Nihon e ikimashou! Day 2
Jan. 26th, 2008 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderpigThe next day we arranged to meet Yan Wen at Ueno station because he wanted to travel down to central Tokyo to take a look at the Tokyo International Forum before heading off to Yokohama with us.
The area around Tokyo Station was depressingly stark and bleak. A very different contrast from the busy streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku.
Obligatory photo of myself. :D To prove that I was actually there and not ripping off photos off Corbis. :p
You know how Singaporeans gripe about how the Esplanade looks too futuristic and alien? The Japanese pull this off perfectly. Incorporating the organic concept of whale-bones into this very very modern structure.
(And here goes my very lolishotacon picture of the cutest child alive.
)
There was a whole gang of toddlers running around! It was like lolishota heaven! I suppose that there was a daycare centre near by and that they were going for their morning walk - but woah, such pretty kids.
No jokes about the descending height. :p
We had bought cream puffs (or chou pastry as they're also called?) at Ueno station.
Here I have to add that we were trying our hardest to keep our cream puffs away from Ellyne who was trying to steal ours.
Realizing that it was getting late, we decided to skip the park we wanted to go to and head straight to Yokohama, of which the map is
here!
Our veritable "homebase" of sorts, Yokohama's chuukacho was Chinese in all its gaudy and bad colour combinations gone right splendor.
We had our lunch at this quaint little restaurant which offered set lunches.
Shin-Yokohama reminds me of Kyoto. I don't know why, but it does.
So anyway, here is the raumen museum.
As usual, my bad Japanese comes in handy for finding the way to places. I just can't perform the actual act of finding the place. :x
The decor of the Ramen Museum was reeking of Showa-ness. I particularly like the Showa-era of Japan because of the whole nostalgic flavour it has. Perfect for a ramen museum!
Me, trapped in a phone-box/booth. You've got to love these old-fashioned items. Like vespa scooters.
And what am I talking about! I should cut to the chase shouldn't I, and present to you one of the most awesome, delectable ramen I've ever tasted (and I have tasted quite a few!) -
zomg. This was utterly mouthwatering. Yan Wen and I were positively drooling as the waitress passed us our bowls. The soup is tangy, and when mixed with the huge dollop of chilli, there's just a hint of spiciness. Nothing that a self-respecting Singaporean can't handle. But wow, the combination was mindblowing. Tonkontsu soup with fatty slices of chashuu and bamboo shoots that go kara-kara when you sink your teeth into it. :D~~ Heavenly.
The only turn off was the 5mm layer of chilli oil that we played around with. XDXDXD
We caught a shinkansen back to Tokyo station.
We got to Tokyo Station and took the JR line to Shimbashi where we had the crazy idea (okay it was my) idea to walk all the way to Odaiba. The map, obviously not drawn to scale, had a very deceptively looking short distance.
But despite my very pained legs, I enjoyed the walk for the most part. I believe in walking, even though I am a total failure in long distance running. Long distance walking however, I can handle. If we didn't walk that two long hours, I wouldn't have emo-ed out, but we wouldn't have seen the Tokyo TwinPeaks' eerily beautiful foyer, we couldn't have found the Greecian garden out of no where and sat on its cool stone benches, we wouldn't have been able to traverse the glass and steel walkways that stretched nearly a mile across Shimbashi -- sigh.
We also found out about Japan's ingenious petrol-pumping system. You know how in Singapore the nozzels/pumps are all on the ground? In Japan, they hang from the air. LIKE WTF? That's like sheer ingenuity! We were gobsmacked!
Finally after TWO hours of walking and seeing the Ferris Wheel and Rainbow Bridge get mysteriously smaller, we decided to give up the walk and take the monorail line there. Seriously, that was a very good decision made. We ended up realizing that it was FUCKING FAR and we'd probably have reached Odaiba in the morning if we continued walking! So mmkay, we took the monorail to Palette Town. Yeah, you heard me right. Fucking Palette Town. So don't blame me if I whip out my Charizard cap and take a picture with the pokeball lookalike of a lamp.
Cutting through the Honda (or was it Toyota) showroom, we took a slightly overrated Ferris Wheel ride where Ellyne was freaking out about how the gondola would tip over.
There is a friggin' huge arcade at Odaiba. (Actually 2, but we only went to one.) We saw it and made a beeline for the games. I wandered around with him, Yan Wen and Ellyne to the crane-machines, and gaped at the MarioKart game, all the gambling games (there was a 10 year old kid playing like a pro) and flipped out when we saw the GuitarFreaks machine.
We mashed it out on GLAMOUROUS SKY, Shanghai Honey, Rewrite, Sakuranbo and a few other songs I think - where I only managed to scrap past with Ds and Es. >_>
After visiting the other two at the crane machines, we wandered around somemore and took a look at the other games in the arcade, like the Resident Evil simulator and the Ninja simulator. El oh El. Oh you Japanese, what will you come up with next!
When we were finally wrenched away from the arcade (and the stupid Fire machine which ate my 200 yen coins), Yan Wen suggested taking photos at the Ferris Wheel. I spotted a clearing right at the base of the Wheel and we spent TWO HOURS there taking shots of the Wheel itself, and of retarded photos of ourselves -most of which aren't online because of their retardedness.
So after we left and got back to the hostel, I was introduced to to his Korean friends, asking if I wanted to have a drink with them. I looked over to my computer and the unused minutes and then realized that there was someone using my computer. I had a veritable facefault. I let the Japanese guy use my computer in the end, and retired to the table and started talking to the Koreans.
The conversation with the Koreans was really fun. Earlier I had already heard Leon share our culture with them (LOL NO THIS IS NOT A 300 LINE) and now that I was in on the conversation, it got to a stage where the beer really fueled all sorts of comparisons. It's interesting to relate, and to differentiate. One of the Koreans is/was a NAVY SEAL, like zomg?! It was really cool.
