Tokyo - Day 9 - 12th Dec 2016 Asakusa and Akihabara

We planned to make a trip to Tsukiji fish market with Brian's family on this day and agreed to wake up at 5.30am. But because we had been so tired with all the walking done yesterday,  we decided to give it a miss even both of us woke up at 5 plus (we couldn't bring ourselves to wake the boys up!).

Apart from the fish market, our original plan was to cover Asakusa area in the morning as well. So we visited Asakusa before re-grouping with Brian's family at Akihabara at 11am. In our last trip to Tokyo about 8 years ago,  we had such good experience eating the street's food at Asakusa then.

This time round, we got the boys to pray like a Japanese at Sensoji Temple!

Ethan buying the incense.. and the boys went through the whole procedure by lighting it up and putting into the incense burner and fanning the smoke towards their faces :)

Next we purify ourselves with these water before going inside the temple. We happened to meet this English speaking tour guide who explained the exact procedure of 'purifying ourselves'

Weather on this day was even colder than the last 2 days, we were literally freezing out in the open air areas!

along Nakamise street..

Having ice-creams helped to regularize our bodies to blend with the weather.. hahaha. This is so pricey given the portion served compared to our previous ones in Hakone and Nagano but we decided to try it out..

After Asakusa, as our 24-hour Metro pass has yet to expire, we hopped onto Ueno station for a quick scan. Quite an interesting place, famous for its Ueno Zoo.. I love the selection of shops there but we only had time to get ourselves Starbucks coffee before we hopped onto the Metro train to meet Brian's family at Akihabara.

We spent a long time in Yodobashi Camera (8 storey building) where we had our lunch and browsed through the electronic goods while the boys loved the place for its wide range of play-stations. This place had the cheapest skin care products as well (I only bought some Kao Biore stuff and didn't realise that it's going to be the cheapest here)

As it was a Monday, the boys had the luxury of hogging the play-stations and had their good share of free games

Whole fleet of stormtroopers scaring us..

Winnie and myself left the boys and went to Ginza to do our ladies shopping. The boys retired back into the hotel rooms and rest their feet while the fathers took the opportunity to doze and catch up on their TV programs.

At night,  we regrouped and had our dinner at ShakeShack burger at Tokyo International Forum. Their burgers and fries were so nice although I must say that it's very pricey! (1 burger alone cost near or more than 1000 yen).

After dinner, we rushed back to Tokyo station to get some souvenirs back to SG before the shops closed at 8pm! Most stores and departmental stores are closed by 8 or 8.30pm here in Tokyo so our daily schedules were always so tight!

Tokyo - Day 8 - 11th Dec 2016 Omotesando, Harajuku and Shibuya

We had a better rest the night before and started our Sunday with the plan to hit Harajuku area to watch the locals dressing up in their cosplay costumes. The weather continued to be cold on this day, so we layered ourselves with more clothes before we spent the whole day outdoors.

We had our breakfast at R.L. Waffle cafe located at Tokyo station (near the Express bus terminal to Narita Airport). The food was sooo nice that we continued to rave about it when we met up with Brian's family subsequently.  We ordered 3 breakfast sets to share..

while waiting for our waffles to be ready

reading the map to analyse the area we were heading to after breakfast

finally, breakfast is served..

Ethan already taken a mouthful before I can take a picture..

Happy stomachs

We heard that this place is usually packed by night time filled with working professionals after their dinner. Brian's family wanted to try it out on the same night when they arrived Tokyo but couldn't get the seats.

As we planned to visit a couple of places, we decided to buy the 24 hour Metro pass (adult 600 yen, child's price 300 yen). This is value for money if you can utilize a few trips within 24 hour time band (the expiry time was stamped on the ticket).

We started with Omotesando first and I stumbled on this store which we spent quite some time there. They sell home living items and good games for children.. this is very popular with the locals as well..

We continued walking around Omotesando and browse other smaller shops around. The weather was really chilling cold, and most of us had to put up our hoodie from the jacket to shield us from the wind.

We saw a queue formed outside this restaurant along Omotesando hills and decided to have our lunch here since we had not had a proper sushi meal as yet (@ Heiroku Sushi). The wait of almost half an hour was worth it. It was such a great choice as we ate to our heart's content! Sushi starts at 130 yen but most of the nicer sushi are priced at 200 yen onwards. My favorite pieces included those salt coated ebi rolls while my boys enjoyed their salmon selections thoroughly.

Different salmon rolls.. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy ordering my portions!

After lunch, we popped by the boys' (and mine) all time favorite store, Kiddy Land along Omotesando hills and spent the next 1 hour plus there in this 4 to 5-storey high toy store.. and our wallet was burnt badly as well...

We finally made it here at Takeshita Dori around 3.30pm (just before the sunset) and the crowd seen there was horrid (given the number of people we had to squeeze through after this picture was taken). Nonetheless, it's quite worth the tour, as there were many crepe stores to try, and socks were going for sale at good prices. The aim here was to catch the locals in their cosplay costumes but we were disappointed by the fact that there wasn't any during our trip there. Maybe it was too late or the weather was too cold for the locals to be dressed up.

