Cara Membuat Bento Jepang untuk Pemula

* Apologise for no pictures / less pictures as reference for this post.  As i mistakenly deleted some photos on my media blog and could not recover it back. =( *

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** Ini adalah Sample Article aku untuk sebuah media. Daripada di anggurin aja, mending di publish disini yaa.. Maklum, Di buang sayang.. hehe **

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Siapa yang tidak tahu mengenai Bento? Saya rasa kata-kata Bento sudahlah familiar di telinga orang-orang Indonesia, apalagi para ibu-ibu muda yang suka mencari ide menu baru untuk bekal  sekolah anak kesayangannya.

Dalam istilah bahasa Jepang, Bento adalah makanan bekal berupa nasi dengan lauk pauk dalam kemasan praktis yang bisa di bawa kemana saja. Pembuatan Bento ini sudah di mulai dari abad ke-5, masyarakat Jepang suka membawa bekal makanan berupa nasi kering sebagai makanan praktis waktu itu. Seiring berjalannya waktu, Bento-pun sering terlihat sebagai bekal sekolah  dan sering di bawa masyarakat Jepang yang sedang pergi piknik. Tetapi, setelah usainya perang dunia pertama, Bento di larang untuk di bawa ke sekolah karena di anggap sebagai sarana pamer bagi murid-murid orang berada di sekolah. Setelah sudah lama hilang, akhirnya Bento pun kembali masuk dan populer kembali di Jepang pada tahun 1980-an. Dan ternyata keahlian untuk menyiapkan Bento untuk anak-anak adalah kebanggan tersendiri bagi ibu-ibu rumah tangga Jepang, apalagi kalau lauk nya bisa di bentuk sebagai hiasan juga.

Saya yakin keahlian membuat bekal tidak hanya menjadi kebangaan ibu-ibu Jepang saja, melainkan semua kaum wanita di Indonesia juga. Karena pastinya tidak hanya anak-anak saja yang suka makanan unik dan menarik, tapi remaja dan dewasa pun suka menyantapnya juga.  Apalagi ketika di sajikan Bento unik yang di bentuk karakter yang lucu dan menggemaskan. Berikut adalah panduan cara membuat Bento Nasi Panda :

Pic source : http://hungryhouse.co.uk/blog/bento-boxes/

Bahan yang harus di siapkan:

1. Siapkan Tempat Bento
2. Nasi putih secukupnya
3. 1 Sosis Sapi
4. Nori / Rumput Laut
5. 2 Lembar daun Selada
6. 1 buah kentang rebus
7. 1 cherry tomato

Cara membuat Nasi Panda :

• Masak nasi secukupnya. Ketika nasi masih hangat-hangatnya, langsung bentuk jadi agak lonjong sebesar kepalan tangan. Karena nasi hangat, akan lebih mudah untuk di bentuk. Dan jangan lupa untuk memakai sarung tangan plastik untuk alasan higienitas.
• Keluarkan Nori yang sudah di siapkan, lalu potong bulat lonjong untuk menjadi mata, hidung, mulut yang sedang tersenyum dan satu garis baju pada panda.
• Setelah itu, potong kecil sosis yang sudah matang berbentuk lingkaran yang lebih kecil, untuk menjadi rona merah pada pipi panda.

Cara membuat Dekor Nasi Panda:

• Cuci bersih Daun Selada. Lalu, jadikan daun selada sebagai alas nasi Panda Bento.
• Potong Sosis menjadi 3 bagian, lalu potong jadi bentuk bunga, dan goreng sampai matang
• Setelah itu, Potong Kentang menjadi 4 bagian, rebus sebentar agar menjadi sedikit lunak, lalu goreng sampai matang.
• Cuci bersih cherry tomato sebagai penghias di ujung Bento.
• Setelah semua bahan sudah siap, mulai-lah tata Bento seperti yg ada di gambar. Di jamin semua yang melihat pasti langsung ingin menyantap masakanan anda.

Kalau anda bukan tipe orang yang suka dengan makanan lucu, mungkin bisa juga mencoba membuat Bento simple yang terlihat lezat seperti di bawah ini. Jepang mempunyai banyak jenis Bento, tentunya semua kembali ke kreatifitasan si pembuat Bento. Biasanya di Jepang, Bento-bento seperti ini di jual di banyak tempat, seperti di restaurant siap saji, supermarket 24 jam, dan stasiun kereta. Ini adalah Bento yang lebih umum di temui, biasanya Bento terdiri dari karbohidrat dan protein, sekaligus gampang di bawa kemana-mana. Bento pun juga bisa di konsumsi di atas kereta shinkansen bagi yang harus menempuh perjalanan jarak jauh. Berikut adalah cara mebuat Salmon Teriyaki Bento.

  Pic source : http://hungryhouse.co.uk/blog/bento-boxes/

Bahan yang harus disiapkan :

1. Nasi Putih secukupnya
2. 5 ons Ikan Salmon segar (tanpa tulang)
3. 1/2 cangkir kecil kecap manis
4. 2 sdm air lemon yang di tambah sedikit gula
5. 2 sdt gula
6. 1 sdm minyak sayur
7. 1 butir telur
8. Salad
9. Mayonaise dan Saus Sambal

Cara membuat Salmon Teriyaki Bento :

•  Campur kecap, air perasan lemon dan gula. Lalu, rendam Salmon ke dalam mangkuk tersebut.
• Masukan ke dalam kulkas selama kurang lebih 45 menit.
• Siapkan broiler pan, masukan minyak sayur dan panaskan dengan api kecil.
• Masak ikan salmon selama 2-3 menit, jangan lupa di bolak balik sampai matang.
• Kocok telur dan buat telur dadar seperti biasa. setelah itu gulung telur dadar tersebut.

Setelah selesai, tatalah bahan-bahan yang sudah jadi seperti gambar di-atas. Mudah bukan cara membuat Bento Jepang ini. So, are you ready to cook?

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When Typhoon Hits Tokyo : Day 8 & 9

4th October, after eating Mutekiya Ramen

** beep beep **

Thirza : Jen, dont go back so late. typhoon is hitting Tokyo soon.

Jend : What?? are you serious??

T : *sending me some news link*

J : oh noo.. tomorrow is our Fuji trip. =(

****

when we were back to our hotel, we saw the news are all about the typhoon. so basically the typhoon already hit other places in Japan, and it’s coming towards tokyo. we can just pray that our Fuji Tour would turn alright, since we did not have any notification of cancellation.

before we sleep, the heavy rain was already pouring like mad, i can say it was the most bad-ass rain ive ever seen.

Day 8 – Mount Fuji Trip

The tour guide pick us up on the dot that day, before we are going to Fuji, we went to some other hotels to pick other peoples up. The rain still pouring heavily that day. Me and 3 others already have low energy, since we know that we cant see mt Fuji greatness on that day.

It took 2 hours to drive from Tokyo to Mount Fuji.. on the way up, the tour guide was trying to tell us story about  Mount Fuji or Fuji San. there’s a few meaning behind that Fuji San name. Firstly is “No Equal”, so there’s no other mountain like Fuji San, been there for soo soo long since more that 100,000 years ago. Secondly is “No Ending”. and the other meaning is “Abundant” and “Wealthy”. so that’s why many Japanese using Fuji name for their company. Like Fuji Film, Fujitsu, Fuji Xerox, Fuji Trading, etc etc.

while he was still explaining, suddenly he ask all of us to keep quite and listen if we can hear any sound ??

all of us kept quite for a while, and we did hear something.. it’s like a whale / dolphin sound for me.. *yeap.. beneran kyk suara lumba2 ato paus yg kita suak dnger di tv2. haha*.

“if you hear that.. it’s the song of Mount Fuji,” he said. He explained that sometimes when we drove at certain speed, the friction will give us a beautiful sound, and it the sound never come up the same. it’s like a beautiful melody, and that’s why they said it’s a song of Mount Fuji.

so excited to know and listen to the sound.. haha.. *norak* well. i dont know if other mountain can produce that kind of sound. but for me it’s just too cool! haha.. so sad that i did not record it.. it happened so fast, and normally it just ‘play’ for a few seconds only.

our first stop is Mount Fuji 5th Station 

since it’s still raining, we cannot enjoy the Mount Fuji sceneries, it supposed to be the photo spot. so we just went in to the gift shop for a while to warm ourselves..

