Day 27

the last day we get to use our jr pass. bcos i was missing triangle and strawberry daifuko so much he actually suggested that we take a 1.5hr Shinkansen ride down to Sendai just to get them (!!!). and he feels that would be the ideal way to fully utilise the jr pass on the last day. but of course im sane and i wont waste 3hrs travelling back and forth. so we decided to tour tokyo!

it was a saturday and the streets were quite crowded. first stop was Shinjuku where we tried to find sundrug, recommended for their cheap prices. we also dropped by other drugstores and grabbed some good deals. a bottle each of the best selling toner in japan. 1 bottle gets sold every 4 seconds. only abt S$7.80 a bottle! which is cheaper than my current toner so i got one to try. then we grabbed 4 packs of this highly recommended eyedrop for contact lens wearers. it was one of my regrets tt i didnt get any beauty stuff on my last trip so im totally making up for it this time round. contemplated getting makeup stuff but thought i could put tt off to the last day so we have less to carry around.


we got a flyer on the streets and decided to check out this optical shop tt has contact lens promotion. they are super professional, not like your typical singapore optical shop. u actually have to get a queue number and wait for someone to come to u with a clipboard to ask u questions and recommend the most suitable lenses for u. quite like seeing a doctor really. but didnt get any in the end cos they're all bi-weekly lenses. apparently no one in japan wears monthlies! for hygiene purposes i guess. plus, i bet the girls wear it every single day so they need bi-weeklies.

then we went to Harajuku, where all the teens hang out. it was extremely extremely crowded. i got tired just looking at the sheer number of pple. shops were kinda small-ish and filled with girls streaming in and out. dont like to shop in places like tt. me likes private space.

last stop was Akihabara where there are tons of electronic goods. one famous thing abt Akihabara is their Maid Cafes. i think there's one in singapore too but tt's just a copycat. asked to take pictures with a few Maids in front of the station giving out flyers but they all said no. i guess its a company policy of some sort. decided to go to the original Maid Cafe and my goodness, they occupied 4 floors. and when we got there, there was a QUEUE to get in which stretched all the way to the stairway. and there was this huge sign tt said no photography. apparently if u want to take photos with the Maids, they will help u to take at a charge of 500Y. damn good at making money. so in the end, i took a photo OF the poster instead. and we didnt eat there cos i know the prices would be jacked up. plus i cant take photos so whats the point.

we ended up at Song Wu instead. the major competitor of Yoshinoya. i got a beef bowl and he ordered the hamburger steak set. tobias thought the guy sitting beside me was insane cos he was only eating an egg. raw if im not wrong. but then his order came so yes, he eats.


decided to chiong down to Maihama Outlet since we had the jr pass. they were having outlet sale tt wkend so i thought we got lucky. but we didnt end up with a single buy so yeah. i headed straight for agnes b but cldnt find any nice bag. dont want to settle for a not-very-nice one just for the sake of buying one. looked at coach wallets too and concluded the design isnt tt nice afterall. i think perhaps the whole point of carrying a branded good is just for the brand. i dont think it serves any additional purpose really. but tt being said, i still really really really like the agnes b voyage white bag i saw at odaiba.


went back to Ikebukuro for an early dinner but there was a queue at Bomb. at 5pm. u can imagine how good their food is. queued for a while before deciding to come back after my perm. rushed to Allure to find tt they were all fully occupied so we had to wait. they passed us some hair style books and we started flipping but in the end, i guess the hair stylist would know best so i decided i would leave it all to him.

my funky hairstylist came. thank God he's quite friendly and doesn mind the fact tt we speak little japanese. after almost half an hour of gesturing and communicating in all sorts of ways (including writing in kanji), i finally got started on my digital perm. assistant came over to wash my hair. their chair is like uber cool. u can actually sit upright on it then it kinda like tilts behind so u dont have to sit up and lie down when getting your hair washed.

assistant tried to make conversation. i barely managed. when applying the water treatment for me (which consists of spraying a kind of vapour from this brush-like device), he warned "too hot, tell me!" so some of them do actually speak a little english! then it was time for my cut. and aftertt i got hooked up onto the perm machine. but it was tedious work preparing for it. there were 2 stylists attending to me. one would prepare the styrofoam, the rubber band and the paper while the other would actually do the curls for me.

