flying/falling: July 2013

Hello! I'm back (earlier than expected right?) for Day 2. I'll post all the addresses, links and other useful information at the end of the post so as not to break the flow.

We woke up at the crack of dawn to move into central Tokyo. Unfortunately, our bus and a whole bunch of other people were also trying to get into Tokyo in the morning so we were stuck in traffic for a while. However, on our way in, we drove on the Rainbow Bridge

This bridge is the Rainbow Bridge

and we even saw the Fuji Building

The building with the round ball is the Fuji TV building

and the Tokyo Tower!

Yep. The tall thing is Tokyo Tower

Apparently, we also saw the Sky Tree but like I said, we woke up at the crack of dawn. I was asleep in the bus when that happened.

They dropped us at the National Youth Olympic Memorial Buiding for a talk by the ASEAN-Japan Center and how our ties especially in terms of AEC works.

We had some time to kill before that so luckily, I bought a pre-lunch snack in the form of a mentaiko onigiri.

It was really really really delicious.

And my drink of choice: Green Tea Latte (better than Starbucks and at a fraction of the price)

It came with the option for hot or cold

which I got from the infamous Japanese vending machines.

Universal vending machine rules: If the bar is red, your drink will be hot. Blue? Cold.

The talk was interesting. We learnt more about the economic ties between ASEAN and Japan and what the ASEAN-Japan Center does in Tokyo. They did open the floor to the participants so we got to grill the panelists (in English of course)

After that, they drove us back to Odaiba for lunch at The Oven in Aqua City Odaiba. To be honest, I wouldn't pick that restaurant because I didn't want to eat American food in Japan. But I satisfied my taco craving. I've not had taco in YEARS. (Hey Taco Bell! Can you please open an outlet in Singapore? I really love burritos too :3) Other than the food type, it was delicious and it was buffet style so...EAT EVERYTHING.

The Aqua City Odaiba sign and The Oven (thanks to Lara for those pictures)

The view from the restaurant was pretty good as well!

The Rainbow Bridge again

Hello replica of Statue of Liberty

(You can see these views from the restaurant terrace so if you want delicious fried chicken and great buffet while enjoying the view, go visit the Oven!)

We could shop around after lunch so I went exploring around Aqua City. I'm not a big shopper so I didn't buy anything. The mall had pretty much everything. They had a Disney store (CUTE!) and even a Capcom store (bought some Biohazard stuff for my sister). I spent the most time in the AEON Pet Store. The pet stores in Japan are beyond adorable. They have glass displays for you to look at the puppies/kittens and their "areas" were all extremely clean. How do I know? The floor was white. And none of that newspaper on the floor thing either. They had pee-pads and were all well-groomed and seemed bright and alert.

Hilarious shirts that I didn't buy

After our shopping excursion in which some of my group mates bought half of Daiso (much better variety but hey, who needs household goods?), they moved us to our hotel at Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo. This was the best hotel that I've stayed in in my trip but...there's no wifi at all. I was rooming with Lara and Minsei (both from the Philippines) and they were really great roomies!

We could make our way to dinner (in the next building) any time we wanted but I decided that I had enough of Western food and I wanted a head start to see Tokyo again. So, the Singaporeans from the two groups heading to Nara headed out to explore Tokyo. Kai and Jason wanted to do their own otaku stuff (hahaha) so Sherrie, Evi, Nic(holas - not to be confused with my best friend Nicole) and I headed to central Tokyo. Our original plan was to hit Shibuya then travel upwards to Harajuku and then Shinjuku. However, by the time we reached Shibuya, we realised that we might not have enough time to cover everything so we decided to just focus on Shibuya.

Our first task was to find a place to eat dinner. This is after we left Shibuya Station via the Hachiko exit. Upon your exit, you will immediately see the famous Shibuya crossing. Please note that if you're going to meet somebody at Shibuya, please research which exit you're meeting at and specifically state which one. There are MANY exits and all of them as crowded as each other.

This is the view you get when you leave Shibuya by the Hachiko exit. (There's a dog statue there so you can check if you're at the right one) If you want to hit the famous shopping area, follow the signs and get out at the Hachiko exit.

When I turned behind, i saw this... T_T

SUMMER SONIC T_T

After wandering around, we found a standing sushi bar that was covered in Time Out! Japan.

Thanks to Nic for those pictures!

From my experience, food covered by Time Out is generally good. This sushi restaurant has exclusive bidding rights at the famous Tsukiji Fish Market so you know you're getting your money's worth. The best thing about this? There's an English menu! I'm able to order in Japanese but unfortunately, no amount of classes can teach you about what the fishes are called in Japanese. However, the English menu had MUCH less variety than what was offered in the shop. This is to be expected since the catch of the day varies with what the restaurant can get from the market in the morning. The sushi chef kindly offered us the items that weren't in the menu and told us the price as well.

(Thanks Nic! - although I swear if that's some form of abalone that I didn't eat I'll be really upset with myself right now)

If you can't speak Japanese, no worries. You can always look at the chiller and see the fish that they have and just point at it.