Mount Fuji itself is very cold eventho you are going there in the summer. so we were so freezing since we went during autumn accompanied with the rain and wind from the upcoming typhoon. =(

inside the shop was sooo soo crowded, i think everyone just wanted to warm themselves up. haha.. *ohh btw, all pictures are taken by Samsung S3, since i was too lazy to take out my camera again. haha. and below is Mount Fuji dessert, so cute yaa. haha.. too bad that time we dont have any appetite to eat this.. because we are too frozen and just wanted to drink some warm things. haha.  and finally, the misty-foggy-hazy Mount Fuji.. huaaa..

i can only send a postcard to myself that i should go back here again someday to see the majestic of Mount Fuji. haha..

*the post-card is so cute yaa.. hehe.. i sent one to Bern as well, and he took such a nice picture of the postcard. haha*

after this, we are going to Hakone, a city nearby Mount Fuji. and the second stop of the day is Lake Ashi Cruise.

This is a crater lake that formed by powerful eruption more than 3,000 years ago. and before we take the cruise, the tour send us to a restaurant to eat our lunch first. they actually offered us 2 options of the tour, to go with lunch or to go without lunch..

the price different is about 2,000 Yen. and 4 of us decided to sign up without lunch, since the lunch that they offer is only some grilled chicken set.. and we wanted to try some other foods. so for us who sign up without lunch package, they send us to Togendai View Restaurant.

it’s quite a beautiful restaurant i may say, because it’s facing the Lake Ashi itself.

well. to be honest, this restaurant is a bit expensive.. the port-cutlet curry chicken cost us about 3,000 Yen per set ? if im not wrong.. 1,000 yen more expensive than the grilled chicken set. haha. but well, at least we tried the real Japanese curry. haha. and it was super nice.. i think all food in Japan are all super nice! haha.   

and it’s cruise time now.. still raining. =( Below is how the cruise likes from inside 

The misty lake, make me Feels like in “Pirates of Caribbean” movie where the haunted ship suddenly appears from the fogs. hahaha.

The third stop is Hakone Sky Gondola. This trip supposed to be a pretty sightseeing trip, but too bad, we cant see any pretty things at all =( i’ll show you how pretty the gondola trip is supposed to be.

taken from the visitor’s centre, and below is what we got

such a huge different right. hahaha.. before we left Hakone, the tour guide told us that Hakone is famous for the black egg, that is literally turn black because they boiled it with Sulphur from the lake. Old people said if you eat one of the black egg, it will add up 7 years of your life.

One Australian lady gave me 1 of her black egg. she said it tastes like a normal boiled egg. only smells a bit funny. haha.. since i dont like boiled egg as well, so i gave this to the 3 others, but they didnt want it as well, so this 1 boiled egg gone to waste.. =( it supposed to be darker, just that it has been passed on to many hands, so yeahh the colour become not so black anymore.

and that was the last stop of the day. The tour took us back to Odawara station to take bullet train back to Tokyo station. Because the rain was still pouring that night, Thirza said just go to Vimon restaurant at Tokyo station, so we can go back easily to our hotel.

so, we followed her suggestion and felt so satisfied with the hamburger! *yuuummm yummmm*

Me and Yana shared 1 Hind-Shank Hamburget Steak set (2,280 Yen) & 1 Fatty Hamburger Steak Set (2,580 Yen).

The hind-shank is a bit chewy and dry, but of course its still nice.. hehe.. where the fatty hamburger consist of ground beef and beef ribs, so it’s more tender and juicy.. both is super nice i may say. haha.. somemore if you deep a bit of your hamburger to the reddish sauce.. it’s a bit salty, but it enhances the beef taste.. yumss.. hehe.. you also have the choice to change your plain rice to garlic rice with some additional (that i already forgot).. if you willing to draw somemore money for your dinner, i suggest you to change to the garlic rice cause it’s so savory. hehehe.

Steak & Hamburg Vimon (at Tokyo Station)

1-9-1 Marunochi | Tokyo Sta. 1F Kitchen Street, Chiyoda, Tokyo Prefecture 100-0005, Japan

+81 3-3283-1841

 

Day 9 – Last day

actually we  wanted to go to Shinjuku or Ikebukuro to walk around. but the weather was still as bad.. the bad weather caused chaos in the train stations. because many trains got cancelled and dont know what time it will resume =(

as much as we wanted to pro-long our holiday, we did not want to miss our flight back home as well. so, we decided to go super early to Tokyo Station to book the shinkansen back to Narita airport. since we have plenty of time at Tokyo Station, we just grab our lunch at some random restaurant that turns up to be awesome. haha..

There’s no english menu in this restaurant, so we need to point at the pictures and ask them what udon is this? haha.

Finally, i took the Beef Udon (small portion) and feel so satisfiedd.. ahhh.. so grateful we chose this restaurant to have our last meal at Japan.. =)

Trying to find the full address of this Nanba Sennichimae Kamatake Udon restaurant, but could not find it . huu..

after this good meal, we tried to go down to check the Shinkansen schedule, so shocked when the officer asked us to board now because the next train (which is our schedule) is cancelled. we ran and ran to catch that Shinkansen. luckily we went and ask the officer.. else, we really need to extend our holiday. haha.. 

the thing that i learned here is, dont be shy to ask things.. hahaha. 

the great udon and the running marks our last day in Japan. hope to see you again, Japan! 

much Love,

Jend

 

Best Ramen in Ikebukuro – Tokyo : Day 7

oh gosh.. time flies just like that.. it seems like i just celebrated Christmas and brave myself to enter 2014.

and now, it that month again whereby you need to re-think what you have done in the past year and write your plans for the year ahead..

well. well.. been back from the Japan trip 2 months ago, yet have not finished all the blogs yet.. =(

but good news, only left with 2 post to go (this post and our Mount Fuji Trip)

So, after exploring the 2 shrines in Kyoto, we were back in Tokyo. since we reached there almost 4pm. We decided to have early Diner at Mutekiya Ramen (at Ikebukuro)

one of the reason that we decided to reach early is because most of the review said it will be a long Q after 5pm.. and to skip that Q, then we need to reach there before 5.

we reached at Ikebukuro station around 4.50pm. we followed the direction that one of travel blogger given to us.. but we still cant find our way out. haha.. so we tried to use our googlemap to find the way.. since our dataplan is already low, the googlemap didnt help much.. so, we just tried to walk around and try to find below signage.

after 15 minutes of walk. finally we found it!! *berhasill.. berhasill. hore! gaya dora the explorer. haha*

it was around 5.10pm, and luckily the Q was not that long yet.. we waited for around 2o minutes before we can savour the best ramen at Ikebukuro area.

well. bassically they only have a few types of ramen.. and their bestselling ones are the 3 ramen above. *sorry for the blurry pictures. =(

Favorite Menu for Mutekiya’s first timer :

1. Nikutama Men

2. Tokumaru Men

3. Umakara Men – spicy soup

guess all ramen shop in Japan is only limited for 20 person or so.. and all of it are bar tables.

the first difference between Ichiran Ramen is their tables, in Mutekiya, they give you a range of sauces that you can add in to your ramen – pepper, soya sauce, vinegar, chili oil, tonkatsu sauce, garlic, some other things that im not sure what it is. haha.

The Gyoza came the first

This tastes like normal Gyoza, nothing in particular.. it’s just simply a nice companion for eating the ramen..

and introducing you the Best Ramen at Ikebukuro!

I chose the Umakara Men – the spicy soup based noodle.

owhmaigod! it was just super nice and super spicyy.. *gw sampe keselek gt pas pertama kali makan*

if you order this, you must slowly slurp the soup for the first sip. i was too excited and just gulp the first spoon until i was choking like crazy. hahaha..

okay, what i love about this?

