Japan Part 10 - Our last day here!!! Tell the world I'm coming home..sob sob sob....

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi!!

Phewwww~ just one last entry for our Japan trip, but it took few weeks for me to have the mood to write huhuhu. Sorry for the delay. My life has been so busy, and even if I have some free time to write, my mobile broadband did not give me good co-operation.

So, as usual, this is only meant for sharing. I am an amateur backpacker, and all the experiences shared here were only to help other backpackers who dream to go to Japan but with some limited budgets or those who love to be adventurous without a tourist guide. If you're none of those two, you have the option to hire travel guide, and I know some with Muslim-friendly services that can guide you in Japan. And of course, there are more blogs from more experience backpackers out there, mine, again is just from an amateur, who love to share some tips for the 1st timers, and at the same time, carving my memories here. So feel free to choose ;)

All the budget and costings will be at the end of each entry. Feel free to read, or you can just skip all those long bla bla bla, and just look at the summary. hehe...Enjoy!!

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For our last place on our last day may not so worthy to be waited for haha, but we decided to spend our final day in Japan just by strolling around the Chubu Centrair International Airport. Yeah, for a first-timer, even the airport itself was pretty interesting. There was no moment that we regret about. You can have some info HERE.

It took only around 5 minutes from our hotel to the airport by walking. The hotel also provides shuttle bus to the airport, but as we don't really need it, we decided to walk and enjoying our last fresh air there. I really mean that 'fresh air'. Honestly, I can not deny that the air there was much fresher than where I come from. But I still love home more..:)

We put our luggages and backpacks at the Short Term Baggage Storage and went to the convenience store for some food and some more souvenirs. We bought some natto-rolled-rice and almost buying pork takoyaki (the staff realized that we're muslims so she told us about it and showed us what food that we can consume). So then we bought some sushi and few other food and drinks. But, well, it's from a convenience store, so I don't really recommend it if you really want to try an authentic japanese food.

After those munching and tasting and drinking, hehe, we went to the Sky deck to enjoy some views on departing and arriving planes. 

Selfie and wefie!!

look at how burnt my face was hahahahahah

Then we went to all the shops there. The airport has 2 themes, western and japanese themes called as Renga-dori and Chochin yokocho. You can shop and shop and shop while waiting for your departure time here.

As you can see, there is a picture of my sis at the door of the prayer room. Yes, Chubu Airport has prayer rooms for Muslims (or any other religions who need it). I see that as something veeeeeeeeeeeeeery touching, very considerate, very good. You see, Japan is a country with very minority of muslims. But, as nowadays there are more and more and more muslim tourists come to Japan, they don't mind providing us facilities and services that are muslim-friendly. And I really appreciate that. Seriously, hontouni arigatou gozaimasu!!!!! *happy tears*. Till the day I wrote this, there have been few more prayer rooms were opened in Japan, near the subway stations that I've been informed, and that's so cool!!!

Oh, that delicious guy posing for Meiji chocolate? that is my boyfriend ^_^ *dreaming, I know!*

And because of him, we bought some Meiji Chocolate that we have googled its 'halal' status. Hoho..

just sharing a printscreen of the website info on prayer room hehe

before entering our departure hall, we bought some more souvenirs like keychains, fridge magnets and Green tea Kitkat. Why? because only here that we were really convinced that no more cash was needed, so we can just spend it as much as we had haha.

Oh, justttttt a reminder. If you want to claim all those taxes, there is a blue box in the airport and make sure you settle it BEFORE you come into the departure hall. I'm not so sure about the procedure because we got some wrong informations that costed us to just forget about the tax-claim huhuhuhuhu. Well, will study more on that for Japan 2.0 insyaAllah.

Yeah, seem so happy, but we were actually crying in the inside. Too many kind strangers, too many wonderful experiences, too many beautiful sceneries that we enjoyed, too many wonderful moments that we carved in our memories, and yes, all that made goodbyes became harder. But, thinking about home, and our beloved people, that's what made us strong to walk into the plane and said goodbye. We'll be back insyaAllah.......

Thank you, ALLAH The AlMighty for the chance and opportunity

Thank you sis and cousin for being together

Thank you Japan and your very nice people

Thank you family and friends who supported and prayed for us

Alhamdulillah....alhamdulillah...alhamdulillah....

