Come this July, Bandai Namco will be opening a brand new amusement park themed after the tremendously popular Weekly Shonen Jump comics. The new theme park, titled J-World Tokyo will open at Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City and will feature areas dedicated to the Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto world and characters. The first concept drawings of the park have been released.

J-World Tokyo follows the success of Bandai’s Gundam Front theme park at Odaiba’s DiverCity. Like the Gundam Front, J-World Tokyo will be an indoor theme park, this time located at the third floor of Ikebukuro Sunshine City. The opening of the new Jump theme park on 11th July will also coincide with the renewal of the Namco Namja Town amusement park located just one floor below.

J-World Tokyo. A JUMP themed amusement park.

While most of the park will be dedicated to zones featuring One Piece, Naruto and Dragon Ball (in order of size), there will also be general areas open to the entire family of Jump’s super stars. Some previews of what J-World Tokyo will look like.

Heroes Arena. Where you’ll find mini-exhibits for the various Shonen Jump titles.

Amusement Arena. Which will contain catcher games and gachapon machines.

Given the popularity of the Shonen Jump characters in Japan (and the rest of the world), we’re quite surprised that it took nearly this long to bring this idea to realization. Unsurprisingly, J-World Tokyo is also part of Japan’s ongoing “Cool Japan” efforts to promote “Japanese culture”, though mainly just anime, overseas.

So far prices for the park are definitely on the steep, if not obscene side of things. Entry alone is planned at 1,300 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for children, exclusive of rides. Individual rides will cost an additional 800 yen a go. Given the fact that given that the park is located indoors, the types of rides available will be severely hindered.

One Piece themed carousel.

Another One Piece ride mockup.

So far, 5 rides have been planned. From One Piece we have the Dock Adventure Ride, an indoor track ride that will take visitors through a series of short animated sequences and a One Piece themed carousel. There will also be a Naruto themed maze and a Dragon Ball treasure hunt, which will be familiar to those who’ve visited Namja Town. Finally, there’s a 3D augmented reality Dragon Ball simulator.

Our impression is that the rides will be primarily targeted towards the comics younger audiences and thus might seem a little underwhelming for adults.

The J-World store will carry some exclusive merchandise.

If their past efforts were any indication though, Bandai Namco will do an amazing job with the merchandising of its goods. Fans of the Jump comics can look forward to exclusive merchandise at the J-World souvenir shop.

Like Namja Town, J-World Tokyo will also have a section dedicated to Jump themed food and snacks with the J-World Kitchen.

J-World Kitchen.

Concept art for some of the planned treats have been previewed, let’s see if you can identify which anime worlds they are theme after.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #1.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #2.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #3.

J-World Tokyo Food Mockup #4.

Nakata’s new muse has been having a phenomenal year. Kyary performed at the Nippon Budokan, turned 20, released more great music and is now well under way her first world tour. The music video for Invader Invader, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s upcoming 6th single was released last night. Check it out, it may be one of her best this year yet.

Invader Invader is yet another electro-pop number but there are some surprises built in. It’s being used as the CM song for her new advertisements with GU Japan and we got to see it in full at her YouTube MUSIC WEEK concert.

Compared to his previous acts, Nakata seems to be a lot more experimental with Kyary, and to amazing effect. Kyary’s previous singles have incorporated elements of house and rock. For Invader Invader Kyary Pamyu Pamyu gets all dub steppy.

Invader Invader is Kyary’s second single for GU Japan (the first being Fashion Monster), like the previous it’s a wonderfully catchy song, and judging by its reception at her MUSIC WEEK concert, definitely one for the lives.

Limited Edition Cover.

Invader Invader is scheduled for released next Wednesday on 15th May 2013. It will once again come in two varieties, a 1,800 yen Limited Edition with an extra photobook and a 1,200 yen Regular Edition. First press versions of the regular version will come with a bonus sticker.

Regular Cover.

This Thursday saw the international launch of the eagerly awaited third installment of Iron Man. To commemorate the new movie the folks over at Play Imaginative have set up a pop up display featuring the popular comic book hero. We take a look.

Play Imaginative have set up camp outside of Hotel InterContinental on the first floor of Bugis Junction as part of their Super Alloy Iron Man Preview Showcase. Over the next few months, they’ll be bringing over these exclusive fully metal models to Singapore.

1/4 scale Iron Man Mark 42, at 18 inches / 46 cm.

Various changeable limbs and heads, including one of Robert Downey Jr.

I must admit, the models are pretty amazing. At 1/4 scale, they’re a lot larger than I had imagined. As the actual products are not yet available yet, the figures on display are actually plastic mockups, but even then they look really good. It’s not far-fetched to guess that the final 90% die cast products will be likely be of even better quality.

Previews for all the different models are shown.

Super Alloy is an ongoing series of high quality scale replicas of DC and Marvel comic characters. Super Alloy War Machine, Iron Patriot and the new Mark XLII Iron Man models (among others) will be released between August and September. Currently Play Imaginative is taking pre-orders for the XLII armor.

1/12 scale models are much smaller at 6 inches / 15 cm.

Also being brought to Singapore at the booth is the Become Iron Man augmented reality problem. Using Kinect-like technology, fans can suit up in the Iron Man armor themselves and give it a spin. The Become Iron Man setup attracted a constant audience from the crowd at Bugis Junction. It was especially well received with the children passing by the booth. Marvel’s unique form of promoting the franchise and new movie definitely caught our attention.

Suiting up. The Become Iron Man showcase attracts quite the crowd.

Children (and some adults!) get to live our their superhero fantasies.

The Super Aloy Iron Man Preview Showcase and Become Iron Man system will run at Bugis Junction until 5th May. If you’re a fan of the series do check it out.

Super Alloy Iron Man Preview Showcase.

Iron Man 3 is out in theaters now.

As with all travelling  there are two major concerns when planning a trip to Japan: the first concern is what to do while you’re vacationing in the “Land of the Rising Sun”. The second, equally pressing concern, is affording the trip.

As young travellers, many people are stuck between when to pay off debt and when to save. Japan has so many attractions, like the amazing Nagoya Aquarium, and cultural experiences, like the Asakusa Temple, and anybody who can make the trip, should. If you’re lucky enough to be in a comfortable position financially, affording a trip to Japan is definitely a possibility. Below are four tips for planning a culture-filled trip to Japan while on a budget.

It helps to check out the transport routes ahead of time.

Plan ahead of time. One of the best ways to save on any kind of travelling is to plan well in advance. Starting to plan early affords the advantages of getting early-bird specials and having time to compare rates on the various expenses you will have like airfare and hotels. A good rule of thumb is to plan at least 11 months in advance. With nearly a year to plan, you will be able to find all of the best deals available to you in Japan.

Cash in rewards and club discounts. Savvy travellers know that there are all kinds of advantages from credit card rewards and discounts from club memberships to be taken advantage of when travelling. Most credit card companies offer perks such as frequent flyer miles and points, both of which can be cashed in for discounts on travel and expenses when you’re planning your trip to Japan. Club memberships, like AAA and AAPR, also offer members discounts on travel. As a cardholder or member you are entitled to and have earned these benefits, so don’t be afraid to take advantage. That’s what they’re there for!

Sometimes it can be helpful to mark out things that cannot be missed, like flights and work around these.

Set priorities. Every time you travel to a new place, there will always be more things that you want to than you can do. Restrictive factors like time and money see to this. To make the most of your vacation without breaking the bank, make a list of all of the things you want to do while in Japan. When you prioritize like this, you can give yourself a better sense of what attractions fit into your time and monetary budgets best. Another benefit of creating a priority list is that it can help you see the different attractions in spacial relation to one another, which can help you to better plan your transportation while in Japan.

Visit during the off season. Because of Japan’s long north-to-south formation, the country is home to a range of seasonal attractions. Travel to each region of Japan is more costly in each respective region’s travel season. For example, the Sapporo area of Japan celebrates its Snow Festival in February, so travelling to Kyoto or Hiroshima is cheaper during that time. What regions of Japan you plan to travel to should determine what time of year you travel, if you want to save money. Once you know what you’d like to see and do while in Japan, you’ll have a better idea of when is the best, and cheapest, time to travel.

The above a just a few of the many, many travel tips that can help you save on your trip to Japan. You can save even more if you’re travelling as a couple on a budget. The world is a fascinating and enriching place, and you should take every opportunity you can to visit all of its extravagant locales, Japan and beyond, without having to worry about money.

Last weekend, Tokyo Auto Salon made its way to Singapore bringing along with it race queens, a bunch of cars and AKB48. Not ones to give an event which gets three out of three right a miss, we visited the show which was held at Marina Bay Sands. Posters were on every other bus-stop, and television advertisements were running ad nauseam. So did the Tokyo Auto Salon manage to live up to the hype?

