Japan Trip 2016 Part 1 : Arrival, Shibuya

Hey hey hey! 

Japan post is finally here, can you believe it >.<!!! Applause please!!!

Honeymooners at Shibuya :))))

Actually i still have another Solo (Surakarta) related post left, but since it's only a hotel review and has no connection to the other posts, i decided to start my Japan trip posts instead! I was just prepping the pics then i simply couldn't wait to start blogging about it-seeing the pictures brought so many fond memories back T.T, how i miss Japan!!!

FYI, this is the first time both of us went to Japan, but Japan has always been one of my fave countries and a dream destination. The only thing stopping us to go earlier is because i am cheap and we always heard that Japan is super expensive! Well, it might be-once upon a time. Not anymore. Japan can totally be affordable too, we're the living testimony of it. Now that we discovered that, i can see myself going back to Japan over and over again. 

Seriously, i know lots of people love Japan and they become crazier about this country after they got back-i thought i am immune to Japan's charm since i've been to so many countries and while there are places that stole my heart and i really want to come back to (like Europe in general-Holland specifically), there's not one country that makes me think and long for it as soon as i got home. Until now. I definitely left my heart in Japan T.T.

Anyway, yappity yappity yap, let's backtrack and start from the beginning!

We joined Stella Lee's (i'm sure most of my Indonesian readers heard about her, she's arguably one of the most famous Indonesian beauty bloggers) kawaii beauty tour (because it's so affordable hahaha, told ya i'm cheap), i am lucky enough to have a husband who doesn't mind to join girly itineraried tour :D, and we were joined by the (then) newly weds Silv and Ok. This pic was taken while we were waiting for our flight to Jakarta (where we're going to meet the rest of the group) in BK

Selfie first...

Turned out i did not take any pictures during the flight and when we were waiting for our next flight to Haneda-that's... Unusual *LOL*. Long story short, we arrived at Haneda airport early in the morning, and i didn't get proper sleep as expected. Long flights (although Jakarta to Japan's hardly long, only about 6 hours) is always quite a torture for me, especially since i have difficulties falling asleep even in the comfort of my own room (no such problem occurred in Japan btw, we always had such a long and tiring day that i fell asleep as soon as i touched the pillow!).

Whenever i am in a new country, the first wave of unbearable excitement starts since we step foot on the airport >.<

Japan, here we come ^^!

First selfie in Japan :D. In case you're wondering, i didn't sleep with full makeup on, i took off my makeup and contact lenses as soon as we sit in the CGK-HND flight, and put them back on when we're about to land :D

The only time when hunny's excited about taking my photos is when we're overseas (and only in new places, he'd be quite annoyed when i was too many pics in Singapore/Malaysia WTF), he actually forced me to take this pic. Pinky OOTD with my uber cute-but-sadly-quite-painful-cats boots

Yoohoo. Again, in case you're wondering why my face shape look so different in this pic (super round) than the previous, it's not edited-it's the angle *LOL*. Low angle is never flattering

After the group is complete and Stella (and a few members of the group) picked up her pocket wifi, we head to the bus stop. Haneda is surprisingly very quiet and calm.

We went to Japan in January-which means it was still winter. After experiencing South Korea's harsh winter, we were expecting something similar in Japan-but it was actually very tolerable when we arrived-almost warm even. Don't get me wrong, it gets progressively colder in the afternoon and everyday we woke up to a lower temperature (in fact  just a few days after we got back to Indonesia we heard that it's snowing in Tokyo :(.... Snow, why not wait for me...) but we were pretty smug at that time about how mild Japan's winter was. LOL.

