Well done, Bunny!

The new show Bunny Town on cable is a hit with my kids. They’ll prance around singing to the theme song and laugh at some what-I-think-is-not-funny acts by some weird coloured bunnies.

The thing about this is, Nurul loves it. She’ll keep on singing the theme song. And the best part is she sings out:

"….welcome to a place called Bunny Town. Pu-kee little place called – Bunny Town!"

ahahahahhahahahahahah can’t blame her for saying that word. It really does sound like "Pu-kee". Oops! Censored!

Well, actually, it should go like: "… Perky little place called – Bunny Town!"

R is for Riyan

Riyan has a slight problem with pronouncing the letter 'R'. Ok, i shall not call it a problem since he has yet to fully develop his speech.

But it's funny. His phonic for 'r' will be 'y' as in the sound of 'yee'.

When his fingers get all crinkled up after a long shower, he'll say:

"Look mama... like byain..." Actually he meant : like brain.

:)

Interesting, very interesting...

Interesting encounters...

Kawaii, neh...

Right from Day 1, Japanese had come up to me to comment on how 'kawaii' or cute Nurul is. Cos she is fair and chubby like most Jap kids, but only with bigger eyes. The locals would stop in front of the twin stroller and smiled and said "kawaii, neh...". Riyan received it too but more of Nurul cos she was the friendlier of the two.

Once at the Kaminari-mon, one old lady stopped me and commented on Nurul. She was all smiley and made a conversation with me in Japanese! I just nodded at every pause she made and replied "hai. arigato gozaimasu." The conversation was quite long. She told me some stories and pointed to Nurul. I would reckon she was talking about her grandkids cos i could single out a few words she said.

Another funny one was the shopkeeper. I wanted to purchase a 'jinbei' - a traditional summer kids clothes - for my kids. The lady politely suggested that Nurul should wear size 100 as most Jap girls her age wear that size. But when she tried it on for Nurul, she smiled and almost hugged Nurul cos Nurul was boncit - rounded tummy. And the "kawaii, neh" came out from her too... :)

Some of her many fans...





Signs

These signs should definitely be implemented in our MRTs. So we would not have girls screaming their heads off on the mobile phones in the trains, when their boyfriends cheated on them. Japs are not allowed to use their mobile phones in the trains... which makes the train rides peaceful.

Toilets...

... with buttons and functions like a TV remote control.





Security

You can't locate a trash or dust bin in the public places in Japan. This is to tighten the security after the chemical/gas terrorising incident in the train station. About more than 10 yrs ago, a Jap placed such item in the trash bin of a subway station intending to poison the public. Since then, all bins were removed. So carry a paper or plastic bag to keep your trash!

They have sooooooo many policemen around especially at the train stations. Some were position on top a stool with a long pole - for whacking people, i guess.

Home sweet home - Day 7

Finally, the end of our journey in beautiful Japan. We knew we would be back again... to do and see all the things that we had missed.

Summarise, we had a real good time in the land of the rising sun. It was not as bad as people had mentioned when i told them i wanted to go and plan the trip myself. We proved a travel agent wrong by making it there on our own. She had persistently pushed her tour group into my face.

Japanese spoke English though you have to decipher sometimes. But it was not bad. Both parties learn. They learn to understand us, we learn to understand them. Food was not a problem, accommodation was great in terms of location and the hospitality of the ryokan. Train rides were great and interesting though a little tiring cos we made wrong turns to locate elevators. Souvenirs were aplenty. The people were beautiful and dressed well.

Most of all, we would surely miss the people. [Although we encountered one disappointment with a Jap during one of the train rides. That was one isolated case which i prefer not to be reminded of.]

Thank you for the great hospitality, Japan. Arigato-gozaimasu. Hajimehmosute.

The men in my life had been great during the trip. Thanks Pa for even going ahead with the Tokyo trip. Riyan, a wee bit mischievous throughout the trip but never fail to make me laugh although sometimes i feel like biting him.. . :p

My beautiful princess had been the best. She helped me a lot especially since she knew i had a lot in my hands. Look at how she volunteered to carry the breakfast container of noodles, meant to be eaten in the train. She tried to make it up to me for being quarrelsome with Riyan. :)

Ochanomizu, Akihabara, Tokyo Metropolitan - Japan Day 5

Now, this was what i call 'the man's' day. Yup... the day he was waiting for. I planned this specially so that Pa could get hold of his guitar. And he sure did.

We were at Akiharaba too. But being a non-techie, a non-gamer, i hated the place. It was just like a monster Sim Lim. Boring! We then changed our course to Tokyo Metropolitan where we had wonderful, fantastic, beyond ecstatic pudding cake at SG$18 for the size of an A5 and no thicker than 4 inches. But it was heavenly!

Before that we spent the morning having our last morning walk along the Kaminari-mon shops. Got a couple of last minute stuff since they always closed shop by the time we got back.

I just had to visit this brewery building by Philippe Stark. I also had hoped to visit buildings by Toyo Ito. He is like the Norman Foster of Asia. I love his works.





Took the subway to Ochanomizu. Thought it would be a long walk to the specialty street but it was actually just outside the JR Station.










Ahh... same quality of service even at the guitar shop. The fella walked Pa right out of the shop, carrying his new guitar for him.

We had lunch at Mc D. This Mc D was full of uni students. Cos the campus was right across the block. What was interesting was that the ice lemon tea came as just plain bitter ice tea. We had to add in the lemon juice and syrup, that came in little disposables, to make it ice lemon tea.

Akihabara is also known for their maid cafes, cross dressers or otherwise, which i think the atmosphere was not appropriate for us to go then since we were with the kids and Nurul was always asking questions out of curiosity. And i didn't want the maids to be embarrassed or something. Maybe another time... below is at home cafe.

Mega bill boards. I think there were too many that it irritated me cos too many to look at!

I was more than glad to jet out of Akihabara. On the way to Tokyo Station, we passed Ameyoko and I realised that i had missed out that place in my itinerary. Aawwww man!! Again, maybe next time.

A 2 level platform. Interesting!

This comes my fav part... at Daimaru. Went floor by floor looking at things. The cakes looked as good as the price. We wanted to waste time as we were waiting for the 'final hour' where all their day's confectionery would go as low a price. But we didn't wait too long as we really wanted to eat the cakes!

Their cakes and chocolates were all to die for! Plus, being a sucker for packaging, i got a couple of cakes and puddings. Yes, i admit some were cos of the packaging... I wanted to get the shortcake but it looked too good to be eaten. I sneaked in a shot or too. Not allowed t take photos, actually.

This was the best. From Meister Juccheim. CAme in a lovely box with minimalist design and a sturdy paper bag. Had to consume the pudding cake within that day itself, so says the expiry date. Best eaten fresh! $SG18 for A5 sized pudding. But i guess it was worth the packaging too...

Brought this home for my dad in SG cos he loves mango. This swissroll, i think contained cheese too, with mango puree is simply delectable! The surface is as soft as powder and the cake is as smooth as snow... honest! Best consumed within 2 days. But even at the 3rd day, the last piece tasted just as perfect!

Japan is famous for its quality melons and other groceries... went round their B1 groceries section. They have huge melon, damn huge onions, huge grapes from Alexandria, huge, huge everything! Whip out your calculator to see the conversion in SG$. Taking rate to be SG$13.3 for every 1000 yen.




I dun think i could eat an SG$40 grapes nor an SG$83 melon.



These in actual size are HUGE. The largest chilli i have ever seen. Each is about the size of 3 fingers side-by-side and almost 3/4 foot long.