We hit up TAS on the first day, which was a Friday. Given that it was a weekday, response was understandably muted. Many of the people present were AKB48 fans queuing to get tickets to see their idols; evidently, this was not the ideal audience demographic for a car show. It did however, provide much needed space to explore the show before the crowds swarmed in.

Queues are everywhere, even on Fridays.

Overall, there was a good amount of space being utilized. Unlike the usual conventions most of us were used to, there was sufficient space to walk around, most probably due to them having to move the cars around. Besides cars, the rest of the booths were showing car accessories. Of course, the ones selling the products were the women.

I was taking a photo of the car, but some women got in the photo.

Motorcycle coolant.

More technically-inclined geeks would have nevertheless enjoyed the various products on display; it ranged from racing rims to sport suspension systems to audio rigs. It was also pretty funny trying to see some of the more ridiculous body-kits people managed to fit on their cars. Many jokes were made at the expense of the car with eyelashes on the headlights.

Under the hood, for the inner car-geek in all of us.

Pioneer also had a booth for in-car sound systems.

For when non-functional turbo dials are not enough.

Game of Thrones fans should refrain from reading further, because there’s a big spoiler here.

Besides the expected Japanese cars, there were also cars from other makers, such as BMW and Ferarri. There were a few interesting designs, but it was a little disappointing to see that much of what was on the show floor were cars made up to look as outlandish as possible. Those of us who appreciated more sleek and simple designs were mostly left unsatisfied, although some gems did leave a good impression.

Matte Black finishing was great, but the body-kit was too much.

This one elicited many Saints Row jokes from the company.

Nagoya represent.

Best-looking car of the weekend, in this author’s opinion.

As expected, the women of TAS were great. Made up of women from Singapore, Japan and even Thailand, many patrons could be seen taking photos of the booth-babes, who were more than willing to pose. Some of them even obliged to taking photos with some of their fans, although cunningly this was usually done with a logo available in the background. Owing to this, it was a good choice to visit on Friday. Getting shots of cars was a lot easier on this day, since many of the booth babes were not even there yet.

Photo opportunities generally mean opportunities to take photos of women, not with them.

My favorite coolant brand.

Despite the misgivings, it was a pleasant enough show. The price tag of $25 dollars was a little steep and left a little to be desired. Nonetheless, it was a great experience visiting a car show; it’s definitely a different experience from the usual Japanese-related events.

Osaka’s Shinsekai is as touristy as it gets. But ignoring our own good advice, we somehow found ourselves wandering around the slum streets being approached by street touters at every turn. While dodging their assail we came across this sushi shop in a secluded corner and were pleased with the surprisingly affordable prices for such an area.

For some reason, it’s a universal rule that lust and gluttony go hand in hand in shady areas like Osaka Shinsekai. There’s no shortage of variety of food to choose from at this infamous neighbourhood. Some come for the famous Kushikatsu skewered meats at Daruma, but at an average of 200 yen a stick, it’s not really practical for when traveling on a budget.

Affordable prices. (Click for larger picture)

Enter Yamatoya, an un-intimidating chain restaurant at the end of the left corner of Shinsekai. Like the majority of shops around here, Yamatoya also operates a kushikatsu store, but for some reason they also offer an affordable sushi alternative.

I hope they don’t sushi them.

There isn’t really much to say about Yamatoya that cannot be said for other similar sushi restaurants in Japan. Most should be familiar with the simple setting, with an option of table or counter seats. The day’s recommendations are displayed prominently, the morning’s catch being placed at the counter.

Inside.

What was surprising though were the generous servings, despite the ridiculously low prices which they cost. A simple set of about 10 to 12 pieces of sushi cost only 1,000 yen, or slightly more than $12 Singapore dollars. These weren’t the choicest of cuts of course, but were fresh, so there really wasn’t much to complain about given the price.

1,000 yen set.

If you aren’t fussy with food, it goes to show that you can really get away with some really enjoyable meals without having to pay much. Given that a large portion of Japan’s produce and catches are obtained locally and the high level of competition between restaurants, you’ll actually have a hard time finding sushi (and other Japanese dishes in general) that isn’t fresher than what you’d be able to obtain elsewhere.

1,200 yen set.

Yamatoya
3-3-10 Ebisuhigashi
Naniwa Ward, Osaka City
Osaka 556-0002

Part of the fun of going on a trip is trying out new experiences. These don’t always have to be planned for. Often out of adventure or sheer desperation, we find ourselves trying out random cafes and restaurants that we come across. At times, the results of these experiments can be disappointing but every so often we are surprised to find something quite enjoyable.

Friendship, a small restaurant in Morinomiya was one of those positive finds. Located across the road from Osaka Castle Park, we first came across the restaurant in winter 2011 when attempting to seek cover from a sudden assault of sleet. The promise of shelter and hearty western-styled cuisine was enough to draw us in quite quickly.

Western Cuisine and Beer.

Sometimes you can run into surprisingly good on the street by chance.

Though the sign outside says Yashoku and Beer (洋食 とビール), the real shop name is actually Grill Friendship (グリル フレンドシップ). We had first though the place to be a privately owned restaurant, and you can’t really blame us for mistaking. The inside of the restaurant resembles your typical small family run cafe with its homely setting. It turns out however that Friendship is actually opened by the founder of the popular Tokumasa Curry Udon franchise.

Small yoshoku restaurant.

Being a yoshoku restaurant, Friendship is carries all the Japanese derived western standards such as omurice, curry and hamburgs. Prices are typical of other “shokudo” restaurants, around 1,000-1,500 yen a meal. Based on its location, it is highly likely that Friendship caters to tourists, both local and overseas that come to visit Osaka’s castle. Thankfully, quality is not sacrificed.

Omurice and Croquette.

The omurice at Friendship is great, not nearly as amazing as Asakusa Nobu but still better than the norm, while the curry rice benefits from the founder’s experience with the successful curry udon franchise.

Curry omelette rice.

During this last year, I had the chance to revisit Friendship, amusingly once again to take shelter from the weather. Remembered the promise to try out the shop’s hamburg steak, which looked especially popular with its customers. It was actually pretty good, despite not being a particular fan of hamburgs.

Hamburg steak.

I wouldn’t  order more than one dish per person at Friendship though, since the servings here are extremely generous. Out of the three, the omurice seems to be the hot fave so go with that if you ever find yourself stumbling upon this restaurant. Interestingly, Osaka is thought to be the birth place of the Japanese concept of omelette rice, at least by some accounts.

Friendship.

Grill Friendship
16-15 Morinomiyachuo Ichome
Chuo Ward, Osaka City
Osaka, 540-0003

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Kani Doraku is a popular Japanese restaurant chain that specialises in all sorts of crab dishes. There are Kani Doraku stores all around Japan, but here we had the chance to visit the original store located just beside the Shinsaibashi Bridge at Dotonbori, Namba Osaka’s famous nightlife district.

Dotonbori is famous for the many outrageous store signs that the restaurants there incorporate, with Kani Doraku’s giant mechanical crab being one of the most iconic. The giant billboard outside each Kani Doraku outlet marks the restaurant’s speciality, and also makes spotting an outlet easy.

Kani Doraku’s famous giant crab signboard.

The “honten” or original Kani Doraku shop at Dotonbori, is able to accomodate more than 300 customers at a time. The first 4 floors contain regular walk-in seats while the top floor houses special VIP rooms for special functions. Though we didn’t have problems getting a table, it was already nearing closing time, yet most of the seats were still occupied. Business was good here. You can probably expect the place to be packed during peak hours.

Kani Doraku Original Shop at Namba Osaka’s Dotonbori.

In the lobby, a dozen live crabs were squeezed into one tiny fountain. After checking if we wanted to smoke and confirming that we were fine with only having one hour left, we were lead upstairs to a window-side table on the 4th floor where we could get a wonderful view of the Namba canal below.

The restaurant is furnished in traditional Japanese style, so you put your shoes into wooden capsule boxes before entering and have to sit at low tables. Thankfully, the spaces under each table is hollow so you don’t actually have to sit kneeling down. The service at Kani Doraku was good, despite us being so rude as to arrive just before closing time.

Impeccable service.

The multi-story restaurant was packed with customers.

Though it also serves other types of crabs, Kani Doraku’s main is of course Japanese snow crabs. Snow crabs are perhaps the most common type of crab to Japan, though it is often mistakenly referred to as Hokkaido crabs in Singapore. The majority of Japanese snow crabs are caught between the seas north of the Hyogo and Fukui Prefectures. Thus, the reason why an Osakan shop has become nationally famous for crabs. The crabs at Kani Doraku were immensely fresh.

