Drop all anchors: #wentravelogue3

Day 1 (26 March)
Checked in at about 7.30am and went inside the departure hall at around 8+? First time taking a A380 after seeing it at work so many times. Being back in the airport transit sure brought back bittersweet memories of work. And this marks the beginning of #trip3 ^^

Touched down at about 4.30pm. Went to buy Airport Limousine Bus transfer tickets to Hilton Hotel where our hosts would pick us up ($36 each). There were many other hotels it would stop at, like Hyatt Regency etc. It's quite expensive but at least we got to enjoy the comfort as compared to travelling by train which was crazy to me. Train stations don't have lifts and all were stairs and we would have to lug our luggages up 2 flights of stairs.

Met our hosts for the trip and headed to a restaurant just beside their apartment for some yummy dinner. Some of the food we had:

The menu was all handwritten. So sincere.

Karaage

Fried cheese

Chicken skin soup

Our only yakitori experience

Onigiri

Sake

Day 2 (27 March)
Made a wrong decision to keep waking up late (10am) for the next few days. Japan shops close early and this meant lesser time to explore Japan.

Settled for some Japanese curry at Shinjuku station. This is a norm in most restaurants at the stations: There were no forks/chopsticks, just a spoon. We also ate standing up. On the counter would be the miscellaneous such as ginger, soy sauce, cups and a jug of ice water. Everything was self-service, except for the clearing of plates. These types of restaurants cater to businessmen I guess. People there eat at a godly speed. Even women could finish their plate of food in 5 minutes. I wonder how they don't get indigestion.

Headed to Ikebukuro for Animate. (heaven for otakus)

Then went to Sunshine City for NamjaTown. An indoor theme park but it's more for kids I guess. There was a "gyoza museum" inside. Ate the pancakes too which was nice. Japan has a recent pancake craze!

Sunshine Aquarium was next. It was almost the same as Singapore's. With the multi-colored jellyfishes. But it had outdoor exhibitions with penguins, sea otters, sea lions. Caught a sea-lion performance. It was raining and super cold today!!

AKB48 cafe in Akihabara. The name 'AKB' was due to the fact that they were formed in AKihaBara. There are many other groups too, JKT48 for Jakarta. It was really WOW. If I were a fan I would sure go crazy with excitement inside.

Each item on the menu was contributed by members, either their own creations or family recipes. Thought the food will be 'meh' cos most restaurants like these only look good, not taste good. However, the cheesecake for the best we ever tasted, to us at least. It wasn't too soft and mushy and it didn't have a overwhelming taste of cheese. The omu rice was good too.

Found a random ramen shop and we each got one bowl. (Y)

Went to another anime shop, Gamerz. Just waited outside in the cold rather than go squeeze in and be a hindrance to the otakus.

Saw a big as fluffy dog tied outside a supermarket. Unusual scene in Singapore.

Day 3 (28 March)

Satisfied our katsudon craving at Saboten near our house. It was damnnnn nice the rice was so tasty and the katsu was so freshly fried. Most eateries do take-outs only so there were no seats inside. We walked and eat but we didn't know it was disrespectful to do so.

Went to Ueno Park today. Saw some cute buns in a bakery. Japan is full of cute things.

We thought the sakuras were WOW, but this turned out to be least WOW among all the other places I saw sakuras at. It was overcrowded and commercialized.

Back to Shinjuku to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office where there was a free observation deck.

Finally visited Alice in Wonderland cafe in Shinjuku Odayku (B3). This 'book' was actually the door?! We got lost many times before finding this.

It was one of our most expensive meals yet. There was even a cover charge (About $8) on top of that, each person had to order one main course. But no complaints cos it was really worth it, just look at the decor^^

Day 4 (29 March)

Found an indian prata shop using the vending machine method (Japanese invention). Felt amazed by it because of the diversity exhibited. My aunt brought me around today. The good thing about travelling with locals is they know all the hidden spots and good food.

First stop was Asakusa. Had this awesome mochi + melon pan + apple pie + meat croquet + curry beef bun.

Went back to Ueno because she wanted to show me the shopping street there. There was a Chinese supermarket hidden at the basement. Many Chinese came to shop here. The seafood were cheaper and most ingredients, like Chinese parsley or red chillis, were hard/expensive to find elsewhere.

Tokyo Bananas WERE a must-buy to me! Past tense because I bought back like so many boxes and turns out most of them expired on the 9/10 April. I didn't know about the short storage life. I arrived back on SG on the 8 April and most of them were expired when I gave to my friends. It was so embarrassing! Hence, only buy on the last few days of your trips as these cakes were made fresh.

Bought the cheesecake too which was sweet and nice. It doesn't look appetising but it was damn soft, fluffy, wasn't overly sweet.

Day 5 (30 March)

Huge ass unagi sushi (there was rice below)

First time eating fish cheek. Nice^^

Day out with the aunt again and she brought me to this sushi restaurant. I have no idea where this is though but it's super popular among the locals.

Musk melon! (About SGD$400 for one)

Went back to Shinjuku and had Okonomiyaki. Wasn't too good.. Walked around the basement of Isetan and the desserts there was SO pretty!! There were desserts, hot food, fruits. Wow wow.