Finaaaaalllllly finished with my blog on Hong Kong trip, so I thought I'd better get started on our Japan travelogue posts before I lose my blogging streak
Mandatory shot at the airport, with the passport and plane tickets! Am using my new Canon EOS-M3 camera here, lovinnnn' it!!
Our little tradition of Wang Cafe breakfast/supper, everytime before we head on to our flight with ANA.
Flight was at 6am, and as always, I slept throughout the entire 7 hours. Didn't watch any movies and woke up only when there's food lol (ANA's soba is the best!).
The flight manage to touch down slightly earlier around 2pm, so we headed to get our tickets for our Narita Express tickets (N'EX) to head towards Shinjuku. I recommend getting the N'EX round tickets, they'll cost you ¥4,000 but it's an open ticket valid for 14 days so you'll get to choose the stations you're heading to and from. All seatings on the N'EX are reserved, so do remember to head down to any JR stations to reserve your car seats before boarding. When reserving, the JR station personnel will show you a list of timings for the N'EX at each station so you'll be able to reserve your car seats for the timing you want. Find out more here.
Us waiting to board our N'EX at 3:15pm~ Bought some snacks and also a warm bottle royal milk tea, just like during last year's trip when we first touched down!
Ahhhhh *takes in a deep breath of that cooling Japanese air*. After an hour and a half worth of ride, we've reached Shinjuku JR Station!! Did you know that Shinjuku JR Station is the world's busiest train station with an average of 3.5 million passing through its doors everyday!!
First few sights around Shinjuku as we walk towards our hotel.
Saw a shrine on the way to our hotel, pretty but we didn't have time to stop by!
Our hotel room for one night at Shinjuku Granbell~!! This is the same hotel we stayed during out first trip. This room is located at their new wing (which was under renovation last year) and it's super super super small. Like, this is the best angle I can get lol. Nevertheless, it was clean so I'm all good.
We had to shift the table and chairs around to unpack our luggage well, and whoooop, it's time to head out!!!!
First things first, headed to Harajuku for our first night!
Damn, Takeshita Street, you're one hell of a crowded.
These crepe shop signages though.
This iced cafe latte from 7-Eleven Japan was our obsession during the first trip. W's been going on non-stop on how he needs to drink it again when we're back so...our first buy at Harajuku!!
Kiss My Airs.
Walked around the streets but everything soon closed at 8pm...so we headed to Starbucks for a drink - Sunshine Mandarin Mango Tea Frappuccino!
Hayyyyy~
Crepezzzz. Call Harajuku a Crepe Land.
Sho kawaii!!! Wonder what kind of animal/character this is...?
We had to have our ZakuZaku Croquant Chou again!! We had one last year on the last day of the trip and it was so good!
ZakuZaku ザクザク
神宮前1-7-1, Cute Cube 原宿 1F, Shibuya, 東京都 〒150-0001, Japan
We went to take purikura~!!! Because all the shops were closing on Takeshita Street...except for the purikura shop.
Seriously can't remember when's the last time I took neoprints and had to draw on my photos. Such memories, hahaha. The bad thing about Japanese purikura machines is that they tend to enlarge your eyes too much and make your cheeks too skinny. The effect on W's face proved to be too funny hahahaha!
LOL.
Happpppy~
We took the train back to Shinjuku to look around for food so we could walk back to our hotel if it got late. We settled for this seafood izakaya place which we saw during our last trip but never got to try it, so here we are!
A Japanese Jay Chou lookalike that we spotted working in the eatery!
We are very hungryyyyy!!
Crab fried rice for W..
SASHIMI DON FOR MEEEEEEE!!!!!!
A Japanese DIY BBQ to share~
Scallop gratin, I think? Nothing special...
BBQ-ed the prawns, pork belly and sausages on our own, the pork belly was so good!
Ain't nobody should miss out on a glass of Shochu during a Japan trip!
Too excited for food after a long day of travelling, yay!
Dinner on the first night in Japan, settled!
Isomaru Suisan 磯丸水産
3-17-13 | Suzume-No-Ojisan Bldg. 1-4F, Shinjuku 160-0022, Tokyo Prefecture
Verdict: The best thing about this place is that it's open 24 hours, so shop all you want before heading in for a late dinner! Both tourists and locals patronize this place, so it gets quite lively and crowded. Bad part is that they allow smoking within the eating premises (despite having the air-con on), so you'll come out smelling like both second-hand smoke and BBQ. The food was okay, the service wasn't that good but all's well after a glass of shochu. This izakaya has branches all over Japan.
Come back to this space a continuation of #wmjapan17 trip! (:
