Here's a much overdue blogpost about our trip to the vibrant city with the cutest of cutesy things, and everything adorable, and the freshest of fresh catch for the Best Bento Boxes (oooh 3 B's)......Tokyo!
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| A lil peek into more food to come! (This was actually from the day before we left. The tummies just needed some prep.) |
So we bid our resident cutesy adieu and went on our way~
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| Seeya Chloe! in like... WHEN WE COME BACK! Stay adorable ;) |
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| Soaking in the sights and sounds.... from our hotel! |
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| A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do! ~Shopping time! |
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| But first (and more importantly) LUNCH! |
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| SHIBUYA! |
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| Spot Mimi in this picture! On the famous Shibuya Crossing :) |
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| Well yknow since Adidas filmed their advertisement right here on this very crossing, Benji and I decided to do one of our own as well! |
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| Ollie and Mel were so thrilled to meet Kermit in one of the shops! |
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| Ollie found this queer creature.. Kakure Momojiri (Peach-Man) and insisted on getting his figurine set ("to keep in a small terrapin tank")... We really disapproved since he resembled too much of a cross between a bumbum and a peach.. |
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| Harajuku Girls! かわいい! |
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| Staying close to Ben, in case I lose my way |
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| A Tamagotchi-nest! たまごっち! |
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| ooh ooohh! here's me and Buzz Lightyear and a little green man.....and mimi getting into the mood. hmm... |
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| Dramatic Pinky-Flight only for this diva! |
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| Awww... モンチッチ Monchichi cuddling up to Mimi >.< |
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| Shopping in the cold really got us pretty peckish... here's a yummy must-have snack! |
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| Angel's Crepes just for our angel~ |
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| Time to head back to our hotel! |
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| Back in our hotel, we tucked into these little dessert cups! うふぷりん "ufu-pudding" is what they're called and they're like pudding in egg shells, with some gula-melaka kind of syrup at the bottom.... Very delicate! |
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| These green-tea-red-bean-cubes were packed individually so neatly! And mimi would love to share our bedtime story behind these ;) |
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| My sisters have got to be the best sisters any girl could ever wish for! Here's me with the Tail they bought me from a shop in Harajuku! It hangs in all its bright and pinkish glory on my pink travelling bag :) |
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"Mirror Mirror on the wall... Who's the fairest of them all?" "Well, it could only be the Queen of Westwood!"
All ready to head down to Mitaka Station for our Studio Ghibli visit! That's where everybody lives in a fairy-tale! |
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| Along the way, the station master stops to chat with Melly for a while... he looks like a toy >.< |
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| Hey....Indoor Plants! Mom's started a trend! |
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| These taps had cats sitting on them! |
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| The museum was so full of detail! |
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| Big Bro Benjo needed to make a quick call just to check on the guys back home. |
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| oh yeah, how could i forget! Here's what my study looks like ;) (nah i'm kidding...) |
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| Ben's found a fellow painter-friend :) |
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| Melly's a doll in a doll-house |
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| Mimi ready to ascend the caged-spiral-lookout |
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| Totem-shot in front of the gigantic iron man! |
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| Mel spoils that frog and showers him with all those collectibles.. |
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| It was alright that i was too old.. and too big... and too heavy to enter the flying-running-cat-cage where kids could roll or jump or tumble or scream around in. i had enough fun meeting the smaller version anyway~ |
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| And Mimi met Totoro.. He's so tiny here >.< so much for "rice will make you BIG and STRONG" |
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| we eat lots of rice, but look here... mimi and i are so tiny! |
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| ooop, another picture of us looking like tiny toys... take that, totoro! |
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| well, what do we have here... hungry girls waiting in line for dinner at the cafe! |
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| Staying warm by the fireplace before setting out again! |
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| It's like walking through a pop-out picture book here :) |
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| ...especially when you've the fairy-tale characters: The Prince and The Queen! |
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| Figuring out our way back! Tokyo has many train lines >.< |
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| Dinner was hand-cut Ramen, perfect on the tummy after an entire day in the cold! |
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| The next day we headed to the Tsukiji Fish Market! 築地市場 |
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| "Where're the fresh fish?" |
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| "Here're some! Enjoy!" |
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| "Follow me!" |
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| "Where're you bringing us?" |
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| "SHOPPING!" |
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| Chopsticks Rests~ perfect for Chinese New Year :) |
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| Seaweed! |
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| Getting our street-food-fix: Steaming hot Egg-Rolls/Rectangles! Freshly made :) |
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| On our way to Tokyo's very own Eiffel Tower, the Tokyo Tower! 東京タワー | |
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| This tower is 13 metres taller than the Eiffel! My knees got shaky on the lift up to the observatory deck! |
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| She turns 20 in 2013! (get it? 20..2013!) |
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| The view from up on the tower was simply breathtaking! |
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| Tokyo looks really big and bright from way up there:) |
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| Feeling a little wobbly in the knees after being so high up in the sky for so long... we needed a little time to stabalise! |
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| ..Or it could have just been the beer ;) |
