Day 1 in Tokyo....Excited and Nervous

Flying over the snow mountains in Russia
Its amazing how straight the coastline looks from this picture.

Flying over Japan

After flying for more than 14 hours on the plane, I finally touched down at Narita Airport. It was the beginning of my 5 day stay in Tokyo....alone. Felt so excited. Made a fren on the flight there. Haruna-san was sitting beside me and she was on her way back from Mexico City. She was kind enough to bring me to Ikebukuro Station where I stayed and helped me buy ticket for the Narita Express along the way...really nice.
Me and her on the Narita Express towards Tokyo.
With her help, I got to my hotel at Ikebukuro with ease..Thanks! I was greeted by a huge crowd outside the station and it was incredible. Never seen so many people in one place...I only heard from my tour guide 3 days later that 10 million people stay in Tokyo and thats 10% of the entire Japan population!

Thats my hotel on the right...Dai-Ichi Inn Ikebukuro. I would recommend this hotel. Its surprising decent for its price. SGD 630 for 5 nights. It right next to the railway station so its very convenient. Shopping wise, there are three huge shopping centers..Parco, Tobu and Seibu all right next to the station.

The view from my hotel room. Its beside the railway track but its surprisingly not too noisy.

After settling down, I went to explore the area. Thats the backalley behind my hotel. A few bars, lots of Pachinko shops - their gaming centre. Their shopping centers are huge..Seibu itself is 12 storeys high. Lots of things but all very expensive :(

Another happening place - Sunshine 60 Street. Again alot of Pachinko shops, HMV, restaurants and other shops.

The crowd outside the train station..

Day 2 in Tokyo...Very Tired but still excited!

I couldnt sleep the entire night...due to jetlag. Only managed to sleep at 530am but woke up at 7am. Anyhow, I didnt come to tokyo to sleep so I drag myself out of bed and went to my first destination.

Shinjuku

My first stop in Shinjuku is the Metropolitan Government Office. Its one of the top 10 places to go to in Shinjuku according to my guide book. Its quite a beautiful building with two observatories, one in each tower...and the best thing is...its free!
Had a pleasant surprise when I walked over to the Shinjuku Central Park....my first Sighting of Sakura!
Thats just the beginning of the Cherry Blossoms period..in the next few days, I was lucky to be able to see them everywhere I go.
The streets of Shinjuku
Pity I didnt get to try Krispy Kreme over there. The queue is freaking long and its only like 930 in the morning. Looks like its not only Singaporean who queue for doughnuts.
Takashimaya Times Square...another 13 storey high shopping centre...there is a 7 storey high Kinokuniya beside it. Their books collection is huge...but mainly in japanese.
Thats my lunch. Prawn Spaghetti. It cost me 2100Yen..thats like 30 SGD. The taste is weirdly nice...nothing like what I have eaten in Singapore. The prawns are very tender ...melts in your mouth.

Harajuku

After filling my stomach...I headed to my next stop - Harajuku.

This is Takeshita Street opposite Harajuku Station...its really 人山人海. You have to squeeze your way through the crowd. Its like our Heeren where all the youngsters gather during the weekend. Lots of shops selling clothings, accessories and other weird stuff.
Shop with a funny name...Mother Earth..Father Sky? lol
The intersection that leads to Harajuku station on the left, Meiji Jingu Shrine at the center and Yoyogi National Stadium on the left.
Thats the Harajuku Station on the left. Getting in and out of that place needs some serious pushing.
The young punks of Japan!
......... Second from the left...Sadako?
The Gate of Meiji Jingu Shrine...Getting here is a 20 minutes walk from the main gate.
I think I witnessed a wedding ceremony...I hope I did. lol

I wanted to go to Shibuya according to my itinerary but I was stucked in the train for half and hour due to some incident. The announcements were made in Japanese and I couldnt understand a single thing. The only thing I know is..the train is not moving. Luckily...the rail system is so vast that you can easily change to another route to get to your destination. But it was too late so I decided to skip Shibuya and go meet Sandy at Roppongi Hills instead.

