My ten days in Japan (Day 8)

First time in Japan, I could wake up late. Normally, in my previous visits, I would wake up early to leave hotel, by doing that I could have more my time in Japan. In this trip, ten days, maybe is a bit long, that's why I did not have this thought of waking up early .

Anyway, my appointment with my Japanese friend was at 11am, at Hana-Koganei station. The journey from Shinjuku subway train to Hana-koganei station was about 25min.

Inside the subway train, waiting for the train to move.

The subway train map. For your information, there are alot of subways operated by different companies.

The fare is 260Yen, from Shinjuku Station to Hana-Koganei station.

Finally, reached the station.

Waiting for my friend to pick me up, to bring me to her new house.

Make a guess, what is this? Answer is right at the bottom of this posting.

Providing my fengshui consultation service in Japan.
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---------->>>>>> Answer : Notice Board for New House construction

My ten days in Japan (Day 7 evening)

When I reached my hotel, it was 5.30pm, I still have an hour left before I meet my friends for our night tour to Tokyo Tower and Roppongi. While waiting for my friend to return from Kittyland, I wondered whether my friends could find their way back to the hotel. When my room telephone rang, I felt relieved, at least I knew they were safe!

After the phone call, we arranged to meet at 7.00pm hotel lobby. There was no JR station near Tokyo Tower, the nearest station was Hammamatsucho, and it took us approximately 15min to walk to the Tower.




Finally, reached Tokyo Tower, this is my first time walking towards Tokyo Tower in this direction.
After Tokyo Tower, we walked to Hard Rock Cafe at Roppongi. The first time I visit Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo was 1998. No change to the Hard Rock Cafe, is still the same.

My ten days in Japan (Day 7 afternoon)

After staying in Chinatown for an hour or so, I still had the whole afternoon for myself . So I decided to go to a place which I have never been before.


The journey from Ishikawacho Station to Kamakura Station was about 25min or so, but to get to Kamakura Station, I had to change train at Ofuna station. Once I reached Kamakura Station, I hopped into a bus to bring me to Hokoku-ji Temple, which was a ten min bus ride which costs 190 Yen per person. And I was the only foreigner in the bus!

Reached my destination, Hokoku-ji Temple.

The notice board of Hokoku-ji Temple.


Here we are, the bamboo forget inside Hokoku-ji Temple, it costs 200 Yen per person to get into this forest. Think 200 Yen to see such a beautiful bamboo forest was really worth it.

If you pay 500 Yen, you will get to enjoy the green tea and at the same time enjoy the beauty of bamboo trees.

My next stop after Hokoku-ji Temple was Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. Before I could get to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, I took the bus back to my starting point. Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine is just a stone's throw from Kamakura Station.

Kamakura Museum, which I did not visit. I gave it a miss due to lack of time.

The entrance to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.

The main shopping street in Kamakura (Komachi-dori St.). If you have the chance to visit this place, you must not miss this place, is beautiful!

JR Kamakura Station.

Now is time for me to scratch my head again, how to find my way back to Tokyo - Shinjuku? For your information, some of the local have to rely on telecommunication devices (mobile phone service) to find the right train to take them to their destination. Haha... or maybe I was lucky that I could find my way back?

My ten days in Japan (Day 7 morning)

Sometimes, I wonder how did I survive when I was in Japan? It was not easy to travel from one place to another place, the complicated subway and train network maps would make you stare at it for a period of time. Even though that I have been to Japan for a couple of times but everytime I have to struggle for a while, before I could understand which platforms and which side of the platforms to board the trains.


So at this point of writing, I am still trying very hard to recall how did I manage to get myself from Tokyo to Yokohama Chinatown? The only thing that I can remember that it took me about 40min to get there and I had to change train along the way. But I just cannot remember which station that I got off to change to another train in another platform.

Anyway, I have to admit that my last trip was my third attempt to get to Chinatown. Previously, I tried to get to Chinatown via Shinkansen, which was just only a 20min journey departing from Shinjuku. But the only thing about Shinkansen is that it only stop at Shin-Yokohama, and there was no connection from Shin-Yokohama to Chinatown, so my first two attempts to visit Chinatown via Shinkansen were not successful. Luckily, this time I made it to Chinatown through JR (normal) train.



Finally, I made it to Chinatown, I felt a sense of achievement!

Chinatown here I come....

Yokohama Chinatown is one of the biggest Chinatown amongst the countries that I have visited.

The buildings here have different styles and designs. I will share with you the things that I discovered in Yokohama Chinatown once I have completed My ten days in Japan postings.

My ten days in Japan (Day 6)

Finally, I have completed my first leg of Japan tour (Arima, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto and Nara). To continue our second leg of Japan tour, we have scheduled ourselves for an afternoon Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Tokyo. While waiting for afternoon to come, we had an early lunch at Osaka food alley (See photo to believe). The lunch was very good! I have never tried that before, and I must say that the food was oishii.

Inside the Shinkansen (Bullet train). The journey from Osaka to Tokyo was 3 hour, along the way there were few stops. But before the Shinkansen could reach the 3rd stop, I was already fast asleep! Missed the chance to view the Mt Fuji.

There are few types of Shinkansen. The latest series starts with 7, and the interior design looks nicer. But I still like the older series of Shinkansen which have the food kiosks in the middle of the cars, some of the older cars even have double decks!

My ten days in Japan (Day 5 evening)

After visited Kiyomizu Temple, we still had some time left for us to visit Kobe. We took Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Shin-kobe, the journey from Kyoto to Shin-Kobe was approximately 30min. From Shin-kobe, we need to change to a subway to get to Sannomiya, a popular place for shoppers and diners.

My friends were so excited when they saw this fish-shaped pancake, they claimed that it was very nice.

Kobe is famous for its beef, it took us quite some time to local this restaurant shown in this poster but unfortunately, we did get the chance to try the beef. Guess I will do it next time when I visit Sannomiya.

My ten days in Japan (Day 5 afternoon)

We had a simple lunch at one of vending machine restaurants in Nara before we headed to Kyoto. The journey from Nara to Kyoto was a 45 min train ride, without missing our chance to catch some sleep, all of us fell asleep instantly once we were on board.

Our next stop was Kyoto, Kyoto is famous for Kiyomizu Temple. Even though I have been to Kiyomizu Temple before, and to think that this is my 3rd visit to this temple but I still like this place very much.

To reach Kiyomizu Temple, you can take subway train or local bus. I chose the latter option.

The bus number 206 to Kiyomizu Temple.

The map of Kiyomizu.

The street to Kiyomizu is very lively and is very crowded with local and tourists.

Students visiting Kiyomizu Temple.