Finally getting down to blogging about the Japan trip!
And of course, wiping the dust off my blog.
I had so much fun on this trip that I almost didn't want to come back.
My trip was for 10 days 9 nights but I still found it too short.
My trip was for 10 days 9 nights but I still found it too short.
Japan is a really wonderful country and I love the people there!
They are all sooooo polite and courteous,
and they don't mind going out of their way to help strangers.
Even when they don't know,
they apologise so profusely as if it's their fault for not being able to help us.
Even when they don't know,
they apologise so profusely as if it's their fault for not being able to help us.
Me and Qian had to ask for directions every single day,
particularly when it comes to their super confusing subway stations!
Singapore's MRT is SIMPLE X 100000000 if you must compare.
But still, we usually manage to get around with some body language and simple English words reinforced repeatedly.
Hahaha.
On hindsight, we should have downloaded some translation apps into our phones to save all that trouble!
Shopping is also a very happy affair in Japan!
I wake up in anticipation every single day in Japan because I knew we were going shopping!
Perfect holiday for shopaholics like me.
Hehehe.
This trip has converted me into a beauty junkie.
70% of my buys are all skincare/makeup.
Haha.
Blame it on Qian's evil influence!
We're happy girls if you give us a drugstore/departmental store with lots of skincare and makeup.
Of course, if you're a fan of Japanese beauty products,
buy as much as you can there!
They are usually AT LEAST half the price as compared to in Singapore.
Which explains the crazy buying we did.
I'll blog about my buys in a separate entry when I have the time but here're some pictures!
Books to occupy myself during the 9 hour plus flight while Qian battles the snooze monster.
We took Airasia with a 2 hour transit at KL airport.
The air tickets are really cheap this way, we only paid $400+ each and we bought extra baggage for the return flight!
Landing at Tokyo Haneda airport!!!
Was super excited even after the long flight.
And the first photo I took after landing in Japan...
The toilet at the airport!
HAHAHAHA.
I love their toilet bowls!
Comes with so many functions...
My favourite function is the one where they play 'music' to mask the sound of you doing your 'business'.
And some toilets I came across in Tokyo are self warming, hahaha.
Comes with so many functions...
My favourite function is the one where they play 'music' to mask the sound of you doing your 'business'.
And some toilets I came across in Tokyo are self warming, hahaha.
The first hotel we stayed at, Hotel Nihonbashi Villa.
Small, neat and cosy.
Accomodation in Japan can be really pricey,
so after doing some research (ie reading up on reviews),
I decided to book this hotel because it's really value for money.
The only bad thing is,
it isn't very near the shopping places like Shibuya and Shinjuku.
Travelling to those areas take around 30 minutes and around $2-3 per trip.
Oh, and there's no space for you to open up your luggage as well.
So you've to keep it closed most of the times, haha.
Me and bestie on Day 1!
Japanese convenience stores are the best!
:)))
We get our breakfast from there every single day, haha.
They sell bottled hot drinks too,
which feels heavenly especially since it can get chilly in the mornings.
Asakusabashi station which our hotel is situated near.
I think this trip also taught me how to be more independent and street smart.
This bestie of mine totally depended on me to find our way from the subway station to the hotel every day.
She's a huge scatterbrain!
Every working man in Japan wears a formal suit to work.
So you see lots of them crowding the subway station in the morning.
The confusing subway system which made us so frustrated every day.
Hahaha.
We meant to go to Shibuya on the first day,
but somehow ended up in Shinjuku!
So we made do with it.
It's shopping too, anyway!
Favorite makeup brand!!!
This was on my Tokyo to-buy-list but I didn't expect to see it in the first shopping mall we randomly stepped into.
Hahaha.
Japanese sales people have really great service attitudes.
They don't get angry when you try their products and walk away empty handed.
They normally bow and smile and say thank you.
And bow again!
Which makes shopping a reallyyyyy pleasant experience!
Only thing is, most of them can only converse in Japanese.
Which means a lot of body language again.
Someone asked me before on Formspring what products to buy from Jill Stuart.
