It was a rather straight forward flight to Tokyo (Haneda) from Chitose, landing ~6pm, and an express bus took us to Hilton Shinjuku. A mistake on hind-sight as it took us ~2 hrs to get to Central Tokyo in the utter crawling traffic!! Grump, hungry, and facing the cold (not freezing), winds around Shinjuku at night to look for our Rose Garden Hotel. The hotel was basic, pretty small, a super twin of a bed. It was enough for us. Hilton would have porters, butlers, express bus to the Shinjuku station (when it'll take just 10mins to walk, duh). We're 1 stop away to Shinjuku via the Subway, it'll take ~15mins to get to the ticket counter though, as the Shinjuku is a monster of
any train station with JR, JR-express, and at least 2 subway lines + god knows how many other inter city lines there are!
We had wanted some fancy Sushi place (Saito), it was getting late and Saito was fully booked anyway. And off we went to a nearby mall with lots of japanese restaurants. This had a set meal for ~3250 yen? And finally I get to try Shirako, a slimy, gooey and pretty much tasteless cod sperm /sag thingy. A very bleah dinner in general.
We scooted off to the depths of Kabikochu, with plenty of black dudes trying to tout any unsuspecting guy into 'buffet drinking' / 'escorts? ' / caberet shows and other types of scams (Cue: Scam City). I saw an add for Robot Restaurant and immediately drag Wenhui to look for it. Another Anthony Bourdain 'to-do', it was supposed to be beyond comprehension. We were literally on the dot for the final show of the day, and each ticket a princely 6000 yen for 90mins. It was 90mins of mesmerizing, bizzare, scintillating, high-energy of pretty japanese-like (many could be from neighbouring countries, we think), on detailed, colourful, loud, and outrageous shark / monster / kungfu-panda type robets. There's no easy way to describe. Perhaps a Chingay show on steriods, or Mardi Gras / Carnival type.
My favourite performer, <3 drums="" p="" play="" to="" want="">
The first morning in Tokyo. St Marc's for breakfast. Lovely Croissants but Shitty Shitty Coffee. I'm not a caffeine addict, but I appreciate good coffee, and poor ones spoils the day! It was a quick 2 stop ride on the JR to Harajuku for shopping.
A fabulous famous lunch, with stellar ratings all over the net. No reservations allowed and we went early, had a tatami seating on the second floor while the first floor had bar counters and a queue was already forming. Pages of mouth-watering Tonkatsu of various cuts of black and regular pig graced the menu. And the verdict is: Yes, it's worth a michelin star for the quality of food. Pork chop at it's epitome!. Maison at Chijmes in Singapore is very close in quality in my opinion. Basically a perfect pork chop is not oily, not dry, has 'length' and yearns you to go for the second bite, and before you know it, it's GONE. The siew mai is great too, by the way!
After lunch, it was shopping time at Akiba, I spent ~1.5 hrs at Yodobashi to pick out bargains. with the 8% GST rebate for tourist, + 5% Visa instant rebate + 1 SGD = 90 yen (5 year old), erm..how much luggage space do I have?
Thousands of yen poorer, we walked around the main stretch of the tall buildings, and decided to head back for a nap. Sushi Saito was again closed and for dinner, we just went to Isetan Shinjuku to wonder.
Oh boy, the most Atas of super markets! Gourmet produce in immaculate displays. Spacious aisles and warmish-white lighting made for really lovely shopping. Here we bought some delicious green tea, fragrant, pretty strong palette and a remarkable finish that's not bitter nor sour.
I went Sake tasting too! Not great though.
I snaked around this particular counter several times, drooling at the perfect marbling of A5+ Beef from Hokkadio. In the end, I caved in and joined the 10-long Q. I wolfed it down almost immediately, the only gripe is that it's not hot enough, but well, a wonderful experience anyway!
The Real dinner followed soon after at a nearby dingy Udon place. Would have added a ton of spring onions as observing fellow Japanese diners doing that!
The next morning, we packed and check out 'bright and early', and head for Sushi breakfast at the Tsukiji market. Sushi Dai was impossible - probably those in line need to wait for 3 hrs to get a seat in those 10-12 hole-in-a-wall establishments. I simply don't understand the economics! There were other stores which were rather empty doubling as store-rooms. Well, the hungry tourists in us didn't care so much for the brand and went for a relatively short Q at Yamazaki.
After 30 mins in the cold, a drizzle started and we took our seats, for a ~3600 Yen Sushi set. Notables were the Arkshell (the BEST i'eve eaten), ok Aki, and fab fab squid, delectable Uni in perfect harmony with some sea salt? and the usual Toros.
A panorama of the chaos. It was drizzling and a long walk to a near by JR station to get tickets to Narita airport, and a short trip to Roppongi to see their x'mas season in full swing, and a quick stop at Jiro's.
An ultra quiet,smooth, and fuss-free JR NEX (Narita-express) train took ~70mins, and ~3600 yen? while a bus ride will take ~1hr 50mins and ~2400 yen. Off came the thermal gear and a notable ending is the Wifi Dongle which were with us for the last 10 days. Such wifi/ pre-paid SIM cards weren't common in 2012 when I visited. This was a god-send and work almost flawlessly for ~SGD$8/day. Pretty good for ~2-3 devices between the 2 of us. This will usually triumph the hotel wifi during 'peak hours'. A much newer plane from JAL meant comfy seats with generous legroom (for economy class). Grip was a 50min wait for the take off admist heavy rain and a super long Q of planes. Fortunately the entertainment system was a 'go' immediately after the boarding and one can use 3.5mm earphones directly!!! (FINALLY), meant that the wait was no problem at all. Light Turbulence set in till ~930pm when we were served dinner, a way too long hungry, thirsty, nausea-inducing wait! Else it was home sweet home! A superbly fast exit at gate C1 (right at the arrival hall esclator), and the belt clearance was the fastest I've ever been. A plan touch down to pick up point in ~15-20mins!
Important points:
- Landing in Tokyo en-route Chistose-Singapore is important as the temperature shock difference would be much less
- Uniqlo heat-tech thermal wear isn't very warm, just wear when in doubt! (when landing in cold countries)
- Good shoes are important in winter! My very first proper winter shoes --> Timberlands! :). Cue cold / wet feet, 2008 NY, 2013 Hokkaido.
- Dedicated wifi is pretty important
- Trust Weather forecast and plan itineraries around it
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