– it’s broth.. the broth is so thick and creamy and so tasteful.. eventho it is spicy, but it’s still enjoyable. not those kind of spicy that makes your bowel suffer. they said they

– it’s noodle… ahhh.. how i love thick noodle.. it’s so yellow and chewy. *lebih seru aja gt makan noodle gendut2. haha*

– it’s pork meat.. muahhaha.. *maafkan daku yah buat yg halal, tapi ini enak bngt menurut aku.. huhu* the meat is just super thick, juicy, tender and doesnt make you sick of eating it again and again.. it just melts on your mouth..! if you compared the thickness and juiciness with Ichiran Ramen, i think Mutekiya has better meat.. well again. this is personal preference.

owh goshh.. this is just too sinful! this is a must go ramen shop if you are going to Tokyo!

After eating this, my Ramen standard is going up to the next level. hahaha *gaya pisan* hahaha.. *tapi bener.. beberapa minggu lalu gw dapet free ramen di Santouka Singapore gara2 pas lagi bday month.. Santaouka itu udah memuaskan bngt biasanya buat gw.. menurut lidah gw sii.. lebih enak si Santouka ini daripada Ippudo.. tapi setelah makan Mutekiya sama Ichirann.. wahh.. rasanya si Santouka udah kyk makan mie-instant biasa aja. kurang greget gt. hahaha.. sok bngt yee gw.. tapi gw tetep royal kok sama Santouka. since mrk suka kasih grastisan sidedish buat member. ahahha.. dan emang gw suka ramennya dia juga sii.. just that standard gw buat ramen enak sudah meningkat aja.. hehe.. *

The Ramen shop is somewhere along Meiji dori Ave.. if you see the that green Tonkudo building, it’s just somewhere across there.

Mutekiya Ramen 麺創房無敵家
1-17-1 Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku 東京都豊島区南池袋1-17- (Ikebukuro Station East Exit), Tokyo, Japan. Tel: + 03 3982 7656
Opening Hours: 10:30am-4am

The Shrines – Kyoto : Day 7

Since Kyoto was the capital of Japan from year 794 to 1868, and mostly were emperor’s residence, they have so many beautiful castle and temples for us to visit in this modern era. i thought ill be bored to death. but it turned out that i enjoyed walking through this historical places. maybe the weather helps as well..

it was a sunny breezy day. just a perfect day to start with. but since we were going back to Tokyo again on that afternoon, so we must quickly woke up and rush to two of the must go temple

1. Fushimi-Inari- Taisha

*i always mistaken this temple as Inari-sushi shrine. hahaha.. too much sushi on my mind*

If you are Indonesian and followed some of the big brand photography company like Axioo , PPF, ect, surely you saw some couple who went to Japan and took their pre-wed pictures in this red-orangy pillared gates. and simply, this temples is famous because of that thousands of red-orangy gates (tori gates)

history said that Hatta family built this temple for their dedication to the God of rice and sake, because during that time the agriculture is not doing so well, and they want it to be prosper again.

there are 2 trains stations nearby this temple. Fushimi Inari Station and Inari station. if possible, make your journey to Inari station, because it’s just located outside this temple. if you alight at Fushimi Inari Station, you need to walk about 10 minutes to reach the temple.

most shrines have this ‘washing place’ to ‘purify’ ourselves. it’s just a temple etiquette that we must follow. This temple have 5 shrines. just that we couldnt manage to climb up until the last one, because we need to rush to the second must go temple..

all gates have it’s own carving. not sure what it means, and not sure why most of the writings is in chinese characters.. btw, above pictures was oka hanging his prayer gates. haha.. as i mentioned before, the hike was good, since it’s a beautiful morning with a great weather. but i read some articles saying that i could be very eerie and scary if you go here during late afternoon.. they said the atmosphere suddenly changed, and i just knew that there are few graveyards over there too.. so, my suggestion is to go in the morning and bring few friends along..

2. Kiyomizu-dera Temple

we took cab from the nearest train station, simply we have no more time to wait on the bus and the 15 mins hike to the temple. so we decided to take a cab there.

luckily it’s not that expensive to reach Kiyomizudera from the nearest train station that i forgot the name already. =(

i think we spent around 600 yen for that one trip. the cab driver can only drop us in front of one alley, and from there we still need to hike a bit more to reach the temple. the alley is quite big and many handcraft sellers and snack stalls over there. if we are not in a hurry, i think we will stop at most of the shops. haha.. they are selling so many cute things and the all snacks looked so delicious. haha.

once we reached there.. we still need to hike a bit more.. this temple really located on a hill. *phewww.. capee. hahha*

we need to buy tickets for to enter this temple. it cost us about 200 yen if im not wrong.. when we went there, there was a lot of constructions going on. so not so pretty down there..

but when you already reach to it’s peak. it’s one of a beautiful temple! this temple is huge, and what i love the most is the location of this temple.. its on a hillside! so you can see a beautiful sceneries up there.. i always love to see things from far above..

 

we just strolled around a little bit and went down directly to see the Otowa ‘waterfall’, they said if a person drink from that waterfall, they can get a long life and wealth. but unfortunately we didnt get to get a sip of it. the Q was freaking long! =(

we found this on the way down, really wanted to taste their local dessert, but again.. we have time constraint to go back to Tokyo. so yeah.. we just have to pass this one. 

hopefully i can go back to this two temples and take a longer visit..

ahh.. missing Kyoto so much out of a sudden.. *mellow*

The City of Zen – Kyoto : Day 6

i always thought that i wouldn’t like Kyoto as much as Tokyo. I’m quite a city girl that love the hustle and bustle. i like laid back city as well. but if you asked me to choose, i will definitely prefer to go to more crowded ones. not very sure why i feel that way tho. haha.

when i step my feet to the city of Kyoto.. its a whole different feeling. it feels good and much better than Tokyo and Osaka. it’s like im falling in love with Kyoto at the first sight. *lebay*. we arrived in Kyoto about lunch time, and just nice that the weather is perfectly nice.. a bit windy and cloudy but it diidnt rain.. well it did rain a while after we reached our hotel.. but after that the weather is so good to walk in.

since it was already passed lunch time. we quickly put our luggage in the hotel and asked the where to eat good okonomiyaki restaurants nearby the hotel. and they recommended this restaurant..

Chibo *inside the Avanti Mall, nearby Kyoto station*

Kyoto Minami-ku, Kyoto Higashikujonishisan’no-cho, address 31 Avanti B1

*Tonpei Grilled – Pork Omelette, this one is suppa deliciousoo*

*Beef Tongue – Teppanyaki style*

 

*Buttery Scallop with Asparagus, another lovely dish*

*The Main dish of the day, Mixed Grilled Okonomiyaki – Pork, Squid and Shrimp*

*Yakisoba – regret to order this =(.. i dont really like it. huuu*

After we feed the hungry bear inside of us. we quickly find our way to Kurama mountain to enjoy the hot-spring. Actually i didnt want to go for this Onsen (hot-spring), since i dont want to get naked with everyone! and could not imagine to bath with many random naked women. haha.. *ya aneh aja kan perasaannya.. bugil2an sama orng yg ga di kenal.. duhh.. big no no bngt dehh di pikiran gw.. tapi temen gw si Thirza bilang kalo itu tuh the best moment ever.. kayak bersatu dengan alam gt* haha..

well. after so much consideration and contemplation and all *bujuk rayu* from my travelmates, finally i give in and brave myself to get naked with the nature. hahaha.

i cant really remember on how we go to this place. haha.. we just rely on googlemaps on how to go from Kyoto station to Kurama station.

This Kurama mountain located at the northern part of Kyoto. if im not wrong, you must take the Demachi-Yanagi line to get here and change to the other train for Kurama st.. The travelling time is about 45-60 minutes. and they will provide you a shuttle bus just infront of the Kurama station.. how convenient ya! but be careful, they shuttle bus are not available all day long, so you must check because you dont want to stranded there.. unless you planned to stay at the Ryokan *traditional japanese hotel – room without bed*.

when we reached there, the shuttle bus just left the station. but we tried to wave to show that we want to take the shuttle as well. luckily the shuttle stops and we quickly ran to enter the minivan. how lucky. haha.. when we reached there, they show us 2 options. 1 is open-air Onsen and another one is the indoor Onsen. since we wanted to get naked with the nature, of course we chose the outdoor Onsen. haha.

