Location: Uniqlo near Takashimaya in Shinjuku, Tokyo
CS3 Notes: +22 contrast, increase levels
Browsing Junkgirl™ blog archives for February, 2009.
(31 December 2008)
Replica of what is available
The easiest way to order is using these food ticket machines. This one is a little tricky though as there are no pictures. Matching the characters will be the only option for those who can’t read Japanese.
a cigarette vending machine
view of the The Gap/Ships Building beside Lumine, from L-Breath & Starbucks near Takashimaya
outside Takashimaya
Lunch was unagidon and a sticky substance. Thanks to watching J-dramas, I managed to figure out how to eat this substance. Scoop the sticky substance into the empty bowl and pour the hot stocksoup in the red jar into the bowl. This ‘melts’ the substance and turns into a porridge like substance. Add the ingredients provided at the side – sesame seeds, wasabi and chives.
Kee’s was less complicated
a crepe shop not far from Studio Alta
deciding…
the decision – banana, cheesecake & chocolate ice-cream
view from where we sat at the creperie
It just wasn’t this guy’s day. The containers he was trying to transport to the truck kept falling off onto the ground, which made a loud ‘kong’ as it hits the ground. It took several attempts to get it all to his truck.
looking straight at the ‘No Smoking While Walking Sign’
an open space public car park
Wandering around Shinjuku. It was New Year’s eve and many stores have closed.
Japanese New Year decor and treats
art used as cover-up of construction going on behind the wall
A typical shophouse in Tokyo, housing several levels of different shops. This one houses a few levels of different eateries and i have a theory that the higher the level, the pricier it is
Lotteria is a fast food chain, serving burgers.
a pachinko parlour
Japanese mythical creature
a camera shop not far from the Gap/Ships Building
back to Takashimaya
the buildings house several levels of different restaurants.
a turning public car park
At Studio Alta area, Shinjuku Station East Exit
the ever vibrant, busy and crowded Shinjuku
A local eatery. I think this can be classified as an Izakaya
entrance to the Kabukicho area
another food ticket machine
the alley next to Shomben Yokocho (also known as Piss Alley)
a pet shop just around the corner
Shomben Yokocho (also known as Piss Alley). Closed for the New Year period.
just outside the Shinjuku Station West Exit
Mosaic Street by night
walking back to the apartment
This is a common sight after dark in Tokyo. Rubbish are left out on the streets at night and gets collected in the morning.
taking a detour to the right
Gashapon or capsule figure machines
Finally heading back. A Hiro drink vending machine on the way
Just underneath the apartment building
the lobby of the apartment
on the 9th floor, just outside the elevator
looking into the apartment from the entrance
the living area/bedroom/dining room/all-in-one-room
looking back towards the entrance
Excuse the mess but when one is travelling, order and neatness is less of a priority
the kitchen
the freebies we got so far – an advertisement magazine, a nail file and some tissues
Caramel corn from the Lawson convenience store
Onigiri from Takashimaya food basement
We wanted to go to Zozoji Temple to see how the Japanese usher in the New Year but it was about 30mins train ride away. We will not be able to make it there by countdown time so we decided to go to Meiji Jingu instead as it was only 2 stations away. We got there on time but it was packed all the way back to the entrance. We counted down standing among the crowd and trees. The line was not moving so we headed back via the food area.
Happy 2009!
Victoria’s bushfire tragedy. Full coverage of the disaster here.
The koala above has been named Sam and is a she. Sam suffered but survived. Sadly, many didn’t. Wild animals couldn’t outrun the raging firestorm. Livestocks and pets were trapped and burnt alive. My heart goes out for the animals that didn’t make it.
Received my order from Rootote a few days ago. Promptly sent and well-packaged. The RS mini baguette is a little small and not as nice as it looks in the picture. The RT Tall Wild though, is good.
Maybe i should get another one…
(30 December 2008)
breakfast at the soba shop nearby
Then taking the JR Yamanote Line to Ikebukuro
walking from the Ikebukuro station towards Sunshine City
looking into a pachinko parlour
boots at ABC-Mart
endless shopping
Udon at the food level in Sunshine City
The main Bic Camera store next to the Ikebukuro train station.
Levels and levels of electrical and electronic goods
the other side
It is an extremely hot day today. 45 degrees celsius. The hottest in Melbourne in decades. The best way to describe it is…it feels as if you’re being roasted in an oven. If you stand outdoors, your skin gets crispier by the second. Dry and hot.
A song to cool down
from Bleach Best Tunes
(29 December 2008)
Tsukiji Day. We arrived at close to lunchtime.
Heading towards the Tsukiji outer market area. It was extremely crowded and difficult to shoot, especially with the bulky one. Don’t want any knocks on it either so switched to the handy one.