After wrestling through the Takeshita Street, we took a train to Shibuya and wanted to do some shopping there. Given that it was a Sunday, each store was filled with people (mostly Japanese).. but our legs were so tired and our nose started to drip (because of the cold weather) so we decided to wind down at whichever eatery/food outlet that did not have to queue... and the only one is McDonalds!

The tired smiles.. hahaa

I supposed we tend to push ourselves to cover as many locations as possible during holidays to make our trip all worth it. Most of the times, we ended being more tired than just staying in our home country doing our BAU! But, the fun part of visiting Japan in this trip is experiencing the lives of the locals and providing some exposure to our boys.

Tokyo - Day 7 - 10th Dec 2016 Ikebukuro

We parted ways with Brian's family today as we did not join them for the ski activity in Nagano and headed back to Tokyo, hoping that weather will be kinder to us back in the city :)

It was snowing slightly in the morning when we checked out from the hotel and finally we get to experience snow in our trip :) the temperature was recorded to be -3 degrees when we reached Yudanaka station as we bought tickets to bring us back to Nagano station.

Yudanada station

scene during the train ride towards Nagano station

There are quite a few good shops in Nagano station and I regretted subsequently not getting my working shoes in one of the shops there, thinking that I would be able to find them back in Tokyo..

Maybe next time, I will return to shop here again ;p

We were so happy with our final hotel (Sotetsu Fresa Inn Tokyo -  Kyobashi)  after not getting good night sleep for the last 2 nights.. these beds were so comfortable! And spacious rooms too! Thankfully this was the accommodation for the next 5 nights.

We rested in the room for a while, while getting our clothes washed at the launderette. It took only 30 minutes to wash but the dryer part took us a longer time.

We decided to check out Ikebukuro area for dinner and some shopping.. We found this Kairaku Ikebukuro restaurant that is famous for their gigantic gyoza  which were juicy and delicious.. This place seemed to be filled with the locals as we hardly see any tourists like us dining there..

We didn't expect the gyoza to be so huge and ended up having to finish 8 on top of our ramen!

We wanted to bring the boys to the cats cafe at Tokyu hands in Ikebukuro but they were closed at 730pm! The boys then spent some time in the arcade near Tokyu hands while I did some quick shopping in the vicinity. 

Just one last target to be shot down to win that plush toy! 

Nagano - Day 6 - 9th Dec 2016 Snow Monkey and Shibu onsen

This day is one of the biggest highlights of this trip. We went to the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park on Day 6. This park is opened all year round but only in the months of December to March, the area will be covered with snow.

The walk up to the Snow Monkey park was quite tedious. It rained the night before, so the pathways were very muddy and slippery. Wearing sports shoes did not help as the cold weather sipped right into our toes and feet although you have your socks on...

whole path was so muddy and slippery

Along the way up to the park, we started to see snow accumulated on some areas, the boys couldn't help and picked them up and started playing with them. It was quite delightful to see some lone monkeys appearing every now and then along the pathways as we mounted to the top

started their snow fights

preparing their ammunition

E was so excited with the snow monkeys

Finally we made it to the peak after almost 35 minutes walk and saw many monkeys wondering freely in the area.. quite a sight. My boys were amazed with the habitat and Ethan loved to watch how they interact with each other and keeping watch behind each other's backs.

It was freezing cold, so some of us chose to stand near the fireplace to keep ourselves warm when enjoyed the sight. The winning sight was to see those snow monkeys soaking themselves in the onsen spring bath even when there were so many visitors snapping pictures of them. These monkeys were tamed but we were told not to get too close to them..

We had ice-cream again sold by the food truck near the park after the Snow Monkey park tour.. we ordered the Apple flavor and it was sooo good.. E had developed a liking for Japanese rice crackers and ordered this as his snack.

After Snow Monkey park, we took a bus back for lunch at Goen (near Yudanaka station). Lovely lunch sets at reasonable prices. I enjoyed the lunch venue alot and love the comfort of the hot coffee which we ordered as well. Somehow, hot beverages tasted so well in extreme cold weather...

it's usually kids by themselves at one table

Holding hot coffee helped to keep me warm! 

We took some time to plan where to head next and decided to explore Shibu Onsen town. We were looking for this arcade shop in Shibu Onsen town (there are 9 onsen bath shops to explore) for the boys but ended up lost in the walkways again after being directed by the wrong ways by the locals whom we met.

making rounds in this neighbourhood

We relied heavily on hot beverages from vending machines throughout the trip

one of the onsen shops

Finally after almost 40 minutes of walking, we found the shop.. and it was managed by a middle-aged lady.. the boys had fun playing the shooting games and each won themselves a small gift. Turned out that Ethan was the highest scorer among all and won the best marksmanship prize (his prized pistol is different from the rest)

learning how to operate the rifle

listening to instructions in Japanese!

taking their shots at the targets

Best sniper of the day!

Each of them carried a prize back :)

Taking shelter from the rain while waiting for bus back

peaceful and lovely town

At night,  we returned back to Goen for our dinner

Chicken Yakitori

Grilled chicken

Best chef for the night!

After dinner and shower,  the boys gathered in our room to play with their guns and pistols

It was our last night in Nagano while Brian's family continued with another day in Nagano to visit the Ski Resort. We decided to give it a pass partly because we were not able to take the weather and we felt that the boys were too young to ski..