Day 1 continued

After checking in and resting for a while (previous night we only got ~4+ hours of sleep cos we needed to be awake for breakfast), we went out to just walk around, enjoy the cooling weather, and to see some winter illumination at Marunouchi Oazo and Tokyo Illumilia.



Verdict: "Meh." I don't really think this illumination is anything that special, maybe it's better on Christmas day / new year period. Anyway at the Marunouchi Oazo area there was a Valentine's Day Chocolate "expo" where my wife bought some chocolates for me (In Japan, gals give guys chocolate on 14/Feb, guys only give back on 14/Mar).

Then we headed back to Tokyo Station / Tokyo Ramen Street to eat Ramen dinner. Rokurinsha queue was too damn long so we just settled for this Oreshiki Jun (3.54 on tabelog). It was really quite nice, but not like mind-blowingly so or anything.



Directly opposite Rokurinsha there's a shop that sells tons of food souvenirs, including many (most? all?) non-chocolatory kit kat flavours.



Peach Coke: Nice. The aroma of peach is quite strong, but the taste is just a "hint" of peach rather than being a centerpiece flavour.
Tokyo Banana KitKat: Abominable. Tastes artificial, terrible, my wife and I shared one finger each and couldn't bring ourselves to eat any more.

Day 2

Hmmmmmmmmmmm ... being TOO close to a JR station also not so good, especially when the hotel is right next to the track. The soundproofing on the windows were good enough that the train noise wasn't that loud, but it was noticeable nonetheless.



Peasant breakfast of hotel coffee (not replenished after 1st night wtf), yesterday's dorayaki, and konbini jelly



... and then we went to visit the Imperial East Gardens!



The gardens are quite nice, but not as nice as the shinjuku gardens (or even the hama rikyu ones). But then admission is free. And also the plum trees started blossoming liao, which were nice.

Day 2 continued

More pics from the Imperial East Gardens



... and also a random snipe of japanese couple getting married at palace hotel

Day 2 continued

After walking around the garden, we then headed to our lunch place in Shinjuku: A yakitori joint named Imaiya Honten (tabelog: 3.58). Dinner seems quite expensive, but the lunch sets are reasonable. No queue.



Chicken was really pretty damn good, crispy and just the right amount of char. But the breast meat skewers were a little dry, and the chicken wing a little tough. Favorites of the afternoon: Bonjiri (chicken tails), Foie Gras (crazy fatty and decadent) and the Kuroge Wagyu.

Thanks you for support, will continue updating all photos.


All onsens are naked, so yes I did ... to segregated gender baths. But if you mean mixed gender then no, I never go before and never research before also where got mixed one lol.

Day 2 continued

... after lunch, really no luck. We went to visit Kajitsuen Libre (fruits parlour) from the Netflix Show Kantaro the sweet tooth salaryman. But KNN ... this shinjuku outlet got a freaking long waiting list ....



... so we waved white flag and took a short journey to Theobroma instead (If you follow Buzzfeed, this was the Chocolate Cake from WORTH IT S3 • E10 $7 Cake Vs. $208 Cake • Japan ... only to find this on the door:



Simply anyhow translation: Our seating area is closed until valentine's day and will re-open on 15th Feb.

On the walk back to metro station saw these cute doggies



Anyway we still wanted to go Kajitsuen, but since the Shinjuku outlet too long queue, we went to the Tokyo Station outlet instead, and ate Musk Melon and Amaou Strawberry Parfaits! (blogwh0re alert)





This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 24 2018, 09:41 PM

Hmm, I'd say around 10% canon eos60d, 40% oneplus 5 with portrait mode, 50% canon g7x (compact cam)


the itinerary? lol ... just insert emoji only leh.

Day 2 end

After fruits parfait at Kajitsuen we actually decided to just go back to hotel and rest (tired liao, old liao, can't do 16hour vacation days any more), especially cos tomorrow got an early start to head to the shinkansen. On the walk back to hotel always pass by this bar in Kanda.



For dinner, we had our Theobroma chocolate cake (the buzzfeed one from Post 52)



It was pretty much spot on for what the buzzfeed worth it trio described - a very rich chocolate cake which is low on the sugar, allowing the richness and acidity of the chocolate to take centre stage.

Day 3 start

Early morning wake up!! We have a 7.12am Shinkansen to Miyagi/Yamagata areas, so we're awake at like 6am to pack up, shower, check out, and catch a short one-stop ride from Kanda to Tokyo.



Apparently enough people have gotten in some sort of trouble for using スマホ ("sumaho" i.e. smart phones ... *shrug*) for JR to start putting up these posters.



But first, a stop by the 'famous' (I guess) Ekibenya Matsuri to buy some food for the trip. For easy / quick reference, the shop is in between platforms 5 & 6 in Tokyo station (i.e. the non-shinkansen area).



