Jovey E. Huang: Tokyo Japan Day1

We board the plane on the Midnight of Friday, transited at Taiwan, and reached Narita Airport on a lovely Saturday morning. Finally we were in Japan, the first steps into our Japan story.

Say hello to the lovely people who were with me in this Japan adventure.
From the left, Bellra, Nazmi, Joanne, BenJ, and that's me on the right.
The one with the pretty manicure is Sindy.

Firstly, we got our suica pass. It is their ezlink equivalent in Singapore. So that we are able to make our way to the hostel. For the one week of vacation, we will be staying in Tokyo. Just Tokyo. So we're skipping other complicated train routes, JR pass and other stuff. Tokyo alone is enough to make me dizzy, and we only have a week, Tokyo Prefecture is way too big. Much less trying to go other places in Japan, I'll leave it for next time.

I have always heard stories from friends who came back from Japan talking about the amazing convenient food, and also read from manga, seen from anime. This is really an eye opener. The degree of awesomeness is way over the top, can't even compare to what we have in Singapore. The choices they give us, made us stuck there for so long. Our first meal is Japan.

The variety is really wide. And they have so many shelves of bento, sandwiches. Makes you want to try everything. Lunch was a hard decision.

Ever so famous and recommended, korokke bread and yakisoba bread.

We ate in the station while waiting for the train. Because we were hungry, and we have heard they in Japan, you can eat on trains. So why not. I was a little scared at first, but my stomach got the better of me.

Their trains are quite complicated. Some platforms have trains going to different places and really confused the hell out of me. Good thing is, the trains are very on time, on time to the minute. So as long as we stick to the clock, I guess we'll be on the right track.

On our way to the hostel.

Japan looking clean everywhere.

Wanted to try this, looks so interesting.

These are pufferfish. For sashimi.

And we found it, with a trusty map and our not bad navigation. Asakusa Ryokan Toukaisou.
We really have to thanked the staff there. They have been a great help. They staffs speak English which is a big relief and one of my friend was sick, and they had helped us locate a clinic nearby.

The common room, so peaceful here.

We still had half a day after settling down, so we decided to go take a walk around the area.

While we were there, it was still the end of Spring. Air is clear and fresh, temperature is slightly cool (but very cold at night), and the flowers are pretty. Just like how manga artist had drawn in their manga.

Looks popular.

Dango and mochi.

This is a store that would appear every corner of this street, they sell snacks made from sweet potato.

And of course, everyone's favorite. Shaved ice.

Walking through the street really fells like walking down something drawn out from the manga.
I'm-living-in-a-manga-right-now feeling. o0

A random building we came across as we were walking down the street. Asakusa is one of the area in Tokyo prefecture that is still deep in their traditional culture, so it isn't a big surprise that an Endo building just popped out in the streets. But even so, it's kind of amazing.

These dogs are just so cute and we have seen many more people walking their dogs. It's really common for them and everyone is so friendly.

This is the street from Kaminarimon (thunder gate) towards the Sensoji Temple.

Filled with tons of goodies, food and souvenir stores.

I have no idea what are these, but the crowd is huge and the stuff looks amazing. =]

Teru Teru Bouzu. They are the weather dolls charm (that is supposed to be a monk figure) which kids will make to wish for a sunny day.

We are finally here at Sensoji Temple.

We can see the Tokyo sky tree from a distance here. Looks near, but I (and my seniors) really recommend you to not try to walk there. They tried, and they suggest you to keep your energy to walk when you reached there instead. It is not as close as it looks like. And by the time you reach there, you be so tired that you won't want to walk around the malls anymore. Plus, their malls are quite big as well.

The iconic giant lantern at the doorstep of the temple.

This is O-mikuji , for telling your fortunes.
First, you should give some offerings.

Then, take the container of lots and shake it until one of the lot drops out, remember to put the lot back in so that other people may use it too.

Find the number that corresponds to your lot, and see what it says about your fortune.

If it's good, then good for you. If not, then you are supposed to tie it on the bars so that the priest may be able to pray for you (or something like that), my mum says you have to tie it loosely so that your prediction and bad luck may fall off easily.

The locals there were gathering around this huge incense burner and using their hands to bring the smoke to and around them. I can't imagine why would they want to smell smoky (it sticks to your clothes and your hair, well... I wouldn't mind if it was the smoke from delicious BBQ) but being raised from a Chinese superstitious family is telling me it signifies protection.

Before you pray, you are supposed to purify yourself. Through washing you hands and mouth at the water basin. Most temple will have them and this one looks freaking cool.

Burning stuff. Why????

The shorter building below is the souvenirs and charms store. Their business timing is on the dot, just like how their trains operate on the dot. We were there looking at the merchandise and exactly when the clock strikes 5pm, they pulled down the shutters. I'm really impressed by their sense of timing.

This below, is their offering box. The people will thrown in some coins through the bars and make a prayer.

Lots of different kind of Charms. They have some for health, for doing well in exams, for safety in journey, for luck and wealth, marriage, safe delivery of a baby. All sorts. That's very thoughtful of them.

On our way back through the streets, we walked on the back streets to avoid the crowd, which turned out to be a lovely surprise. I can't really put a finger to what's so surprising until later when I realized that even the backstreets are clean and pretty. The deep red paint against the clear blue sky. No stray rubbish anywhere.

Many for the restaurants had the glass display with plastic food. Looks really appetizing even though it's fake. It's like cheating on you.

Japanese MacDonald

Takoyaki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Delicious!! They are sightly bigger than what we normally have in Singapore, and they have a very yummy crispy and chewy skin. With all the toppings....................

This is with the Egg Mayo.

With Mentaiko flavour.

Out of the world and cannot be compared. They are the first few things I missed about Japan when I came back.

Later, we went to the tourist information center. The building opposite the Kaminarimon street on the left side.

And in the lobby, there's a fantastic 3D model of the area. We have got some maps in English from them too.
Also, they have a open to public rooftop area which is pretty cool too.

I was doing some homework before we reached Japan, and this was one of the cafes I found in that area.
Wanted to try them but didn't have the time too, but my friend did went there. Excellence place if you've got a super sweet tooth. But don't go there with an empty stomach, it'll make you sick. (from experience)

Random stuff on the streets.

For dinner, we went to Matsuya. They are very similar to Yoshinoya in Japan, serving rice bowls with the fast food concept.

Weird that I was eating kimchi in Japan, but it was good. Love their eggs.

After that, we went to Rox basement supermarket to stock on our water supply.
Random shellfish that I thought was interesting. How do you eat those?

Japan makes me fat.

Their bread section. They all look delicious.

It was night time, and how is it that they still looked so fresh?

Beautiful apple pie. I want to eat everything I see!

Bedtime is closing in, Bellra and I still wanted to walk around some more while the others were resting.
We came across a drunk man laying on the streets in his suit. I was kind of in shocked and traumatized, but the manga I read assured me that it is normal.