Japan is, they produce a lot of unique (and cute) stuff. They’re so creative and smart!