Kurama Mountain / Onsen

*station.nya looks super jadul yaa.. so cutee.. hehe*

*Its the information centre, together withe indoor Onsen and the receptionist for the Ryokan hotels as well*

*ya emang negara vending machine yaa.. sampe tiket masuk Onsen aja harus beli di vending machine. haha* We need to purchase our tickets from the vending machine which just located infront of the outdoor Onsen. you can buy a towel as well if you forgot to bring one..

And here where we must go separate ways.. and Below are the place to put our sandals, the instructions to enjoy the Japanese bath and the changing room! and we can only took this picture, since no photography allowed over here.. which is makes sense.. you dont want to get captured when you are naked. haha

Basically we must bath first before we can go in to the hot-spring, because they want to make sure that we dont contaminate the water.. so, before me and Yana take off our shirt, we made an agreement on who goes first to enter the Onsen, since we dont want to see each other’s body, too awkward for us! haha. *pokok,nya gw bilang. Yana.. elo duluan yahh. kalo udah masuk kolamm. tereak ajaa.. nanti gw baru masuk abis itu.. kita ujung2an aja biar ga ngerasa aneh. hahaha.. yess.. gw segitu.nyaa.. kyknya klo elo telanjang di dpn cewek2 jepang ato tourist lainnya lebih mendingan drpd kliatan naked di dpn temen sendiri. ga enakk aja gt rasanyaa. hahaha*

for those of you who wants to see how the Outdoor Onsen looks like.. please enjoy the photo below.

*source : metropolis.co.jp*

So pretty, isnt it?? maybe it’s how Adam and Eve bathing when they were in Eden. haha..*apasii*

when i first enter the Onsen area, it was still very uncomfortable to see many naked woman that can just go in/out from the Onsen like a FHM model. haha. oh btw, you cannot stare over here. they if you happen to look, just look away immediately.. haha. but not so long after that.. the beautiful sceneries really helps to make me at ease.. and the hot-spring. omg, it was very very relaxing, the aroma, the warmness of the hot-spring in the middle of cold-windy weather, it was just perfect..

since the water contains sulphur, it can really relaxes our tired muscles, and repair your skin..it was our 6th days of the trip, our legs was terribly tired, and it was like a magic water.. just right after i went out from the Onsen, it feels like you have a brand new leg. hahaha. you cant feel the tiredness anymore.. and owh.. i pour some water on my face.. was just trying to see if it can cure my pimple. haha.. and you know whatt? when i see myself on the mirror, you just need to ‘pop’ the pimples. because it’s already dried up. hahaha. *sorry for being disgusting*

overall experience, it was awesome beyond words. as i mentioned on my Instagram before.. it was awesomely awkward! hahaha.

after that most memorable experience of the trip, we went to try Kichi Kichi. the Omurice was very happening in youtube.. so, since we are in Kyoto already.. of course we must give it a try. hehe..

it was very hard to find the restaurant, since it’s just a small (9-10 seaters bar) restaurant, and the location was very unpredictable.. you must go in to small alleys and in that small alleys, they have another small alleys. ~.~’. But thank god that we managed to find it. *ga nyasar2 amat lahh stelah di pikir2. hahaha*

Kichi-Kichi Kyoto 

185-4 Zaimokucho | Sanjo Pontocho-dori Kudaru, Nakagyo-ku,Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan +81 75-211-1484

 

 

 

i recorded one video for you to take a look. hehe..

to see the open-flap egg like that was like magic.. so interesting to see.. he made 4 of it one by one, and it never fails to entertain us.. haha. i wonder how to make that kind off eggs. *bisa pas bngt gt luar.nya mateng, trus dalemnya kyk setengah mateng gt.. dan telur.nya bisa meleleh gt pas di belahh.. aigooo..*

the Omurice itself is supernice.. the only thing that overpower it is the sauce.. if he never put that much, maybe i can enjoy it more. but well, i think it depends on the individual as well. 

Oka can understand Japanese, and they chit chat for a while. he said, he stayed in Jakarta before when he was younger, and that time he was still thinking on what to make.. and he thought of making this Omurice + sauce when he was in Jakarta! amazing story to listen. very heartwarming to know that Jakarta was the place where he got Inspired. way to go Mr. Chef ! *i did asked for his namecard, but i cant rmber where do i put it. i’ll let you know his name when i found it. hehe*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another good nite from a happy tummy.. ❤

Universal Studio Japan – Osaka : Day 5

been a while since i posted about our Japan trip.. been busy latelyy.. huu..

since 4 of us like theme park quite a lot.. we decided to go to USJ as well.. it was Friday and we are afraid that USJ will be darn crowded. so we decided to go there earlier.. *dan pas nyampe, ya bener aja dongg.. ruame buanget*

It is so crowded over there, so we qucikly find the way to Harry Potter Castle, since it’s one of the major reason that we go to USJ. haha.. they limit the amount of people who’s going in to the Harry Potter castle. so we must go to one corner to get our entry ticket first. our entry time is from 12.45-1.45pm.

it was still around 11 by then. so, we quickly find the Biohazard to get another entry ticket. this Oka was really really eager to shoot some dead people. another one major reason that we go to USJ. and just nice that we got the entry ticket for 3.45-4.45 pm.

after getting the 2 entry tix. we walked around to see what we can play before we enter to Harry Potter Castle. since we only have around 1 hr left.. we decided to grab a quick lunch first, which is a Pizza store beside the Spiderman rides.

The food there is expensive.. i only ordered 1 slice of pizza + soft drink and it cost about 700 Yen? if im not wrong. haha..

after eating, we saw the single rider in Spiderman only took 30 minutes. so we decided to Q for the single riders. *ceritanya mau memanfaatkan waktu sebisa.nya. jadi sendiri2 juga gpp dehh. haha*

Actually i ride this Spidey before in Universal Studio Orlando few years back. it’s the same exact thing.. but it’s still cool tho. for those of you who already ride Transformer in Universal Singapore.. it’s quite the same thing.. just way much cooler i may say. haha.. so basically it’s a 3-D rides where we are the hostage of Doctor Octopus, Electro, Hydro-man and etc, and Spiderman come to the rescue. haha..

after Spidey’s we need to rush back to Harry Potter Castle.. but first, let us take some picture!

Harry Potter Castle 

  

Feel so magical, right?? How i love Harry Potter Castle.. haha.. and it feels like you are in the Harry Potter movie.. i grew up with Harry Potter. i watched all the of their movies.. and the feeling when you are in it is like surreal and unbelievable. haha.. *lebay*. The place is so amazing and breathtaking yaa. hehe..  They only have 2 rides if im not mistaken. the 4-D rides and the roller coaster.. since the 4-D rides is the must thing to ride.. then we sacrifice our 2 hrs time to Q.. below are the pictures while we are q-ing. hehe.

i’ve ride this 4-D rides in Orlando too. but the excitement is still there.. i love the feeling when they fly us with the broomsticks and bring us to the quitddich game. And it’s still scary when you face the Dementor and went in to the spiders cave.. it’s just feel so real deh pokok.nya.. the best and the longest 4-D rides ever.. so it’s really worth it for the Q.

after the 4-D rides, we just stroll around for a while, because we need to be in Biohazard soon!

This game was the scariest game among all.. i think i rather go for 30mins non stop roller coaster. haha..

Biohazard itu sama dengan Resident Evil. Im sure all of us know what resident evil, right.. i love to watch zombie movie like Resident evil and walking dead.. haha. but to put it in real-life.. hmmpp.. makasih deh. hahaha.. its just very daunting.

sumpahh ini game serem banget. haha.. basically they put you into a situation whereby you need to shoot the zombies. they already equip us with a big gun and all we need is to kill the zombies.. they formed us to a group of 8 to enter the rooms. there will be an ‘Umbrella’ office who lead us from room to rooms. so at least we know here are we going. but again, all the instructions are in Japanese.. so we dont even know whats happening.. all we know is just to kill all the zombie.. haha..