Raw crab appetizer.

Feeling a little lavish, we each went with one of their seasonal course meals which cost about 6,000 yen each. The meal opened up with the freshest raw crabs any of us had ever had the chance to taste and slowly worked its way through various other dishes, all made with crab. Every treat we were brought was a new experience and much enjoyed.

More appetizers.

Egg custard.

The highlight for the meal was definitely the large crab legs provided to us raw to grill to one’s own liking. As recommended by the staff, these were simply passed over the grill lightly to sear the outsides and dipped into a sauce made from crab innards that was served to us on a mini-fondue pot. Regardless of whether you’re having one of the permanent menu sets or a seasonal set, the grilled crab meats seems to be common to many sets.

More raw pieces to gril as you please.

Lightly seared.

Accompanying the crab legs were some fresh greens to grill too. Afterwards were given some pieces of different types of crab sushi. They were really good too. We had seen some bento sushi boxes for sale outside fo the shop too. It seems you can get some of the sushi (at least those that keep) to go.

Some of the sushi pieces.

Sweet potato cubes with jelly and ice cream.

Despite the somewhat severe price, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Kani Doraku. So much that the rest would had been keen on paying it another visit sometime again. Every dollar was well spent for this experience. If you haven’t already given the popular chain a try, I would recommend at least visiting Kani Doraku once.

If the plastic displays here were any indication, Kani Doraku also offers some really attractive crab sushi bento boxes to take with you on the go. The prices, between 1,400 to 1,800 yen seriously give just about any Ekiben a run for their money and seems like a heavenly treat to take along with you for long shinkansen rides. Anyone has any experience with these? Will definitely want to give them a try in the future.

Affordable bento boxes are available for takeout too.

Kani Doraku Honten
6-18 Dotonbori Ichome
Chuo Ward, Osaka City
Osaka 542-0071
(Open 11 AM to 11 PM Daily)

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With almost all of its branches being located in remote rest stops in the Kansai, it was only through sheer luck that we managed to come across an outlet of this yakiniku buffet chain called Sakon in Osaka Port. By being located in obscure locations and catering primarily to large tour groups, Sakon manages to offer mindbogglingly cheap prices and surprisingly awesome cuts.

Sakon is a “viking”, which is just Wasei-eigo for buffet. If judging by the rest of our traveler’s keenness to give it another visit, it was unanimously one of the best dining experiences this past trip. Sakon offers an impressive selection of yakiniku, sides and desserts. Most of the outlets also offer a “healthy” menu which includes a selection of sushi as well. Let’s have one of Sakon’s lovely staff introduce the menu.

The is a fair variety of each, sufficient to cover all the usual faves. Perhaps the chief attraction at Sakon however are the almost ridiculous prices. The yakiniku lunch buffet costs just 1,200 yen (SGD$16) on weekdays and 1,480 yen (SGD$20) on weekends, while dinner is a flat 1,600 yen (SGD$21). This is a bit cheaper than many other buffets in Japan, and a whole lot cheaper than yakiniku restaurants.

As it is, Sakon is really affordable.

Additional group discounts.

Most amazingly though is the level of quality at Sakon, which has not been the least compromised. Of course the best of cuts are served at Sakon’s deluxe “Shimofuri An” restaurant at Izumi, but the ones served at the buffet are still pretty darn good. Sakon’s main audience is of course, fussy tourists. It is perhaps this maximizing of quality and value, that has allowed Sakon to stay in business for close to 50 years. Hopefully, they continue to endure, since we definitely see ourselves paying them another visit.

Nice cuts.

There is a certain old world charm to Osaka, and Sakon especially follows this trend. I would never had imagine finding such a great buffet experience for such prices in this day and age. Unfortunately, the remoteness of their branches makes a visit to any of their outlets rather difficult to plan into a trip, though you may be brought over to one if visiting Osaka by tour.

Looking at the list of available branches, the ones at Izumi are most accessible if you’re coming by the Kansai International Airport alternatively, the one we visited at Osaka Port would be the most convenient, even though there is nothing else of interest in the vicinity.

Sakon Viking (Original)
Asia and Pacific Trade Center (ATC) Building, O’s South Wing 2F
1-10 Nichome
Nankokita, Suminoe Ward
Osaka, Japan 559-0034

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Chancing upon this tea house along the side streets of Gion last Autumn, we were unanimously and almost immediately drawn in by the shiny hybrid cake-tarts in the shop window. Sure everyone knows Lipton, but we had never come across a Lipton Tea House before. Didn’t regret giving it a try.

The Lipton Tea House is a hybrid bakery and cafe. A section of the shop in front is dedicated to takeaway pastries and breads. However, for those with the time to spare you can sit in for a sweets break or even a full meal in the classy cafe setting.

Unfortunately, we had already had dinner by the time we’d come across the tea house, so we’d have to postpone trying the meals her to some other time. From what we could tell, it was mostly Japanese “western” dishes like omurice, hamburgs and curry. But the thing that attracted us to the cafe in the first place were the cake tarts.

Maccha.

There are a dozen or so different cakes and tarts on the permanent menu at the Lipton Tea House as well as few seasonal specials. But since the tarts were made fresh daily, the ones are available at any given time will be limited by demand. Each cake (tart?) costs only about 400 yen (SGD$5.50) and as with most Japanese eateries, there is no any extra service charge for dining in.

Grapefruit.

All three cakes-tarts that we ordered were really awesome. I like my sweets, but not too sweet. The cake parts were just right enough for a dessert fix, without being overbearing. The tart portions for each cake were also unique. For example, the green tea cake-tart had a chocolate crumble base, while the choco-banana and grapefruit ones used banana and grapefruit custards respectively. Impressive!

Choco-banana.

Goes to show you can get great treats even in chain outlets like this in Japan. Sadly, the reason why we had never seen a Lipton Tea House elsewhere in Japan was because the small chain is limited to the city of Kyoto only.

There are just three Lipton Tea Houses in total, the original “1930″ shop at Sanjo shown here, another just down the street at Gion Shijo and one opposite of Kyoto station. But if you do come across one in your travels while in the mood for something sweet, perhaps you might want to give Lipton Tea House a try?

We were introduced to Uoshin courtesy of Yan. The izakaya has a number of outlets around Tokyo. This time we visited their Nogizaka branch, where we enjoyed a range of delicious, yet affordable seafood dishes.

There is a rustic charm to Uoshin’s store at Nogizaka. The building appears to be an old converted shop house, mixing a traditional Japanese kitchen with modern Western furnishings out of functionality. Patrons can sit within the tented shelter downstairs or a makeshift outdoor terrace on the building’s roof if you wish to smoke.

Uoshin Izakaya.

The pub specialises in sushi.

The environment may be a bit intimidating for those new to the izakaya experience, thankfully the staff do keep English menus with pictures on hand for foreign visitors.

Uoshin’s specialty seems to be their seafood and sushi. As mentioned, in keeping the common salaryman in mind, prices are affordable. Due to how much you’re paying, you won’t be getting the very freshest stuff here but is still better than the average, or anything you will find overseas.

Steamed snow crab dish.

Fish roe.

The emphasis on value for money is further driven in by the generous servings. Like at most izakaya, the dishes here are meant to be enjoyed in the company of friends. For those with an aversion for raw fish, there are other small bites on the menu. However, when visiting Uoshin, the seafood is where it’s at. We ended up thoroughly satisfied with about all of the dishes ordered, and even had seconds of some.

Sashimi set platter, or ask for the seasonal recommendations.

For those coming mainly for a drink, there are “nomihoudai” all you can drink specials at 500 yen/30 minutes for the house pour and other drinks if you top up slightly more. There are special sets for between 3,500-4,500 yen (SGD$45-$60) which includes some of the izakaya’s trademark dishes, together with a free flow of beer for two hours.

If I had to pick, the messy sushi featured in the title would be the fave.

Thought not far from Roppongi, Uoshin is located at a business district in Nogizaka that is rather peaceful by the hours that it operates at. If you’re looking for a great place to chill out in Tokyo that’s away from the usual hustle and bustle, do give Uoshin a try. For more information and a listing of Uoshin’s other outlets, check out Uoshin Web (Japanese only).

Uoshin Nogizaka
6-32 Akasaka Kyuchome
Minato Ward
Tokyo 107-0052

Operating Hours
Monday – Saturday: 5 PM – 12 AM
Sundays, Public Holidays: 4 PM – 11 PM
Weekdays: 12 PM – 2 PM (Lunch)

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It’s been quite a while since Google introduced their Street View partner program and the special collection for Japan. While it doesn’t look like we’ll see all of Japan’s touristy sights covered anytime soon, the number of indoor and on foot Street View attractions have grown considerably since then.

