Firsts!

There are many firsts in this trip, so far on Day 1 & Day 2. Gonna keep the post short and sweet (in narrative) but with lots of photos. *^-^*

We arrived Tokyo International Airport, Haneda in one piece on our first ever plane trip with Air Asia X. I do have to say the budget carrier exceeded our expectation and for th price we paid our fares, I certainly will consider taking it again!

First ever arrival to Japan via Haneda. We arrived 20 minutes earlier than scheduled, but even with the earlier arrival, most shops are already closed for the night.

First meal in Japan was bento bought at 7-11. 300+yen bento for each of us and a melon pan for Raimie, washed down with a grape drink thant cost 105yen for 1ltr.

The next day, our first lunch in Japan was at Tenya, at Shin-Yokohama station. We were famished! Raimie keep wanting to go eat curry at Coco Ichiba and we keep reminding him that we cannot eat the Japanese curry in Japan. Oh dear.

First time setting our eyes on the Nippon Maru but didn't go and visit the Maritime Museum.

Raimie having a breather at the nearby park. It was noon, the weather was nice, cool & sunny. Saw a few runners doing their lunchtime run and got jealous & wish I'm running too. LOL

First "aki" experience in Yokohama

then, we walked to this Red Brick Warehouse

then, Raimie got tired and decided to plonk his butt anywhere

but we managed to prod him to get moving with a promise to let him buy the thing that he's been hankering for and we walked from the Red Brick House to the Cup Noodle Museum then all the way to Yokohama Station and went to Yodobashi Camera which is near the station. We even stopped at a sports store and spent ages there and went to buy some Uniqlo stuff for Raimie.

And let Raimie buy what he's been waiting eagerly to get - a Nintendo 3DS and two games.

In total, we spent almost 10 hours on our feet today, with only a few short breaks - to eat lunch & stuff. Zaini is now happily snoring away and Raimie is still badgering me to let him play his new Nintendo but it needs to be charged first! I gotta get some sleep soon. Planning to hit a nearby park early tomorrow morning for a bit of run. Night!

Japan In A Few Hours!

By the time this post is up, we should be on our way to Japan and will be arriving Haneda Airport at 10.30pm.

Not flying JAL this time. We are taking AirAsia's flight for the first time in our lives! It's gonna take a bit of getting used to flying during the day instead of a night flight like we had all these years either with SQ, MAS or (mostly) JAL. Not to mention, no free in-flight entertainment. It's time to read some books! 

See you in Japan in a few hours!

The Itinerary So Far

OK... A few more days to go. W00T! W00T!

Lets' see... Where are we heading off to in Japan this time? What will we be doing, while traipsing the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu?

For the benefit of you who might or might not care, here's the "hazy" itinerary so far. Like most trips we did to Japan, it's subject to change - depending on mood, budget, weather and general goodwill of the parties (mainly me and hubby) involved. ;)

So far the plan is:

• Day 1 Arrival Haneda. Too late to do anything so it's pretty much, checking-in and zzzzzz
• Day 2 Yokohama
• Day 3 Taking a loooong train trip (not that I'm complaining) all the way to Yufuin. Checking-in at Yufuin Bettei Itsuki for the night. Onsen time!
• Day 4 Sightseeing in Yufuin before heading off to Fukuoka
• Day 5 Huis Ten Bosch!
• Day 6 Takamatsu
• Day 7 Takamatsu
• Day 8 Final day on the island of Shikoku before heading off to Osaka. Night trip in Osaka. Wanna take night photos there
• Day 9 Kawasaki. Raimie opted to not go to Ultramanland in Kumamoto in favour of One Piece at Huis Ten Bosch so we'll just go to Ultraman Club at Namco Wonderpark in Kawasaki instead.
• Day 10 Kamakura? But I wanna go to Enoshima too!
• Day 11 Meeting up with a blogger friend and sightsee around his home area - two parks and a traditional street. *Tanoshimi*! ^^
• Day 12 Asakusa/Ueno/random places in Tokyo. I think I wanna go to Showa Kinen park, after seeing Rurousha's excellent photos - Tokyo's best ginkgo avenue. I'm sure you'll be tempted to visit too after seeing her awesome photos!
• Day 13 Nikko maybe?
• Day 14 Random places in Tokyo. Time to do some shopping!
• Day 15 If we have enough leftover cash; maybe we'll head to Disneyland again. But we'll see.

