Japan Continued 🇯🇵

Dear Dayre,

JAPAN CONTINUED

Hello!! I'm gonna carry on sharing more about my Japan trip before I procrastinate too much about it and it never gets done!!

Disclaimer first: This isn't really a good reference for an itinerary because we did not plan any for our trip since we were only staying in two places – Yokohama and then Shinjuku, Tokyo.

We weren't doing that much sight-seeing as well so it was mostly exploring, shopping and eating 😂

There was a big American Eagle just below our hotel at Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu, and there was a sale on shorts and shirts but I ended up getting more jeans instead?? Lol.

I went on a jeans spree while in Japan – I've always found it tough to find good jeans but I'm really happy with the few that I got in Japan! 😍 Jeans are great for travelling so it's worthwhile to invest in a few comfy pairs especially for myself.

Didn't realise that AE jeans fit so nicely if you find the right pair! ⭐️

Lunch after spending close to two hours shopping at American Eagle!

This place is called Tokyo Tofu or something similar and they do a Japanese-Korean fusion spicy tofu stew that was very satisfying 😋 Nothing fancy la.

Check out our loot from American Eagle behind! 😅

From Yokohama, it takes around 30 mins to get to Tokyo. Our plan for the day was to check out Shimokitazawa area – famous for their vintage stores where you can find second hand apparel / bags / shoes.

Love seeing backdrops like these. Rows of vending machines, so quintessentially Japanese.

Reenie recommended this place called Flippers at Shimokitazawa, which is famous for their soufflé pancakes!

You have to eat-in to order that though and the queue was a bit long so we did a take-out and had the lemon tart pancake pie 😋

Here's our pancake pie!

Interesting combo of pancake sandwiched in between lemon cream and pie crust wafers. I felt that the pancake could be fluffier though! Would love to try their soufflé pancake next time.

One of the shops you'll see around the streets A LOT is ABC Mart, which is a shoe shop.

I bought these shoe cleaning erasers that sell for like 300 yen each and they are pretty effective in cleaning off dirt marks on shoes!

My new Tigers got a little scuffed already so I tested out the suede nuback eraser to see if the black marks could be removed..

Lo and behold! Not bad eh? The leather got scuffed already which can't be helped but the black marks were mostly gone! Effective and cheap. 👍🏻

Snapped this outfit photo along one of the streets at Shimokitazawa 😍

Dress coming up on #thevelvetdolls! It's a really cute dress and I love the light-weight slinky fabric.

After Shimokitazawa, we took the train to Shibuya and walked to Harujuku to check out shops along the way 😊

When you see Zakuzaku, you need to try it!

It's like a choux in a long churro shape and it's filled with light cream. Crispy on the outside with a sweet airy filling!

Sorry for the bad picture cos it was turning dark!

One portion is quite small so you can probably eat an entire one all by yourself 😬 It's shiok one.

Right up ahead is the Calbee+ store, where you can find exclusive Calbee snacks like this sweet potato chips! ❤️

We then walked back to Shibuya and had dinner at Sutadonya, @trishaliang's favourite buta-don!

They do good gyoza too for a very affordable price.

After which we spent a good 20 mins spinning at the gacha machines along one is the streets of Shibuya 😂 Or rather it was Trish spinning cos she really wanted to get that specific gacha toy BUTTTTTTT no luck 🙄

Standard day in Tokyo – 13.5KM covered on foot! 😂

Day 4 – We started off the day really well with brunch at Bills! ❤️❤️❤️

Bills is an Australian restaurant and they have a couple branches in Japan as well, and I really like the food there 🤗

It's located in this pretty brick warehouse right along the bay at Yokohama and the interior/exterior's all really pretty!

What we had: Corn fritters, Berry pancakes and Coconut chia pudding!

The pancakes are so light and fluffy it's insaneeeeee. It comes with berry butter and is the best thing on earth really 😍 It's fantastic with a bit of maple syrup and I love how there are blueberries in the pancakes too, so juicy and sweet!

The corn fritters are damn good stuff 😍

There's very minimal batter so you can really taste the sweetness and juiciness of the corn! Japanese corn is ❤️❤️❤️

My coconut milk chia seed pudding 👍🏻 Healthy and delicious stuff.

The weather was so fine that day 😊 I wore another upcoming piece from #thevelvetdolls! This embroidered floral romper is super nice 😍

Comes in Black, Navy & White!

Awesome view from our hotel room! 🤗☀️

One of Trish's favourite activities is going shopping at all the cheap 100 yen shops around Tokyo 😂

Apart from DAISO, there is also SERIA (100 yen), Can Do (100yen) and 3 Coins (300 yen)!

All these stores are quite popular and you can find SO many things to buy for super cheap prices really.

This was at SERIA, Ikebukuro! Where there are also plentiful of cheap drugstores along the streets and many many shopping malls!

We had ramen for dinner at this small joint called Kikanbo – They're famous for their spicy "麻辣" ramen!

A queue starts forming around meal times so if you can arrange to eat slightly earlier or later, you can beat the crowd and not have to wait.

This bowl of goodness is their signature spicy ramen but with additional meat added, you get an entire slab of stewed pork belly that's super tender and melt-in-the-mouth! 😋

The noodles are thicker than Hakata-style ramen (like Ichiran) and they hold up the soup really well!

You can pick your level of spiciness and numbness and I usually go for the regular level, which I find flavourful but not spicy at all 😂

Tokyu Hands shopping!

Here's the view from our hotel room of Yokohama and the iconic ferris wheel! 😍

And my dessert/supper: fruit jelly that you can find at the combini 😋 I love the grape and mandarin orange flavour ones! They have whole chunks of fruits in the jelly and it's soooo yummy!

Day 4 – Finally visited Yokohama's Cupnoodles Museum! 🤗🤗🤗

It costs 500 yen for entry, and there are various activities to be done like the chicken ramen factory (was fully booked so we didn't try it) and the cup noodle making experience!

❤️

Cup noodles are one of my favourite things to eat 😂😂😂 All MSG and sodium with no nutrients I know hahaha

Time to make our cup noodles! It costs 300 yen per cup and you're supposed to purchase the plain cup from a vending machine before you're brought to an area where you can sit down and decorate your cup and draw on it! 🖍

How do you like my pusheen unicorn cup! Hehehe

🦄 🦄 🦄

We made our way to Yokohama's famous Chinatown after we were done at the Cupnoodles Museum!

If you haven't tried the Japanese version of 小笼包, you ought to try it! The pan-fried style makes it a little more savoury and it's super juicy too! Skin is thicker than our usual style though.

It was a really rainy day but good thing I brought my cute little Japanese brolly that I got from Japan 2 years ago! Hehe

Lunch was at a small Chinese restaurant which served this yaki-soba style kind of noodles that was quite interesting!

New arrivals in on www.thevelvetdolls.sg 8.30PM! 🦄

Here's a quick run down of tonight's new arrivals on www.thevelvetdolls.sg! You saw the playsuit and the floral dress above, I wear size M for both 😍