Now part of the Google Street View Gallery, the list has been updated to include quite a few popular landmarks, especially temples and shrines. Currently most of the attractions featured are outdoors, though we see a few commercial partners like Marui willing to offer indoor shots.

There are also indoor walk throughs for the stations on the Minato Mirai line. Considering how confusing some find Japanese train stations, it’d be great to see more of such. There are also some novel Street Views such as a point of view from the Palette Town’s Ferris Wheel or Dotonbori River Cruise.

Given the current locations covered, the gallery doesn’t really help much with directions but are fun to look through anyways. Some interesting examples.

Asakusa’s Sensoji Temple and Nakamise Shopping Streets

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Odaiba’s Palette Town Ferris Wheel

大きな地図で見る

Dotonbori River Cruise (as seen in HA!)

大きな地図で見る

Check out Japan’s Google Street View Gallery for the rest.

Check out this new novelty toy from Takara Tomy’s “Okashina” line of food transforming machines. Okashina Ice Candy Chupa Chups claims to transform regular Chupa Chups lolipops into giant ice pop versions of themselves.

Like Okashina Maze Maze, the machine is a collaboration between Takara Tomy and another familiar sweets product. The idea behind Okashina Ice Candy Chupa Chups (おかしなアイスキャンディー チュッパチャプス) is simple enough, you simply add water to the mold machine and spin a Chupa Chups pop of your choice until it dissolves before freezing it in your refrigerator. In typical Japanese fashion though, the people in the video are having way to much fun about it.

Okashina Ice Candy Chupa Chups machines will retail for 1,575 yen. It will be available in stores and at various online retailers starting April 2013.

Okashina Ice Candy Chupa Chups.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, but with some writing in for requests on their itineraries and insufficient time to respond on a personal basis, I thought I’d throw up a summary for all of the days of the year end Japan trip previously published. Due to the nature of things, a lot of the events mentioned won’t be applicable to future trips, but hopefully it’ll show what is achievable in one day, highlight some key attractions and provide some tips for those traveling to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto or Nagoya.

Flight

Due to the length of stay, we’ve decided to cover the Kanto (Osaka/Kyoto), Aichi (Nagoya) and Kanto (Tokyo/Yokohama) areas in all. While we’d be covering a similar Kansai-Kanto route to a past trip, this time we’d actually stop over at Haneda Airport and take a connecting flight to Osaka. Even after factoring in the costs of the local transit, this came with the advantage of saving quite a bit of money that would had otherwise gone towards a Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass).

We flew with ANA, which allowed us to plan a custom trip. Starting off at Haneda Airport, we’d take a local flight to Itami Airport (Osaka’s domestic airport), work our way north through cheaper land transport, and finally fly back to Singapore from Haneda. This way, our entire expenditure for the flight and cross country transport for a month amounted to only about SGD$1,100. A 21 day Rail Pass alone would had set one back SGD$865 during this time.

Domestic flights in Japan are cheap, more so than Shinkansen at least. ANA is now offers flights anywhere within Japan for 10,500 yen, though it’s part of a “Cool Japan” and only applicable to foreigners. There are also budget airlines that operate even cheaper flights. Flying by ANA, there’s about 2 hours between flights, which is narrowed to about 1 hour after all the logistics are settled. It takes just an additional hour by plane to get from Haneda to Itami. Given ANA’s timings, this would mean that in total we’d leave Singapore at about 10 PM and reach Osaka at about 9 AM. For those with the energy to continue on after a flight, this might be a plus.

As covered in greater detail in the Day 1 article, taking a domestic flight also comes with the benefit of Itami Airport being more convenient than the more commonly traversed Kansai International Airport. A coach from Itami to the city is just 490 yen and 20 minutes, less than 1/3rd it would cost and take if one were to arrive by Kansai International Airport.

Just a short wait between flights.

Accommodation

We would be staying at three different accommodations in Japan this trip. A hotel in Osaka would serve as our Kansai outpost, Nagoya, Aichi and an apartment in Tokyo. I was really happy with how the first two hotels turned out, not so the apartment. Definitely recommend the Osaka and Nagoya hotels to readers.

Shin Osaka Sunny Stone Hotel
It’s hard to find faults with the Shin Osaka Sunny Stone Hotel. At just SGD$52 per room, Sunny Stone gives even hotels in “cheaper” countries a run for their money. If that wasn’t nearly enough, the hotel is located within walking distance from Shin-Osaka Station, Osaka’s Shinkansen terminal, giving you convenient access to not only Osaka itself, but also adjacent cities like Kyoto, Kobe and beyond. Add in some of the most spacious rooms and a complementary buffet breakfast, and you’ve got yourself a real bargain.

Unizo Inn Nagoya Sakae (Formerly Chisun Inn Nagoya Sakae)
Hotels in Nagoya are generally more expensive. Unizo Inn Nagoya Sakae is quite affordable though, especially when considering its location. Located smack in the center of Nagoya’s Naka (center) Ward, Unizo Sakae grants you the best access to all of the city’s sights, without burning a hole in your wallet. Rooms are SGD$67 a night. Amenities-wise Unizo Sakae is a pretty standard business hotel. It’s value comes from being located within the Sakae shopping district, a lovely city center with plenty of parks, cafes and restaurants. It’s also walking distance from Nagoya Tower, Nagoya Castle, Sunshine Sakae, Osu and many of the city’s museums.

Domestic flight to Osaka.

Day 1. Haneda Airport, Itami Airport, Umeda, Osaka Aquarium

Clearing customs and dropping off our luggage the our hotel we still had the rest of the afternoon available. After visiting Endo Sushi to celebrate our arrival in Japan, we headed over to the nearby Umeda district for a bit of shopping and to get B-Mobile 3G Data Sim Cards, which we would have much trouble activating later. Finally, we made the ill-advised decision to press on to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in the evening, when we would had been much better spent recovering from the post-flight fatigue.

Namba Waterways.

Day 2. Senrichuo, Namba, Dotonbori

This morning we’d head over to the Selcy Mall at Senrichuo for the free SUPER☆GiRLS mini-live. The rest of the afternoon would be spent over at central Namba especially it’s Den-Den Town area for it’s amusement centers and the new AKB48 Cafe & Shop opposite the NMB48 Theater.

At night, we walked over to the nearby Dotonbori area to catch the night time illumination there, and bumped into a bunch of Halloween partygoers. We ended the day with a set meal at the original shop of the famous Kani Doraku crab restaurant, which was nothing short of amazing.

Osaka’s Castle.

Day 3. Osaka Castle, Sakuya Konohanakan, Umeda

Thought we’d spend the day tackling some “cultural” landmarks. We purchased the one day version of the Osaka Unlimited Pass, an all inclusive transport and attraction bundle pass but would later regret it. Would learn that is particularly difficult to make the one day parth worthwhile, since it costs more than 2/3rds the two day version. Faced with poor weather, we’d stick indoors by visiting Osaka Castle in the morning.

The past days’ tiredness and issues would slowly build up resulting in us reaching our next destination Sakuya Konohanakan only at closing time. In my haste, ended up dropping my camera and damaging the lens. Umeda’s Yodobashi Camera was of little help, so got some pliers from a Don Quixote outlet to take things into my own hands.

Get up close with the monkeys.

Day 4. Arashiyama Monkey Park, Tenryuji, Umeda

Meeting the Japanese Macaque monkeys at Arashiyama was one of the highlights of our trip. The Monkey Park at Kyoto’s Arashiyama provides a means of meeting the monkeys up close, without infringing too much upon their natural habitat or behavior. The rest of the surrounding area makes for a nice visit too. The main temple Tenryuji is not bad as far as temples go. We also enjoyed lunch and snacks at the traditional Japanese shopping streets. Such touristy places tend to close early, so there was still ample time in the evening to catch up on more shopping back in Osaka city.

Rightfully Kyoto’s most famous temple.

Day 5. Kiyomizudera, Higashiyama, Gion

We’d finally head over today to Kyoto’s most popular shrine Kiyomizudera. Forgot about how Kyoto is mainly serviced by buses, so ended up wasting some time and money taking a train to a nearer station, when we could had taken a direct bus from Kyoto Station. Kiyomizudera is definitely worth a visit. Rather than one temple, its a complex of temples and shrines.

There’s a great deal to see at the surrounding Higashiyama neighborhood where we spent the rest of the afternoon. More traditional Japanese shops here than any other touristy area. Gion, where we found Kyoto’s shopping malls and contemporary shops was within walking distance and would had been deserving of one full day itself.

Delicious Kobe steaks.

