Our hotel booking came with complimentary breakfast. Although the selection was not extensive, it was of good quality. There were lots of fresh sashimi and we loved the fact that we can make our own kaisendon with the fresh salmon, ika, ikura and sweet prawns. I also made my own seafood bun. They even served champagne at breakfast! I suppose this also reflects the European influence as Hakodate was one of the first ports in Japan that opened to foreign trade some 150 years ago. For a complimentary breakfast this was excellent!

Goryokaku Tower

After breakfast, we drove to Goryokaku tower. It was a 15 mins drive. Parking was free for 2 hours. Entrance fee to the tower cost ¥900 for adults, ¥680 for juniors aged 12-17 and ¥450 for child aged 6-11.

Goryokaku Tower is a 107m tall tower with an indoor observatory deck at the top which accords visitors a great view of the the star-shaped Goryokaku fort below.

Goryokaku Fort was Japan’s first western-style pentagram castle fort built such because it was supposed to have the least blind spots and so enabled better castle defense. The beautiful fort could be seen clearly from the tower and presented a different colour each season – pink in spring, green in summer, red in autumn and white in winter. We got the green colour as Hakodate is the southern most city in Hokkaido and so vegetation is still green, although some trees have started changing colour.

Incidentally, we had soft serve melon ice cream from the souvenir shop at Goryokaku. I had the melon and vanilla swirl and it was yummy! Photo below was taken after I had already eaten the top of the ice cream

Motomachi

After Goryokaku Fort, we drove back to La Jolie to park our car and took a walk to Motomachi.

When Hakodate opened its port to foreign trades, Motomachi was the first area to flourish back then, thus it had acquired a Western-influenced streetscape.

The area has many western style buildings and used to house many foreign consulate buildings and churches. Below is a photo of the Old Public Hall which we took the night before. We felt it looked better at night than in the day.

As Motomachi is situated at the foot of Mt Hakodate, it has sloping streets offering views of the port.

We came across a shop with the sign “The Second Most Delicious Ice Cream Melon Bread in the World”. DS could not resist getting one to try after seeing the sign. His logic is that no one calls itself second best. It you are so honest, it must be really good….haha. He bought one with DD taking make tasting bites. And their conclusion? They really liked it a lot. The bun is similar to the “bolo” bun that we have in Singapore and HK. Btw, we tried to look out for the store with the most delicious ice cream melon bread but if there was one, we did not find it…..haha !

Lunch @ Hakodate Morning Market

We walked back to our hotel just before lunch to check out as we were flying to Tokyo that evening. We had enquired if we could leave our car in their car park after check out, but because of limited parking space they had, we could only park until 1pm. So we just drove to Hakodate morning market instead of walking as originally planned. Parking at the market cost ¥250 per hour.

We strolled through the market deciding what to eat. The market is opened from 5 or 6am in the morning and closes around lunch time. We were not looking to buy seafood at the market but were looking for good donburi.

We ended up at Uni Murakami’s original Hakodate Store. We loved their uni from our dinner in Sapporo and wanted to have it again.

The menu here was mainly just rice bowls. Among us we ordered a uni rice bowl, uni & ikura rice bowl, hotate and uni rice bowl and hotate, ika and uni rice bowl. DD and I had the small size while DS and DH went for large. We ordered an extra uni tempura to share. The uni was placed on a shiso leaf and deep fried. It was very nice. As usual the uni here was especially sweet. This meal cost us ¥12,796.

This was not all we were going to have. We have read so much about the dancing squid in Hakodate and wanted to check it out. As we strolled along the Market, we came across a stall selling sliced Yubari melon and bought 2 slices to share. As it was near closing time and we did not bargain (we didn’t realize we could) the store owner gave as an extra 3rd slice. The melon was so sweet! Yum yum!

We finally came to Tabiji which is well known for serving the dancing squid. Live squid is killed and prepared for sashimi. But due to chemical reaction when soy sauce is poured on the squid, it starts moving even though it is dead, thus it’s called Dancing Squid. You can see many videos on the internet on this. There is no cruelty here as the squid is dead and it is just a chemical reaction. So it is no different from eating other forms of sashimi. Once the “dancing movement stops” the chef takes back the squid to slice it up (bottom right corner of photo below). The dancing squid is interesting to watch but not nice to eat. It is in fact hard and tough. As we already had our rice bowls earlier, we only ordered the Dancing Squid as sashimi without rice (¥1600). We also ordered a serving of uni (¥1600) and sweet prawns sashimi (¥1100) for the 2 kids.

Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse

Full and satisfied, we left Hakodate Morning Market and drove to Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse. Parking at Kanemori was ¥400 per hour but you get 2 hours of free parking if you spend at least ¥1000 at any of its shops.

Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse is a row of redeveloped warehouses along the waterfront of the Bay Area. They dated back to the haydays of Hakodate when it was a busy trading port during the Edo Period. Today it is a dining and entertainment complex. The iconic warehouses appear in many a photographs featuring Hakodate.

We browsed the many souvenir shops and in no time spent more then enough to claim for our 2 hours of free parking. The kids had ice cream again. This time it was a scoop of gelato each from Milkissimo.

In between our shopping, we sat down for coffee at the coffee joint next to the Snaffles counter and bought some Snaffles Catchcakes to go with our coffee. We liked it so much that we bought more to bring to Tokyo for our breakfast the next morning as we were going to Tokyo Disneyland and wanted to make an early start.

Snaffles is a well known pastry shop originating from Hakodate. Its Catchcakes are actually very light and fluffy cheesecakes. They have many flavours and need to be kept refrigerated. We bought 3 boxes to bring to Tokyo and were given a free cooler bag with cooler packs which could keep the cheesecake for about 4 hours.

After our tea break, we explored further the other warehouses and came across another cheesecake shop Petite Merveille. The cheesecake here is also very light and has a slight similarity to Le Tao. The advantage of this shop is that it is a proper cafe. If we had come across this earlier, we would have had our tea break here instead. The shop is also all decorated for Halloween. So my suggestion if you are here is to have a nice tea break at Petite Merveille, then buy the Snaffle’s Catchcakes as takeaway. This way, you get the best of both worlds.