*makin lama zombie.nya makin aneh2 lagii.. pertama si zombie2 biasa.. terus masuk ke room yg lain ketemu zombie yg kyk lizard gt.. trus di room yg terakir ktmu nemesis yg guede bngt.. horror deh pokok.nyaa.. haha.. ada 1 room yg ada jendelanya. dan gw berdiri pas bngt d depan jendela itu.. gw pikir. shark man pasti ada yg aneh2 bakal kluar dr jendela ini dehh.. ehh. bener aja dong.. pas bngt pas gw minggir.. ehh ada kepala zombie yg kluarr.. uanjirrr.. kalo gw ga minggir sihh udah bs kecium zombie.. hoekkk.. hauahua..*

they have several rooms inside the place. each room have different zombie. so lets say the first 2 room are just normal zombies. then the 3rd room is the lizard zombie then the last room you will meet the nemesis. it’s just getting scarier and scarier. well. maybe to make it clearer.. you can watch the video below.

*ini game sih super seru sbenernyaa.. cuman yaa super serem juga. hahaha.*

after this mentally exhausting game.. we went to Back to the Future, just another 3D rides.

 and Finally i got the chance to ride the Hollywood Dream. It’s a roller coaster that really worth the Q as well. since im a roller coaster junkie. of course this ride is a must ride! haha..

*last picture taken from mycars.guru*

We Q-ed for this roller coaster about 2 hrs as well. but it really worth the Q.. this roller coaster considered long, the thrill is there and the best of all, you can play your own music.. yes.. they have 5 songs to choose. and you can listen to the song while you ride and scream on the roller coaster.. haha.. *pokok.nya fun abis dehh* The only thing that made us quite scared is their safety harness. they only have one safety harness around your waist.. normally the safety harness will be on your shoulder right? so you can hold it as well if you are scared.. *yg ini.. kagak ada coyy pengaman yg kyk gt. jadi cuman 1 pengaman di dket perut. haha* but it supersafe.. just that it bothers me a bit, since they have the 360 degree turns. haha..

the most happening thing is.. this roller coaster have a Backdrop ride. so, if you want to experience riding the roller coaster on the other way around. you can re-Q for it. they are still using the same rail, so after 2 times of normal ride.. they will change the track to the other way around. and it’s very veryy fun!! *seru bangett bangett deh pokok.nyaa* it’s a different feeling to ride it backwards.. and a very fun-thrilling feeling to experience the backdrop. for roller-coaster lover, you should ride this when you visit USJ-Osaka.

This backdrop Q takes longer than Hollywood dreams. so we decided to take the single rider that only took about 45minutes only! what i like about universal studio is that they have the single rider Q, so at least we can save some of our time..

since it was already quite late and we were super hungry (only eating 1 slice of that expensive pizza. haha), we decided to go back and try some random ramen along the Dontonburi area.

The gyoza and ramen was just normal compared to Ichiran.. but it was not bad at all.

They said Osaka is very famous with its Takoyaki, they have a lot of Takoyaki stores along the Dontonburi road.. so, we just grabbed which ever that looks nice to eat. and we decided to buy the Takoyaki from this place..

The Takoyaki taste is gooddd..just that we already quite full, so we couldnte enjoy the takoyaki to the fullest. =(

and we ended the night with taking pictures with the most well-known ‘Glico’ signboard. they said they just changed the Glico signboard to a woman.. so previously was a guy and they put light on the signboard.. not sure why they changed it to a woman and no more shining lights on it.. but since we are there already.. of course we must take some pictures with their signature pose right. haha.. *ya masa udah sampe sana ga jadi voto gara2 signboardnya ganti jadi cewek. hahaha*

stay tune.. because tomorrow we are going to Kyotoo!

cheers..

The Love, The City, The Food – Osaka : Day 4

Ga berasa banget ternyata udah lewat begitu aja 3 hari di Tokyo.

and finally it’s the time to go to Osaka.. before we left our apartment, we need to check a lot of things.. from the simplest thing like dont leave anything behind.. folding back the sofabed.. clear our things from the fridge.. put all the things back in their place.. and throwing our garbage.

i really want to share with you on how Japanese throw their garbage.. so, the owner of the place gave us some handbook to read.. like how to turn on the microwave.. how to use the washing machine.. the dos and donts.. and 1 particular page on how to throw our garbage..

so, basically all Japanese differentiate their garbage to several types.. like the burnable, non-burnable, recycle, batteries, etc etc.. if you have plastic bottles, paper waste and anything burnable, you must separate it to one transparant plastic bag.. and so does the non-burnable , and the re-cycle ones.. *pokok.nya tiap jenis lu harus pisahin tempat sampah.nya* And if you wanted to throw batteries, you must throw it in black plastic bags.. and you can only throw it once a month..

and the thing that ‘wow-ed’ me the most is.. you must know WHEN to throw your garbage.. example : Monday, Wednesday, Friday is for Burnable. Tuesday, Thursday is for Non-burnable. and the rest of the day is to pick up the other type of garbage. Let’s say you put Non-Burnable on Monday.. they wont pick it up for you.. they will just pick it up when the schedule is there.. *gila banget ga si? haha.. gw ga tau saking teratur.nya sampe begitu bangett.. kita sampe pusing gt pas mau cabutt.. pertamanya msh mikir ini burnable apa bukan.. sampe akhir.nyaa.. ahhh. sudahlahh.. buang aja semua dalam 1 kantong. hahahah.. mudah2an semua burnable. hahahaha..*

Thirza, the friend of mine was also so confused when she first moved to Tokyo.. finally she created special alarms only to remind her which garbage to throw away today. hahaha.. *gila2ann dehh*

That’s why if you go to Japan, you will not find so many trash bin, she said the government encourage you to bring back your own garbage home. faint.. haha.. so different with Singapore, where there’s trash bin in every 10-15 meters. haha..

okay.. now it’s time to go to Osaka! *eggciteddd!*

we went out from the apartment as per planned. 1 hour before our Shinkansen schedule.. and you know what? we almost missed our first bullet train.. we thought 1 hr is more than enough.. since from our place to Tokyo station only take 20 minutes time..

what make us almost late was.. we did not expect the long walking distance in Tokyo station itself! it took us about 25 minutes just to figure things out and walk our way to the Shinkansen platform. so, Tokyo station itself have many many trains.. from the many lines of normal trains.. tokyo metro and the shinkansen.. again, we thought how far it would be from 1 platform to another platform? *dan ternyata.. panjang aja dongg jalannya..* the walk is like from ION Orchard to Somerset Station with a lot of escalators.. up and down.. and it’s still in Tokyo Station..! its just unimaginably BIG !

Finally. we reached the Shinkansen platform by 11.00am.. our bullet train supposed to go by 11.03am.. we rushed to find our Car number, quickly go inside the train and put our luggage on the top. Just nice when we sit down, we can feel that the train is already moving.. when we saw the time.. it is already 11.03am.. another ‘Wow-ed’ moment.. they are reallyy ON TIME !

*pas kereta.nya tiba2 jalan.. kita semua lngsung liat2an gitu dong.. untung bngt ga ktinggalann.. every minutes counts bngt disana.. temen gw cerita juga.. dulu pernah ada kejadian dimana Shinkansennya telat beberapa menit doang.. trus si masinis.nya minta maaf sambil bungkuk2 gt ke semuaa car / gerbong di shinkansen ituu.. gila bngt yaa.. cuman bbrp menit doang loh. haha.. mungkin kita orng indo kebiasaan telat kali ya.. jadi klo tiba2 on time bngt jadi kaget gt. hahaha. sesuatu yg harus di tiru banget sih kalo soal on time*

*you can turn the seat if you want.. seru bngt yaa..hehe.. sayang bngt ga kburu ambil penampakan luar.nya si Shinkansen.. huu.. tampak.nya sama sih sama yg kalian liat di tipi2.. putih doang aja gt.. hehe*

BTW, we took Hikari Line from Tokyo – Osaka. if you wants to travel to many cities. we really recommend to buy the JR pass.. eventho i know that it is freaking expensive (about SGD 350), but it’s really worth it than buying normal tickets.. and this JR pass is not sold in Japan itself. so you must buy it online or go to some travel agent to purchase it.