Since this is a semi tour (which Stella incredibly put together by herself) and a low budget one, most of our travel were done via public transportation. We took a bus from Haneda to our hotel in Kamata. Kamata is kinda rural btw, it's a quieter and more old school looking compared to... let's say Shibuya or Harajuku. The difference is definitely quite staggering

We then dropped our luggage off at our hotel (which was super shockingly small *LOL*. Let me tell you, even when you heard about how small hotel rooms in Japan are, nothing prepares you for the tininess of it. I didn't take any pictures of our hotel room because there's barely enough room for the two of us (we're not exactly petite for Asian standard *LOLOLOL*) standing, plus our stuffs... I just got too overwhelmed and never got to take any pics (even Allianz hotel in Paris seemed pretty spacious in comparison LOL). 

Don't let me start on the bathroom, it was like Barbie's bathroom! Hunny had to stand hunched whenever he's taking shower LOLOLOL. FYI, Japanese are not as small as they are stereotyped to be, as in i am pretty average there (i'm 1.68cm) and hunny (who's 1.79cm) didn't tower over Japanese guys or whatever-most of them are not that skinny either, just... normal. I think the smallest girls we encountered were some of our own group members (Stella totally included) hahaha. Oh but the bathroom was spotless, the toilet's automatic and comes with with butt warmer (okay, seat warmer. I like the sound of butt warmer better :p)

Anyway, after we're done dropping our stuffs (but lugging a small luggage each because we're going shopping and Stella advised us on bringing a luggage for our own convenience. It sure is easier to roll the luggage than lugging heavy shopping bags indeed!), we regrouped and went to the Kamata station.

This place fast becoming a familiar sight since it was to be our home ground for the next 8 days

Hunny all excited to start exploring Tokyo

A quick dash to the convenient store to grab some essentials

So giddy with excitement that i kept on taking selfies *LOL*

An essential for me? Well, a cup of coffee. I need my perk-me-up!

Then hunny and i became excited over the unique (for us la) straw *LOLOLOL*, we're just a pair of overgrown kids really

Look! How cute, no? Sorry for uber blurry pic, i didn't even realize it as usual hahaha

Tourist gotta be tourist, i think i took a selfie with everything i ate/drink. Seriously

Japanese train station's gotta be the most complicated (with hundreds of different stops and lanes. Seeing the map would only get you even more confused. Pocket wifi is a must if you travel to Japan, especially on your own, Google maps will direct you to where you need to head , where to stop and also very important, which exit to take) i've seen yet. We're heading to Shibuya and this is the lane that we had to take. Of course, we were just following Stella like ducklings *LOL*

One of the solo members of the tour group is Lily Zhen! Lily is a long time reader-turns-friend (if you ask her then she'd tell you that she heard about this tour from my IG post hahaha)^^, she often leaves comments on my blog posts and we started talking via comments hahaha. We were reunited last June in Jakarta, but this is actually the first time we met in person. I can safely say that we hit it off immediately ^^. Can't wait to meet you again, Ly! (Dang, i miss my Sadako-length hair T.T)

We were immediately welcomed by super crowded Japanese train, and this is not even considered crowded WTF. There were moments where we took trains during peak hours and we're definitely impersonating sardines in a can WTF. In one of the worst rides, my shoulder was like... glued to a stranger's chest that i could feel his every breath WTF (can't move an inch, when it's bad you can't even fall coz there'd be other humans at both of your sides, front and also back!), i'm definitely bad at crowd and i need my personal space that it was pretty traumatizing for me. Even though it's true that most Japanese are like..super polite, they don't seem so polite when it's peak hours and they need to get off but we're in the way. They would shove and even fling you out LOLOLOL, hunny and i was so surprised to find ourselves OUTSIDE of the train one time coz we definitely didn't make any willing moves-well at least they shouted "SUMIMASEN!!!" while throwing us out of the train >.<

Coz we're hillbillies and not everyday we spot a double decker train!

Hachiko Gate!

Welcome to Shibuya, peeps!

