Tokyo Adventure III: Kawaii Hauls

Here's my Tokyo Disneyland and Tsum Tsum Haul!

And my MASSIVE Sanrio Haul!!

Phew!  I think that's about it for my hauls!  Gonna try to see if I can figure out how to edit my vlogs.  Later alligator!

Tokyo Adventure III: Misc. Japan Goodies Haul!

Check out all the Japanese goodies we got on our trip!  Most is for omiyage, but a lot was for me.  LOL!

Sharing my crafty goodies and stationary haul!

Hope you like it!

Tokyo Adventure III: Japan Snacks and Kit Kat Hauls!

I'm finally able to post my Japan Snacks and Omiyage haul!

And here's the Japanese Kit Kat haul!

Tokyo Adventure III Day 9: Haneda Airport, Rappongi, and Ginza

Woah, that was a really fast trip, but we managed to cram a lot of stuff into it!  I can't believe how fast a week went by, but I really needed to get away and enjoyed every moment of it!

Before I tell you about our last day in Tokyo, I thought I should share a funny story that actually took place the day before.  While trying to go downstairs, Paul pressed the button "G" for Ground.  We were on the third floor and the elevator went up to the 6th floor.  We couldn't figure out why and just assumed that someone must've called the elevator... when the door opened, no one was there.

Meanwhile, there was a guy on another floor that it would stop at for him but when he tried to go into the elevator, it would buzz (I guess we were too heavy?).  This same scenario repeated 2 more times cause Paul kept pressing "G".  HELLO!!!!  It's not "G"!  It's "6".  DUH.  LOL!!!!!  That guy must've thought he was on candid camera.  By the third time he was irritated.  Damn Gaijin!! LOL!

Ok... on to our last day.  We had to wake up early to get Denise to Haneda Airport in time.  She had to still pick up her bag from the Tak-Q-Bin and turn in her cell phone.  So we headed out early to the airport and that alone was an adventure!  First of all, on the monorail we got off on Terminal "1" because that's what it says on her printout.  When we got to Terminal "1" we couldn't find the British Airways terminal.  It was apparently a domestic terminal, so no BA flights.  I think Paul found out that it wasn't Terminal "1", it was Terminal "I" for International.  DUH!  Again we can't figure out where we are going!!

So we hopped back onto the monorail towards Terminal "I".  We got off on the next stop and it did not look familiar at all.  At the last minute, Paul hops back onto the monorail and almost has the door close on him.  We quickly hop back on and then he tells us that we got off on the wrong stop.  Phew and OMG!  What a rollercoaster.

We finally made it to the correct terminal.  Yay!  Mom and I had brought a couple of our bags to store at the airport so that we didn't have too many bags to carry when we go back to the airport later that night.  We took our bags to the baggage storage area and they held our bags for about 800 yen each. Yah!  What a relief!

By then I had to use the bathroom, so I found one while Denise checked in and went to go return her cell phone.  While in the restroom, I thought I'd take a picture of this... I think this is from the airport one but I could be wrong.  Many of the toilets in Japan have these "Flushing sound" buttons that you can activate so that other's can't hear you pee.  Bwahahahaha!  They are so thoughtful!

After a LONG time, Denise was finally able to return her cell phone.  Then it was time to say goodbye.  We had a great time!  So happy Denise was able to join us! Bye sis!

After we saw Denise off, we headed for Roppongi.  They had a special Star Wars exhibit that Paul wanted to try see if we could catch.  I saw this cute Kiki and Lala poster on the subway!  I think they are talking about going to sleep? I wanted to steal it.

We had never gone to Roppongi before.  Since we were really early, we found a Don K! in that area and loaded up on more omiyage for the trip home.  Paul really wanted to buy this bag of arare.  I think we need to go to Don K! at the beginning of our trip!  Note for file for next trip.

Gee, Spam is sure expensive in Japan!

And so is Mauna Loa!

Paul had so much fun in Don K!  I can't show you all the things he took pictures of, but here's the "G" rated ones... or maybe "PG". 

 He totally wanted this telescoping rake/back scratcher.

Look at all the things you can do with it...

 We found these faux "jean shorts" underwear there too..  LOL!

We decide to get coffee and breakfast at Starbucks that was nearby.  Man, they had some good stuff!  This bacon and cheese bread was awesome.

And this milk chiffon cake was sooo oishii!!!!

After our breakfast, we headed to the Star Wars exhibit.  Here's the poster.

But the line to get your ticket was 2 hours, so Paul didn't want to wait.  Instead we tried to see if we could find Star Wars merchandise when we stumbled on these Stormtrooper fan art. I liked the kabuki one.

This one looked like a cake.

And this one like a kawaii bunny!

I think all Stormtroopers wish to have this helmet.

Or maybe this one?  It looks very royal.

Don't ask me why but I liked this poster in the subway station. It looks like Doraemon!