Day 6. Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Mitsui Outlet Park, Kobe Tower, Kobe Chinatown

Kobe is easily accessible from Osaka by regular local trains. It takes 30-40 minutes to get there and makes for another nice day trip. Took the rest to the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in the morning again, though we dropped off at a different station this time. Also checked out some of the old colonial houses there. We spent just a bit of time shopping at the Mitsui Outlet Park, before realising that we were late for lunch at the Mouriya.

Ended up missing lunch timings on the dot and having to pay a bit more. Finally satisfied my wish of visiting Kobe Tower in the evening. Definitely one of the nicer towers in Japan, due largely to the city’s unique ambiance. Chilled out for a good while at an inexpensive rotating cafe inside the tower, before taking a look at Kobe Chinatown.

Overlooking the lake.

Day 7. Mount Hiei, Enryakuji, Otsu

Shiga’s Biwako, the largest lake in Japan looked like an impressive attraction to see. It’s located about an hour east of the city at the midway mark between Nagoya. Due to the size of the lake, there are actually quite a number of cities surrounding the lake, meaning that unfortunately, there really wasn’t one default place to visit Lake Biwa. This was further made worse by how little information, English or otherwise, was available online.

We decided to try ahead with the nearest Mount Hiei to hopefully get a view of the lake but it turned out to be mostly a flop. The Enryakuji temple on the mountain wasn’t too outstanding and the view from the mountain was obstructed by foliage.

We returned to Otsu, the capital city in the evening to catch an advertised fountain show on the river, but it turned out to be a major disappointment. The rural city ceased to function as soon as it got dark and so we spent the evening at a dilapidated shopping mall beside the port. Should I decided to give Biwako another chance in the future, it will probably be for the farmers’ markets on the eastern shore.

Tennoji’s Zoo has nice enclosures but few animals.

Day 8. Shinsekai, Tennoji Zoo, Osaka Port

Our last day in Kansai. Bad weather predictions had us staying in Osaka, a decision we would at least partially regret. Without any concrete plans, the morning was spent visiting Shinsekai, which we had originally had the good sense to skip. The only saving grace to the tourist trap was an affordable sushi restaurant we chanced upon. The adjacent Tennoji Zoo turned out to be a disappointment, despite apparently being one of Japan’s larger zoos.

Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at Osaka Port, where time seemed to had stood still since the 90s. Thankfully, we had another spectacular meal here courtesy of Sakon. One thing we noticed is that we tended to enjoy ourselves more when venturing outside Osaka, perhaps because we had spent too many consecutive days there. It would probably had been better to split up the days instead. Had spent at least one too many days in Osaka too.

Osu Kannon Temple.

Day 9. Sakae, Osu Kanon, Osu, Nagoya Station

The morning was spent struggling with our baggage on local trains to Nagoya. Would  recommend taking a coach bus instead, something we had neglected to book in time. The train stations to and in Nagoya were some of the least luggage/wheelchair friendly I’ve seen in Japan. Arriving in Nagoya, we had a hard time finding lunch and the only things open were fast food outlets. We initially thought that this was due to the public holiday (it was Bunka no Hi) but later learned that Sakae only came alive at night.

We spent the late afternoon and evening first at Osu, visiting the Osu Kannon Temple and the shopping district there. Osu is Nagoya’s main shotengai, and seemingly also the city’s humble equivalent of Akihabara. Stopped by Nagoya Station last, where some of the city’s larger department stores are, only to learn that like Osaka, they close early.

The state of many zoos in Japan.

Day 10. Japan Monkey Park, Nagoya Station

Aichi has its own Monkey Park, though it’s nothing like the Arashiyama one, being actually a combination of children’s theme park and zoo. As a result, entry is an expensive 1,600 yen. Getting there is a lot of trouble too since its quite a distance from Nagoya. Wouldn’t recommend anyone visit here as the monkeys here are kept in depressing conditions. One of the bigger regrets this trip. The evening was spent back at the shopping malls around Nagoya Station, this time well in advance of closing time.

Nagoya’s interesting architecture.

Day 11. Sakae, Osu,

There was a Passpo concert to attend this evening so we opted not to go far. Instead, we’d spend the afternoon at Sakae, Osu and everywhere in between. Being at the city center, many of Nagoya’s sights could be reached by foot. Staying in Sakae has its benefits. I’d visit Nagoya Tower and some of the shopping malls around Sakae in the morning. Due to the cold weather, and later rain, we’d try staying indoors as much as possible for the rest of the day. Passpo’s concert by all accounts was incredible. Before heading back we’d stop by Yamachan to try one of Nagoya’s culinary specialities, Tebasaki.

One of Japan’s larger aquariums.

Day 12. Nagoya Aquarium, Sakae

Our final day in Nagoya would have us finally visiting the eagerly awaited Nagoya Aquarium and it didn’t disappoint. Nagoya’s Aquarium is many times larger than even Osaka’s and houses an expansive variety of marine animals. It comes highly recommended and we now add ourselves to the list of fans. Depending on how fast you go through the place, you can spend a good 3 to 4 hours here. It was back to Sakae for the late afternoon and evening to tie up some loose knots before taking an overnight coach to Tokyo.

Overnight coach to Tokyo.

Day 13. Tokyo Station, Akihabara

The overnight bus to Tokyo was a lot more pleasant than any of us had expected. Those looking to save on intercity transport might want to check out Willer Express. We reached Tokyo Station at dawn and killed some time at the McDonalds there until our apartment manager arrived. Learned out lesson this time, so after checking into our rooms at Kurumi Lease Mansion, spent the rest of the morning and afternoon catching up on sleep.

We stepped out in the evening for Tokyo’s otaku contagion zone, Akihabara and met up with Yan, who had flew in earlier today. For dinner, we headed over to the Nogizaka outlet of Uoshin to celebrate Yan’s birthday. Food there was awesome, yet affordable.

Otaku ground zero.

Day 14. Ginza, Akihabara

Our second day and first morning actually waking up in Tokyo had us heading over to Ginza to do some shopping. Unfortunately as experience would teach us, it’s literally impossible to shop efficiently in anything more than a pair, and there’s a lot of ground to cover at Ginza. The evening would have us returning to Akihabara again for some actual shopping. Given the company, we’d visit the place quite a few times this trip. However for anyone else, once should be more than sufficient.

Rainbow Bridge night time illumination.

Day 15. Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Shibuya, Odaiba

In response to the sudden news that Eri would had to leave soon, we made the frantic decision to try to fit in as many touristy destination within these last few days. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t turn out to be such a good idea, since we’d end up being only able to barely scratch the surface of these areas. Meiji Jingu, being one of the main Shinto shrines in Japan was a given.

Tackling Harajuku and the adjacent Shibuya in the same day on foot, is our usual norm but as we also had plans to visit Odaiba in the evening, we really shouldn’t had spent that much time at these places. Unfortunately, the rest had forgotten it was Randy’s birthday and that we had planned to celebrate his birthday in the evening there. Ended up being rather rushed for time in Odaiba, which deserves a full day’s trip in itself. Moral of the story, regardless of circumstances, it’s better to take one’s time.

Biohazard Cafe.

Day 16. Shibuya, Akihabara

Convinced Eri and Yan to at least visit DisneySea once before leaving. In the meantime, had made plans to meet up with my director in Japan for lunch. Amusingly, he brought us over to the Biohazard (Resident Evil in the west) Cafe over in Shibuya. While the boss and Randy were fans, wasn’t into Biohazard but the cafe turned out to be a really novel and enjoyable experience. Think maid cafe, with zombies and guns, complete with a silly dance routine and hi-touches for everyone.

Had the buffet lunch there, which was a little pricey but wasn’t bad. Chilled around Shibuya in the afternoon, though we actually spent more time trying to find a place which had space. The place was completely packed with tourists this Saturday afternoon. Would usually advice to avoid popular city areas on the weekends. In the evening, we returned (yet again) to Akihabara but this time for a private idol birthday event.

Yokohama Arena.

Day 17. Yokohama Arena

This afternoon, we’d visit Yokohama for the only real concert we’d attend this trip. Had pre-ordered tickets for the “girl’s side” of Happy Music Love 2012, featuring Scandal, Nogizaka46, Becky, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and NMB48. We were expecting poor seats but they turned out to be decent.

The concert was great, though it lacked the crowd lacked the enthusiasm of that of a single fanbase. There was something for everyone at the concert though, with Kyary’s segment really surprising me. My pick for the show, definitely Takemura Kiriko and her crazy dancers. Wouldn’t recommend Kyary to idol fans, but if you’re remotely interested in electro-pop and open to performance art type things, do try to hit up one of her shows, at least before the hype dies down and she fades into obscurity.

The famous temple at Asakusa.

