Actually there is nothing much to blog about our last day in Tokyo ah, but I still want to create a post sebab nak cakap pasal beef udon noodles kat Narita International Airport HAHAHAHAHA #PBG TERSERLAH!

We spent the early part of the day just walking around Shinjuku (Lumine malls and Takashimaya belakang hotel) before hopping on the Narita Express train to the airport at around 3.30pm. Our flight back to Singapore was only at 8.50pm so we had lots of free time... which we used up by eating three different meals in the airport before our flight HAHAHAHA ROSAK

Our first stop was Kineya Mugimaru Restaurant, which is located at Terminal 1, Central Building, Level 5. It's a self-service restaurant that specializes in thick handmade udon noodles and serves sides of tempura and onigiri.

I had the udon noodles with beef which was SO SEDAP OK. I love the flavourful clear broth, I love the springy udon noodles, I love the perfect soft boiled egg, and I love the tender beef slices. Makan sampai terhantuk benjol beb. Tapi kan, because this meal was so delicious and comforting, it made the reality of us already leaving Tokyo even more unbearable seh :,(

Andddddddddddddd that is all for my entry on our last day in Tokyo 2016 HAHAHAHA ANTI-CLIMATIC TAK

Now I'm left to wrap up my tales in Tokyo in an overview post (as I always do, after every trip) so you guys can stop sighing and wondering whether my Tokyo posts will ever end hahahaha so lama right, if this blog could tumbuh uban, it would!

Tokyo Travels: Day 6 (Part 1)

On our sixth day in Tokyo, we spent the first part of the day in Asakusa and the last part of the day in Akihabara! It was an eventful day, which started with us terpusing pusing around Shinjuku Station macam headless chickens hahahaha. Sebab termasuk salah entrance lepas tu tak tau which part nak masuk balek haha

Somehow we just couldn't figure out the correct entrance, even though we went to every entry/exit and walked all round! FOR AN HOUR!!!!! I mean, we knew how it felt like to be overwhelmed by the train lines in Tokyo (we experienced it during the first 2 days) but travelling by public trains in Tokyo had been relatively easy after we familiarized ourselves with the system. So for us to get perplexed by the train lines on our sixth day in Tokyo, it just added to the confusion la :/

In the end, a very frustrated Saliheen sighed and said "Naik taxi sudah la". Haha. 

Terus run out to the road and flagged one! Also took a picture of the taxi fare breakdown, in case anyone's interested:

When we planned to go to Tokyo, we kept hearing that taxis in Tokyo are super expensive bla bla bla, so we tried as much as possible not to take one. But kita tak boleh angkat our exhaustion on one of the nights so we flagged one down from Shibuya back to our hotel and it cost us about S$20.00? Which was reasonable to us??? Kita ingatkan mahal sampai S$50 per cab ride ke apa. We went on to take 3 more taxi rides in Tokyo after that because we thought the costs was worth the comfort and time spent, lagi lagi bila dah penat at end of the day.

Okay, now back to blogging pasal our sixth day in Tokyo! We were lapar gila by the time we arrived in Asakusa because we wasted so much time trying to figure out the train!!! So our first priority was to cari Naritaya, which is a tempat makan in Asakusa serving halal ramen, amongst other things like fried chicken.

It took us another 20 minutes to look for the kedai makan, even though we had pictures to its shopfront to refer to (we saved pictures from the Internet) - probably because it was lorong after lorong of kedai kedai with the same blue curtain exterior haha. Turns out to be the unit located at almost the end of one of the lorong! Friendly staff who greeted us at the front was a Japanese who just embraced Islam a month back, Alhamdullilah.

Naritaya differs from other makan establishments in Tokyo, due to the fact that it does not serve alcohol at its premises at all. The people behind this restaurant are Malaysians too (macam Ippin)! You do you, Malaysians, particularly when it comes to bringing halal food to Japan!

We quickly discovered that the person behind the counter was a abang melayu from Malaysia! Saliheen became sooooo chatty (more than usual) that I teased him about missing being able to speak in Malay to another person other than me haha. He said it was true ok, and that it was refreshing to ask questions and receive answers in fluent Malay after days of interacting with others in broken English campur Japanese. He became so kamchengho with the abang sampai keluar hisap rokok sama sama belakang kedai, amboi amboi sedara.....

Anyway, something else that was refreshing in the kedai was the ramen! It tasted nice, and I felt so puas eating a hot meal after days of eating cold sushi and sashimi (which I still love, but sometimes you just want your perut dalam to terbakar a little bit, you know). 