As you can see, Day 13 -15 are still pretty much unplanned yet but we'll be staying in Tokyo. I'm looking forward to do a bit of run along Sumida River. :)

Can't Wait

 to see this. Hope we aren't too late to view them!

eat of lot of these, over and over again over the course of two weeks.

 ride a lot of these. The fast ones, the slow ones - we don't mind. We'll ride them all if we can. :)

 take a few dips in these. Yufuin, wait for us!

and visit a few of  these too

Can you tell that I'm excited? Just one more week to go and Japan, see you there! ^^

Asakusa Walking, At Night

As you know, we have a soft spot for Asakusa. The nightlife in Asakusa may not be that happening but that's the way we like it. It's a place where I can comfortably walk around with my son when Zaini went out to do his "own" thing at night.

But it doesn't mean Asakusa is dead at night. Plenty of interesting stuff to see, once the night comes.

You have to know too that Asakusa does have its seedy part. Walk further and out of the tourist trail, you can find a certain "theater" that you might not want your child to see its posters. Charming, eh?

Toy Shopping

Shopping in Japan! Each of us have our own list of shopping to be done. And this is the one time that Raimie is allowed a free rein to do some toy/games shopping (within an allotted budget, of course).

He knows how much he is allowed to spend and with that budget, he already has list made out. He is pretty much his father's son - him and his list. LOL

Asakusa Walking

Both Zaini and I are very fond of Asakusa. Its' nice and laid back, once you get away from the crazy tourist crowd that congregate at the Kaminarimon Gate, shopping for ehem, tacky souvenir stuff at Nakamise Dori or visiting Senso-ji.

Asakusa, that we've come to love...

One Piece Fanboys

Because of One Piece, we'll be heading off to Huis Ten Bosch again to enjoy whatever One Piece attractions there.

The last time we visited the theme park was in 2008. I wouldn't have thought of us making a return visit to the park, but there are two One Piece fanboys in the family. 

Raimie wants so badly to see the Thousand Sunny and Going Merry ships. His Daddy is a fan too thus the reason that the request to travel 1 hour and 40 minutes from Hakata Station to Huis Ten Bosch received no objection.

If you are a One Piece fan, what would you love to see the most there?

And looking at all those One Piece character inspired menu at the restaurant -  wouldn't you want to have a try, even if they might not taste all that nice? Just because it look soooooo cute? Somehow the dish above reminded me of Lisa of Ichigoichielove. *^-^*

Now, if only we can afford to stay at the posh ANA JR Huis Ten Bosch hotel. That would be soooooo awesome (for mommy, of course) ;) 

Craving For Autumn Fruits

Mmmmm... being able to get our hands on these juicy fruits would be so, so lovely.

Sweet, fleshy Kaki or persimmon. It is interestingly called (to me,at least) pisang kaki in Malay. Pisang is Malay for banana, by the way.

 Budo or grapes. Sweet smelling and sweet tasting grapes. I sure miss these most.

 Crunchy, juicy Nashi or pears.

Sweet and crisp Ringo or apples.

 Wouldn't say no to a juicy Mikan or mandarin orange either.

Some of the fruits may no longer be in season when we arrive to Japan. I wonder what fruits can I indulge there? *^-^*

Scared Silly And Loving It

Raimie loves haunted houses and visit them we must if we go to any theme parks or carnivals. Being scared silly can be a lot of fun sometimes.

I should've posted this up in time for the Halloween, but I only got the idea after reading Cocomino's post about Temple during Festival and him mentioning about haunted houses.

 The Mystery Zone at Tedori Fish Land, way out in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The Thriller Car attraction at Hanayashiki Amusement Park. The "ghosts" are so obviously mechanical and stuff but it's good scary fun for the kids. ^^

The Haunted Mansion at Hanayashiki Amusement Park too. It is an "audio" type of scare, with flickering lights and whatnot to complete the effect while we sat around a dinner table of a mansion setting; but it sure can be scary. A Japanese girl in our group actually cried out of fear.