Day 18. Asakusa, Nakano Broadway

Eri’s last day in Tokyo would have us visiting Asakusa in the morning for Sensoji Temple, probably the most popular Buddhist place of worship in the city. It’s one of the prettier temples and the shopping streets that lead up to Sensoji make for some great, albeit touristy shopping. The many traditional snack shops along the street are especially popular.

While we had considered visiting the Tokyo Sky Tree in the evening, the rest seemed more keen on Nakano Broadway instead. Nakano Broadway is what I would refer to as Tokyo’s real “otaku haven”. The shops here cater to just about every (legal) niche interest one can think of. Used toy stores take up the majority of space at Nakano, but cover a much wider variety than just the anime figures of Akiba. The evening was again spent at another live where our idol friend was performing.

City shopping.

Day 19. Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya

Met up with our idol friend for lunch at Shinjuku this afternoon. She introduced us to an affordable and delicious shabu shabu restaurant in Shinjuku. We then went to shop for frilly dresses at a nearby department store, with Randy eventually settling for a Liz Lisa one piece for a friend back in Singapore. Next we went over to Harajuku after to meet Chisaki, who had just flew in. Our idol friend had to get a birthday present for another idol’s birthday performance this evening, so we spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping.

It’s not easy getting stuff for adults at Harajuku, so instead she found what she was looking for at the Omotesando Body Shop. Took a train over to Shibuya in the evening for some sinful small bites at Tengu Izakaya. At night, we strolled around Shibuya and back towards Meiji Dori, where many of Tokyo’s home grown boutiques had sprung up. It was nearing closing time, but given the chance, would probably want to visit again some time to check out the fashion here.

Tokyo’s biggest zoo.

Day 20. Ueno, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo Sky Tree

Randy’s last day in Tokyo. We’d meet up with Chisaki again in the morning at Ueno for an early lunch and to visit the zoo there. So far Ueno Zoo seems to be one of the better zoos in Japan with a large variety of animals. The animals were a lot more lively this Autumn than they were during Winter trips. We stopped by the Tokyo Sky Tree in the later afternoon in hopes of traveling up the tower but the queue was far too long, 3 hours long to be precise. Not sure if it was because of the season, or just too soon since the Sky Tree became public, but we’d have to try again some other time.

Beautiful coast.

Day 21. Kamakura Daibutsu, Hasedera, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Made the poor decision to visit Kamakura today, despite being down with the weather. Spent the most of the afternoon at places of worship, first Kotokuin Temple for the Kamakura Daibutsu then at Hasedera Temple. The temples at Kamakura for the most part, were unimpressive but you can get a nice view of the area from Hasedera Temple. The temples at Kamakura make for a pleasant distraction from Tokyo but if you’ve already seen your fair share of temples around Japan, you can safely give them a pass.

The Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine might be worth a visit on account that such large shrines are a rarity. There’s a particularly beautiful view from the main hall of the shrine approach and Wakamiya Oji street leading up to it. It’s also surrounded by a fairly extensive shopping district. For those with only a day to spend, I’d suggest visiting the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and shopping areas in the early morning and spend the rest of the afternoon at Enoshima instead.

Round 1 Stadium.

Day 22. Odaiba, Akihabara

Revisited Odaiba in the morning. The island doesn’t really come alive until later than the city, so we ended up reaching too early. Spent half a day at Odaiba, which even then, was barely enough to cover half of the island. Checked out the Round One Stadium at Tokyo DiverCity, for a fixed fee, you can get unlimited usage of all the sports facilities and old amusement machines here. Those visiting Odaiba for the first time, or with any intention of shopping would probably want to allocate at least a full day there. Returned to Akihabara (again) in the evening. This time we were in for Kasai Tomomi’s birthday AKB48 Team A birthday show. Sadly, the members put up a disappointing performance.

Tokyo Dome City illumination.

Day 23. Tokyo Dome City, Akihabara

True enough to weather forecasts, heavy showers would last the entire day, starting in the early morning, which made it difficult to leave the apartment. Decided at the last minute to go for the SUPER☆GiRLS handshake nearby after all and then to Tokyo Dome City for the free Fairies mini-live there. Arriving late and thanks to the poor weather, didn’t manage to get a proper view of the show. The most amusing thing to happen today was a meeting and resultant dinner with two women Fairies wota, who turned out to be cultists.

Fairies mini-live and handshake.

Day 24. Tama Plaza

Wasn’t completely satisfied with yesterday. So after learning that Fairies Kanagawa performance wasn’t that far off, took a train over to Tama Plaza where they would be having their last live event. Managed to get a decent view this time, so despite the weather being really cold, it was an enjoyable experience. Returned to the apartment area in the evening in search of food but found nothing within the neighborhood except for some 24 hour fast food. Made a bad decision to try it out and regretted it almost immediately. Sometimes it’s just better to stick to the convenience store food.

Generous servings.

Day 25. Nakano Broadway, Shinjuku

After a bit of research discovered that there was actually a whole other better neighborhood in the other direction of the apartment that we had missed until now. Considering this, the apartment was actually located in a pretty good spot in Tokyo. Though the actual living conditions still left much to be desired. Had an amazing brunch at a Sushi Zanmai outlet. The servings there were huge and like other chain restaurants, it was competitively priced. Paid Nakano Broadway a quick return visit in the afternoon to pick up some previously missed items before heading over to Shinjuku. Since my appointment ended up running late, spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at bookstores and shopping malls there.

Fishing on the island.

Day 26. Enoshima, Kamakura, Shinjuku

Since we shared a free day, ended up meeting up with Chisaki this morning for a trip over to Enoshima. Being an island, Enoshima has its own unique ambiance and there are just enough sights on the little island for a day trip outside the city. Getting there is also convenient and affordable, since it isn’t too far from Tokyo and doesn’t involve complication transfers or alternative forms of transport. Probably one of the best Tokyo side trips I can recommend. Tried visiting Kamakura for its shops just after sunset but the shops there close early. Instead, we’d return to Shinjuku to pay the Tori no Ichi festival a better visit.

Sky Tree from Asakusa.

Day 27. Asakusa, Harajuku, Shibuya, Haneda Airport

The final day in Japan. But since the flight back was at night, still had the most of the day to look forward to. Would head on down to Asakusa in the morning to absorb some of the last touristy vibes, shopping and some great meals. In the afternoon, it was over to Harajuku to accompany Chisaki for more shopping then to Shibuya for some pre-flight sushi.

Getting back was easy enough logistically. The T-CAT terminal within walking distance of the apartment, operates Airport Limousine buses to Haneda for a decent price (but not so for Narita). Arrived at the airport well in advance of the flight this time, though the large amount of baggage on hand limited my mobility over there. Instead caught up on news thanks to the free power and internet points there. The last I checked, you had to pay to use the internet at Narita.

Wrapping up.

Afterword

Regardless of how long you plan to take a trip, while a good amount of flexibility is required, I cannot stress enough the importance of having travel plans ahead of time. Having an idea of what to do helps keep your days motivated. It’s hard when catering plans to multiple people. The good solution is to actually have everyone contribute toward the planning, though this isn’t always possible in practice.

The best solution is of course to have each person have their own individual things to do over there, but this only applies if you’re being accompanied by more experienced travelers. You don’t want to work yourself into a situation where everyone is depending on you to provide the itinerary for the day. There’s also bound to be things that not everyone is to keen on, it’s more efficient to tackle these separately and an overdependence makes it very difficult for the odd one out. It’s much easier to break off and do separate things if everyone does their due diligence. When that isn’t possible, at least plan one thing that everyone would enjoy (including yourself!) each day.

Ultimately however the most important thing to consider when traveling overseas is who you’ll be going with. The tendency is to go with friends that you know well or for long enough, but that doesn’t necessary translate into a good travel companion. In fact, oddly enough, some of the best travel accomplices are those that you do not know too well, since they’d be much more conscious about their behavior.

This matters, since while you’d typically see your friends every once so often, traveling together involves seeing (or even living together with) them continuously for a matter of days or weeks. Personally, the best travel companions for me tend to be collaborative, voicing their opinions on matters clearly while still being sensible enough to strike a fair balance. Avoid those who go for “anything” and those who push aggressively for their way or are poor at striking a compromise.

LINE Play, is a virtual world accompaniment for the popular smartphone messaging application LINE. Despite having launched in Japan last November, LINE Play has been relatively unheard of this side of the world up until its official international release last week. We gave it a try and learned why.

I’ve only recently learned about LINE myself. Launched by the Japanese branch of Korean web portal company Naver, LINE boasts over 100 million users worldwide. Its popularity in a market saturated with other similar, more reliable programs like WhatsApp and Skype is a mystery to me (though I suspect it involves Korean idols). It helps that it’s also completely free and supported by the sale of animated emoticons called stickers.

