Tokyo: Blooming Sakura's - Finale

The trip to Tokyo was not meant to be forever. This post will be the finale to the quadrilogy of posts on the land of the rising sun. I'd like to keep it simple because the following photos were all taken on a weekday; no scenic views of Tokyo metropolitan, no crowds. Just a simple look of what I experienced on my last day in Yokohama itself.



To kick it off, lets inspect the taxis of Tokyo. This here is one of the more hi-tech taxis, fully equipped with GPS sytems and a kick-ass audio system. Not even our KLIA taxi/limo service provide these.
Heck, *all* their taxis are 'intelligent'. The doors auto-open and auto-close! You shouldn't even try to do it yourself... it's impolite :P Also, just get in and say your destination. Meter runs, driver drives... no questions asked. I love Japan!


After a week of passing this on the way to work, I decided I just HAD to take a shot. Not a common sight in M'sia, but can't say the same there. Sad part is that I doubt it is put to much use. Tokyo roads are generally under-utilized, and private road vehicles are not common. This is partly due to space constraints as well as insane costs for private parking lots. The few parking lots you do see around have interesting collection of cars such as this.


The path we use to work goes through many small alleys accessible by bicycle and foot, and maybe a car. Its a safe path, and refreshing too because its shielded from the noise and pollution of the roads. I was primarily fascinated by the homes along the way; each has a garden and each have their unique combinations of colour. A sight for sore eyes, indeed.


Colours galore. Can't remember where I took this one... hrm.


I have no idea what plant this is, but it was lovely. Wouldn't mind having this adorning my home. I bet my mom would go nuts if she saw this.

The rest of the day was the bye-byes and customary photo sessions in the office. So I'll skip those and move on to the truly exciting highlight of the day.


Dinner!
It was actually quite late by the time we were done with our stuff. We (boss included) initially planned for a quick takeaway... until we came across this hidden jewel of a restaurant just beside the station at our hotel!
This here is a combination of rice, shredded egg omelettes and fish. Fresh to the core!



My favorite for the night; more fish topped with salmon eggs and a combination of black and white sauce. It wasn't mayo... in fact I have no idea what it was, but it was heavenly!


The king set of all fish dishes. Whatever they had available, its on this platter! By the way, the sashimi here (and anywhere in Japan for that matter) is unbeatably fresh. The best I've tried in M'sia is not even close to the authentics here :)




This dish I found rather peculiar considering I've not seen onion rings served in a Japanese restaurant until this. Gotta say these are some of the largest and crispiest rings I've had.


My boss' favorite; I have no idea what they're really called. I call them tiny prawns :P These guys are deep fried to the core, you just chew them whole!


This was a random pick. It is lamb served with an assortment of vegetables. One of the less spectacular dishes, but the lamb was actually rather nice. Just that lamb, as always, gets to be a chore to chew when it gets cold.


Fish! More fish! *slurp*


My second favorite of the night; egg wrapped stuff! What do I mean stuff!? I have no idea... it tasted so good, none of us bothered to check out its contents, haha.

All in all, there were actually 13 dishes we ordered. Yup, 3 people pigged out on a 13-course dinner that costed us a mere RM250! Was money well spent. Sorry I didn't include all the food... some of it didn't turn out well due to the lighting, whilst some were not particularly exciting. However, all in all, I wouldn't mind checking out this same restaurant if I ever get a chance to visit Nakahara again.


All that eating led to a good nights rest... rest much needed because we had to leave at 6am. Flight was at 9, and it takes nearly 2 hours to get to Narita. This here is us waiting for the Narita Express with luggage that obviously doubled since we arrived :P Btw, this morning was a new experience. It was raining, and the trains were delayed by 10minutes due to a breakdown somewhere. Yeah, nobody likes train delays but to actually witness it in Tokyo... now thats an experience. It also demonstrates how fragile the system is; one train can affect the entire system.


The train ride itself is relatively uneventful. Comfy and fast. The view is nothing great because for half the journey, you'll see nothing but the flat roofline of suburban Tokyo. The other half is pretty much flat farmland. The area around Narita airport is largely farmland; there's almost no commercial buildings in sight.


Nothing else to it then. It was a sad journey home... not that it was a bad flight. I just didn't feel like going home just yet. Luckily, mother nature decided to serve me some awesome dose of 'cloudage'. Check out this nuclear cloud! Ok, its got its head chopped... but its still cool!


And then the island in the clouds. If only I could walk on them...