THIS!!!!!
Their blusher is awesome.
I swear.
Started using this a year ago and it still remains my favourite blusher amongst all other brands I have.
What we bought.
Only our first stop!
Our first day was extremely rainy...
The rain lasted the entire day!
Everyone on the streets were carrying umbrellas and wearing cardigans.
Except for me because I thought summer clothes were appropriate.
And I ended up having to buy a random cardigan from Uniqlo because it was too freaking cold!
;(
Randomly walking and stumbled into Kabuki-cho,
their red light district.
But because it was in the day,
there wasn't much going on.
And we found this!
The one selling at Ion basement.
But they had the mentaiko flavour in Japan and it was SO yummy!
Dinner for the first day,
bought from Isetan basement!
If you want to get dinner from the basement of departmental stores,
you should go after 7pm!
They start slashing prices and you can get food at a lower price than the original!
;)
Buys for the first day!!
Which I guess is a lot considering we had 8 more days to go.
Breakfast from Lawson's!
Harajuku station!
I love the weather in Japan.
Our skin looks so good in the photos we took!
Harajuku is a place where the trendy people gather!
You can do some people watching here too, at the side cafes.
You'll be able to spot lots of people sporting interesting outfits!
Super cute socks shop!
Tried to resist buying but I ended up buying several pairs back,
some to give away as souvenirs!
:D
Super cute matchsticks!
Which I didn't buy, of course.
Qian kept convincing me that I don't need cute matchsticks with animal faces.
Doggy clothes which I just HAD to buy.
Giant tako balls!
That's my 300ml water bottle beside for comparison!
Even furniture also cute!
Pastel coloured stools!
Bubble tea which was expensive.
$5 for this cup!
Food in Japan is generally about 1.5 - 2 times more expensive than in Singapore.
Travelling as well.
So you need to set some budget aside for all these if you intend to travel to Japan.
We roamed Harajuku till late noon and decided to head down to Shibuya,
which is just one subway station away from Harajuku.
Had Starbucks and tried their flavours which are not available in Singapore!
I had the cookies and cream frappucino with white chocolate pudding.
SO YUMMYYYYY!
And Starbucks in Japan has another size for their drinks called 'short'.
It's smaller than tall (well, duh)!
And we sipped our drinks while watching Shibuya crossing,
the world's busiest road crossing!
Its really quite scary when the traffic light turns green for pedestrians.
People just swarm from all directions.
Dinner was Omu rice at a random restaurant!
We weren't picky about the restaurants we went into because any food in Japan usually tastes good!
;)
They have Bershka in Japan toooooooo!
My newly permed hair at the end of our second day in Tokyo!
Did it on impulse together with Qian.
;)
I've never had anything other than straight hair in my life,
so I thought it would be fun to have a new and different hairdo!
And so far I'm loving it.
Thought I should keep my entries short so that I can squeeze more information into it and not have you fall asleep while reading!
Hopefully it's useful if you're planning to visit Japan!
Or you can drop me an email if you wish to know anything, will try my best to reply and help!
I don't have an itinerary of my trip though,
because it's free and easy and we usually just randomly walk about.
;)
Will continue blogging about the rest of my trip in the next 2 days!
Have a great weekend all!
Small, neat and cosy.
Accomodation in Japan can be really pricey,
so after doing some research (ie reading up on reviews),
I decided to book this hotel because it's really value for money.
The only bad thing is,
it isn't very near the shopping places like Shibuya and Shinjuku.
Travelling to those areas take around 30 minutes and around $2-3 per trip.
Oh, and there's no space for you to open up your luggage as well.
So you've to keep it closed most of the times, haha.
Me and bestie on Day 1!
Japanese convenience stores are the best!
:)))
We get our breakfast from there every single day, haha.
They sell bottled hot drinks too,
which feels heavenly especially since it can get chilly in the mornings.
Asakusabashi station which our hotel is situated near.
I think this trip also taught me how to be more independent and street smart.
This bestie of mine totally depended on me to find our way from the subway station to the hotel every day.