i was stuck under that machine for less than an hour. during which my hairstylist kept me company by making small talk. i really had fun even though half the time i didnt know what he was saying. i tried to ask him questions too, like abt maintenance, shampoo and i managed. barely. but it was fun. he asked how long are we gng to be in japan. i told him one month. but he thought it was one week and he was wondering how on earth did we manage to visit so many places at different ends of japan in such a short period of time. only toward the end he clarified what one month meant. and i had to tell him 4 weeks = 1 month then he gotit.

i can write on and on abt what we talked abt or what i attempted to communicate to him but it would take far too long. in the end, my procedure dragged on to way past their closing time but they still stayed and weren't in a rush at all. i really think their service is top grade. and even though they were all tired frm a long day's work, they still obliged when tobias asked for a group photo together. the ultra kawaii receptionist is the most pitiful cos i think she was standing throughout the day. she is like super cute and nice!


actually i was worried sick cos tobias hasnt returned back to the salon when they were drying my hair. i was wondering what on earth happened to him. i have no cash. i have no passport. i dont even have my jr pass with me. i cant pay them and i cant get anywhere. but thank God he turned up all sweaty and panting. turned out tt he actually went back to Super Hotel to pick up our luggage and transported them down to our hotel for tonight at Ueno. he single-handedly carried TWO luggages, a big bag of shopping with shoes and clothes inside, plus his own backpack. and according to him, the Yamanote line broke down so he had to transfer to the subway in order to get to Ueno. his sweat soaked through his singlet and everyone was avoiding the crazy sweating guy who ran all the way with luggages and bags. (he ran so he cld make it back to the salon in time)

all this just so tt i wldnt have to go back to Super Hotel after doing my perm to fetch the luggage and drag it all the way to the station, take train, then drag to Cube Hotel. carrying all tt stuff is no mean feat. esp when u still have to retrieve your jr pass, go past the gantry, up the stairs, etc. i was quite speechless when he told me he did all that. who else on earth would do all this for me? i really really really appreciate it. its all bcos of him we're in japan once again. its all bcos of him we have a fun-filled month without any trouble with accomodation or transport. its all bcos of him i got to enjoy my Bomb dinner and travel to Ueno without dragging a luggage. thank u so much for all u've done.

Day 26

Second last day before our precious 21-day JR Pass expires. We had completely gotten used to the convenience of having it, punching in and out of stations and hopping on onto random Shinkansens like taking MRT. To fully utilize the JR pass, we decided to head down to the famous Mount Fuji, even though the weather forecast wasn't too optimistic - cloudy. And one can only see Mt Fuji's tip on a clear, cloudless day. We still went ahead nontheless, just so that we won't be regretting it in the future.

Yamanote line to Shinjuku, changed train to Otsuki, and then we had to change to the private Fuji line. There was a big crowd at the ticketing office, and everyone was anxious as the next train would depart in 5 minutes. They won't accept credit cards however, so I had no choice but to fish out the last few big notes hidden in my secret compartment as inconspicuously as possible. We bought the return train + ropeway package, thinking that it'd save us some money, but it turned out to be a big mistake on hindsight.

We hopped on to the cute train with different versions of Mt Fuji on it:



The cabins were spacious and seats had plenty of leg space, so much so that we could easily stretch out our legs without even touching the seats in front. The windows were huge as well, but unfortunately dirty too, so the scenery along the way turned out to be a tad greyish. We made a brief stop at Fuji-Q theme park, where everyone marveled at the "Iijanaika", a new roller coaster that featured crazy spins and dips. After seeing the insane slopes, Grace was glad that we chose not to visit the Fuji-Q.

It was upon reaching the Towadako Lake terminal that we panicked, having realised that we were supposed to go to Gotemba outlet later in the afternoon, and thus we didn't need the return train trip. It took quite a while for us to find two Caucasian ladies who eagerly snapped up our tickets at an absurdly low price. After settling that, we set off for the ropeway, but got lost halfway through as the map provided at the JR station was anything but detailed/useful. We had to intercept a poor lady who seemed to be rushing somewhere for directions. When we almost reached our destination, i made a blunder and made us climb up a steep slope that led to the CARPARK of the ropeway station rather than the actual station. Grumbling and throwing her arms in the air in exasperation, Grace made a little fuss before I coaxed her into walking down the slope again and up the other way to the ropeway station proper.