Time for final costing!!!! Souvenirs are not included. 

Day 1 : 10,040 yen

Day 2 : 7200 yen

Day 3 : 23 420 yen

Day 4 : 5550 yen

Day 5 : 23 200 yen

Day 6 : 3600 yen

Day 7 : 8010 yen

Day 8 : 6700 yen

Day 9 : 6760 YEN

Day 10: Baggage storage 500 yen (percart) and food and beverage ~500 yen/pax = 1000 yen

Flight perpax RM 919.70

(KUL-NGY + Food + seat) + (NGY-KUL + Food + seat + baggage 20kg)

TOTAL GROUND (Food + Accommodation + Transportation + Tickets fee inc. Disneyland/sea)

= 95 480 yen (I should round this to 96 000 yen, just to be sure if I forgot/miscalculate anything)

To be fair, I'll calculate according to the highest currency rates (price that we bought yen in Mid Valley) that was 100 yen = 3.30 (Now it was around RM 3.00 for 100 yen)

That means,

TOTAL GROUND IN RM = RM 3168

TOTAL (+ Flight ticket) = RM 4087.70 +/- RM 100 (my sis and I decided at the last minute to add baggage in our departure ticket, that was around rm60)

Tadaaaa!!! We made it!!! 10 days, plus with Disney Resort hotel for 1 night, plus 2 days ticket, all for 1 pax was around RM 4000 only. You heard me right!!!Seriously you can save more by NOT staying in Disney Resort Hotel (you have many other options to stay near the Disneyland but still in low budget), grabbing promo tickets that you can get ad low as 500, or not taking food in flight if your plane is at midnight where most of the time you'll only be sleeping haha, and many more options of cheaper but good hostel/hotel with one condition, book early!!!! Then, you can spend your extra money on authentic Japanese food, even for Muslims, there are halal food in certain big cities.

But, seriously guys, if money is never a problem, you can consider hiring travel guide, so that you don't have to study anything, just pack and pay haha.

But for those who love to backpack, or being adventurous is your forte, or you're somebody who don't really like to follow tight schedule, then I hope my entries can help you in planning for your wonderful trip to Japan!!!

Anyway guys, all the places that we went are the places that we really want to go first and we chose the most reachable, most convenient for us as first-timers, and most suitable to visit in Spring. There are many other attraction places that we did not visit, and have to pass them to our Japan 2.0 plan. I'll share them with you after this insyaAllah. So, plan your trip, study more, maybe you'll reach all those places first before us!!! Mine was only for you to have some ideas, but it's always free to plan your own too!!! 

Thanks for reading!!! xoxoxo!!

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.

~Mary Ritter Beard~

Votes needed please! And maybe it's actually your lucky win!

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi,

I join a contest with JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organisation Singapore) and I really need your votes.  The prize is a pair of ticket to Japan!!! But what's made me more excited is that voters also stand a chance to win a pair of tickets to Japan. Yes, you heard me right!! They will have 3 winners, one with the most votes, one that their judges choose, and a lucky voter! and all will win a pair of tickets to Japan, exciting right?

So please click this link HERE then if you have not like the page yet, they will ask you to like the page first before you proceed to my entry. Then click the heart shaped icon with 'Love this' and that's a vote (refer picture with arrow heheheh). Your votes are truly appreciated, and my best wishes for you comes with that. And, who knows, maybe you'll be luckier than me!!!!!

Good luck!!!

P/S: please ignore the typo and the not-so-interesting write up. I did that from my phone so it's a little caca-merba hehehe.. still, thank you for your votes!!

Thank you so much!!!!

Japan Part 9 - Yamazaki River and Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi!!

Notes as usual:

1. this is meant for sharing only

2. I am not a pro-traveler, just an amateur who love Japan so much

3. I know that many out there have a dream of going to Japan especially Arashist so I share my experience, hoping that it may benefit you to plan a trip to Japan, budget-wisely

4. I am losing my memory, and carving here is a solution, so bear with all the stories

5. All useful links and summary of the cost will be at the end of each entry. You may skip everything and scroll down. No hard feeling at all ^_^

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We arrived in Nagoya Station Noritake around 6.30am, and 1st thing that we did was searching for coin lockers to keep our luggage and backpacks. We also made sure where the station for Meitetsu line that we should take in order to get to our hotel later. After everything settled, we took our way to the Yamazaki River. 

