We ♥ Japan Day 1 - 日本の旅行 - 渋谷109

28 December 2011 Itinerary

Flight Landing

The flight landing was a smooth one and I remembered the euphoria upon seeing Japanese houses from above. Those houses around Narita Airport were neatly organized in clusters and loosely scattered across the huge piece of land. I also remembered seeing a super huge anti-airport protest poster put up near the airport runway. Quite shocked but I can understand why. And finally, the flight came to a halt at around 9.10a.m. local time. We had safety reached Japan, the land of rising sun! <3

Reaching Narita Airport and Hotel Check-in

Here we are at Narita Airport~!! But first, we need to purchase Nex ticket to get from airport to Ikebukuro so off we went to search for the ticketing booth~

Guess what was the reason behind his smile of amazement? That was because we were surprised by how well the wheels gripped onto the escalator despite being really narrow! I was even dubious when the staff signaled me to use the escalator for our trolley and I went 本当?本当(Really)?

And we reached the JR East Travel Service Center where we purchased Suica & Nex combo plus the two day unlimited pass.  The counter staffs were able to converse in English so do not worry if you are planning to buy tickets there. 

This is how the Suica and NEX combo ticket looks like and our Nex Car Number(cabin?) was 7. 

The not-so-intimidating train map for the time-being, lol! Before this vacation, he couldn’t stop emphasizing how complicated Japan transportation system was! 

There he was familiarising himself to the railway lines. So grateful to have him! While he was busying looking at the map, I saw an enclosed waiting room with heater right in front of me. It is such a nice facility to have, especially during the winter!

I explored further around the waiting area and saw a double decker train. Never seen a double decker train before, or maybe I did at Finland hmm…

And this picture of the train conductor saluting the moving train says how much pride and respect they have towards their job.

And then I spotted a full touch-screen drink vending machine! Think of how convenient and easy it would be to update new drinks into the machine! Super high-tech and so fun to watch! Recommended drinks are those with red tags; it reads osusume~

And so our train came on time! A point to note, if you are later than 5 minutes for your ride, chances are you will miss your train completely! My point is never be late for your train ride. At Japan, punctuality is beyond virtue and is an integral part of their daily life. Love that transportation is a serious business at Japan. I even read that train companies have instituted a “dely fee” of approximately 100 million yen (1 million dollars) that must be paid by the families of those who chose to use the trains as their means of suicide. 

Anyway, here is a video of the beautiful scenery we saw from the train. 

And yes, you heard someone letting out a loud squeak towards the end of the station jingles and no, it wasn’t us but some random passenger! Someone got freaked out by the departure jingles from his sleep and jumped out of his seat! Poor thing haha! Oh by the way, JR East has got different departure jingles and how cute can this country get?!!! I need to go back now T-T It sure brings back AWESOME memories now that I am hearing some of those familiar jingles thinking back of the past!

This country is so beautiful!

And the hotel where we were staying at was at Ikebukuro. This ride was about about 1 hr 40 mins, from Narita Airport to Ikebukuro station. Most of the time on the Nex train I was sleeping away as the lack of sleep was totally taking a toll on me. And ok, fast forward a little to … Reaching Ikebukuro Station. Guess what I saw when I alighted? Cosme store!

I believe this is somehow related to @cosme, a very well known Japanese cosmetics and skincare review website. It was cool seeing something I know online coming to life.

Dinner at Nantsuttei Ikebukuro (なんつッ亭池袋店)

Out to hunt for Nantsuttei Ramen restaurant at Ikebukuro! My boyfriend is a ramen addict and prior to this trip, we came to know of its Singapore outlet and we went and loved it! So searching for its home outlet in Japan was definitely part of our itinerary! 

It was my first time seeing so many neon boards.

 

And with Google map, we managed to locate for its Ikebukuro outlet!

Ordering food was both a fun and challenging experience! Here in Japan, you do not order your ramen from the waiter/waitress but make your order from a ramen ordering vending machine which is often near the entrance. These ordering machines require you to slot in your money and this is followed by pressing the buttons labelled with the food item names you want. After completing the process, you will receive an order slip which looks like this. I ordered their special plus Gyoza~

And after getting seated, you will have to put your order slip near the edge of the table, closest to where the chef is hard at work. 

