Ohayou Tokyo! It was 07.15 in the morning. I looked out the window from my room and the sun shone so bright. Well..it’s already summer here in Japan.
View from my room
I was so happy because it was the first time to meet the winner from Malaysia, Cathy Chang and the winner from Thailand, Sombat. We all met at the hotel lobby at 10.30 am. While we got to know each other, Al-san from Fun! Japan came. On that day only Al-san himself who accompanied us touring the city.
First place that we visited was Shiro-Hige’s Cream Puff Factory or wellknown as Totoro’s Café in Shimokitazawa. Totoro is a character in animation film “My Neighbor Totoro” released from Studio Ghibli in 1988. The location is not easy to find as it is located in a housing area. But once we arrived at the cafe. No words to express my happiness. I bought the chocolate flavor of Totoro Cream Puff and some Totoro cookies. The cream puff was too cute to be eaten.
The next place we visited was Shimokitazawa. Shimokitazawa is very popular among young people. If you like used clothing, vintage, thrift, zakka and antique stores then Shimokitazawa is the right place. We did some sightseeing and walked around the area. Before leaving the place, I bought some senbei to take home.
Before we had lunch, we went to Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Takeshita street is opposite the Harajuku station, so it is easy to find when you get off the train. Many tourists visit this place. I had great time walking down the street. There’s also a big Daiso. I bought a nice hat at Daiso for only 200 yen. If you plan to go to Tokyo, you must put Takeshita Street in your itinerary. There’s a lot of kawaii things that you will see.
We had lunch at Kawaii Monster Café in Harajuku. Although its name contains “Monster” but the café is not scary at all. I was so amazed and really loved the ambience. So colorful & amazing. I ordered Rainbow Pasta. The presentation was really colorful & its taste was delicious. While we were waiting our food came, the Monsters offered us whether we would like to take pictures with them or not. We had to pay 500 yen for that, so I took the offering and Al-san helped me to take a lot pictures with the Kawaii Monsters ^^.
We went out the café with happy tummy and ready to continue the journey. The day was not over yet and there’re still 3 places that we wanted to visit. One of them was Meiji Jingu Shrine. It took only 5 minutes walk from Kawaii Monster Café. Tsukhisima was the next stop. It is currently known for its large number of restaurants serving the local speciality, monjayaki. Unfortunately our tummy were still full, so we didn’t try the monjayaki. We just walked around and took some photos. On our way to train station, Cathy and I bought the peach fruit at supermarket. The peach was big enough with reasonable price.
Meiji Jingu Shrine and Tsukishima
The last destination was Higashiojima East Park in Kawasaki. The place was quite far. We took the train and then taxi to get the place. The park was near the sea, closed to Haneda airport. We could see every airplanes that took off from Haneda. We enjoyed the view and took so many pictures. Al-san is a very good photographer and always has a lot creative ideas for taking pictures. All his photos are superb! I missed all the photo moments.
Photo credit to Al-san
Ok then..it’s time to go back to the hotel. Cathy and I decided to have dinner at Ichiran Ramen. It is one of the best ramens too in Tokyo. The ramen tasted so delicious. Indeed! I felt so full after had tonkotsu ramen. We went back to the hotel and took rest with happy hearts.
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