We chose to visit this river because it was in Spring and through our research Yamazaki River is a favourite spot to enjoy the sakura-viewing. It also has night time illumination in spring (info HERE). When we arrived at Mizuhoundojonishi Station, there were so many students with sports uniform heading the same way that we were heading. They had a sport day and the stadium was situated just near the river!! By the way, as you can see, the sakura was already past the full-bloom so the view was maybe not soooo fascinating but still beautiful for us to enjoy hehe.

yes, above right side was the only cover for manhole in Japan that I managed to capture. 

Japan 2.0 I will surely remember to capture them all insyaAllah ^_^

you can enjoy some of wonderful pictures of manholes' covers in Japan HERE

Sports day!!!! 

there was something historical here, but I forgot about the story huhu

flowers bloom beautifully in a playground that we passed by

I missed those moments walking around will all these views.. see the house above, pretty isn't it?

Then we headed Port of Nagoya to enjoy the Nagoya Public Aquarium. They have killer whales there or some may call it Orca and that was why we really wanted to go there. Luckily, all of us three love things like this hahaha..It was only 8 minutes walk from Nagoyako station. We bought some food to eat before we enter the aquarium.

My sis's favourite. We truly tawakkal for this huhu..

the excitement started to build up when we saw all these!!

haha.. we bought hot drinks to warm our bodies after breakfast and we chose three types of Nescafe that we were sure halal (we googled the ingredients) and after discussing, this black one went to my cousin (thank you for sacrifing ur taste bud dear!) haha.. but at last we drank it together because let me tell you, this was the most bitter memory that we had in Japan ahahahhahahah... so that's why we shared it. Kesian my cousin heheheheh..

Then, it's time for the aquarium!! Yattaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Our friends, the killer whales!! Kawaiiiii!!!!

Another cute friends, dolphins!!!!

this one was actually taken from google. They sometimes release the whales here for people to watch. I forgot to capture this kind of view so I asked Mr Google for one huhu.  (the above dolphin pictures was taken by me from this audience seats)

they called this as white whale, or beluga. They also have shows here, and it was exciting and cute!

haiiiiiiiiiiiii~~ this dolphin's name is Joy! what a brilliant creature!!

We were sooooooooooo excited for this show, and our eyes keep shedding happy tears.. huhuhu... 

Then we continued to enjoy the rest of the aquarium..

they even have penguins here! and you can wait for the feeding time to watch them eat, ofcourse!

errr....no caption, ahaks!

We bought the combo-tickets that also allow entrance into the nearby Nagoya Marine Museum, the Antarctic Research Vessel "Fuji," and the observation deck (top floor of the Port Building at the Port of Nagoya). So after we had fully enjoyed the aquarium, we headed to the other two places.

Sugoi ne?

ai aiii captain!!

they did this meticulously. Those brownish things came with the oily effects..hoho..

bit of creepy haha!

errr...what I was doing???

the last picture with a sakura tree!!

We spent sooooooo many hours in Port of Nagoya, and by the time we were finish, the day started to get dark, so we cancelled our plan to see the Wildflower Garden Blue bonnet and the Higashiyama Sky Tower. After discussion, we decided to search for a muslim shop for some food. But after few stations, and few more walkings, we disappointedly turned back to Nagoya station because we couldn't find the shop. It may not exist anymore, maybe.

most right is the schedule for the train and they really do follow it.. 

some more pictures to capture the memories..left below were how the coin lockers look like ^_^

So we took the meitetsu line, the special line to go to the airport. Our hotel the Toyoko Inn Chubu Kokusai Honkan Orange Sidewas just 5-10 minutes walk from the airport. The staff was so nice and even offered us 3 small free gifts (each of us got 3). The room was very comfortable and came with a large TV and  seaside view. So we washed up, ate our remaining food (we still have our Maggie and Brahim's), watch some news and variety shows, and then....... sleep. And that's how our day in Nagoya ended hehe..

picture at the right above was actually our toilet key-control. After many way more impressive toilets, only this one I remember to photograph hahahah..I will talk more about toilets in other entries heheh.. I mean toilet in Japanlaa ehhe..

