Central Japan Day 6 & 7 - Tokyo Disney Resort & Home



View the first post in this series here.
View the previous post in this series here.

05 June 2008

Without any onsen for a morning dip, I was able to sleep longer than usual today. After breakfast at the top of Washington Hotel, we will be headed to Tokyo Disney Resort. Having been to the original Disneyland in the US I had some mixed feelings -- was Mickey going to say "Konnichiwa"? Nevertheless, there is a good reason why Disney Resort is one of the most successful theme parks in the world. It was a weekday and the place was teeming with students right after school.

Breakfast, yummy lemon tea


A large hotel right opposite Tokyo Disney Resort


Now at ¥4500 it is really quite cheap. I think it was only about ¥3600 for students.


Happy 25 Years Anniversary!


Right through the first gate is the shopping area. It's morning and the crowd has not arrived


The famous castle that's present in every Disney theme park, unfortunately it was a rather gloomy day


Our first ride of the day, the ``Pirates of the Caribbean", was actually the best ride I have taken. It comes complete with cannons and guns shooting compressed air overhead (yes your hair will fly). Being a boat ride the ``cannonballs" whizz past and create splashes in the water. Great effects.


There, spotted Captain Jack Sparrow!


These themes just remind me of Roller Coaster Tycoon


We'll be taking a ride here later


That's some amazonian atmosphere down there


Ah the shooting gallery, a piece of cake. I had 9/10. Little did I know that I could get a prize with a perfect score. Darn, I knew I should not have risked it with the dashing/hopping mouse.


The first mini-parade of the day. Being Disney Resort's 25th Anniversary, there will be special events all year round and parades every day.


Da Big Thunder Mountain!


It's one of the sleepy looking bears. I'm not sure what they are called though


Lunchtime! Everyone just has to have a smoked turkey leg!


Unfortunately Pool's Honey Hunt was closed. I was looking forward to taking this ride without physical guidance -- the ride uses a Local Positioning System to guide the carriages, unlike using rails as per normal.


``It's a small world after all" ride. ``We MUST take this", says my friend.


It's a boat ride with lots of animated dolls dressed up in costumes from different cultures


The Haunted Mansion, some cool effects such as projected 3D spooks inside


Wow, pram parking, everything here is exceptionally orderly, the cleaners sweep and clean the floors every few minutes


Another high trill ride, the Space Mountain


Technically we'll be boarding this space craft


Everything here is in the shape of King Mickey


The beginning of the main float parade, thankfully the rain stopped


The princes and princesses


Winnie the Pooh and friends


The Lion King


Some elaborate costumes here


Peter Pan and Captain Hook!


Lilo & Stitch



It's amazing how they can dance in these costumes


Pinocchio!


Monster INC


Cranky hairdo


Now this made me realise something, each float was moving by itself! There were no visible drivers and everything seemed to move autonomously.


This costume wins the most bombastic award


To wrap up, the classic Disney characters make an appearance


After the parade we decided to go try out the rally


Here's my ride. It's a real petrol fueled vehicle


Then it was time to nibble on some Mickey nuggets


Catch a tram to Toon Town where all the toons live


Mickey's house, an audience will require almost 2 hours in queue


Minnie's house. See the ears on those students? Everyone has one. I mean everyone of these students in Disneyland has these ears in different shapes and sizes. It is as if they head for the ear shop right after stepping in.


Chip and Dale's tree house


Ho it's one of the pigs


Back to the castle on the reverse side, the castle is in the middle of the entire theme park


Mosaic decorations on the inside of the castle. The castle also houses the most expensive shops, such as those selling crystals.



Back to the shops, everyone here seems crazy about shopping and the shops were packed with people. Look at this biscuit tin, I'll probably keep the biscuits till they rot. Then, it was time to leave.


At dinner, here's some Kobe beef, it's good because the fat is intertwined with the meat. So for the fat lovers it's great.

We had shabu shabu dinner, lots of sliced beef with golden mushrooms and some Kirin beer to wash them down. There is actually no soup base, the pot contains just plain hot water. Some special peanut sauce is provided to dip the meat in. Well the peanut sauce was interesting but I still preferred dipping the meat in soryu. We were then brought to Narita to spend the night before our flight home the next morning. Exhausted from a day of fun, we quickly fell asleep in our comfortable beds.

