mah i figured i should post something about the japan trip!
i had so many things running through my mind when i came back
but couldn't decide what to say (you can say i was lazy too, haha)
so in the end, there was no update.
and then i took a look, omg the last entry was in May
its gonna be july soon!
so i spent last last last
LAST LAST LAST night trying to organize all the photos for one entry
i thought i could say i only have one collage for one city
but it turned out to be so much more than that :)
so be expected to see 82 collages in this entry :)
i tried my best :D
NAGOYA
guide for the city: miss wee :)
flight was delayed for an hour due to last minute change of plane
we suspect that wasn't even A380 we took o.O
arrived in tokyo about 7am in the morning
after exchanging our JR pass, we were on our way to Nagoya! :)
one word to summarize: LOST
couldn't find the museum at all cos we were on the wrong track
ended up walking ALMOST to the town called Toyota
so we decided to stroll around and had curry rice for dinner
while trying to see the lit up TV tower
we passed by this shop that sells lots of things
you name it, i think they have it
and so started the series of unglam pictures xD
not my type of entertainment, as you can see, haha :D
qi da wanted to steal the golden fishes so we wouldn't have to worry about expenses
but as the pulling weight game proves, we are too weak to move the gold
so we gave up on the idea and just took a photo with the (fake) fish :)
but there wasn't much to buy so we proceeded to the next location
it was a shopping street!
a very (price) friendly shopping street :)
we had yummy noodles for lunch before heading back to the hostel
(i think that was what we did, haha xD)
we headed out again
kx and qi da decided to be hip like the japan teenagers and wear uneven jeans o.O
it lasted about 1 minute, haha.
and we were in matching clothes! :)
we found some munchies for dinner
proceeded to mister donuts which was having 100yen promotions!
i love the lion head donut, don't know the name but its YUMMY!
i saw (a poster of) miura haruma, haha :)
and the first 100yen shop action begins!
miss wee and miss er bought eye lashes which was the no1 item in the shop :)
and thus ended the nagoya trip :D
KYOTO
guide for the city: xinwei :)

i am confused by all the castle and palace, what's the difference?
anyway, we signed up for an english tour
but it was such a big group, i can hardly hear the guide say anything
and we weren't allowed into most of the buildings
nonetheless, it was a pretty place
we had a choice between the manga and costume museum
i imagined that the manga museum would be filled with manga figurines
and history of popular manga, with lots of manga-like furnishings
but in the end, it was only a library
slightly disappointed
although there were lots of manga there, we did not have time to read them
and japanese characters take a long time to digest
they shouldn't call it a museum, its really a library o.O
ms wee, kx and jasmine found some entertainment in a colouring contest :)
i love the stamps that they provide in places of attractions
so that we can collect them as we travel from place to place :)

and it was the happiest discovery of mine in japan, haha
100yen mcpork and mcshake!
we passed by another museum and bought postcards
and then proceeded to buy dinner back to our ryokan :)
had onigiri and cup noodles for dinner
with my milk tea of course :DD
it was our first encounter with public bath in japan
and we were so traumatised that we kept screaming
luckily the bath was on B1 or the owner would have more things to dislike us about
HAHA :p


it was very crowded there and we saw couple in traditional costume :)
and so we requested a photo :D
the most famous activity there was the 姻缘石
it is said that if you can walk from one stone to the other with your eyes closed
you have found the right one, is going to find the right one :)
everyone was excited to try it out, not my kind of entertainment too
haha, a photo with the stone is good enough for me :)
the one that always appear on geo challenge! haaha.
it looks very pretty when viewed across the lake :)
as kiaying was out of job then, i decided to burn 2 candles
which is to find employment and family safety :)


where jasmine developed an interest in mini-hats o.O
we found yummy takopachi! :D
bought cheap bentos back to our ryokan for a bento dinner :)
looks pretty and expensive on the photo ya, its cheap bento really :D
played some asshole daidee before resting for the night
i forgot what was the super funny thing that had us all laughing like mad xD
mine was addressed to myself :)
haha, nothing important to send, i just want the japan postage stamp, lol.
OSAKA
guide for the city: mr neo
we decided to put on our masks on the train there
haha, in the end we realize no one was wearing masks
and i couldn't stand the heat from wearing masks
so we removed it upon reaching osaka, lol :)
its a very fun and interactive place, one of my favourite visits in japan :)
at this museum, we get to see the history of nissin instant noodles
how it's produced and the variety of noodles available
its like nissin science center xD
there are some limited edition flavours
but i went to choose the curry cheese flavour
not knowing that it was available everywhere
but it was YUMMY! so nice that i bought some back to singapore

which was to make our own personalised nissin cup noodles
we were each given a cup to draw and design on
and then it was sterilised and the noodle is added in
we get to choose our own flavour and four other ingredients
and then it was packed and ready to be taken home! :)
mine says kiaying's yummy cup (noodles), haha.
its a cheese curry flavour noodle with hiyoko-chan, crabmeat and prawns!