Well, more clouds! Ok, I know its not everyone's cup of tea... but I needed a distraction to my sadness :P Clouds just made my day! I can gaze all day at these... so give me a day flight anytime :)

That's about it. Pretty soon it was touchdown on home soil. Refreshing and glad to be home; but also sad that the trip couldn't have been longer with more private time. All I can do now is to plan forward and save up for my very own personal trip to Japan. Hamada-san highly recommends visiting Kyoto, Hokkaido and Okinawa.

Time to budget!

Tokyo: Blooming Sakura's - Part 3

Sunday promised to be a wonderful day for me in Japan. Two employees of Panasonic in Yokohama have offered to take us sight-seeing around Tokyo. Nothing better than a tour through Tokyo with trustworthy Tokyo citizens.

Our first stop was Asakusa; famous for its shrines and other cultural offerings. The tarin ride itself took us nearly an hour to get to from Nakahara. We also encountered the astounding convenience of the train system here. From Nakahara, none of the ticket machines provide fares for oru actual destination. So how?
Simple; buy whatever ticket that fits the route. When you reach you actual destination, there are special machines before the exits that will calculate the remainder you owe the system. Also, there are mainly 2 types of train systems in Tokoy; conventional and subways. We managed to purchase a full-day fixed-rate ticket! Truly convenient for tourists or people who commute a lot within central Tokyo itself. Don't bother doing the math; take it from me that it is substantially cheaper to use this ;)



This is seriously the first thing that greeted us as we walked out of the station. Apparently, this is a very traditional Japanese wedding. It's an uncommon sight, so you could say it was a bonus view... what a way to start the day! Hehe.



Asakusa is really a 2-in-1 place. This here is one part of it... the bazaar. It's good spot to shop for souvenirs. Do take note that this is a favorite tourist spot; prices here are definitely higher than average.


Then comes the other part. The true essence of Asakusa is this shrine. Thousands of people flock to this famous spot everyday.


What better things to do in a shrine than to pray. Haha, can you imagine that.. ME, praying? :Þ Ujita-san was kind enough to provide a live demonstration on how the Japanese do it, so that this 'historic' moment for me can be captured on photo. Haha... me... praying. The irony.


Just beside the altar, there's gambling! Ok, not gambling but fortune.. er.. chopsticks?
Step 1: Shake the metal box and extract ONE stick through the hole.

Step 2: Take note of the number on the stick. Find the drawer that matches the number for your fortune reading.

Step 3: If fortune is bad, tie the fortune reading to this. This is intended to 'wipe away' bad luck.

Yes, you guessed it... my fortune reading was bad. In fact, Hamada-san said it was among the worst he's read, hahaha! Apparently this year is not good to change jobs, buy anything substantial, get into a relationship, make babies, buy a house, etc. You get the picture.




As we step out of the main shrine building, you can't help but notice the beautiful view outside. First thing to catch your eyes would definitely be this pagoda-like building. I'm guessing it was a smaller shrine of sorts. Aside from this, there's a smaller bazaar in the compound. Most of these here are snacks for munching on the move.


This particular stall had several curious observers (read: tourists) keenly paying attention to it. I don't blame them... here they sell something made out of banana's coated in a selection of pinkish or chocolate cream. Of course, nobody would have thought it as an innocent snack the first time around...


There was not much to see in Asakusa besides the shrine. So we moved on to Tokyo city. As we came out our station, you can't help but notice this awkward symbol almost jumping out at you. I was told it was the logo of a TV/Radio station.

This was really just on the way to our next activity; Sumida Rover Cruise. A famous attraction in Tokyo, the cruise is really a down-river ride on Sumida river for approximately 30minutes. The unique deal about this boat ride is...

...it passes under 12 suspension bridges of varying designs and constructs. No two are alike. Also, the entire journey, yuo'll notice that the banks are properly constructed to provide not just a scenic, green experience, but also a haven for those who enjoy walking or jogging.


And then, there's always the variety of interesting cruise ships. This is by far the most hi-tech looking vessel I saw. Looks almost like something out of a Hollywood science-fiction movie.




I know photos of bridges may seem boring, but they *are* the highlight of the cruise. So here's one...


This shot is not to show off the bridge. It is to highlight the general view of the cityscape. Although a city far more advanced than any in M'sia, Tokyo is not really brimming with skyscrapers. Notice how un-dense it is. Its a geographical thing; earthquakes make it difficult to construct and maintain tall buildings. Recent technology has allowed engineers and architects to work around this problem, so I wouldn't be surprised that the view could change quite a bit over the next decade.


This is another hard-to-miss building. Apparently its a TV station, but I could be wrong. Weird.. but cool!


And this is the humble vessel that I rode on for the Sumida River Cruise.


