Tokyo Spring 2010 Day 1 (MJ ver)
17 March, 2010 by MJ
Day 1 of 14. Wed 17 March to Wed 31 March 2010!
Granny stewardess
The first half of the day was spent traveling. We left Singapore at 5am, barely caught enough sleep on the plane before landing at 1pm Japan time. Delta airline stewardess are, not young. There was this granny walking around asking if we wanted green tea. I don’t mean to be mean, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen an elderly stewardess. T_T.
Got our round trip limo bus tickets for 6000yen. Came with a complimentary 2 day metro pass. Not bad. We had another hour to kill before the bus arrived, so we got some much needed lunch at the overpriced airport cafeteria. No complaints though, since we saw this group of very well dressed Korean air stewardess. Their Armani styled beige overcoats, paired with bright teal tops just oozes with an unmistakable Korean style. It puts most other uniforms to shame. Delta airlines wha~?
Didn’t we say it was cold?
Anyhows, as soon as I stepped out of the airport into the open, the freezing wind reminded me of my stupid decision to not bring a jacket, thinking it’ll be good to wait till Harajuku to buy one. It was OMGWTF cold! My ears were freezing off! Had to buy a can of hot tea just to hold and keep warm xD
The limo bus left the airport at 3.10pm, and took nearly 2 hours to get to our hotel can! There was an accident on one of the highways. Huge jam. Couldn’t be helped. But I met this cool Hawaiian guy on the bus, chatted for a bit and found out he was on an church mission to Japan. 3 month long vacation. Man I wished we had 3 months worth of leave to take 
Dude where’s our hotel!
Had to ask a policeman for directions to our hidden hotel. No, the bus didn’t stop at our hotel. It stopped at another one near ours. One of the hotel staff spoke surprisingly good English. Even better than us I think. haha. The rooms were reasonable for the price, about S$93 a night for 13 nights.
Under dressed in Harujuku
First priority after dumping our bags was to secure our concert tickets for Friday, by means of this 2nd hand ticket reseller store in Harajuku.
As soon as we reached Harujuku, we realized how nice everyone else was dressed. I’ve never felt so under dressed and out of place, ever! Everyone was so color coordinated and well layered with matching accessories. Their hair, make up and all, flawless! There are some looks that only Japanese girls can pull off. The important part was that everyone dressed well. No baggy or ill fitting clothing. Japanese or not, there’s no excuse to not dress well.
Concert tickets, GETS!
Found the ticket store, and the ticket I spotted online was still there, and they reduced the price! How the place works is that people put their ticket up for sale, at certain prices, and when sold, the shop takes a cut. And the closer the concert date, the cheaper the ticket gets. So you can get rather good deals on great seats if you dare to take the risk and go at the last minute. We spent about 48,000yen (S$760) on a pair of front row, corner seats. They only show the row and a range of seat numbers before purchase, so there’s a bit of luck in which exact seat you get.
Had dinner at Lotteria, a fast food chain similar to McDonald’s. Good burgers! Juicy. And they had real prawns inside! That was about it for the night. Wanted to get a jacket, but everything seemed too young and trendy for our age. Maybe Shibuya would be a better bet. Off to sleep!
Photo Tour :
This was about 4.30am? Terminal 1. Bags packed, waiting to board the plane. The feeling of being tired and excited at the same time, is strange.
Couple hours in, breakfast served! I took noodles, which was good.
Chad had mushy scrambled eggs xD
Making sure I had the standard 'photo of airplane window' shot while on vacation.
Group shot yes! Damn I look like i have plastic in my mouth ._.
We got stuck at the checkpoint because we used an orange pen on the disembarkation card. Had to redo it in black ink.
Landed at about 1.20pm, got our limo bus tickets @6000 yen. The smaller blue envelopes are the free 2 day metro passes that came with the package.
Dragged our stuff through the long terminal, looking for food to eat.
Yes thank you very much 
View from the 2nd floor.
Apparently all the restaurants are on the upper floors. So up we went.
Touristy shops! We'll be stocking up on these on the last day.
Overpriced airport food! Doesn't matter, we were starving.
Ok everything was in Japanese... how to order~
After some pointing, I got my first bowl of Japanese udon! When you're hungry, everything tastes good
Very well dressed Korean air stewardess sitting opposite us.