06 Jun 2008

Morning came soon enough, we had our last breakfast in Japan and sadly departed for the airport.

Now I haven't had pancakes in awhile


Continental Breakfast


Soba


We stayed at the garden hotel


On board our ANA flight, everyone drinks Suntory, it's a good beer


Lunch


Some saffron rice, and yes more champagne


To top it all off they gave us Häagen-Dazs ice-cream. ANA's a winner


Back home reflecting what I bought from the airport. Here's three erm... barrels of sake


And some shiroi koibito biscuits from Hokkiado, melts in your mouth

All in all our trip to Japan together was fantastic. However I will definitely not take a tour if I'm going back again as most tours still cater to the shopping crowd. Being extremely well connected by rail, there's probably no point in taking a tour except for saving the hassle of organization.

Now that took awhile, thanks to my extremely busy schedule I finally completed my Japan trip posts some 3 months after I returned. Having about 9 GBs of photos didn't help one bit. Now I wonder where to next...

Go back to the first post in this series here.

Central Japan Day 5 - Tokyo - Sensō-ji, Shinjuku, Harajuku

View the first post in this series here.
View the previous post in this series here.

04 June 2008

After Odaiba Park, we arrived at another huge shopping centre called Venus Fort. Being rather unenthusiastic about shopping, I wondered about the place and finally settled down on a nice cheese cake shop. The interior of Venus Fort is designed to look like Italian plazas with an artificial sky that transitions from day to night.

This looks like a casino, but they're really playing with tokens since gambling is technically banned. Whether prizes can be exchanged somewhere else for these tokens is something else...


A large fountain


Seems like Mariah Carey performed here yesterday



The best cheesecakes I have ever eaten but the real shocker came next with the cappuccino...


Isn't that a bunny?


There's a male and female bear too. Interestingly, being a couple cafe, 2 drinks and cake costs ¥900 while coming alone will cost you ¥1000 for a cake and a drink.


There was a car showroom as well and they kept their cars on the roof!

Next, we left Venus Fort (thankfully), for Asakusa (浅草), a district in Tokyo that contains the famous Sensō-ji (金龍山浅草寺, Kinryū-zan Sensō-ji) -- the oldest temple in Tokyo founded in 620CE. This temple is dedicated to Kannon, i.e. the Goddess of Mercy. According to our tour guide, the temple became famous after it survived a massive earthquake that rocked Tokyo and was completely unscathed.

The Hōzōmon (宝蔵門, Treasure-House Gate), this is the inner gate of the temple, we reached here first as we entered the temple compound from the side gate


Front view of the Hōzōmon with large chōchin red lantern. Unfortunately some preservation works are going on at the side



A pair of Niō, guardian deities of Buddha flanking the Hōzōmon


Past the Hōzōmon, the main temple building with its huge roof


A large urn for the burning of incense


Inside the main temple building


Back outside, there was a smaller building at the side, here's a little shrine with the same top as the huge pagoda in the background


I wonder if the top is made of gold


These two rows of small stalls lining Nakamise-Dori have been here for more than a hundred years. They lead from the outer gate, Kaminarimon (雷門, "Thunder Gate"), towards the Hōzōmon.


Too much souvenirs to see, too little time, here's a stall that uses automated cup-cake making machines


Panorama of the inner compound, from the Hōzōmon to the main temple building

Sadly, we had too little time here to effectively shop for souvenirs. Rushing back to the tour coach, our next destination is Washington Hotel where we will be staying for the night. From there, our tour guide will lead us on foot to one of the busiest districts in Tokyo, Shinjuku (新宿区).

My first step into Washington Hotel and I was delighted to see something familiar, a German pub.


Shinjuku, it is just off work and really crowded


Electric panels everywhere


Interesting looking building


We went to an shop selling Anime merchandise to get a Gundam figure for a friend. Here's some Macross figures


The cheapest and bestest food in Shinjuku -- ¥500 ramen! Our tour guide brought us here and it tastes fantastic! Just buy a ticket from a machine and seat. Ramen will be served quickly. Thankfully we were spared the hassle since they realised we have no clue how to buy and came to take our orders.


