The following day, we went to Chureito Pagoda; it’s beautiful there but certainly the steps doesn’t trail behind what we experienced in Enoshima hahahaha. Also dropped by Oshino Hakkai to experience the ‘water village’ and read up/ check out the lakes around.

The Yamanashi area is famous for local delicacy Houtou noodles – flat, broad noodles that tastes like Chinese mihun kueh. The dish is cooked with many vegetables such as pumpkin, mushrooms, cabbage etc. A must eat, and you can visit “Houtou Fudou” restaurant which is right opposite Kawaguchiko station.

Nothing much to elaborate, going back to the places I went in previous trips. Uniqlo has a lot of JUMP 50th Anniversary collections and Ramen collections (Afuri Ramen, Mutekiya etc designs) which you can buy for 990yen. The Ginza shop also has clearance of old OP shirts collection (whereby I find the designs better than JUMP’s version hmmm) at 890yen per piece, but only XS and S available. These designs you can’t find it in Malaysia or elsewhere.

Food: Tried Afuri ramen as recommended by Belphegor but I find the yuzu taste a little too strong for my liking. There were 4 of us (made a friend there – solo traveller - and hung out with him for a while), we tried the shoyu ramen, spicy ramen and tsukemen. 2 liked the taste while the other 2 didn’t quite fancy the strong yuzu taste. In the end everybody tried Ichiran and preferred Ichiran. This is based on personal experience. Everyone’s taste in food is subjective.



Also, if you like dogs, there is a Mameshiba Café in Harajuku <3 780yen for 30minutes, including a drink.

Sure find Tokyo changed a little since my last visit.

Kinugawa
It’s one of the most interesting place that we went.

Suspension Bridge



Went to the suspension bridge in Kinugawa. It’s known as Kinu-Tateiwa-Otsuribashi Suspension Bridge. It’s not very long, about 140m for pedestrians to walk. And yes, because it’s a suspension bridge, you can feel it shaking at times. Very interesting and the view was beautiful. Underneath it is the Kinugawa river.

ESPO Footbath Café


Right next to the entrance of the bridge, you will see a ‘footbath’ café – ESPO – where you can order food (mostly hotdog, fries, beer, coffee etc) and sit outside overlooking the bridge. Have your feet soaked comfortably in the onsen water while you have a meal/ drink overlooking the bridge. You can choose to sit outdoor or indoor (no footbath/ view).

Kinugawa River Boat Ride



At the cost of 2,800yen per person (adult), it’s a very pleasant and refreshing boat ride. There is a boat (more like a big sampan) available every 30minutes. It cruises along the Kinugawa River Valley, manually rowed by the guide who will also share you the history, stories and rock formations (that you see along the ride) – but it’s all in Japanese.
http://linekudari.com/#price

The boat will stop on a jetty nearby a bus station. With the boat ticket, wait for the bus to arrive and ride the bus back to the main station. The boat ride includes return bus ticket. In fact, the bus driver will also give you a ‘tour’ along the way by explaining about the town and city. Note: sit on the seats/ rows behind the driver. You’ll be able to see an area where creepy human life-sized dolls were put up along the street. Didn’t manage to take a photo as it was too fast.

Nikko



Stayed in Nikko Tokanso Inn – it was decent. The ratings and comments on Booking.com was over rated, I must say. Breakfast was just decent, nothing fabulous. The onsen was pretty good although I believe the temperature is pretty high (probably >44.5*c).

Note: You have a choice for Japanese or Western breakfast. However, the only difference between these 2 is Japanese breakfast gets rice and green tea, while Western breakfast gets bread and coffee/ tea. The Western breakfast still get served yuba ゆば (beancurd – the local delicacy of Tochigi), salmon and side dishes the same as Japanese set.

Note II: the town is very “quiet” especially evening time. I recommend eating at Hippari Dako restaurant – the food was delicious and you must have the yakitori. It’s one of the best Yakitori I’ve ever had.

https://gurunavi.com/en/gfem000/rst/?__ngt_...PLdeVBM65YiEzm1
P/S: I left a sticky note on the wall. If you’re there, try your luck finding it!

Toshogu Shrine, Futarasan & Rinnoji Temple
The most important shrine to visit; its part of the UNESCO world heritage and really big so allocate at least 2-3 hours for this to slowly enjoy, read the info and enjoy the craftsmanship.

Quoted from Japan Guide:
You can read up on Nikko’s history here: http://nikko-travel.jp/english/attract/culture.html

Didn’t manage to visit Futarasan due to the limited time of shuttle bus.

Rinnoji Temple: It’s a small temple with many Buddha and Kannon statues as well as artefacts etc displayed inside the temple. You can also visit the museum which is opposite the temple. You’ll have to buy entrance ticket to go in.