Finally we reached Osaka!

we must take another local train in order to reach our Hotel that is Located near Osaka Namba Station.

reached Osaka-Namba Station that is very very confusing and doesnt have escalators and lifts at all. ~.~’.. *semua underground gt.. bingung bngt cari jalan ke atas.nyaa.. ternyata bnyk exit di samping2.nya cuman pake nomor gt.. kyk b21.. b22.. ya mana tauu yahh itu exit ke jalanan.. huu.. semuanya kyknya lagi laper gt. jadi ga bs berpikir jernih. haha*

after we got out from this station.. we must walk about 3 minutes to reach to this Dontonburi road.. and pass by one bridge before we reached to our hotel. 

because we felt very starving.. we just put our luggage and quickly go to below restaurant, that we dont even know the name. haha.. *jelek.nya gw kalo lagi laper tuh bawaannya jadi short temper. jadi kudu cepet2 makan. muahahha*

 

They are only selling deep fried Yakitori or Kushiage. Actually we wanted to eat Matsusakagyu Yakiniku (the one above this restaurant), but they are only re-open at 6pm. and we cant bear any longer. haha..

i dont know if we are so starving or the kushiage are just damn good or all the food in Japan are good. hahaha.

we finished this things in only 10 minutes time. haha..

how to eat this?

just dip once to the sauce and you can enjoy the kushiage..! *yuumm.. the sauce is like normal soya souce.. only much nicer.. i cant decipher what else that they put to the sauce. haha..

we were in Osaka for 2 and a half day only. so much things to do, yet so little time..

wanted to go to Osaka Castle, but too bad.. we could not managed to catch the timing. =(..

so we just go to Yumi Katsura lovers sanctuary. *aka kuil cinta kalo kata si Ivan Prakasa. haha..  pengen ktmu Ivan waktu pas ke Jepang. tapi sayang bngt kaki dia lagi bengkak gara2 main basket.. lain kali yaa vann kalo gw ke Tokyo lagi.. hehe..*

This temple have no opening hours. you can just go there whenever you want to. The place is quite secluded somewhere in Umeda neighbourhood.

They have their steps to pray.. so we tried to follow the customs:

1. Wash your both hand and mouth with the water running water

2. Throw a coin inside

3. Ring the Big Bell three times.

4. Pray

5. And lastly, you must bow down after you finished your prayer.

This temple is a remembrance of a couple who really deeply in love for each other.. Ohatsu was a prostitute and Tokubei was a simple guy who was a soya sauce seller. like Romeo and Juliet. Like Sampek and Engtay, their love end in tragedy, where both of them committing suicide. =(

Now, it’s a very famous place for the young couples to pray that they will have an unwavering love. muahahha..

below is ‘Ema’ – a wooden plate where you can write your love wishes..

*just a random shots. hahaha* centil .com

we just went there for a while, and quickly went to Umeda Sky Buidling to see Osaka for above.. the admission fee is 700 Yen (about 8 SGD).

and here are some pretty pictures from Above.. =)

*lumayan cantik ya? hehehe*

after this pretty viewing. we went back directly to Matsusaka to eat our dinner. so starvingg after only eating few sticks of Kushiage. haha.

Matsusakagyu Yakiniku

1-1-19 Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0076, Japan

when we went there, the person told us to come back tomorrow since it’s all fully booked for the night. we did not know that it was that popular and wasnt thinking that we need to book. gahh.. feeling blehh.. but suddenly there’s another waitress that told us that we can use a private room. not sure if someone cancelled or what. haha.. *thank God*

and this was our most expensive meal for the trip.. we already prepared the money, since all blogs and reviews told that the average spend is about 6000 yen / person (about SGD 70).. thankfully it’s still much cheaper than Singapore Gyu Kaku. haha.. *terhitung murah di banding yakiniku singapore walopun harganya berat di kantong.. tapi since sampe sana.. kyknya sayang aja klo ga di coba.. hehe*

but it was all worth it! the beef really melts in your mouth, so juicy and tender and sweet and makes you tipsy.. haha.. it was just too good to be true.. the best beef we have ever tasted. *sumpahh, kepala gw sampe pusing gara2 uenak.nya poll! hauhaua..

*the magnificent beef tongue with salt*

*The Best Beef BBQ set i have ever eatenn. we ordered set for 4 person*

And that night, we slept with a very happy tummy. hahaha.

Thank God for creating such a great beef for us to consume!

Major Love.. ❤ ❤

Tsukiji Market and Ginza : Day 3

We really forced ourselves up to wake up early in the morning just to go to Tsukiji market..

we were thinking.. should we go for the Tuna auction at 5am? but since we came back so late and felt so tired from Disneysea the day before.. we decided to just go to Sushi Dai for brunch.

Actually i wanted to see the Tuna auction so much.. *kyknya seru banget aja gt liat tuna segede gaban dan liat si auctioneer potong2 tuna.nya pake samurai.. berasa si nat geo gt.. haha* If only they dont start the auction so early.. =(

the other thing that made us hesitant to go is they limit the spectator now. only 120 people are allowed to see the auction. and i think they are very strict with it. we were like.. what if we are the 121st person.. so wasted to wake up in the morning then.. huahua..

we reached Tsukiji market about 10.30 in the morning.. the market is still busy and smell very fishy. haha.. *yaiyalahh. namanya juga pasar ikann* we passed by a lot of shops before we reached Sushi Dai..

*berbagai macam pisau dapurr.. gila yaakk. bnyk ajee. haha.. ini di bawah juga jamur.nya guede2.kyk bisa di tanem ulang gt. haha.. oh iyaa.. btw. dsini gw liat national geographic photographer lagi tour gt.. like a bunch of men with big camera dan ada name tag nat geo.nyaa. keren yaaa kliatanntaa.. huu.. sayang ga voto mrk in action.. haha*

and after we passed all this shops by.. finally we reached our brunch place.. i assume below pictures are the place where they are doing their Tuna Auction..

and the restaurant.. just right on our right side..

okay.. so, i have been talking about sushi dai right.. ended up, we never eat at Sushi dai.. haha..

why?? because the queue is freaking longg.. like LONGGGG! and i forgot to take the picture. =(

well.. i already read some blogs that we need to queue 2-3 hrs to eat this Sushi Dai.. they said it’s the cheapest sushi shop over there and it tastes veryyy goodd.. but we dont want to queue that long.. since we already got enough in Disneysea. haha..

i remember that there’s 2 famous sushi restaurant here.. Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi..

so, we just try to stroll around and found that Daiwa sushi queue was not that long. like half of Sushi Dai.. we figured out that Sushi Dai only has 12 seats inside *tepok jidat moment* where Daiwa Sushi have 2 shops.. so, it can fit to 24 people.. without hesitating, we moved queue to Daiwa Sushi.

*Q-ing timee*

*we ordered the set menu*

*the fatty Tuna, the middle one is the best of all, and secondly is the unagi (below pictures) and the third one is the tamago.. The Tamago have the sweet taste that i never tasted before*

The sushi pictures was only just half of it.. forgot to take the rest because we are just to concentrate to eat. haha.. *dan gw kepedesan gara2 wasabii.. kepedesan yg sampe ke hidung gt.. haha* you know right that most of sushi restaurant always put their Wasabi between the fish and the rice.. not like in normal restaurant in Singapore / Jakarta whereby they served you 1 different place for the wasabi.. the texture also a little bit different, more diluted than Singapore / Jakarta wasabi..

after we finished eating, we passed by Sushi Dai Q again, and we were very thankful that we moved to Daiwa Sushi.. because the person who already far before us were still in the Q.. it’s like not moving at all. i think we Q-ed for Daiwa Sushi about 45 minutes, and eat there about 25 – 30 minutes..

they said all the sushi bar are nice over there.. not just Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi. just that this 2 sushi place are the cheapest among all.

since Tsukiji market is somewhere near Ginza.. so we decided to just stroll around there first for a while..

One of the largest shopping malls in Tokyo.. Mitsukoshi.. tried to go inside and saw that they are selling branded goods like YSL, Celine and with some other high end Japanese brand.. since we did not intend to buy anything branded.. we tried to go to their rooftop. which is not bad at all. haha..

Quite nice right? apparently you can just sit down there and do nothing.. haha..

Ginza is like the Tokyo’s orchard road. but much prettier i guess. haha.. all are shopping malls and branded boutique..