We headed to Sushizanmai first and had hoped that we would be able to beat the crowd and queues like our last visit. We didn’t. We queued outside Sushizanmai, behind 3 American men. After a few minutes, we realised that we may have to give our names to the host at the entrance (the guy with a white jacket on the left in the photo below). He spoke some english and took down my name. We waited for my name to be called.
About 20 minutes later, we were seated upstairs. A sushi chef is assigned to a number of seats in front of them and customers place their orders with the chef assigned to them. We had…
A tuna variety plate consisting of broiled tuna (the most delicious in my opinion), tuna, 2 grades of toro, minced tuna and tuna roll
Uni (sea urchin roe)
Ikura (salmon roe)
Grilled salmon
We ordered another round of individual selections. Unagi on the right. Not a big fan of sushi but i have to say that it is good quality sushi here. Fresh and not..mmm…boring? Toro or fatty tuna doesn’t really melt in your mouth like most people describe. You still have to chew, it is just very soft and feels ‘oily’..sort of.
It is a bit pricey and we were careful not to over-order. This is one of the more expensive meals we had.
Tamago (egg). It is interesting how this one is made.
We faced the counter. The man is the chef assigned to the seats beside ours
Raw salmon
This was the sushi chef assigned to our area. He looked young but uses reading glasses
Octopus, which we didn’t fancy and so did not order
Looking back at where we sat, near the window on the left row
Back outside. Pretty looking octopus.
This are some sort of Japanese New Year product. We should have bought a small one to find out what it is.
It isn’t SARS or anything like that. The Japanese using mouthmasks is a common sight. They are either trying to prevent spreading their cold or to prevent from catching others’ cold.
Katsuobushi shavings or bonito flakes
Another Japanese New Year product.
The green vege next to the carrots are fresh wasabi roots
A ‘eat-standing’ stall, which is pretty common
They look prettier than they taste
A petrol station where the pumps hang from the ceiling
The Tsukiji Fish Market auction area is closed to the public recently. This is mainly to due visitors not obeying the rules and not respecting that there are some important business going on here and also because some gaijins decided to be a nuisance and make a fool of themselves, like this…
The ban is totally understandable
Next on our itinerary is Tsukishima. JR doesn’t go there so we had to take the Metro or Subway. Figuring out how much the ticket costs
The ticket machine. Most have a “For English, touch this button”
The subways usually have this chart to inform passengers if they are getting on the correct train and how long it will take to get to their station. The station you are at is marked in red here.
Not far from Tsukishima station. A typical residential flat or apartment.
Akira style bikes
The main shopping street at Tsukishima
New Year decors
taking a break in an alley off the main street
looking up
looking down, at my hotto-kouhi
the vending machine where i got the Pokka from
continued walking
This is a Japanese traditional activity. I came to know about it from watching The Amazing Race. One has to scoop up fish using a scoop with thin rice paper.
There was a fair being held, like an evening market.
From what i read, this is to deter cats, using reflection from the water bottles
another New Year decor
at the subway, heading to Roppongi
view of Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills. It displays 2008 but will change in 3 days.
Illumination
The Tokyo Tower in the distance
I can’t figure out what the numbers mean
I have a theory that most Tsutaya and Starbucks are next to each other
We saw the billboard for Blue Man Group and discovered days later that they were performing at the building underneath the billboard. What a coincidence!
We took the subway to Ebisu and walked to Ebisu Garden Place. Outside the Sapporo Beer Station area
Entrance to Ebisu Garden Place
Toki no Ashioto by Kobukuro, the theme song from
.
Hayami Mokomichi acted pretty well in this J-Drama.
(28 December 2008)
Harajuku Day.
Around the corner of the apartment building was a man asleep on the ground, most probably drunk. This is a pretty common sight in Tokyo.
Heading towards platform 14 in Shinjuku Station for the JR Yamanote Line train going in the Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinagawa direction
at the platform
We headed for Meiji Jingu, which is just beside the train station. There was an American family (taking photos near the stall in the photo below) beside me when i was capturing the wooden torii gate. I could tell that the dad was looking around for someone he could ask to take a family photo for him.
I asked “Do you want a photo taken for you?”. His reply was “Yes…you speak good english”.
entering Meiji Jingu compound
Japanese alcohol
and directly opposite, French alcohol
set-ups to usher in the New Year in a few days time. It is exactly the same as when we last visited, 2 years ago.
cleansing area
It seems that the Japanese has a zodiac system similar to the Chinese. They too will be welcoming the Year of the Ox. Just that their New Year falls on 1 Jan and the Chinese’s is according to the Lunar New Year
This is a corner selling charms of all sorts
a closer look
the New Year animal with a bell in its body
Ema. It cost 500 or 1000 yen each from memory. You write your wishes or hopes or complaints and hang it up. We didn’t hang one up this trip.
The interior of the shrine. The Japanese pray a little differently. They throw coins into the boxes provided and then clap their hands twice (i think).