The only thing that could be better was the eggs? They served the ramen with telur with yolk yang masak habis. Dah macam telur dalam mee rebus la pulak haha, kan eggs in ramen selalu half cooked and still wobbly! But that's ok la, I tak discriminate telur ok, I still like all of them in whatever forms, even in Gudetama form hehe.

This was when we walked from Naritaya to Senso-ji Temple (it's nearby, walking distance of one to two minutes)... we saw Tokyo Skytree in the distance! We didn't go up the tower because we read that there will be lots of tour groups causing long waiting lines *shudders* Maybe we'll check it out next time we're in Tokyo, and at a timing when there wouldn't be such an insane crowd.

Senso-ji Temple was pretty crowded too, but it was nice to walk amongst the locals, tourists and worshippers from all over Asia who came to gawk and/or pray at the temple.

By the way, if you want to take pictures at the Kaminarimon entrance, please do it quick because nanti ada je orang yang tak sabar tunggu you to finish your photo-taking and will stand in your frame. Macam dekni:

Ah tu la dia, mata orang yang tak sabar sabar suruh kau cepat sikit HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Should probably mention that this was also where we bought some of the souveniers for our families and friends! There are rows of shops that sell souveniers and snacks leading to Sensoji Temple, which was where we got some souveniers for family and friends. Oh, remember I said jangan beli souveniers kat Tsukiji Market?! We really should've known better! Saliheen got chopsticks for his colleagues at S$12.00 per 5-set pack at Tsukiji Market when it only costs S$6.00 here!!! 50% lesser seh. Luckily we only got a few packs from Tsukiji Market.

[Note: There are three places which I recommend getting souveniers from: Either from Nakamise Dori (which is the stretch of shops leading into Sensoji Temple), from any Don Quijote outlet (we went to the one in Kabukicho, it's right beside the main road and has a Mustafa Centre feel and layout) or from the AKKY II tax-free shop in Akihabara. These places sell various things for cheap, ranging from facial masks, chopsticks, tea sets, green tea packs, t-shirts, fans, terompah, chocolates, novelty gifts, etc.]

Anyway, after we visited Sensoji Temple, we had some free time so we did a quick Google search for a cat cafe in Asakusa and the first hit result was Cat Cafe Asakusa Nekoen. It's the unit on the sixth floor and costs ¥800 (S$10.00) for one hour per person.

This is a picture of me after I bribe belanja the cats with treats hehehehe

The owner was a polite but firm lady, and I don't know whether I was just uncomfortable with her gaze but I didn't really play much with the cats or enjoy my time there. Might also be because we went at the wrong timing because most of the cats were sleeping, hiding and refusing to budge from their positions (typical stubborn cat behaviour hah). And I guess I expected a traditional cafe setting but it felt more like a house with many rescued cats...? (Which it probably is) Saliheen and I had a pleasant time la, but I don't think I'll return nor recommend this place if you're looking for something with a traditionally known cat cafe setting.

After our one hour was up, we walked to Ippin for our dinner. This is the one in Asakusa that serves ramen!!! (Remember our confusion from the day before?) You can find directions on Google maps, it's pretty accurate.

THIS WAS WHERE WE HAD THE BEST, MOST DELICIOUS CHICKEN RAMEN EVER!!!!! 

I don't think the noises of pleasure, satisfaction and gratitude that came out of Saliheen and I while we slurped the noodles and soup sounded very appropriate HAHAHAHA. 

Very hot, very hearty and they weren't kidding when they said we'll get to savour the "deep rich taste of the chicken" hahahaha. We've never tasted ramen soup that rich before ok! And the best part, the egg yolk is the wet and wobbly kind that you expect from Japanese dishes hehehe. I think this is my next favourite meal after our first night dinner at Gyumon, honestly - Saliheen and I couldn't stop talking about it for days after that... ♥

Each ramen bowl cost about ¥750 (S$9.30) and the kedai has two levels - the 2nd level is the usual restaurant seating format whereas the first level (where we sat) was a bar seating format (smoking allowed). They also serve other stuff like fried chicken and curry sets (which we didn't really like).

Anyway, if you really, really, really can only afford time to eat at only one place in Asakusa that serves halal food, I highly recommend Ippin! Naritaya wins with their warm and friendly service whereas Ippin wins with the taste of their ramen. But if you can go for both joints like (gelojoh) us then that will be the best, of course! 

Okay, that'll be all for Asakusa! It was off to Akihabara pulak, known as an otaku culture hub!

Tokyo Travels: Day 5 (Part 2)

After the first part of Day 5, we crossed over to Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium for a sumo wrestling tournament!