 

*cakep2 yaa bunga.nyaa.. macam di new york city gitu berasa.nya. muahahha.. pengen di comot buat voto2.. hihi*ohh. and they have 8 storeys of Uniqlo here.. *faint*.. the biggest Uniqlo in Tokyo i think. haha..

well.. it turned out that we spent quite a long while in Ginza.. almost 4 hours there to went in and out the shops.. haha..

since i already made appointment with Thirza *my Uni friend who now reside in Tokyo*, so we quickly went to Shinjuku to meet her..

our legs was still so painful because of Disneysea the day before and the stroll that we took in Ginza. so we decided to went to some random cafe just to rest our legs for a while and do some catch up with thirzaaa.. hehe..

Shinjuku station was crazyyy.. it is literally a sea of human.. no wonder research said that it’s the second world’s business train station. when we went out from the trains station.. so many girls / guys are singing in front of the the trains station.. my friend said they are there promoting their band almost everyday, selling out their CDs, giving out their flyer and waiting to be spotted by the talent scout. below is AKB 48 wannabe. haha..

so, after we walked awhile in Shinjuku, we went back to Shibuya to grab our dinner.

i already did research for this restaurant.. bloggers like Lady iron chef said its one of the best Tonkatsu in Tokyo.. so why dont we give it a try? hehe.

Welcome to Maisen (Shibuya) :

Tokyu Department Toyoko Store (West) 9F, 2-24-1 Shibuya, Shibuya, Tokyo Prefecture 150-8319, Japan

This is really hands down the best Tonkatsu that i have ever tasted. muahahha.. The Pork is very tender and juicy inside.. not oily at all and the bread crumbs are crunchy but not hurting your throat.. and the rice.. ahh.. so soft and fluffy.. i can eat this everyday. hahaha.. their specialty is Kurobuta (Black Pork)  cutlet. a must try if you are a Tonkatsu Lover..

Meet Thirza Zefanya! my roomate when we were on US school trip 4 year agoo.. ahh.. we are getting oldd.. NOOO!!! =(

glad to see you there girl! hope to see you again soon! ❤

Disneysea Tokyo : Day 2

continue-ing my story..

so, after we spent our 1st day at Shibuya.. we went to Disneysea on the following day..

it was our first encounter with Tokyo trains.. and the trains are just purely complicated.. *yg ga percaya.. ya boleh liat map di bawah ini.. haha

*picture taken from greggman.com*

kelar bangett ga sihh map.nya?? haha.. liat.nya aja udah jereng ini mata.. haha.

so we already googled on how to go to disneysea from our apartment.. and we already followed the direction from google map. but tadaaa.. we still got lost somewhere in the middle. googlemap said we need to take the train from shibuya to osaki (remain on-board) to shin-kiba and the changed line to maihama station. we thought remain on-board meaning you need to literally remain on-board.. and we were wrong! remaind on-board here means remain in the platform.. so you need to go out from the train and transfer to the other train opposite you.. *tepok jidat banget dehh*

*where we are still very sure that we took the right train*

*and tadaa! after that.. we didnt even know where we were.. hahaha..*

from a few wrong turns, finally we learnt that :

– one platform can be used for several trains *jadi 1 jalur kereta.. mungkin aja bisa ada 3 kreta yg lewat yg tujuannya beda2.. jadi lu harus tau bener lu harus ke arah mana and timing here are very very important.. beda semenit aja tuh bisa jadi bukan kereta yg elo mau naikin*

– the train may not be as long as the train platform *jadi bayangkan misalnya platform itu mulai dari nomor 1-10. mungkin kereta elo itu panjangnya cuman dari nomor 1-5.. jadi kalo lu tunggu di tempat yg salahh.. tetep aja lu bisa ketinggalan kereta.nyaa*

pokok.nya rempong poll dehh..

Trust me google map is your very bestfriend in Japan.. you just need to understand a little bit more on how to take the trains and ask people around you if you want to make sure.. hehe.. find those business woman / man. they surely know how to speak english. or at least simple english.

okay.. enough with the tokyo trains.. you must go there to experience it yourself. haha..

and finally we reached Disney! one of the most wonderful place in the world.. *yg setuju angkat tangan!! haha*

we bought the Disney Ticket in Singapore’s Japan travel agent that cost us about 80 SGD. so we dont need to q anymore.

Disney always give me some magical feeling that i live in a ‘happily ever after’ life. *mungkin kebanyakan nonton disney princess jaman dulu kali yee.. hahaha*

*ada yg bilang gw kyk anak SD dsini. apakah benar? hahaha*

It’s a little different here in Tokyo Disneysea.. somehow i could not feel that magical feeling.. not sure if i already grown up *ciyehh. sok tua yee gw.. haha* or it’s just the place that doesnt spread the magic well. haha.

i feel that the whole place is so dryy.. *kyk kurang sentuhan cinta dari orng2 jepang.nya sendiri*

my friend said maybe we need to wait till evening, so we can feel the ‘magical’ feeling when all the lights is on. so there we were, waiting for the night time to come and see if they can change the ambience. dont get me wrong.. disney sea is a beautiful clean and fun place.. just that i dont feel the touch of Disney’s magic over here. haha.. i dont know how to describe it.. *mudah2an pada ngerti yaa. hahahha*

Many people said that Disneysea is a better place for the adults, because more thrilling rides are there.. and since im quite an adrenaline junkie and love to ride rides a lot.. of course we chose Disneysea than Disneyland.. even though maybe Disneyland will be more dreamy than Disneysea..

we reached Disneysea around 11am. and bought some quick lunch (rice hotdogs) because we dont want to waste our time there eating.. somemore most food there are ridiculously expensive. i think 2 snacks is equal to 1 bowl of ramen. haha.

*jadi sambil bawa makanan.nya, kita lngsung antri ke Tower of Terror. hehe*

we immediately go for Tower of Terror once we bought our ricehotdogs.. we tried to take the fastpass.. but only available at night time.. since we dont want to go back so late. we decided to queue for 1.5 hrs.. =(

not sure if that Tuesday was their public holiday or what.. all rides require us to queue for at least 1.5 – 2 hrs.. hurr.. but since we are already there.. then we just queue for all the rides that we passed by.

okay. firstly is Tower of Terror. the infamous haunted lift hotel that will drop down out of a sudden. *macem mainan di genting gt yg free fall.. tapi yg ini ga segitu ngeri.nya. haha*

since all storyline and all the instruction are in Japanese.. *sumpaahh ga mudeng.com* i dont feel scared at all. haha.. of course right? haha.. *mau ceritanya sehorror apa.. ya karena ga ngerti ga berasa serem sama sekali. haha*

i think Disney is the same everywhere, they will decorate the place as nice as possible so we can feel the ambiance.

 

well. yg gw mudeng sih yaa.. ceritanya tuh ada 1 om2. macemnya indiana jones ambil 1 boneka gt dari negri antah berantahh.. kyknya bonekanya terkutuk gt.. trus tiba2 pas di dlm lift.. yah lift.nya jadi gelap trus jatoh sendiri aja gt..  dan sampe skrng si om2 itu ga tau lagi dimana keberadaannya..

The ride itself was so fun.. i kinda like the feeling when the thing is about to drop and the tickling feeling in my stomach. haha.. *ya intinya gw suka deh perasaan deg2an sebelum di jatuhin gt.. dan lucu aja gt perasaan geli2 di perutnya. haha.*

owh.. the tipping point where they want to drop us has a very amazing view.. i think everything that we look from far above is always breathtakingly great!  *jadi abis gelap2an gt.. tau2 ada bolongan gt dimana kiat didiem-in sekitar 3 detik dan kita bisa liat view hampir 1 disneysea.. itu yah.. bagus bngt donggg.. mungkin mangkanya bnyk quote2 sering bilang.. jngn liat dr batas kemampuan kamuu.. coba bayangin view dr Tuhan yg atas.. pasti si Babeh udah siapin hal yg indah buat kitaa. hehe*

*if you see the tall building behind me.. that’s the Tower of Terror. pretty high yaa? haha*

after this.. we directly go to Storm Rider. It’s like a 4D show, if you have been to Shrek 4D show in Singapore, this one is similar to that. just that we need to wear seat belt because the chair is keep moving throughout the rides.