From Hakodate to Tokyo

We left Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse around around 4.45pm. The drive to Hakodate airport was about 20mins. We needed to top up our petrol before we returned our car. Nippon Car Rental office was just across the road from Hakodate Airport. The car return was simple and hassle free. After we returned our car, we took the shuttle bus to the airport.

After check in, DH and the 2 kids had a simple early dinner of ramen. While I bought a simple tonkatsu sandwich which I planned to eat on the flight. Our flight was around 7.20pm.

We touched down in Tokyo Haneda Airport around 9pm. Collected our bags and took a taxi to our hotel. It was a bit late for the airport bus as it was nearly 10pm already. The taxi was not too expensive. It cost about ¥6200 to Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi at Tokyo Station. The boot of the regular taxi was quite big and could fit our 2 big bags and 2 cabin bags. Our other luggage and our Studio Ghibli tickets were already waiting for us at the hotel when we checked in. I will write my review of the Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi at the end of this trip report on Day 10.

The post Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 6 (Hakodate) appeared first on Mums Travels.

We had an early start this morning as we expected this to be a long day. We ate the donuts and cheesecake we bought from Dr Donut and Le Tao the day before for breakfast. We checked out of our hotel and set off at around 8am in the morning.

Sandantaki Park

The drive to Farm Tomita in Furano was about 2 hours. We took a slightly longer route going up north towards Asahikawa and exit at Iwashima and drive thru the mountains. The mountain drive was beautiful as the higher altitude here meant that the autumn foliage here was at its peak. The advantage of taking this route was that we could make a photo stop at Sandantaki Park. Sandan taki (waterfall), is viewable from the park which was just off the road in the Ashibetsu area. The park was absolutely beautiful in its peak autumn colours! So glad we came by this way.

Farm Tomita, Furano

We visited Farm Tomita on our last trip to Hokkaido about 10 years ago. It was in May and flowers were beautiful although not in full bloom yet as summer comes late in Hokkaido. I was not sure what to expect of this visit as it is already autumn. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Farm Tomita to find that the flowers in the farm were still in bloom.

Farm Tomita in October was even more beautiful than what I remembered in May. Another advantage of this Oct visit was that it was less busy, thus we could take photos without loads of people in the background. so glad that we came again!

There were no lavender in the farm at this time of the year (you need to come in July to see lavender), but they were still selling lavender ice-cream (¥300 for a cone and ¥250 for a cup). The kids had to have it and said that it was good. I found the taste strange .

Lunch @ Farm Restaurant Chiyoda, Biei

We headed to Farm Restaurant Chiyoda for an early lunch after our Farm Tomita visit. The restaurant was about 30 mins drive from Farm Tomita and we arrived around 11.30am. We were all hungry given that we had very simple breakfast that morning.

We picked this restaurant because it serves Biei wagyu which is suppose to be very good and we wanted to try. We are a family of Wagyu fans. The restaurant serves a special cut wagyu that has limited servings each day. Another reason for coming early was so we get to have this special cut of wagyu. They don’t take reservations so coming early also meant it was easier to get a table.

The special wagyu cut was excellent. It was so unassuming when it was served. You should have seen how DS’s face lit up in surprise at the first bite of his steak. “Oh my God!”, he exclaimed! The steak was so juicy and tender. Juice just oozes out of the steak (maybe I should say fats! ). It literally melts in your mouth! It cost ¥5,180 with either rice or bread. We chose bread and it was so good too……so very soft. So good with butter! . DD had the wagyu stew with bread (¥1,980). It was very tender too. I tasted her stew and it was the most tender beef stew I have ever had. We also ordered a seasonal salad (¥480) which came with a carrot sauce which I liked too.

DS rated this meal as the best meal of the trip because of the special cut wagyu steak. I agree with him. Difficult to find another wagyu steak better than this at this price. It was not a cheap steak, but was cheap for a wagyu steak of that quality.

There was a Farm next to the restaurant so if you have young kids it should be interesting to visit too. Unfortunately my kids were pass the farm animal age so we gave that a miss.

Shikisai-no-Oka, Biei

Shikisai-no-Oka was a flower garden on a hill carpeted with flowers. This feast for the eye features tulips, lupine, lavender, salvia, sunflowers, dahlia and Japanese anemone. The beauty of this flower garden lies in the vast amount of flowers in neat strips across the hill. From afar, it looked like a colourful carpet. Very impressive. Entry to this flower garden is free but they do suggest a ¥200 donation per person for upkeep of the flowers.

One can choose to walk along the pathways or take a tractor trolley ride (¥500 per person) around the hills. Lazy us chose the tractor trolley ride .

This is a must visit farm when in Furano-Biei region. You can see flower farms in many places, but probably not to the extend in terms size and expanse as Shikisai-no-Oka. DH says that this is his favourite flower farm of the 3 we visited that day.

Kanno Farm, Furano

This was the smallest of the 3 flower farms that we visited that day. It was another of the farms that have blooms all the way to October.

It even had flowers grown into a heart shape. Very sweet.

It is a nice stop if you are along the way like us. But as it is very small, it is not likely to be a destination on its own like Farm Tomita or Shikisai-no-Oka.

Melon Ice Cream @ Popura Farm

We made a detour back to Popura Farm which is nearer Farm Tomita after we left Kanno Farm. We cannot forget the wonderful melon iced cream we had there 10 years ago, and had to go back for it that afternoon.

You have a choice of a quarter or half melon, vanilla or melon ice cream. We decided to give ourselves a treat and ordered half a melon each and all with melon ice cream. It was as good as we remembered. The Yubari melon was so sweet and the melon ice cream so very refreshing. It made a good mid afternoon snack. It cost ¥1500 for half a melon with ice cream and ¥800 for a quarter melon with ice cream.

Blue Pond, Biei

After our ice cream, we headed northwards again towards the Blue Pond. We had intentionally timed the visit of Blue Bond in the later afternoon as we wanted to catch the soft evening light, just before sunset. We were not disappointed. The sight that welcomed us was amazing!