Skipped the airport mall for now. Lots of shopping to do later in the trip.
Stepped out, and instantly froze. The wind was omg COLD!!
Regrets not bringing my windbreaker.
We were looking for our bus stop, not sure if it was on this floor or the one below.
Chad making pictures with his PEN!
Yes, awesome naturally blue skies.
We were at Terminal 1, north wing.
Had to buy this hot can of tea to warm my hands.
Did we mention it was cold?
Found our bus stop.
Tokyo Dome Hotel, check.
Came with only 1 bag each, returned with 2!
2 hour bus ride. Good time to power nap!
Accident on a 2 lane highway = 30 minute jam.
Group shot! Chad says it takes skill to smile nicely.
Finally arrived in central Tokyo area.
Checking how to say 'hairstyle' in Japanese. Useful no? His DS.
Collecting our loot, after 2 hours of sitting.
Here's how our bus looked like. Kamei colors!
Right, now to drag our way to the hotel.
Crossing Tokyo Dome City. There was some concert going on here.
Lots of people queuing for entry.
Found a map, but it doesn't state hotel names!
Took out our booking to double check. Still lost. lol.
Chad (while pointing to the map), It's somewhere here.
So we walked somewhere around there.
Maybe it wasn't somewhere around here, but somewhere around there?
Decided to ask a nearby police station guy where the hotel was.
Then later realized it was in some narrow street entrance.
Hotel Wing International!
Yes! Found it!
Our tiny rooms.
Not bad actually. LCD TV, fridge and boiler.
Bathroom. Chad says the bathtub here was bigger than his previous hotel.
Unloaded our luggage, then set off to Harajuku to hunt for tickets.
Our hotel was just beside Thunder Dolphin. Awesome rooftop roller-coaster we sat the last time we were here. Every Morning Musume member has sat this before ok! haha
Crossing the street to the nearest JR line.
JR Suidobashi~
Bought a 'Suica Pass', the 'EZ-Link' equivalent of Singapore. You can buy stuff from the station vending machines with these cards too.
People stand in line here. Yes they really do.
Looking at...
Ads. I'm quite overwhelmed by the number of ads on the train. They have smaller ads compared to Singapore trains, but a lot of them, everywhere.
And the top holding bars are not in the centre, which makes it easier for people in the middle to get out.
View from Harajuku Station!
Everyone looked so good dammit! It was around here that we felt so incredibly under dressed.
Entrance to Takeshi dori, the most famous street in Harajuku.
Long queue for crepes.
Decided not to eat first. Tickets more important!
Walked a while, was worried we missed the store, or worst, they closed!
Then we saw this Morning Musume poster. SAVED!
More spy shots of the entrance
Tickets are held in huge glass shelves like these. Arranged according to performing artist and date of concert. Naturally Morning Musume tickets took up half the shop.
The best and most expensive tickets always start from the top. They cover the seller's name and exact seat number. Instead displaying a range of the where the seat is at.
They have the hall layout on display, so you know where the rows are as well.
2nd row, seat number 19! 48,000yen here. About S$760 for 2 tickets. ^-^
How it looks like from the outside. It's the middle shop.
Overpriced tickets DONE! Dinner was next.
Walked around the area for a bit.
Cross street into Omotesando.
I remember shivering on the spot here, and hiding behind Chad every time the wind started to pick up. LOL
There we are!
Giant Zara. The stuff they have looks completely different from Singapore.
Didn't find any nice jackets though.
We decided on having something different for every meal while in Japan.
Ended up at Lotteria, fast food chain.
Did some pointing and motioning before I got my meal
I can't remember what I ordered, but it was nice and juicy. They don't have Coke here, I think it's Pepsi Nex, or something like that.
Satisfied! Back to Harajuku station for our train back to hotel.
You can see Takeshi dori from the station.
We took more the Metro line than JR the last time we were here.
So I was a bit lost on where to change. Anyways, that was it for today. Haven't slept in 24 hours! Needed to crash.
Born and raised in Singapore, MJ earns his keep by pushing pixels around as a media designer. Other jobs include getting paid taking pictures, as well as being a full time fanboy for all things cool & kawaii. MJ shoots with a Canon 5DmkII.
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