Japan, Official Day 1

26 September 2009, Wednesday, 9.00am

We arrived at Shinjuku in the early morning and I'm amazed by the size of station. At this point of time, it's just very big until several days later when I realized Humongous is the exact word for the station. Refer to my post days later if you wanted to know more.

Upon arrival, we realised it aren't as simple as Singapore station. At the most, Singapore had 4 exit (Chinatown station). But Shinjuku was really powerful, it had:

North, South, East, West
North East, South East, North West, etc

It seems horrifying to me as some exit couldn't be seen directly from the central of the station. I'm glad that I had done sufficient researches. For people staying ar Sunroute Hotel, exit from South-East Entrance.

Time Square is just a 5 to 10 minute walk from Sunroute Hotel. You will definitely pass by Time Square if you were travelling from Shinjuku Station to Sunroute Hotel.

Finally we reached the hotel. I seriously love this hotel to the max. It's a 4 stars hotel with good services, amenities and beautiful rooms which is perfect for staying. Most importantly, it's in a strategic location and the staffs spoke good english or good mandarin.

Hotel lobby was well furbished and the sofa was really comfortable.

Japanese respect puntuality. Therefore you can check in at 2pm sharp. We reached earlier than expected, therefore we placed our baggage at the conceirge meanwhile we could grab a quick lunch.

Lockers are provided at the JR station, therefore you can rent a locker to drop your baggages, and make collection along your way back to hotel. This is one of the alternative, but I trusted the conceirge more and could save my wallet from being hurt right in the beginning.

We went roaming around Shinjuku area and realised there were great varieties of food here. It's going to be great, I supposed. My mind simply filled with real evil grins.

I'm amazed by the row of bicycles. I doubt you people see it in Singapore except places like East Coast Park, Pasir Ris or even bicycle rental shop. I pictured this row of bicycle in town area. It seems to be a good form of transport for Japanese but not me, because I can't ride bicycle.

Zoom in, you shall see coupons or stickers on each bicycle. We realised, to park your bicycle at each parking slot, one will have to purchase the monthly or weekly coupon. Otherwise, they could be fine if it's there unlucky day. It's totally similar to Singapore system, except it applies to bicycle. This was really cool to control riders who leaves their bike unattended.

I'm totally amazed on my first day. Oh dear...

I loved their vending machines. Their bottles are so much cuter and had more varieties. They even serve hot chocolate, coffee, sakae and lots of weird drinks that I had never witness before. If you guys came across Coke + Beer, it's a must try. Thumbs up for that.

It's lunch time. In Japan, you see no Kopithiam, absolutely not in sight at all. You only see those traditional restaurant and fast food restaurant. As for my lunch, we decided to settle at this Ramen Restaurant.

I ordered one oyster flavoured soup based, while Chris ordered a wei4 zheng1 flavoured one (I'm not sure what it's called in english). For my set, it came with preserved vegetables with rice.
Japanese can really consume big portion of meal. It shocked me upon watching them eat a big bowl of ramen with another rice bowl. For you information, I became like them later on. See later posts for more.

Japanese seldom use chicken eggs for ramen, but duck eggs. I love it to the max and their soup based is so much nicer. I used to love Ajisen and Ramen Ten, but not now. In Japan, their noodles are man-made and taste softer. I wonder how much money I had been cheated in Singapore.

Oh, their preserve vegetables aren't soggy. In fact, they taste with a little crisp which I had not tried before. Yums.

Next, we walked to the trains stop intersection. Chris can't resist the vending machine temptation. The chocolate shall be his first donation. It taste really nice and sweet.

It's one hour before checking in, therefore we return to our hotel lobby for a short rest before checking in. The room was perfect for our stay especially their cleanliness and necessaties provided. Scroll down for more.

Tsk Tsk, I knew what you guys must be thinking from the above pictures. It's not what we requested for. We asked for a Twin Bedroom actually. I guess there were no more Twin Bedrooms, therefore we were given a Double Room. Anyway, the room was rather small because Westernize Room is usually small in Japan.

No worries about necessaties, the hotel will provide you with:

1) Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Cream
2) Cotton buds
3) Toothbrush and Toothpaste
4) Shower Cap
5) Shaver
6) Comb
7) Hair Dryer
8) Alarm Clock
9) Electrical Kettle
10) Fridge

Nearby Sunroute Hotel, you can definitely find restaurant which operates till late hour. Even if they aren't cup of your tea, there's always 24 hr Macdonald (5 min walk) and Yoshinoya (10 min walk) downstairs your hotel.

