Winter 2011.
JAPAN. The place I’ve always dreamt of going. And yes I finally made it there last winter. The birth place of Doraemon, a hundred years from now (Doraemon is a robot meow from the future, remember?), Ultraman and Gundam! A place so amazing that every where you turn there’s something to take a picture of! Last winter I spent 13 days in Tokyo, catching up with my close friend Junko Yamamoto and did a few photography assignments while I was there. This is day 1 of my journey in sushi land. =o)
I arrived in Tokyo at about 930pm. I immediately picked up my pre-booked Japan rental SIM card at Softbank kiosk at Narita Airport. I love how efficient everything is there. You can make booking for rental SIM card and they can either send it to your hotel before you even arrive or you can pick it up yourself. It’s so much cheaper than paying for international roaming as Malaysian telco ISP does not have any special rate for roaming in Japan. The rates can kill you. So the best option is to rent a SIM card. I paid JPY 105 per day for my none-data SIM. SMS within the same network is free. Wanna know more? Check it out yourself at Softbank Global Rental. Softbank offers the best deal among the rest.
The first thing I did when I woke up was to hunt for food. Ya, brunch! And I found this nice cosy little place in Hiroo where I lived for 2 weeks. I love the food here so much that I kept coming back. The main problem is everything in the menu is in Japanese!
I love the way they kept their wine and whisky in the restaurant. Space is a major issue there so they make use of every little space they have.
My brunch. If I recall correctly this set cost JPY 850. Erm… I don’t know what it’s called. I just point my finger at which ever dish looks good. That’s how I ordered my food. Hehe.
GABAN spice? Those of you from my generation would know who Gaban is. Hehehe.
The owner of the restaurant who’s also the chef.
Late morning’s winter sun streaming in through the glass door.
Look at the size of the bowls. Everything is huge and filling so you won’t complain at the price you are paying. Come to think of it, I don’t even know what this restaurant is called because the sign is in Japanese. I don’t even know the name of the street!
But here’s the GPS coordinates : 35.650100, 139.720157
Ginkgo tree where the ginkgo nuts comes from. Look at how bright and vibrant the yellow is.
Guess what shop this is? It’s a motorcycle repair shop.
Grade school kids waiting for bus after school.
My hotel is located at a place where there are a few grade and high schools, university, hospital, French embassy, and best of all, one of the most prestigious all-female university in Tokyo, University of the Sacred Heart.
Check out how small the restaurant is.
In the subway during off peak hours.
Shibuya!!
High school chicks shopping after school in Shibuya shopping district.
Scooters and bicycles are a very essential means of transportation in a city like Tokyo.
Man I love the fashion!!
Love the fashion here.
Even the doggies are fashionable.
There are more good looking chicks than good looking guys on the street of Tokyo, to be honest.
Must be my lucky day. A whole bunch of college chicks waiting for bus after some event.
❤ the hair color!
Outside NHK Shibuya office.
❤
Doggie paw prints on the floor in the train station.
While walking around Shibuya I heard singing so I followed the singing. There was a bunch of Christian youth doing street performance on the street of Shibuya.
Such a cool mall.
I met up with my new FB friend Hinako and Natsumi in Shibuya after their class in the evening for dinner.
I was so blur that I forgot its winter and I ordered ice blended chocolate from Starbucks! Oops! My fingers were freezing while drinking it. Heheh
They brought me to a standing sushi bar in Shibuya.
Yummie!
They all look so fresh.
Sushi uncle making sushi.
The sushi bar.
Standing sushi bar in Shibuya.
Natsumi and Hinako brought me to a purikura shop nearby. Purikura is a photo booth vending machine popular in Japan. This place has the latest purikura (of course it’s the latest, this is Japan!). Check out the purikura above. So cool.
After you snap the pix, you can write something on the pix before it’s being printed.
And… here they are.
Natsumi and Hinako.
Crossing the famous all direction pedestrian crossing in Shibuya.
Walking back to Shibuya station after dinner. Well, that was it for day 1.