Japan '14, Tokyo - Day 2

Tokyo Day 2 was a rather rewarding day cause we visited a couple of places. 

I think we covered a lot of places despite being on a free-and-easy trip without a guide there.

McDonald's meal EVERY country I go is like a must. 

Cause every Macs is different, I think trying their local Macs is v interesting!

After breakfast, first stop is Takashimaya!

The Takashimaya is connected to Tokyu Hands!

I love Tokyo Hands and I can spend an ENTIRE day there.

They had a wide range of stationery, handicraft materials, furniture, gardening tools, kitchen ware, everything.

I love how their products are very innovative, space-friendly, user-friendly and practical!

Lunch place. It was a tonkatsu restaurant, at Takashimaya, where they served fried pork cutlets, prawns and bentos. It was veryyyy yummy.

The building had an outdoor sky observatory outside its restaurants level.

We headed back to Tokyu Hands after to continue the 9-level madness.

Colourful and adorable stationery are my Kryptonite.

Imagine a whole level of coloured pens in all designs, brands and shades. 

Only bought myself a pack of Pilot FriXion Erasable Highlighters in shades of PASTEL.

That's self-control right there.

After we scowled the Tokyu Hands side of the building, we made our way to Shinjuku JR Station to buy our first train tickets!

Tickets to Hamamatsuchō!

POKÉMON CENTRE WAS OUR DESTINATION.

Let me be a kid here and say I've waited 15 years to get here.

Ever since I started playing Pokémon since I was a little girl (7 years old), I've always dreamt of coming to the Tokyo Pokémon Centre to see (my) Charizard! Yes, that's my favourite Pokémon cause it was my first starter. Hehehehe!

Chloe and I went crazy while shopping and our basket became full in no time.

Filled with plushies, hanging accessories and not to forget, gifts for our fellow Pokémon playing family members.

The Petit ones are the most irresistible.

And our craze for coin presses began here and lasted our entire trip.

Since every Disneyland/Pokémon Centre has different machines and press designs that were unique, we collected many of them.

After the shopping madness, we walked to the Zōjōji Temple near Tokyo Tower.

Here, we met 2 Singaporeans who were staying in Tokyo.

How did we know they were Singaporeans? 

ACCENT. THE ACCENT.

Walked (again) to Tokyo Tower as the sun set and bought tickets to the observatory!

Ice cream crêpe!

Tokyo was breathtaking from the tower!

They had ink stamps for you to use on your tickets or post cards! So cute.

Mascot!

Dinner was at a little restaurant (vending machine operating ordering system).

Super yummy ramen.

Our loots from the Pokémon Centre! So much. So rewarding.

Well, Day 2 ended here so Day 3 will be in another post!

But I probably will be blogging some other stuff in-between my Japan posts.

Toodles~

Japan '14, Tokyo - Day 1

It's been 7 days since I've been back from my 16-day long Japan trip.

I'm finally finding the time to sit down, edit and slowly start posting the photos. There're like a million photos to be edited and uploaded. So I think I'll be breaking them down by days and slowly post them over a period of time.

The trip was waaaayyyy better than I had expected. 

Why 16 days? Well, there are several reasons! One kind of lead to the other so...

1. Chloe & I have never been to Japan but we've ALWAYS wanted to go there since we were kids. Mummy had always wanted to go to Hokkaido.
2. We booked a 10-day self-drive (yes, self-drive) tour for Hokkaido.
3. But what's traveling to Japan without Tokyo, Fujisan, Disneyland, DisneySea, Pokémon Centre, Tokyo Tower and ++++.
4. So, Tokyo happened. Another 6 days!

Okay, time to skip the talk and start the photo spam!

Even the sun rays in Japan look so beautiful.

After we  landed, we bought tickets for the Airport Limousine!

Fancy as its name sounds, it's actually just a bus with a fancy schmancy name.

My first encounter with a Japanese vending machine!

After a project in school about vending machine foods, 

I've been wanting to see what kinds of vending machines are there in Japan.

Lo & behold! 

All kinds of food, all kinds of products.

Mobile phones, Coca Cola, bentos, earpieces, phone numbers, YOU NAME IT, YOU HAVE IT.

After checking in at our hotel, we headed to the area just around the corner of our hotel!

Our first meal place in Japan! UDON.

Self-service style, we picked the udon we wanted, the ingredients we would like to have as sides and then paid for it!

I picked a simple charsiew udon and the  picked fried chicken and prawns as sides!

The. Best. Udon. Ever.

(Do note that as I post every picture of food and location, I'm reminiscing and missing Japan a whole lot.)

Dessert at a cafe themed with Alice in Wonderland stuff and Peter Rabbit!

You see that blue cloth/chicken like thingy? It's actually a pot warmer! It keeps the tea pot warm!

After that we headed back to our home for 5 days, Keio Plaza Hotel!

I think the hotel's really cosy and I liked how their front desk people are always so friendly!

Treats we got from the convenience store. I love Japan's convenience stores.

Not only cause they sell tidbits, but they have A. LOT. of nonsense in there!

Stationery, cosmetics, food, drinks, super adorable top-up cards.

(Fun fact! Kosé & Shiseido are drugstore brands here in Japan. Their hotels provide Shiseido bath soap, shampoo & conditioners! In Singapore, they're mad expensive and precious. But when you're here, it's like Dove.)

Another thing, every hotel has all kinds of amenities: Bath soap, shampoo, conditioner, hair brush, hair ties, toothbrush, toothpaste, razors, cotton buds and cotton pads. Some of them even have ear diggers.

And most importantly, EVERY HOTEL ROOM HAS A HAIR DRYER. As a person who's obsessed with my own hair, I think it's VERY important that the hotels have hair dryers. Hate it when hotels do not provide hair dryers.

Okay, Day 1 ends here so... Keep checking back for the updates of the other days! Hopefully I'll be diligent enough to update about.. twice a week to cover the 16 days trip!