Thursday, May 15, 2014

Japan - Day 7 : Tokyo Disneysea

Full - one day in Tokyo Disneysea !! 
Disneysea is different from Disneyland. Disneyland is available in Hongkong, Paris, America, and so on. But Disneysea is only available in Tokyo, Japan. Yes, it’s the one and only just in Tokyo.

Disneysea has two main shows that you won’t and shouldn’t miss. 
Both show is located on the Mediteranian Sea (at the centre of the lake).

The first show is around 2.30 p.m, and the second show is the closing show, at 9.00 p.m.
If you want to see it from a good spot, then you must wait there about 1 hour before the show started. It’s really worth it and I’m sure you wouldn’t miss it ! 

Not only the main show, Disneysea also have some Disney Parade at a certain hour, and it’s also worth to see. 
Personally, I think that visiting Disneysea for one day is not enough. There are lots of attractions that you should see, lots of rides that you shouldn’t miss, lots of snacks that you should try, lots of cute souvenir that you should see around! 

Must eat food in Disneysea : 

1. Chicken (near Indiana Jones, in Lost River Delta)
2. Churros (I try the one near Toy Story)
3. Popcorn (It’s everywhere), Disney Ice Cream (it’s everywhere)
4. Cafe Portofino (Located near Mediteranian Sea, has a very nice spot, Recommended for lunch, try the one that has cheese and prawns at the top)
(I took photos for some of the food, see below ;) )

By the way, today is the last day that we, as an IBM Students in the Study Excursion, go together :( 
Starting tomorrow, my group (consists of 5 people) will be separated from the others, because we’ve our own plan for our own 3 days trip in Tokyo !! Yeayy !! I just can’t wait for our adventure! 

So in the next 3 posts, because we’re travelling alone, not with a tour guide anymore, I’ll let you guys know how to travel around Tokyo, what MRT Line you should take, and so on. Just wait for it ;)

Okay then, from this part until the last part of this post, it’s all the pictures in Disneysea. Enjoy ! 

The DisneySea MRT Train!

This is our tickets :)

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Japan - Day 6 : NHK Studio Park, Takeshita Dori, Asakusa Temple, Tokyo Sky Tree

Today we’re going to NHK Studio Park!
So, NHK Studio Park is like a broadcasting studio that is open for public. A lot of kids go here, because there’s so many interactive games, all about broadcasting, that you can use here.

NHK Studio Park is really big, and there are so many things that you can look at.
FYI, everything inside NHK Studio Park is all CUTE !!
I’ll just show you around, enjoy my pictures ! ;)

With Domo-kun!




Yeah, we're on TV !
Trying to be a news reporter, hahaha
Trying to be the reporter!

It's dubbing time!
We're on TV again! Hahaha
Around NHK Studio!
Some fake Sakura inside the NHK Studio
NHK Exit

From NHK Studio Park, we go to Takeshita Dori in Harajuku to visit Daiso. Daiso in Harajuku is the biggest one, and it’s so complete, You can found earphone, headset, make up, tie, sandals, neck pillow, yes, everything! and it’s all for 108 Yen (8% tax included), Yeah, 108 Yen !! I guarantee you’ll shop a lot here, hahaha !

The crowd of Takeshita Dori Street. Yeah, you can't even breathe!
A closer look

The Harajuku Station just in front of Takeshita Dori
From Daiso (Yeah, we only stop by just for a while, we’re not visiting other places in Harajuku for today), we eat lunch near Harajuku Spain Slope, and then we go to Asakusa Temple.

Super delicious lunch near Harajuku Spain Slope ;)

ASAKUSA TEMPLE


Asakusa temple is famous for their big red lantern on the entrance. 
Don’t forget to look up when you’re at the bottom of the lantern, because there’s a dragon symbol there ;)




Dragon symbol below the lantern
Between the crowd!
Unlike Fushimi Inari (Refer to my Post here), Asakusa Temple is much more crowded. 
There are some girls walking around, wearing a Kimono ! Ah, Kawaii ! ;)


Anyway, a lot of people were queueing for “Mochi Cake”, because it’s the most popular food here, so I also join the queue. I think - this is my personal taste only - the mochi taste not that good, it’s only have average taste. Mochi in Indonesia taste better yet cheaper, hahaha ! (no offense *peace*)


I also try like a green tea cake near the temple, it has better taste rather than the Mochi. It also has a lot of flavour though, such as red bean, taro, custard, and so on.

I'm in front of the cake stall, it's located near the temple

The Asakusa Temple

TOKYO SKY TREE


From Asakusa Temple, we have a photostop at the Tokyo Sky Tree. We’re not going near the Tokyo Sky Tree, but we see it from across. 
Next to Tokyo Sky Tree, there’s a building that looks like a beer glass, and it’s belong to Asahi Beer office. It has a unique architecture, because it’s really look like a beer glass!

That's Tokyo Sky Tree! Sorry, The Asahi Beer Office is unfortunately cut off :(
With Masae San, my lovely tour guide for this seven days! Tomorrow is our last day together :(
I also found Pedicab here, and guess what? To ride a pedicab, the tourist need to pay for about 3,000 yen ! For me, it’s really expensive because pedicab in Indonesia only cost you around 200 yen (Rp 20,000 in Indonesia) for one ride.

The Pedicab

SHINJUKU


From the Photostop, we go to a market near Shinjuku - if I’m not mistaken - to buy souvenir and also Japanese snacks for gifts to our family, friends, and so on. 