Through its indirect integration with LINE, LINE Play appears to be a less than subtle effort by Naver to tap into its existing market. Albeit not a very good one.

LINE Play.

Cutesy avatar based social systems are hardly a new idea. In fact they’ve been around even before the advent of modern smartphones with the incredibly successful Mobage owing its success to the idea. As others have pointed out LINE Play also appears to be a rip-off of the popular Ameba Pigg service. In practice though, LINE Play is much less elaborate.

LINE Play begins with users creating their own chibi-avatar. Play-ers choose from creating male, female or anthropomorphic characters. Customization options are actually quite diverse with users being able to select from a variety of hairstyles, face shapes and individual facial features.

Clothing customization.

After creating your character, users have the option of further decking out their character in a variety of clothing and accessories, though it seems that the majority of items follow a similar teens fashion theme. At this time there is sizable pool of customization options and new items are added regularly. There has already been 3 content updates in the past week alone. Of course, given its relative newness, LINE Play has still long to go before it’s able to compete with the content of other virtual avatar communities.

The recency of its design however allows LINE Play to benefit aesthetically. Graphics-wise, LINE Play’s avatars look great. Due to limitations on size and being animated, they aren’t nearly as detailed as those found in poupeegirl, but they certainly look better than Ameba Pigg which it is compared to.

User avatars are animated.

One major problem though comes from being unable to change your base avatar once you actually create it. The only option after creating a character is to delete and make a fresh account, which erases everything, including any items and real money currency purchased.

This looks like a big design flaw in my opinion. Rather than purchasing more items with real money as Naver hopes for, the current implementation actually allows people with more than one cellphone to create secondary accounts which they can reset infinitely to funnel items to their main account through the in-app “gifting” mechanism.

User to user interaction is limited.

For a virtual community program in this age, LINE Play isn’t very social. It is strange that it sacrifices many of the truly social elements that make other community based frameworks like Ameba Pigg in favor of the generic social game conventions found in games that have been limited by social network services.

“Ville” style AI interaction.

As expected, LINE Play allow users to easily add friends who are already part of their LINE contact list. They can of course just as easily advertise the program to friends for a bonus of 1000 gems (approximately 100 yen).

LINE Play also actually allows strangers to discover users you at random too, to read your “diary” and to initiate contact. While this might not be unlike the open concept of social networks, this element took me by surprise initially, especially when considering LINE Play and its parent program’s basis as a messaging replacement.

There is an impressive number of furniture for such a short time.

The application gives each user their own house. While the houses themselves are fixed, users can customize the interiors with an even greater variety of furniture and decorations than the clothing offerings. However unlike the communal spaces that are the backbone of Ameba Pigg, users in LINE Play are not actually able to interact with other players in houses in real time at all. Instead users an only visit a simulated “saved” version of their friends homes to perform tapping chores such as “cleaning” and “plant watering”, as they would the SNS “villes”.

Animated avatars are used for private messaging only.

Instead, actual human interaction in LINE Play is limited to the form of a chat window that is nearly identical to LINE’s. User avatars are of course displayed in the messaging window, complete with some nice fluid animations. However the redundancy makes the entire communication aspect of LINE Play seem stale and redundant. This is especially true given the more common use of regular old LINE, its ease of usage, and fans already investing into LINE’s stickers (which are not accessible through LINE Play).

The Lounge.

To counter this, Naver has provided the “Lounge” where users can go to chat with random strangers. Strangely these use LINE’s chat system and the stickers that you’ve accumulated there. It’s disappointing that LINE Play’s animated avatars aren’t included, making them little more than glorified chat rooms, which are even more archaic than the virtual communities that they inspired. Even if the promise of chatting up random people on the go does attract you, it doesn’t help that there is only one regional lounge room per country and that each room is limited to 5 or 10 people at a time. This is particularly strange, given the normal LINE’s 100 person group chat functionality.

Lounge Chat.

The “diary” system has been poorly executed as well and is again a step backward for the application. Not wishing to duplicate the timeline feature in Play as well, the developers have opted to set up a diary hidden away in each user’s home. The introduction of the timeline to Facebook played an important role in the demise of the previous generation of Friendster and MySpace, so there is good reason why even newer social systems incorporate the idea of a timeline into their framework.

There is little motivation to visit friends individually to read their status updates when you can much readily have it fed to you directly through Twitter, or Naver’s very own LINE. Accessing your own diary to post updates is a chore too. You know something is wrong when they have to offer you gems just to visit your own diary.

Strange decisions.

Had they created an application that provided all of the functionality of LINE with added avatar support, LINE Play might find a niche with people who wanted that. However, I cannot see LINE Play taking off in this day and age when given its limited and clunky social features. Sure enough figures point toward a grim future for the application. LINE Play attracted only 1 million users from Japan (where its parent app is most popular) and a total of 4 million users since its global launch.

While this might seem like a sizable figure, given the nature of social games, we’ll likely see usage dwindle after the initial hype. It is also good to note that LINE Play is one of LINE’s weakest tie-in launches, with the other branch off applications all attracting 10 million downloads each in a fraction of time.

LINE Play is available for Android and iOS devices.

Having a Chinese heritage, pineapple tarts are a pretty common snack item and a must have during festive ocassions. Even though I usually shun the more commonly found factory made tarts, what was only until I was finally introduced to SunnyHill’s pineapple tarts.

After a recent affair with SunnyHill’s pineapple tarts at a road show, I decided to make a visit to their shop in Raffles Hotel to grab a few more boxes for the family.

A serving of pineapple tart and oolong tea.

The first thing that struck to me was their impeccable hospitality towards anyone who stumbled into their shop.

I walked into the shop well with an intention to purchase their pineapple tarts without needing any introductions, but instead was instructed by the polite waitress to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of their pineapple tarts before making a purchase.

A real treat.

As part of their business philosophy, SunnyHills believes in letting customers try their products first before buying. And so, at any of their shops, every guest is given a pineapple cake and tea, whether they are buying anything or not.

Enjoy the food, the atmosphere and the various books on the table.

One can relax and enjoy their snack on the communal table, filled with food and tea related reads to occupy your time with. And if you allow, the waitress will also painstakingly explain about SunnyHill’s philosophy, pineapple tarts and any additional information you may inquire.

Is there a reason not to buy a box?

What makes SunnyHills special? They differentiate themselves by using  the finest ingredients from all over the world, boasting of premium butter from New Zealand, gourmet flour from Japan and organic pineapples from Taiwan.

Halal and Health-conscious individuals will also be thrilled by the fact that their pineapple tarts are certified Halal, ovo-lacto vegetarian friendly and free from preservatives. On the downside, you’ll have to finish them within 3 weeks.

Everyone left the shop with at least a bag of tarts.

SunnyHills
Raffles Hotel Arcade
Unit #03-05
328 North Bridge Road
Singapore 188719
Telephone: +65 8522-9605

After having found success overseas, Rocket Internet has launched PricePanda, their new online price comparison service for Singapore and Malaysia last month. PricePanda hopes to provide a one stop hub for Singaporean (and Malaysian) netizens to compare prices on consumer goods.

Earlier this year, Rocket Internet also launched two other aggregation sites “foodpanda” and “Home24 Singapore”, though absorbtion have been lackluster so far. A personal gripe is that the majority of Singaporeans still live in the last decade, tending to favor message boards and one to one trades over convenience.

One exception has been Zalora, which Rocket Internet launched late last year. Thanks to a comprehensive catalog, affordable prices and free local delivery, Zalora has managed to find success, even in a saturated market where every single fashion conscious young woman seems to run her own blogshop.

So far, PricePanda already has an impressive catalog of electronics on display, but with only one or two retailers on file, it’s a little too early to be anything more useful than a price reference tool.

It’s a smart move on PricePanda to focus on consumer electronics considering how tech hungry Singapore is. And despite success of other tech related fairs and websites here, I find myself often having a hard time searching online for prices of anything that is not related to PCs.

I’m sure many others share this same sentiment and with support, we might see PricePanda grow to a great size. Historically, Rocket Internet has both the resources and experience to make that possible.

Tatsunoko Production, one of Japan’s oldest animation studios turns 50 today. Even before Japanese animations became known as “anime” to the rest of the world, Tatsunoko has introduced countless iconic characters and television classics such as Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer), Hakushon Daimaou (The Genie Family), Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets) and Yattaman among many others. In slightly more modern times, they also animated the incredibly popular Neon Genesis Evangelion series.

Hakushon Daimaou.

Mach Go Go Go.