Before I forgot, Nagoya also has its own unlimited pass that you can get at 600~850 yen but we did not buy it because we had already recharged our Suica for another 1000 yen before (refer previous entry).

Informational links:

1. Nagoya Port Public Aquarium or HERE

2. Yamazaki River

3. Nagoya unlimited pass

4. Infor for Nagoya HERE

Other attractive places that we did not go due to time constraint

1. Nagoya castle

2. Higashiyama sky tower

3. Wildflower garden

So now it's time for cost!!!

Port of Nagoya Aquarium (packaged with Nagoya Marine Museum, the Antarctic Research Vessel "Fuji," and the observation deck).          2000 yen/pax

Food and drinks                                    ~800 yen/pax

Train fare                                                 none, included in Suica

Coin locker                                            ~800 yen/pax (the smaller your bag, the smaller the amount you need to pay)

Toyoko Inn (Room for 3, non smoking)  3160 yen/pax/night

TOTAL FOR DAY 9 : 6760 YEN

TOTAL FROM DAY 1 TO DAY 9 : 94 480 YEN

“The journey itself is my home.” 
~Matsuo Bashō~

Japan Part 8 - Harajuku, Akihabara and going to Nagoya..

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi,

Notes:

1. I'm not a pro-traveler, just an amateur who love Japan so much and want to share experience so that people who dream to go to Japan can have some idea on how to plan budget-wisely.

2. I'm carving my memories here, some may not important or interesting to you, so I should apologize 1st, haha

3. I put the cost summary and useful links at the end of each entry, so feel free to skip my stories if you are only interested in the cost and info. Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

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We checked out from Anne Hostel and immediately headed to Ikebukuro. Why Ikebukuro? Because we had to check 1st the place that scheduled for us to take our overnight bus to Nagoya, so that we'll not get lost at the end of the day searching for the bus station. The Ikebukuro Sunshine bus terminal was in Sunshine city. We did not know that Ikebukuro also got many things to be explored. We don't really study much about Sunshine city because at 1st we wanted to book our bus from Shinjuku, but by the time I wanted to book, all seats were fully booked so I bought the one that departs from Sunshine City bus station. The alley from Ikebukuro station to Sunshine city is full with interesting stores. But we did not stop to any store because we were planning to go to Harajuku and Akihabara, so time was very crucial for us. We stored our luggages in Sunshine City, and then immediately headed to Harajuku.

Harajuku is quite known internationally as a center of Japanese youth culture and fashion, you can find many interesting and cute girls (and boys too) in fashion that you may not find in other parts of the world. But for people who don't really into fashion (like me huhu) Harujuku also has the largest Daiso in world, and for Johnny's fans (also like me), you can find some official merchandises of your favorite idol here at cheaper prices (cheaper for us who come from Malaysia).  

*Sentence from the useful webpage regarding Harajuku*

It is the center of Japan's most extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles, but also offers shopping for adults and some historic sights. The focal point of Harajuku's teenage culture is Takeshita dori (Takeshita Street) and its side streets, which are lined by many trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and fast food outlets geared towards the fashion and trend conscious teens (info HERE). 

So, in Harajuku, you will not only enjoy fashion, but also shopping and some historical sites. So enjoy some pictures ^_^

(clockwise from left above) standing escalators that can be found easily; Takeshita dori landmark seen; Sho Sakurai in vending machine; Sho Sakurai's wifey's fingers there hahahhahahah (not me)

Left: Largest Daiso in world

Right above: see the Choc drink? It was Van Houten Chocolate drink, hot one. Surely comforted us through that cold day. (A friend of mine studying in Japan told me it's halal)

For Arashists, you can find 2-3 stores that sell Johnny's past official merchandise at good prices. It's surely will excite you to see all the photos (even at stairs). But you can't take pictures when you're in the store. And I also found a place where you can buy concert tickets (I think it's a resell or by bidding, not really sure). And to be fair, there are also shops selling K-pop merchandises too. My sis bought souvenirs for her lecturer there hihiiiii~ (disclaimer: I'm not a K-pop fan. J-pop and K-pop are totally different, please please please don't judge or assume if you don't really know things, thank you). 

