Tokyo Imperial Palace

On one of the days we were at Japan, we visited the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Of course not inside, the area is highly restricted, no tourist or even a local was allowed beyond a certain point around the grounds. I was even told by the tour guide that there were snipers (i call them 'long distance shooters' as Criminal Minds termed them or was it long distanced serial killers? oh wait thats for criminals only.. ANYWAYS) in the vicinity, hiding in plain sight ready to shoot if someone crosses the line. *shivers*

I didn't know then, considering i was only 15 when i was in Japan but the Imperial Palace is the residence of the royal family. Kind of dumb that i only found out about that later on in life because i didn't think that Japan had a royal family to begin with. Well, at that age, i thought princesses and royal families was just storybook stuff.

Ultimately, i have to agree that the place was beautiful albeit a little too sunny and warm for my taste because we were there when the sun was already up and beating down on us. Plus, we had to walk this long path just to get to the area. The only thing that made it bearable was laughing at my friend, Zhi Yi (who was wearing black pants at the time) who suddenly whispered to every ear in our clique in panic, "My mense is here! Can you see this dark splotch?!" Pointing to a definite dark mark on her butt area that was only visible if you look closely. "Thank god i'm wearing black pants!"

The best scenery of this park to me though was the grass and to be honest, this picture above does not even do justice to what i saw that day. The grass looked so soft that i could sleep on it like it was my bed. This was one of the few things i've experienced in Japan that i have never forgotten till this very day, the beautiful soft green grass that i simply couldn't erase from my memory.

How I spent the morning of my 2nd Day in Japan

Climate Control
Early in the morning, everyone in the tour group bundled themselves up in their jackets (The locals call it summer but we call it winter) and left our cozy warm hotel. I remember the moment when all of us stepped out of the airport on the 1st day and were greeted by an icy strong wind, that moment was truly unbearable and surprisingly refreshing for me because we Singaporeans who live right down below at the equator do not experience that in our climate at all. Everybody had a common reaction... we 'woah-ed'. And the funny thing is, we were wearing our summer outfits. Well, some of us...

So as soon as we stepped out of the hotel entrance this time, we were more than ready to brave the weather, jackets CHECK, long jeans CHECK, covered shoes and warm dry socks HELL YEAH!



The Wheels on the...

As soon as everybody has boarded the bus, off we went. Luckily, i had a window view this time around. My friend, Shu Yun and i agreed to switch positions everytime we took the chartered bus. So both of us would have a chance to sit next to the window and take photos of our own.

Our tour guide, Mr Tammy San, started making conversations and told us a lot of things we needed to know about Japan. One interesting fact mentioned was that it is very rare to find a plus sized person walking around, that most Japanese are slim or lean.  I guess it may be due to the fact that the locals eat lots of fish or seafood. i don't know :)

1 Mountain 200 Shops and a HUGE Problem

"There it is! Oh my gawd, isn't it just beeeauutiful??" My friends and i were looking at Mount Fuji from a lane at Gotemba. Gotemba is located in the vicinity of Mount Fuji with scenic surrounds and postcard perfect views of Mount Fuji on a clear day. There's even a giant ferries-wheel up on the hillside. 

Gotemba is definitely worth a visit, with a wide choice of brands like Bodyshop, Gucci, Prada, Kate Spade... You get where i'm going. But there are also good value buys plus trendy Japanese labels like United Arrows and Beams. There are actually close to 200 shops there, i couldn't cover everything within our limited shopping time especially when there are 2 shopping zones-East and West- which are 5 minutes of walking time apart, across a picturesque bridge. We moved from East Zone to West Zone and back again, carrying out this cycle over and over until at one point we just decided to take a break right there on the middle of the bridge.

Getting There

Catch a bus from Tokyo Station's Yaesu South Exit which takes you directly to the outlet. But there is only one service per day: departing from 9AM and returning from Gotemba at 3.30PM. The journey takes about 85minutes and will cost 2800Yen (about SGD36).

Spotting a Mountain

"Can you get a picture of Mt. Fuji?" Zhi Yi, one of my 3 friends who were on the trip with me asked. 

"I caa-aaaan't see much of it!" tip toeing as high as i could on the brown bench amid on-lookers wondering what we were doing. Standing just across the BodyShop outlet, our view of the majestic mountain was unfortunately obstructed by a high wall. "Oh well", I jumped down from the bench and we moved on, 100% confident that we would somehow find a way to take a photo later on. And so we continued on with our busy window shopping.

Unfortunately, by the time our tour bus was ready and everyone was waiting to get a good photo, the whole tour group, including ourselves, were still not able to take any clear pictures of the mountain. All due to a certain relentless fog. Every time we thought the fog was clearing, out came another one right behind. By the 10th minute, it was really time to leave because we had a schedule to follow (one of the cons of being part of a tour group, you don't have the time to appreciate the beauty of a place much less gather information about it).