Roppongi

It was nice to meet her there after walking alone for the whole day and not talking to anyone. We went to have a little sushi as appetizer before our dinner.

The sushi are really very nice and taste very different from Singapore. The one on the right is Nato..纳豆..taste really....weird ...sticky and bitter...eeww.

Then we went to a ramen place. Interesting, you have to pay for your meal ticket before stepping into the restaurant. Cool!
Finally, got someone to take my picture for me! Lol. Thats the bad thing about travelling alone.
We went up to the observatory at Roppongi hills. Thanks to Sandy who works there...I get to go up half price! but thats still 750 Yen. But I got a nice view of Tokyo Tower at night. yeah!

Day 3 in Tokyo...Frozen

It was a horrible day...in terms of weather. I was supposed to go to Tsukiji Fish Market and then to Disneyland but it was raining. So I have to rearrange my plans. Little did I know that it will be so cold out there. It was less than 10 degrees and I was freezing even though I was wearing my jacket. My feet felt so cold and painful while walking...it was torturous. Anyway, I went to quite alot of places in one day..and walked so much..think its like 24km route march for me. lol

Ueno

It was 7am in the morning and I was walking in Ueno Park under the rain. The Museums are closed and the zoo is closed. But I kinda enjoy the peace and quiet of that place. With all the sakura trees...its beautiful.

One of the many shrines inside Ueno park

The Shinobazu Pond

Benten Hall

Asakusa

Asakusa is a very interesting place. Here you can see the beautiful Asakusa Kannon Senso-ji and the Gojuno-to (Five Storey Pagoda)

Me outside the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate)

The street leading up to the Hozomon (Treasury Gate) has lots of stall selling food and gifts. Its a shopping paradise and a good place to get presents..I bought most of my presents here. lol

Look at the packaging...so nicely done..

I was quite tempted to buy one of these doggie back...they are soooo cute. But I didnt... :(

The Kannon Senso-Ji

Me and the five storey Pagoda

Akihabara

I braved the pouring rain at Akihabara, the place for manga , anime fans and also people looking for electronics stuff. Highly recommended by my fren who been there, I went there to see if there are any dragonball stuff that I can find.

Indeed there was this block where they sell all the manga, anime figurines and cards...a heaven for all the school kids. But they are all very expensive...sigh...

Thats my lunch at one of the small eatery at Akihabara..not too bad. Cost about 700 Yen. I love tempura...Oishii!

Tokyo Imperial Palace

Sadly the Imperial palace is only open twice a year....once during New year day and then on the emperor's birthday. So I can only walk around the perimeter and take pictures.

Statue of Kusunoki Masashige outside the imperial palace-a 14th Century Samurai who fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in his attempt to wrest rulership of Japan away from the Kamakura shogunate. (Found this info from the web) Hehe..

Ginza

I didnt find Ginza particularly appealing to me. Its like our Orchard Road...just very much more expensive. But I paid a visit to the sony building where they have the latest gadgets on display.

The camera with auto-face tracker.

Its interesting to find this building among the modern building in Ginza..and its packed with people waiting to watch the performances. Its the Kabuki-za Theatre.

Four obasan taking a photo before going inside for the show.

The billboard for the show and the actors information outside the theatre.

Tokyo Tower

How can I go tokyo without paying a visit to Tokyo Tower...its magnificent . A super huge structure up close. Yeah, I love observatories...this is the third observatory I have been to. lol

The view from the main observatory about 150m above ground. That cost 820 Yen and to go higher to the special observatory, you have to pay more. The main one is good enough for me. Zojo-ji Temple just beside the Tokyo Tower...I went there abit too late and its already closed. But still can take pictures!

As tall as the tokyo tower.

Shibuya

I decided to end my day by paying a visit to Shibuya..the place I skipped the day before. It nothing great...just another shopping area filled with people.

Look at the crowd waiting to cross the road...

For dinner, I decided to buy from the Departmental store where they sell all kinds of food at the first level. So I went around picking stuff for my dinner and below is what I ended up with.

The dessert with the strawberry is super nice...love it. cost only 298yen. the rest all ok only.