Japan Trip: Gundam and Mini Liberty Statues at Odaiba, Tokyo

When I found out that there is a 1:1 Gundam Statue in Tokyo, I tried to find out where is it located. Then I found out that it is located in a man made island, named Odaiba. Odaiba is located in the far eat of Tokyo. Even to arrived at Tokyo Teleport station in Odaiba, I had to take special line named Rinkai Line.

After arrived at Tokyo Teleport station, I directly went to Diver City Plaza, the Gundam statue location. Even I wasn't a fan of Gundam, but seeing the robot this big was amused me. The great thing is, this is not just a stiff statue, he can even shake his head in slow motion and blow some fog.

the Gundam statue

Not far from there, I tooked a pathway to Aquacity mall. Near Aquacity mall, there's a mini Liberty Statue. I haven't went to USA, so seeing this Liberty statue really excited me.

the pathway connecting Diver City Plaza and Aquacity Mall

The Liberty Statue

From the Liberty Statue, I could see rainbow bridge connecting Odaiba to the main land. This bridge called as rainbow bridge because at night it flashing rainbow colors, and make it looks colorful like rainbow. If the weather was clear, I could even see Tokyo Tower from here. Amazing.

The Rainbow Bridge with Tokyo Tower behind it

When I returned from Aquacity to Diver City Plaza, I took a photo of FujiTV building. The building has unique design with an iron ball inside the building.

FujiTV building

Before returned to Tokyo, I visited Diver City Plaza and bought some souvenirs at The Daiba. For me, The Daiba is a complete store if you want to buy any kind of souvenir (like t-shirt, chopstick, stationary, and many more) and snacks (like various Kitkat and Pocky flavours, also some mouthwatering local foods), for people at your hometown.


XOXO,
The Tourist

Japan Trip: DisneySea, Tokyo

Japan has two Disney theme park: DisneyLand and DisneySea. The entrance ticket for each Disney is 6,200 yen. Since it was not cheap for me and I didn't have enough time to visit 2 Disneys park, so I had to choose. My choice goes to DisneySea, because DisneySea only in Japan, and I can visit DisneyLand someday in other cities like Hong Kong, Paris, or Los Angeles.

Once I arrived at Maihama station, I had to take another Disney Resort Line to get to DisneySea. The train has Disney theme like Mickey's head shape window and hand grip. The train stopped first at DisneyLand and then continue to DisneySea.

Arrived at DisneySea, I saw a globe with 30 years words in it, I guessed Disney just celebrated its 30th anniversary. And not far from there, I saw Mickey Mouse gave his autograph to his fans. But when I wanted to take pic with him, his assistant said that Mickey wanted to take a rest first.

the Disney Globe

Mickey Mouse from behind

When I entered the DisneySea gate, it was the time for The Legend of Mythica show that was played at the Mediterranean harbor. Actually I have already spotted some attractions that I wanted to visit, the first one is Journey to the Center of the Earth. This is a roller coaster ride inside the artificial mountain of Mysterious Island of DisneySea. Because the queue was too long, so we decided to get the fastpass. In Disney, you don't need to pay additional fee to get the fastpass, you just need to be smart enough to manage time in using your fast past. My fastpass stated that I had to return at 8 p.m if I wan to use the fast pass. So in the mean time, I decided to have lunch and take a look at other attractions.

the Legend of Mythica show

the dancer from Legend of Mythica show

in front of Journey to the Center of the Earth attraction

Another attraction that I wanted to visit too was Indiana Jones Adventure, but when I arrived there, the park assistant said that the attraction was closed due to maintenance. The shape of the attraction was looked like an Inca tribe pyramid. So I was interested to take a photo in front of it.

the Inca Pyramid

What I loved about DisneySea is its view. They really put 110% in creating the park. So even if you don't take any ride, you still feel happy in there. So the tagline "The Happiest Place on Earth" is the rightest description for Disney's park, including DisneySea.

the view  inside mysterious island

that unique building is the Tower of Terror

the harbor for DisneySea Transit Steamer Line

with Mysterious Island as the background. The artificial mountain is a roller coaster ride.

I don't know what happened with the crack on the wall, but many people interested in it.

The evening view of Port Discovery

with S.S. Columbia as my backgroud. this ship is a place for UnderSea Observatory with Talking Turtle  as its attraction

Every attractions has its own theme and unique appearance. The visitors also looked interesting, most of them bought and wore the Mickey's, Donald's, or Goofy's hat. But when I wanted to buy the same thing, finding out that the price for the hat was 2,000-2,500 yen, I stepped back and changed my mind. It was quite expensive for me, remembering that I might not wearing that hat again when I go home.