We ordered

Egg (Tamago) & Cuttlefish (Ika)

Salmon (Thanks Nic)

I think this is Chutoro. It's a sashim from a tuna's belly. OH MY GOD. T_T It was so good

Tuna and Aji (Horse Mackerel)

Uni (Sea Urchin) - oh my god. This sushi was so good I teared up after eating it. I was just so happy to be able to eat it T_T

Scallop!! OH MY.

Sherri & I. We were ridiculously happy.

Our super satisfied smiles. We'll definitely come back again!

Nic and Evi tried a few more but these were all I ate so that's all the pictures I have.

Our bill per person only came up to about ¥ 1 000 per person. That's...really cheap for such good quality sushi.

We headed to Shibuya 109 to shop after.

We had to split up since Shibuya 109 was an entire mall for women while the men's Shibuya 109 is on the opposite side of the road. If you don't see the word "MEN" in giant red glowing letters, the 109 is for women. It was quite daunting to try to cover 8 floors but we discovered that the space for each floor was really small! The mall was tall but small. After peeking into a few shops, we learnt to walk out once the items weren't on sales racks...because they were REALLY expensive. For me anyway. I don't want to spend so much of my money on clothes. I saw a ¥10,000 t-shirt. A T-SHIRT. Er...nope. Plus, there were quite a few shops that sold flowery/lacey stuff so...nope.

Since we were up at the crack of dawn, we were really tired and decided to indulge in our favourite past time: supper. On our wandering around Shibuya, we passed by this cheese tart store called Pablo.

(Thanks Nic!)

If you're in Shibuya, you can't miss Pablo. Mostly because there's always a long queue. Before heading back to our hotel, we decided to pick up a tart. The tarts come in three different types of how baked you want it to be : raw, medium and well-done. Raw means that the tart will be like a molten chocolate cake. Seeing how we had no knives or spoons of any kind, we opted for medium to make it easier for us to enjoy. There's also a premium cheese tart but it was sold out by the time we got there (7+pm) and it's really really popular so go there early if you want to try it!

We queued and queued and when we finally got there, two things happened.

1) The lady in front of me left but she barely got ten steps away from the store when the tart box she had fell to the floor aka destroying the cake. The staff immediately got a replacement for her and gave it to her. Just like that. I was really impressed.

2) I got an extra tart for free. I'm not sure why. Mostly because my Japanese isn't that great and I was really tired. I was so afraid he got my order wrong that I kept telling him that I only needed one tart but the staff put two in the bag. Obviously, I was told something but I couldn't understand it. To be careful, I backed away slowly from the store in case they called me back because I only paid for one. So yes, I got 2 tarts for the price of 1.

Before heading back, we also picked up some takoyaki from a nearby store. This is terrible, but I've forgotten the store name T_T

On the way back, I picked up…YEP. GREEN TEA LATTE

And we had supper in our hotel room.

(Thanks Nic!)

We had a pretty big dinner and the cheese tarts are big. By the time I finished the first one, Sherri and Evi abandoned Nic and I to finish the second.

You are my everest.

I wasn't doing so good but I fully understood Chandler and Rachel in this moment.

If I didn't finish it, I knew I'll regret it. Of course I finished it.

By the time we actually headed back to our own rooms, it was past midnight and we had to be up at the crack of dawn again (No, really) to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto and from there, a bus to Nara.

I was staying at Hotel Metropolital Edmont Tokyo. In terms of location, it was great. It's in Iidabashi so the JR station was a 5 minute walk away, but it wasn't stuck in the middle of a busy street so you were affected by the traffic. I had no worries about walking back to the hotel at 11+pm even though it was quiet. I didn't feel unsafe at all. In terms of location to central Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya etc.) I got there via the subway in less than 45 minutes. I can't remember the exact time but we were held up buying tickets and trying to read the kanji. If you're really worried about not being able to read the map, I highly suggest you look up all the places you want to visit in Tokyo, write down the Kanji or take a picture of it and match it with the board. Even if you already know Japanese because I was struggling with the kanji.

In terms of rooms, I shared a triple room with Minsei and Lara. The room wasn't THAT crammed and it was the best accommodation we had the entire trip. It was clean and modern. They had all the necessary toiletries, plus a TV. The only downside was that there was NO wifi in the room. Or in the lobby. They had a LAN cable if you had a laptop but we couldn't manage to use it for Wifi. All in all, it was a good stay and I'll definitely return there if I have a chance.

Aqua City Odaiba

website

Address: 1-7-1 Daiba, Minato-Ku, Tokyo

The Oven

(Same address 6F)

Tel: 03-3529-2093

Uogashi Nihonichi Standing Sushi Bar

Address: 2-9-1 Dogen, Shibuya, Tokyo

Tel: 03 5428 4851

Opening Hours: 11.30am - 11.30pm

TimeOut Article

Pablo