Our next destination was Tokyo Tower. We needed to catch a taxi to get there, but it was quite a distance to walk to the nearest stop. I couldn't help notice how clean the streets are. Also, the road beside this is actually a 4-lane, 2-way highway. On a weekend, this part of Tokyo goes rather empty... yet people still adhere to the pedestrian traffic lights. I mean, you could dance the whole macarena in the middle of the road here and still not get hit by anything!





And the walking continues. There's an extensive canal system here and Tokyo plays host to one of the largest ports in Japan. Seeing water gates such as this is common, but this particular gate is anything but. Couldn't resist the temptation to take this shot!


Eventually, we arrived at Tokyo Tower. At the base, we are greeted by this memorial of sorts, attributed to the snow dogs that were in the antartic expedition in the 50's.


The tower itself stands several meters taller than the Eiffel Tower, making this the tallest self-supporting steel tower in the world. Fascinating fact: although taller than the Eiffel, Tokyo Tower weighs slightly more than half the Eiffel. The Eiffel Tower is a behemoth at 7000+ tonnes!


The queue to get in to the tower was awfully long so we decided to skip it and head for a snack. But, while the others were busy deciding on that, I was busy looking around when I spotted this cute taxi... of sorts. Boy, I would love to have one of these.







Anyway, hunger struck. Couldn't find anything interesting on our way, so we stopped at McDonalds! This is their Chocolate Pie!!! I want these in M'sia...
Tea break was quite long at McDs. We stuck around for nearly an hour, chit-chatting with the Japanese and exchanging vocabulary. They seemed really interested to hear us talk. And by the number of giggles and laughs they were having throughout the day, I believe they found us rather playful and easily-excited.


On to the next stop: Ginza Street. This is the world for the truly high-class. This street hosts all the fancy boutique, fashion houses, and jewellery shops that the world has to offer. Definitely not my kind of place, haha.

Ginza is closed off to traffic for weekends. The street itself will then be filled with tables and chairs for people to make use of. Awkward, but I guess its normal for them.


Our real destination was to Shibuya; that's where dinner is! But we were still on Ginza when I spotted this classy looking, multi-floor restaurant. I have no idea what kind of restaurant this is, but it sure looked nice.


Another side-track; Nissan showroom. The latest Nissan Skyline was on display that day. Nice! The worst part about this is that this car only costs RM90k+ if I were to base it on the Japanese pricing. I mean, thats CHEAP for a sports car! Good luck buying anything more than a lower-end Honda Jazz back home. So unfair...



We finally reached Shibuya. I dare say I haven't seen so many people in a city area before in my life. When the lights go green, literally thousands of people march across the streets. Very intimidating, this. And they told me that the Shinjuku stop (about 2-3 stations away) is worse. That, it seems, is the worlds busiest station!






I wish I had Morpheus' ability to evade the crowds with style. Bumping into people seems like a normal thing here in Shibuya. Not to mention the extremely stylish and drop-dead-gorgeous women you see all too often. Lets not talk about those :P

This here is actually a cineplex! Talk about standing out.


And again, right at the base is the bee hive. I have no idea where these people come from, but there's human traffic almost non-stop!
Anyway, we weren't far from our dinner destination. After a short walk, we finally arrived...

... to savour authentic sushi! This is by no means a sushi bar... we hand picked each item from the menu. Which also goes to prove that good sushi is really expensive even by Japanese standards. These 11 items cost 2000yen; approximately RM65. Was well worth every cent of it! I finally discovered anago! The salt-water cousin to the fresh-water unagi! Now I just need to find a place in M'sia that serves good anago!!!



Dinner pretty much concluded our Sunday trip. We were tired from all that walking and commuting. It was also a long ride home. I thought it would be good to share this; a notice that indicates women-only carriages. It only applies to specifics times and days. It is their solution to reduce the seemingly rampant cases of sexual harassments on the trains. Seeing how crowded the trains can get, I can understand how that problem can get out of hand (pun intended).
Can't say how far such a system could be implemented and enforced in our country.

Eventually we reached stations that were common to us by now. We almost always have to pass through Musashi-Kosugi to switch trains. And Musashi-Kosugi is also where I get my (almost) daily dose of... jeng je jeng...

TAKOYAKI!

Hahaha, yay! I love Tokyo.

Tokyo: Blooming Sakura's - Part 2

As previously mentioned, the first 5 days was a mundane affair if hotel-work-hotel trips. There were a few nice meals and one particularly good steamboat dinner. Unfortunately, the lighting of the place prevented me from grabbing any decent shots. Suffice to say, shabu shabu was awesome!

The only few bits of shots from the early days are the following. Remember I mentioned we had to walk for 15-20 minutes to the office after getting off at Tsunashima? Well, this is a glimpse of what you'd see were you in my shoes.


