Conference, Ginza, Shibuya

I didnt travel much my third to fourth day in Japan. Cos I was having my conference. Those were the typical breakfast in Japan. The onigiri cost about 140 yen (1-2SGD) for one. I chose raw salmon onigiri. Amazingly there was no fishy smell on the onigiri although it's raw. Very tasty. The taste of the vinegar (mizkan) was not to sour as what you get in other places. Totemo oishii desu!!

Then we got this multiple onigiri for 680 yen plus some side dishes. Delicious!!



This is the conference hall that I attended. It's known as Funabori Tower Hall, Tokyo.

The conference lunch. Unlike other conferences, you get only lunch. No teabreaks! I got hungry in about two hours. Sad. However, the meal was nice ^_^

Those pics taken at Ginza, Shibuya and Shinjuku area during the day were from my sis camera. I didnt join them due to my conference. While the night pics were from me. Yes, we went there again to search for our okonomiyaki+monjayaki restaurant! Yay!

Ginza area pics ....

Those were at Shibuya area (including Harajuku).

This is the okonomiyaki+monjayaki restaurant that I am talking about!! This restaurant is really nice and delicious!!! Even the salad taste so good. I think majorly due to the freshness of the ingredients while partially the sauce that you used to cook the thing. By looking around, I guess we were the most messiest table in the restaurant. Although, it was a self-served restaurant, the boss cant really stand the way we cook it. And when he was not noticing on our table, we will mask away our messy cook state by shoving all the "unsuccessful" cooking art into the waste beside the hot plate!

OK now let the chef start cooking!!Of course we had the famous okonomiyaki. The ingredients inside this okonomiyaki consist of a mixture of bacon, seafood, meat, egg, constarch and cabbage that is mixed together. This was the okonomiyaki me and mummy created! She cooked first half while I cooked second half. Then my sis doesnt like half cooked egg, so she put the egg on the hot plate for pan-frying. Great okonomiyaki!!!!

Then we saw the next next table noodles and we decided to try a mixed one too (meat and seafood mixture). But too bad this is too salty. On other tables, they only used less than a quater of the sauce and for us, the sauce just disappear into halves! Guess what, the noodles were tooooooooooooooooooo salty. We had no choice but to ask the boss to give us a glass of water. Then when he turned away, we pour the water onto the noodles and it made the noodles taste so good after a few times of washing. I guess the boss must be shaking his head and hope we never return to his shop hahahahaha ... cos we mess up the place and used up most of the sauce that he supplied. However, amazingly, those customers from other table just didnt really care on how you do your cooking. In Singapore or Malaysia, people will just look at you as if you are some alien or what .... so you dont really feel comfortable doing all the stuff that you like. But here, no matter what you do, they just do their own stuff. This is something that I like in Japan ^_^

Next we had our monjayaki. The boss really cant stand the way we mess up his ingredients. So he took over and cooked for us! And it was far more tastier than what we had cooked before! The master is still the master! Though there were much embarassment, but I really enjoyed this restaurant! And guess what it's not expensive too. I had this once at the at restaurant near Corpthorne Kings Hotel and for 4 dishes, it will cost you about 150 to 200SGD with half a portion that you get in Japan. The total amount that we spent here is only 70SGD!! You get double the portion and half the price which you definitely cant get this kind of quality and quantity in Singapore!!! Japan might be expensive at first glance, but after considering the quality and quantity of the food, it isnt really that expensive at all!

Mount Fuji = Fuji-san = 富士山

It was the second day in Japan. These two days had been raining most of the time. From the moment we stepped out from the hotel till we got back to the hotel. I later then found out that actually, during that time, Taiwan was having typhoon. There is a possibility that there might be floods in Japan!! No wonder we didnt even see a soul on the street! Three of us are like walking happily on the street wondering where on earth does the people go! Now I know why ... hmmmm ....

It took us about 3 hours to reach Mt Fuji from Tokyo. Since I am staying in Funabori area (which I will blog it later), I need to transfer 3 trains. First is from Funabori (Tokyo Metroline) to Tokyo station and from Tokyo station to "Cant remember what" station that leads to Mt Fuji (JR line) and lastly from that "cant remember what" station to Mt. Fuji. It takes us about 3 hours to reach Mt Fuji from the place I stay. WALAU .. EHHHHH .... very far. What I did was sleeping as I didnt even get a wink while I was on the flight and on the first night at the hotel. It was a nice sleep though .. hehehehe ....

We finally reached the station. We need to take shuttle bus to round the Five Fuji Lakes where you can get to catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji at any area of the lakes. We missed the bus and we need to wait half an hour for that. Therefore, we loiter around as there are a few shops which are open.

Apart from selling their local products, they have restaurant there too. It was not expensive as the food range cost about 600-900 yen (approx 10-15SGD) excluding drinks. That's the cheapest meal cost in any part of Japan. So you can imagine how high their living cost is ...


Those were the candies box that you can find anywhere in Japan. Just that maybe they have different pictures for different places. So we got the one with Mt. Fuji pics imprinted on it! We can find this in Singapore too. But the ones in Singapore are VEEEEERY sweet. The ones in Japan are mildly sweet. And it cost 300-400 yen (approx 5-6SGD). In here we get about (3-4SGD??) cant remember as it was sometime ago that I bought it.

This is Mt. Fuji special! Didnt get to know what this is as we dont really know how this is cooked. But from the look of it, it looks tasty to me. hehehehehe ...

We boarded the bus. Visited the shrine at Mt Fuji viccinity. Along the way, I picked up some pictures which I find it interesting.

Little girl is going back home all by herself. Can imagine how safe Japan is!!!

The blue bell flower ...

Mr. Bee is so hardworking even on rainy days ...

Caught the glimpse of another one hidden among the flowers ...

My mum was soo afraid that I got stung.. Hahahaa

Bus driver no. 1. A very good in service.

He u-turned all the way back when we said we miss our station.

We met some Singaporeans on the bus too. Those who never know

how dangerous it might be during that typhoon period. Hahahaha ....

Bus driver no. 2. This bus uncle, took us all the way just to look at

Mt. Fuji. The route was not the normal route that the bus took. Good Service!!

Took some pics on the bus along the way. Those were the Five Fuji Lakes.

From the moment I stepped on the land of Mt. Fuji, I never had a chance to view it. Cos that day was really very cloudy and misty. You can feel the cold breeze and mist brush passed your cheeks. I was disappointed. According to the folksay, if you are unable to view Mt. Fuji, you will not return to Japan again. I would love to visit Japan again, therefore, I wanted to see Mt. Fuji very much. But God is really kind. The curtains of clouds open their way for us for approximately 20 mins. Then, the clouds closed the Mt. Fuji again. I was very much delighted and overwhelmed!!! Mt Fuji is MAJESTIC!! I just hope this volcano mountain will continue to sleep so the people can enjoy this view much longer ....

Though we were all wet ... be it our shoes or clothes .. we were really happy that we saw this Mt. Fuji. The chances of me going back to Japan is high ... hehehehhee ... it's worth the 6 hours plus travelling just to see Mt. Fuji!!

Sensoji Temple aka Asakusa Kannon Temple, Asakusa

Akasuka Temple .... oops .. that's was my version when I visited this temple. My sister was puzzled. "Akasuka??!!! We are not going to Akasuka where I dont even know where it is!" Only then I realised it was Asakusa Temple. To be correct, it is Asakusa Kannon Temple aka Sensoji Temple. It's the oldest temple in Tokyo and it's a must visit when you are in Tokyo. Therefore, Tokyo Metropolitan isnt just shopping for you ^_^. This totally suit a non-shoppers like me!

A little history of this temple which I read from Wikipedia (I dont really read the signage hahahahhaa ... tooo busy snapping photos) ..... This temple was build in 645 during the early years of Tokugawa Shogunate and inside this temple, there is a small shrine dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy (Buddhist religion). I am not really a history person. So to find out more, please visit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sens%C5%8D-ji

Well, the first one is the entrance towards the temple. It actually has two entrance, so I cant really figure out which is the main entrance. This temple were so crowded with people. I was thinking whether is it because it was a Sunday or or is it because it was a special occasion or is it because the temple is always crowded. Not because of tourist but because of a lot of the locals crowd this place. Probably, this temple really answer their prayer? I dont know just some wild guessing ... heee ...

