TOKYO DAY 1: ICHIRAN IN SHINJUKU
Friday 4 August 2017
SO EXCITED FINALLY GOING TO JAPAN?!?!?!?! (but this was my trip in 2016 lol)
Very rushed photo that's why background never choose properly end up take in front of the door wtf
Thank u papa mama for sending us to the airport bcos ur daughter is hopeless in last min packing!!!!!!
Luckily we made it so checking in! We're taking JAL if you are interested.
Budget airline or not usually depends on location/duration and what I'm going there for.. e.g. 2h flight to BKK vs say 5h flight to TPE. Also if I'm gonna shop... not worth it to take budget and keep on adding baggage so! That's how I think!
Waiting for the departure gate open. It was like 1am in the morning if I rmb correctly, so not very crowded!
Ma de I would've been chio if it wasn't blur
Ok still pretty keke
So vain I know I will sleep on the plane and it's more comfortable to sleep bare faced BUT I know I would take pix so 不甘愿 and put concealer and filled in brows lololol
Always. Get. Water on board!
From young whenever I went overseas this is what my mum told me to do lol. She told me overseas water tastes different and I didn't believe her at first but it really does if you taste it properly!!
Then she said if you don't slowly drink overseas water you may fall ill lolol best is to mix with SG water and drink but so troublesome la
Anyways point is I always get SO DRY SO SO DRY my face is dry my mouth is dry EVERYWHERE IS DRY on the plane so its so important to stay hydrated!!!!!! Best is do mask all but I have concealer on so no point LOLOL
When I ordered my meal on board I geikiang selected 'no beef meals' just bcos I don't rly like beef
So they served me Indian food HAHAHAHAHA FML
I don't eat Indian food much except for prata bcos I cannot eat spicy la!
So when I smelt Indian curry I was like omgggggg
Luckily I selected normal meals for YL so he had soup and BREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thankfully YL is not picky like me!!!!! So he swapped meals with me!!!!!
Lololol he was damn sick of my shit but thanks b!!!!!
The soup is from Soup Stock Tokyo!!
So nice :')
WE R HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIrst thing I saw as I stepped out of the plane were the famous Japanese bins.
People in Japan organise their trash if u didn't know. Which is partly why we're staying in a hotel instead of an airbnb bcos you need to classify your trash when you stay in an apartment! I scared I would make a mistake and cause trouble LOL
So excited!!!
Err YL is excited too if he's not then it's ok I pass him my excitement lolol
Oh ya we're at Haneda airport I think I forgot to mention!
Lolol airport also must take pic so #thingsyoudowhenyouareoverseaswithnophotographer
This was taken with a tripod! You will probably see our tripod a lot on vlogs
A lot of our pix in Japan are taken with our tripod that we painstakingly lug everywhere we go
Sorry I mean YL lug not I lug FHL
In the lift now bcos I told YL pls let's go see the food level before we go lolol
This is the departure floor which is one floor up arrivals if I remember correctly! The food level is one more floor upstairs if you can see
The first place I ran to was BREAD SHOP LOLOLOL
Dunno is it I biased or what but their breads are so soft!!!!! But I love all sorts of bread so!!! Idk hehe
I didn't explore much la bcos excited to go into main Tokyo alr so!
ANyways. There are a few ways you can get to main Tokyo from Haneda - but I cannot remember the rest sorry lousy blogger wtf. Google sure have!
You can also go to ask at the information counter outside Arrivals! They can speak English there don't worry.
Or I can Google for you now lolol
There's limousine buses but I wanted to try their Keikyu Line!
So I'm here! The counter for Keikyu tickets and where you tap-in
Look at the map remember don't 吐血
Rmb to get this map from the airport ok useful for the remaining days!
I've only been there a bit more than a week so I'm still NOT very good with the lines ah.... but from what I know there are tokyo metro lines, toei subway lines and JR lines
The first 2 lines are included in the subway map but JR lines are not!
This is the JR lines map. Why is it separate I dunno lolol but 总之 be aware!
Back to the Keikyu Lines. There is a counter (4 photos up) that you can buy your tickets actually but I wanted to try using the machine myself so I'm here lolol
You can see how it's used on my vlog. First remember to click English hor
Here are the rail way tickets. Very cheap thrill to get physical tickets like this but actually.....
