A little bit of SG in Japan #2

sushi at Tsukiji. Arrived at 730am and the queue for Sushi Dai was 6 hours -_- and Sushi Daiwa sold out?! I wouldn’t wait so long for something I’m not sure of .. Plus I had school. Why are tourists so crazy for sushi I don’t understand. 6 hours? 6 hours can fly to Taipei and back already. So we gave up and went Ryu Sushi (I wonder how many of them gave up after we left???) Thought it was a little expensive (4300yen) but very fresh ingredients. The heart felt a little lighter after finally having “sushi at Tsukiji” and we were actually able to see the market properly. Stopped by a crockery store, ate one of the most amazing chilled tamagoyaki 400yen at 大定 (more satisfying than sushi, sorry…), and 100 yen yakitori. Good to start the day early but omg, I really felt the fatigue in the afternoon… Edit: sushi daiwa is cheaper and beats sushi Ryu hands down. Sorry!

Weekend trip to Kagoshima 3/3

Started off the morning with some sightseeing - can't remember the name of the observatory deck but we can see sakurajima and the city from here!!!

souvenir shop

Lunch at zabo ramen!! it has been 7 years...

Hina chan and my shoes XD

simple and nice 

I gave my keychain to Hina chan.. I really liked it, but I parted with it because I had no souvenir for her... *heartbreaks

Hina #1

Hina #2

Hina #3

Ryo chan, who is amused by a lot of things haha

Off to Sengan-en Garden!! (my house.. LOL)

Nishizono san trying some experience stuff

lovely weather

Happy Nishizono family ^_^

She didn't want to leave...haha

Sakurajima Eruption!

In 2014, Sakurajima erupted as much as 450 times - one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. Today I saw 3 eruptions already! It is very common for the folks here but I watched in awe as the volcano emitted these smoke and ashes. Hinako's mum explained that the falling ashes make daily life very troublesome, people with contact lenses have their eyes irritated, cars get covered with the ashes, they can't do laundry. Yet on the volcanic island now, the 5,000 folks are probably just eating lunch or doing their own thing. Watching the smoke disperse is strangely addictive, Mother Nature, you are truly amazing.

The famous mochi in Sengan-en. I also received a fan as souvenir from Hinako's mum :)

Eruption again!

Skymark Airlines

I see Tokyo Tower!!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE AND KAGOSHIMA!

So I’m back to the crowded Tokyo :(

I had dinner with Kuroki San at Nishi Nippori station Waraku before heading home. 

All these food for two!!!!

Here comes the gist of today’s post. - I had a bit of trouble with the journey back home. First it was entering the gantry of the station. So I headed back to the gate that we exited to have dinner, and apparently I shouldn’t have because that route was for people who is transferring from Yamanote line to Chiyoda line. I exited and had dinner, which means it was a new journey and there is another gantry for new journeys (sigh… Why so complicated). My card kept getting rejected at the transfer gate, and the train staff wasn’t been very helpful. I really thought I was unable to get home :( I went up and down and up and down the station and finally… luckily I tried another gantry and was informed of the situation by another staff and paid 140yen to exit and entered the new gantry.

Then, something else happened. A guy was walking very quickly pass me and dropped his handkerchief. I picked it up to pass it to him, but he realised and turned around to pick it up too, so I passed to him directly. He said thank you and left, walking towards the OPPOSITE DIRECTION (hmm why did you entered to take the train, dropped a hanky and decided to go to the exit?). He was also looking at me in a way that made me really uncomfortable.. I continued to walk towards the platform and 5 secs later he came back to me and said “Oneesan, I don’t know the time now, can you please tell me the time now?”, looking very awkward and squirmy, which really made me very uncomfortable. I told him it was 10pm, and he said thank you and left towards the exit again.. (Again then why was he hurrying towards the platform before that…) after that I feel so scared and kept looking around to see if there are suspicious people.

Maybe I’m paranoid but I now appreciate Singapore’s safety. In Singapore I still do get called out sometimes by random people…-_- But I never once felt scared. I’m not sure if this is a case of getting used to.. Or that I shouldn’t never get used to these…

Weekend trip to Kagoshima 2/3

Started the day with exploring the hotel..

Plastic sheet for umbrella

Pants Press

Erm, adult video ...

Takeshi and Uin came to pick me up to Dozono san's house!

Barbeque!!!! at Dozono-san’s house. It also acts as the production place of tatamis for Dozono san’s tatami family business.

It was a tight journey to his “inaka” house and we were greeted by Koitaro (koi as in koi fish) 鯉太郎 the dog. He was like barking the whole time we were there. 

Grilled mochi!!!

Hard to explain but just imagine everything as wonderfully delicious!!! Dozono san caught the fishes yesterday. And the White round pieces are homemade Mochi. Grill it with soya sauce + a piece of seaweed and you get really delicious mochi!! The agemono fried items were really good too. Real food and not hotdogs and crab sticks.. I’m loving the countryside ^_^

 yomogi Mochi

UIN!!!!!!!

more pics of food - yakimochi, yomogi Mochi, 店長’s baby Sana chan, Uin chan who came from Kumamoto, super delicious tomato which cost 4 for 200yen, another fish caught by Dozono… And Kao Liang liquor!!!

Flowers from Hinako chan

baseball with Ryo chan, playtime with Hinako chan and finally hot spring with Hinako! (Nishizono san’s kids). Hina chan is soooooo cute and Ryoya is really direct about everything! When one of us couldn’t get the toy he commented what are you doing! なにしてんだよ！ LOL

the day ended with dinner at Satsuma Kitchen Hiro again :) Nishizono san and Fukuda san’s wives came too. Nishizono san’s wife was really pretty and she is pregnant with her third child right now :) I sat at the “kids and wives table” LOL

love love love the 黒豚角煮!!!! Befriended Fukuda san’s kids Kippei 桔平 and Yuzuyu柚友. 

Yuzuyu is a really mature kid, she was fun to hang out! She plays tennis! Hinako chan kind of got distracted the whole night by YouTube.. And Ryo chan said I was pretty hahaha.

Everyone was nice. I like nice :)

We left about 3 hours later at 10pm and I went back to my hotel. I entered the lift with a man, and 3 ladies. The man pressed 7th level but didn’t get out. I thought maybe he got his level wrong and was going to 10th level with me. Then I remembered my level is a all-ladies level, so there is no possibility that he was staying on 10th floor. After a lady exited on 7th level, he spoke to me and asked me if I am scared being alone?!! with a smile and fanning a foldable paper fan in his hand. I was like whatttt?! And remained silent until 10th floor. I exited but he didn’t and went to another level. I quickly got into my room and texted Kuroki san. I didn’t expect this to happen in a hotel but.. There are different kinds of people I guess.

ALMOST everyone was nice :) Need to prepare myself for more of such girigiri experiences in Japan.

Good night!