Bento4Japan

An onigiri bento to encourage the people of Japan during this very difficult time. May they know that there are many people in the world who care and are with them in thoughts and prayers. I know that I am a bit delayed in sharing this bento but it's never too late to donate. To find out how, check out this link. Bento4Japan

In the bento is a whole plum cut in half, 2 onigiri, Oreo star biscuits, Japanese nuts and 2 friends made from picnic ham joined in love. That is the message that I would like to send to our friends in Japan. Never give up hope. God bless.

Day 7 - Last day in Tokyo

We planned our trip such that we would get 7 full days in Tokyo. Thus, we took the midnight flight out of the city that last night. We slept in till pretty late and checked out by 12pm, made our rounds to places such as 100yen and Daiso to go through the shelves one last time. I'm glad I did as some new stuff had popped up.

We went back to Shibuya, and with GPS, managed to find Tokyu Hands and the Loft. Yippee!

I bought a few items for Princess from Uniqlo, such as a pair of jeggings, a denim skirt and some thermal wear. They do not carry a wide range of kids' items in Singapore, esp their signature Heat Tech range of thermal wear.

In Daiso, I found these bento tools. In fact, they are now available in Singapore. I saw them last week.

While chatting with a friend on Viber (free Iphone to Iphone calls), she told me to check out the snacks available for sale at the airport. I bought a few items as gifts for my parents, and family. I also bought fresh udon and ramen which were very delicious.

Bought some famous banana cakes. They were very cute and pretty in their packaging.

A bento box filled with goodies from Disneysea.

More gifts for the family.

Day 6 - Puroland (Take 2)

Sweet city map, all in pink.

Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel were there to greet us as we entered the park. A photo with both characters was a must.

Shopping!

Kuromi was next in line to take a photo with. She was very cute and sweet, not like the little devil she is supposed to represent.

We went on a boat ride through the park.

These below were taken during our visit to Miss Kitty's home. Her very cute bathtub.

This is where she checks her email and surfs the web. ;)

The Jewelpets and Cinnamoroll in concert.

Very cute vending machine with Hello Kitty prints.

The birthday meal which comes with a hat of choice and a take home bento container. Hubby had the gratin set while I had the carbonara. I don't usually eat cream-based pastas but this one was the only one that appealed to me, out of the 3 choices.

Part of the bento set, these very cute Hello Kitty printed sausage and fishcake.

This really is a big set for a child. Added to this portion of pasta, sausage etc, was a hamburger in the upper layer of the basket. We kept the burger for our meal the next day.

For those planning a trip to Puroland, here are some directions to guide you to your destination. From Shinjuku station, take the Keio Line to Chofu, to switch train to Tama Centre. All in approximately 1hr travelling plus waiting time for train switching. From Shinjuku, the fare costs 330yen (adult) and 170yen (child). We had missed the direct train the previous morning, therefore we made sure to be there slightly earlier to catch it, which we did. It takes approximately 40mins to get there via direct line. If however you need to switch train at Chofu, remember to stay on the same platform where you got off the train and wait for the connection. It'd be best to check the board for timings. There are English words on the boards. Wait for the right train and timings. It is pretty easy to get around.

Day 5 - Puroland (Take 1)

We were so close yet so far. Tama Centre is where Puroland can be found. For those unaware, Puroland is the home of Sanrio. It's an indoor theme park for Sanrio-crazy fans like ahem, me. My girl too is a fan. We left the hotel a little late that morning as we didn't realize that it would take us almost an hour to get there, what with the switching of trains as we had missed the direct one.

Excitement built up in us as we walked the pathway from the train station all the way to the entrance of Puroland, stopping to take photos along the way, but the closer we got to the entrance, the more we were suspicious. Why was it so quiet? Was everybody inside? Maybe we were too late? I decided to go right up to take a closer look and what was it I saw? A chained barrier? Oh no, my heart sank heavy. My girl was nearly in tears. Puroland was closed for the day. There was a board just outside which showed some dates and it read as Dec 29 16. We knew it was closed for something but did not understand the dates. We thought we'd never see the interior of Puroland this trip to Tokyo. It wasn't till we got back to the hotel that we read the fine print on the literature and saw that they were closed on Dec 2nd, 9th, and 16th. There was hope yet!

