Third Stop: Shibuya

Shibuya, or "She-boo-yah!" as D likes to say, was the highlight of Tokyo for me. Funny to think that I lived there 33 years ago! There is so much energy, people are dressed up, and it definitely has the feel of New York.


When we exited the station, we had to look for the famed Hachiko statue. We actually missed it the first time, and had to go back.


While we were walking, I happened upon a fabric store and bought a couple of meters. One of D's co-workers said we should check out Shibuya 109, a high rise dedicated to outfitting the 25 and under set. Almost as soon as I walked in, I wanted to walk back out, it was like Forever 21 on steroids. However, I did pose for this picture because I thought this trend that we saw all over Harajuku is so funny...huge glasses!

(Without the tag, of course).

Next, we went to Starbucks for its prime viewing spot of Shibuya Crossing (also a tip from D's co-worker). This tip was spot-on, and it was really crowded.


D tried to order the Sakura (cherry blossom) latte, but it was sold out. We settled for the matcha (green tea) frappucino instead. It seemed less sweet than over here, which was good.

D managed to squeeze his way next to the window and captured this shot:



Here is D in the middle of Shibuya Crossing. Next, we hit up UNIQLO, Muji and The Loft, which turned out to be my favorite store in Japan. They have a wide selection of stationery, as well as home and kitchen items.

For dinner, D wanted an izakaya experience, so we went to Za Watami. We took our time perusing the menu. Even though you take off your shoes, and there is tatami seating, it feels oddly Americanized. I think it has some sort of connection to TGI Friday's, which was right next door. On the other hand, I don't think you would find this on the menu at TGI Friday's:

Tasty Horse Sashimi, anyone?

We decided what to order, and waited a good while for a waiter to come by to take our order. Ususally, service seemed so prompt it Japan, what was going on? Finally, D noticed the unassuming bell located at the edge of the table. Once pressed, a waiter appeared at our table in no less than five seconds!


We weren't feeling too adventurous: tuna roll, chicken karage, and gyoza.

We did, however, try Osaka-style Okonomiyaki.

Not sure how authentic this was, but it was basically an omelet with ham. They topped it with mayo and mustard (something I have never seen before).

After dinner, we headed back towards the station. Due to the energy crisis, not all of the signs were lit up:


Underneath the station is something called Tokyu Food Show. Much like all of the big department stores have, it is a large food hall consisting of endless displays of fancy, interesting foods that the Japanese seem to buy on an ordinary basis. It is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.

This cute Lego chef greeted us at the entrance.


I mostly took pictures of the desserts/bakery, but there are plenty of savory foods, as well, including sashimi, bentos, and yakitori.


After all our eating that day, we didn't actually buy anything. Our feet and backs were aching from our first full day and we anxiously headed back to the hotel for some rest.

Second Stop: Harajuku

Using our JR pass we were able to take the JR line one stop down to Harajuku. We had a tempura lunch at Tenya. D had the full meal set (miso soup, tempura/rice and udon) and I had the tempura/rice bowl which also comes with miso soup. They also served us tea, which was nice.

This was D's favorite meal of the trip! They dip the tempura in sauce before serving, so it wasn't as crispy as I'm used to, but it was very tasty. And filling. And not too expensive. For those who may look for this restaurant, it is on Meiji-dori, just to the north of the Meiji-dori/Omoto-sando intersection. The sign is in Japanese, underneath a yellow "Blitz" sign, across the street from a huge H&M.

We walked down Omoto-sando, which is a nice tree-lined street full of fancy stores. We also stopped in at the temporary location of Kiddyland.

Three stories of kawaii (cute)! Of course, I had to buy a few things there. I really like that bear character on the building, along with Miffy. I even passed up Hello Kitty, since she is much more commonplace in the U.S.

Then we headed back to the station towards Takeshita-Dori, the "Harajuku Girls" hang-out. It wasn't the weekend, so they weren't out in full force, but the fashions were still interesting.


Although not really pictured here, we saw a Rasta girl (full dreadlocks), a bunch of "forest girls" (natural, Heidi-like), Lolitas, etc.

Harajuku is known for their crepes. They even make a Hello Kitty charm with Hello Kitty in a crepe. Needless to say, my expectations were high. There is a rivalry between Angel Heart crepes and Marion crepes, which are right across the street from each other on Takeshita Dori. After some internet research, I decided we should try a crepe from Angel Heart.

Big Disappointment. I guess they make the crepes in the cart, but it was completely cold, and tasted like a prepackaged crepe from the supermarket. There was not too much filling, and it was expensive for what it was. However, this was probably the only time during our trip where our experience did not live up to the hype, so I shouldn't complain.

First Stop: Shinjuku

Tokyo is a large city made up of several distinct areas. Our first stop was Shinjuku. I was anticipating heavy rush hour traffic on the subways. I had read that the subway employs "pushers" whose job is to cram people into the crowded subways. However, it seems that the Japanese go into work later (and stay later) than Americans, so we actually beat rush hour.