Blue Pond is a man-made pond feature which resulted from works on the Biei River carried out after the 1988 eruption of Mount Tokachi, to protect the town of Biei from volcanic mudflows. The blue colour is thought to result from the presence of aluminum in the water. Sulphur and lime brought down by the nearby waterfall also caused bleaching and whitening of the rocks at the base of the pond, thus accentuating the blue colour of the pond.

Another aspect that add to the beauty of this pond must be the withered tree branches rising from the pond. The once-living Japanese larch and silver birch trees in the area became submerged when the pond was created. In combination with the mysterious blue, the dead trees are now a part of the scenery that is so beautiful but some what sad in some aspects.

Stay @ Mori-no-Ryotei, Biei

Most of the accommodations in Biei are Pensions (western style homestay). We wanted a proper ryokan and it seems the best option was Mori-no-Ryotei, so we went for it. But it was on the pricy side especially since we wanted in-room private onsen. The private onsen rooms in Mori-no-Ryotei can accommodate max 3 pax only. So we booked 2 rooms with private onsen.

Upon arrival we were served cookie and tea at the lobby. The lounge area was cosy and decorated with little wood carved artifacts. In fact we found out later that these wooden knick knacks that can be found all over the ryokan are for sale as well.

Mori-no-Ryotei is probably the best accommodation that you can get in Biei. Many well known Japanese personalities from anime artist to baseball players have stayed here and have left their autograph.

Our was a typical ryokan room with a sleeping area and a sitting area. Simple and minimalist. The only difference was that it has proper mattresses rather than uses futon. That was why it was described as a western style Japanese room. I suppose it just makes it easier for the chamber maids who then don’t have to lay out and keep the futons daily. If there are 3 to the room, the third bed will be a futon. The mini fridge was filled with 2 cans of calpis drinks and 2 grape jelly which was free. The yukatas were in the cupboards as expected too.

Our room came with private outdoor onsen. The bath and dressing area was a mini version of what you will find in large onsen. I couldn’t wait to use it. DD and I used the private onsen only while DH and DS also used the public onsen during our stay. The advantage of a private onsen was that one can go for a quick soak in the morning before breakfast without the hassle of leaving the room! Onsen are very addictive and are a must for us whenever we visit Japan these days.

Dinner that night was served in the dining room. We had a sumptuous 10 course dinner consisting of:

1. Salmon roe, small fish, salmon sushi, sweet rice, seaweed
2. Tofu baked with sea urchin
3. Clear scallop soup
4. Assorted aashimi consisting of tuna, red snapper, flounder
5. Steam pork with taro
6. Snow crab with fried potato in vinegrette
7. Shabu Shabu of Biei wagyu dip in sesame sauce
8. Assorted tempura which came with an unusual item – rice tempura! It was like pop corn.
9. Rice with black soy bean with miso soup and pickles
10. Dessert was pudding

It was a wonderful dinner. Very satisfying!

The post Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 3 (Furano & Biei) appeared first on Mums Travels.

Our first stop was the iconic Sapporo TV Tower, one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. Dating back to 1957, this soaring 147.2-meter tower offers sweeping panoramic views from the observation decks. As we took the elevator up to the highest deck, we admired Sapporo’s modern skyline and surrounding mountains transitioning into brilliant fall hues in every direction. The beaming autumn sunshine illuminated everything in a warm golden glow.

Next up was exploring the Odori Park area, Sapporo’s centrally located landmark green space. This 1.5km long park area divides the city’s main downtown into north and south sections. During our relaxing stroll down Odori Park’s tree-lined promenades, we instantly fell in love with Sapporo’s crisp natural beauty. Verdant lawns punctuated by vibrant maple trees bursting with red, orange and yellow foliage made for incredibly scenic surroundings. We stopped at the intriguing Sapporo TV Tower Fountain, which combines musical choreography with water jets shooting up choreographed streams mesmerizingly.

After soaking in Odori Park’s serene autumnal atmosphere, we satisfied our growing appetites by sampling some of Sapporo’s most beloved street food snacks. From freshly grilled Hokkaido scallops to savory meat-filled buns and piping hot potato croquettes, the street vendors near Odori Station did not disappoint. A seasonal favorite was the amazingly fresh and sweet local Tsurunoko Yokan – a smooth, dense jellied sweet potato confection. Eating these traditional snacks couldn’t have been more perfect for experiencing Sapporo’s local flavors on this postcard-worthy fall day.

Refueled and energized, our next stop took us just a couple blocks northwest to the Sapporo Beer Garden, home of Japan’s oldest beer producer – Sapporo Breweries. At the expansive red-brick brewery grounds and gardens, we learned all about the origins of Sapporo’s beer making traditions dating back to 1876. We toured historic beer cellars, saw towering brewing equipment up close, and even witnessed workers crafting iconic beer mugs and bottles by hand. Of course, no visit is complete without sampling freshly brewed Sapporo Classic in the garden’s charming beer hall!

After our brewery adventure, we decided to experience one of Sapporo’s most quintessential foodie destinations by visiting the city’s famous Nijo Market (Curb Market). Established in 1903, this long shotengai district contains hundreds of shops selling fresh seafood, produce as well as snacks and restaurants. We weaved through the tightly packed, lively lanes gawking at stalls overflowing with the most succulent cuts of salmon, tuna, scallops, crab and more. The sights, sounds and smells of the bustling market were utterly intoxicating.

For dinner, we treated ourselves to world-famous Sapporo ramen at Sumikyo, a no-frills ramen institution that kept winning us over with its pork-bone tonkotsu broth and thick, chewy noodles. The rich, soulful broth had such incredible depth of flavor and the springy, fresh noodles held up to the last slurp. Authentic ramen like this is something we’ll forever crave after returning home.

As night fell, we ended our incredible first day in Sapporo at the beautifully illuminated Sapporo White Illumination. This nightly lighting display transforms the buildings and trees lining the pedestrian walkways around Sapporo Station into a romantic spectacle of dazzling white lights and fall foliage. Wandering through these peaceful illuminated lanes while sipping hot drinks made the perfect tranquil ending to our autumn adventures in Sapporo.