Dejected, everyone filed in a single row and went up the bus one by one. The bus driver stepped on the pedal and off we went, bidding our goodbyes to the elusive Mt. Fuji.

Natural Miracle

As we were driving down a lane, the fog around Mount Fuji began to slowly clear away and out came a very beautiful view of the perfect mountain! Apparently, as i later found out, Mount Fuji is always shrouded by the fog and it's incredibly rare to be able to get a clear view of it. The kind tour guide managed to stop the bus driver and we scrambled down the bus to take as many pictures as we could, as well as a group photo to commemorate the wonderful occasion.

Tokyo Tower at night

The Tokyo Tower is more beautiful at night than in the day. This photo was the last photo taken in Japan in my memory stick. What a nice way to end my trip here. I love you Japan! :)

Tokyo Tower

I took this photo while on the bus (which was moving fast by the way)

Thank goodness i was able to at least take a picture of it since there wasn't any tour on to the Tokyo Tower. It was sooo cool!!! I love the look of it and the first time i knew about the tower was through the anime 'Cardcaptor Sakura' where her dreams are always about falling down that tower or something

Both in real life and in cartoon, they still look sooooooo Beautiful...

Kakkoii/Cool/Handsome in Japanese

Kawaii/Cute in Japanese

I love you in Japanese

Rina helped me write them :)

School Visit

On Day 5, we went to Kanagawa Prefectural Yokohama Senior High School of International Studies.

The following are facts about the school:
Established in April, 2008.
Educational Goals: We foster youths with foreign Language abilities and information technology so that they can play an active role in the future as leaders not only in the Japanaese society but also in the international society.

Educational Policy:
We encourage to our students a profound sense of independence, self -reliance and humanity as well as our policy to foster dignified students equipped with clear sight and calm judgment.

On the trip there, my friends and i made new friends: Rina and Hitomi and of course i asked them how to write 'I Love You' in Japanese! (in the post above) It was one of my M.Os of going to the school visit. The Vice-Principal was extremely polite. Before we could get to the school however, we had to walk up a big hill. It was just a coincidence that my friend, Shu Yun and i were the first pair in front following the VP. He asked a lot of questions, like are we seniors etc. Then there was one particular question that he asked that left me a little stumped: "What do you like about Japan?"

I love Japan, i really do but i really don't know how to answer it at that time because my mind went absolutely blank. In the end, i said "SUSHI!!!"

Yup! I said sushi and he became very happy :) I like sushi but not the raw type. I have a weak stomach and i don't think eating raw food will make it any better.

So, once we reached the school and settled down in one of the classes, my group and i met Yasuda Hitomi and Nakamura Rina. They are both very pretty, polite, gentle and charming! :) i really like them. Then i asked them to help me write cute/pretty, i love you and handsome in Japanese with all my colourful markers that i poured right out on the table.

My friends and i are wearing the same shirt-our physical education T-shirt. The two wearing the neck ribbons are the pretty Rina and Hitomi!

My friends and i felt really bad because we actually bought presents for the students when we were to meet them but before this school, we actually went to another one and i gave the presents to some random girls who i never even interacted before! I thought that the school was the only school we were visiting and so i didn't want the presents to go to waste. In the end, we came to this fantastic school and met some really great people but had no gifts for them in return for their hospitality! I felt really bad.

There was nothing i could do and we went on to have a tour of their school and facilities. It was magnificent! They had a lot of indoor courts that was way bigger than our ONE court back in Singapore (Singapore IS a small country).

They also have MANY ping pong tables

Lacrosse! :)

Our VP, i think, demonstrated how to play this sport with our Japan Trip members which i found very fascinating.

I think this sport is called Shinai if i'm not wrong

Afterwards, a group of girls, did cheerleading stunts and actions just for us! I Love Japan and the people here!!!



Japan Trip 2008- Keyboard

I went to 2 schools during the Japan Trip in 2008 and the following pictures i took from are from Kanagawa Prefectural Yokohama Senior High School of International Studies.

Look how different the keyboards are in Japan. I was shocked the first time i saw it. I thought universally, all keyboards looked the same.

I was walking into the lab minding my own business, taking lots of pictures until something caught my attention

The keyboards had japanese letterings (looked like Hiragana) on them!

My initial reaction: "WOAH"

Calm down a little, "WA......."

Then tugging my friend's arm, "Oh My GOD LOOK AT THIS"

Then started taking pictures of the keyboard

The camera is back!

The camera that my brother held which went lost is now in my hands! Yeah!!!!