haha, attracted stares from passing by japanese
went to the floating garden for some night view sightseeing
didn't pay to go up to the highest level but it was enough for us :)
we found an interesting place at the basement of the building
which has streets that are dressed like the olden days
so we cam-whored abit before leaving the building :)
haha, my biggest dream (well maybe second biggest) is to visit a johnny's shop
biggest dream being to attend a NEWS/tegomass concert
or meeting massu in real life!
hahaha, okay i have too many biggest dream
anyway, we set off for the osaka castle and planned to just see it from the outside
and on the way, we passed by the osaka-jo hall
which tegomass will be having their first ever concert on 22nd july!!!
oh my, i am 2 months too early to meet massu, haha.
dreams come true were having their concert tours
we also saw koda kumi and dong bang shi ki's concert lineup on the schedule
we met a really nice obaasan who kept offering to help us take photos
she knew all the right angles to capture the castle :)
haha.
no one seems to know johnny's shop, and the place is just a mess
when we finally saw the shop, it was more of a relief, haha.
i received my job offer in the johnny's shop!
i am going to believe that johnny's bless me, haha :)
bought some massu photos, arashi and aiba photos for my sis
considered buying the NEWS calendar, decided not and left the place
they found more entertainment at a 400yen shop
and played cross dressing :D
i was busy admiring my newly acquired photos :D

but it looks suspiciously quiet to us.
after xinwei read the very long notice on the door
we realised that it closed down in march 2009, what bad luck!
there goes our most-looked-forward-to-activity of the day.
so we settled for takopachi and cheap sushi and okonomiyaki along the streets
strolled down the streets and made our way back to the hostel.
I LOVE OSAKA! :D
FUKUOKA/NAGASAKI
guide for the city: six-day-a-week jasmine
we checked into khaosan hostel, which was bad cos our room was very small!
constantly banging into each other, haha.
the common room wasn't friendly too, one of the reasons i don't like it
plus it was under renovation and very far from the station!
checked out the yahoo! dome, which is a practising ground for fukuoka's baseball team
we happen to chance on a match, but didn't have the money to go watch :D
roamed about the shopping centre and saw pretty cakes on display
they were graduating works of some students, very nice! :)

the water was cooling and the breeze was great!
we spent a lazy afternoon at the beach and took photos with a pillar
hahaa, i think i almost died laughing at the photos that came out
we had a floating body, a superman and a dancer doing a split!
haha, and also the 千手观音 :)
we heard there were over hundreds over a river
but when we got there, it was a miserable ten?
and they were super expensive, so we didn't eat any kebabs in the end
only shared two bowls of very expensive (and disgusting) ramen
went searching for more food at other restaurants
and we found a very good shop that sells tasty mapo tofu!
even daigo visited the shop before :D
haha, he seems to be all over japan, saw his autograph quite a few times
we were given first class seats in the green car! damn shiok
the car looks so pretty, it doesn't look like a train :)
after checking in at our hostel, the akari hostel
we were strolling around the area which is famous for its spectacle bridge
it is said to be the first bridge that uses this design
and you can see a pair of spectacles when combined with the image in the river
as you can see, the sashimi fully covers the rice and spreads over the plate!
unlike the miserable piece you see in singapore's restaurants
love the toro sushi! its a fatty kind of salmon which melts in your mouth
*drools*
watched "ima, ai ni yukimasu" back in the hostel
its so touching, we all started tearing
the little boy is sooooo cute :DDD
his name is yusuke, or youscare as jasmine calls him, haha.
oh i just realised he's nowhere in the collage
but you can visit our facebook photos for his picture :D
he brought us to a wet market, which was already closing by the time we reached
and then to a shrine nearby our hostel
there's also a mini zoo next to the shrine.
and then it was byebye to yusuke and back to our hostel

