Tokyo Throwback
Hello everyone! Today is officially Day 2 of Circuit Breaker here in Singapore and we’ve all been told to stay home for a month till early May. Since I have ample time (cos y’know unemployed FML 😭😭) + couple with the fact that I was supposed to be heading to Japan for hanami in a few days’ time but due to the global pandemic all travel plans have been shelved, I thought it’d be fun to dig out pictures from my last trip to Japan in October 2018 😆 Just so I can relive the trip and wait for the next trip to the land of sakura! Here I’ll kick off with the first leg of my trip - TOKYO
Tokyo Disney Resort
Disneyland & Disney Sea
The mother and I were doing a mother-daughter trip to Japan and naturally, Tokyo Disney Resort had to be one of the stops because in case you didn’t know both my mum and I are HUGE Disney fans and the parks in Tokyo are one of the best Disney parks I’ve been to. Booked a hotel in the Maihama area for 2 nights because we wanted to maximise our time at the parks and the hotel of our choice was Hiyori Hotel Maihama.
The hotel provides a shuttle service to and fro to the Disney parks for its guests so it was very convenient for us, in fact alot of hotels around the area do provide shuttle services to the parks daily so pro tip, do pick them instead of one of the Disney hotels as it is much cheaper! Of course if you can afford to go all out with one of the Disney hotels or partner hotels do go ahead as it will add on to the ‘Disney’ factor with the themed rooms and early access to the parks 😍😍.
In the land of Duffy, Shellie May, Gelatoni and Stella Lou
Spent our first day at Tokyo Disney Sea as I figured out I needed the entire day to go on all the rides there and let my mum go all-out to buy all the Duffy merchandise first before doing Tokyo Disneyland the next day till the evening and heading into Tokyo city thereafter for the non-Disney portion of our Tokyo leg. Oh and another pro tip from me - I bought the tickets the night before when we arrived in Tokyo at the Ikspiari ticket counter so that we could just head straight in once the parks opened!
I loved the villains theme Tokyo Disney Sea was doing for Halloween 2018 and Maleficent is my favourite Disney villain so I had to get the Maleficent-themed Mickey ears as a souvenir 😍😍😍! Was also very happy to re-ride all my favourite attractions in Disney Sea although I had to skip out on Toy Story Mania! and Journey to the Center of the Earth due to the horribly long queues. Anyway here’s a list of my favourite attractions in Tokyo Disney Sea:
Tower of Terror
Toy Story Mania!
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Nemo & Friends SeaRider
Raging Spirits
I know Soaring has also opened in Tokyo Disney Sea (as of when I’m writing this post) and I’ve actually tried this attraction in Shanghai Disneyland. If you have the time to get a Fastpass for it or queue, do give this ride a try! I can’t wait to go and sit this one to compare with its Shanghai cousin.
“That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up.”
Best ride in Tokyo Disneyland!
This was breakfast for mum and I in Tokyo Disneyland.
One thing I love about going to Disney parks (especially the ones in Tokyo) are the cute Disney-themed food items you can get there! I pretty much ate Disney throughout the 2 days we were in the parks and here’s the weird thing - they taste super yummy! You can get these food items at the snack stops or restaurants throughout the Tokyo Disney parks.
I would have also loved to pick up a popcorn bucket but they were quite expensive and I didn’t like any of the designs they had then so I saved some money and spent them all on more merchandise instead 😂😂. The popcorn flavours in both Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea are quite interesting (think curry, strawberry and even matcha 😂) but still very yummy so I highly recommend purchasing some to try if you ever visit the parks.
My theme in Tokyo Disneyland was Winnie the Pooh because he is one of my favourite Disney characters! I hunted the Pooh ears in one of the stores and promptly wore it after paying for it heh. Didn’t feel a tiny bit out of place because everyone was wayyyy into the whole wearing Disney ears more than me 😆 Plus the mother approved of it and I actually reused the ears for my trip to Shanghai Disneyland - totally worth the money spent on it! #tryingtoconvincemyself
Super.crowded.park.
Used the Stella Lou coin pouch which I bought from Disney Sea the day before heh
We left Tokyo Disneyland shortly before 6pm and headed back to Hiyori Hotel Maihama to pick up our luggage. Went back to Maihama station and took the train into the city to Ginza where we were going to spend the next 4 nights to explore Tokyo.
The hotel I picked was Hotel Musse Ginza Meitetsu because of its close proximity to the train stations and also because there’s soooooo many convenient stores located around it. There’s a 7-11 directly in the hotel building and Lawson is located diagonally across to the hotel. In fact, I picked up combini dinner food that night from 7-11 because my mum was too exhausted from the day at Disneyland and also travelling to the city. And I really enjoy staying in Ginza because it isn’t very crowded unlike Shinjuku or Shibuya plus it is fairly close to Tokyo Station with a ton of shopping areas around - the largest Uniqlo in Tokyo is in Ginza and there’s also GU (Uniqlo’s sister brand) located a few stores down. Don Quixote and other drugstores can also be found easily in the vicinity so I was very happy to stay once again back in Ginza and use it as a base to travel around Tokyo.