If you plan to visit Edo-Tokyo Museum and watch a sumo tournament during your stay in Tokyo, plan these two activities on the same day ok because they're located right next to each other. 

You can skip the next part if you're not interested in knowing the ticketing and seating details.

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Ticket Prices: We bought tickets from their official website here! Paid ¥19,000 (S$226.00) in total for 2 pax, which means it's about ¥9500 (S$113.00) per pax. There are cheaper tickets, of course, but we chose mid-price tickets because we wanted seats which were nearer to the ring.

Seating: There are Western-style seats and box seats (where you can sit on the floor with cushions) so it really depends on what you prefer. We chose Western-style seats, which turned out to be more comfortable than expected!!! Saliheen accidentally slept for 5 minutes because it was so cosy hahaha. We referred to this pictorial guide here (1st level) and here (2nd level) before making our decision to purchase our seats. The official website also has detailed seating plans and other information (here, here and here)

Tournament Period: Sumo tournaments are only held in certain months at certain areas so you can refer to their timetable here. We didn't plan our holiday around the sumo tournament dates so we realized we got lucky when we checked and there was one in January! And it coincided with the dates we were in Tokyo. Sui.

Tournament Timing: The tournament is from 9.00am to 6.00pm but most people usually start streaming in at around 2.00pm to 3.00pm because that's when the heavyweight matches will start. We were seated by 2.30pm because we read online that the special ceremony (when all the heavyweight sumo wrestlers saunter in to do their chants, etc) happens at around 3.00pm, which it did.

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Definitely an interesting experience! I know some people think sumo wrestlers' bodies are "gross and unhealthy" bla bla bla, but I thought they were freaking strong and their bodies seem so sturdy seh. Every time two opponents slammed against each other, you can hear their bodies berdentum and rasa macam satu stadium bergegar (also because most of the spectators will start heckling and cheering at the same time)

We didn't want to stay until the end because we didn't want to battle with the crowd so we left earlier... we were crazy hungry, anyway! We were supposed to go to Ippin (another halal establishment in Tokyo) next so we took the train down to Shibuya (after struggling at the station because it had no English text again hahaha)

Anyway. I've read enough online to assume that Ippin served hot ramen and that was exactly what I was looking forward to, when we were on the way to the registered address stated on their official website. Sekali, when I opened the menu, I was a little puzzled - hey, I thought this restaurant sells ramen??? Apa ni semua ayam ayam?!

Did a quick search on Google and Google Maps and we realized we at the wrong address?!?!?!?! Turns out we were at the Shibuya outlet whereas the outlet with ramen is in Asakusa la seh. Hahahahaha siak betul. Don't ask me why dua dua known as Ippin but serves different menus ah. Tokyo will never fail to fascinate hahahahaha

But it was okay la, dah memang nak terjadi hehe. Food was not bad, we ordered rice with edamame, gyoza and fried chicken. Ambience was great since it was just the two of us in the restaurant haha, and customer service was excellent! Their staff was friendly and came to chat with us after our meal, and he even recommended us a karaoke joint called Manekineko in Tokyo that serves halal food and sediakan Muslim prayer room! It's by the same Malaysian people who manages Ippin restaurants. 

The staff also gave us the namecard with contact details, pricelist and directions to the karaoke joint but I can't seem to find it... will post it if I do! But you can read about it here and check their website here la. We wanted to try it out on another day but masa tidak mengizinkan so we'll consider it next time we're in Tokyo. 

(I found out two weeks later that they also have an outlet in Singapore because I saw their company mascot on an escalator hahahaha. Not sure if the local one serves any food and if so, whether they're halal, though)

Aaaaand here's a picture of the shopfront for the Ippin outlet in Shibuya. It's located on the second level so keep your heads up! You can also see a clearer and bigger picture of the shopfront on Google Maps here.

It's surrounded by residential condos/terraces so don't be alarmed ok. When we first turned left after a straight walk from the train station (based on Google Maps directions), we were musykil as to whether we were headed the right way since it seemed like a residential area rather than a restaurant hub. But we saw the signboard after a minute's walk so yeah, it turned out fine. Here's a warning, though - you'll need to "hike" up a high slope to get to the restaurant (and when you leave it) so be prepared to pull flex some calf muscles ok haha.

Walked to Shibuya Crossing again after that (told you we were in Shibuya on many nights!) to jalan jalan then back to our hotel to rest for the night. More exciting things happening in Day 6! We petted some cats, got lost FOR AN HOUR at a train station, ate the most delicious halal ramen we've ever in had IN OUR LIVES, got pooped on by an owl and convulsed after having delicious cheese tarts from Hokkaido. Stay tuned, guys.