The Moobells Trotter

cont... Day 5

From Izu, we trotted down to Tokyo. it was a long ride and we were very tired when we checked in Sunroute Hotel.

After checked in, we felt really hungry and went to the "happening" shinjuku to see if we can fish out our dinner and supper. ;-) Yoshinoya was just right at the corner of our hotel so I have to PULL S in to try Japan's Yoshinoya which is SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH Nicer than the Singapore's version. S ordered Gyu-don (beef) at JPY380 while Moi ordered my Buta-don (pork) at JPY330. Yummy yummy!!

But portion was a dah too small so we trotted along crowded shinjuku and landed ourselves licking a bowl of curry Udon at ka no ya. It was a self-service eatery where you go a vending machine to get a ticket for the food you want and then pass that ticket to the kitchen to cook your food. Everything is self-service from taking of cold water, removing the plates after meal etc. It was an interesting experience for S. The Japanese's self-imposed conformation never fails to amuse him.

We are planning to meet some friends for dinner tonight so we didn't want to pack the morning. We went back to Ka no ya for breakkies and trotted along to Harajuku area - One of the most popular Japanese shopping belt where you will see all kind of fashionable items and clothes on sale. On our agenda, we wanted to look for the tree house cafe (a cafe literally built on a tree) and also Meji jinggu (a traditional shrine).

First stop to fuel ourselves for the long walk, we decided to have our lunch at Kabe no Ana (hole in the wall), the first chain store that started the wafu (Japanese style) spaghetti. The shop was named such from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream where 2 lovers, Pyramus and Thisby converse over a hole in the wall. Thus, Kabe no Ana is only a eating place but a place where people comes to communicate and converse.

若者のアイドル (Youth idol) + ベーコン (Bacon)

We spotted many interesting shops along the way... if I am with G, it will definitely be a shopping spree. S was busy trying to make sure I kept to outer lane and not go into the shops.... GRRRRRR! Here's some interesting shots from the streets...

Moving clothes on display

Though we were not hungry but I chanced upon a Freshness Burger joint and It's a definitely MUST TRY!! SInce we dun have it in Singapore. I love the whole atmosphere of the shop, rustic and homely. It felt like entering someone's home, their kitchen. The burger are grilled and made upon each order. Size is relatively small but nice. Even the stirrers were printed "freshness burger". I am so in love with this place. We had Bacon omelette burger at JPY350.

freshness burger

At Meji Jinguu, we spotted a traditional shinto wedding...

Well, left Harajuku rather unfruitful cause we didn't buy many things and we have a very hard time finding the tree cafe and it was closed for a function... so we decided we will come back another day.

Dinner @ Yamato with peers. Happy Time! it's amazing to see how each of us have grown individually from singles to married, to now parents. How we have known one another for more than 10 over years. The joyful part was how we could click once again like old days despite the long absence.

Day 7

Day 7 is yet another day to catch up with friends. We met up with H and M. M brought us to ramen place for lunch. I can't recall the name and place well since we drove there. It was interesting that M took a year off from work to take good care of her baby. It was so splitting to her personality, the one who love freedom and carefree.

Proceed to stroll along the lovely Inokashira koen where Ghibli Museum resides. Took some lovely pictures before we bladed M goodbye and went to our adventure tour in Ghibli Museum. It was so great fun (unfortunately, no photography allowed). Tickets are hard to get as they set a maximum number of visitors per day. To check out the procedures, please click here. I understand that recently JTB actually assists Singaporeans to get the tickets in advance.

After visit of Ghibli Museum, we proceed to have dinner and walk around Akihabara with K and A. Akihabara has many interesting and latest gadgets but mostly are in Japanese and power conversion is necessary so it's not very interesting for me and S.

Dinner was 刀削麺 (knife cut noodles). It was a traditional chinese noodle place more than a Japanese one. Noodles pricing was quite steep at JPY700 each. After dinner, we went JCO for coffee and cream puff. The cream puff was really soft and tasty.

We woke up very early to go visit the Tsukiji market. For those who love sashimi, this is a MUST go place. This is where you get the freshest seafood and at the cheapest possible price. We could feel the sweetness of the meat melting in our mouths. S and I couldn't have enough of this place.

We proceeded next to Shibuya to visit the Electric Power Museum (Denryokukan). This museum is by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) introduces various aspects of electric energy, such as the process of power generation and the role of electricity in society and everyday life. Information in English is limited. There are little boxes where each box contains different sets of interactive games for both children and adult. Admission is free. it's an educational place to bring children 10 years and above.

Streets of Shibuya

A hungry stomach led us to Krispy Kreme. I dunno what's the whole craze over Krispy Kreme donuts but the queue is always so LONG. Nevertheless, we managed to give it a try since we have a little bit of time before we went searching for our tree cafe. Well, I would say it's quite good. The bread was soft and crispy. it wasn't too hard nor too soft from over or under baking. It was just right.

This time round to treehouse cafe, we looked carefully the various landmark as not to get lost again. This is the way to tree cafe... Look out for Harajuku doori (原宿通り), turn into the small lane after you see this shop N⁰44. Dun expect to see a tree with steps to a house. The tree is concealed inside the building so you can't see the tree till you go inside the cafe. The map available on their website was not that useful.