The story is about a new device that is invented to pass through the storm.. but suddenly a bigger storm is coming, will the device still work in that kind of condition?  *dan ceritanya kita di dlm si device ituu.. mangkanya kursi.nya goyang2 teruss.. haha*

Finally they gave us an English translation on the screen, so at least we know what the story is about. haha.. so it’s like we are in the device and cutting through the storms. *sayang.nya mnurut gw layarnya ga gede2 amatt.. kalao full screen yg bentuk.nya agak mangkok kan lebih enak yaa liat.nya. hahaha.. banyak mau.nya ye gw. haha*

before we continue to the next rides.. nyemil popcorn dl kitaa.. hehe.. ade gw tertarik bngt tuh gara2 rasanya strawberry. untungnya not bad. hahaha.

our third ride was Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of Crystal skull

*sekali lagi.. niat.com yaa disney buat beginiannya. ahhaha.. oh ya btw.. kalo kalian perhatiin, baju gw yg paling tertutup. alias pake stocking dimana yg lainnya cuman pake celana pendek.. pas siang2 sihh biasa aja cuaca.nyaa.. tapi pas malemm.. beuhh.. untung bngt gw pake stocking inii.. dinging anginnya menusuk sukmaa. hahahah*

Indiana Jones was the longest queue ever. we q-ed about 2 hours and 30 mins.. ~.~` and it was not worth the q at all..

 

It was just a normal truck ride that shows us the temple ruins and Indiana Jones adventure with the supernatural crystal skull..

maybe this ride suppose to be more exciting and feel more dangerous IF you understand the language.. but yeahh. too bad.. cant understand a single of it. so we just enjoyed the ride. haha.. i expected more shocking turns, or drop, or back drop, or what so ever since it’s Indiana Jones.. but i think the whole ride is just normal for me..  it’s like only see the nice decoration. haha. *tapi mungkin buat anak2 ini udah seru bngt sihh.. bnyk hal menarik di dlm.nya untuk di liat*

actually i wanted to ride the roller coaster from Indiana Jones as well. but they didnt allow us to go in anymore, since its already quite latee.. so sad.. huuu.

and the next attractions of the day was The Magic Lamp Theatre (Aladdin)

indeed this place is far more beautiful at night.. haha

This Aladdin is a 4d show that mix with some magic show. again, if you understand Japanese, this show supposed to be funnier.

Above room was the showcase room where they will tell you some story first before you proceed to the magic show.. it’s quite interesting i may say. since they really do the live magic show and we get to wear the 3d glasses where we can see Geenie popped out from the screen here and there doing his magic.

and this was our last attractions of the day.. since we were already very tired of q-ing and we were starvinggg.

i managed to get a few night pictures before we left..

just when i started to like this place.. its a time to go back already.. =( *beneran lebih cantik yahh klo pake lampu2.. lebih berasa magical gimana gt. muhahahaha*

and for the dinner, we decided to try Sukiya, one of the most famous chain restaurant in Japan. it is something like Yoshinoya.

this is soooo much better than yoshinoyaa..  the beef was tender and juicy and taste gooodd.. and the rice.. well.. nothing can beat japanese rice i think. haha. and the miso soup below.. omaigadddd… it tastes like heavenn. ahhaha.. i can drink the soup only.. *itu slice pork ngambang2 enak bngt. spring onion.nya juga enakk.. semua di miso.nya uennakk pol dehh..*

 very very recommended, and the price is very cheap! only 520 yen (beef bowl) + 120 yen (miso soup) which is less than SGD 10 for both goodness..

ahh.. pengen balik skrng buat makan soup.nya aja.. hahaha.. nighty night!  ❤

 

Ohayou Tokyo! Day 1

Emang holiday itu selalu berasa cepet bngt ya.. ga nyangka 9 hari udah berlalu.. dan waktu.nya kembali ke realita kehidupann.. *noooo!!!*

but before im coming back to reality.. let us relive the trip.. hehe..

We went to Tokyo by Delta Airlines 6 o clock in the morning. *it was the same flight that took me to USA for my school trip 4 years agoo.. ahh.. another good old memories*

Thankfully it was a pleasant flight, and get to reach Tokyo by 2.30 in the afternoon. Since we only booked 7 days of JR pass ticket, we bought a limousine bus ticket to get to the apartment where we stayed for 3 nights in Tokyo.

nothing fancy about the limousine bus.. it’s just a normal bus that will drop you to some hotels. since we are staying in an apartment, we took the bus to the nearest hotel from the apartment.

the bus was our very first encounter with Japan public transport. and it really amazed me they are really on time.. when the ticket said that the bus leaving at 3:15pm. it will really leave on the dot.. *pokok.nya pas jem.nya berubah jadi 3:15, lansung tancap gas tanpa nungguin siapapun.. beneran ga lebay.. haha*

 

this limousine bus service cost us 3100 yen/person, which means around 36 SGD. The bus ride took about 90 minutes from the airport to Excel Hotel Tokyu in shibuya area, the nearest hotel from our apartment.

once we reached there, we immediately walked to our apartment. luckily it’s only 10 minute walk from the hotel. *kan cape juga boo jalan sambil narik2 koper. haha*

finally we reached to our lovely apartment named ‘Feel A Shibuya’. we booked this small room from Airbnb, and we loved it so much. it is near shibuya crossing, small but cozy for 4 of us, provided us with portable wifi and all amenities are ready to use.. feels like our own home for that 3 nights. hehe..

since we reached apartment about 5pm. we quickly go to Ichiran Ramen for dinner because we didn’t want to queue so long.

all bloggers, trip advisors and other social media said that Ichiran Ramen is a must go place when you are in Tokyo / Osaka.. *hits banget deh ceritanya ini tempat.. haha*

from our place to Ichiran, we must across the road via shibuya crossing.

shibuya crossing is just so happening.. *jadi ini kyk perempatan dimana semua orng bisa nyebrang kemana aja dr perempatan itu. gw ga ngerti deh cara atur traffic.nya gimana.. hahaha.. ohh. btw. di jepang gelap.nya cepet bngt.. kyk jem 6 gt udah gelap bngt*

Ichiran Ramen is just across Tsutaya mall.. it’s one line with 109 Men’s.

it was only around 6pm, and there was a queue already. luckily it only took us 10-15 waiting time..

since Japan is well know as a vending machine country, this ichiran ramen also require us to order via vending machine.

so you just insert your notes and coins, and just press whatever that you want to order. after that, the machines will print out 1 small notes that you must show to the waitress later on. after showing the small notes, they will ask you to circle the preference.. like the noodle thickness, how strong the soup that you want, spiciness, etc.

if you see the red and green light behind my order paper.. it’s the seating arrangement. they only have 2o seats in total. *dan ga ada bangku yg hadap2an donkk. haha.. gw lebih suka makan yg hadapa2an gt.. kyknya lebih enak aja drpd makan sebelah2an kyk gini.. selain bisa ngobrol, bisa icip2 jugaa.. klo kyk gini kan ga bisa yaa.. haha*

 

ohh. one funny thing.. we could not see the waitress face here, if you need anything, you just need to press the small button in the middle. and they will come to you. *agak anehh yah rasa.nya klo ngomong ga liat wajah.nyaa*

they provide us with glass and cold tap water. so practical yaa.. haha.. we dont need to keep asking if we want to refill.

and finally.. the moment we have been waiting for!!

ohh.. how i love this so so muchh.. *semua ramen enak di singapore lewatt.. ippudo.. santouka.. semua lewatt.. hahaha*

im not a fan of thin noodle.. but this one is really different. its thin but chewy, the soup was perfectly made.. strong but not make you sick of it. and the porkk.. hmmpp.. it’s just so yummyy and tender. all are just perfect in a bowl.. *faint!*

after we had our glorious ramen.. we just stroll around in shibuya and went back to our apartment, we were just so tired because none of us had proper sleep and we need to wake up early for the next day, because Disneysea is waiting for us! hehehe.

Goodnite from the glasses ‘family’ and Hachiko! ❤ ❤