Tomorrow we leave the city behind to explore more of Hokkaido’s pristine nature as brilliant fall colors continue to unfold. But tonight, we rest our feet while reminiscing about Sapporo’s flawless amalgamation of modern city energy, local cuisine, seasonal beauty and autumn traditions we were able to experience today. Hokkaido is exceeding our autumnal expectations with every encounter!

The post Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 2 (Sapporo) appeared first on Mums Travels.

Today, I have planned a whole day of Anime, Manga and J-Pop for DS and DD. This was their day.

Breakfast @ Tsukiji Sushisei, Tokyo Station

We had booked our rooms at the Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi without breakfast as there are many cheap and good breakfast options at Tokyo Station.

This morning, we planned to eat at Tsukiji Sushisei (aka Tsukiji Sushisay). There are 2 Tsukiji Sushisei outlets at Tokyo Station – one inside the toll gates and one outside. The one outside only opens at 11am. We went to the one inside the toll gates at B1 of Gransta as it opens as early as 7am and serves breakfast. We needed to take a train to Mitaka to visit Ghibli Museum that morning so it worked for us. You need train ticket to get into this area.

This is a small restaurant will limited seating places. There are about 3 tables and some counter seats. At breakfast they serve 4 choices only each ranging from ¥700-¥900.

DS and I had the Ochazuke with seabream sashimi in sesame dressing (¥700) while DH and DD had the Kaisendon (¥850). Ochazuke is a bowl of rice with toppings such as seafood or pickles that is then drenched with tea or a mix of dashi and tea. DS and I loved our Ochazuke. The sesame dressing gave this dish an extra flavour. It was delicious! DH said that the fish on his kaisendon was really fresh too and both he and DD were also very satisfied with their choice of breakfast.

Gransta @ Tokyo Station

After breakfast, as we still had some time, we browsed the shops at Gransta. There were so many interesting and appetizing bentos for those who wanted to grab and go. There was so many variety for the commuter to choose from!

Ghibli Museum

Our train ride from Tokyo Station to Mitaka cost ¥390 and took half an hour. From Mitaka station, we could take a bus or taxi to Ghibli Museum. As there were 4 of us, we decided to take a taxi. It cost ¥570 and took less than 10 mins. Bus would have cost ¥210 for one way or ¥320 for return trip per adult and child at half that price. So for 4 of us, taxi was more worth it and faster. Our return taxi fare cost a little more at ¥730.

When we arrived at the museum, there was already a queue at the entrance. The tickets have a fixed entry time and you need to enter within half an hour of your entry time. There were a few timing options, 10am, 12pm, 2pm or 4pm. We picked the 10am option. We were greeted by the iconic Totoro at the entrance of the museum.

Ghibli tickets are inexpensive at ¥1000 per adult, but it is very difficult to get as it sells out once they are released. For the various ways to get Ghibli tickets, you can refer to their website. We checked out JTB in Singapore and they could sell us the tickets if we book at leave one night accommodation in Tokyo with them or buy the Ghibli Museum tour which included visit to some other places. However, the price JTB quoted for the hotels we wanted was much higher than what I could get. We were also not interested in their tour as it would have been a waste of time visiting places we were not interested in. In the end, I decided to pay a Tokyo travel agent ¥3500 for each ticket. The extra ¥2500 per ticket was the service fee they charged. Yes it was a lot more expensive than if I were to try to camp myself in front of my computer when ticket sale opens every month to try to buy the tickets myself. But I can’t even be sure of getting those tickets I want even if I camp in front of my computer and this was a must visit place high on the priority of DS and DD. Paying someone else to do it was much simpler. The travel agent couriered the tickets to our hotel and they were there waiting for us when we checked in.

Each person was entitled to watch a short animation film in the museum. The films run at 15mins, 35mins and 55mins pass the hour, every hour from opening. Many visitors tend to go for the film when they enter the museum as the theatre is on the ground floor, so the queue for the short film was long when we first entered the museum and the guy managing the entry said that some people had to sit on the steps rather than on the proper seats. So we decided to explore the exhibits first and went back for the 10.55am screening. It worked out just right and we were able to settle down comfortably. This animation film was great! Very enjoyable. So don’t miss it if you visit the museum.

The museum itself was not big. The different rooms show you how traditional animation was made. The concept drawings of the animations made by the Studio were also on display. It was very interesting. So much works goes into producing an animation. Kudos to all the animators!

There was a huge sculpture at the roof of the museum. Not sure what it represented though. But since everyone was taking a photo of it, so I took one too!

The gift shop of the museum was very crowded when we went there at the end of our visit. I suppose it is the last stop for everyone. But do not miss it! It had lots of cute stuff from the Studio Ghibli animations and was a heaven for fans of the Ghibli animations. We spend quite a lot here. We also wanted to check out the onsite cafe. But as it was full, we gave it a miss.

Nakano Sunmall & Lunch @ Aoba

We took the train from Mitaka to Nakano which was one stop before Shinjuku. At Nakano Station we exited from the North exit and right in front of us was Nakano Sunmall. Nakano Broadway was at the end of this shopping street.

But we did not go straight to Nakano Broadway. Instead we went in search of Aoba a well known ramen shop which was just of a side street from Nakano Sunmall. Walking down Nakano Sunmall towards Nakano Broadway, we came to until a MacDonald’s, and from there, turned right into a side street. Walking down this side street and we came to Aoba.

Aoba was a small ramen restaurant with only counter seats. It was the kind of place where you eat and go and don’t linger. We placed our order and paid at a machine. The machine was all in Japanese, but it was not difficult to figure out.

We gave our coupon to the lady behind the counter and took our seats. They were very efficient and the noodles came quickly. The standard was without egg. We all went for the special that came with half a soft yolk egg. DH, DD and I had the Special Ramen. DD and I had the regular size (¥900) while DH had the large (¥1000). DS had the large size Special Tsukemen (¥1050).

