Tokyo trip 3

November 5th, 2006, cloudy

For those people who know who this girl is in the picture below, yeah, it's my childhood best friend!! Did I go back to Taiwan? No, she came to Tokyo! To see me? of course not, to see art! Did I go to Tokyo to see her, of course! and to play too. It was actually a coincidence that she happened to visit Tokyo while I was in Tokyo. So, in the midst of our busy schedule, we managed to meet for breakfast. It was almost a surreal experience that we could meet each other after 8 years, and in a country foregin to both of us. I just want to say, I miss her! So, here we were in front of Shinagawa train station in Tokyo.

After breakfast, Mayo and I headed for Yokohama city. Even though it is in another prefecture, it is very easy to get to Yokohama by train. Yeah, you guessed it, we again planned our route the night before.


Huh? Woodstock? Yes, there is a snoopy town at the Yokohama Mirai shopping centre. Since I really like snoopy, I practically defleted my wallet there. Look! Udonstock is also making her mark!

After hanging around the huge mall and some crazy purikura sessions with Mayo, we headed to Yokohama's Chinatown for lunch. We were both really hungry at that time, so decided to get some all you can eat dimsum. Gosh, I miss Chinese food so much!

Here is a side note about Yokohama's Chinatown. I think even though that Chinatown is pretty big and busy, it is very much assimilated with Japanese culture. I couldn't really find anything that's authentic Chinese there. I would say I like the Chinatown in Kobe more.

After lunch, Mayo and I were too tired to go to all the places we had planned the day before. So I decided to just go to Yokohama's original international harbour and the Yokohama International Doll Museum.

Tokyo trip 2

November 4th, 2006, cloudy

Well, you can't say you have been to Tokyo without going to Dinsey World right? So, of course then I went to Disney Sea. Disney Sea is similar to Disney Land with Disney stories that take place on water.

There is a special train (still part of the city transit) that is designated to take people to either Disney Land or Disney Sea. See this Mickey Mouse door? It tell you you are going to Disney!!

Mayo and I arrived Disney Sea around 9 am. We had our entire route and events planned out the night before so we don't waste too much time. Rumour has it that line ups at Disney is long long and long. Yes, it is. Fortunately there was this fast track system which tells us when to come back to the rides so we can use the time in between to do other things, like watch shows. So, here I was, while waiting for our first ride, trying to make this machine fly.

Greet and Smile, all the Disney Sea characters come ashore to say hello to everyone. Too bad we spent too much time figuring out our ways... so, missed the chance to take pictures with them :(

After many activities and shows in between, our rides finally began. Let's see, how many did we get on? There was 20,000 league under sea, journey to the centre of the earth, a boat cruise touring Disney Sea, Indian Jones, and Tower of Terror (did I get the name right Mayo? or was it Town of Horror, or....?) . So, about 5-6 rides with an hour of wait in between each one. I would say the rides are not particularly scary because they are designed for kids, but they are certainly full of fun and advanture!


Wondering what we did while we waited for our rides? Well, you can see here, we ate, watched 3 amazing acqubatic shows, and walked, walked and walked....... until about 8pm at night. By the end, my feet almost died. I think Mayo's were, already dead.....

Tokyo trip 1

November 3rd, 2006, cloudy

Arrived Tokyo and met up with Mayo around 2pm on this day. I really must say and Mayo and I do work very well together. We planned our entire trip before I went to Tokyo. So, without delay, we headed for Asakusa 浅草. Asakusa is a bit north of Tokyo city central; it has a famous temple and a street of concession stands selling omiyage and snacks.

Even though I am not superstitious, it looked fun to draw a fortune. But I got #44!! (those of my Chinese friends... you know what that means....) but it was a good luck charm though. so, I thought it was very ironic and kept the descriptino slip in my journal. wahaha!!

Wondering what this is? There is a kind of Japanese food called Oden. It is similar to Chinese hotpot. What I am eating here is a kind of oden. It is seaweed cake with miso sauce on a stick! Ahhh... yummy but so salty!

After visiting many many food concessions, I concluded my lunch at Asakusa with this yummy sweet. It is candy dipped in wheat caramel. Mayo got one with strawberry in it. I think hers is probably better cuz mine was too sweet....

Right after Asakusa, we went to Akihabara 秋葉原- The Electric city. You can really find fancy electronics, and anime stuff there. Even sexy lamps!! Akihabara is great especially for geeks and nerds who are crazy for anime. (like my next door neighbour Matt ^^)

I concluded my first day in Tokyo at Akihabara. Oh yeah, this is a concession stand selling canned oden. When Mayo first told me they sell these hot in vending machines in the winter too, I couldn't believe it. Now, I saw it for myself!!

My first enkai 宴会

Have you ever seen Japanese style social gathering on Japanese drama? Looks familiar? I was invited by my base school to a social gathering to celebrate the success of the anual cultural festival at the school. Wonder what the long hall space in the middle is for? Well, it is for people to go around and pour others drinks and to talk. So, the teachers that went on that night really went table to table to talk to each other. I am never comfortable with this kind of events and especially I had to speak Japanese. So, I just sat at my table for people to come talk to me.


k, enough with the customs. The food they served that night was really extravagent. First, we started with some seafood salad mix and tempura.

Then workers in kimono dress came in to light a nabe pot for us. It had mochi, rice noodles and some mushrooms.


Of course it is not Japanese food without sashimi. this was my favourite dish that night.

Well, they also served like 3 main dishes (though the portion was small), but I was too busy eating and forgot to take pictures.....


Last but not least, a light soup of taro root and dried bean to finish the night.

Another thing I found really funny was that everyone there was busy socializing and nobody cared to eat. So, they all left the food to cool and rushed it down at the end of the night. How strange eh?