Riverside 21 ~ Sumida River

read in newspaper monthly about this "shitamachi" (=old town) called monzennaka cho and decided to bring cooper to explore this other side of tokyo. on the way, i discovered this really cool residential development along the sumida river. and the waterfront was perfect for a stroll with cooper on a sunday evening. this development is called the riverside 21. really cool. a perfect place for a date on a sunday evening, if even it is just a dog. well, as i had to rush for tennis game with my uni friends in a "god-knows-where" forsaken place, i had to leave before sunset. naturally i had no time to explore monzennaka cho. will be back soon. weather wise, even though it was hot in the afternoon, evening was perfect. it was almost autumn-like. perfect. it was wonderful playing tennis in that weather..')

disney sea

went with friend to disneysea, tokyo. finally. been procrastinating for a long time. weather was a little hot in the day, but evening was perfect. disneysea has a very european feel, with a arabian theme in the middle which i felt was out of place. rides were alright, nothing terribly exciting. but i think its worth a visit. the night show was spectacular, followed by a fireworks. we were lucky to secure a place on one of the building top where the view was unblocked. the day show was quite good too with a splendid display of colors. with disneyland, followed by disneysea, whats next? disneyair?? they can form defence-disney after. just a tot.

~ breathe ~

i happen to pass by this oxygen bar in shibuya. ~ breathe ~ - how apt. sometimes i think i need some space to breathe.

~ nejibe ~

kaijie was in town recently for work. so took the opportunity to bring him to eat one of my fav restaurants in town "nejibe". has one of the best bbq chicken wings. see diagram below for the correct way to eat their chicken wings. yummy. they just launched their curry flavored chicken wings too..must go back soon again.

~ a-ya dance festival ~

was invited by my korean friend to attend this ~aya dance festival ~ held in Koenji. according to the japanese friends we met there, this is one of the biggest dance festival in tokyo and it is very well-known among the japanese. why havent i heard of this the whole time i was in japan in the past?? anyway it was great. very colorful. the dance got a little boring mid-way thro because the dance moves were similar (for a whole 2 hr). it didnt help that it was also raining. later that evening, we were brought to a very japanese restaurant to eat okonomiyaki. yummy. i didnt take any pics though..

Archery @ Komazawa Olympic Park

while i was walking cooper @ komazawa olympic park on sunday evening, i stumbled upon this really old looking stadium. when i walked in, there was, i think, a inter-varsity archery competition. unfortunately, an old lady came up to me and said that i was not allowed to hang around. she was probably afraid that i would steal stuffs. i left quickly after and continued walking around the huge park. not exactly a spectacular park but quite a relaxing place on sunday evenings.

~ gintako ~

went to the hot spring theme park @ tokyo dome ~ La Qua~. totally a great place to go to on a weekend. too bad i dont have any pic since pictures are not allowed here. will explain more in the future when i get some pictures related to the hot spring. after a 4 hr session at the hot spring, i was hungry and had (i) ramen (ko men), followed by takoyaki (gintako)..what a way to spend my saturday.

ugly dog

i havent seen such a ugly dog before. how could anyone love him? took this pic when i brought cooper to komazawa park..

chashu (roast pork) ramen

went with colleague to try out this ramen store which was featured on TV the day before. the chashu ramen was supposed to be good. well the verdict: so-so lah. no doubt the chashu was good, but the noodles and soup was only ok. over-rated. and definitely not worth the queue. i don't believe that people would actually queue up for this noodle. nor surprisingly, i did not take note of this shop's name. but i discovered a new area (asagaya) for further exploration in the future.