The ramen was excellent. The noodles were not like the regular we normally have but were tricker and chewy. The slices of pork were so tender and the broth was oh so tasty! DS loved his tsukemen. Now that we are home, he still keeps raving about it. Tsukemen is a ramen whereby the broth is served separately from the noodles and you dip your noodles into the broth before you eat. DS said the the broth was very very good! Tsukemen broth are generally thicker than ramen broth. It was a very satisfying meal for all of us.

Nakano Broadway

After lunch we headed down Nakano Sunmall and got to Nakano Broadway. Nakano Broadway was an old shopping complex famous for its many stores selling anime and manga collectibles. You will find several Mandarake stores here, each specializing in different stuff.. This was a shopping haven for DS and DD. They said that the manga and anime items here were very extensive and cheaper than in Singapore. They spent their pocket money here.  We find in much easier to shop here than at Akihabara as everything was in one complex.

A surprise find here was collectors and branded watch shops. There were several shops here selling branded watches and all much cheaper than the regular retail price in Tokyo and definitely cheaper than in Singapore. These shops carry both used and new watches and these were clearly labeled. One well known shop here was Kamekichi. They have been established at Nakano Broadway for a long time and are well known for their good price. So while the kids checked out the anime and manga shops, DH and I checked out the watch shops! And yes, I bought a watch. It was something I had wanted for a while. I got it for 22% cheaper than the list price in Singapore! So happy! . In Singapore the max discount given is around 12% or maybe up to 15% if you know the retailer really well as the prices are controlled. So it was really a steal! But it sure burnt a big big whole in my pocket . The good thing about buying here was that that it was a tax free shop for foreigners, so you don’t have to pay then claim back the tax later like in Europe. When I showed my purchase to my friends back in Singapore, they were envious of the price I paid.

After getting my watch, I was dead broke so all shopping stopped (for the day) for me and DH and I went to the cafe on the ground floor to have a coffee and cakes while waiting for the kids.

Before we left Nakano Broadway, the kids went to the basement to get the famous 8 flavours soft serve ice cream for ¥550. You can’t come to Nakano Broadway and not try this. It was huge! The 8 flavours included coffee, chocolate, vanilla, grape, matcha, strawberry, bubble gum and banana.

For the less adventurous, you can always go for a smaller single flavoured optiono.

Tokyo Character Street

After Nakano Broadway, we went back to Tokyo Station, originally intending to rest in our hotel before heading out to dinner. Instead, we ended up at the Tokyo Character Street at Tokyo Station. You can find a Jump shop, Studio Ghibli shop, Pokémon Store, Hello Kitty Shop, NHK character shop, Rilakkuma shop among others.

In the end we didn’t go back to our hotel and headed out to Ginza for our dinner after shopping. Only DH went back to deposit some of our loot for the day.

Snacks from Tokyo Station

We bought more snacks from Tokyo station. DS’s friends from the army requested that he brings back some Tokyo Banana. It is sponge cake filled with banana cream and made into the shape of a banana. You can find it in most souvenir snack shops. But there is a Tokyo Banana Specialty Shop at Tokyo Station that had more options in terms of flavours and also packaging sizes. We bought ours here. Personally I am not a fan of Tokyo Banana as I find it a little too sweet, and also because I just don’t like banana flavoured stuff.

Another snack that we bought was the Yoku Moku cookies. Yoku Moku is famous for its cigarette cookies. They are expensive in Japan, but in Singapore they are even more expensive. So I will buy some whenever I am in Japan.

Yoku Moku’s store at Tokyo Station has another exclusive item – honey comb cookies. These cookies are exclusive to the Tokyo Station Store only. I decided to get one box to try. Didn’t get more as I was concerned that it may be too sweet for our liking. But no, it was not too sweet. Just nice. It has the taste of raw honey, but without the extra sweetness that you normally get from honey flavoured stuff. This is a hard type of cookie, different from its cigarette cookies. It is quite nice too. Something different for a change.

Teppanyaki @ Colza, Ginza

We like the teppanyaki at Colza so much that it has become a must eat every time we are in Tokyo. This, however, is the first time the kids are eating here. As usual, we went for the complete course with Japanese Wagyu, except that DD skip the abalone while DS skip the foie gras. All of us went for the 100g wagyu except DS who went for a larger 150g wagyu.

First came the 2 seasonal appetizer. (1) Marinated sea bream with grain mustard sauce and port wine flavored vinaigrette (2) Ajillo of mushroom. There were 3 types of mushroom, Porcini, shiitake and button.

Next up we had our clams, abalone and foie gras. It was fun watching the chef cook our meal in front of us. He was so skilled in the cutting and slicing and was forever keeping his work space extremely clean.

Then came a salads followed by our wagyu. We had the choice to have our wagyu done teppanyaki or grill. DH, DD and I went for teppanyaki while DS asked for half and half. DS said both were good, not distinctly different.

For our staple, we had a choice of garlic fried rice or rice ball. Rice ball comes in a clear soup. I had always had the rice ball on my previous visits here so this time I chose the garlic fried rice, and so did DD and DH. DS went for the rice ball.

Dessert was teppanyaki ice cream. Dessert is always such a show here. Liquor is poured on the ice cream which are on the hot plate. Then they switch off the lights and light a match over the ice cream. Boom! You have it!

This ended another satisfying and delicious meal at Colza. This meal definitely did not come cheap. Our total bill came up to ¥74,628 for the 4 of us. DS who normally does not take peppers actually ate his in his salad this time because he said the meal was so expensive he cannot leave a morsel behind !

Next up: Day 9 – Pokémon Cafe & Eating around Tokyo Station.

The post Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 8 (Ghibli Museum, Nakano Broadway & Tokyo Character Street) appeared first on Mums Travels.

Breakfast @ Rokurinsha

Rokurinsha is a well known ramen shop in Tokyo Station serving tsukemen. It is located outside the fare gate at the Tokyo Station Ramen Street. You can’t miss it as there will always be people queuing outside the restaurant.