If you are craving for some drinks, there will be vending machine on each level. You are able to get free ice cubes as well.

Do change your SGD to USD when you were there. It's very hard to get a money changer which accept SGD. If you had changed all your money to USD, it would make things easier. You can just change your currency through machine at the conceirge.

Back to topic.

Upon checking in, I had my shower. Since the last afternoon, I complete my UT, board and alight from my flight which include an hour journey to my hotel. I believe I stink to the max which is not the truth. It's just that I don't like my face to be oily. Right after my shower, off we go roaming around Shinjuku area again.

Our next destination shall be Time Square.

I believe Time Square looks gigantic to you. It has many storeys and consist many other department stalls such as Takashimaya and Tobu. If you been there, you would have realised Singapore Takashimaya aren't up to standard. The first step into Takashimaya in Japan, you will feel the respect, services and class.

When I worked in Escada in Takashimaya, I usually clean the counter with a rag. But in Japan, they will have their specially used feather duster. Even when they clean, they don't make the brand look cheapskate.

Above picture shows cigaratte boxes. They really had lots of designs. Those taken on picture were just a small part of it. In fact, there's one whole stretch of it. We walked around and comb Tobu and Takashimaya before proceeding to the food section. Watch closely and you will drool.

In Singapore, you sushi bento set aren't as neat as theirs. They made all the food so unique and beautiful till you can't bear to eat them.

The section consist everything about food. I love their red beans the most. Red beans in Singapore are always soggy soggy and wet. But in Japan, you can see every single beans shiny and big, they taste super sweet and nice. Irresistable.

Below is one of the delicious red bean cake I've tried. Oh my goodness, the red bean was grinded so soft till it melt in your mouth and the cake was really spongy. I finished it in less than a minute though it was big.

This is the big potato croquette I've bought. Forgotten to take a picture at the very beginning as I can't resist the smell. Even though we bought it for almost an hour, the surface is still crispy. Even though it's just a croquette, but it tasted 10 times better than Singapore ones which is usually soggy and non-crispy.

It's time for shopping again. In Singapore, I believe the Zara beside wheelock place is considered the biggest in town. But for your surprise, majority of the Zara(s) in Japan are bigger than Singapore ones. They are usually 4 storey or more.

Next, I went to their Uniqulo. Yeah, it's really big and different outlet seems to have slightly different stuffs. This depend on the space area of each outlet. Therefore I suggest you not to skipped any outlets assuming there are selling the usual stuffs.

Chris bought merchandise from different outlet.

Shinjuku is a buzzling area to me. Though it's late at night, you still see crowds at Lumine area. The people are always at fast pace. Majority of their shops close at 10pm, while restaurants at a later timing. Therefore I suggest you guys spend more time roaming around and not worry about restaurant closing early as it's not likely. Japanese enjoy drinking and gatherings after work, therefore it's not likely for them to end their operating hours so early.

Christopher always enjoy clipping little toys. Although I always got the greatest benefit, but i still banned him from doing that. I rather he donate some money to him than to these machine. It's seriously annoying.

No clipping for him ~ Hur

I was browsing around when I saw the little kid costume above. Look at the jacket, it's so cute with the teddy design.

It's time for dinner again. This time round, we had cravings for Japanese Curry Rice. Oh guys, you should try this outlet when you saw it. Their curry was really yummy. They had many varieties of frieds and you can add on to your meals by paying slightly a bit more. If you are a big eater, you can always order set meal with Udon which is going to be filling.

Look at the picture below. We never seen that in Singapore. Japanese do had their meals at high table while standing. Seems interesting and convenient if you were carrying big bags. Japanese would usually slot their bags in between their legs and slurp their udon at the same time.

They had good habits to clear their own table and tray after each meal. For me, I usually run off with Laiyan to avoid clearing trays in school. It's hard for me to clear but I still did, otherwise people might just thought I'm so weirdo foreigner who don't respect their culture.

It's better to clear than to get whacked. Haha.

I personally reccoment hot Udon to cold. But thats up to your personal preferences.

We slowly stroll back to our hotel after the great meal. Burp.

We really need a good night sleep to replenish our energy for the past 2 days.