The Hustle And Bustle At Kawasaki Station

The two times we came to Kawasaki, I had hoped for some time to cover Yokohama but as it turned out both times we spent way too much time at Ultraman Club and the Bandai Namco Wonderpark and also an awesome good time over at a blogger friend's house. Kak Hani had so generously opened her house, even cooked a delicious lunch for us. Raimie got hooked playing Nintendo Wii with her son and daughter there and was pleading for us to get one by the time we stepped out the door. Did we get it? Read this post to know. ^^

Anyways, just some photos of Kawasaki Station. This is a pretty busy station, that's for sure. 

As with other big stations in Japan, plenty of stuff to see and shop in/around the station. Plenty of coin lockers at Kawasaki Station to stuff all those shopping bags for a while too.

A 300yen locker that we used to stash our stuff in before hitting the nearby mall after checking-out from our hotel.

We'll be heading back to Kawasaki for either the first few days of our upcoming trip or the last few days of it. I have some JAL vouchers and we are thinking of using it on a couple of nights over at Kawasaki's Nikko Hotel.

Anyhoo, I should seriously look into visiting Yokohama. But then again, after seeing photos of Enoshima on a few blogs that I've been reading, I'm tempted to make a side trip there instead. Whaddya think?

I Miss This... The Tub

The itsy bitsy bath tub I love. This one was taken at Toyoko-Inn. Which one you ask? All Toyoko-Inn rooms look pretty much the same.

Although much smaller (or shorter?) than the usual western style tub, it is deep enough for total immersion up to the neck, it is designed for sitting in, not so much lying in.

We don't look at the normal western-style bath tub the same ever again. Now, if only we can get one of this installed at home. This and the hi-tech toilet. That's what I want for my birthday! Any sponsors? XD

One Sunday Afternoon

It was a hot day and it seemed like the whole of Tokyo decided to come out and play. 

I decided it would be fun to wear a Traditional Malay blouse (albeit with a modern twist, as I wore it with jeans instead of a sarong) while sightseeing in Tokyo. Raimie and Zaini wore Baju Melayu earlier in the day and nobody batted an eye at us. Why did we do it? We spent our Hari Raya AidilFitri in Japan!

Actually, we went to Shibuya to attend an open house at the Malaysian Embassy that day and went walking around after.

Walking  around Shibuya and Omotesando on Sundays can seriously be a claustrophobic experience because of the crowd- it's like you can't turn anywhere without seeing more people; but visitors are greeted with interesting sights  and activities too.

Anyway, a bit off tangent here - Japanese women sure has no qualms about putting on their make-up in public. I guess why waste time doing it at home when you are going to spend so much time on train. Might as well utilise that time, eh?

Taking a breather from the summer's stifling heat and enjoying a bit of people watching while sitting under the shade.

Saw a group of children bearing a mikoshi.

 and watched a drum performance for a bit

A huge turnout at the Vietnam fair held near Yoyogi Park.

 

A parade of dancers in Omotesando. Always fun to watch. I never knew what the event that were held on each  of the Sundays we visited there, but I enjoyed being there nonetheless.

Despite me complaining about the crowd here, we've never failed to visit this area on a Sunday when we vacation in Japan because of the energy felt there.

A Sea Of People

If you like crowds, Tokyo may fit you just fine. I've yet been to any local festival there during my vacation so I have no idea how the crowd be during festivals. But here are some photos taken on some random days while we were in Japan.

At Nakamise Dori on a weekend

Ueno Park in Spring

Omotesando on a hot summer Sunday

Disneyland without a crowd? I think that would be totally weird, even on weekdays.

and this, on the Mark Twain Riverboat in Disneyland. Man, it sure was packed!

Walking in Osaka, At The Park

You don't think I am finished yet with my useless photos of Osaka, do you? Bwahaha! More wandering around Osaka, and this time it's to the park. Osaka-jo koen to be exact. Translation : Osaka Castle Park.

But first, let me show you the Shin-Osaka Station.

The very boxy and dinky looking (compared to other stations around Japan, in my opinion) Shin-Osaka Station. Our hotel was near to this station.Walking from the station to our hotel, I had the same feeling as going to Puduraya bus station. Ah... it's been awhile since I last inhaled that much smoke fumes from vehicles.

But there are nice things to see there too, like this taxi driver feeding some pigeons while waiting in a queue for passengers.

Not exactly walking, but saw plenty of these view on the train before we started off walking to some places we didn't intend to go in the first place!

I really wanted to capture all those awesome red bridges we passed by in Japan while taking the train, but have yet to get a good photo of them. :(

In front of the Osakajokoen station. Nice orange jumpsuit, eh?

There was a concert going on at the Osakajo Hall with some band playing so plenty of fans milling about, looking very excited. We did in fact became curious (not to mention very "kay-poh') and went around the back of the hall to check out what the fuss was all about. Saw plenty of crews, a lot of vehicles for the equipments but alas, no stars. :(

A road train in service at the park.

