The trip to Japan was a great success. We travelled to the places that we wanted to go, ate the foods we wanted to eat, saw scenary that was more than breathtaking, had the best company i could have.
i love the parks/gardens there. Big open spaces, trees of red/green/yellow leaves all around, huge blue sky, so many people (young and old) doing all sorts of activities (cycling, dancing, playing instruments, flying kites, walking dogs, just sitting on benches, everything you can think of.). It's not the stereotyped old-people's place. Young groups of teenagers hang around enjoying the air and taking photos. We spent so many hours strolling the parks and watching ducks floating on the water.
In the 2 weeks we were there, transport fare was a killer. Each train ride (about 20 min ride) was approx. 200 yen (almost sgd$3). Bus fares started from 200 yen. Cab fares started from (if i'm not wrong) 650 yen (abt sgd$9?). A 1-week JR pass that entitles you to JR train rides, JR bullet trains (excluding Nozomi) and JR bus rides was about sgd$400. It's no wonder so many Japanese turn to cycling. Everywhere we went, there were people dressed in business wear or even skirts and leather boots commuting on bicycles. In the first week, about 30% of our photos were on bikes. Chevrolet bikes were very common and so were Bianchis! Very surprising because here, we mainly see Bianchi mountain bikes. i never knew Bianchi has commuting bikes. There were so many expensive (costing a few K) bikes parked out there and the other commuting bikes were locked frame-wheel or just by the wheel and not even onto some fence or lamp-post.
Japan seems to run on a system of trust. After office hours, the barrier (where you put your ticket and go through) at the train station would be just open and you could just walk through without a ticket. Pricey bikes are parked around freely. In this park we went, there was a section selling pots of roses and mistletoe. Drop the amount stated on the tag into this metal box and you can take the pot of flowers back. No one's looking. All these would never work here, in Singapore.
We saw a couple of bike messengers on the roads!
Food there was a blast! We had all sorts of food.
- Sushi in the sushi restaurant at Tsukiji market - i swear you can never eat raw fish fresher than that. Tuna belly that melts in the mouth, uni with no funny smell, tamago not on rice but stuffed with minimal rice, spider crab leg so sweet and savory, i can't go on anymore!!!!!! The entertaining Phillipino sushi chef (he speaks like a Japanese) perfects the meal.
- Kobe beef - no beef can be more tender (and expensive) than Kobe beef. What can be better than having Kobe beef in Kobe itself? It's the most pricey meal we've had in our lives - about sgd$100 per person for the 7-course meal.
- Yakiniku - so sinful yet you have to wash it down with some alcohol. Shiitake mushrooms, chicken, anything that's on the charcoal grill is good!
- Shabu shabu - thinly-sliced beef is superb! Had to eat it to complete the eating spree.
- Tempura - !!!!! *speechless* The best tempura i had was accompanied with cold udon. The squid was so tender. There was pumpkin, capsicum, etc all tempura-ed.
- Udon/ramen/soba in eateries - was what we ate for most of the low-budget meals. About 400-600 yen. Good service, food was quick to arrive, udon chewy, comes with hot tea or iced water on side, great place to hide from the cold outside.
- Rice - Oyako-don (chicken + egg on rice) was absolutely delicious, particularly the one i had from Yoshinoya. Sidetrack a little, there was an Indian waiter in that Yoshinoya who spoke really good Japanese. Don't play play ah! On one of the days, BoiBoi had the Oyako-don (salmon + salmon roe on rice) and it was unbelievable! Very generous portions of fresh toppings!
- Drinks - we had lots of tea (milk tea, green, oolong) and some coffee from the vending machines. 120 - 150 yen for each drink. Hot and cold available. We keep buying the hot drinks to keep ourselves warm. Dispensers were all over the place - every corner you turn to, the monsters would be lined up there.
- Bentos - very presentable and enticing! All sorts, rice or noodles, fish or chicken or beef, little portions of veg, etc. Mind you, no one said da bao was cheap!
- Japanese oranges (mikan) - so sweet, so juicy, especially the ones from Tsukiji market. We had to have the oranges almost everyday! Talk about an orange addiction...
The people there were friendly and helpful although most can only speak very basic English. i wanted to get this pair of Converse shoes and so went into a shop and asked for my size. The guy took out the shoes, got me to put my feet into the shoe, pain-stakingly put on the shoelaces and tied the laces up neatly and ta-da! The 1st pair didn't fit too well and i requested for half size bigger and the process repeated. i've never bought any shoes and gotten such service before. Being so impressed, i bought the shoes. (Of course the shoes fitted well too.)
So many Japanese keep dogs. Most common breeds we saw were the dachshund and chihuahua. There were some shopping malls that allowed dogs in. Amazing. The pet shops sold mainly puppies and kittens. However, there was one we saw that sold about any pet you can think of - cats, dogs, lizards, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, birds, etc.
The cats we saw by the roadside were mostly very plump and cute. And so were the pigeons, seagulls (these not on the roadside...) and sparrows. The crows were HUGE. If you think the crows in Singapore are disturbing, you will get nightmares seeing those in Japan. i swear, they're of the size of a skinny chicken or about 1.5 times the sg crows.
Nissan Skylines machiam free lidat, so many on the roads. There were quads parked among motorbikes. Cruisers with scooter-size wheels were almost common. Motorbikes that looked modified and almost bare to the minimum were also commonly seen.
Ah, i forgot to mention how fast the bullet train a.k.a shinkansen goes. We were sitting at the station waiting for a train and these bullet trains just zip through the station and in the blink of an eye, they're gone. 16 carriages and all. You can feel the speed at which it's going, the ground shaking, the power of the train. And the bullet trains have been around for more than 30+ years. Can you believe it...
i keep saying that the train stations and trains in Japan look really old because their trains have probably been around a long time ago, maybe long before sg had her mrt trains, and because the trains are of so high technology and quality, they've never been changed since then.
Japan should have a "Stop spitting on the ground" campaign. The people there have very big spits (around 2" in diameter?). When we walk on the streets, we had to constantly siam or bounce around the street to avoid stepping on those. Eeks.
It'll be nice to have more garbage bins too, like what i've mentioned in one of the posts when i was in Japan.
Anyway, that's for now!
