Saturday, October 30, 2010

Tokyo Rewind

day 8

snowflakes on plane's window... very pretty.






























sayonara japan!




















last meal in tokyo, at the airport.































curry-san























last shots in our 'weekly mansion'.

















































































looks very drab on the outside but rooms were cosy and clean. thks to k's recommendation!

day 7

since the two pals weren't interested in museums and parks, i headed to tokyo midtown and design sight 21_21 in hinokicho park myself. and surprise surprise... they had lighted up the park! magical!


















design sight 21_21 set in the park full of autumn colours






















































cows are going home....






















at the entrance walkway of a restaurant in tokyo midtown.



















view of hinokicho park from tokyo midtown, in the day time, before it transforms to a magical blue wonderland at night.
















giant paper cutting at tokyo midtown. looks like lovely lace.



















morning walk in the ueno park alone - as mentioned, pals were not interested in parks and were in fact more interested in snoozing. i bumped into emperor akihito in the park. he was in the car driving, waving like, well, an emperor. i was walking by and saw a 'queue' lining up alongside a wide footpath cum road. i thought, wow, these people really wanted to get into the museum or something. i walked right into the middle of the wide footpath and was stopped by a policeman who went on and on in japanese. i said, sorry i don't understand, i'm just trying to get to the other side and i was thinking of telling him i'm not interested to join the queue for the museum. he got agitated and gestured and looked like he was about to lift me off the ground and put me on the side of the road where i belonged. before he yelled at me, i walked across and joined the queue out of curiosity. minutes later, the emperor and his motorcade drove by. but... my camera's card was full! aaaaarrrggghhhhh... i desperately tried to delete photos to free up space, but it was too late. i only had enough time to wave back before the motorcade went by. sigh... no photos of the emperor.

i love j-lanterns. somewhat ghostly.
















modern interpretation of lanterns. plasticky material looks cheap, but the idea is clever - reminiscent of sunlight glowing through shoji doors. very j.



















autumn leaves, i like!



















neko-chan, i also like! in seiza position.
























































day 6

okonomiyaki & monjayaki feast at Tsukishima Monja street, quite near to the Tsukiji market. the chef does a remarkable job, but.... i still don't like the dish.



















explanation on how to cook a mean okonomiyaki.



































































ice cream dessert for dinner
















day 5

on the way back from nikko to tokyo


































bbq fish. quite delicious although looks quite scary, the way it is skewered makes it look eel-like.





















































kegon waterfall - during period between autumn and winter.  not so great.  i imagine it would look amazing in fall or magical in winter.
































day 4

toshogu











































wedding at toshogu


































exhibit 'A'

























































autumn drive - from tokyo to nikko
















day 3

taking train back from tokyo sealife park to shinjuku
















view of ferris wheel from tokyo sealife park




















tokyo sealife park - by yoshio taniguchi



































































































































































































































the snowball fountain nozzles that toyo ito architects asked us to take reference from for the fountain waterfeature at belle vue.  retro.





















to get to tokyo sealife park, must take the non-express train that stops at every stop. we were none the wiser and took the express one, which went straight past the kasai-rinkai koen stop and brought us to the outskirts of tokyo and sensing something amiss, we asked someone and crossed the platform to backtrack.
















before tokyo sealife park we had a fishy morning..



















at tsukiji market















which was just a wet market... don't understand the hype.  maybe because the angmohs who hype it up are only familiar with supermarkets.















long queues for fresh sashimi...
















maguro toro... oooooo
















in raw or should i say, pre-sliced form.

























































view of harbour
















day 2

sumimasen float! for roadworks




















shinjuku lights.





























roadworks barrier.. kawaii ne!



















autumn walk from shibuya to shinjuku

































 at smoke-filled and salary-men-filled izakaya





























 































morning at asakusa temple and surrounds.
looking for famous tempura shop.



























































































huge bowl of ramen meant for very hungry people. we couldn't even finish half a bowl.

























our weekly mansion - so nice and spacious... by tokyo standards.