Category: Tokyo, Japan 2004

Ok one last post before I wrap up the Japan trip post.

Day 3 – Night time
Odaiba was our next destination. Since its located on the other end of the train line, we had to change trains. Odaiba is built on reclaimed land at The Bay of Tokyo. There it houses couple of huge supermarkets, offices and one of the the largest Ferris wheels in the world! It is also a popular dating spot, not to be missed if you are on your honeymoon trip!

Ferris wheel

Rainbow Bridge

We bought sushi and chocolates to eat by the beach. The view of Tokyo city was magnificent, never once I saw such a lively city. There were floating restaurants by the beach. We could hear drunken Japanese singing songs on the boat.

mmm sushi , sake and woman..

lalalala the drunken men sang..

The weather was fine except for the chilling wind. We had our sushi and took photos.

Outside Palette Town

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. I took a flight back to Kuala Lumpur the next day. Jane didnt send me off cause she had to work. I left her a message saying goodbye to her.

Tokyo, we shall meet again!

Tokyo Day 3 – Day time
Initially Jane thought that I have been to Japan. However, once she found out that it was my first time, she immediately brought me to Asakusa, a tourist area.

Asakusa main attraction is the Asakusa shrine. The only thing that interests me was the huge red lanterns. Further, there was a row of souvenirs shops leading to the shrine. Katana cost about 6000YEN to 13000YEN. I didn?t have enough money to buy one.

You can get your fortune told at the shrine as well. All you need to do is donate 100YEN, shake a container containing wooden sticks with numbers. Once a wooden stick falls off, get the number and look for the drawer which contains the predictions. The paper that contains your fortune is called omikuji.

Jane was extremely happy with her predictions. Hers was something between the line of, ?be patient and you?ll be rich and famous?.

Unfortunately, I got a fucking bad prediction. It went something like,

‘Loyalty is of no use. Hard work has no value as it could only avoid damage. Sickness will take long time to cure. Stop or cancel all trips’

I was devastated! It?s just as bad as the prediction from Frank?s tarot cards. Fortunately, according to Jane, we could avoid the predictions by leaving the omikuji at the shrine.

We had dinner there. tekken don was awesome!

Lonely in Tokyo? Need an escort service? Just grab one of the stickers below and call the number 😀

Day 2
I met up with Jane for lunch @ Freshness Burger, very nice. Their cheeseburger contains beef patty and a fat slice of tomato.

After lunch, we ended up at Tokyo Post Office. This post office is special. They have a counter for stamp collectors! I bought 2 Hello Kitty stamps, a Astro boy stamp and another manga related stamp. It cost me a bomb (about 2000 YEN!)! I was dying for Doreamon stamps. Unfortunately, they ran out of Doreamon stamps.

We then walked to the Emperor’s palace. The palace was so huge that, right after our trip, our legs were literally falling off. However, we could only enter the palace gardens. Entrance to other buildings was strictly prohibited.

Water and tall walls surround the palace compound. Imagine during the old days when soldiers have to swim across the river, dodge arrows, track through the garden, fight and climb walls!

We headed straight to Shinjuku after that. We took a lift up to observation deck of the Tokyo Metro. There we could catch a bird eye’s view of Tokyo City!

Jane and I separated for a while. She had to attend a 2 hours class. I wandered around the streets of Shinjuku on my own.

Things were going fine time until my camera broke down! What could be disastrous on your Japan trip other than having your only camera breaking down at the scenic view of Shinjuku??

I meddled with it for half an hour. I thought this would be the end of my photography spree in Japan. Fortunately, after ripping out the film from the camera, It worked again! I was almost tripping when I found out that my camera was working fine! Phew!

Pachinko King??

Jane and I were supposed to meet up at 8:15PM. However, due to miscommunication, we waited at the wrong place and hence met up an hour later.

Engrish – A man waiting on a girl? Does that mean that he is on top of a girl? mm..in that case, A man waiting in a girl would be better 😀

One thing you’ll notice in Shinjuku is the homeless people. Some of them sleep in cardboxes but some would sleep on concrete floor.

I saw one living under a bridge. I approached him and pointed my camera to him. I then said,
“ii desu ka?”

He looked at me and smiled.

We dragged our aching body around Shinjuku, looking for a place to eat. Jane was very indecisive. We went places to places to compare prices.

Me: This one?
Jane: Nooooo..
Me: How about thiss One????
Jane: NOOO!!
Me: thiis onee???
Jane: chotto chotoo..NO!!

We ended up in a shabby looking restaurant! But oh well, the food was excellent!

The first few hours in Japan was fucked. I got lost in Narita Airport. I got into the wrong gate and accidentally gave my train ticket to the wrong person. I spent half an hour describing in broken Japanese and searching for my ticket. Fortunately, one of the staff there found my ticket within a stack of used tickets. Oh boy, what a great start.

The weight of my backpack almost killed me, especially when I had to wander around searching for train stations and my hotel. My shoulders ached. Its shitty when you travel alone in a foreign place with little knowledge of their system. Their public phones were in Japanese. Train stations were scattered around and not many people speaks English.

