Japan Day 2

travel date: 1/27/2011
resuming my japan trip post……heavy pic Embarrassed smile

woke up early - jet lagged!! not all bad since our 1st stop is tsukiji market. we wondered around the dry and wet market for a long time before we found our main destination....sushi dai. after several "sushi dai ni wa doko desuka" and some tamago we finally saw a bunch of people queuing outside sushi dai. after 2 hrs, several photos and some snacks it was finally our turn to enter the famous sushi dai which sits only 13 patrons. we ordered one special set and one normal set.

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after a heavy brunch (should have order 1 set), we made our way to sensoji temple. the friendly sushi master. he knows a bunch of languages.

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tokyo is very very safe. kids go to school by themselves. no kidnappers in tokyo?

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kaminarimon (thunder gate)

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nakamise shopping arcade leading towards sensoji. i had so much fun exploring this street. lots of snacks and souvenirs (my kinda thing).

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skewered kibi-balls covered with soybean powder

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ningyoyaki - small cake with red bean paste filling

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the 2nd gate, hozomon

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got a bad fortune mikuji :( tied a knot on the metal wires hoping the bad fortune will not attach to me.

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fanned the smoke from the burning incense for purification and luck.

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threw a coin for offerings and made a prayer.

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after all the religious and cultural activites, it was time for foood. we went to daikokuya for their famous tendon. it's on one of the streets by nakamise-dori. pretty easy to find. there were a lot of people and we had to wait for 30 mins to be seated. the tendon is darker and the batter they used is different from what i usually have. definitely something different to try.

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after lunch, we made our back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to shinjuku-odakyu train station to catch our train to hakone. we bought the hakone free pass(5000 yen) and got upgraded to the romance car(870 yen) since we want to get to our ryokan in time for dinner. warning!! there are no luggage space in the romance car. we got to stuff our luggage in our legroom area and put our legs on top of the luggage. it was an uncomfortable ride.

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we missed the bus to our ryokan by seconds and decided to take the cab instead. cabs are expensive. they charge you 710 yen once you get in. fortunately, the ryokan is nearby and the meter didn't tick at all. hooray!!

funny story. we didn't want to wear our yukata to dinner since we weren't sure how to put it on. thinking we should observe how people wear them first. then we walked out the room with slippers provided. on the way to the dining hall, we realized that we didn't know about the slippers either. were they meant to be worn in the room or outside?? we quickly looked at people's feet to check. yup, they were meant to be worn outside the room. phew~~~

our kaiseki dinner. very ornate and incredibly delicious.

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after dinner, we rest a bit and wore our yukata ready to try out the onsen. i was a little wary being naked in front of strangers for the first 5 mins.but, i totally enjoyed the experience. it was so tranquil dipping in the outdoor onsen with bamboos and trees everywhere. it felt therapeutic, but that might be my brain acting up.

thoughts: japanese are very polite. a lady tried to open the door to my washroom cubicle. when i got out, she was very apologetic (all i could made out was "sumimasen") and all i could say was daijyobu ^_^





11 comments:

Jin said...

oh man!! i am so jealous! all these photos are amazing!!
argh~~~

*******
ah really?? i would think there would be some nice big places there XD at least theres a really nice king spa over there? XD

♥♥♥hintofguilt said...

Looks so fun!! :D I wish I could go to Japan! and yeah.. I heard most things there are pretty expensive.. =/ .. and at least the cab is more safe :) ? . love the photos! :D

Angela said...

I have not gone to Japan in years.... looked so fun.

sugar sugar said...

the japanese dolls are so cute and everything looks so yummy! i agree the japanese are indeed very polite and it's so nice to talk to them. :)

Anonymous said...

it rues all the kids walk and catch the train home all the time.. i still dunno if id let my kid do that in tokyo hahaha. nice pics! asakusa is such a classic tourist spot :) I go there now and then!

Anonymous said...

it's true* oops

Oh to Be a Muse said...

oh how cool. looks like such a lovely trip. one of these days i have to get myself over to japan--and now i really want sushi, of course.

by the way, i love the china glaze polishes in your previous post!

Please enter for a chance to win a beautiful Jennifer Elizabeth fringe, shimmy necklace in your choice of color -- worth more than $200! The giveaway is open to everyone and ends May 14!

http://www.ohtobeamuse.com/2011/04/sadee-says-jennifer-elizabeth-giveaway.html

Penelope said...

wow, your pics are so vibrant. You've really given us a taste of Japan there! The food pics are making me super hungry!!

Venus Loves Virgo said...

Wonderful photos! I wish I was there! XOXO

breakingrumours said...

what a lovely trip! :D wish i had the chance to go there but oh well! :)

Lisa said...

Loved your japan trip pics!! You look like you had so many nommy things to eat on your trip!!

Hehe her name is Josephine..because we have another dog and his name is Napoleon haha..we thought it was fitting :)

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