And here comes our ramen! Our order was served quick as there wasn’t a lot of customers at that time.

We always like our egg to be runny, soft and sticky on its egg yolk. Yummy!

YUMMY!!!! ANd gyoza!!! We first tried their Gyoza at their Singapore outlet as free food for waiting and loved it sooo much! 

It is so yummy!!!! Plus these gyoza looks so cute being stuck together into one row. Off topic, I bought a gyoza HP miniature haha! Reminds me of this meal.

Love how you will never have to ask for ice water in restaurants at Japan. They serve you one kettle full of water! Free serving!

Vedict?

We had high expectation from its home outlet and wasn’t disappointed at all! The noodle serving and ingredient was so much more generous that its Singapore counterpart. I swear we are not small eaters but this serving was a little too much for us to handle but we are loving it! Super value for money and keeps you full for a long time! I recommend this ramen restaurant to people who are visiting Japan.

Next, where else but Shibuya 109 to fulfill my EMODA shopping wish?!!! Let’s go~

At Ikebukuro Station. And here we were at 

.

.

.

SHIBUYA 109, the shopping paradise 

It is the famous Shibuya 109 building, without any posters on the building front!!! Before arriving here, both of us were guessing who would be the one gracing the building! 

And everyone looking super fashionable! Yes, it is true that at Shibuya, you can catch an abundant of people with good looks within a stone throw. Woot!

 It was actually nice seeing Shibuya 109 without any posters.

And I had finally reached EMODA outlet! I made it!!!

Just.. just look at their shop staffs! Aint they pretty?! Yes, very! I love how well they represent this brand with their makeup too! 

Turns out this outlet wasn’t as big as I imagined it to be. There were some sales going on at that time.

Ena Matsumoto everywhere I turn! Those clothes I saw her wearing on her blog were all right in front of me. Plus the shop staffs were super polite and greeting anyone who came in. Some of them came up to me and spoke a lot of Japanese and I believe they were promoting their items.

I just nodded my head and pretended like I understand what they were trying to say, lol!

Yeah, super happy and Chris took a quick snapshot of me with EMODA’s clothes. In Shibuya 109, we are not supposed to take pictures at all but seriously, with all the photos leaking out of Shibuya 109, how strict is this regulation?

I ended up buying 1 necklace and hair band in a single purchase, which I will blog more about separately. These were small items so I was seriously in shock when they package my hair band and necklace SEPERATELY into an EMODA accessory drawstring bag each! How generous! And these accessory drawstring bag are really pretty! Yes, I will blog abt it soon.

Super happy and there were no sight of EMODA Fukubukuro still.

Next, the SBY Shibuya outlet where all the latest gyaru cosmetics and all sorts of fashion products come under one roof!

And guess what? I was SOOOO HAPPY to see Loveswig x Kumicky wig series which I blogged about earlier here!!!! Finally get to see them at SBY Shibuya! I bought 2 of its wigs which I am hoping to blog soon.

And here at SBY Shibuya, they have nicely set up a small makeup corner where you can try some of the latest gyaru products for free! Here is one of the videos I made there!

Really beautiful Shibuya 109 pillar! And I am done with my shopping! Next, we moved on to find a cafe for coffee and cake.  

And that is Galaxy Nexus advertisement we were hoping to see at JP. 

And we decided on Italian Tomato Cafe.

I ordered  Latte Caramel Macchiato and Mont Blanc.

I am super in love with their Latte Caramel Macchiato! Love the whip cream on top of the coffee! It was also my first time trying Mont Blanc and I really loved it! I am such a coffee and cake person! Give me this set, anytime!

Super happy~

And they have 2 storeys, one for non-smoking and one for smoking. And yes, we were seated nearest to the staircase and basement smelled like “dungeon”.

And after the great coffee and cake session, we moved to none other than Don Quijote Ikebukuro, Donki in short, a discount chain store carrying a wide range of products, from basic groceries to electronics to clothings. Cosmetics are said to be more affordable there.

I end up not buying anything from there on day 1 as I was still on price watching mode. 

Hoping to blog about day 2 soon! Crosses fingers! And the fun continues~

2 Notes/ Hide

  1. mtrayu posted this

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus