Japan

Mirror mirror on the wall, which is the prettiest garden of them all?

Posted on 4 December 2015 by lendeliz

As we had spent the previous day doing side trips out of 岡山 Okayama, we ended up visiting 2 very famous gardens today, 後楽園 Koraku-en at 岡山 Okayama and 栗林公園 Ritsurin-koen at 高松 Takamatsu.

後楽園 Koraku-en had the reputation of being one of the 日本三名園 Nihon Sanmeien. Three Great Gardens of Japan, while many claimed that 栗林公園 Ritsurin-koen was even better! Having been to 兼六園 Kenroku-en, another of the top 3 gardens in 金沢 Kanazawa during our previous trips, we had very high expectations of these 2 gardens! Does 後楽園 Koraku-en live up to its reputation? Why do people say that 栗林公園 Ritsurin-koen is better?

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Categories: Japan, Okayama, Shikoku, Travel | Tags: | 1 Comment

たまりば 琥太郎 Tamariba Kotaro @Okayama

Posted on 3 December 2015 by weiming

2015-12-04 06.39.07We slept through the entire journey and finally made it back to 岡山 Okayama from 神戸 Kobe.

As we were walking from the train station back to the hotel, we were also looking out for dinner places. 😛

I saw a bright lantern saying おでん Oden and pointed it out to the girls. We went closer to the shop but were not too confident about venturing inside and ordering because we saw that it was a standing bar of sorts. Just as we were still contemplating, an office worker had parked his bicycle outside the shop and pointed to us “おいしい” when we asked him how was the shop! Not only that, he even helped us talked to the chef and got us table seats on the 2nd floor of the shop!

We ordered a everything that was on the おでん Oden menu (except egg) and was happily drinking our Oolong Tea and eating the nut snack when we realized that the wall is full of decorations of 阪神タイガース Hanshin Tigers (a hugely popular baseball team playing in Japan’s Central League). No wonder the shop is named 琥太郎 Kotaro, haha…

The おでん oden was warm and soothing to the stomach, and we enjoyed every bits of it. So much so that we ordered three other side dishes to further warm our stomach!

Contact:

  • Location: 2-11 Honmachi, Kita-ku, Okayama-shi, Okayama-ken, Japan 岡山県岡山市北区本町 2-11
  • Nearest Station: JR Okayama Station 岡山駅
  • Direction: 5 minutes walk from JR Okayama Station.
  • Hrs: 6pm – 12:30am
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Okayama, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Evening trip to 神戸 Kobe

Posted on 3 December 2015 by lendeliz

It was quite a last minute decision to visit 神戸 Kobe, as I had mistakenly thought that the 神戸ルミナリエ Kobe Luminarie 2015 (annual lighting festival in Kobe which started in 1995 in memory of the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995) had started today (3 Dec), which the staff at 姫路駅 Himeji Station had pointed out that it was starting tomorrow (4 Dec), but assured us that we could still see beautiful Christmas lighting at 神戸 Kobe.

Our first stop at 神戸駅 JR Kobe Station was to visit the Tourist Information Centre for some recommendations of 神戸牛 Kobe beef and Christmas illumination. Unfortunately, the recommended places to try Kobe beef were either very expensive for full courses, or had pretty poor online reviews recently. Also, we were too full for a full meal and only wanted to try for fun.

We did a bit more Googling with the free wifi at the centre, and decided to check out 南京町 Nankinmachi which is Kobe Chinatown area (in 元町 Motomachi), as we had read about cheaper alternatives there.

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Categories: Hyogo, Japan, Travel | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Half day trip to 姫路 Himeji

Posted on 3 December 2015 by lendeliz

We left Kyoto early, after yesterday’s satisfying 紅葉 koyo experience, to 岡山 Okayama, dropped our bags at the hotel, and went straight to take the train to 姫路 Himeji (since we had activated our JR Pass).

At the station, we met a very helpful information counter staff who spoke Mandarin, and gave us some advice for our day trip, and also directed us to the popular タコピア Tako Pia at グランフェスタ Grand Fiesta, which was just in front of 姫路駅 Himeji Station.

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Categories: Hyogo, Japan, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

我逢人 かっぱ Gahoujin Kappa @Gion

Posted on 2 December 2015 by lendeliz

We were done with sight-seeing for the day and were searching for cheaper alternatives near 祇園 Gion area for dinner, before heading home. Ms V found a highly recommended 居酒屋 izakaya, and we decided to go try our luck!

When we peeped in, we saw that the bar counters were fully occupied, but still decided to try enquiring for seats. To our pleasant surprise, there were tables available in another room, away from the smokey bar counters.. Happiness!

It was a traditional tatami room, which meant that we had to take off our shoes, and kneel/sit on the floor. The trio of stiff-legged 外人 gaijins ended up sitting with legs in various positions to avoid leg cramps 😛 The food and atmosphere were good enough that we sat through leg cramps and enjoyed our dinner for 2 hours!

Most of the items were ¥390, excluding tax, and of a small portion, which was good, because we wanted to have a variety. For a total of ¥5610 (~S$65) for 3 persons, we left the place really bloated and happy.

