To Asakusa for divine sashimi

At times I pick out good eats by the aroma wafting out of the outlet itself . And most of the time , I hit it right on the dot .

While that's how I zeroed in on this little old timers place just outside of Asakusa , I was a bit off mark this time . 

Meet Donald's ducks

Don't think you can avoid meeting Donald's offsprings / harems / relatives when you're in Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland tickets

In case you wanna compare, this is what the tickets look like.

Gundam Front Tokyo - what you get to see for free

Not being that into Gundam, I saw no reason to want to pay for a ticket just to play a series of games that would get me into the coveted hot seat head of the giant Gundam.

Odaiba when night falls

Most people pack up and leave when night falls in Odaiba. But since we were already staying in the area, I can show you what there is, in the vast quiet area.

Linking Diver City to the corner of the beach area where a replica of the Statue of Liberty can be found, is this spot, where you can see both the Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge at the same time, it's a romantic spot which is a hit amongst dating couples.

Breakfast at Hotel Trusty Tokyo Bayside

Is this posh or what ? 

Yea, that was the breakfast I more or less picked throughout our stay. No doubt, I had to self serve but gosh, you just gotta hand some things down to the Japanese.

Respect . They really do think of everything and they really know how to make their customers feel darned good too.

Our room at Hotel Trusty Tokyo Bayside

Just lie down and you'll sleep so soundly, you wish you didn't have to get up and explore the city or even go down for breakfast for that matter.

My pictures don't do them any justice, cos the beds here, ah, they are the best if you like soft beds that is

Hotel Trusty Tokyo Bayside

We stepped off the plane and were picked up by THIS vehicle.

Holy...!!! Yeah, like hell, I was absolutely soooooo impressed. So much so , I half expected Jason Statham , aka The Transporter, to pick up my bags for me,this Mem Besar.

Nope, wasn't him behind the wheels but Fuh....shiny...what I way to enter Tokyo . Nice !

Flame of Liberty - Odaiba's Golden Needle sculpture

So now, you probably think the Japanese came up with this weird looking gold structure, but you're wrong.

The Flame of Liberty is a gift from France. 

Meant to resemble an eternal flame of friendship between the 2 nations I only noticed it only when the sun was about to set. Strangely enough , the structure is hardly mentioned in Odaiba tourism brochures. 

Towering Gundam at Diver City

Even if you're not that into Gundam, the moment you see it, you'll definitely wanna snap many, many pictures of it.

Yep, it's HUGE alright !

Only later did I regret rubbing the Tanuki statue all over

We visited Tokyo at a time when the heatwave struck. Nah , no bad weather ever gets in my way of enjoying whichever city I am at ,to the fullest. 

So anyway, this Tanuki is a racoon dog which is said to be a shape shifter, revered for its big balls...I kid you not...which is turned into everything from a dish ( how radical ) to drum skins. See the thing between the legs and you get the hang of just how well endowed it is in that department. 

Watching the Shinkansen pass by at Shimbashi station

Last time, we were here, we headed to Tokyo station just to see the Shinkansen. But as you can see, as we made our way from the Yurikamome line towards the Ginza line, you don't need to go all the way there ,unless you wanna include the palace and major glitzy food halls in your itinerary

Using the Yurikamome monorail

The Yurikamome Line is an elevated monorail which connects Odaiba to the mainland. 

Decided to get the Day pass for unlimited stops till 12 midnight.

Hachiko at the Shibuya Scramble

This is what an Akita looks like. It's a Japanese mountain breed and as you can see, even as I was taking this pic, it only had eyes for its lady owner whom it obviously adores to bits

Tokyo Tree - a changing skyline

Tokyo Tree has now dwarfed out Tokyo Tower . Walkable from Sensoji, it was so hot that we decided to hop on the local shuttle bus.

When newly weds choose a rickshaw

Asakusa is about as touristy as you can get. 

But this wedding was real, only instead of a car, the newly weds settled on a rickshaw to be their Just Married carriage

Asakusa's rickshaw pullers

This is the long term effect of manually pulling a rickshaw through the streets of Asakusa.

Oriental Beefcake if there ever was one

Ice cream to beat the heat

How to beat the summer heat ? Well, there was a beeline for the ice cream sold at this stall where the customers comprised of 

Kanto lantern pole balancing performance

Looking at all the rows of lanterns carefully placed on the ground, I roughly guessed, that some cultural performance would be on the cards  ...just no idea how long I would have to wait. 

Searing summer's day at the Sensoji - Asakusa Kannon Temple

Don't know anyone who doesn't like this entrance at first sight.

First visited during a wet cold dreary winter, now it's summer . Both seasons always pulls in the masses.