Look at how happy Lily was :)))

Eh no idea who they are. I was once a J-pop obsessed teenager, but my teenage years has passed so long-aunties can't be bothered to follow current Japanese groups, sadly :P

With the famous Hachiko

Old train carriage turned tourist information centre

Super busy and bustling Shibuya. This is the famous crossing btw

Stella took us to H&M (which was on sale and it was like, dirt cheap. Seriously) and we were told that we could go shopping until an appointed time. I know it's probably hard to believe, but i don't really like to shop while i travel. Yes, i know i always ended up buying a lot of stuffs anyway, but i honestly prefer to explore than to shop. Of course i did buy a few pieces of clothing. In the end i only bought clothes in H&M and another store on our last day in Japan coz Japanese branded clothes are not really pocket friendly and my philosophy in life is wear clothes once or twice then move on. That means i prefer cheap clothes HAHAHAHA. I didn't even visit Shibuya 109 and i didn't regret it (Lily said the clothes looks like the ones you can find in Mangga 2 LOLOLOLOL, i'm sure the quality is superior lah, but i don't need top notch material for one time usage)

Another wefie, dunno why hunny kept on looking at the screen WTF

You know how they say Japanese makes everything kawaii? It's true. Even the not-necessary-to-be-kawaii things. Like banks

After shopping at H&M, we decided to roam around, locate a Daiso and grab a bite!

Found an interesting enough place to eat!

It's the very typical Japanese eatery, with tiny spaces (some eateries don't even have seats), self service and fast cooking!

They got excited over computerized menu and self-selection *LOL*

Especially hunny coz like i said, he's a silly little boy trapped in a grown man's body sometimes hahaha

The lighting makes me look like a Geisha/kabuki WTF

Japanese portion are no joke! The rice is like twice the size of the regular rice we usually have. Prices are quite expensive (about 100K for this set) but it's enough for two people, so i can't even say that it's that expensive! You'd be spending just as much in a simple restaurant in Indonesia. Plus, water (and most of the time Ocha too) is free (and they tastes nice, not weird like some countries' tap water)

They also say it's hard to find non-yummy food in Japan, again i gotta say they're right...

Still not a fan of dumplings tho (i only like dumpling when i was in Taiwan!)

I'd be more than happy to pose with them tho hahaha

Some of the pics in this blog post (and the future blog posts) were taken by Silv

Didn't i warned you that i took a selfie with everything? I wasn't kidding. My uber kawaii Candy Candy inspired nail art was by Kiki Coroline, obvi

After tummies were filled (immediately followed by me scrambling to find public toilet because i had to get off some HAHAHAHA), it's time for more roaming!

While Silv and i were full, these two seem to have endless space for food

And they decided to grab some taiyaki

Hunny got the crispy one and i took a bite, tasted like those crispy Danish pastries to me

Ok chose the original taiyaki

Because the background was just too cute

I was getting upset when we took this pic coz i was sleep deprived, tired and hunny kept on taking the wrong angles... Yes, photo taking is one of the rare things we argue about

When in Japan, vending machine's everywhere. And they have warm (actually more like scalding) soup in a can so you can simply drink it like canned drinks

There was some demonstration supporting Taiwan... Not really sure what it was all about but it's definitely the most orderly and organized demonstration i've ever seen

Told ya everything's kawaii

Just some random public toilet hunny snapped because Japanese toilet pic is a must HAHAHAHA, look at how clean and neat this random toilet is...

Our time in Shibuya wasn't up yet (to be honest it was a bit too long for us, since we had no plan to shop), i was in dire need for a rest since my feet were hurting (because my boots had a very hard pads  FML and it's raised so my toes were in contact with the front part of the boots, they were hard as rock T.T. I kept on buying extra pads in Daiso but then gave up and bought a comfy boots instead >.< #storyofmylife . I dunno why i never learn from my *many* mistakes, make sure my footwear are comfy for my travels!!!) and Starbucks was like, crazy packed-we ended up in L'Occitane cafe. I will tell ya all about our visit to L'Occitane cafe and Harajuku in part 2, stay tuned!

#Pink