Japan: 19-24 June 08

We spent only 4 nights in Japan. This time, we covered main cities like Tokyo, Nikko and Yokohama. It is beginning of summer and it was drizzling on most of the days.



Our first day was in Nikko. We went to Nikko National Park. It is filled with trees and more trees. The luscious green was very refreshing. Next was the Futarasan Shrine, which is a Unesco World Heritage site. In Japan, the difference between a shrine and a temple is the object of worshiping. In a shrine, people worships natural wonders like sun, water, trees, etc. Whereas, in a temple, people worships Goddess of Mercy, Buddha, etc. Then at night, we stayed in ryokan. Ryokan is Japanese inns that the flooring is tatami and there is onsen (hot spring) for guests. Pictured above is female onsen. If you know Chinese characters, I'm sure you'll understand the words here.



On our second day, we headed back to Tokyo. The first stop was Asakusa Temple.



These are some of the Tokyo skyline. Tokyo is definitely a concrete jungle. According to the tour guide, the wife will complain if the hubby goes home early. Men are expected to work long hours and into the night. Geez..



Later that day, we went to Shinjuku. Most shopping centers are located here too. We went into Isetan. Boy, things there are expensive! A simple umbrella can easily costs more than RM70! In order not to shock ourselves further, we went down to where the supermarket is.

Not sure about my parents, but I beamed the moment I stepped into the lower ground floor. The entire floor is filled with food! Glorious food! Photo above is only a fraction of them.



At night, we dined in a local restaurant. This is a tofu specialty restaurant. We ordered few dishes like the tofu skin wrapped avocado and tuna, chicken teppanyaki, tofu salad, garlic fried rice and vegetable pancake.



The next day, we went to Mt Fuji and White Pagoda. As it was raining, the road to Mt Fuji was blocked. We ended up in its showroom where it showed the history of Mt Fuji. White Pagoda was nothing spectacular, but the surrounding is. Lunch was the usual Japanese bento, with udon, tempura, pickled vege and etc.



After spending the night in Yokohama, we returned to Tokyo. Lunch was in Odaiba's Aqua City shopping center. From there, I managed to take a shot of the Rainbow Bridge. At night, the spectrum of colors light up the bridge. We had pork chop for lunch, in which I did not finish...



After lunch, we went to Toyota showroom. This my third time there. I took photos with cars that aren't available here in Malaysia. After that, we had dinner in Chiba before checking into our hotel in Narita and bye-bye Japan...