There, the ¥500 ramen shop, Hakata Tenjin. Don't miss it while in Shinjuku! I forgot to take a picture of the main road but it is right opposite the notorious Kabukichō (歌舞伎町) red light district


We decided to be adventurous and take the metro to Harajuku


The people of Tokyo do queue in two orderly straight lines while waiting for the train


Takeshita Street opposite Harajuku station, unfortunately, it was a quarter past eight but most shops were already closed


Funky graffiti


Oooo crepes


It costs ¥400 to ¥500 for one but we just had to try


We decided to turn back and not walk into Harajuku Street since everything is closed


Catching the metro and back in Shinjuku here's an interestingly uncreative cafe name we saw


Feeling bored we walked into the notorious Kabukichō red light district


Hmmmm... being with my friend's mum, I decided not to walk into one of these shops to take a look


While not as bright as Shinjuku, it is still rather crowded with some Africans touting single Japanese men aggressively on the streets and the more passive local touts hanging around waiting for people to approach them


That funny sign with number 18 appears on most signboards


Walking back to our hotel, the noodle hawkers have set up shop on the roadside, unfortunately I was too full to try


Back at our hotel

With our legs tired from all the walking of the day, the reality of the first night in three without a hot spring set in. We can't just soak away those aches. Furthermore, most of the places close rather early, even the German pub closed at 11pm. With nothing to do, we slept. Tomorrow will be a full day at Tokyo Disney Resort that is currently having a year long 25th Anniversary celebration.

View the next post in this series here.

Central Japan Day 5 - Odaiba, Tokyo

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View the previous post in this series here.

04 June 2008

The country-side part of our holiday was over as we headed out from Mt. Fuji visitor center towards Odaiba (お台場), a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay. But before that, a pit stop by the road gave us some time to have some ice-cream.

I guess these are sweets in a tin can




Ice-cream with erm... glutinous rice skin




Another piece of green tea ice-cream for the overkill


A glimpse of Tokyo tower. We have arrived


As per morning, the sky is completely overcast with clouds


Heading across the Rainbow Bridge


The waterfront skyline of Tokyo Bay from the bridge on the bus



We have arrived, there are two malls here, the Island mall that is mostly shopping and the Seaside mall that is more for eating and snacks



Our lunch today was be some cheap buffet, a stark contrast to what we have been having the days before


This level is themed with a 70s style kind of look


A horror house with lots of screaming school children inside


The meat in these are so thick, unlike the Southern Chinese styled ones, that they actually look scary...


These are extra big too!


What's with the size of everything here! Whatever happened to small and cute?!


Candy galore!


The Rainbow Bridge, it is illuminated with multiple colours at night


An indoor amusement center by SEGA


Ho, it's here too


The ``Muscle Park" where you engage yourself in sporting related games


Some students trying to roll a ball across a series of obstacles with bubbly commentator included


Some baseball kind of game


Upstairs was a Hong Kong themed level. I was surprised to see a brand from Singapore in a Hong Kong theme, perhaps it is for advertising purposes


Panorama of the Rainbow Bridge

I was getting really bored with this place. Fortunately, it was time to leave. Unfortunately we were headed to yet another shopping centre, Venus Fort, before we will arrive at Sensō-ji, a famous Buddhist temple in Asakusa.

View the next related post here.

Central Japan Day 4 & 5 - Lake Kawaguchi

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View the previous post in this series here.

03 June 2008

By evening, after visiting the wasabi farm, we arrived at Lake Kawaguchi (Kawaguchi-ko), where enjoyed the coldest temperature for our trip at about 11 degree Celcius. The sky was completely overcast with thick clouds, dashing all hopes of seeing Mt. Fuji from the lake. Nevertheless we decided to take a walk around part of the lake after dinner.

View Larger Map
Map of our hotel at Kawaguchi-ko


The rooms were so small even Tokyo has larger rooms


Panoramic view from bedroom window


The hotel we stayed at, complete with indoor and semi-outdoor onsen


Down by the lake


Dinner time! Yet another huge feast


Night on the lake with a soft reflection of lights on clouds


I thought ``ko" already meant lake, so now this is ``Lake Kawaguchi Lake"


Our destination, Lawson, for some sake and beer, brrrr it's cold


They have a good variety, but surprisingly, Takayama had a bigger variety


Kirin Stout -- excellent, I feel it tastes slightly better than Yebisu Dark


Yebisu the Hop, another good beer, more hops added to give the sweet smelling fragrance


Now we know that Yakult indeed exists in Japan


A cheap bottle of sake, hopefully this will keep us warm on our way back


Passing a tunnel in somewhere round the lake


Back in the hotel room, we discovered there's a leg warmer under the table!