After leaving my luggage at my hotel (ANA Hotel Tokyo @ Minato-ku), I headed straight to the Malaysian Embassy. I ended up in Shibuya station and asked for directions. The first bus driver asked me to go to the other side of the station. I went. Found nothing. I asked another bus driver again. This time, he gave me directions and claimed that its within walking distance. So I thought, I was saved. Guess how long did I take to walk to the embassy? FUCKING 20 minutes!!!
I met up with Jane, my former Uni Hall mate. We had lunch @ Shibuya. According to her, the restaurant serves huge portions at a cheap price. It�s true, I had a bowl of noodles and a huge plate of rice at the price of 800 yen. We chatted and did a lot of catching up.

Shibuya 109

Hachinko statute and an Ah Lian looking Jap chick.

We dropped by our hotel to rest. She was hooked to the television. I fell asleep though. I haven�t been resting since 730AM!

Jane & I @ my hotel..this was after we…ummm…watch TV..heehe

View from my hotel room.

Dinner was at a restaurant at Roppongi. It was really pricey but the workers seemed to be very happy all the time.

Chef with a moustache made from seaweed. “Not all Japanese are like me”, he said.

We headed to Ronppongi Hills to get a great view of Tokyo Tower.

Meals in Tokyo cost a bomb but no doubt they were good.

Environment
Tokyo is environmental friendly. Garbage bins has separate compartments for plastic, paper and glass. Japanese are well discipline to separate them one by one.

Busses would turn off their engines whenever they stop, especially while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Politeness
Japanese are well known to be polite. Whenever I enter a shop, they would greet me and thank me whenever I leave. However, their politeness has no effect on me. IMHO, I think that their welcomes and thank yous were inputted into their system. I find no sincerity in their greetings as it is just a part of their routine.

Handphones
Japanese Telco puts our Malaysian Telco into shame. We are so far behind them. Japanese handphones has an email program, GPRS, high quality camera and even video conferencing!

Latest phones in Tokyo. Anyone care to translate it for all the readers?

Girls
Japanese girls are soOooooooooooooooooo HOT, HOOTTT AND HOOTT!! In the main streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku, pretty girls are abundant. I think it’s about 10 PG/M!! (pretty girls per minute)

Tokyo was awesome! It was a huge eye opener.

Unfortunately, work sucked though. Due to miscommunication between parties, everything was moving at a slow pace and I couldn’t fulfil my task.

However, overall, it was fun. Jane, my former Sheffield University hall mate brought me around Tokyo. After my work (which usually ends in the afternoon), we would meet up for lunch and spend the entire day exploring Tokyo.

I brought back loads of souvenirs, ranging from hello kitty to porn. i’vN stupid porn almost got me into trouble. The custom officers found the book wrapped with a transparent paper bag. Fortunately, she didn’t flip the pages, otherwise there goes my law career.

I tried searching for the used underwear vending machines. I coudn’t find any though. Most of them were soft drinks and cigarrates.

Oh I miss Tokyo. I wish I could spend more time there!!!

Here are some photos from Jane’s camera phone.

Jane & I @ Roppongi Hills

Ferris Wheel @ Odaiba

Hello Kitty stamps issued by the Japan post!

Will give a detailed update when I get my photos developed!!

TOKYO TOKYO!!!

JAPAN JAPAN!!

I AM GOING TO TOKYO TOMORROW!

My firm decided to send me to Tokyo to get some papers authenticated. Unfortunately, I could only spend 3 days 2 nights in Tokyo.

I tried contacting my friend in Tokyo for this past few days but she hasn’t reply my mail till now. Oh no, I’m going to be alone in Tokyo!! noooOOoo!!!

However, in any event I have to spend my time alone in Tokyo, what should I do? Where should I visit? Is there any thing that I should take notice of? Any good photography spot?

Here’s an amusing article I read from Lonely Planet, written by Jane Thompson

My threadbare underwear was, apparently, an irresistible temptation. So irresistible, in fact, that late one suburban-Tokyo night it inspired someone to scale a wall, leap onto my 2nd floor balcony and liberate the motley collection from the clothesline.

Anyone who has ever tried to find gaijin sized undergarments in Japan will understand the certain practical consideration that magnified my distress. ‘My underwear has… disappeared, ‘I told my landlady, pale-faced, unable to come up with the Japanese for ‘stolen’. She cottoned on at once – and called the police. Under the watchful eye of eight (!) police officers, I spent a good hour or so field question about the colour, size and texture of the missing articles. They’d keep an eye out, they told me, but I really should e more careful.

More careful? My Japanese friends were shocked and horrified – that I’d been so stupid as to peg my bras and undies on an outdoor clothesline in the first place. Every nation ha its share of knicker-snatchers, but Japan, it seems, may have more than the usual sprinkling.

I thought of getting those used panties on sale @ shops. But after watching this video….not in this life man..

Cya guys in 3 days!