I wish I had taken some photos of the many, many cats (fat ones too!) at the park- at the entrance of the Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle) actually. Somebody must've been feeding the cats well there. I wonder whether  those cats are still there, as this particular visit was yonks ago. :D

Despite the chill; it was spring - a nice ice-cream break after a visit to the castle. Can't go wrong with ice cream! :)

The Golden Kappa

A post inspired by Haikugirl's Not Everyone's Kappa Tea. ^^ She has cuter assortment of  Kappa there!

Here's a Golden Kappa found on the street of Kappabashi.

Kappabashi (Kitchen Town where you can find all sorts of restaurant equipments and cookwares) has adopted the Kappa; a mythical Japanese water creature as its mascot of sorts although the origin of the name Kappabashi was either due to the practice of locals hanging out their ‘kappa’ raincoats on the nearby bridge or from a merchant named Kihachi Kappaya who funded the project to build Shinhorikawa River for water management.

The Kappa on the other hand is one of the many Suijin 水神 (water kami, water deities) in Japanese folklore. They are depicted as flesh-eating water imps who live in rivers, lakes, ponds, and other watery realms. They are generally portrayed with the body of a tortoise, ape-like head, scaly limbs, long hair circling the skull, webbed feet & hands and yellow-green skin,with a tortoise shell attached to their backs and with a hollow cavity atop its head.

Kappa are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers. Their pranks range from the relatively innocent, such as loudly passing gas or looking up women's kimonos, to the evilly sinister such as drowning people and animals, kidnapping children and raping women. When benevolent, the Kappa is supposedly a skilled teacher in the art of bone setting and other medical skills. In addition, the Kappa is always portrayed as trustworthy despite its many evil ways. When captured and forced to promise never again to harm anyone, the kappa always keeps its promise.

The defining characteristic of the Kappa is the hollow cavity atop its head. This saucer-like depression holds a strength-giving fluid. Should you chance upon the quarrelsome Kappa, please remember to bow deeply. If the courteous Kappa bows in return, it will spill its strength-giving water, making it feeble, and forcing it to return to its water kingdom.

Any addition or further insight to this kappa story by you folks over in Japan is most welcome!

Ready, Set, Go!

There are countless Shibuya crossing photos out there and here's my mediocre effort to capture it. I wish there were more people at the crossing, but hey!  I can't subject my two boys to endless waiting just so I can take nice photos.

 Ready...Set..

Go!
Now, I wonder why was that guy in black suit standing still right in the middle of the crossing?





Kobe, The Port City

Admittedly we have yet to explore much of Kobe yet, as the only stop we made there was to look at one of the filming site of Ultraman Mebius' 2006  movie titled Ultraman Mebius & Ultra Brothers (ウルトラマンメビウス&ウルトラ兄弟).

So what exactly did we do in Kobe other than going to the Waterfront? Let Mommy go in and out shops looking for clothes, that's what. I still have a pair of pants that I love dearly, bought at Uniqlo Kobe in my wardrobe.

A point of interest for Muslims - the first mosque built in Japan is in Kobe. Hajjah Halela's daughter got married at the Kobe Mosque on March 19, 2011. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing and linking up that post here. A Z Haida, who used to stay in Tokyo while doing her PhD visited Kobe Mosque way back in 2008, the same year we visited Kobe. ^^

What about Kobe beef, you ask? Eerrr... Kobe beef  isn't exactly high on our list of things to eat.

With A Small Child In Tow

I find that, during our travels-not only to Japan; travelling with a small child helps breaking ice with strangers. More often than not, people seems to be quite accommodating and  it sure helps when you met people that travel with small children too. Zaini and I aren't all that sociable and we sure as hell won't approach strangers and start yapping with them but with Raimie tagging along (especially when he was smaller, cuter and better behaved), we've met and talked and made friends with a lot of friendly people who seems to love kids or with parent whose children became chummy with Raimie while playing together.

It helped Raimie's Daddy too when he was hesitant about taking photos with models at Tokyo Anime Fair, at first! When you do not want to look silly and excited over the models, what do you do? Put your son in the photo too! Then Dear Wifey can't be mad at you too, right? Of course in our case, Zaini is always allowed to flirt with anyone - female or male alike. I don't mind.

Friendly JR staff were always nice with our son and we got memorable photos because of that. I would've been quite reluctant asking the staff to pose together with us but more often than not, they approached us first. It's not as if they're a theme park staff and they do have their job to do.

 There are random nice people we met during our vacation like that time we've gotten free ice-cream at Ultra De Restaurant, at Ultraman Land from a staff there.

Or that time, Raimie was given free Pokemon notebook by a fellow traveler, which she got buying an ekiben onboard a shinkansen.

Or the time a sweet old lady started talking to us and telling us about her  grandchild who was about the same age as Raimie when we were heading into Daiso somewhere in Asakusa. Or when another old lady smiled obligingly at Raimie and gave us some candies while riding a local train. Elderly ladies seemed keen to talk about their grandchildren with us, that I noticed. Not that I understand much of their chatter, though.