Since early this year, Tatsunoko have been celebrating their 50th year through plenty of rebroadcasts and campaigns, such as these Tatsunoko themed “Please do it at home” inspired train manners posters for JR West. Other examples include a celebratory exhibition earlier in August at the Ginza Matsuya Department Store and will be releasing HD Blu-ray disc remasters of their most popular classic animations each month between June 2012 until April 2013 in the form of collectible boxed sets.

Shinzou Ningen Kyashyan.

Yattaman.

While Tatsunoko Production had produced some of the most loved classical animation series in Japan and beyond, they’ve had a diminished presence in the past decade. It’s great that their taking this opportunity to revitalize their company’s direction. And judging from the response so far, it would seem that the public who had grown up with their animations are in support. The company has more releases lined up for fans now than ever. It was even announced last week that a new live action movie of Gatchaman, that will debut in cinemas Summer 2013.

Tokyo Girls’ Style will be releasing their 11th single, “ROAD TO BUDOKAN 2012 ～Bad Flower～” tomorrow. It’s been quite a long time since any release from Tokyo Joshiryu because of a two months break, announced during their “Rock you!” concert in May, to further improve their dance and vocals.

During that same concert, Tokyo Girls’ Style were also informed that they would be having their first solo live concert at Nippon Budokan later this year, thus the subtitle for the single. In Bad Flower, the girls go for a darker image, they appear in black outfits with red details and long skirts that double as “capes”. Another key item in their video is the use of trump (トランプ) playing cards. Here’s a preview of the song.

For this release, only one CD + Extra version, Type C, will be going for 1,050 yen. As usual, there will be two CD + DVD versions, Type A and B, priced at 2,100 yen and 1,890 yen respectively.

Type A cover

Apart from Bad Flower, the single will consist of two others songs. LolitA☆Strawberry in summer, which is another of their rendition from the group SweetS, and Discord (ディスコード), a brand new song that made it as the new ending theme song for the animated series, Transformers: Prime. Only Type A will consist of all three songs. LolitA☆Strawberry in summer will be included in Type B, and Discord will be the coupling for Type C.

Type B cover

Those getting a copy will also want to take note of the changes to the extra bonuses. The “Making Movie” will be in Type A this time round and the Odekake (going out) Movie is in the Type B, the reverse of their previous single. Type C, will once again hold another segment of a live concert. It will also contain one of six random jacket size photo cards.

Type C cover

Bad Flower is Tokyo Girls’ Style’s most rock-inspired tune to date. Being that way, it isn’t very catchy when compared to past releases. It’s still a pretty decent sounding song, that will get stuck in your head. But Bad Flower leaves one questioning the direction of the group and wondering if they’ll continue to experiment outside of their usual style.

While Tokyo Girls’ Style won over many fans last weekend, let’s not forget the reason for their appearance in Singapore in the first place. The 5 girl group were brought over to help promote Japanese pop culture for the Japan Travel Fair 2012, which was held in conjunction with Takashimaya Ngee Ann City’s 19th anniversary.

This is the second year that the Japan Travel Fair has been held. Introduced by JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) it was create to help recover the dwindling tourism after 2010′s disaster. This year, the fair opened up with the good news that the number of tourist visitors to Japan have pretty much returned to original numbers.

Sadly, apart from having brought over Tokyo Girls’ Style, the rest of the fair’s offerings were pretty meager. A handful of booths had been set up around the center and fountain in the shopping mall’s basement.

Basement 2 Takashimaya Ngee Ann City.

Direct representation from various cities and attractions.

Looking around though, it was great to see direct representation from various city offices and attractions in the booths this day. Many had come down personally to help introduce Singaporeans to the places they were representing. There were also a few local travel agencies selling package tours for various locations around Japan, but with the ease of booking your holiday on your own terms online these days, such services are only useful for the the most busy (or lazy) of potential holiday goers.

And some travel agencies.

Here to introduce visitors to their respective attractions.

As much as I love Japan, it’s easy to see why tourism to Japan may not be that popular a choice for many. While other countries like Taiwan and Korea have been successfully reaching out through attractive media portrayals of their countries’ sights, sounds and of course, food, Japan’s entire tourism strategy seems to revolve around making people feel bad for them.

Rather than selling the countless draw points of Japan, they are shooting themselves in the foot by constantly shedding negative light on themselves. I’m not dissing the weight of events or the importance of continuing support and education about the situation. I run the risk of sounding insensitive, but for the sake of promoting tourism, this and that should be two largely different matters.

Some useful information.

Some small events and activity zones for young ones.

Sadly, like many other foreign things you can tell how clueless they are when the majority of their efforts (and tax payers dollars) before this were used to sell Japan through anime, manga and “otaku culture”, things socially frowned upon by their own people, while neglecting a treasure trove of other attractions. Ask any normal non-Japanophile person about Japan now, and you’ll realize how little the rest of the public knows of the country as a result.

While it is unlikely that the Japan Travel Fair would pique new interest in its current state, those who already had the intention of visiting Japan (such as ourselves) did find some useful information, thanks to the friendly representatives and the many brochures that they brought along with them.

Various warm messages.

Kensuke Miyazaki discusses his support projects with the help of a familiar translator.

Tokyo Joshiryuu (東京女子流), more commonly known as Tokyo Girls’ Style, paid Singapore a visit this past weekend. In conjunction with Takashimaya’s 19th anniversary celebration, the group were there as part of Japan Travel Fair. While some fans believed it to be a rather simple affair with the girls appearing and speaking about Japan, it turned out to be quite radically different.

Much to the delight of the fans, the avex trax group had other plans. The girls came prepared with a magnificent set-list, and in 4 performances spread over 2 days, they performed a total of 9 songs from their discography, twice.

The girls walked in to cheers from the crowd.

The first day of performances also coincided with the opening of the fair on Friday. After an opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony, TGS were the opening act, hyped up to the crowd as an introduction to Japanese pop. Armed with a translator, master of ceremony Andrew gave a short introduction to the group, rattling off some trivia about the group, as well as mentioning the girls’ upcoming debut in Budokan in December.

Much of the early crowd was filled with curious onlookers who stopped to have a peek.

Taking in the crowd as the rest of the girls introduced themselves.

As soon as that was done, he called out the group to rapturous applause from the fans; the general audience was as sparse as a crowd on Friday afternoon could be, but it was well made up for by the sheer amount of fans present. That was also the precise moment that fans realized they were in for a treat, as the girls came out decked out in full costume.

To some amusement from fans, the girls introduced themselves twice; first in Japanese with the translator present, and another time in (well-rehearsed) English just before they kicked off the show.

The girls looked positively tiny next to the translator.

The first session had them performing Kodou no Himitsu, Limited Addiction, Liar, LolitA☆Strawberry in Summer and Onnaji Kimochi. These songs characterize the sound of Tokyo Girls’ Style, and definitely showed off both their singing and dancing ability. At the end of the 5 songs, Andrew was back, this time armed with questions about the group’s name, their thoughts about being able to perform in Budokan, and their recommended places to visit in Tokyo.

Aachan fielding a question as Miyu looks on.

Of course, as is usual for TGS, the stream was up.

We left the venue for lunch after the performance, and came back to a crowd that was at least twice the size, and the second floor being filled with bystanders as well. Micstands on the stage brought up some wise cracks about them doing Heavy Rotation, but everyone cheered when the girls came out with flowers on their hands, signalling the performance of Himawari no Hoshikuzu.

Besides Himawari, the rest of the setlist was recent single Rock You, Love Like Candy Floss, Onnaji Kimochi and Ganbatte Itsudatte Shinjiteru. While a change in direction from the earlier songs, the use of props in the second session made for a fun ending to the day as the audience clapped along to the beat, led by the girls.

The girls were full of smiles whenever they were performing.

Miyu Yamabe, leader of Tokyo Girls’ Style

The end of the day saw the girls giving out flyers promoting the group, with the flyers containing information about the group and their activities. Also listed were the group’s social networking sites, a crucial area of web promotion that many other groups fail at but TGS does verywell. The second day was more of the same, but one could easily see the size of the crowd watching them increasing in size rapidly, with many more people present on the weekend.

Much of the dancing from the girls looked effortless.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience of seeing TGS, with the girls teaching the Onnaji Kimochi dance to the public and fans even joining in a mass dance to it. Many members of the public seemed to enjoy the performances, and even the kids present were happily following the simplistic dances for some of the songs.

Taking questions about Japan from MC Andrew.

Hopefully, the response to this event will be seen as favorable and TGS will decide to hit Singapore for a stop should they ever venture overseas again. As far as this writer is concerned, it was probably the best introduction to J-pop one could possibly get.

More photos of TGS can be found on our Facebook page