The museum does not allow any form of photography or videography inside so all the pictures you see here are taken outside or on the roof garden of the museum where they allow you to take photos.
I really enjoyed the 2 hours I spent in the museum living in the world of Ghibli animation so if you are a big fan of the Ghibli films, I definitely recommend you taking time out to at least experience the museum once when in Tokyo!
Anyway, one of the main highlights I covered on this trip in Tokyo was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. One thing to note is that you do have to reserve your tickets ahead online as they do not have a physical ticketing counter at the museum and they are tied to any identification i.e. passport so you have to bring along the passport you used to reserve the tickets. The museum is easily accessible by a shuttle bus that can be found at JR Mitaka station.
“Character-themed Cafes”
Of course when in the land of anime and kawaii, you definitely cannot miss out on the cute character-themed cafes. I usually Google for any ahead of my trip to see if there are any themes that I like and I managed to find out that The Pokemon Cafe had opened near Tokyo Station and since we were staying nearby in Ginza, I thought it would be easy to access this cafe.
As with many restaurants, entrance into The Pokemon Cafe has to be reserved and I could only book an afternoon slot so I thought ‘why not just go for afternoon tea then' which explains the dessert-like dishes we ordered 😂😂 And there is also a time-limit on your reservation so do bear that in mind.
Another character themed food place I managed to visit on that trip was Rascal Bakery by Chara Bread in Kichijoji after I visited the Ghibli museum since they are located only 1 JR station apart. I just love how into kawaii food the Japanese are and most of the time they do taste quite yummy as well unlike what we have in Singapore 😍😍 Anyway, very sadly this bakery seems to have closed down permanently as I’m writing this in 2020 :/ Well, you may enjoy the few pictures I’ve posted below then 😆
“Food in Tokyo”
Whenever I am in Japan, Ichiran ramen will be at the top of my ‘must-eat’ list because it is the best ramen in the world. Ichiran ramen is quite easily accessible in Tokyo (and other parts of Japan too!) so you can definitely do a quick Google search to locate the nearest outlet.
One of the ramen joints that I wanted to try in Tokyo was Afuri ramen (this was before they opened an outlet here in Singapore). I went to the Harajuku outlet for dinner with my mum and we both loved it. Mum had the Yuzu shio ramen while I had the Yuzu-tsuyu tsukumen which is the dry version and the noodles were still so springy and flavourful 😍😍 It will definitely be added to my ‘must-eat’ list for future trips to Tokyo.
Also on the to try list of food for that trip were
Harajuku Gyozaro (神宮前6-2-4 Shibuya, 東京都 〒150-0001)
Luke’s Lobster (東京都渋谷区神宮前6-7-1)
Harajuku Gyozaro
One of the best gyozas I had in Japan were from this nondescript store in Harajuku. From the exterior of the store, it came across as a Chinese food store and I would have never stepped in if it wasn’t for the long queue outside its door. My personal favourite is the fried gyozas as the skin was soft yet crispy enough. Mum preferred the steamed ones but in my opinion it wasn’t as tasty as the crispy one as it tasted more bland.
Oh and just in case you’re wondering why there’s only 1 bowl of rice, it’s because I was saving my stomach for the next food place which is just a short walk from Harajuku Gyozaro.
Luke’s Lobster
Harajuku Gyozaro
Luke’s Lobster
Located just a stone’s throw away from Harajuku Gyozaro, this takeaway store sells really awesome lobster rolls. I bought 1 lobster roll for myself since the mother was quite stuffed from her bowl of rice and gyozas and the lobster meat was very chunky and sweet 😋.
The queue was quite long but it moved very fast possibly because I arrived there before the lunch crowd. Would I head to Harajuku specifically for it? Nope. But if I’m in the area exploring and I’m hungry, I’d definitely go for a helping of that succulent lobster meat. Only if the queue is short 😆😆.
Gomaya Kuki
Japan is also a heaven for dessert-like food and I managed to try quite a number of them while in the Harajuku/Omotesando area too.
Gomaya Kuki (東京都 渋谷区 神宮前 4-6-9 南原宿ビル１F)
Zaku Zaku ザクザク (150-0001 東京都渋谷区神宮前 1-7-1 / Harajuku Cute Cube 1F)
Calbee+ (150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya City, Jingumae, 1 Chome−16−8 原宿竹下通り沿い / Along Takeshita Street)
Well, I pretty much ate my way throughout Tokyo really and continued doing so throughout for the rest of the trip so stay tuned for the other entries of Kyoto/Nara and Osaka!