Our main destination in Shinjuku was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building's Observatory. However, it was not open when we arrived, so we had some time to kill. We walked over to nearby Shinjuku Central Park. It is a nice park, but apparently, it is home to the homeless. It still felt safe, as the people were non-threatening and kept to themselves There were also several office workers walking through the park to get to their jobs.

We happened upon the Shinjuku "Mini Museum" which is connected to the park.



We had heard it was the end of cherry blossom season, so we weren't sure if this was a cherry blossom tree:

It was pretty, whatever it was.

We thought the observatory opened at 9:30, but we found out it opened at 10:00, probably due to the earthquake. So, we decided to check out a nearby 7-11. I wish the 7-11's in the U.S. were like this!

Notice all of the suits in line for their morning pick me up. This branch had a nice little seating area, too.

There were lots of freshly prepared onigiri (rice balls) and bento lunches. I only wish they would have a standardized color code for the onigiri so we could tell what was inside.

Our cashier was able to tell us that we had chosen tuna salad and salmon. We also bought a green tea and pork bun to round out our "brunch".

Finally, it was time to head back to the Observatory.

View of the building from the park.

It was funny, because at precisely 10:00, it seemed that the employees were in a mad rush to prepare for the grand entrance of someone important. Turns out, they were just getting ready for us, the tourists. (I had read that the daily opening of department stores is very "ceremonial" in Japan). It wasn't until just now, when I looked at the website, that I realize that we went on the first day it was open since the earthquake. Good thing it was open after all that waiting!

Cafe surrounded by windows on the 45th floor.

There was a nice view of some interesting architecture.

Modern "Mode" Building

D was excited to see the Tokyo Skytree off in the distance, a work in progress, slated to be one of the tallest towers in the world.


Meiji Shrine (We didn't make a stop here, so this was the closest we got).


I was fascinated by the signage in Japan. This one depicts the consequences of sticking one's hand in the elevator door.

Overall, we were quite impressed with the view. Best of all it was free...worth every yen!

We hit some shops on the way back to the subway station.

Here I am in the kitchenwares section of Tokyu Hands in Takashimaya department store. My first purchase was a Miffy mug--could not resist. At first we entered the first floor and all I saw was luggage and travel gear. Little did I know that there were several stories, and much, much more to browse. We also stopped by a Kinokinuya bookstore, but I didn't buy anything.

Next stop: Harajuku

Narita-->Tokyo

We left on Saturday from LAX at 3:45 p.m. and arrived at 7:15 p.m. on Sunday @ Narita Int'l. We were able to go through Customs, pick up our luggage, exchange our Traveler's checks, exchange our rail passes, make all of our seat reservations on the shinkansen (bullet train) and buy a Suica card (subway pass) by 8:15 p.m. It helped that Narita seemed pretty empty and that there was a person who spoke very good English in the Japan Rail ("JR") office. Tip: don't forget to fill out the back of the Customs cards...oops.

D used the bathroom at Narita and was confused by the setup. I didn't see the facilities, but apparently he almost went in the sink!

The Narita Express was only running about once an hour, and only in the morning and night in order to conserve power. Luckily, there was a train that left at 8:45.

You can use the JR Pass to get on the Narita Express. We were told all the seats were reserved (make the reservations in the JR office) but I'm not sure why, considering we almost had a whole car to ourselves! The train feels very new, and was a conveient way to get to the city.

We arrived at Tokyo station and had to transfer to the subway. We tried to swipe our subway card at the turnstile, not realizing that we just had to show our JR pass to exit. The subway card wouldn't let us out (since it didn't let us in) and we each tried to swipe it about five times before we figured it out. After that, it was smooth sailing, transportation-wise, which I was worried about. Even though the stations are huge, there is good signage everywhere (in English). The hyperdia website really helped us in planning all of our transportation routes.

We found our hotel in Akasaka and checked in around 10:15 p.m.



The room was small, but clean and in a good location. However, we can't recommend it, for a reason which we will discuss later.

D had a hard time sleeping due to the time change. I managed a little more sleep, but we both felt an aftershock around 2 a.m. It was very small, but a bit unnerving at the same time. (We felt another small aftershock the next night at around the same time).

We received breakfast coupons for the Excelsior Cafe attached to the hotel. The breakfast options were interesting, more like lunch to us. Sandwiches, or soup or hardboiled egg/toast, all accompanied by a green salad and coffee, tea or juice.

D and I both chose the first option, a sandwich with egg salad, tuna salad and shrimp...yes, all three! We observed many men in suits drop by the cafe for their breakfast on their way to work. Also, we inadvertently sat in the smoking section and had to move to get some fresh air. Living in CA, we forget that people still smoke while they eat--gross. Fueled up, we were ready for our first full day by 7:15 a.m.!

