Friday, April 24, 2015

Genki Sushi in Shibuya

So while I was researching on a good sushi Japanese restaurant to eat at in Tokyo, I came across this famous one called "Genki Sushi" located in Shibuya. I wanted to be able to experience eating authentic sushi made in Japan but I also didn't want to spend too much money either. Genki Sushi was the perfect place as you can eat all the sushi you want from 100 yen to less than 500 yen for a plate. I also saw many blog reviews and youtube videos online and it looked like an interesting place to visit. 





Genki but not so genki face for the logo of the restaurant, lol. 





So what makes this place so special and unique other than the cheap sushi? You get to order your sushi from this computer screen and it gets delivered to you on this moving board. It's sort of like those Japanese restaurants with the revolving conveyor belt where the plates come out rotating around in a circle and you have to pick it up. This one actually delivers the plate right to you at your seat. You can also choose to have the sushi with or without wasabi for each plate. And you can choose to sit at the counter seat with the plates delivered to you on a moving board or sit at an actual table where the waitress bring the food to you. 






Some of the food I ordered. Didn't take a picture of every different plate I ordered because I was having a rather late dinner that day and I was too hungry for food! XD





I was sooooooo full by the end of the night I could barely even move, lol! I would definitely come back to this restaurant again. I also wanted to try their awesome desserts on the menu but my stomach couldn't handle any more food! XD

Here's a video I recorded at the restaurant. You can also play a paper, rock, scissors game and if you win you can get 20% off your entire bill! 



This restaurant is really popular that it even has branches in Hong Kong, China, and United States. You can find out more about the restaurant and locations on its official website: http://www.genkisushi.co.jp/en/travelers/



Map of how to get to the Shibuya location. It is actually located really close to the Forever 21 store and really easy to find! 

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Odaiba: Gundam and DiverCity

The big GIANT Gundam statue is a trademark for Odaiba. If you are ever in Odaiba, make sure you don't miss the opportunity to take pictures with the big giant life size Gundam statue located right in front of the DiverCity mall. There are always people taking pictures in front of the Gundam. I'm not a Gundam fan at all. Growing up I never liked the anime and to be honest I find it quite boring. I was never into animes or science fiction movies involving robots and aliens and outer space. Even movies like Star Wars and E.T., I never quite understand what made them so popular. I hated watching these movies when I was a kid, lol. Ironically though, I liked watching other TV shows like Power Rangers and anime like Evangelion when I was younger. My brother would have loved to see the Gundam though as he's such a huge fan of the anime so I mainly took these photos to show him. I also got a chance to take pictures of the Gundam statue during both day and night because I had to walk through DiverCity to get to Venus Fort and then I had to pass through DiverCity again to get back to Daiba station where I wanted to see the night view of the rainbow bridge. 













The DiverCity Tokyo Plaza mall! I didn't really spend much time at this mall, I think I was only there for about 1-2 hours. I had lunch at the cafeteria there (which they have a great selection of food by the way) and I walked around the mall to shop for a bit. This mall has more American brand stores like Forever 21, H&M, Old Navy, Lacoste and more so it's a better place to shop if you don't like Japanese brand clothes. 



And then right down across from DiverCity, you can see the Telecom Center which is the blue building in the middle.



Just another view of the back of Fuji TV building that I took.









And the beautiful view of the Gundam statue at night with all the white illumination lights. It was sooooo pretty in person that I even recorded a video of it. Also, there is actually a special place you can visit located on the very top floor of the DiverCity mall called "Gundam Front" which would be a dream heaven for all Gundam fans. There is a movie theatre there where they show Gundam movies and display different Gundam figurines that you can buy. I didn't go up there to check the place out but I have seen pictures from a friend who visited the place before. 

Here's a video of the Gundam statue at night and the beautiful white illumination lights surrounding it that I recorded. It was really windy so there was a lot of wind noise and shakiness at the beginning of the video. 



Thursday, April 16, 2015

Harajuku: Takeshita-Dori Street & Omotesando

Harajuku! Another place I went to the most other than Shibuya. I think I went to Harajuku about 3-4 times. Like Shibuya, this is another popular tourist spot with many tourists and it can get super crowded on a weekend. 





Just look at the insane amount of people walking down the street! And this was on a weekend. Takeshita-Dori street actually reminds me of a place in Hong Kong called "Mong Kok" 旺角 with a lot of shops lined up all in one street. They say you can find a lot of cheap stuff here but I don't know how true that is as I still find some of the stuff they sell here to be rather quite expensive. Maybe just cheaper than other places in Tokyo, lol. I don't really quite like the "Harajuku" fashion they sell here as it is more of the over dramatic side for me. Bright rainbow colours and unicorns? I think I'm getting too old for that! XD I went to Takeshita-Dori street mainly to shop at the Daiso (major dollar store) and eat fries at the Calbee+ store and take purikura pictures. I'll talk more about my experience with purikura photo booths in another separate poster later. 



DAISO! I spent about $50 here buying random things from like bento boxes and decorations, food, supplies and household goods. Everything is soooooo cute and cheap here, omg! There is 4 floors and I could literally spend a whole day here and could possibly shop here everyday too! XD Taking pictures and recording videos inside was not allowed so I don't have pictures to show you what it looks like inside. But I can tell you they have just about anything you would want to buy from candies, makeup, food, furniture, Japanese goods and the list is endless. You can just find about anything and everything here, even things you would not expect to find at a dollar store. 







The Calbee+ store where I had the most amazing fries with chips and ice cream! My only complaint about the Calbee+ store in this location is there is no seats for you to sit and eat. They have tables but no chairs for you sit down and eat your food which I found extremely weird. I was sooooo tired after a long day of walking and the only thing I want to do is to just sit down and rest my legs with some yummy food. o(╥﹏╥)o



The end of the Takeshita-Dori Street. 




Found this crepes store at corner of the end of the Takeshita-Dori Street. Didn't get to try it, perhaps next time! 


Now to the other side/area of Harajuku on Omotesando street. 




I stopped by to the famous The Gindaco shop to eat their takoyaki which is located at the very front corner of Omotesando street. It was the best takokyaki that I had! 




SoftBank! A popular cellphone company store in Japan. I like how that guy is just standing in front of the store so casually with those super shiny shoes he has on, lol.



Tokyu Plaza! Didn't get a chance to go in there but I just like how all the people are randomly posing like a model while waiting for the lights to cross the street, especially that guy in the black suit! LOL. 



KIDDLYAND! I went to the store 4 times. It is a toy heaven for every kid and even grown adult! Will do another separate post on the store as I took a lot of pictures inside there. XD




Here's a map of the Harajuku area which is actually very easy to navigate around. I was even able to find short cuts to get to the places I want to go to after walking around the area once. 


Funny story/experience: I got scouted by a fashion photographer again in Harajuku. I don't know what is with me and fashion photographers in Tokyo, it's like they're stalking me, lol. I went to Harajuku to the Kiddyland store to buy something and on that day I was wearing my totoro tattoo tights as I was at the Ghibli museum earlier. I was walking on the street of Omotesando when a Japanese guy with a DLSR camera said my totoro tattoo tights were very "kawaii" and wanted to take a picture of me in them. I politely said no to him because it was already evening at that time and plus it was raining really hard! I was holding a hand full of bags and an umbrella and I was just NOT in a good condition for a picture, lol. Perhaps if it wasn't dark at night and it wasn't raining and I wasn't not holding an umbrella then I may have agreed to have my picture taken. But then again, I don't even know what he will be doing with my picture or where it may even end up. XD
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