This is the tree (is it a willow?) that you can see if you are an anime lover! Nearly every temples you will see this tree around. I wonder how many years has this tree been standing? I dont think it's as old as the temple though ... cos it doesnt seem tall at all .... Most of the time, you will see youngster and "mediumster" wearing yukatas and the guy in their traditional wearing (not sure what it is called) when they visit temple.

This is the first and foremost temple before the Tokugawa shogunate era in this place. I guess you will be awed on how good they maintain the prefectures of this temple! It just look as good as a new one! Just like in the anime, heh~ *grins* ~

This is how the area looks like. Together in this pic is my mommy and sis ... Too bad they are maintaining the main temple (on the right). So cant really see what the structure is like though! But it's a beautiful place!

Not sure because it's in the Tokugawa era, most of the well-known temples that we visited have pagoda ... I wonder why ... hmmm ...



Then, we saw this HUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEE straw sandals known as "O-Waraji"! It was made by 800 citizens! Amazing, huh!! Cant really underestimate the power of humans .. tsk .. .tsk ... tsk ... It is said to protect people from evil charms and wish you safe on the road. A lot of people will touch this big straw sandal!



Then, we moved on to the inner part of the temple (the one which is under construction). I was mesmerized by the drawings on the ceiling of the temple. Everything seems come to live. I really respect those ancient drawings (anywhere not only restricted to Japan). It's hard to find those kind of drawings that really touch your soul nowadays.

A wishing note? You will see those wishing notes tied on this "rack" in any part of any temple in Japan.

Want to know what's your fortune is like? Dropped a 100 yen coin into the box ---> take the container on top of the cabinet ---> shake and get one stick out ---> find your number on the small drawers ---> take your fortune note and read yourself! But be sure that you know how to read Japanese language or else it will just be pointless as there is no one there to translate for you. LOL!!!!

After taking and looking around the pictures, always when you are with Ee Ling, food is always the number one in her place. No matter where she is!! This is a street where in the ancient days pilgrims will stop here to replenish their food and basic necessity after long travelling. Now, it was reconstructed to become THIS! Filled with things that to be sold for tourists and locals!

However, I am not really that interested in things but on the FOOOOOOOOOD!!!! First stop of food is this sweet dessert. Not sure what it is called. Outside is a thin layer of dunno-what-flour and inside was filled with a thick layer of red beans. It's doesnt taste like the "tau-sar" (mashed red beans) in Malaysia or singapore - black and very very sweet! You can see it was red beans that is cooked till really really soft and they mashed it to make the fillings of this sweet cakes! Taste nice and not too sweet! I think it will really goes well if you have a cup of green tea with you! Just love it!!

See I am not just saying it! Look at their red beans. Instead of the black ones (I think probably because the red beans or sugar go burnt??!!) that we always get in our "bao" (chinese buns), we get really authentic mashed red bins here!!

Next is another sweet cakes from another stall. I guess good food needs queue! I forgot to mention that just now at the previous stall, we need to queue for about 15 mins to get our sweets! And this too. We follow where the most locals crowd. So that's the indicator saying that the food is really good! This indicator applies everywhere I think ... hmmm ... maybe yes .... maybe not .... cos there are certain stalls in Singapore and Malaysia that I eat dont seem to taste as what I expect .... but at least the standard is there la ^_^. We bought 3 different taste from this stall. Black sesame, green tea and pumpkin. As you can see, the fillings and the layer of skins are made from their respective fillings! Taste good too Hehehe....

Then we saw a series of biscuits! Dont know how this biscuits taste cos it was not cheap. I think 8 pcs cost about 800 yen? Cant really remember but we didnt buy cos it's too ex ...

Then we tasted the fishes too. It's also a sweet cakes! Filled with red beans. The texture of the outer layer is totally different from the first one! Love it love it love it! They have this in ION Orchard Singapore. But ION Orchard filling is too little and the outer skin is too thick. Dont taste good. The fillings in Singapore version is too sweet in comparison! Hmm .. not that healthy. Maybe improvement should me made ... hahahhaa.... Well, well that's not for me to decide. It's just my opinion. Maybe others doesnt think this way ...

Ok folks. I hope you are not too tired reading this post and I do hope you enjoy it. Next stop will be ... ummm ... Mount Fuji! Till then. See you guys in the next post!