We decided to head back to the hotel to drop off all the omiyage we bought.  We had found a sashimi type place that Paul picked up some food at. He was enjoying it on the fire escape since the maid was in our room.

Meanwhile, Mom and I headed back to find 711. The other combini by our hotel was kind of junk.  Success!  I got more rations.

Check out this salmon musubi!!!  Look how big the pieces of salmon were!!

After our "lunch" we headed to Ginza.  We never got a chance to shop there since the Kabuki ran so long.  I found this ad amusing on the subway, but its not a very good pic.  The guy is actually holding a shower head and spraying himself while dressed in a Tux.  WTH???

While in Ginza, we got more Puri Cube figures for omiyage.  I forgot to do a video on all of them, but I think we have most of them. I'd better remember to do it!

We decided to try go find the Baumkuchen cake again, but I'm sad to say the bake shop is not in the same department store.  Boooo.

We then hopped on a subway to try to meet our friend Randy.. I don't even know where we went!  But we ended up looking for a place to eat dinner.  While wandering around, we saw this!  I told mom that this is how we had to order our ramen one time. That was pretty scary.

We finally saw this sign and some photos of food, so we decided to try this place.  It turns out it was another izakaya.

Remember to push the button!

We decided to toast our last meal in Tokyo!!

This dish is the reason we decided on this place.  It was like a hamburger steak with cheese in it.  Yum!

Paul was ono for gyoza.  I like mine crispy like this one!

Look at all the food we ordered!

Mom wanted to try the crispy musubi. It was pretty good!

This was a little weird.  I think they gave us different parts of a chicken.

We did good....

Still had room for more food. So we ordered hamburger katsu and french fries!

Then it was time to head back to the hotel to rest a little before checking out.  We then headed to the airport early to make sure we had enough time.  I'm so glad we had already taken our luggage that morning and used the Tak-Q-bin for our other bags.  It made getting to the airport on the subway so much easier!!!  We did some last minute shopping before checking in.  Found more Kit Kats and that yummy sakura -milano type cookies.  I this is the mascot for the airport?  Everything here has a cute mascot.  Later we saw his eyebrows and feet move.

Believe it or not, once we got through security, Mom ended up buying a Samantha Thavasa bag!! She was saying earlier, if I don't get one it wasn't meant to be.... Then I spotted a store right near our gate, so we ducked in to see if they had anything good.  Mom spotted a black bag and bag charm. She was so happy! I wish I got a picture of her with her new bag but they had wrapped it up already.  Mission accomplished!  And she got it duty free!

We got through customs pretty quickly and got mom on her way, then headed back to the inter-island terminal to wait for our last plane.  I was so tired.  And to show you what a good sport I am... I'll even post this picture of our last flight home.....

We had a blast Tokyo!  Until next time!

Tokyo Adventure III Day 8: Ashikaga & Ginza (Kabuki-Za)

It's our last full day in Tokyo... our trip is winding down, but we kept super busy!  Today was the day we were supposed to check out of our hotel and check into the new hotel.  We checked the night before if we could leave our luggage at our hotel and they said that was fine.  I love Toyoko Inn! 

Paul mapped out our route to Ashikaga and estimated about 2 hours travel time.  He said we had to leave early so that we could catch a certain Shinkansen. So we decided to leave the hotel around 7:00am.  We checked out early and saw that they had the breakfast out, so we tried to sneak in one last meal before we left.  Just as we sat down, the shuttle to Ueno Station (a regular shuttle provided by the hotel) arrived and was leaving soon.  We gobbled down our food and hurried to catch the shuttle.  This would save us some time and totally worth it.

After we got to Ueno, we bought our tickets for the Shinkansen.  Luckily, Paul decide to get us the Non-Reserve seats, so it was ok that we missed the first train.  We could hop on any one after that and it would be ok.   Caught Denise sleeping on the Shinkansen again.  LOL!

The shopping guide located in the seat pocket was pretty entertaining...  We saw plenty of gadgets and other products that were amusing.  Like this toe retainer for example.  It helps to prevent your toes from growing where the two ends touch.  Believe it or not, my grandmother had toenails like that!  She could've used this gadget! LOL!

Mom's are always dependable.  She and my sister always carried a sufficient supply of snacks.  Mom kept reminding me that she had the popcorn I wanted her to buy, so we munched on that while we waited for the next train.  Good thing we had a snack, cause the next train didn't come for another hour.  Yikes!  That totally threw off our whole day.  I guess trains don't come around as often in the country than it does in the city.

After we got off the train to Ashikaga, it was a 15 minute walk to the flower park.  I guess everyone knows it's in full bloom right now, so there were a lot of visitors to the park.  Once you get to the park, you need to buy a ticket to get in.  It was about 1700 yen each, but totally worth it!  Once we got in, we breezed through a gift shop to get through to the garden area.  Our time was limited, so we tried to see as much as we could while we were there.  Mom was in awe once she saw all the blooms!