but not before stopping by shops for some quick shopping
i love uniqlo and the 100yen shop in nagasaki!
i kept having the impression that dejima is an island but its not, haha.
it used to be an island where foreign traders who came to japan stayed
because japan wanted to control the influx of foreign religion
and so it was a place that housed and entertained the foreign merchants
quite an interesting place to visit
we played some games that they used to play and visited their houses
and entertained ourselves with photo taking :)
it's something like our prawn noodle but in soup form and had lots ingredients
nagasaki and fukuoka was in many ways similar to china and south east asia
as they were the cities that were closest to china
and there were many china students living in these cities
went to mount inasa at night for a night view of nagasaki :)
we spent 1200yen for the cable up to mount inasa

and spent the night on the mountain watching the sunset
although all we could see were fog, haha.
when it started to get cold, we made our way down the mountain
but not before kaixiang and qi da "broke up" at their self imaginery 绝缘石
hahaa.
HIROSHIMA
guide of the city: yeo qi da
one of my favourite cities from the japan trip :)
it not only has tasty food, it also has a rich history and very clean streets!
most of all, it is a city all about peace :)
we checked into hana hostel
which won our instant thumbs up due to the lift service
since we lived on the 5th (4th?) floor, we made full use of the facility, haha
ate hiroshima-famous-okonomiyaki at the train station
it was a very big portion and there was a long queue
being typical singaporeans, we joined the queue, haha.
it was really good, i love the udon in the okonomiyaki
when we were leaving, the queue was still there :)
although i had zero interest in cars, car parts, car engines, car models
it was still a very educating trip and i actually think mazda cars are quite cool
especially the yellow one :DD
including the different car models and how each engine developed
we were also shown how the cars were being built from scratch
and the various procedures of tests being carried out
and then we were brought to view the production line
where car parts were being installed

which has its doors open upwards and not outwards
its so seamless that we can't even find the door without the person telling us
its totally a batman car, haha.
makes me think that cars are so going through a revolution in the near future :)
well, i am still a taxi person as opposed to cars :D
too bad yukatas were so expensive, i really wanted to dress up and go...
on the streets, everywhere we turned, we saw pretty girls dressed in yukata
their hair and make up nicely done up
but nonetheless, we kept ourselves happy by spending all our fund money on food
haha, what else to do during a matsuri :)
so we joined in the mass dance :)
but it started to drizzle soon so we had to stop and disperse
the streets were filled with people
and despite the drizzle, many performances still went on
after hanging round for a while, we headed back to the hostel.
deers were a common sight on the island.
we were warned by qi da that they would attack you if you carry paper on your hands
and we witnessed a group of deers trying to snatch a bag away from a school kid
so dangerous!
and so we became wary of the deers :X
and decided to try some
the oysters are so fresh! its really tasty.
the uncle selling the oysters said he has heard of singapore
and commented that he saw on tv that smoking was not allowed in singapore
haha.
and everyone bought honey to bring home at a shop
spending a total of almost 10000yen, haha.
miyajima island is viewed as a sacred island in japan because an emperor named it to be
a shrine was built near the shore
the shrine is a UNESCO world heritage site (read more here)
the shrine would be submerged in the water during high tide
too bad we went during the low tide, would love to see the shrine in the water :D
but well, we get to walk up to the torii and get a close up look :)
its something like taiwan's 关东煮
oh but taiwan's 关东煮 is named after a japan food too, haha :)
the building is one that is left standing
after the atomic bomb turned everything within 20km into ashes
because it is directly under where the atomic bomb exploded
i used to think that the atomic bomb is what ended the WWII
and so its something necessary
but this visit shows so much of the other side of the story
innocent people were killed, more were affected for life
the building serve not as a memory for hatred to be passed on
but for us to remember that peace is such a precious thing
and the disaster that atomic bombing causes
i wouldn't say i changed my mind about that a-bomb that ended the war
but i definitely would not approve of such a thing being used again.
think about the children of tomorrow.
with gyoza!
i am a hungry tourist who ate a bowl of kimchi ramen and an onigiri :)
tried to play monopoly in our very small and crowded room, haha :)
we checked into matsunoki ryokan which provided free breakfast the next morning
there was supposed to be dinner too but it was a sunday so there was no dinner :(
after putting our things, we left for korakuen
which was a very pretty garden! :)
saw jelly fishes in the river on our way :D