These two students looked so cute with their buns

The cheapest snacks that I ordered in DisneySea was popcorn. It sold popcorn everywhere with various taste. My favourite was Corn Potage. I also tried the strawberry flavor but I was just not into it.

Corn Potage Popcorn

When the night come, DisneySea became more beautiful in neon light. There was also some attractions in indoor playground at the Mermaid Lagoon, but most of them were attractions for kids.

with Triton's Kingdom as my background

indoor playground inside Triton's Kingdom

the gate of Arabian Coast area

cute water fountain

Caravan Carousel at night

Besides The Legend of Mythica, there's also other shows in Mediterranean harbor, which using some balloons and projected some Disney's movies like Cinderella and other princesses stories.

the princess story

they even blowed fireworks at the end of the show

When I visited the park, it was close to Christmas time, so DisneySea had special show showing a giant Christmas tree in the midle of the lake.

the giant Christmas tree

And to close the day, Disney also has a show named "Happiness on High" where we could see beautiful fireworks sparkling in the clear sky. I even could see fireworks in as shape of Mickey's head shape.

"Happiness on High" show

What a happy day!


XOXO,
The Tourist

Japan Trip: Sushi Dai, Tokyo

The third city that I visited during my trip in Japan was Tokyo. When it comes to find out which sushi is the best in Tokyo, well, there are plenty of it, and most of them are expensive and need to reserve long time prior coming to the sushi store. After doing some googling, I found a famous sushi place that still affordable for me and my travel partner. The name is Sushi Dai and it is located in the famous Tsukiji Fish Market.

When reading the review of Sushi Dai, many people said that the come very early in the morning, at 5 a.m. and some peoples have already queued to get into Sushi Dai. Because I was too lazy to wake up at 4 a.m, so I woke at 5 a.m. and arrived at Tsukiji Fish Market at 6 a.m. Even at 6 a.m. the queuing line already long. Actually the cause of the queue is because the seats only available for about 13 or 14 peoples, and each chef only dedicated to serve certain amount of people (3 to 4 people), then they prepared each of the sushi carefully and serve it one at a time.

The queue has already this long when I came at 6 a.m.

We waited about 2 and half hours. Maybe because it was still in the morning, so the temperature was about 11-12 degree celcius. Waiting with that cold tem perature was really frustrating. I had to cover my head since the cold air and the do-nothing queue made my brain freezing. Luckily the waitress from Sushi Dai felt came out and bring us hot ocha to warm up our body. I was really appreciated it.

he felt so bored waiting with slow progress

morning view of Tsukiji Fish Market. I don't know what kind of car these fish sellers are using, but it was everywhere in Tsukiji

the free hot ocha, the cure for my brain freeze

in front of Sushi Dai

Actually at first I only wanted to buy the Jyou (standard) set, with 7 different nigiri sushi, because it was cheaper compared to Omakase course ("trust the chef course") with 10 different nigiri sushi. Jyou was 2,500 yen and Omakase was 3,900 yen. But after waited 2.5 hours, my patient already gone and I wanted to get reward for my long waiting by having the best choice Sushi Dai can offer, so I change to Omasake Course. Omasake Course turned out to be the best choice, because I had a chance to taste the best sushi set I have ever eaten. The Omasake course includes 10 different nigiri sushi + 1"whatever you want" nigiri sushi, hot ocha, miso soup, sushi rolls, and rolled egg (tamago).

inside Sushi Dai

10 nigiri sushi, 1 rolled egg, and sushi rolls

this miso soup contains many kinds of fish

the hot ocha

the options for "whatever you want" nigiri sushi. don't worry, this extra sushi is free. 

my choice for "whatever you want" nigiri sushi. I choose Red Clam Nigiri Sushi.

The chef who served me and my travelling partner is the son of the Sushi Dai owner, I did not remember whether he is the 2nd or 3rd generation. Before he served us, he asked how many wasabi for our sushi. My travelling partner said he didn't want any wasabi. Hearing this statement, he looked amazed and he told to other chefs that someone didn't want to use wasabi. The other chefs were amazed too. Then he asked where we came from because he wondered why there's somebody who did not want wasabi to be included in his sushi.

the chef is preparing our sushi

my best sushi experience :')

When you eat in here, you don't need to worry about how much soy sauce should be put into the sushi because the chef already put the right amount of soy sauce into the sushi. And if you add more soy sauce, you'll lose the best taste of the sushi.

Overall, even though the wait was painful, but the taste of the course was worth all the wait. I can say it was the best sushi experience that I have ever had. :D


XOXO,
The Tourist