We queued for 30mins to get our seats. As decided to split up 2-2 and sat separately at the counter rather than wait for a table. Again here you place your order and make payment at the machine, then give your tickets to the staff.

We went for the special needles with shredded pork and a whole soft yolk egg which was ¥850 for 330g of noodles. If you prefer the original version without the pork it was ¥740. And for those who want extra noodles, it’s ¥100 for 50% more. Frankly there is no need to upsize. The regular size is very substantial. After you are done with your tsukemen, you can add water to the broth and drink the soup. And remember to add the yuzu powder. It tastes good!

Some say Rokurinsha serves the best tsukemen, but DS said that while it is good, the tsukemen at Aoba which he ate the day before was even better. I didn’t try the one at Aoba and so cannot compare. But I enjoyed both my noodles at Aoba and Rokurinsha.

Takashimaya & Pokémon Center Tokyo DX

Takashimaya Nihombashi Store is about 10mins walk from Tokyo Station. We headed there at mid morning for shopping. Must buys for me when in Japan are Cle de Peau cosmetics and Issey Miyake. As usual, first thing when I arrived at Takashimaya is to get the tourist “Hello Kitty Card” which give foreign visitors a 5% discount.

The kids headed directly to the Pokémon Center Tokyo DX which is located at level 5 of the East Building of Takashimaya. At the entrance, you are greeted by a giant Snorlax. On one side of Snorlax is the Pokémon Center Tokyo DX, and on the opposite side is Pokémon Cafe.

There are so many cosplay soft toy pikachu here that are so cute. I was so tempted to get one for myself . Btw, the Hello Kitty Card cannot be used here and tax free has to be done at the store rather than the Takashimaya Tax refund counter.

Pokémon Cafe

We had a 12.30pm lunch reservation at Pokémon Cafe. Each reservation had a 90min dining time only, so you need to be punctual. The 90min starts from your reservation time, not your arrival time. If you come late, you will have less time.

Pokémon Cafe does not accept walk-in patrons so if you want to eat here, prior reservation made via the internet is a must. Our reservation did not come easy. While it is not difficult to get a reservation on weekdays, weekends, especially during lunch time gets booked out minutes after the reservation window opens. Reservations open one month earlier at 6pm Tokyo time. Maximum 4 pax per reservation. So if you are more than 4, you need 2 reservations and may not get to sit together. I had camped myself in front of my computer to go in exactly at 6pm Tokyo time to make my reservation. After I was done, I went in again and found that most of the brunch and lunch slots for 4 pax were gone. So if you want to eat here, either come on a weekday or if you must come on a weekend, then you need to be like me and put some effort in making the reservation.

Also there are some limited items that are only available with pre-order when you make your reservations. They have the chef and waitress pikachu mascots with chains (¥1620 each) and plastic folders. The plastic folders come in a set of 3 (¥756). These items are available only to those who dine at the cafe and pre-ordered when making online reservations. You can’t buy them at the cafe.

There is discount if you preorder the donuts as a package with these limited items. A set of mascots and folders together with a box of 4 donuts cost ¥5,184. So we ordered 2 of these sets and another set of keychains and folders as all three kids including DS1 who could not join us for this trip wanted them too. And the donuts were not only cute, but were yummy too! If you buy the donuts as take out they cost ¥2592.

You are advised to arrive 15mins before your dining time. For our 12.30pm booking there was already a queue at 12.15pm. Upon entry to the restaurant we were first greeted by a row of plants shaped like Pokeballs.

We were booked for area A. Different dining slots get different areas. Area C is a long table which is shared (see photo below). Our area A are individual tables for 4 by the window. There is another section on the inside with no windows separated by the shelves in the photo below from Area C.. I think that section maybe Area B.

We sat down at our table and saw the 2 large pikachu below. I couldn’t resist taking a photo before ordering our food

Our preordered souvenirs and donuts were already prepacked and on our table when we were seated. Love this Japanese efficiency! On our table each person gets a paper table mat that you get to bring home. So to prevent dirtying it, we kept them immediately! . The menu is a red tablet.

I had the Halloween themed Not-so-scary pikachu plate (¥1706) which consist of omurice, and steak patty. If you want the plate, you can order the meal with the plate to take home (¥2894).

DH and DS both had the pikachu curry rice (¥1598)

DD has the Halloween themed Gastly menchi katsu (minced meat patty) burger which came with fries and a cup of soup. (¥1,706).

We each ordered a drink. You only get a plastic coaster (which you can bring home) if you order a drink. So we were entitled to 4 coasters. We had a choice of the special Halloween coaster or regular specific Pokémon coasters. We decided to have 2 of each. You can’t choose the specific Pokémon’s. It’s by chance. We got a Pikachu and a Jolteon which evolves from Eevee.

DH had a hot Eevee latte, DS and I each had a Pikachu ice latte. We bought our coffee with the mug/glass as the kids wanted them. The coffee cost ¥756 without the mug/glass and ¥1836 with mug/glass.

DD had the Ditto’s Ombré Fruit Tea (¥918). This was an interesting drink. There is a light on which the glass sits on which changes colour and that got reflected onto the drink. DD says that this Pokémon changes colour so it is so apt for the drink to do so too.

Only DD had a dessert. And she went for the Mimikyu Chocolate Banana Crepe. She loves Mimikyu, the Pokémon that did not feel loved and crave to be loved and so try to dress up like Pikachu. The chocolate and banana crepe was lovely. And the dessert looked so cute too. How not to love this dessert and this character?

After our meal, a friend came to visit! Yes! It’s Eevee! The fella was so cute! It makes me smile just to think of it now. Yes, we did not understand what the host was saying, but heck! What does it matter? Eevee came round to all the tables to shake hands and take photos. But you need to be quick. I was a little too slow and did not get a good picture of Eevee and the kids. Well another excuse to come again next time!

This was truely an enjoyable experience. The food were decent on the palate for a themed restaurants. And they were definitely so cute. The whole experience was great! Highly recommended for Pokémon fans!

BTW, they gave us new mug and glasses rather than the ones we used. We also bought additional plastic folders of a different design from what we preordered. A set of 3 cost ¥756. We bought 3 sets for the kids including DS1 who could not join us on this trip.

