Day 5 (Last Day): Central Japan (Tokyo & Sayonara Japan)

Good morning, Azagawa, overlooking beautiful Lake Kawaguchi during Autumn season!

The morning view of the lake, drizzled thereafter~

More beautiful pictures of the lake.

1. As usual, we woke up early to get ready for our breakfast at the ground floor of the hotel. We tidied up all our things and took it down along with us and spent most of our time having breakfast at the cafe.

Selfie with the lake before departing.

2. We departed to Tokyo with the first plan of visiting the Asakusa Kannon Temple (Sensō-ji), Tokyo's oldest temple! This is an ancient Buddhist temple. This temple worship to Goddess of Mercy (similar to the Chinese Guan Yin Ma). The main entrance to the temple lies a huge lantern which is known as the Thundergate or Kaminarimon.
In order to get to the temple, our bus pastby the bridge (Yi Tian Chuan) and one could see the Asahi beer building with the huge gold horizontal-like Olympic gold flame symbol and Skytree Observation tower from here. We were told that when it was being built in the earlier days, the structure was in a vertical position. However, the structure fell down after that and thus the Japanese just secured the position of the horizontal-like structure which made it looked very unique to them.
Indeed~ It is like the saying goes, make lemonade out of lemon! Ain't it interesting and looks creative too? ;)

Hello Tokyo!

A very crowded city!

Passing by one of the bridge to get to the other side.

The Asahi beer building and sculpture.

When we've arrived at the temple, we were given around 45 min to roam around or do some prayers at the temple itself before gather at the entrance. We only prayed and then we thought we just gathered at around the entrance to wait for them. However....we didn't think that we would receive a misinformation and misinterpretation and then we ended up waiting at the wrong mini entrance and wasted our precious 30 min. Had to contact the tour guide by sms-es and phone calls. Worse, the temple was super crowded with tourists and worshipers.

Communication shows us that it is key to everything! Next time, we should all confirm again and again in whatever we are doing if we found ourselves not clear about anything in life, be it at work, home or travel! This kinda thing happens at work as always~ I fancy my colleagues loved to nod everytime the bosses gave instructions to them and then by the end of the day, they'll be asking around what to do.

Asakusa (Sensō-ji) Temple

Beer storage and cup?? No idea of it.

With the weeping willow tree

 Asakusa (Sensō-ji) temple from another angle.

Landscape around the temple.

Nice landscape and mutated bluish Koi fishes~

Overlooking the Skytree Observation Tower in Tokyo!

Prayers for success, health, wealth and happiness in life :*
(hope that we were not wrong though.We followed exactly what the Jap tour guide's instruction):
1. Cleanse each of the hand and rinse the mouth by following the instructions which are hung on the beam,

2. Get nearby to the incense and try to sweep it over to your body.

3. Get to the altar and pray.

The tour guide bought us this polo bun (poloupao) from Asakusa area to try! So kind of her!
Similar to the Hong Kong polo bun style! Yummy indeed! I can never forget the yummy taste of the bun in which I will never find this in Malaysia. Almost similar to Roti boy, but more special and without the coffee flavour~ I dislike coffee, but not to the extend of hate la~

This paper packaging of polo bun.

The look of the yum yum polo bun.

Yum 
3. Then, we had our Japanese bento set lunch at one of the restaurants, located just few shops next to the temple's thundergate.

I was more enthused in the sashimi. Too tired from searching around for the group.

On our way walking back to the meeting point of our express bus.

It rained heavily suddenly and we had to stand nearby a public hall. Saw this umbrella holding area with keys to lock. OMGGG, precious umbrellas! LOL~

4. Next, we departed to Ginza Street, a Western-style shopping street!
On our way there, the bus just drove pastby the Japan King's palace. We only saw the huge palace garden. We were given around 1 1/2 hour to shop around the shopping street. Woahhhhh, such a huge 12 storeys high Japanese Uniqlo clothes building I've seen!!! We were told to pronounce it as "uniq-ku-lo" and not "uniq-glo" although it is spelled as Uniqlo itself. Brand is originated from the Japanese, thus, respect that kind of pronunciation.