Purple wisteria- so beautiful!!

Pink Wisteria- very pale pink but oh so pretty!

Purple Wisteria Tunnel- I loved the tunnels!  The individual flowers reminded me of the crown flower or mini orchids.

So pretty!!! I just love the waterfall look.

This is the double wisteria.  It doesn't hang as low, but each flower is bulkier since it is a double bloom.

I think my favorite was the white wisteria!  This would be a perfect wedding photo shot!

Here we are under the white wisteria..

Here you can see it up close...

Here's one of the trees that was outside of the tunnel.

Other flowers were in bloom too!

We took picture in front of the azaleas.  I guess this photo is a good example of why you don't take selfies in the sun. LOL!

I thought this pyramid was interesting!  Love the colors!

This bush reminded me of cotton balls.

So pretty!  Love it!  Like mini hydrangeas!

Here's the yellow wisteria.  I think its not quite as cultivated as the rest of the tunnels.  Many were in bloom but it wasn't as dense as the other wisteria tunnels.  Still pretty though!

And more of us by the purple wisteria..

After the fastest omiyage shopping ever (a record 5 min), we headed back to the train station.  Mom wanted to take a taxi, so we all tried to jump into one.  I had a feeling we all wouldn't fit since Japanese taxis are pretty small.  I'm amazed we made it, but what you don't see is mom is sitting on Denise and Denise is sitting on me. LOL!

We were all cracking up because the driver was trying to explain to us that he had to go around, but mom tried to tell him no, we don't have time for a tour of the area, we have a time schedule.  LOL!  I told mom I think he's trying to tell us he has to go around.  We took the long route, but overall, I think was shorter than walking back.  I'm sure we gave him a good laugh!

We made it back on the train in time and then transferred to the Shinkansen.  I love the Shinkansen!  It's my favorite mode of transportation.  Paul kept missing taking video of it.  Hopefully we'll catch it again one day.

I also love that everything is so well planned in Japan.  Take for instance, my seat on the Shinkansen.  It had a hook that popped out of the chair for my bag, there is also racks above the seat and another bag hook on the wall.  There is also a tray in case you plan to eat or need a desk, and a cup holder!!!  Love it!  Plus there's more room than on an airplane!

Wanted to just show you how long the escalator was.  Happy we could take that instead of the stairs!

I forget what station this is, but mom wanted me to get a picture of how many stairs we had to climb during the trip.  My legs were aching for days!

We finally made it back to Ueno Station. Yay!  After a mix up with our tickets, we finally got into the station and decided to look for food.  Mom chose a katsu place that was amazing!  If you are at Ueno Station, check for the restaurants on the 2nd floor. Its the one all the way at the end.  While waiting for a table, they took our order so we didn't have to wait as long once we got seated.

The waitress told us how to make the katsu sauce.  First you get the sesame seeds and grind it up.

Then you add the katsu sauce. Theirs was made with apples and dates?

Paul and Denise got the Lion (Katsu) Don.  It was pretty awesome. I had a bite and would definitely order that myself!

Here's my lunch. I ordered the tonkatsu and crab katsu combo.

The crab katsu was awesome!

Here's a picture of the front- I guess it's called Katsukura?

Then we stopped at a omiyage shop called Sugar Butter Tree. I had scoped out the shops earlier and this one caught my eye, so I made a pit stop before we headed back to the hotel.  I still haven't tried it yet, but my mom, sister and husband all say its awesome. 

After we got back, we picked up our luggage from Toyoko Inn and headed to Hotel Kuramae, which was a few blocks away.  Now that doesn't sound so far right?  Try lugging heavy bags that far and then get back to me.  I think mom got back strain from carrying to heavy bags.

We finally found the hotel... I don't like to bad mouth establishments, but I will say that I sure missed Toyoko Inn!  Hotel Kuramae had it's own charm.. check out the phone in our room.  I haven't seen one of these phones since I was a little girl.  I bet Akemi wouldn't know how to use it. LOL!

After we checked in, we had like 10 minutes to get ready to go to a Kabuki.  My friend recommended this for my mom and Mom was excited to go.  So we ordered the tickets online and this was the only night we could've gone.

We caught the subway to Ginza and the Kabuki-za is right above the station.  We just made it in time!  We were pretty high up as you can see.

There were a total of 3 stories.  The Kabuki lasted 5 hours.  This was my favorite of the three. I think it was about a snake.

Paul liked this one too- I think he liked the musicians.

Those guys with the fans are supposed to be the snakes body.

This guy is supposed to battle the snake in a tug-o-war.. but somehow I missed it. Wait.... they just talked about it but didn't actually do the tug-o-war.  Darn. That woud've been good to see!

After 5 long hours, we said goodbye to Kabuki and headed back to the hotel.  Paul and I went to go get some food and decided to try more ice cream.  These weren't as good as the 711 one.  Just sayin!

One last post to do!  Can't believe the trip is over!