What did I bought ? (Refer to my post here , number 10) 
Basically, the one that you should try is Kit Kat (just buy every flavour that’s available, haha), Pocky, Jagabee Potato Snack, All the meiji products, Chocobi, Cream Collon, Caplico, Pretz, and also popcorn. 
Try everything that I bought, because everything is yummy! hahaha.

The location where we buy snacks. 

We directly go back to hotel since today we need to pack our bags. Tomorrow is our last day to be together before we split up for our extension day (we’ll have an adventure by ourselves, in a different places in Japan!)


Japan - Day 5 : Nissan, Waseda University, Shinjuku Government Building

Today we’re going to Nissan!
Nissan is one of the biggest car industry in Japan, and they also do some car export all over the world, including in Indonesia.
I’m so excited to visit this company!


We arrived in a road that full of white buildings, I think all of them belongs to Nissan.
When we got inside, Nissan’s employee has already waiting for us. 
We gathered inside a room where we get a little souvenir, the miniatur of the new Nissan Leaf (Thank you Nissan!) that is super cute. 


With the real nissan leaf (You can charge it using electricity!)
After a short briefing, before going around the building, each of us were given a walkie talkie that can be operated from long distance so that we can hear what the employee is explaining. It’s really convenience, because we can hear what the voice of the employee clearly.
(Again, sorry, no pictures allowed in almost all the room / facilities)

I'm holding the walkie talkie to help us communicate
When we go around the museum, I was so amazed because some of the engines can move when you click the button. We also happen to see the oldest or the first car that Nissan has ever made. It has a great maroon colour with an oldish yet stylish design. 
Also, we can get to know the newest product of Nissan which is Nissan Leaf (If I’m not mistaken) which use electricity to power up the engine. 

This machine can draw the Hello Kitty !
Around the museum
After going around the museum, we go by bus to the manufacturing industry. 
Inside the manufacturing industry is really noisy and smelly. It has the strong smell of oil. 
I can see some people moving around, but not many. 
Almost all of the machine / parts production use machine, and few people to control the machine.
Even the machine can walk by itself, following the track of the machine that has been made. 
In the end of the production, there are few people in line, to make sure that the product is all well built (Quality check). 

WASEDA UNIVERSITY


From Nissan, we stop by the Waseda University. Waseda University is the A list university in Japan. 
We go into a room that already full of Waseda University Students, and two of the representatives from Waseda explain us about Japan, specifically about Waseda, and two of the representative from IBM Petra Christian University explain a bit about Indonesia, especially about IBM.

Near the entrance of Waseda University

Some presentation done by Waseda students

After the boring part ended, we played a little game with the Waseda University students. It’s really exciting and they are all very kind. They speak English well too ! 
Unfortunately, because the time given is only for 3 hours in total, we didn’t get enough time to know each other well. I just hope that we can have more time with them :(
I also hope that maybe they'll read about this post too ! Hahahaha *fingercrossed*


It's called communication game!
IBM with all Waseda University Students!
With all the girls from Waseda University!

When we want to get back to the bus, it is suddenly raining so hard. I think it’s my first rain in Tokyo, hahaha. The weather becomes really cold, humid and super freezing. We all run really fast to the bus.


SHINJUKU GOVERNMENT BUILDING


After all of us hop in the bus, we went to Shinjuku Government Building. In the Shinjuku Government Building, we go to - I don’t know, this is maybe - around 75 floor. Here, we can see the view below us, and it’s so beautiful. Maybe it has the similar view as Tokyo Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower (because I didn’t go there, I only have a photostop there), but of course, they have higher view than this. But Shinjuku Government Building is free of entrance fee ! ;) 

The view from Shinjuku Government Building



SHINJUKU SHOPPING


From the Shinjuku Government Building, we go to Shinjuku to do shopping ;) 
Shinjuku has Tokyu Hands, like a department store that sell anything  - really, anything - and it’s really complete. You can spot a lot of interesting yet unique products here. My friends and I spent a lot of time here. 
After we go around Tokyu Hands, we go around Shinjuku. 
As far as I observed, actually Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Ginza all has the same similarities. They all have branded products along the road. The kind of product that they sell is almost the same. 
Maybe it only has differences in a certain brands and store. 

The Shinjuku Crowd !

We go back to the hotel using the Yamanote MRT Line at 10 p.m. Guess what?
When we board the train, here’s a man whom - doesn’t know why , maybe we are to noisy?… no idea - scream at us inside the MRT. My friends and I feels really scared, so we moved a bit from him. That is when we meet a Vietnamese people who live in Japan, and him and his friend told us that maybe he is having some problem with his job, that’s why he become stress like that. The more shocking thing, after a while, he punch a senior high school student! The most amazing thing is, their surroundings just do nothing and stay calm. 

Not only that, we also experienced another thing. Actually, inside the train, we already wait for about 1 hour or so. I can say that my friends and I were stuck inside the MRT just because there’s “passenger injury”. But what I heard from the Vietnamese people that we met (Yeah, we talk to them, chit chat) it’s because there’s a suicide happening and this is happens a lot in Japan. That’s why no one is panic or something. 

(Refer to my post “Unique Facts About Japan”)

SHINAGAWA AREA


Well, finally, after all of that happens, finally the train is moving! I’m super duper hungry, I can feel my stomach is screaming at me. 
When we arrived at Shinagawa Station, we directly decide to eat at Yoshinoya, since it’s the closest restaurant around, and we already know the taste, and eat there. Surprisingly, at 11 p.m there’s still lots of businessman eat inside Yoshinoya. Yeah, we need to queue for a while. 

It's 11 p.m and full of business people inside Yoshinoya!