Contact:

  • Location: 77 Sueyoshi-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto-fu 605-0085, Japan 〒605-0085 京都府京都市東山区末吉町77
  • Nearest Station: Gion-Shijo Station 祇園四条駅
  • Direction: Take Exit 7 and walk along 四条通 Shijo Dori. Make a left turn at 大和大路通 Yamato Oji Dori. Turn right at the second junction.
  • Website: www.kirinya-foods.jp/kappa
  • Hrs: 6pm – 3am (Tue-Sat), 5pm – 12:30am (Sun)
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

高台寺 Kodai-ji Temple @Kyoto

Posted on 2 December 2015 by lendeliz

2015-12-02 17.03.00During our 1 day stopover in Kyoto, we had originally planned to go for the night illumination at 清水寺 Kiyomizu-dera. However, it had been a rather hectic itinerary for us so far, and 清水寺 Kiyomizu-dera seemed rather far away.

Instead, after hearing great reviews from a colleague, and also read many good things, we decided to go for the nearer 高台寺 Kodai-ji Temple instead, as we wanted to be nearer to the 祇園 Gion area.

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Categories: Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

東福寺 Tofuku-ji Temple @Kyoto

Posted on 2 December 2015 by lendeliz

We wanted and had hoped to try to catch some 紅葉 autumn colours from the maple leaves during our trip, but it was so difficult to find reasonably priced lodging in 京都 Kyoto, so we decided to stopover at 京都 Kyoto for 1 day (and stayed in a capsule hotel) before returning back during the later half of the trip. 東福寺 Tofuku-ji Temple was the place to try our luck for the day time… and we were so so glad that we made the effort to come here!

As we had our JR Rail Pass activated, we took the train from 京都駅 Kyoto Station to 東福寺駅 Tofuku-ji Station on the JR Nara Line, and from there, it was an easy 10-minute walk to the temple as we basically just followed the crowd.

While the peak was probably over, it was amazing to see the red, orange and yellow colours all around us… simply stunning, and totally worth the ¥400 per adult entry fee! We’ll let the pictures tell the story 🙂

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Categories: Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

はしたて Hashitate Restaurant @Kyoto

Posted on 2 December 2015 by lendeliz

2015-12-02 14.02.562015-12-02 14.00.39We left 東京 Tokyo on 東海道新幹線 Tokaido Shinkansen and headed to 京都 Kyoto!

After dropping our luggage at the Capsule Hotel, we went back to JR Kyoto Station for lunch before making our way to 東福寺 Tofukuji. FourSquare suggested はしたて Hashitate, and we managed to find the place after some help from the information counter.

The queue was rather short, but we only got a table about 30 minutes later. By then, we had more or less decided on what we wanted, a Seasonal Set (¥1650+8% tax) with a groupa and spinach don, vegetable soba, appetizers and pickles, and a Special Set (¥2250+) with a groupa, egg and vegetable noodle soup, preserved tuna don, appetizers and pickles.

The food was presented in a lovely manner and we could not wait to attack the food! Despite the almost completely blocked nose, I felt immediate bliss from the first bite… I love Kyoto! 😀

Contact:

  • Location: Higashi-Shiokoji, Shiokoji-Sagaru, Karasuma St, Shimogyou-ku Kyoto-shi, Kyoto-fu 600-8175, Japan 〒600-8175 京都府京都市下京区 烏丸通塩小路下ル東塩小路町
  • Nearest Station: JR Kyoto Station JR京都駅
  • Direction: 3rd floor of Suvaco JR Kyoto Isetan スバコ ジェイアール京都伊勢丹3F
  • Website: www.wakuden.jp/tenpo-hashitate
  • Hrs: 11am – 10pm
Categories: Kyoto, Lunch | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tokyo Airbnb @Shinagawa

Posted on 2 December 2015 by lendeliz

This was our first time staying in an Airbnb apartment ever! Hubby was initially quite wary, as he has read some not-so-good and scary Airbnb reports previously. However, we were having a really hard time finding affordable and conveniently-located hotel stays in Tokyo for 3 persons, so eventually, we decided to look for an entire apartment to rent… We figured that Japan should be quite safe 😛

After browsing many apartments, we finally found one with 2 real rooms located near Shinagawa Station with availability that suited our travel plans. Many apartments that said ‘sleep 3’ actually meant that someone had to sleep on sofa bed, or in the living-room that could be converted to sleeping quarters by shifting the furniture, or having 3 people to share a bedroom.

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Categories: Tokyo, Travel | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Day trip to 富士山 Mt Fuji

Posted on 1 December 2015 by lendeliz

imageWe had initially planned (with flexibility) to go 河口湖 Kawaguchiko (to admire 富士山 Mt Fuji from afar) by bus either on Monday (1 Dec) or Tuesday (2 Dec). We were more keen to go on Monday, as we needed to get up early on Wednesday to catch the early 新幹線 Shinkansen to 京都 Kyoto.

As we got nearer to the dates, the weather forecast for Monday was cloudy, and sunny for Tuesday… Which kind of determined that we would go on Tuesday, because there’s no way to get a clear view of 富士山 Mt Fuji on a cloudy day.

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Categories: Tokyo, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

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