The sales assistant was so patient and helpful.
Very cheerfully, she helped us put together our yukatas.
I love my pretty bow at the back.
This is Soffiah's.
The yukatas are very comfortable and much easier to move in than expected.
After making a spectacle of ourselves at Uniqlo in Tachikawa, we 'waddled' daintily to Asakusa to check out the Senso-Ji Temple and the rows of shops selling traditional handicrafts and foodstuffs.
The place was packed with happy tourists and locals, all of whom stared curiously at us.
I love everything Oriental, so this is my kind of place.
Hello Asakusa!
This is one gigantic red lantern!
We didn't enter the Senso-Ji Temple because the place was teeming with worshippers.
We hung around outside, basking in the atmosphere and the perfect weather.
These are slips of papers which spell out future misfortune. The worshippers tie them here in hopes of getting rid of their 'bad luck'.
Here's Soffiah on the move.
A geisha very sumptuously dressed.
A few friendly old men toting Nikon DSLRs (the camera of choice in Japan) approached us, curious to see such 'odd' looking girls.
(Btw, look at all their DSLR equipment! Man, I want some! I'm going to buy more cheap camera stuff at the electronics megastore in Tachikawa before I leave!)
They asked, "Islam?", noting Soffiah's headscarf and Soffiah happily said, "Yes". Not many Japanese are Muslims and according to Soffiah, it was rare for her to be asked that question.
Then they made us do all kinds of cute poses just so they could snap away. This was the highlight of our trip to Asakusa.
Shortly after, a group of university guys approached us, asking a bunch of random questions, trying their darndest to be understood in their halting english: "Where are you from?", "What is your favourite place in Singapore?", "Are you working?", "Are you on holiday?" They made us answer a whole bunch of questions only to ask us finally to pick the "most handsome Japanese man" from a selection of photos. Hahahah!
And guess what! All 3 of us pointed to the same picture of the same man at the same time! LOL! (See the card the first guy is holding? We picked the picture on the top left corner. Don't know who the Jap celeb is but he's hot.)
All that excitement aside, we nibbled on snacks like rice crackers and sweets.
Look at the array of brightly coloured sweets!
I was oohing and aahing over the oranges, strawberries, cherries and pineapple encased in a glob of molten candy as the stall owner looked on patiently. Man, I felt like such a greedy kid!
I picked the cherry stick.
But oh boy, was it difficult to eat! I was too excited to get to the cherries that I bit on the candy only to have it stick all over my teeth and gums.
What an agonizing mouth torture device disguised as a sweet treat. And what a stupid, irreverent photo this is. The man in the background is solemnly offering a prayer and there I am, in the middle of the temple grounds groaning over my teeth being glued together.
And just so the above goofy images won't be forever burnt into your memory, I have inserted this photo where I attempt to be more demure as befits what I am wearing (teeth still glued together).
And oh yes! Oh my...we had a really good sushi lunch in Asakusa.
The sushi here was so delicious I could have teared with joy.
Needless to say, enjoying the real thing in Japan which tastes 5 times better than the Singapore versions I've had and at a fraction of the prices back home, makes Japan a must-visit many times over for a huge sushi lover like me.
From Asakusa, we took the train to Odaiba and then the monorail which travels around Odaiba.
On the monorail, we had a great view of the Tokyo Drift!
We got off to take the ferris wheel at Palette Town.
How colourful!
I love old fashioned ferris wheels.
Megastructures like the Singapore Flyer? Not so much.
So pretty!
This was our view from the top.
Odaiba is made from reclaimed land and garbage.
We stopped for vanilla floats. These were yummy!
Then we walked to the Statue of Liberty to admire it from all angles.
It felt surreal looking at her standing tall right before me.
And how beautifully she stands with the Rainbow Bridge stretched out behind her.
Yeah, I meant it when I said we admired her from all angles.
I love the evening view when the lights cast their reflection on the water.
So amazingly pretty.
Finally, we had a dinner to remember at a conveyor belt sushi place in Shibuya (the area with the busiest road junction).
-The sushi here was so fresh, delicious and cheap. Each plate cost less than S$1.60 and there's a wide selection to choose from but you have to eat at least 7 plates within a limited time of 30 minutes because the place is popular with locals and tourists alike, therefore the queue's always long. I was too busy eating to take photos so the ones here were taken by Mukhtar.
Of all people to bump into at the sushi place, we met Michelle Chia who was really nice. She said, "You girls look really good" and obliged us with a picture. Then she said, "Have a nice trip! See you in Singapore".
After a delicious sushi dinner, we got back to Soffiah's place to webcam with our boyfriends and tried to sell them items coming out from our huge ass yukata sleeves: an alarm clock, teddy bear, ladle, a loaf of bread, a ripe pear and a blue pen. Silly Aidil didn't seem impressed but Fadly gamely asked if the loaf of bread was safe to eat considering where it came from. LOL.
And hey, we have collectively decided that yukatas are very multi-functional. You can store lots of things in the sleeves and between the belt. In fact, you can go for a sushi buffet and store pieces of sushi within the sleeves. Then, just so no one would suspect anything fishy, you should clasp your hands together and walk out daintily, with the sushi safely tucked into your sleeves.
