Archive for the 'Vacation' Category

Like I had written in part 2, this was my second time visiting Tokyo, but my first time visiting Sendai! I wanted to explore a new part of Japan and chose the Tohoku region in the north with Sendai as the base city to do things from.

We didn’t do much on August 4th. We basically hung around Tokyo, took a 1.5 hour Shinkansen (bullet train) to Sendai, and then relaxed in Sendai. Before leaving Tokyo, we had lunch at Kiji, an okonomiyaki place I found as a recommend (Bib Gourmand) in the Michelin Guide. Okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese pancake, and we ordered a beef tendon one, a pork kimchi one, and an omelette with yaki soba (fried noodles) inside. The beef tendon was the best okonomiyaki I’ve had so far!

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August 3rd was another full day in Tokyo, and our first stop was Tokyo Tower. We weren’t there to go up the tower though. Our destination was the building at the base which houses many attractions… including Tokyo One Piece Tower! One Piece is a popular Anime worldwide, and I’m a big fan. When we entered, we were greeted by Chopper’s footprints and immediately knew to follow that.

If you’ve been following my Instagram, you’ll know that I started working on my next Tashigi cosplay. The full costume isn’t done, but I finished the shirt and wore it as a casual Tashigi outfit for the day 🙂

Entrance to Tokyo One Piece Tower

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Here’s the start of my Japan trip entries! I went with my husband and one of my closest friends, and we left for Japan on July 31st, but because of the large time zone difference, we landed in Tokyo in the afternoon on August 1st. There isn’t much to say about the first day since we just checked into our hotel in Shinjuku, had dinner at a katsu place, and then went to bed. Two years ago, we also started our trip in Shinjuku (and at the same hotel), so it was nice to have a familiar start.

The next morning, we found a 24-hour ramen place, Ichiran Ramen, and had ramen for breakfast. The place has an interesting concept where they minimize human interaction. You select what you want from a ticket vending machine and then choose a booth, which is walled off from the others (you can move the wall if you want though). In front of you is a window that is covered by a shade, and it’s only opened when they take your food tickets and when they give you food. We also got a form to fill out to customize our ramen, from its richness to the texture of the noodles. It was a tasty and hearty start to the day!

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