Deciding to Go to Japan; Singapore Airlines Experience

D and I had been talking about visiting Japan ever since my sister and her family moved to Hiroshima last year. We decided it would be best to leave the kids with my parents, and we booked two plane tickets on Singapore Airlines. We started doing our research and booked hotels rooms. Then, in March, the earthquake/tsunami/radiation triple whammy hit Japan and our plans were up in the air. Most people we talked to advised us not to go, and we went back and forth. In the end, we decided to go forth with our plans and the U.S. government even lifted its advisory against non-essential travel two days before our departure date!

I was excited to fly Singapore Airlines since they're always ranked high in consumer satisfaction surveys. D had flown them multiple times on his previous trips to Singapore, but it had been a while. After flying United, where the only meal time choice is a $5 box of junk, it was nice to eat real food on a plane. Walking past the first class seats, one cannot help feel jealous...those seats are huge! We settled into our economy seats, and grabbed a few newspapers on the way (free!): LA Times for me, Financial Times and (on the way back I got The Straits Times) for D. We were also given hot towels by the courteous stewardesses.

The flight was over ten hours, but it didn't feel like it. I was able to watch The King's Speech and D watched Little Fockers (yes, really). For the rest of the trip, D did "knuckles" whenever we reached a goal, something he learned from his movie, I guess.

Nice video setup. I also liked tracking our trip on-screen.

D started out with their signature Singapore Sling. I had the Fruit Spritzer, which turned out to be apple juice with 7-Up (ha-ha!)


For dinner, there was a choice between the Japanese meal and International (which was pretty much American). We chose the Japanese meal...chunk of seared tuna, tamago, cold noodles with dipping sauce, teriyaki chicken, rice, roll, senbei, green tea.


Dessert was Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Out of all the flavors, this is probably my least favorite, oh well. On the way home it was Haagen Dazs vanilla.


Snack: Curry bun or Turkey wrap. The curry bun was too heavy...like a pie crust with curry inside. The wrap was OK, a little dry.

They also came along with a choice of potato chips and Hershey's chocolate bars.

Our flight happened to be partially on April 17th, our wedding anniversary. 7 years! For the first time I can really remember, D surprised me by e-mailing the airline beforehand to ask if they did anything for special occasions. (Usually D is very bad at keeping secrets and always hints at things so I usually figure out something is going on). I was half asleep when the crew came by with a little mocha cake. They even put orchids and dry ice to make it all fancy.


Of course, by this time, we were pretty full, but we had a few bites.

Finally, we also had breakfast! We had shrimp fried rice, ham with potato salad, carrot cake, and a roll.


Overall, I enjoyed the flight experience. It felt very decadent to not have to worry about the kids and just eat/sleep/read/watch tv whenever I wanted.

A Jet-Lagged Easter

D and I returned from our week long vacation in Japan yesterday afternoon. We took lots o' pictures, so we will be making up for our recent lack of blogging soon.

Despite our tiredness, we made it to church for Easter Sunday. It was good to worship with our church family again!

After service k and n participated in the Easter egg hunt. Altogether, they participated in six hunts this year, so they're old pros. :)





Happy Easter everyone!

Hart Park & Bruxie

Today's family field trip occurred in the city of Orange. First we went to Hart Park. D and I had checked this park out before we were married as a possible location for wedding photos (we ended up choosing the Bowers Museum). k and n practiced their softball skills. It was a much better place to practice in than our family room at home! Then we went to the other side to check out their playground equipment.




Double-Slide


Swinging Monkey

One of the items on D's bucket list is to go on a zip line. Until then, this will have to do:

Both k and n went on it too.

Usually, if we go out to lunch around 11:30 a.m., there is never a wait. That was not the case when we went to try out Bruxie.

Those brave souls who are planning to open a restaurant in this economy should pay attention to this restaurant's success. It's hard to pinpoint what creates a restaurant's "it" factor, but I think a hip name/tag line ("The Bold Fold"), creative concept (everything inside a waffle!), location (downtown Orange) and relatively reasonable prices are all contributing factors. We tried the Yelp! recommendations: fried chicken waffle and waffle burger, both with a side order of waffle (cute idea) fries. That was enough for all four of us. Maybe k and D could have eaten a little more, but it was probably good for them to exercise some restraint. The only problem was that there is very little parking/seating so we ended up eating in our car!


This was the more interesting sandwich. The cole slaw and chili honey are listed as toppings, but they actually came on the side, which was thoughtful. The chicken was a little on the thin side, but D thought it went well with the waffle.


I couldn't get a good picture of the hamburger waffle because k and n were ravenous and not in the mood to let mommy adjust the settings on her camera. This was definitely more filling and messy. The waffle fries were good, but a tad too salty and oily for my liking. Next time we'll have to try their frozen custard.