The ropeway station didn't appear too new, and the little cabins were at least a decade old. It had a funny name though, called the Mt Kachi Kachi ropeway. Legend has it that once upon a time, there were an evil beaver and a good rabbit. The beaver stole from the farmer, and the rabbit promised to avenge the farmer. On the first attempt, when rabbit and beaver went into the forest to gather firewood (dun ask me why), rabbit set fire to the firewood on beaver's back, scorching the latter but didn't kill it. On the second attempt rabbit succeeded in killing the beaver, but the method was forgotten (by us). These "legends" were written on the back of the ropeway tickets, and there were figurines of the animals at the station and at the mountain top observatory.




The view on the ropeway was breathtaking, the Towadako lake looked truly magnificent as we climbed further up into the air. Unfortunately Grace left our Vivita wide-angle lens camera at the hotel, so we could only try to snap a few pictures with our canon ixus. The end product could not do justice to the scenery at all.


Once we reached the top, we rushed to see Mt Fuji. But there wasn't any to be seen. The entire top portion of Mt Fuji was obscured by clouds. We could only make out the outline of the mountain, far from what we had expected. Disappointed, we tried to stay for a while and see if the clouds would be blown away, but nothing much changed after 20 minutes. While more Caucasians were camping out in the hope of the sky clearing up, we headed back downhill to catch the bus to Gotemba Outlet, the second largest outlet in Japan. Along the way, we heard a familiar tune - the one that was played at the junction between Hakata station and our Comfort Hotel when the pedestrians were crossing. Hearing that tune brought back fond memories, and we could hardly believe that we had barely 3.5 days left in Japan.

Long bus ride to Gotemba, and then a shuttle bus to the Outlet itself. Gotemba outlet was HUGE. It was divided into the eastern and the western district, each big enough to house an entire outlet park on its own. There were plenty of recreational facilities and parks along the way, and it even had its own Ferris wheel. Madness. Land is free here.

We headed over to the western district to fetch some lunch first, and after much walking around, we settled for this stall where you pay 990 yen for a plate, on which you can put as much food as you can. The guys before me made a huge pile of meat and veg, while I did a fair job with hamburger patties and a spread of other dishes. In retrospect I could have done better by alternating layers of hamburger patties with layers of rice, and emerge with a ridiculously huge pile, but that might have been a little too blatant =P Being poor folks we shared the plate between us, and were still a little hungry after it.

Then we headed to the Creamery, where they serve an interesting variety of custom-made mashed icecream sundaes. And the staff sang too!! Every now and then they'd follow the prompting of the lead girl and go "Yokoso~!!" or "Dozo~!!", before starting on a cute little song, ranging from Disney songs to Japanese children's songs. Grace's eyes were sparkling as she adored such songs, and they even had beautiful harmonizing mixed in as well. At the end of one song they ended off with "Dong dong~!!" in such a cute, nasal voice that'd give you goosebumps. The sundaes were delicious (and expensive too), but the atmosphere was terrific.



We didn't have much success shopping at Gotemba. Grace saw a nice Samsonite suitcase going for a special price of only 180SGD, but she dropped the thought of buying it after a phonecall to her dad. The GAP was thoroughly raided by the time we reached (almost everyone we saw in Gotemba carried a GAP shopping bag), so we didn't find anything satisfactory. At the end, we settled for another serving of Creamery icecream, before taking shuttle bus + local train + shinkansen + yamanote line back to Ikebukuro.

It was already 9+ pm when we reached Nobunaga, our 4th favourite ramen shop. We didn't see the Hideaki Takizawa look-alike staff that helped us last time, but we managed to figure out how to order via the vending machine ourselves. Grace got a regular bowl while I got a large bowl, and we both added extra charsiew, veg and egg. Everyone around us had upsized bowls with all toppings too, so we were actually eating the least amongst them. We had two different soup bases, both tasted fantastic, and this time we order hot noodle rather than the cold ones that we got last year, so our soups didn't get cold halfway through the meal. It's incredible how such a simple combination of soup and noodles could be so delicious. Full and satisfied, we headed back to hotel, barely 50m away from Nobunaga.