At 1st we were a little afraid to enter the shops that used the Johnny's artists pictures, as you can see in the pic below, the sign was all in Japanese. We doubted a little wether it was really selling Johnny's staff or adult's staff hahahah, it's Japan you see! But after looking around, and pray in our hearts, we entered the shops and no regret! haha..

heheheheheeeee...

Then we walked along the Takeshita dori, and around, and halfway to Omotesando hills. We don't really have a plan to shopping there, so we decided to have another round in Takeshita dori, for buying more souvenirs and to have some crepes. Maybe in Japan 2.0 or 3.0, Omotesando Hills will be explored. Yiiiiiiiiiiihaaaaaa!!!

Tokyo plaza (left above and right)

La foret building (right above) and crepe (left above)

Well, throughout the journey, we met so maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany nice strangers. Kind uncle, kind auntie, kind woman in Yamanakako village (Part 3 and Part 4), wonderful guesthouse and hostel owners in Osaka and Yamanakako (Part 2 and Part 3), friendly and helpful staffs of Anne Hostel and Disney Resort, and many others that may or may not written about here, so in Tokyo also we met many. Whenever we stopped for a while to look at our map, or looking at a signboard more that few minutes to figure out where should we go, there's always, always a stranger or staff asked "Daijobou?" (Is everything ok?". Still am grateful for all the chances that made me fell in love wth random kindness more. BUT, hehe, we also met a fierce auntie here in Harajuku hahah..the story went like this....

We decided to have a go at a crepe store where we read that many muslims have tried there. We saw a sign "start queue to order here" with an arrow and a chains to mark the place to queue, so we queued. Then we realized that there were few people including an auntie were queuing not at the place they should, so we thought that maybe they've ordered and were waiting for the order to be prepared. When our turn came to the counter, I could feel that somebody was poking me on my shoulder (harshly I could tell), and I looked at my back. That auntie was talking in Japanese and I could understand that she wanted to say that I cut the queue there. There were 2 young women in front of her, but they just looked at us. My sister, my cousin and I were a bit clueless, because we were the one queued at the right place, but decided to back out and said sorry (gomennasai) to the 2 young women and also to the auntie. I could see the 2 young women were smiling back but not the auntie hahaha.. well, maybe it was our mistake too, but we're foreigners so we just followed the sign ^_^

Yes, I have a store there. *facepalm*

We found a kimono seller just at the side of the street. My cousin bought some souvenirs there too for her mother (my auntie laa). There were many beautiful kimonos and yukatta sold there at good prices. 

So after hours spent in Harajuku, we departed to Akihabara, Otaku's heaven. 

Akihabara (秋葉原), also called Akiba after a former local shrine, is a district in central Tokyo that is famous for its many electronics shops. In more recent years, Akihabara has gained recognition as the center of Japan's otaku (diehard fan) culture, and many shops and establishments devoted to anime and manga are now dispersed among the electronic stores in the district. (Source: HERE)

We forgot to take pictures in Akihabara, so the only pictures we had there were those two below. The AKKY ONE signboard and the feet of us tree on Akihabara (literally on). We bought some more souvenirs here as there were many Duty Free Shop, and the prices also were a little bit cheaper. So if you missed the Nakamise street, you can still buy your souvenirs here in Akihabara. You can also buy cameras, phones or watches or any electronic goods here, but if you really want to buy those electronics with a good price, some more researches need to be done. 

When the day started to get dark, we departed to Ikebukuro to wait for our bus there. Our Suica was left with few hundred yens so we topup another 1000 yen for us to go around Nagoya the next day. As we arrived early, we walked around Sunshine City (our bus was scheduled at 11.30pm). For people who love manga and anime, you can find a Mandarake store here. We paid a visit there, and it was so interesting, much more interesting if you are truly an anime lover hehe. Oh, Mandarake also can be found in other parts of Japan (link at the end).

Our place to wait for the bus was kind of like outside the building. It was in the building but not fully covered and the night was soooooooooooo cold. We thought to buy some hot Van-hauten chocolate drink but unluckily, the one that was sold in the vending machine was the cold one huhuhu..

My ichiban accompanied me while waiting for my bus ahaks!!

