Come Away with Me

Arrival and Downtown Tokyo

And finally we've arrived at the latest travel episode in Tokyo!

I would love to have my sibs see the place that I've been calling home in Japan for the coming one year. But as it wasn't practical for them to come all the way down to the Gotos, we arranged to meet up in Tokyo where we spent a good 9 days hunting down various places in the capital.

Instead of a chronological, day-by-day account of their visit, I will adopt the thematic approach this time round. Gosh, what am I talking about here, sounds like I am writing a thesis instead of a blog entry isn't it? Wah hah. Anyway, it's pictures galore coming up for the next few entries!


Arrival at Narita Airport early in the morning and greeted by our long time neighbor from Park West. The Hasuos lived opposite from our unit some 15 years back. Although no one speaks Japanese in my family then, somehow the 2 families became good friends. We managed to keep in touch all these years after they moved back to Japan, an amazing feat don't you think? Naoko san, the mother of the family gladly arranged for a mini reunion at the airport when she learnt of my family's visit last month.


That's me posing with my early birthday presents from Rosie, a book and a couple of magazines to occupy some of my internet-less weekends at home. And yes, that's me again gorging down soon kuehs that mommy brought all the way from Singapore. The funny thing is I wasn't even a fan of it previously, hmm...


A family picture taken in front of the famous Kaminarimon or thunder gate, the entrance to Tokyo's most famous temple, the Sensoji aka Asakusa Kannon Temple.

Mention Tokyo and images of Shinjuku's skyscrappers, high-end department stores and boutiques in the Ginza area and the fashionable quarters like Omotesando invariablly come to mind. But there is really more to Tokyo than it's glorious shopping scene and glitzy skyline. And it is in downtown Tokyo, known by the locals as the shitamachi (下町)area that one can rediscover a bit of Tokyo's old world charm. For this was the place where early Japanese merchants and common folks originally settled. Today, it is probably one of the few places left in Tokyo where you can still feel some of the old Edo atmosphere.

7 years ago and my first visit to the sprawling metropolis, I recalled the hundreds of neon signboards in young and lively Shibuya which left me breathless and thoroughly awed. Perhaps age is catching up but Asakusa has undoubtedly overtook all those 'exciting' areas to my favorite haunt in Tokyo.



No visit to Asakusa is considered complete without the almost mecca-like walk through the shops lined Nakamisedori.





More sights, sound, smell and taste of Nakamise...


This is my little sis Jackie doing all the things that a first time visitor at any Japanese temples or shrines are likely to be found doing i.e. paying ￥100 for a go at the mikuji (something like drawing lot at Chinese temples) and drinking from those water wells that are commonly found at these compounds.


Yet another first time visitor posing with all the necessary first time Japanesey experience, my little bro Robin. Not hard to tell that he had better luck at the mikuji than Jac huh :P


A trip to Asakusa would have been wasted without popping by the nearby Kappabashidori (合羽橋) otherwise known as the Kitchen Town in Tokyo. It is a long stretched of street lined with stores selling all sorts of kitchen wares you can imagine, from mass-produced crockery to restaurant furnitures, signboards, decorations etc.

Needless to say, with my new found interest in cooking and a seasoned cook like my mom, we had a lot of fun just window shopping and pouring through the many uniquely Japanese kitchen utensils. The same however could not be said of our other 2 younger and more fashinoable companions... The only shops that probably arosed much interest were those selling the extremely realistic looking plastic food samples that you find outside many Japanese restaurants.


Mommy chanced upon this little shop near Nakamise selling 'sofutokurimu' or ice cream cones in 30 flavors and the most amazing looking and tasting 'maronpan' of all times! I'm not exaggerating when I said it's probably Tokyo's best of its kind. For those who have no idea how a Japanese maronpan tastes like, think a bigger and melon-shaped Crystal Jade's bo luo pao, it's something along that line. Mom couldn't stop raving about it, neither can I! This is definitely in my Tokyo's 'To Eat/Shop/Buy List' when I stop by the capital for one last time before flying home this summer.





Not surprisingly we had much difficulty choosing the flavor for our soft cream... It was actually a rather cold day but that didn't deter us from savouring the cones while shivering and posing for pictures. :D

posted by テレサ @ 12:28 PM