Actually, we were told to only shop around the Uniqlo building. We obeyed stupidly but then at the end of the day, we found that all our other travel mates roamed around at the whole street and into many other shops. Most of them were just crazy for this Japanese branded bags known as Anello. The tour guide teased us by saying that only Malaysians are into this brand, and thus this brand is not crazy at all by the Japanese cause she had asked us if we have seen any Japanese using such brand at all so far in our trip. LMAO~ The design looks quite unique as if it looked like a hybrid of an auntie styled handbag that is extended into a backpack.

The palace garden.

The 12 storey high clothes building, Uniqlo!

5. After Ginza street, we visited this huge Aqua City in Odaiba (also known as the Olympic city). The Venus Fort Shopping Mall is located inside this huge building. There is also a themepark which is adjacent to the mall, Toyota showroom display. We were given around 2 hour to roam around free and easy.

We were brought to this cheap and affordable 100Yen shop :D

Visited the pet shop too. Cute Shiba Inu pooches!

Mini poodle! Damn, the price is super expensive. Guess how much? equivalent to buying a car (~RM30,000) here. OMGGG!

Pugs pooches!

There is a vintage car showroom too. Most of it are Japanese made cars like Honda, Toyota, Nissan..

I love this vintage style sports car and it's in white colour.

A unique and stylish vintage and at the same time cute lil' red 3-wheel cabin German scooter from year 1953 by Messerschmitt.

This sporty vintage car, reminded me of a cartoon back in the days (forgot about the name though).

Green vintage car.

Greek like fountain deco inside the mall.

6. Before we departed to Narita Airport (also known as the Tokyo's International Airport), we stopped by to have our dinner at the Chinese cuisine restaurant, Long Yuen- Dragon Garden Restaurant in Tokyo.
Damnnn, it was sooooooooo yummy to the tummy for all of us! We started with this lobster abalone spaghetti with thousand island kind of sauce flavour. Such a sumptuous dinner indeed! We finished all of our 8-course dinner in within 30 min. *jeng jeng jeng jeng. LMAO~
I guessed that we were quite sick with all those day in day out Japanese food at that moment. haha~

Part of our Chinese course cuisine. e.g. spaghetti abalone crab, tofu stew, sweet and sour deep fried prawns, chicken, steamed fish, chicken soup and etc.

This is the restaurant we went to.

Overlooking the moon in Japan, which was round and big! Our last night in Japan~

7. We've reached Narita Airport, Tokyo! Awaiting for our midnight flight to fly back home~ Therefore, we had a lot of time checking out their duty free shops.
We got ourselves matcha green tea Royce Nama chocolate and matcha green tea drinks (from the vending machine-trying to finish off our loose coins). The price for the chocolate was so much cheaper than the same chocolate we could buy from at our local mall after imported it to our country.
Therefore, a necessity to try since it was cheap, right?;)
Anyway, we had the Royce Nama chocolate immediately after purchase (it was kept in the freezer but I don't think it could last for 6 hours throughout our journey although it was possible to buy dry ice) from the duty free shop and so to keep them fresh, they were all melted in our mouth yummily~ ;)

We also bought ourselves Tokyo Banana cakes to try. Heard that it is only sold at the airport though. Strange~
We bought other snacks too, such as green tea mochis.

The next time, I've been wanting to try and miss out in buying was the Sake flavour Kit Kat (saw it at outside the airport shop but not inside the duty free shop, after security checkpoint though). T.T
We initially arrived in Japan at Haneda Airport (another site of Tokyo) but we were departing now in Japan from the Narita Airport.

Japan is so fast to host the Olympics Tokyo 2020. Therefore, one could see the poster being placed in 2016 Autumn.
Damn efficient :)

Banner by the Haneda Tokyo Japan.

Green tea matcha drinks and Royca Nama Choco.

Time to bid farewell (sayonara), Japan! Lucky for us, we escaped the typhoon at around that time which hit Taiwan and Japan.
Thank youuuu, Japan, you've treated us very kindly~

My loot from Japan! :D

My self- declared souvenirs from the hotel(S). LOL~ *green teas and coffee; made in Japan)

Tokyo Banana. at ~RM40 after conversion for 8 packets.
One must try this! It has a real banana filling inside the cook. Cakes that weren't cloying though.