and the scenery was pretty.
there was a bamboo forest, a tea plantation and lots of flowers in the garden :D
qi da was excited about his cranes, which were supposed to be of rare species
but they look normal to me :p

it looks very grand on the outside as it is not the usual green colour
we left behind BBS footprints in the castle grounds, haha :)
and sat by the river for a relaxing day in okayama :)
HAKONE/YOKOHAMA/TOKYO
guide for the city: MEE!
because its all about shopping and more shopping :D
anyway, we left for hakone after a very sumptous breakfast at matsunoki
it was a LOOOOOOONG journey to hakone.
we took a 4 hour train from okayama to shin-yokohama
and then took a short ride to odawara station
from there, we took another train to hakone yumoto station
and then changed to a bus which took us up the mountain to our resort
by the time we reached ichinoyu resort, it was about evening time already
and the bus ride up cost us 1000 over yen :X

in hopes that we can catch a glimpse of mount fuji but no luck :p
we took jumping photos and age photos. lol.
it was a very pretty scenery on the mountain coupled with fresh air :)
WOW IT WAS A SPREAD!
the food kept coming non-stop and they were yummy :)
i love their tofu, it has a texture that i find very very nice :D
there were meat, noodles, egg, salad, soup, etc etc!
and we also pre-ordered a fish at 2000yen when we booked the resort
its not that WOW but it tastes not bad :D
after the extremely full dinner, we played some games
and waited for it to be our turn to use the private onsen :)
although not the most pretty, but is what our budget allowed us to enjoy :)
me and xinwei also tried out their public bath the next morning
the water temperature is ohmygod HOT.
and that's a picture of a public bath where you sit on stools to bath :p
xinwei kena tau-pok because she went back to nua after a bath
haha.
packed our bags and got ready for another long journey down the mountain.
where we booked a hostel in place of the capsule hotel we originally wanted
the hostel looks okay on the first and third floor
but according to the guys, the second floor looks creepy
haha, its renovating but looks okay to me mah :)
we proceeded to the yokohama attraction, the ramen museum
it houses the best ramen from different parts of japan
and the interior of the museum is decorated such that it resembles the 60s
it looks really pretty.
and they have people dressed up as different roles in the museum
such as the station master, the grandpa who is the owner of a shop
and his grand daughter, all the characters have names and ages attached to them
i saw those paper planes that i used to play with when i was young
those styrofoam ones that came in a pack and you can assemble them
very nostalgic!
the ramen taste good but it was too salty and oily for me
but still it tastes better than the one we had in fukuoka
walked around in the museum for a while and left for the next place :)
but the factory outlet seems like a more worthy place to visit than shopping streets
damn, was i wrong!
we could afford nothing except mcpork at the outlet stores, haha
japan outlet prices means normal/expensive to us
moreover there was an irritating fish stench at the port
we couldn't even enjoy some sea breeze, yucks.
it was in yokohama that i bought my burberry's wallet!
so happy with the buy :D
so now i am no longer a fake burberry owner, haha :X
and that was 16000yen gone :X
next on my itinerary was a visit to Queen's square
where there is a futuristic town being built
it looks super pretty on my information
but as we passed by the place, it looks like any other city area :p
finally we were more interested in the ferris wheel than anything else
back to our hostel for some cup noodles and onigiris
the 4 minute hot water bath was exciting, haha
its the first hostel that requires us to pay 100yen for 4 minutes of water
but we realise that 4 minutes were more than enough
if we switch off the water while using the soap
its a good way to encourage saving of water
and also prevents people from hogging the bathroom
so i grew to like this idea :)
provided free by the hostel :)
the original bad impression for this hostel became more and more distant
haha, the egg was yummy!
we left for tokyo after that.
finally we are back in the city we started with :)
checked into mercure hotel
our second hotel for the trip and it was so C-O-M-F-O-R-T-A-B-L-E!
its great not having to lay your own sheets when checking into a room :D

