Day 7-8: Back to Tokyo

Ohno met us at Haneda Airport and brought us to a small hotel he had helped us book for our last night in Japan. =) After a yummy meal of hot soba, we set off for Ikebukuro to meet Haramichi and explore Sunshine City more.

They brought us to Namja Town!



Namja is the name of the cat who is the main character of this amusement park. There were LOTS of people there cos it was a public holiday. The whole place was set to look like old Tokyo - all retro lights and facades and shops...






Then we went up to the second level..



Ice Cream City!!!



They had lots of these game machines there. I tried to win this Piyo Piyo duck, but skill not there lah. =b



This is Namja the Cook.



Me eating an Ice Strawberry, Caramel ad Chocolate Sauce Crepe!!! SOOOOO delicious! Shared with mel.





From L to R: Ohno, Mel, Me, Haramichi

After that we went up to the 60th floor viewing gallery where you can see almost the whole of Tokyo! But it was still raining heavily, so we couldn't see much =(



view from the top.

they brought us to this japanese restaurant that's all bamboo. the floors and walls - all bamboo poles, with some rice paper sections! we had to remove our shoes and put into lockers at the entrance, and from there, it was barefoot all the way (slippers provided in the toilet). we had our own little room for privacy too!



A palette of traditional japanese appetizers! (can't remember the names though)



Got the cute trainee waitress to take pic for us. =)



Our main course - pork and burdock with japanese rice. =) my first time trying burdock, which i've read about in totto-chan. it's quite crunchy - like carrot - not a whole lot of taste, apart from the soy sauce that it's seasoned with. but in general a nice dish. =)

we also had a daikon salad with a jappy vinegar base as a side dish. i really want to try and make this dish in Singapore!



matcha green tea icce cream for dessert

Our last morning in Japan (sob sob) we walked the streets of Tokyo, and took pictures of these pretty streetside flower boxes, put there, it think, to announce the arrival of Spring!



We found a second hand CD shop, and browsed there for AGES! I was very happy with my singles of Utada and Do As Infinity! =)



Lunch in a dingy but cozy jap place.



tonkatsu don set. the meat was a bit tough =( but i liked the side dish of steamed veggies, esp steamed yam and sweet potato!



waiting a the airport. our flight was delayed, so we had to hang around for almost 4 hours!!! the outdoor viewing gallery, where this pic was taken, was very nice. but very COLD. so we only stayed there about 10 minutes!




we didn't have sushi the whole time we were in Japan! so for our last meal, we decided we MUST eat sushi! =) notice how the fish meat is significantly longer than the rice - not like those puny chunks they serve in Singapore. and the egg was almost double the size of the rice underneath it! =D




beautiful origami exhibition in the departure lounge. WOW!!!

then it was back to Singapore... but I had a WONDERFUL time, and i'm so happy to have had this break! and i got to watch Juno on the flight back! =) heh.