つづく
The area around Tokyo Station was depressingly stark and bleak. A very different contrast from the busy streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku.
Obligatory photo of myself. :D To prove that I was actually there and not ripping off photos off Corbis. :p You know how Singaporeans gripe about how the Esplanade looks too futuristic and alien? The Japanese pull this off perfectly. Incorporating the organic concept of whale-bones into this very very modern structure.
(And here goes my very lolishotacon picture of the cutest child alive.
)There was a whole gang of toddlers running around! It was like lolishota heaven! I suppose that there was a daycare centre near by and that they were going for their morning walk - but woah, such pretty kids.
No jokes about the descending height. :p
We had bought cream puffs (or chou pastry as they're also called?) at Ueno station.
Here I have to add that we were trying our hardest to keep our cream puffs away from Ellyne who was trying to steal ours.
Realizing that it was getting late, we decided to skip the park we wanted to go to and head straight to Yokohama, of which the map is
here!Our veritable "homebase" of sorts, Yokohama's chuukacho was Chinese in all its gaudy and bad colour combinations gone right splendor.
We had our lunch at this quaint little restaurant which offered set lunches.
Shin-Yokohama reminds me of Kyoto. I don't know why, but it does.
So anyway, here is the raumen museum.
As usual, my bad Japanese comes in handy for finding the way to places. I just can't perform the actual act of finding the place. :x
The decor of the Ramen Museum was reeking of Showa-ness. I particularly like the Showa-era of Japan because of the whole nostalgic flavour it has. Perfect for a ramen museum!
Me, trapped in a phone-box/booth. You've got to love these old-fashioned items. Like vespa scooters.
And what am I talking about! I should cut to the chase shouldn't I, and present to you one of the most awesome, delectable ramen I've ever tasted (and I have tasted quite a few!) -
zomg. This was utterly mouthwatering. Yan Wen and I were positively drooling as the waitress passed us our bowls. The soup is tangy, and when mixed with the huge dollop of chilli, there's just a hint of spiciness. Nothing that a self-respecting Singaporean can't handle. But wow, the combination was mindblowing. Tonkontsu soup with fatty slices of chashuu and bamboo shoots that go kara-kara when you sink your teeth into it. :D~~ Heavenly.
The only turn off was the 5mm layer of chilli oil that we played around with. XDXDXD
We caught a shinkansen back to Tokyo station.
We got to Tokyo Station and took the JR line to Shimbashi where we had the crazy idea (okay it was my) idea to walk all the way to Odaiba. The map, obviously not drawn to scale, had a very deceptively looking short distance.
But despite my very pained legs, I enjoyed the walk for the most part. I believe in walking, even though I am a total failure in long distance running. Long distance walking however, I can handle. If we didn't walk that two long hours, I wouldn't have emo-ed out, but we wouldn't have seen the Tokyo TwinPeaks' eerily beautiful foyer, we couldn't have found the Greecian garden out of no where and sat on its cool stone benches, we wouldn't have been able to traverse the glass and steel walkways that stretched nearly a mile across Shimbashi -- sigh.
We also found out about Japan's ingenious petrol-pumping system. You know how in Singapore the nozzels/pumps are all on the ground? In Japan, they hang from the air. LIKE WTF? That's like sheer ingenuity! We were gobsmacked!
Finally after TWO hours of walking and seeing the Ferris Wheel and Rainbow Bridge get mysteriously smaller, we decided to give up the walk and take the monorail line there. Seriously, that was a very good decision made. We ended up realizing that it was FUCKING FAR and we'd probably have reached Odaiba in the morning if we continued walking! So mmkay, we took the monorail to Palette Town. Yeah, you heard me right. Fucking Palette Town. So don't blame me if I whip out my Charizard cap and take a picture with the pokeball lookalike of a lamp.
Cutting through the Honda (or was it Toyota) showroom, we took a slightly overrated Ferris Wheel ride where Ellyne was freaking out about how the gondola would tip over.
There is a friggin' huge arcade at Odaiba. (Actually 2, but we only went to one.) We saw it and made a beeline for the games. I wandered around with him, Yan Wen and Ellyne to the crane-machines, and gaped at the MarioKart game, all the gambling games (there was a 10 year old kid playing like a pro) and flipped out when we saw the GuitarFreaks machine.
We mashed it out on GLAMOUROUS SKY, Shanghai Honey, Rewrite, Sakuranbo and a few other songs I think - where I only managed to scrap past with Ds and Es. >_>
After visiting the other two at the crane machines, we wandered around somemore and took a look at the other games in the arcade, like the Resident Evil simulator and the Ninja simulator. El oh El. Oh you Japanese, what will you come up with next!
When we were finally wrenched away from the arcade (and the stupid Fire machine which ate my 200 yen coins), Yan Wen suggested taking photos at the Ferris Wheel. I spotted a clearing right at the base of the Wheel and we spent TWO HOURS there taking shots of the Wheel itself, and of retarded photos of ourselves -most of which aren't online because of their retardedness.
So after we left and got back to the hostel, I was introduced to to his Korean friends, asking if I wanted to have a drink with them. I looked over to my computer and the unused minutes and then realized that there was someone using my computer. I had a veritable facefault. I let the Japanese guy use my computer in the end, and retired to the table and started talking to the Koreans.
The conversation with the Koreans was really fun. Earlier I had already heard Leon share our culture with them (LOL NO THIS IS NOT A 300 LINE) and now that I was in on the conversation, it got to a stage where the beer really fueled all sorts of comparisons. It's interesting to relate, and to differentiate. One of the Koreans is/was a NAVY SEAL, like zomg?! It was really cool.
つづく