Shopping & Afternoon Tea @ Daimaru, Tokyo Station

By the time we left Pokémon Cafe, it was time for DS to head back to the hotel to pick up his stuff to go to the airport. DS is still doing his National Service and he was a last minute addition to our trip. He could only be away for 9 days (5 days plus 2 weekends) from the army, but we had already booked a 10 days trip. So he was leaving a day earlier than the 3 of us. DH accompanied him to Haneda airport while DD and I continued our shopping and eating.

We went to Daimaru at Tokyo Station and shopped until we were so tired we needed an afternoon tea break. We finally found a cafe within Daimaru which did not have a long queue called Burdigala. DD had the creme brûlée and ice coffee set (¥1188) while I had the mont blanc and ice coffee set (¥1350). I have fallen in love with mont blancs recently. DH got joined us for a coffee (¥680) when he came back from the airport. So nice to be able to rest our feet and enjoy so sweets in the mid afternoon.

Dinner @ Numazu Uogashizushi, Tokyo Station

We went to Numazu Uogashizushi at Kitchen Street in Tokyo Station for dinner. There is a large sushi counter which greets you as soon as you enter. It was full when we arrived at 7.15pm.

There were tables beside the counter top. But it felt cramped here. As we had made reservations, we were shown to the back of the restaurant given one of the low tables inside. It was nice and private here. Very cosy. We picked this based on reviews that it is reasonably priced and good. I was looking forward to good sushi here.

DD and I decided to have the Minati Mori Komachi set (¥2,660). It came with 6 pieces of bite size sushi (chutoro, sea urchin, salmon roe, shrimp, and shellfish) and 3 types of sashimi (Horse Mackerel, Tuna and white fish). Every item was so fresh. The bite size sushi was just right for me. My favorite was the horse mackerel sashimi. DH pinch on my sashimi because it was so good!

DH went for the Uogashi Nigiri set (¥2480). It had 11 pieces of sushi, and one of which was a whole conger eel. The rest of the 10 were chutoro, maguro, egg, shrimp,squid, uni, salmon roe, salmon and 2 types of white fish. These were full sized sushi. This set came with a salad.

DH couldn’t resist getting a sake(¥1140), and so he did.

The sushi here were really fresh and good and so reasonably priced too. This is going to be on my list of must eat places in Tokyo from now on!

Next up: Day 10 – Around Tokyo Station

The post Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 9 (Pokémon Cafe & Eating around Tokyo Station) appeared first on Mums Travels.

Tokyo Metropolitan Marunouchi @ Tokyo Station

We had a 5plus flight to catch on this last day. So the plan was to have a lazy sleep in, do some last minute shopping, have lunch, then head for the airport. We ate a box of the Pokémon donuts we bought the day before for breakfast. The second box we were bringing home for DS1 the biggest Pokémon fan in our family but who unfortunately cannot join us on this trip. The donuts were quite nice.

We were back to the Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi in this trip. We have not stayed here for our last 2 trips to Tokyo. We figured it’s location at Tokyo Station is more convenient for the places we were visiting on this trip.

This time, we booked 2 double rooms for the first 3 nights of our stay since there were 4 of us. Then we switched to a triple room when DS went back yesterday.

As mentioned in my earlier post, the luggage we sent from the airport when we arrived was already waiting for us when we checked in. The Ghibli Museum tickets which our agent sent us was also here already. All these were brought out for us even before we asked for them. They were all well recorded in their system. We did have a little hiccup with processing my credit card initially but it worked when I changed to a different card.

The double rooms we had for the first 3 nights had a queen bed which was placed right by one wall as it was a relatively small room. But the room still had everything that we needed. Previously we had stayed in the king room and twin room which were bigger. But for this trip we figured the Queen was good enough. The deco was still what I remember from a few years ago. Simple modern.

The triple room on our last day was a twin room with an extra rollaway bed. It was a bigger room than the queen but with a third rollaway bed, there was little walking space. It is ok for a night or 2 but may get uncomfortable on a longer stay.

When we switched rooms, all we needed was pack our bags and leave them in our original rooms. Then we just returned the keys to the front desk around 10am and arranged to pick up the keys to our new room at 2pm. When we came back, all we needed was get the keys to our new room from the front desk. Our bags had already been moved to our new room. DH forgot to pack his hair cream and had left it in the original bathroom. We were pleasantly surprised that they brought the bottle of hair cream over to the new room for him too and it was placed in a similar position on the new bathroom vanity. Amazing service and attention to details!

The best thing about this hotel is its location. It is right at Tokyo Station which is so convenient to food and transport. I will never hesitate to stay here again. Experience here on every of our stay has been always good.

Shopping @ Tokyo Hands, Tokyo Station

It is always a joy to browse around Tokyu Hands. They have such an array of goods from kitchen to lifestyle to novelty items and cards and gifts. You name it they have it is how I describe Tokyo Hands. I bought some small all-occasion gift cards. Tokyo Hands have lots of variety of those and they are all pretty and come in so handy and useful with presents.

I also came across a series of greeting cards that open up to a 3D decorative item. Eg a Christmas card that open to a Christmas tree that you can display. A card with the chinese zodiac caught my eye, and I decided to buy it as a decoration for the table at home on Chinese New Year. This is such a great idea for a greeting card. Normally you will throw a greeting card away. But in this instance, you can use it as a decorative item …how practical!

I was at Tokyu Hands when I received a message from my sister to get her a Kyocera ceramic knife. She says that it is so useful but expensive in Singapore. It is cheaper in Japan. I found it in Tokyu Hands and since I was at it, decided to buy one for myself too…haha. It may be cheaper in shops like Don Don Donki, but since she did not tell me earlier, there was not enough time to go search for a cheaper options elsewhere. ‍

Sukiyaki @ Moritaya, Marunouchi

DH and I have been wanting to have sukiyaki in Japan after having it in Kyoto on one of our previous trips. We don’t get good sukiyaki in Singapore. There are 2 styles of Sukiyaki, Kansai style (which we had in Kyoto) and Kanto style (what they serve in Tokyo). Kansai style sukiyaki is where the beef is seared in the hot plate before a thick gravy is added. Kanto style is more soupy as the beef is cooked in a slight broth.