A colourful sculpture along the way.

Our travelling there was not in vain as we spent an hour in Daiso right outside Puroland and picked up more stuff. To appease the upset girl, hubby spent some time with her at a games arcade playing Pokemon on the machines.

Not wanting to waste the rest of our day, we went back to Shinjuku and visited Isetan departmental store for a spot of window-shopping. Isetan in Tokyo is very impressive, unlike the Isetan we have in Singapore. There are many annexes and buildings belonging to Isetan. We didn't know where to begin. After leaving the store, we made our way across the road to H&M. This outlet had a kids' section, unlike the flagship store at Shibuya which only carried Men & Ladies' clothes.

Hubby suggested that we walked back to our hotel and I nearly fainted at the suggestion! However, we took a slow stroll and made it back in 45mins if I'm not wrong. I didn't check the time. We stopped off halfway to check out a Sanrio Gift Gate shop, as well as pick up dinner along the way. We had dinner most evenings at the hotel as it was more comfortable eating there. Most times, we would pack food back from wherever food hall we were close to, else it'd be cup noodles from 7-11, or sushi sometimes. I was travelling with 2 boring eaters so it wasn't fun eating and trying stuff on my own.

We ate curry a lot on this trip and that evening, hubby had a curry hamburg cheese rice set. It might not look too good in the photo but it was delicious. The cheese went very well with everything else.

I opted for the chicken. For the girl, I chose a simple bento of curry and rice but the portion was really tiny. Lucky I had some leftover rice in the fridge from another dinner. I also shared some pieces of chicken with her.

The large sized curry hamburg rice cost 730yen, while mine cost 380yen and the miserable kids' portion cost 200yen.

Day 4 - Kabukicho & Harajuku

Throughout our stay in Japan, we took our time to have a good rest each day before heading out. We could have maxed out our time there by going out very early in the morning and not returning till late, but all that walking around got us very tired and besides, we were on holiday. There was no need to rush around. We just went with the flow, which was a good thing, as that meant that we missed the rush hours on most days, thus on most of our train rides, the carriages were mostly empty. That was good. We did get caught once or twice at the train station during peak period, but it was fine, as the places where we were headed were mostly located outside of the city. So going against the flow was a good thing.

After 3 days in Tokyo, I still hadn't chanced upon any Daiso or CanDo 100 yen outlets and it was pretty frustrating for me. On the first day there, due to disorientation, we never found nor looked for Tokyu Hands in Shibuya. We revisited Shibuya on the last day we were there and with the help of GPS, we managed to locate the building.

I asked for directions at the hotel desk and judging from the map, it looked like Pepe Building, where I was headed, was at the end of the road where the hotel was. So I decided to try taking the bus down. I got all the instructions and directions I needed and we proceeded to the bus stop which was literally a stone's throw away. From that day on, we didn't bother with walking to the train station. It was so easy going via bus to Shinjuku station from where we were that even though it cost us more, it was our preferred way of commuting. It costs us 200yen for adult and 100yen for kid. Bus travel is definitely more costly than travel via train, but nothing can be compared to the taxi fares in Tokyo. We took cab a total of 4 times if I'm not wrong. Twice was to and from the airport shuttle stop and hotel, and twice were because we were simply too exhausted to walk anymore. Each cab ride cost us around 1000 yen or slightly less each trip, so that worked out to $16 or so.

Pepe building houses CanDo 100yen, and I spent over an hour there going through each rack and shelf and item, but not before sending hubby off to Starbuck's first. Princess had lots of fun filling the baskets as she was given shopping money by her granny and grandaunt to spend on her holiday. She bought stuff for herself and gifts for her friends.

Our next stop after 100yen was Harajuku.

The streets of Harajuku were pretty empty at this time of the afternoon on a weekday. Weekends were crazy filled with chock-a-block of shoppers.

Hubby took a picture of this sign. Spot the mistake?

We were pestered to have a meal at Mac's. It was our first fastfood meal there and fastfood doesn't come cheap.

The main reason for going to Harajuku... Daiso!