we were all there to view the beer museum
but actually i just wanted to visit the famous landmark
where doumyoji waited for makino in the rain! :DDDD
but the beer museum was very fun too
there was a short film screened using video and props merged together
and it looks wonderful
like beer from the video would be shown pouring into a jug which is a 3D prop
damn cool.
and we also got to taste some beer cos kaixiang bought the sample set :D
and STAR SIGHTING NARIMIYA HIROKI!
not that i like him a lot, but omg he's the first japanese star i ever saw
loved his role in bloody monday alot :)
we proceeded to harajuku next :D
where i planned to stalk massu, haha :)
pasta tasted like heaven to us, because we were so deprived in japan.
had lots of pasta, pizza, potato salad and ice cream :)
all for only 1050yen which is about $15, very worth it!
kaixiang couldn't join us cos he was still full from his beer set :p
combed harajuku and managed to buy a RUSS K shirt
and sent out a postcard to hoifai, i wonder if he received it
bought one more uniqlo shirt and skirt before leaving the place
its a government office building which allows free view of tokyo's scenery
the corner which had the best view of tokyo tower was a restaurant
i feel so cheated.
spent some money on capsule machines even though i was broke
and left with 3000yen :p
watched some nakamaru doing bungee jump on CTKT before going to sleep :D

have been looking forward to the sashimi since the beginning of the trip
but dammit it was raining.
so miss wee decided to give it a miss, since she doesn't like raw food too
the fish market was a walkable distance from our hotel
the sky was bright at 5am and the fish market was bustling with activity
we managed to make it in time to watch the bidding
but it was so confusing
i couldn't make out who's the buyer and who's the seller
and what they were doing, i gave up :X
there was a lane specially opened up for visitors
so as not to interrupt the bidding process
kaixiang was amazed at how they can turn a fish market into a tourist attraction
haha.
next we went in search of sashimi!
we settled for the cheaper sashimi-don which costs about 1000++yen
as opposed to sushi which is about 3000yen
ordered a salmon and toro don, the toro was quite different from others i ate
and the servings were so huge that i got sick of them towards the end
lucikly it was still bearable for me
too bad no pictures were allowed :/
i wanted to visit odaiba, the rainbow bridge and the fuji tv station
but due to the rain, i had to give up this part of the plan
I WILL BE BACK, ODAIBA! :DD
and then went out shopping for souvenirs
as i was completely broke by then, i was just following them around :p
we were in search of 100yen shops
but find that they were almost non existent in tokyo
we stopped by shibuya and then harajuku again
before we finally saw a daiso branch there.
bought some more souvenirs and shopped around the unofficial johnny's shops
proceeded to shinjuku for more shopping
and then finally back to our ginza hotel
have been wanting to eat that since i saw it on the menu
had breakfast on the narita express towards narita airport
jasmine will be starting work at bnp and kaixiang at ubs :)
all the best! :)
and that's the end of our grad trip :)
i really had lots and lots of fun
it cannot be put down into words, nor do i remember every single detail
but i will always remember the feelings of happiness we share on the trip
i am sure that everytime i see a familiar scene of japan
BBS will be the first to jump to my mind :)
thanks for the wonderful experience
and may everyone have a smooth career ahead :)
PS:
this is the end of my entry.
i spent 3 nights writing it, now i am so dead tired.
please pardon any grammar mistakes and photo errors.
|~キア~| a.simple.girl.in.this.complicated.world 6/26/2009 03:48:00 am
MONTANA'SKY
キアです。
◆ Watch a Tegomass concert
. 欲しいの物 .
◆ A smarter brain
◆ Trip to Japan
◆ Full set of 琼瑶 novels
◆ Lots of pretty cloth
◆ A shop of my own (:
◆ Learn to knit/photoshop/blade
◆ KOI NO ABO single
◆ Skinny jeans
◆ Oversized Tees
◆ Nice necklaces
◆ Sushi/sashimi
◆ Steamboat
◆ Unlimited holidays
. あたし大好きの物 .
◆ Masuda Takahisa
◆ Kim Jae Won
◆ NEWS
◆ Kim Jun
◆ Kim Hyun Joong
◆ SHINee
◆ Onew
◆ Jiro Wang
◆ Teh si siew dai
◆ The colour yellow
◆ Mango, mushroom
, Corn
◆ Checkers & stripes
◆ DIY-ing
◆ Dramas
& Comics
◆ KTV
◆ Shopping & eating

◆ 海派甜心
. Watching .
◆ My Girl (Japanese)
◆ Samurai High School
◆ Tokyo Dogs
. ジャニース最新情報 .
. ブログ記録 .
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