These are like their 'ezlink cards'. I only rmb seeing these 2 but I think there are more!
The only difference is they were of different companies? But one has bought over the other or they have merged or something.. so now both cards work the same!
Ofc laoniang bought the pink one ya lololol but YL used the green one and both works the same
ANYWAY MY POINT IS THAT we couldve just topped up the cards that we bought but we bought separate tickets which is a bit more ex LOL GOT SO STUPID
Here's the gantry!
Take a lift down or something and here is the platform!
Actually I thought there will be a luggage area or something but don't have so just kiap or make your bf hold ya LOL
Lololol forced him to take a pic on the train
Btw u can see the train had quite a bit of people actually! I think bcos like normal working people also took the Keikyu Line to get to main Tokyo for work or something so it's unlike the Narita Express (which I took when I returned) which is mostly tourists like us
My turn wtf
Also u can see me struggling with the tokyo metro map lolol 真的
Anyways we alighted at Shinagawa to change line if I remember correctly. Because it was faster this way!
WAH whats this look like harry potter train
Retro looking top-up machine lolol
BTW I learnt in Japan that 'top-up' is written as CHARGE!
So we're changing to the JR Yamanote Line which we will be taking A LOT almost everyday lol
This is the map! From what I read online, this is what most tourists take actually bcos it has most of the stations that many tourists visit. Very convenient!
We're finally in Shinjuku!!!!!
A LOT of 出口s in Shinjuku ya so plssss open your eyes... after a week of staying in Shinjuku I FINALLY KNEW MY WAY AROUND 2 GATES
Ya just 2 gates. There's def more than 10 gates so :''''') Very normal get lost I got lost so many times lololol
My hotel, although in Shinjuku, is closer to a station on the pink line (Tochomae station on Toei Oedo line) so we walked to like 换线 LOL
While walking I found my first FAMILY MART IN JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!
I immediately pulled YL in with our luggages bcos I HAD TO BUY AT LEAST SOMETHING
Omg so much konbini food T___________________T
*insert resturant pix*
Tada the pink line platorm I was talking about!
HOLA is me posing (or still posing) with my konbini egg ^o^
*insert pix of egg close up*
This is their hanjuku egg onigiri which i LITERALLY PRETTY MUCH had it for breakfast almost every single day. Because konbinis are everywhere in Tokyo omg sooooo happyyyyy
We're out of the Tochomae station!
Japanese drivers are sooo polite at least the ones I've seen... throughout my stay I didn't hear anyone horn at anyone at all not even at the Shibuya crossing LOL
In the mean time if I were to walk slightly slower in Orchard I can get horned at by 2 different cars wtf wtf
This is like an overhead bridge? That leads to the park that I'm going to cut through to my hotel
Dk if you can see but on the middle of the stairs is a straight slope seemingly for people to pull their luggages on? So helpful! Very heavy but still helpful LOL ownself powered de travellator
Tada this is the Shinjuku Chuo Park!
Y'know how sometimes when you pass by areas with dense vegetation in SG you can hear crickets and stuff... omg in Japan its a whole other LEVEL
There seems to be soooooooo many more crickets bcos they are soooooooo much louder LOL
Also
Once we exited the other end of the park (and walk somemore) we could see our hotel building alr
I think the reason why I didn't gain weight after eating 好料 in Japan is bcos I.walked.every.where.
Hard not to walk in Japan leh I feel. So though I groan about it I should be thankful bcos I'm exercising wtf
I'm staying at Shinjuku New City Hotel!
Sorry it totally slipped off my mind to take pix of the room and stuff I also can't believe it.... but can see a bit from my vlogs ba I think??
The toilet was small but it's expected for hotels in Japan! Staff were polite just like how any other Japanese are
Streets of Shinjuku!!! So nice right.. they have so many streets its confusing
So I try to memorise big logos like this LOL
While looking for the Ichiran outlet we saw another Family Mart so HEHE ofc go in
Nothing to buy also buy drinks lolol
Anyways can see the blue tray on my left? That's the way Japanese collect/pass you money!
I don't remember to do so all the time bcos not used to it but when I do, I put my money on the tray and they return me change on the tray too. Like its just a mode of transport for your money LOLOL
Shows how polite they are la right... in SG sometimes the aunties drop my change I still must get scolded nvr take properly rly is fml
Ichiran Ramen
Finally found it!!! Ours is the Shinjuku outlet.