Our train: the 7.12am "Yamabiko + Tsubasa" train. Actually this shinkansen is two trains joined together from Tokyo to Fukushima; after which the Tsubasa train separates and goes on the Yamagata Line (to Yamagata), and the Yamabiko continues on the Tohoku Line all the way to Aomori/almost at Hokkaido.

Jump forward again and SIC my zao onsen video (focusing on the skiing only)

Haha I'm not young anymore bro, if 20-something full of energy then can, but nowadays if I don't have proper rest on a proper bed tonight, tomorrow surely damn cranky and tired


You should create your own thread leh to get more views, just one post here I'm not sure if that many people will click. Just copy/paste all the posts only, no?

Day 3 continued

Eventually we decided to jiak 1x gyuben (beef) and 1x ikura/maguro bento. Both were "OK" lah, nothing really that special, although eating tuna in japan is always so much different from eating in M'sia.



Then after 2hrs+ we reached Shiroishi-Zao station and took a taxi along snowy roads to the Fox Village



Do's and Don'ts:



OK now for the village. We thought that the fox village was something like the deers in Nara, where the deers roam around an actual village, mingling with humanity. But actually this fox village is more like a ... fox wildlife sanctuary / zoo? It's a pretty large enclosed area where the foxes run around, but it's still a huge enclosure and not at all a "village."

Day 3 continued

I'm not sure what the timing is, but at a certain time in the day, the Fox Village ladies will announce the "cuddling / holding" fox time. You have to pay ¥600 to hold a fox for just ~30seconds or so.



When you're ready to leave, talk to the counter lady and they will call a taxi for you.



In Shiroishi-Zao station waiting for the train to fukushima ... seems like gyutan (beef tongue) is very famous in this area cos there are so many beef tongue flavoured snacks and stuff



Lunch near fukushima station - tsukemen @ Kuon (3.59 tabelog). Was quite nice, pork very well cooked, but as usual with tsukemen, you need to eat really quickly, otherwise by the time you're halfway through the noodles broth already cold and it starts tasting a little icky.

Jump ahead to Day 6 evening/night to post MariCar video first

Day 3 continued

From Fukushima we went to Yamagata station (shinkansen) then took the ¥1000 bus up to Zao Onsen Bus station. Then checked in to Suzunoya Onsen; which was really really old and well past it's prime; yet quite OK cos the uncles and aunties there give very nice, warm, and friendly service.



After checking in, immediately walked to Zao Ropeway to do night Juhyo viewing.



Ropeway need to pay extra ...



It was 超寒い (super cold) at the top: -14degC according to thermometer, -29degC including windchill from the super strong winds. Crazy. Also it was snowing and very misty/cloudy/foggy so couldn't really see far, sadface.

Xiaoyi 4k action cam. Turned off stabilization cos with it on the crop is (IMO) too aggressive. No stabilization during post prod either. Think it's cos I ski only noob slopes so mostly quite smooth and not that bumpy?

Anyway my problem is improper ski technique cos I'm mostly self taught kampung style. So probably the video is more left/right than it could be.

Ah, that's cos the xiaoyi cam doesn't have optical stabilization, it only has electronic, so there's some crop.

This run was all chest mounted. Previous trips I've done head-mounted before which gives less left/right movement, but a tad bit more up/down jerkiness. But overall I don't like head mount so much cos the video feels a bit "floaty" (most of the time you can't see the skis) and you can't really see the snow conditions well.

Expensive only really cos I book last minute so hotel prices were expensive, flight prices were expensive, some more I bid upgrade one way biz class. If not for these it would have been way cheaper.

Day 3 Continued

So after coming down from the top of the hill, we couldn't really find anywhere decent to eat (that was still open), so just anyhow whack konbini instant curry rice.



And then sleep.

Day 4

Day 4 we went for whole day ski'ing; videos already on the first page but re-embed here just in case:


Breakfast provided by ryokan



Random photos around town and on the slopes



Lunch at base center Jupia / Jupeer - ham croquette and sucky meat sauce spaghetti



After ski'ing and before dinner, go out in the snow wearing nothing but slippers and the ryokan's yukata to head to the public baths!



This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 10 2018, 09:23 AM

Day 4 continued

Dinner at the ryokan was genghis khan / jingisukan, which is lamb grilled on a dome shaped cast iron pot. It was "OK" only lah, filling enough but nowhere near as delicious as Daruma Honten in Hokkaido.



Day 5

2nd day of skiing today! For lunch we tried the downstairs restaurant at the Jupia / Jupeer base station which was shoyu ramen. Way better than the previous day's rubbish food. Of course it wasn't "gourmet" by any measure, but for filling tummy with warm energy halfway through a ski day, it was really nice.



Today the clouds opened up a little bit after lunch, so finally we had a little bit of scenery of the mountains ...



... and since that means the snow stopped a bit, the entire village was out cleaning up the built up snow from the roofs ...



After skiing and souvenir shopping, ended the day with shabu shabu at ryokan.



This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 10 2018, 09:23 AM