First of, I cannot. believe. I didn’t post about Taiwan – my first ever solo trip, back in January. THE TRAVESTY. It might be nice to revisit memories someday in this space. For now, though –
JAPAN!
A snapshot of my time there, by no means a comprehensive log of all i’ve seen and done.
Landed in Narita! Relatively smoothly, compared to my mis-adventurous solo trip to Taiwan.
Had my first glimpse of the utter cuteness Japanese kids embody. They, as YQ describes, have a sense of wonder about them. This little boy travelling home from school seemed straight out of an anime please.
In the city area this is about what Japan looks like – lots of neon lights affixed on pretty shabby looking buildings. In later days i’ll find more hipster looking streets that are much quainter and pleasant – but mainly Tokyo is this:
One of my first tourist-y destinations: Meiji-Jingu park and shrine!
More adorable kids:
Headed to Harajuku looking for eats, and wandered upon a rather long queue. Because i’m Singaporean, this boded well and YES i stumbled upon a gyoza shop apparently highly raved about.
It was not bad, but my first love will always be succulent jiao zi with bursting meat fillings.
Headed to Asakusa the next day to visit Sensoji shrine! Asakusa was one of my favorite places on this trip – there was an old street full of traditional eats. I had 2 mochis and ice cream for breakfast that day.
I wandered 15 minutes deeper into the residential areas to find Imado shrine, the birthplace of zhao cai mao! Learnt that it was also a shrine dedicated to romance. There was a sweet couple there praying i think for their upcoming marriage.
One of the best finds in Asakusa – this meat filled korroke!!
The sun sets very early in autumn, by 5pm it’s dark as night.
Ueno the next day! Next to the station is that famous tourist food street – which is quite gimmicky. I didn’t find anything great there. But i did have goma ice cream for breakfast again.
Ueno park is beautiful! Although my photo does it no justice. Relatively new compared to the other parks, extremely spacious, with so much to do! It seems like the park that locals (especially students) head to for outings.
It’s also littered with many, many shrines.
The bad lot rack, where people tie any lots they draw with bad luck indicated haha.
Queer looking tree.
Like Gyoza-ro, another accidental find that turned out to be a cult favorite! This is along Ameyoko, the tourist trap of a food street.
This was my first foray into sashimi in Japan. You really CAN taste the difference! Fresh, like it was straight out of the sea. The rice, however, tastes like homemade rice from a Singapore household. None of that vinegary, pearl grain goodness.
Mama shop of the Japanese variety.
Where people bought plaques to write wishes on and hang on trees/these prayer racks. You can find them in every shrine in Tokyo. Truth be told it’s a money sinkhole. Not that i’m immune to it – bought one at almost every shrine i visited HAHA because kiasi Singaporean.
AND FINALLY – TAISHOKEN RAMEN. The birthplace of Tsukkemen ramen, elevated to celebrity status on Mind of a Chef!
And it was as. good. as. expected. BETTER! The noodles were honest to God the best, springiest ramen i’ve had. None of that noodle aftertaste, just pure unadulterated shiok-ness. Just the right amount of al dente, and so refreshingly chilled. It pairs so well with the tsukkemen dip i cannnn’t. Oh and the chilli was great too!
Joined Darren and Yao Nian at a Izakaya place in Waseda. This is the friendly student waiter. In fact everyone that night was very friendly. The bossman gave us a round of free sake and had a good chat with this cute old man wandering straight out of a Miyazaki film.
The next day we headed to the Gingko tree festival~ Autumn is such a pretty time to be here.
We headed to Kichijoji, just to have Kakigori – amazing shaved ice. Passed by Inokashira park which was one of the most beautiful locations i’ve been to in Tokyo!
Wandered Kichijoji for the rest of the day which was such a great decision. So many indie shops to browse, and we kept stopping because SO many tempting snacks.
One my last full day in Tokyo, Zephyr brought me to Tsujiki! We had omakase – i was a very happy child that afternoon. It was worth the hour long wait. Crammed in a tiny little space, warm and satisfied.
Slowly made our way towards Shinjuku/Harajuku. Our pilgrimage to this Theobroma Chocolatier! Had a wonderful tea there. Fulfilling my Yumeiro Patisserie dreams.
An example of the shop layout i absolutely love in Tokyo. By the streets, so uniquely designed, and often extending downwards into the basement. There’s something very cosy and quaint about these shops! Wish H was around cos this is so much his thing. I took so many photos of just shopfronts for him lol.
Our food journey didn’t take much of a pause. It was basically food location to food location, with some shopping in between. For dinner we had Luke’s lobster, which we were both very excited about! It didn’t disappoint! Crusty, buttery bread with the crunchiest lobsters! And a pleasant kick of pepper. It was better topped with Sriracha sauce too.
Ended our night in the most quintessentially Japanese way – with rounds of purikura! This was so much fun i have so much feels to do it again in Singapore HAHAHA.
Q 