She's a huge scatterbrain!
Every working man in Japan wears a formal suit to work.
So you see lots of them crowding the subway station in the morning.
The confusing subway system which made us so frustrated every day.
Hahaha.
We meant to go to Shibuya on the first day,
but somehow ended up in Shinjuku!
So we made do with it.
It's shopping too, anyway!
Favorite makeup brand!!!
This was on my Tokyo to-buy-list but I didn't expect to see it in the first shopping mall we randomly stepped into.
Hahaha.
Japanese sales people have really great service attitudes.
They don't get angry when you try their products and walk away empty handed.
They normally bow and smile and say thank you.
And bow again!
Which makes shopping a reallyyyyy pleasant experience!
Only thing is, most of them can only converse in Japanese.
Which means a lot of body language again.
Someone asked me before on Formspring what products to buy from Jill Stuart.
THIS!!!!!
Their blusher is awesome.
I swear.
Started using this a year ago and it still remains my favourite blusher amongst all other brands I have.
What we bought.
Only our first stop!
Our first day was extremely rainy...
The rain lasted the entire day!
Everyone on the streets were carrying umbrellas and wearing cardigans.
Except for me because I thought summer clothes were appropriate.
And I ended up having to buy a random cardigan from Uniqlo because it was too freaking cold!
;(
Randomly walking and stumbled into Kabuki-cho,
their red light district.
But because it was in the day,
there wasn't much going on.
And we found this!
The one selling at Ion basement.
But they had the mentaiko flavour in Japan and it was SO yummy!
Dinner for the first day,
bought from Isetan basement!
If you want to get dinner from the basement of departmental stores,
you should go after 7pm!
They start slashing prices and you can get food at a lower price than the original!
;)
Buys for the first day!!
Which I guess is a lot considering we had 8 more days to go.
Breakfast from Lawson's!
Harajuku station!
I love the weather in Japan.
Our skin looks so good in the photos we took!
Harajuku is a place where the trendy people gather!
You can do some people watching here too, at the side cafes.
You'll be able to spot lots of people sporting interesting outfits!
Super cute socks shop!
Tried to resist buying but I ended up buying several pairs back,
some to give away as souvenirs!
:D
Super cute matchsticks!
Which I didn't buy, of course.
Qian kept convincing me that I don't need cute matchsticks with animal faces.
Doggy clothes which I just HAD to buy.
Giant tako balls!
That's my 300ml water bottle beside for comparison!
Even furniture also cute!
Pastel coloured stools!
Bubble tea which was expensive.
$5 for this cup!
Food in Japan is generally about 1.5 - 2 times more expensive than in Singapore.
Travelling as well.
So you need to set some budget aside for all these if you intend to travel to Japan.
We roamed Harajuku till late noon and decided to head down to Shibuya,
which is just one subway station away from Harajuku.
Had Starbucks and tried their flavours which are not available in Singapore!
I had the cookies and cream frappucino with white chocolate pudding.
SO YUMMYYYYY!
And Starbucks in Japan has another size for their drinks called 'short'.
It's smaller than tall (well, duh)!
And we sipped our drinks while watching Shibuya crossing,
the world's busiest road crossing!
Its really quite scary when the traffic light turns green for pedestrians.
People just swarm from all directions.
Dinner was Omu rice at a random restaurant!
We weren't picky about the restaurants we went into because any food in Japan usually tastes good!
;)
They have Bershka in Japan toooooooo!
My newly permed hair at the end of our second day in Tokyo!
Did it on impulse together with Qian.
;)
I've never had anything other than straight hair in my life,
so I thought it would be fun to have a new and different hairdo!
And so far I'm loving it.
Thought I should keep my entries short so that I can squeeze more information into it and not have you fall asleep while reading!
Hopefully it's useful if you're planning to visit Japan!
Or you can drop me an email if you wish to know anything, will try my best to reply and help!
I don't have an itinerary of my trip though,
because it's free and easy and we usually just randomly walk about.
;)
Will continue blogging about the rest of my trip in the next 2 days!
Have a great weekend all!