This two kawaii girls were fans of EXO. They had a fan meeting with EXO (and that's why the bus in Shinjuku was full, I think haha). They were so energized and cute and friendly. We told them that we're fans of Arashi and they became more excited. That's how this picture was taken. Their bus arrived first so we said our farewell. When they got onto their bus, they kept giving us the ganbatte sign. Sooooo adorable, aren't they?

And finally,

Goodbye Tokyo!! And hellooooooooooooooooooo Nagoya!! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!!

It's time for the cost summary!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suica topup: 1000 yen

Willer express (overnight bus) Tokyo-Nagoya : 3900 yen/person

Coin lockers : 1000 yen/locker (I put the most expensive one here, you can get the largest locker at 600~800~1000 yen). 

Food/drinks: ~800 yen

Other train/subway fares were included in the 4500 yen Suica card.

Total for Day 8 : 6700 yen

TOTAL UP TO DAY 8 : 87 720 YEN

Souvenirs were not included. 

USEFUL LINK:

Harajuku: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3006.html and http://www.gojapango.com/tokyo/harajuku.htm

Omotesando Hills: http://www.omotesandohills.com/english/about/index.html

Sunshine city: http://www.sunshinecity.co.jp/english/

Mandarake: http://www.mandarake.co.jp/en/shop/

Thanks for reading again! See you in Part 9!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

p/s: I'll give my full reviews for all the hostels, guest house and hotel that we stayed throughout the journey in another entry after I finish all the day entries.. Hope it helps!

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Japan Part 7 - Tokyo again!!

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi,

As usual

-this is meant for sharing only

-I am not a pro-traveler, just an amateur who love Japan so much

-I know that many out there have a dream of going to Japan especially Arashist so I share my experience, hoping that it may benefit you to plan a trip to Japan, budget-wisely

-I am losing my memory, and carving here is a solution, so bear with all the stories

-All useful links and summary of the cost will be at the end of each entry. You may skip everything and scroll down. No hard feeling at all ^_^

*****************************************************

Our 7th day started in Anne Hostel. We woke up and went out immediately after getting prepared. The nice staff greeted us at the lounge but we decided to have some breakfasts on our way to the station (Anne Hostel provides free breakfast in the morning, eggs, breads and jam and hot drinks).

As I already told you before, our hostel located only few minutes walk from Asakusabashi station. From there, we took the train to the Shinbashi station, then bought our Yurikamome One Day Pass (this was found by my sis during her pre-study for Japan). It's a pass that you can use on and off Yurikamome line around Odaiba no matter how many times you want in ode day, at 800 yen. Very worth your money especially if you want to truly enjoy Odaiba for the whole day. Then after that, we went to Daiba station, walk few minutes in that beautiful weather and arrived at Fuji TV!!! Yeah, our first location in Odaiba was Fuji TV. Why? You will know why ^_^ (Arashists may already know why hehehehe)

Our Yurikamome Pass

Tadaaa.. We just knew that blue kawaii dog is the mascott for Fuji TV hoho 

The admission fee is free except if you want to go up to the Spherical Observation Room from the Roof Garden at 550 yen, where you can enjoy Odaiba view from the spherical thing that you see in that picture. It is situated in the 25th floor. 

Above left: Rainbow bridge and Tokyo Tower seen at the back

Below left:  the replica of Statue of Liberty

Below right: Man-made beach in the city. Beautiful!!

Then we went back to the Roof Garden, bought some souvenirs and took some pictures (got Lucky 7, Chocolatier and Nazodi posters) at the shops located there. They have many manga and movie-related merchandise such as One Piece, Chuggington and many others.

Then we went further down to the 5th floor to enjoy the Wonder Street. It is where *collection of valuable items from popular programs, a fun photo spot and more are available for you to enjoy here at Fuji TV’s Wonder Street. When you enter, the first thing that comes into sight are the 5 monitors airing Fuji TV and its related channels. Next to the monitors stands a giant timetable that encompasses all of Fuji TV’s programs. Moving forward, you will encounter an area dedicated to Mezamashi TV, a perfect spot to take photos with your favorite anime character.

Follow the hallway lined with familiar faces of Fuji TV’s newscasters and announcers, and you’ll find a life-sized panel of hosts from noon-time variety show “High Noon TV Viking!”

