After our wonderful Modern Kaiseki meal at Ryugin, we wandered around the nearby Roppongi Hills area:Definitely some wonderful architecture, but probably a bit too complex and confusing for its own good. We then proceeded up to do the touristy thing and see the Tokyo City View in the Mori Building:After failing to capture Tokyo Tower properly (my [...]
On our last day in Tokyo, after a great uber Ramen lunch, we headed off to see the much-talked about center of energy known as Shibuya... on a Saturday.We had heard it could be a madhouse, especially on the weekends, and just like our previous days' experiences, nothing could've prepared us for the shock and crash of High Style with Street Style [...]
So after the amazing glory that was Lunch at Menya Kissou, we headed off to properly appreciate Nakano and the packed mall that is Nakano Broadway (our friend had showed us a bit of it a few days earlier, but we were literally on a speed tour, just speed-walking through the entire area and leaving :).Here's some shots of Nakano Sun Road / Nakano [...]
So after the simple, but tasty lunch at Chiifu, we got back to our hotel in time for our transportation to Kansai Airport. It was hard to believe, but our Japan Trip was finally coming to an end, ::sniff:: (;_;). Some more uniquely Japanese signage on the way to the airport:I had no idea that Kansai Airport was on the ocean!Kansai Airport itself [...]
So on the 7th day of our Japan Trip, it was the last morning in Tokyo and we started our exciting journey to the old imperial city of Kyoto. Here are some early morning shots of Tokyo as we leave by bus to the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) Station.Kawaii Hello Kitty Bus that we passed by:At the Shinkansen Station, with the Bullet Train to Kyoto just [...]
I had heard all the statements from people saying that "Akiba" (short for Akihabara) was the ultimate place to get electronics and/or find things based on Anime, Manga or Games. Even with that preparation, getting off the train at Akihabara Station was a wacky and bizarre experience.Here's some random signage that's commonplace throughout [...]
So after the wonderful Yuba lunch we had, we were off to see the fully blooming Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) in Kyoto! We were truly blessed, after having arrived in Tokyo earlier just in time for the full-bloom of the Sakura, when we arrived in Kyoto it was also full-bloom and all the locals were out this day! We headed off to Maruyama Koen (Park), [...]
So we arrived at Narita airport and transferred to our wonderful hotel in Shinjuku. It's a spacious, gorgeous hotel room with nice amenities! Easily the best hotel room I've stayed at in the last 5 years anywhere!We settled in (for like 10 minutes) and then grabbed our cameras to head out to explore and grab some dinner! (^_^) This is the first [...]
When we got back to our hotel at night, we received a voice mail / confirmation that our ride to the Kansai airport would be picking us up at 1:00 p.m. the following day. This gave us a nice opening on our 9th and final day in Japan to experience another section of Kyoto we always wanted to see, which was The Philosopher's Walk.Here's a final [...]
One of Japan's many phenomenons, the Depachika (Department Store Basements) are the basement floors of large Japanese Department Stores that are literally filled to the brim with nearly endless rows of Food Booths! Freshly made (anything) is seemingly sold there, from freshly made Bento Boxes (Lunch Boxes), to Meat Bowls, to Croquettes, to [...]