It wasn't particularly difficult we just relied on Google maps!
The queue that goes all the way down ermahgerd
Can't rmb how long I queued alr but we were sleep deprived so quite annoyed lolol
They have set menus
You can also order the dishes individually! e.g. toppings
Unfortunately this machine in Shinjuku doesn't have English omg so just see pic and tikam LOL
Some machines require you to select before putting in money, some machines require you to put money first before selecting so again tikam
This is your order ticket! Basically what you paid for
Then when you are legit in the shop queueing for seats, they will pass you the order sheets for customisation
e.g. hardness of noodles, amount of garlic keke
I didn't take a close up but this one got English one no fear lol
Seats in blue are available
Or you can see it directly LOL
Water is provided!
Because it's designed as individual booths, when you are sitting in twos you have to open this partition yourself LOL
WAH i didnt expect lighting so good ah here?!
OK HERE LIAO!!!!
You see the erm wooden curtain??? Hahahaha brain fart I dunno how to describe that
They will lift it up and serve you your food from that space and then bow to you even tho u can only see his/her legs LOL
Since i cant manage to look at them in the eye i just say thank you louder lol
Anyway's this is YL's noodles with an extra order of toppings
His bowl has the red blob which is their chili. Can choose spice level if I rmb correctly
This is my plain bowl bcos I ate an onigiri right before coming here WTF so stupid
Anyways I have never had better ramen soup in SG ya :-(
Chashu too :-( Chashu in SG ramen shops can sometimes be a bit tough but this melted in my mouth fml
It's really damn bomb if you like ramen...... I got the hardest noodles bcos I like tough noodles but actually I think their noodles were not much to shout about la
Their soup is rly the best it's not overrated or what ya!!!!!!
They have a lot of outlets in Tokyo (in fact I think outside Tokyo also have? Can google) so pls do urself a favour and go have a bowl when u're there!
I'm not sure if they have off peak hours but I went twice and both times I had to queue equally long sooooooooo
After that, got lost and walked around and saw LUMINE
Jo told me I have to go to their makeup store there!!!!
This is one of the sections of Shinjuku station btw
The whole station is damn bloody big la very normal to get lost....
LUMINE is connected to one of the exits of the station ok!
They have LUMINE and LUMINE EST so once again 你要睁大眼睛LOLOL
Tada the store!!!!! It's called Cosme. Almost like their.... Watsons?
Actually I would say in between Watsons and Sephora bcos they sell only makeup skincare haircare etc. Very shiok for makeup junkies!!!!!
Omg Japanese mascaras T_____________T I need a moment
I didn't take much pix in here bcos too busy lmao but you can look at my vlog to cop a feel.
GURLLLLL NOT LIKE one-day event rest kind but like ONE-MONTH RENOVATION KIND
FML bcos I didn't have much time alr it was the end of my trip I went to the nearest outlet I found online and they still didn't have some of the things I wanted sob I am so emo....................
:'( I will come back pls still sell them there ya
So when overseas 看到喜欢就买啦! Bcos its not like take one mrt can go back buy again leh is take aeroplane ffs yuki
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ANYWAYS. Bcos we didn't get to sleep much the night before by here we were super tired post flight also so we went back to our hotel and took a nap omg FAIL LA LOLOL 去睡觉
So when we woke up it was already dinner time... 8pm ish? Very late le so not much choices for dinner sobs!! Actually they have a lot of supper bars that sell yakitori and stuff but.... it's our first night and my Japanese is rly not good enough to fully converse in those restaurants lmao
So we just went to the station to see what options were there la
Before we left we went to the lane behind our hotel to take pix lolol
It's a legit road with cars ok we just run back and forth when the cars come lmaoo #thingstouristsdo
Test shot of my human subject
1 not enough must take more
Lmao 来不及 run back
Ok got it!!
Very nice right the lanes with bicycles all 很有feel like im watching anime like that!!!!!!!!!!
We couldn't find isetan nor taka on our first night FOL 迷路 so we ended up going to Odakyu mall
Went to their basement food hall to look at food bcos look also shiok ya
They have a variety but I think almost none were labelled in English? So hard to know what is it la.... Bread flavour also must use guess LOL..