Now i can post the pictures from Japan Trip  :)

Japan Trip 2008- Anime Centre

Day 3 at the Anime Centre

Before we came here to the Anime Centre, we actually visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. I've took many interesting photos which i'll show on another post. But it'll be much more fun if i went back there again cuz i didn't finish exploring the place.

Now back to the Anime Centre. The place wasn't exceptionally big but still quite spacious. There were brochures near the door so the second we stepped in, i picked up brochures to put inside my Japan Trip photo log and stuff. Many students at the time already started taking brochures and pictures. I had a hard time doing it too because i had to take my turn to take a picture of something or another. Then! i saw my favourite Detective Conan!!! From my observation, i saw that there was a new movie! (but it was about 1 year later that i finally get to watch it, it takes a long time to reach Singapore)

Then i walked around more to see statues lining along the wall. Some are pretty...

Some are cute

Astro Boy!

The famous Doraemon and Pikachu

some macho

and some just plain weird....

So i went around some more to take this 2 pictures which i really wanna know what anime they are cuz it looks very fun to watch

Then on the way out, i saw another Detective Conan's picture. Took a photo and felt like it'd make a really cool postcard :) (if you cut away that extra on the side)



Japan Trip 2008- Special Lunch

Day 5- Lunchtime

On day 5, during lunch time, we were given money to buy our own lunch called Bento. It is a type of lunch box or something. The bento i chose had sushi :) Then we went under the hot sun to have our lunch! but we had a great view. The place where we had lunch is called Yamashita. We had to walk very fast to get our bentos. I've no idea why our teacher had to move so fast. Seriously, teachers have some management issues...

the great scenery we had while eating our lunch!

After having our lunch, we saw a man sitting under a tree drawing something

here's the zoomed in picture of the drawing/sketch

this is the what he was drawing. though i did not capture the buildings part

the fountain in the background :)

Overall, it was one of the best lunch i've had



Japan Trip 2008- Tsukiji Market

There was a school trip to Japan in 2008 for the secondary 3 students. Only 30 selected students were to go and i was one of the lucky ones. So, i thought maybe i can share some of the photos on the blog :)

In the Japan trip, my friends, Wee Ting, Zhi yi and Shu yun, were also with me in the school trip. There were around 6 or 7 teachers coming along with us. Supervision, discipline and stuff. Some teachers on the other hand, signed up for the trip. Wee Ting and Zhi yi were currently in the same class as me while Shu Yun was my classmate and good friend the year before. Unfortunately, there's now some distance between Wee Ting and i, while Zhi Yi and i are no longer friends. As for Shu Yun, she's still a good friend but we've not contacted each other for a long time now since she'd graduated. Time can change a lot in people, i guess. but during the Japan trip we were still good friends. At least i'll still have the memories :)

ANYWAYS, away from that depressing topic.. For this and some more posts, i will be sharing some photos i took while in Japan for the nine days. Hope you like them :)

i will jump on different days, so don't get confused in the posts

4th Day- Tsukiji Market

Tsukiji Market is part of the tokyo Metropolitan Central wholesale market where fresh and high quality products are bring traded, abiding rules and regulations. It is a large market for fish, fruit and vegetables in central- along with other products. Tsukiji Market is best known as one of thr world's largest fish markets. It handles more than 400 different types of seafood ranging from the tiny sardines to 300kg tuna, from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar. Tsukiji handles over 2000 metric tons of seafood per day in Tokyo.

The market starts as early as 5.30am in Tsukiji, an auction for tuna which has been numbered with food colouring begins. During the early morning hours, the market is very busy with professional buyers, sellers etc. So our group could not enter before 9.00am. But i still remember that i had to wake up so early in the morning to go on our bus and slept the journey there...

On arriving, the ground was full of puddles of water and i had to fold my jeans 3/4 to prevent any smelly liquid from getting in contact with it. I hate markets since the day i ever stepped into a market so Tsukiji was of course, no exception. But the place was very interesting, full of surprises. I'd have liked the place more if not for the smell and the puddles of market water. Yes, i call them market water as they're smelly. Anyways...

the signs i took while on the bus off to another place, it's great that i managed to take this picture other than the seafood. I wish i can remember everything from the trip :) Don't ever want to forget them:)

My teacher said that there was an auction inside, this shot was taken some feet away because we're not allowed to go in. This is a zoomed in shot of course.

Big right? not sure what type of fish this is though... I remembered that a man was using some sort of sawing equipment to cut the fish.

some mussels...

now the next picture is one of my faves though many would disagree.. I love the shot though i would never in my life eat this sort of thing

nice bloody shot hah? hahhahahahahaahahilkdashjlgja!!!!!!!

sea urchins

here's the video about that sawing equipment to cut the BIG fish :)

and this other equipment to cut the fish