The “Variety Show Corner” is the main area of Wonder Street where you can find a part of the set used in “SMAPxSMAP,” when Lady GAGA performed. Further down there is a display for “Terrace House,” a reality show where 6 male and female members share the same flat. Here you can check out their rooms and past members’ romantic interests. “Mecha Ike” and “VS ARASHI” displays can also be found here as well.

Other areas of interest include an area of Fuji TV’s popular dramas and movies, events, and more. Come and see, feel, and take photos at Wonder Street to experience Fuji TV in a whole new light!*

p/s: phrases in *...* were taken from the web. Hoho. I'm not that good in explaining without missing anything hahhahah.. So enjoy the picture!!

Gachapin, Run for Money, SMAPxSMAP  

Yeah, VS Arashi!!!! But we didn't come on the recording day :(

and Ogura-san!! 

 Some more pictures

After everybody was satisfied enough, we went down to the Theater Mall, having our onigiri and drinks. Then we spent some more time looking around before we moved to our next location, Aquacity Odaiba. Actually it's not in our plan to go there, but on the way to the Fuji TV, we saw the Disney Store sign, and we really wanted to find a birthday gift to our niece, Marissa (we missed her birthday party because it was held on our arrival day in Japan). So to make us less guilty, we tried to find her anything related to her favourite Princess Sophia the First in Disneyland  but failed so we tried our luck in the Disney Store. For a Disney fan, Disney store is like 2nd heaven after Disneyland hahahha. And we managed to find what we wanted, thankfully!!

Then, our next location was Venus Fort.

We walked from there to Daiba Station, took the train to Aomi Station and from there walk only few minutes to Venus Fort. 

Venus Fort is a shopping mall in the style of a 18th century South European town. The mall features over a hundred shops, fashion boutiques, cafes and restaurants on three floors including a few outlets shops on the upper floor. What's more interesting about Venus Fort is the ceiling of the building is painted with cloud and sky, and it will become day and night through times. A very beautiful shopping experience ^_^

Left above: The Fountain Plaza

Left below: The Church Plaza

 We even went to the History Garage where you can find Historic Car Collection.

Interesting!

I really want to share you this story. As we walked around, shopped around, we had to stop for prayer. We tried to search a suitable place where we will not disturb anyone or make anyone uncomfortable, and finally we decided to pray at an emergency exit, the door to the stairs. The space was big enough for us to take turns to pray and not disturbing the path to the stairs. I was the one standing beside my sister when she was praying, and many times people came in to use the stairs. Some seemed so surprise at 1st then nod and just walked by. But, suddenly, one of the passer-by, a man in a suite, came to me and said "I can take you to a clean room", I did not hear very well and asked him again and he repeated "I can take you to a clean room. Here not so clean, people walk here". I was so touched, but said "It's ok, my sister almost finish already", he smiled and left. I held my tears, too touched of that stranger's kindness and understanding, as you know that muslims are still minority in Japan, yet they still appreciate and value us. Thank you stranger-san. My prayers are always with you. Funny to tell you, after she finished her prayer, my sis told me she lost her 'khusyu' at that time because she said that she thought that man wanted to take us to the 'security room' hahahhaha...

We love the Yurikamome Pass, with it we can go round and round.

This picture was taken in front of Aquacity Odaiba, again!

Then we walked around (or you can take the train) and went again into the Aquacity to enjoy Sony Explorascience (don't ask us why we decided to go there haha, it's not that we regret the decision, no, we had so much fun there, just maybe we should suggest you other places to go, unless you really can spend days in Odaiba). Oh, there was an omiyage shop where you can buy souvenirs at a cheaper price. But I forgot the shop's name. huhu..