So, see ya again next time!

Day 4: Central Japan (Fujinomiya, Mount Fuji & Azagawa)

Gooood morning, Isawa Hotspring!

As usual, we had to wake up very early, as if we're like preparing to go to work.
However, we're preparing to go for our holiday trip. wheeeee~:D
To be honest, holidays or travelling actually has its own sets of stress. But it's actually a kinda different stress lah~ ;)

1. First, we had our breakfast at the hotel.

Japanese style buffet breakfast whereby we decorated our food on the plate with lil' cute portions which made us felt soooo appetising :D

Baldie statue and I. 

The signboard says it all. :)

The hotel's landscape view.

2. Then, we departed at around 8.10am to Otodome and Shiraito Waterfalls which are both located at Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture.
(waterfall in Mandarin = pu pu and Lake = hu)

Stopped by the parking area and bought this Ginger sweets to try. Quite spicyyy sweety taste~

We've reached the waterfalls. On our way walking towards the falls.

Toilets or loos at the falls area. So pristine clean and dry! One could actually sleep soundly inside.
Feeling Zen inside the toilet~ LMAO~

First stop: Me at part of the Otodome no Taki Waterfalls.
This waterfall is located at East of Shiraito (25 metre high). Otodome means "stop the sound". This is based on an old tales saying that there were 2 brothers were trying to have a quiet moment in the planning of the revenge of the killing of their father. Thus, the roar of the waterfalls was being silenced by the Soga brothers.

Otodome no Taki Waterfalls surrounded by the green foliage.

Japanese "rambutan" fruits.

Second stop: Walked further down and one could find some shops selling fruits and souvenirs on the left side. Then, we'll reach the Shiraito Waterfalls by turning to the right side to walk down the staircases.

Map: Its signboard says it all.

Magnificent Shiraito Waterfalls. Nature at its best at the 150 metre high!
One could hear the loud roaring and feel the natural sprinkling spring water from the volcano.

On our way departing to Gotemba Premium Outlet. We saw this car sales shop. Based on our observation, most Japanese prefer short cars such as Suzuki, Honda pet, Toyota pet.

3. After spending like half an hour there, we departed to the Gotemba Premium Outlet which is also located at Shizuoka Prefecture. No shopping pictures ya~ Was too lazy and tired to take any pics at that time. Loitered and looking around at the area for an hour.
We only went for window shopping and checking out outlet prices so that I could estimate and compare with my home country prices.
I found certain things which were reasonable to buy such as the the Michael Kors handbag that was around RM1200 and the long wallet costed around RM800 (after converting to our current rate).
I wasn't so into the branded bags as I've already had my Desigual bag which I bought in Italy. Besides, too much bags will have to resort in getting a bigger wardrobe to store all those items. Anyway, I would only want to aim for one of these super branded items such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Burberry in the future. ;P
Owning one super branded stuff in life is suffice to me. No need too many lahh, such a wastage. :D
Another item that i felt okay was the Shu Uemura Tsuya Serum (30mL) which costed around RM200. Was deliberating to buy it at that time. However, I am currently using Sulwhasoo brand from Korea. I used to use this Shu Uemura brand from Japan after being recommended by a dear friend few years ago. After that, when I met her again a couple of years later, she recommended me Sulwhasoo brand. This brand is more expensive than the former brand and that the sales representative gave me a lot of samples to try them on. That was the most dangerous thingy to attract a customer like me. FML~
So, take note sales ppl.
This Korean brand uses traditional herbs and I felt that it was mild and good to my face so far *touch wood* Thank God!
I was so afraid of acne and pimples~ Had 2 incidences of acne and pimples diseases before and it took a lot of effort and money to get my face and back body to recover (will leave this to another story telling time).

4. Next, we went for our lunch. Forgot the name of the restaurant. First time, we were served with a bowl of hot udon noodles, rice with white tiny fishes in a Bento set. The Bento set came with some cold preserved vegetables. At that moment onwards, I found that I dislike eating cold preserved food without a hot bowl of porridge.