Fun, fun scary ride on Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea despite enduring a two-hour queue. We would've skipped this if not for the fact that Raimie really, really wanted to go and have a ride there. It's a popular ride, so if you plan to ride this, be there early to either queue or get your fastpass ticket. FAST The fastpass will run out fast at this attraction.

Then, of course we had to go to the Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare at Tokyo Disneyland. The characters of Tim Burton's Night Before Christmas with the existing original 999 ghosts, ghouls and other scary "beings" made this one pretty fun. Raimie totally loves it!

The Snow White Adventure ride at Tokyo Disneyland can be a scary one too. I heard a lot of bawlings when we were inside the attraction. This ride is classified as  attractions for small children, but don't expect a whole sunny, cheery ride here. It started off cute and sunny, and turn to dark and menacing soon. Just look at the dwarfs' expressions. xD

Visiting haunted and scary rides in an evening is sure more fun than visiting it during the day. I suppose it's the added "spooky" atmosphere. Can't go wrong if there are Halloween decorations around too. *^-^*

Almost There! The Shopping Before The Trip

My brain currently kinda on a shutdown mode. I just can't think of anything to write on Japan anymore, other than harping on and on about our travel preparation; which by the way isn't saying much.  LOL

My brain must've decided to go on vacation way before the physical body actually does! Hahah

Clothes shopping done. Cheap long sleeved shirts from FOS for Raimie. 3 shirts for the price on one! Cool! 

A pair of long john for him too just in case it gets too cold there. We may buy him another jacket when we get to Japan to replace the old one he'll be wearing for the first few days. 

For me, the idea is to put on layers instead of opting for heavy jackets that we won't use ever again. I survived wearing a Roxy hoodie with a long-sleeved shirt in February 2002, so I think I'll survive Japan in early December with three layers of clothing. Right? I hope I can.

Zaini - he's opting for some Nike pro combat wear that he'll be able to use again while cycling as his innerwear and layer it with a short and a jacket.

Both of us are trying to creative in our purchases this time. We probably won't use any thick clothing much after this trip so we try to buy things that we'll be able to use again here at home.

By the way, have you heard about Nagoya Women's Marathon 2012 which is held together with  the Nagoya City Marathon on March 11, 2012? They are expecting 15,000 runners for the women's full marathon segment. I wish I can be there running along other awesome women marathoners!

That said, with running occupying my mind lately, I can't wait to do a few runs in Japan. Looking at Lrong's photos of Takamatsu Port/Sunport is making me sooooooo excited to do a couple of morning runs there. 

Too Much Japan Already?

We've really been indulging in Japanese food more often these past few months compared to months before. Heck, we somewhat stopped eating Japanese food after our trip last year.

Recently, it was lunch or dinner at Kampachi, Miyagi, repeat visits to Sushi Zen, Sukiya, Hokkaido Ichiba...

And on Saturday,

had a visit to HIS Travel Agency for our JR Pass

Stopped by Pavillion and of course we had to spend some time at Tokyo Street on Level 6 of the mall. I can totally fool myself and think that I'm on the floor where all the restaurants are in a Japanese mall. xD

Spent some $$$ buying stuff we had no idea we need at Daiso. Daiso is eviiiillllll.... LOL

Had a really nice lunch at Sukiya enjoying an all-you-can-eat meat for just RM29.80++. Shabu-shabu or sukiyaki anyone? We just concentrated on eating meat (lots of them) and almost ignored the vege bar. Hahaha

I bought some stuff at Uniqlo to wear during our vacation. Some good find there as the item I bought are almost similarly priced as those sold in Yen in Japan, like my RM79.90 fleece jacket that's on sale in Japan for 1,990 yen. (Current rate : 100yen = RM4.10)

Raimie had a new interest now. Origami! All thanks to a Taiwanese comic book based, Korean SBS TV Production animation called The Origami Warriors.

I think we should stop purchasing anything from Japan or eating Japanese food for now and wait till we get to Japan. heh heh