So, to my friends who always leave their kids behind when they travel overseas and never cease to wonder why I wouldn't dream of leaving my son behind; why not travel with your kids? Sure, when they weren't potty trained yet, it's a hassle to clean-up their poop while being on the move, and they can whine a whole lot (wait till they're bigger and become argumentative, it's worse I tell you) but I think it was so much easier to travel when I can still carry my Son around compared to now, especially now that that Boy of mine knows the merit of arguing and questioning everything and also running off when he saw something he fancies! Now that we have to plan our trip around his school holiday, no more impromptu trips for us, not to mention no buying airtickets before we know the year's school schedule is.

Osaka Walking - More Walking, Folks!

I really don't have anything insightful to add in my Osaka post. We had fun just wandering around. Who wouldn't, when one is in Osaka? It is a fun city!

Say hello to Glico Man.

 And got chummy with this clown. You guys knew this fella, right? ^^

Got fixated with this God, moving his jaw up and down at certain time during the day. People were actually video taping it!

What's the fascination with the Statue of Liberty?

Stumbled upon a Yakult lady, selling Yakult on a bicycle.No one is too tough to drink Yakult! XD

Dotonbori, away from the maddening crowd and Raimie in his male model mode.

Had some nice lunch and the boys enjoyed their bowls of udon a lot!

and at the end of each day in Osaka, a stop at Aeon was a must. It sure was fun running around in this supermarket.

We won't have much time to travel around Osaka during our next trip, but I told Zaini that since I have a lot of day shots of the place from earlier trips, we should visit this area at night next. I'd like that, but we'll see how it goes. *^^*

Thank Goodness For Plastic!

A continuation of my earlier post on how to easily enjoy a meal at some strange Japanese restaurants in Japan when you don't speak the language.

1. Buy food tickets from vending machines

2. Check out the plastic food displayed in front of the restaurant and find similar items in their menu. If, by any chance their menu has no photo in it or they have no English menu,  drag a staff out and point what you want to order. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I did just that once in Akita.

Now, don't these plastic food just calling out for you to eat them? But don't justdroll over the plastic ones. Taste the real food too!

Food Ticket Machines (しょっけん じどうはんばいき)

If you are a tourist and you are scared to death about the thoughts of ordering in Japan and avoid going out  to eat without your tour guide, why not go to those places with these ticket machine. Slot in your $$$, choose what you want to eat (there are usually pictures and even plastic food display to help you decide), get the ticket or tickets, pass it to the staff, sit down and voila! Food will be served with literally no requirement for you to open your mouth. 

We got this handled down pat. The not talking, I mean. Enter a restaurant, somebody will greet us and ask along this line : "nan-mei sama desu ka" - we just show with our hand how many in our party; which is 3, by the way. Pass our food ticket upon sitting down and wait for food to arrive. Who says its hard to be in Japan if you don't speak the language? If its not because I want to practice my horrible Japanese with those poor Japanese service staff, I think we'd get along just fine by using sign language! Just be suitably polite and no words are needed. That and of course the willingness to make an ass of oneself. LOL

Didn't stop to eat at this joint but they're sure cheap. I always tell my non-Muslim friends, for them to find inexpensive food in Japan is easy! They remain unconvinced still. :( Sometimes I wonder why people keep on harping about Japan being expensive but did not hesitate to travel all around Europe. Last time I checked, Euro is still higher than our RM. AUS$ isn't that cheap either.@.@

At one of our fave place to eat dinner. 

The machine has a picture of the food so it's easy to choose.  The restaurant has a food display too out in front so it's easy to make a decision before going in and buy our food tickets.

I got to try mozuku for the first time at this place. I've always wanted to try eating it after it was shown on Dosanko Cooking. ^^

Shitamachi Museum

Jay Dee's post on Ueno Zoo's Thai Pavillion and Japanese Architecture and the subsequent comments made there resulted in me thinking of one place that not many tourists seems to know or head to when they are at Ueno park's vicinity.

A glimpse of the shitamachi (low city) can be found at the Shitamachi Museum located at Ueno Park. A nostalgic visit to how old Tokyo looks like. I wanted to visit the museum again last year and had planned to take my friend who was tagging along with us; but she seemed a tad uninterested in museums and the like; so I scrapped the plan.

An old-fashioned penny candy store. Raimie was pretending to be the store owner and showing that everything on sale is good. ^^

Copper smith work place

Rub, rub, rub. Imagine doing your washing up at the communal well. Thank goodness for indoor plumbing and washing machine!

The boys trying out some traditional games.

A peek into a home. The black & white TV - a status symbol of the time.

If you are visiting Japan and Tokyo specifically, why not make a stop at this small museum. It has interactive display and friendly multi-lingual guides (or was it just bilingual?) Well, they do have English speaking volunteer guide there can provide oodles of fun for a short visit not to mention a chance to see how Oshin  lived when she was younger.