We decided to have our sukiyaki at Moritaya because it is on the top floor of Marunouchi Building, 5mins walk from Tokyo Station and most importantly, because they serve Kansai style sukiyaki here. We were considering whether to have dinner or lunch and decided on lunch because lunch was cheaper , and also because the restaurant has a good view of the Imperial Palace, and we won’t be able to see at night. We had reserved a table with view of the Imperial Palace. That cost an extra cover charge of ¥2000 per table. We thought it was worth paying for, so we just went for it.

We went for the ¥6000 per pax sukiyaki set which comes with both fatty and lean wagyu. We were first served with an appetizer.

The waitress started preparing our sukiyaki. First she broke an egg into each bowl and beat the egg. The beaten egg was to be used as a dip for our beef.

Then the cooking begins. She started by scattering some sugar in the pan. Next she rubbed a piece of beef fat all over the pan to grease it before searing the wagyu. Then she poured a thick sukiyaki sauce all over the beef and let it simmer.

Each sliced of perfectly cooked wagyu was then placed in each bowl of beaten egg and passed to us. The beef was so tender it melted in our mouth. We were served rice, miso soup and pickles to go with our sukiyaki.

Next the waitress proceeded to cook the tofu and vegetables. The tofu and vegetables were arranged neatly in the pan, some sugar was scattered all over, and sukiyaki sauce was added to the dish for it to simmer. When the vegetables were almost cooked, the vegetables were pushed to a side of the pan and she added the beef. She then served us the wagyu, tofu and vegetables in our egg bowl.

Then came our last round. It was again, vegetables and wagyu, but had additional noodle and a chewy dango like dumpling. Again after they were cooked, she served it in our egg bowl.

We came to the end of our sukiyaki meal. The final course was dessert which was a slice of musk melon, 2 Kyoto grapes and 2 slices of kiwi per person. The fruits were all very sweet. I just don’t understand why we can’t get such sweet fruits in Singapore.

With the ice oolong tea that I had (hot tea was complimentary) and the additional ¥2000 cover charge for the window table, our total bill was ¥24,354. An expensive lunch but was so good. It satisfied my craving for Kansai style sukiyaki. Dinner would have been much more expensive. This was DD’s first time eating sukiyaki and she loved it. I doubt she will ever eat sukiyaki in Singapore after this fantastic meal.

Back at Tokyo Station

Walking back to Tokyo Station, we come to the front of the Tokyo Station Building. The last time we stayed around here, the Tokyo Station building was under refurbishment. Today, all refurbishment work had already been completed. It was a beautiful building.

Entering Tokyo Station through Marunouchi entrance brought us to Kajitsuen, a speciality dessert and fruit store. As we still had time, we decided to give ourselves a last dessert treat.

I had the ice cream sundae with musk melon. Comparing what I had last year at Takano, I must say I prefer what I had eaten at Takano during last year’s trip better. Kajitsuen serve this musk melon sundae with vanilla ice cream but Takano serves it with a musk melon sorbet which was so much better. DD had a different dessert. I can’t remember what it is now.

DH as usual just had coffee and shared my sundae. Our total bill came up to ¥3358.

Honestly, I would have preferred to have dessert at Kiyobashi Sembikiya which is also at Tokyo Station. But we did not have much time and Kajitsuen was on the way back to our hotel. Moreover, there is always a queue at Sembikiya, and we did not have time for that.

After dessert, it was back to our hotel to get our stuff before we headed out to the airport.

To Haneda Airport

We decided to take the train to Haneda Airport since it was the fastest option , and DH having taken it with DS the day before said that it was easy. We had previously always take taxi if our flight depart from Haneda Airport.

There are 2 train lines that you can take from Tokyo Station- Keihin-Tohoku line or Yamanote line. My impression is that Yamanote line is always very crowded and Keihin-Tohohu line seems newer. So we took the Keihin-Tohoku line to Hamamatsucho (¥160) which is only one station away from Tokyo Station on the rapid train. At Hamamatsucho, we had to change to the Tokyo Monorail Rapid for the Haneda International Building. We had to top-up our train ticket with another ¥490 at the ticket machine here. We just slotted our old ticket into the ticket machine, top up, and a new ticket was dispensed. It was easy. Our whole journey to the airport took only about half an hour. Much faster than if we were to to take taxi (~45mins) or Airport Limousine Bus (~60mins). We have decided that we will take train to Haneda Airport henceforth! Cheap, fast and good!

Return Flight on SQ Premium Economy

On our return flight, we were on SQ Premium Economy. This was the first time we were trying Premium Economy so I did not know what to expect. To my pleasant surprise, our check in bags got the same priority tag as Biz class so they will come out earlier. There was also priority boarding.

Premium Economy had leather seats and there was more legroom. The TV screen was bigger and the headphones provided were same as biz class.

The seat recline slightly more than Economy and they provided an amenity pack which consisted of a pair of socks and toothbrush and toothpaste.

We had the option to elect Book-A-Cook and we did. My understanding was that if you don’t you get the same options as Economy when onboard. But don’t expect proper plate and service like in Biz class. It was a prepackaged tray like economy. Just remember that premium economy is economy plus and not business minus.

Overall it was a pleasant experience. More comfortable than Economy because the extra legroom and additional slight recline did make a difference. If we do not wish to pay for Business in future and still want some additional comfort, Premium Economy will be an option.

This concludes our 10 Days Autumn trip to Japan. If you ask my kids what was the best thing on this trip, their answer will be “Food!”

We will be leaving for our family trip to North Island, New Zealand, tomorrow. This time all 3 kids will be with us.

But before I get to that, I have a few posts on hotels and eating in Hong Kong to share as I had made several one night trips to Hong in 2018. Stay tuned!

The post Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 10 (Around Tokyo Station)(Last Day) appeared first on Mums Travels.