Meiji Jingu is a Shinto Shrine. From my own observation, there is no figures to pray to in Shinto shrines, unlike Buddhist or Taoist temples. Instead, tt is usually a mirror-like object housed in a case.
miko or Shrine maidens
A quick stop at the toilet, on the right
back at JR Harajuku station
from across the road, with Takeshita-dori further down on the right
looking straight at Takeshita-dori
packed
Daiso Harajuku, one of the larger 100yen chains, not far down
wonder what a ticket shop is…
the other end of Takeshita-dori
the recently opened H&M store
In Tokyo, if not Japan, there is a queue for almost everything and everywhere. This obviously includes H&M
ABC-Mart next to H&M. ABC-Mart is a shoe retailer chain with lots of nice and not to pricey shoes, especially for the guys
a crepe stall
We decided to join the queue. It wasn’t that bad really. We were inside within 5 minutes. I guess they just wanted people to enter in an orderly fashion instead of shoving and pushing.
The clothes in H&M are affordable but aren’t that interesting. We left the store empty handed.
Walked around the backstreets near Harajuku Street, behind Omotesando.
people standing on the street with a sign or flyers in their hands, promoting their store, is a common sight. This guy on the right is promoting Freakstore, a few steps away
this is it. Freakstore..freaking expensive
a food mobile
a typical pharmacy in Japan
We headed back to Yoyogi Park, not far from the entrance to Meiji Jingu. A group of Elvis-otaku were hanging around there.
Have a break, have a Calpis hotto-lemon , at Yoyogi Park. I love the hot lemon drinks from the vending machines.
There are plenty of activites at the park. People walking their dogs, playing frisbee, practising their dancing with a portable radio, playing ball sports, one man playing the Chinese er-hu and one young man playing on his drums which he had dragged to the park. I guess because there is not much space in a typical Japanese home, people go to the park to get some space.
heading back to JR Harajuku station
The area beside the entrance to Meiji Jingu. This is where the cosplayers gather on Sundays. It was late and most have dispersed.
returning to Shinjuku
Odakyu store which also houses Bic Camera, just across the road from Shnjuku Station West Exit
Dinner was ramen at Foo-foo, somewhere in Shinjuku station
an onigiri back in the apartment
(27 Deccember 2008)
Ghibli Museum Day. We have pre-purchased our entrance voucher (dated this day) to Ghibli Museum prior to our arrival.
Confirming the platform for Chuo Line at the JR Information Counter in Shinjuku Station.
waiting for our train to arrive. We are taking the Chuo Line and getting off at Mitaka station
we arrived at Mitaka and got a coffee from Starbucks (with a christmas feel) before starting our walk to Ghibli Museum. We even get a carry bag just for our coffee.
heading towards Ghibli Musem, along the canal
500 metres to go
Looking down at a manhole. The manholes in Japan are pretty interesting
the view across the street from Ghibli Museum
Entering the gate
the ‘stairs-in-the-cage’
towards the entrance and ticket area
storing our bags into the locker
This is next to the locker
Susuwatari from Totoro and Spirited Away. My favourite Ghibli character besides the small and medium Totoro.
The robot from Laputa – Castle in the sky. A queue is formed to take photos with the robot
looking back at the way leading to the robot
and looking down
another piece from Laputa – Castle in the sky, not far away from the robot
We bought some goods from the souvenir shop. Things are pricier this time due to the poor Aussie dollar. Photos and videos are prohibited inside the building. Back to pick up our bags from the locker and watching kids play with the waterpump from Totoro while we rest our feet for a bit
The cafe before exiting the Ghibli Museum
across the street from Ghibli Museum
we headed back the same way we came, back towards the train station
Mitaka seemed a more slow-paced and quieter suburb compared to the Tokyo city area
the front of a typical modern day Japanese home
a bus stop for the Ghibli bus. There is actually no need to hop on the bus as it is within walking distance and we prefered strolling there as we can feel the area better on foot.
turning into one of the main street near the train station
Prices are a little cheaper here. We bought 3 pairs of gloves for 1000yen from a nice little variety shop
back in Shinjuku at dusk and headed back to the apartment to drop off our shopping goods. During this trip, we would walk on the left of the road daily to get to Shinjuku station
the other side of the road. Our apartment is just a bit further after turning right at the flyover
the apartment building
Looking down after getting out of the lift, on the 9th floor. The mini Louvre (as we called it), illuminated in blue, in the distance.
on the left, next to the vending machine, is the entrance to the apartment
After our failed attempt to find Square Enix Showroom yesterday, we tried again. It should be nearby. We found it this time.
On the second floor, embedded in the floor is Sephiroth from Final Fantasy
a closer look
another figure, but a much smaller one
an eatery chain nearby
9 degrees celsius @ 18.10
Having some snacks we got from the conveniece store, back at the apartment. A packet of dried fish
sake
Oden – i bought only 1 piece.
Search
Journeys