Anywys decided to just walk around and hopefully find food places that we can recognise so can easily order lolol
Looks so bright but i dunno whats that! Forgot liao
Actually I read before online that there is 1 area that is damn happening with night life all in Tokyo and it's Kabukicho.
I didn't purposely go look for that place so I didn't stumble upon it as well... But I think it may be opposite this road that I'm on
Bcos I rmb seeing the sign (bottom left) on pics before LOL
According to blogs I read it's red light district so not safe for girls to be there at night themselves lolol
Just saying la I never went across the road here so I not sure also! Do ur research ya
OOOOH YOSHINOYA
U may think its boliao to eat tht but how differently does it taste from SG?!
We are at level 2 counter seats
Again water is self service!
Rice bowl places as such mostly provide either water or iced tea here
It was our first day so we didn't know to request English menu yet just point pic lolol but u can ask for it ya!
A bit confusing bcos how come 1 bowl of rice got 4 different prices?
Well because got normal price, 加饭 (add rice) price, 加肉 (add meat) price, 加饭加肉 (add rice add meat price) LOL
Similar to chicken rice in SG ah lololol
This is YL's beef bowl!! You can get more toppings but he just got spring onion and a raw egg
I usually hate spring onion in SG but i've been eating it A LOT IN JAPAN BCOS ITS DIFFERENT!!!!
They're sliced much much thinner and they are seasoned with soy sauce methinks. Soooooo gooooood
Mine is pork bcos I generally prefer pork over beef.... Also bcos SG don't have this ya!
With a soft boiled egg bcos I don't like the taste of raw eggs.
Omg eggs are such a thing in Japan i think i must've eaten 3-4 eggs a day while I was there LOL NOT EVEN KIDDING
Lolol so glamorous
Anyways!! Yoshinoya in Japan is SO MUCH BETTER YA
I don't like beef much but YL's beef bowl was sooooo good!!! I had a bite and the beef was so soft
Eh pls if rice bowl shops had such yummy beef then cannot imagine restaurants liao ah
Unfortunately we didn't go to any beef restaurants in our trip at all :-( I researched 2 restaurants actually and kept telling YL that we should go there!!!
But he didn't want la.. because I'm not a big beef eater so he didn't want me to like have less to eat there
Though im very grateful of his thoughtfulness, I still regret not going la wtf bcos even if I don't appreciate beef 我去看世面也爽对吗 lolollol
So stupid ah go Japan never eat wagyu......
Haiz nvm like that then can go back again next time ya!!!
While walking back to the station we saw KFC and us being #kfcsiaos had to dabao supper back though we literally just ate dinner LOLOL
Remember when you are at these kind of outlet chains always ask if they have English menu! Saves u sooooooo muchhh grief
The money tray again!!! Bwahaha
Very short night spent in the streets of Shinjuku but still lovely ya!!!!
So nice to absorb in all the feels ~______~ I love Japan
We are back at our hotel! Beside our hotel is a FamilyMart so we literally confirm plus chop go there every single night to find food. Full or not full also will go find food
Don't need to say ya they have a looooot of ready made food omg legit bentos
Taiwan and Thailand and Japan all have crazy good convenience stores ya i dunno what is SG doing.......
OMG desserts also have a lot.........
Very sad looking at this pic bcos I bought them ^ to jiak..... but I left it in the minibar and forgot all about it FML
Haiz.......... the minibar is the death of me I always forget things in the fridge one.......
Oh ya we also bought cakes at the station while we were there LOLOL SO MUCHHHH FOOOD TO EAT OMGGG
But these were very so-so so I won't bother elaborating ya I don't reco also. If u want to see the shop u can check my vlog! Aiyo queue so long I thought jin hojiak but rly so-so nia
ANYWAYS TADA OUR KFC!!!!! Looking at this pic we bought a 2 pc meal I think????
Verdict is that the chicken tastes exactly the same as SG KFC ya LMAO
First thing that stands out is that their fries are different right!!!! Its like tornado potato??
We also added a bagel as a side!!! Bcos looked interesting
It's supposed to be sweet so they have this honey maple syrup to drizzle on YUMMMMSSS SO GOOD it tasted like mcgriddles in bagel form ya hehe
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