At one point in our path, we'll use an alley (of sorts) through the housing area. Here, we come across a small playground adorned with Sakura trees!! These have already somewhat blossomed much sooner, thus showing young green leaves.


This is still by far my favorite shot in Japan. This was an opportune close-up of a bloom in that playground.

This was just a random shot taken from one of the houses just beside the office. I was sure mom would love to see this :)

Fast forward... Saturday! We made a trip down to Motomachi-Chukagai aka China Town. This is a few streets dedicated to standard Chinese food and merchandise.


There's generally a high density of people at China Town. Standard things to obtain here are chinese-style merchandises like clothes and accessories.

This particular shop had an exceptionally long queue. When we first arrived, wecouldn't even get close enough to figure out what the fuss was all about. We gave it another try on our way out. Apparently it specialized in selling small bean dumplings. Take it from me; you can get better ones in Malaysia! I suppose you should leave the Chinese delicacies to the Chinese themselves.

China Town is situated very near to Yamashita Park. This park is a combination park and dock. We are greeted here by a statue amidst a pool of fountains adorned by fresh, beautiful flowers. Don't ask me what the statue signified, nor the name of the flowers =P


Just beside the status is this rather noticeable bell. That plaque has a description about what it signified... but I cannot recollect what it said. Hehe... I'm getting old indeed. *sigh*


The park is situated just beside the docks. It promises a great scenic view of Yokohama. I was rather captivated by this wind turbine. I believe it is Japan's largest wind turbine!


This of course is the walk way along the park. Captured here is one of two ships that were docked that day.

I'm not kidding when I say this; dogs are a rarity in Tokyo. In fact, pets in general are rare. When you do see dogs (Yamashita Park being a good spot for that), you see a variety of pure-breed dogs.


We stuck around the park for a while, taking a break from all the walking thus far. Eventually, we headed into the city itself. It almost felt like a random stroll, but we were actually heading to Minatomirai station. We just followed the directions on the maps strewn all around the city to make our way there. Every once in a while, you'll see architecture such as this; collonial and classic in design. It provides a harsh and refreshing contrast to the generally clean, modern look of the city.


It was getting a bit dark by now. Yes, Japan is approximately one hour behind M'sia, so it starts to get dark by 6 here. This is Cosmo World Amusement Park, a major landmark here in Minatomirai. It houses one of the largest ferris wheels in Japan. Our real destination; is that building behind it. That's where our next station home is :P


...but we couldn't resist. We decided to check the amusement park. There's a whole load of things to do here, but it is also very crowded. The ferris wheel queue spanned a flight of stairs three-storeys long! There was also a roller-coaster ride (with an equally long queue) that goes under the pool shown here. I soooo wanted to take a ride :( Darn the queue...

By the way, an interesting/peculiar observation... the Japanese seriously are overdressed for a place like this. It is all too common to see women in the evening wear and men in stylish formal attire. I know it is cold, but we're here walking around in short-sleeved t-shirts and jeans and we ain't complaining. Oooo, but can't go wrong with the gorgeous ladies around here :P

Well, it was getting late and we sure did not want to risk getting lost on our way home at night. We didn't really have dinner at a restaurant that night. We ordered take-aways. I especially was looking forward to...

TAKOYAKI!!!!!

If you EVER go to Japan, you have to try their takoyaki. Once tasted, there's no going back! If there's any food I particularly miss from Japan... it has to be their takoyaki. They don't make 'em so juicy, large and uber-satisfying in M'sia. Did I mention I had takoyaki for.. er.. supper-snacks 3 days in a row :P The only reason it wasn't all 6 nights was because we don't always pass the stall *sigh*. By the way, do try it from Gindako... its a famous takoyaki chain. Can't say it's the best, but it came recommended by my boss. They even have a selection of toppings for the takoyakis... something almost unheard of here in M'sia.

I also bought sandwiches for breakfast. You can buy really fresh sandwiches in quality packaging in almost any convenience store. And there's one store (if not more) in almost every street! The sandwiches are heavenly... nothing extravagant. Just simple sandwich, but the vegetables, meat, and watever stuff in it... is totally fresh. I could have those for breakfast everyday! (Which is pretty much what I did, actually :P).

So, once we bought all our food (which was a lot, really), we headed back to the hotel. The remainder of the night was just about enjoying our meal and watching TV. TV here is almost fully in Japanese. I caught a brand-spanking new episode of Naruto, though I had no clue what was going on :P They don't have subtitles here, haha. Oh, and for those interested, 'special' broadcasts start after midnight.

Not long after, lights were off and I called it a night. Need all the rest I can get because we're going sight-seeing in the heart of Tokyo city the next day. That is a story for another post...