Our lunchie for the day.

5. Later, we stopped by for a walk at the Oshino Hakkai Springs, a cultural heritage site with the 8 ponds attraction formed due to the Mount Fuji volcano eruption till Yoshino Village, located at Yamanashi Prefecture.
We could actually observe Mount Fuji's crater from this village too but our tour guide just left us wondering by ourselves at the area for just a limited amount of time. T.T
(We've also been told in Mandarin language = Len Ye Pa Hai = Eight sea springs)

Wakuike Pond.

Wakuike Pond and its signboard.
There are 8 different ponds. Each pond has its own legend based on the description at the signboard.

Flowerrrrrrs~

Pretty flowers.

Flowers :)

Flowers.

Beautiful flowers.

Scenery at the Oshino Hakkai Village.
A lil' tad too crowded with tourists though. Nothing much there except for the natural ponds.

Is that an Arowana fish with gold ingots, koi? A fengshui fish!

Overlooking some mountains from the Oshino Hakkai village.
Actually, we didn't have much time to scout around the area as we were given limited amount of time to walk around.
I found that one could take a picture of the Mount Fuji from this village. 

Looks like a dwarf-like sunflower species?

Signboard of Okamaike Pond.

One of the Oshino Hakkai Ponds: Okamaike Pond.
Look at the dense blue water colour. This is due to its water depth.

6. After our heritage walk, our bus departed to Fuji-San (Mount Fuji). We went until the 5th Station which is at 2305m high. It was the coldest temperature (around 13 degree C) we've felt so far in Japan, compared to our whole trip. We were given about 40 min there. Nothing much at 5th Station, except for the hiking (but it was closed in Autumn during our trip), enjoying the breathtaking scenery and weather. The highest point for Fuji-San (peak = crater area) is at 3776m. When we were at the 5th Station, I honestly didn't think that it looked that high (as I could manage to take a sneak peek at the peak only at certain time). But it looks so high from pictures. hehe~

Overlooking the buildings of the souvenirs and gift shops.

Some description about Mount Fuji.

Awaiting to take a peek at the shy crater of Mount Fuji. Hidden by the clouds. T.T

Foggy scenery and cold weather at 5th station at Mount Fuji. Breathtaking!

Overlooking the crater, behind me!

Looooooook! Fuji-san is right thereeeeeeeeeeee~

7. Lastly, we departed to our hotel at Azagawa, also located at Yamanashi Prefecture, nearby to Mount Fuji. We pastby the huge Lake Kawaguchi in order to get to our hotel. This hotel does have a hotspring spa facility as well but we didn't manage to go as there were more hotel guests staying in this hotel this time and thus, we were feeling more embarrassed to go naked with so many ppl looking at us. :P
When we've reached our hotel, known as Tominoko Hotel, we were told that we would get the room view overlooking the magnificent and beautiful active Mount Fuji (how scary with its still active volcano, although the last eruption was in year 1708.
We were actually feeling so excited! However..................... Mount Fuji was too shy to let us see it all the time. It kept playing hide and seek with us, with the clouds blocking at most of the time.
Thus, left us feeling really tiring. LOL~
We had our dinner at the hotel itself, served in buffet style- fusion of Western and Japanese style.

Celebrated Mooncake Festival in Japan.
There was no mooncake served, so, we took some sweet tooth for our souls such as cakes, mochi, peaches, miso soup :D

Buffet dinner. My choice of food. Tempura...udon...ham..etc.

Our room 413. :)

Overlooking shy spectacular Mount Fuji or also known as Fujiyama at certain timing from our room view. 

Hello, Japanese spidey man! 

Our nice, spacious and comfy room~

Our room from another angle.

The provided amenities.

Me, wefie! 

Our lil' TV corner overlooking the lake view.

I heart the bidet/toilet.

Our "honeymoon" gift by the hotel ;P

Mount Fuji wine, courtesy from Tominoko Hotel. Thanks!

OMGG...vending machines!! <3 td="">

Trying this Suntory beer. Hmmm, not really my type of beer. So bitter!

Night nighty, Mount Fuji! :*
Unbelievable we were at Fuji-san~ OMG~