the happiest place on earth

it's been awhile since i was last in tokyo disneyland but my inner 7 year old was not-so-secretly thrilled to be back. it was familiar yet new, and the electrical parade has got to be my absolute favourite part of each visit. there's something magical about the lights and music. the afternoon parade's fun, too, but the electrical parade at night is infinitely superior in my books. remember lining the sidewalk when i was -really- 7 years old and waiting in eager anticipation of the first float. happy memories beget happier memories and i'm glad that some things don't change. 

so you can imagine how ironic it was to learn of families (some personal friends, too!) being trapped at disneyland during the earthquake. there's something inherently wrong about the happiest place on earth turning into a disaster relief centre. while in more pleasant circumstances i'd have jumped at the chance to stay overnight at "the park", not being allowed to leave while the rest of tokyo went to pieces (or so it seemed) must've been terrifying.

that said, we did leave the park safe and sound after the electrical parade. the mickey handgrips never fail to crack me up. talk about attention to detail! and after the day's exertion, we went to our regular powerplate place for a hearty table bbq.

so that concludes the most recent tokyo series. stay tuned for some singapore restaurants and bars that i've visited recently, before the hiatus resumes.

the commute

neutral tones and muted scenery from the shinkansen (bullet train) ride back to tokyo main station. find it strangely therapeutic to be whizzing through the country side in silent speed. also, the last photo is fuji-san from the platform. didn't realise how close we were to her when we were at the ryokan.

last look tokyo

on the last night, we revisited 270 - an insanely fun chain of bars where everything was 270yen. they had yummy drinks (i had something with yuzu that tasted like potent yakult!) and i couldn't believe that an entire squid came to 270yen. talk about good value, and better business model. personally preferred the branch in ueno that we tried the first time but shibuya's 270 offering wasn't too shabby either. and surprisingly or not, going to a 270yen place still came to about 2700yen for two because we went crazy and ordered 10 things to eat after dinner.

express train to narita

a bit of an airport oversell, don't you think?

 

and so concludes the tokyo trip and posts! 

will be revisiting some sydney posts that i wasn't able to put on the swede life, followed by hong kong posts, and then yindia when i'm back. enjoy :)

riverside cafes nakameguro

ventured out of the city centre and smack into this charming town right along the meguro river. walked up and down the river banks, ducked into the quaint eateries and enjoyed the slower pace of life just minutes from shibuya.

also, the funny thing about the travelogue with scheduled posts is that in real time, like, right now, i'm probably mid-air en route to mumbai. back in a week with photos and stories to come!

more great finds daikanyama

an expresso van

with excellent latte

a coffee bar so chill it felt rastafari, mun.

toy soldiers

singing tips jar

oyster shack with fresh oysters for shucking

 

and pity i don't have a photo of it but there were some pretty amazing pancakes, second only to cafe sirap in stockholm and better than ihop!

a neighbourhood ripe for discovery daikanyama

this gem of a neighbourhood was such an awesome find that it warranted a second visit!

ayumi and asakusa

 

ayumi-san was an excellent host! you cannot imagine my glee at being able to meet her in tokyo. the dear girl took a 5 hour overnight bus ride just so that we could be in the same place at the same time. she was one of my first friends in stockholm, and it so happened that we were corridormates as well! she stayed in the room right across the corridor from mine and we spent many happy hours pigging out in the kitchen and swapping asian grocer goods. what would i have done without her mirin and dashi :) plus on cold winter days she'd share steaming bowls of miso soup with me as we bemoaned the impossibility of acquiring japanese short grain rice in stockholm. when i returned to stockholm this summer, ayumi-san let me crash in her room and it was just like old times. and just when we thought we were getting good at this whole farewell game, i pop up in tokyo and we picked up where we left of. i maintain that the hallmark of true friendship is low maintenance, but with ayumi-san i just want to keep hanging out with her over and over again. 

tsukiji tokyo

i'm not a morning person but if there's one thing that can rouse me from slumber, it's fish of the freshest kind. tsukiji is my idea of fishy heaven and i faithfully trek there each time i'm in tokyo for some sushi so fresh it's still flipping, flopping and gasping for air on your plate. well, almost. animal cruelty isn't my thing but there's nothing quite as yummy as squid divvied up and placed on your platter. or a chirashi of the morning's catch. if you don't mind queuing, there is a treasure trove of good eats to be found. quite ironically, one of my favourite tsuikiji finds is tenban tempura in warehouse row 8. the tempura is ohsofresh and the batter ohsolight and fluffy and it was life-changing 2 years ago and still pretty much life-altering up to now.

the peninsular tokyo

so bespoke the room came with a dryer for, get this, polished fingernails.

ginza by night tokyo

these photos are from an amalgamation of nights because nothing screams night like yakitori joints :) also featured is the japanese version of affogato (instead of coffee is the frothiest, most bitter green tea), the hermes window that played an optical illusion on me and i walked into the magnifying glass (oh the embarrassment!) and a pizza. because the japanese do everything better.