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| In any case, it was our last night staying at this hotel, so we had a little celebration when we got back! |
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| And some crazy moments! |
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| The Best Totem Picture! |
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| Here's us at the Meiji-Shrine! 明治神宮 |
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| There was a long walk to the shrine... maybe just to get you into a reflective mood ;) |
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| This wall of Sakae Barrels inform visitors of the annual practice of offering Sakae 栄町 to the enshrined deities |
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| Stopping to check on directions! |
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| And we made it! |
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| Mom helping me wash my hands before we enter the shrine! |
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| Check that out... such a long queue! (don't worry, they're only Mom's fans... i had crowd control taken care of) |
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| Time to say goodbye! さよなら |
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| Mel showing us to Tokyo's Champs-Élysées |
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| The Japanese Oriental Bazaar! |
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| Melly, leaving the shop with some cool new finds! What a nice way to end the day! |
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| Here's Mummy Dearest looking for a surprise for the Birthday Girl, Mimi :) |
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| This Cat "knows all the lyrics to the musicals!", just the right cat for Mimi! |
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| Guess where we spent the day! |
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| DISNEYLAND! 東京ディズニーランド |
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| Prince Charming had to hold on tight to Snow White. She wanted to much to move around with Benji (her Life's True Love). |
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| What can I say? my bro's a hit with da ladies! |
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| Tigger too... well, "Tiger Protect Ben!" |
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| Ooh, the Fairy Godmother meets the Queen of Westwood! |
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| All Aboard the Mark Twain Ship! |
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| The Birthday Girl tried on her missing glass slipper and who knew? |
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| IT FITS! and Mimi was crowned Princess! |
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| Starting on her Princessy rounds at the Mountainous Region.... on a ROLLER COASTER! yikes!! |
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| Before the roller coaster ride~ getting all excited and jittery. Ben was cool as a cucumber. |
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| (There were no after-roller-coaster pics...we were screaming our lungs
out) But Ben took Mel for a spin around Disneyland..just to calm her
down a lil... Dang Girl, can't you enjoy a roller-coaster ride the way
Benji does? |
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| Mimi and I took our space cards to the gantry level and boarded the lil green man rocket ride. It sure was cold up there! |
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| All the lights went out during the Night Parade! |
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| Any day spent in Disneyland will always be a good one! |
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| Bright and sunny the next day, here's us in USA! oop! i meant the mini-statue of liberty heeehee |
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| yea, it's still very much Japanese! Odaiba お台場 |
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| And here, Mel stands before the Japanese Rainbow Bridge レインボーブリッジ. It really resembles the San Francisco Bridge!) |
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| "Can't take my eyes off you~ you're too good to be true!" |
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| Totem Shot! |
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| We took a ride in a water-bus to Asakusa :) 浅草 |
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| Mimi and her cat, and the Rainbow Bridge in the background... |
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| While Ben says "Cheers to a great holiday!"... |
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| ...we tuck into Purple Potato Ice-cream! |
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| Mel picking a Daruma Doll! だるま Wishing Doll :) |
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| Benji enjoying some Fresh Hama-Sakae! |
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| Benji, Mommy and Melly in front of the Taiko 太鼓, the biggest Japanese Drum! |
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| Time to catch our ride back to our hotel! The boats have with pretty lights on.. so when you see a "capsule of light" gliding along the water, it's another boat ;) |
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| Back in our hotel room, we snacked on snacks and sipped on blueberry wine from our adventure during the day! The hotel room was really big (unlike other Japanese hotels which tend to be cosy and small!)... so it was a BIG treat for us, especially when we needed all that space to pack our buys from the trip! From our window, you could also see the port next to Haneda Airport. at night the ships have lights on, and they look like little toy boats.. whee :) |
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I feel really sad when i look at this picture now. there're so many Pompompurins right in front of me, but i couldn't save any of them :( Just so you know, here's who PomPompurin is (according to wiki... but you should hear about who he is from me) :
Pompompurin is a golden retriever dog
character first introduced in 1996 (two years younger than me!). Purin was born on a sunny day on
April 16. He is a good natured golden retriever dog, who lives in his
own basket at his owner's house. His trademark is his brown beret
that is always on top of his head. Purin's interest is collecting
shoes, which includes his owner's father's leather shoes, his owner's
mother's sandals, etc., and he likes to hide them.
Purin loves drinking milk and eating soft food and pudding
that his mother makes. He also spends a lot of time sleeping or hanging
out with his friends. Purin's best friends include a hamster called Muffin, a mouse named Scone, and a bird.
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| Mel and Mimi tried saving Pompompurin for me... but.. |
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| IT DIDN'T WORK :( |
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| well, at least we got some Hello Kitty Stamps :) |
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| I needed some major cheering up.. and Mommy dearest just knew the perfect way to! YAKITORI DINNER! |
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| These were really good... they melt in your mouth! <3> |
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| Mimi thinking of stocking up for our hotel supper! |
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| Gas for the road? |
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| Mochi Mochi! |
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And just like how every holiday ends......Tokyo was no different ;) Here we are with our new luggages, packed with all our buys! (Definitely needed those mochimochi to keep us up all night packing!)
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| Catch up next time in my next blogpost about our getaway to Thailand's most populous city, กรุงเทพมหานคร, BANGKOK! |