We enjoyed the place too much till we forgot to take pictures there. The only pictures that we have are the ones with the Best 11 Smiles hahhahaha

There are many more attractions that you can find in Odaiba, including Madam Tussauds Wax Museum, Legoland, and even a giant Gundam (we passed this regretfully). You can find all the info HERE. We did not go to all the attractions, time and budget-wisely huhu. After we were already in Malaysia, we watched Return of Superman that has Cho Sunghoon and his daughter Cho Sarang who live in Odaiba in an episode where they enjoy the night view of Odaiba and it was veeeery beautiful. Rainbow bridge and Fuji TV building were lighten up with colourful lights. And a friend also shared his experience watching the Gundam at night, and it was so much fun. We may revisit Odaiba for that experience in Japan 2.0.

picture courtesy from Google Image

We left Odaiba with wonderful feelings. We headed back to the Shinbashi station (still using the Yurikamome pass) then from there we went to the Oshiage station for Tokyo Skytree. Few minutes walk only from the Oshiage station to the Tokyo Skytree.

Another story here. When we arrived in Shinbashi station, it was already the time for people to get home from their office. So it was a little bit busy at the station. We were aware of a very old uncle walking slowly with his cane. Very slow. We passed him, and we stumbled upon a poster of Ninomiya Kazunari drama (picture below, left). So we took some pictures. While we were doing that for few minutes, suddenly I heard something fell, and to our surprise, that old uncle fell backward veeeeeery hard. He's a very tall man, and I can say that his head fell hard to the floor. We were so surprised, my sister and cousin froze and I with another passerby tried to alert the station staff, while some more passerby tried to help the uncle. I saw a young man tried to apologize (not sure if he collided with the old man or he thought that he was the one to blame) but we got more shaken when blood started to drip from that uncle's head and formed a pool of blood. We were blank for a while and decided to leave after few minutes(because I know that my sis was afraid of blood), at the same time hoping that the uncle will be okay and alright. Till now, we hope he's okay and healthy again :(

We arrived at the Tokyo Skytree, still shaken. Luckily we have to queue to buy the ticket, so we had time to calm ourselves

We managed to see the transition from daylight to night. The picture at the left are the observation window where you can see through the highest floor 

You can also see Sumida river in the pictures

We spent about 1 to 2 hour there including at the souvenir shop. We even had the chance to take pictures with promotional poster and cap for Ninomiya's drama (picture below, right)

A sakura theme Tokyo Skytree!!

Then we departed to the Sensoji Temple/Nakamise street by taking the train to Asakusa station and walk towards the Sensoji Temple to get to the Nakamise street. You can buy cheap souvenirs here, among the cheapest price you can get for key-chains and fridge-magnet. But, unluckily, we arrived in Nakamise street around 8 pm and as you can see in the picture below, many shops were already closed. Still, we managed to catch few shops that were still opened. 

After that quick shopping, we walked along another street named Shin Nakamise (New Nakamise) and bought kebabs for our dinner. We decided to end our day there and went back to our hostel.

One of the unique characteristics of Anne Hostel is you can only eat at the lounge and not in the room. This is because they want to make sure all guests are comfortable especially in a shared room. So we ate our kebabs (mine was kebab bento) while watching some shows on the TV and socializing with other guests. Yeah, it was Arashi ni Shiyagare then Gantz. Lucky right? :p

So summary!!!!!

Anne hostel = 3100 yen/pax (4 beds dorm)

Yurikamome pass = 800 yen

Fuji TV Spherical Observation Room = 550 yen

Sony Explorascience = 500 yen

Tokyo Skytree = 2060 yen 

Train fare except for Yurikamome Line included in the 4500 Suica so none

Food and drinks = ~1000 yen

Total for day 7 = 8010 yen

TOTAL up to Day 7 = 81 020 yen

Souvenirs are not included 

Some useful links

Odaiba : http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html

Fuji TV : http://www.fujitv.co.jp/en/visit_fujitv.html

Venus fort: https://www.venusfort.co.jp/multi/index_e.html

Sony Explorascience: http://www.sonyexplorascience.jp/english/

So that's all for this time. See you in the next entry!! Thanks for reading!! xoxo!!

P/S: I wrote most of the route that we scheduled to take (planned with Hyperdia). We actually took some shortcuts recommended by the locals or through the map that we had there, but we forgot to jot down the changes. All the stations and route here may had changed at the actual trip, not because it was wrong, but because we had a shorter alternative routes ^_^

P/S NO 2: Pardon me for my broken grammar. Huhu.. I'm trying to improve huhuhu... Lack of practice I can say..Sorry!! Hope the messages that I want to deliver, reach you hehe.

“Traveling- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller"

~Ibn Battuta~