After the refreshing walk in the cold, we went to immerse ourselves in the onsen. This will be the last onsen hotel for our trip and we planned to go the next morning as well. Getting a carried away, before long we realized we have been immersed for almost 40 minutes. So we hurriedly got out and had some spring water from Mt. Fuji provided by the hotel before retiring to bed.



04 Jun 2008

Woke up at about 6am to go for another dip in the onsen before breakfast. Then I decided to go take some last morning pictures before we embarked to the Mt. Fuji visitor centre.

Another huge spread for Japanese styled breakfast


These firepots are used for everything


Little stuff to have with porridge


The hotel in the morning


The bridge in a distance that divides Kawaguchi-ko, again the sky is completely overcast with thick clouds


That's where we went the night before


Arrival at Mt. Fuji visitor centre


Ta-da! Mt. Fuji! What? You can't see it? Surely you jest, it's right there!


Sadly we departed for Tokyo. Apparently one has to climb Mt. Fuji before they are recognised as ``adults" in Japanese society. So lots of people head down this road to the 5th station where they begin their ascend every year during climbing season.



Roller coasters of Fuji-Q Highland Theme park, it is said they have the biggest and the most thrilling ones.

Somewhat slightly disappointed that the shy Mt. Fuji did a no show, we were headed for the last section of our trip and had no more onsen to relax our legs. First to some shopping in Tokyo, next to Sensō-ji in Asakusa, an ancient temple dedicated to Kannon, and finally more shopping for the rest of the day at Shinjuku.

View the next related post here.

Central Japan Day 4 - Daiō Wasabi Farm



View the first post in this series here.
View the previous post in this series here.

03 June 2008

Travelling along the countryside, we were headed towards the direction of Mt Fuji. But before that we will first visit a local winery and then, a wasabi farm in Nagano.

The countryside with the sky completely overcast with clouds


Seems like rice has changed to some other crop


Reflection of clouds on the water


We made short stop at the local winery, here they're bottling apple juice


Wine sampling, from the left-overs, most of the grape wine is actually quite bad. However their apple and pear wines are nice.

The Daiō Wasabi Farm (大王わさび農場, Daiō Wasabi Nōjō) is established in 1915CE. It is one of the largest wasabi farms in Japan and contains within much scenery, water, and shrines. Also, there's a host of wasabi infused products like wasabi beer, ice-cream, and croquet.

Arriving at the farm


A restaurant


Huge stone wasabi


The farm stretches for 15 hectares, note the stream below


There are a few of these statues. Now where do they fit in for a farm?


An entrance to one of the many shrines here


Giant straw slippers. I think the owners come here to pray for a big harvest.


Our guide says that this smaller shrine behind the previous on is actually the more important one


Further in the farm, there are two shrines in two caves


A small stone piece in one of them, looks like the 7 deities in a boat


The other shrine in the cave looks more solemn


Above the caves is this odd stack of rocks that seems to be also a shrine. Some people where piling up some pebbles on it so I decided to pile a large one on top.


A beautiful pond, the provided cups seem to indicate it's some sort of holy water


Time for some food, now the beer's not cheap


Wasabi Beer! Actually it is just Kirin Beer with wasabi added. I originally thought it was an in house brewed beer


Yummy potato croquet, you can add some wasabi mayonnaise on it


Fresh wasabi for sale. To grate, one has to buy one of those shark skin tablets (in the middle) and rub the root on it in circular fashion


Four roots for about ¥1000, now that's quite pricey

I learnt a few interesting things on this farm visit. First of all, freshly grated wasabi actually does not have a stinging sensation. To increase that effect, sugar is actually added to it. I wanted to get some wasabi for my dad and started looking for wasabi powder. To my horror, the entire farm does not have wasabi powder. ``Oh, we don't use that, over here everyone grates fresh wasabi. The powder is only used for those going on a long trip overseas", explains my guide. Buying four wasabi roots and the shark skin tablet would cost ¥2300. Being unable to keep them fresh, I was better off buying the powder from a department store.
After finishing our food we headed off towards Lake Kawaguchi in vicinity of Mt Fuji where we would be spending the night in our last hotel with onsen.

View the next related post here.