Day 25

the semi double bed at superhotel wasnt very big but thank God their rooms are specially designed to be sleeping-inducing so i slept well. not sure abt tobias though. to make full use of the last few days of the JR pass, we decided to travel round. 1st stop to Yokohama, Sakuragi-cho station. this is the Yokohama Landmark Tower.






it was bright and sunny, thank God for the good weather and we strolled around downtown bayside area. it began to feel quite hot so me got a little grumpy. got back onto the train to get down to Yokohama's Chinatown at Ishikawa-cho station, supposedly the most famous around japan. there were lots of grand gates and waitresses trying to get customers to go for their chinese food buffet. since we've got our own Chinatown in Singapore and since we're authentically Chinese, we werent too impressed by Yokohama's Chinatown. but it was a must-visit. ohwell. this is the Seiyo-mon gate.

the Enpei-mon gate.

the Zenrin-mon gate.

[these gates are called Pairos (Chinatown Gates) and are built according to feng shui. there are 10 pairos in Chinatown, representing the colour and directional guardians of Yin-Yang and the 5 elements]

travelled further down to the Yokohama Bayside Marina Outlet which required us to pay extra 310Y per pax because u have to take a separate monorail (Seaside Line) to get there! when we were there we proceeded to storm the shops in an orderly fashion. armed with a map and a pen, i'd cross out stores we've already visited and had no interest whatsoever in and jot down prices of goods of the stuff we may get.

had to get lunch. but Outlet does not provide a wide variety. we ended up at Long after eliminating all the other places we do not want to eat at. lunch was 2100Y and it didnt really taste good. my fried rice was ok but it only had 2 prawns. i also had a cold noodle dish which had alot of bean sprouts. me is sad cos little meat. his set meal wasnt tt fantastic either. plus his noodles were the hk crunchy type so he had a fun time chewing through his meal. in the end he resembled an angry chewing goat/cow cos he was constantly moving his mouth. haha~ so adorable!



we got quite abit of things. i bought a pair of asics after spending more than an hour in the shop trying to get help frm assistants who dont have very much brand knowledge and looking high and low for the right size. then he also went back and got his denim berms. watch out for his new look! we also got a bunch of reebok tees but misinterpreted what the sign said. in the end the tees cost slightly more than expected but it was still reasonable.

had a very hard time trying to decide whether to get birks frm Birkenstocks or ABC Mart. the latter sells them at a cheaper price but its not really birks birks so the contouring of the footbed isnt tt comfortable. at the real Birkenstocks, they dont have the colour i want in the design i like. which is really sad. and it made me kick myself for not grabbing the LAST pair i saw on uber discount at Sapporo. even though tt design was number 2 on my favourites, it was only close to S$35? for a real pair of birks. and it fits. perfectly. one of my regrets of this trip.

finished up with Outlet and went down to Odaiba, a man-made island in the middle of a water body accessible via the Rainbow Bridge. once again, there was a monorail ride on the Rinkai Line which wasnt covered by our JR pass. but the monorail was cool. like some roller coaster ride tt takes u through the city. really pretty cos we were there in the evening and all the lights were on.


saw this really really pretty chapel near a hotel right outside the monorail station (should be Hotel Nikko Tokyo). it was built just for weddings cos there's also a looong walkway before reaching the doors of the chapel. the entire chapel is made frm full-length glass windows and guests are seated facing the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower. it was lit a romantic blue-purple at night and we were totally wowed by it. he even suggested we might have our wedding here. haha~




saw the statute of liberty (finally). the replica of course. last yr he took me on a wild goose chase and made me walk long distances. in the end, he was mistaken and we were at the wrong location. need to grab dinner cos we were hungry. chanced upon a Fugetsu branch in the Adua City Odaiba so decided to go in with fond memories of our 1st time at Cannel City Fugetsu. ordered the most expensive okono with noodles to share. but the guy got our order wrong and it came without noodles. tobias got really upset but they didnt even try to compensate us or anything. in the end we were still hungry after the meal cos okono without noodle is hardly filling at all. didnt make it to VenusFort cos it was too late.

well thank God for the supermarts near our hotel. we got diet jelly instead to fill us up. not so nice ending bcos of the meal but the entire day was rather fulfilling and even romantic towards the night. thank you for the meticulous planning!