日本 no okashi - Japanese sweet side

Sweet crepes

They are my all time favorites!!!
I know them only from Animes and always wanted to try them. I finally ate them and just fell in love with them. They are really delicious and everywhere available. They are in many different flavors available. In Harajuku there are tons of crepe stands situated.
I could eat them everyday sooo yummie. I wish my country had them too.
If you are in Japan you definitely have to try them.

Cakes from the petite mercerie in Lemure Shinjuku

Just look at them!?! They look sooooo delicious. It's not only the look they really are suuuper delicious. I took one with strawberry flavor really really delicious. They are a bit pricy, but it's really worth trying them. Also from that store you can look outside to the Shinjuku streets.

Hottok

It is a korean dish. Reminds me of pancakes. They are sell them sweet or salty. I once just tried a flavor without knowing what it was and ended up with a cinnamon flavor. It was sooo delicious. I really recommend to try them. They sell them in Shin-Okubo. Korean town of Tokyo.

Prezel in Ikebukuro
Next to the station in Ikebukuro there is a station called "Aunty Anne's".They were distributing small pieces to try out in front of the store. They were soooo delicious, that I got addicted to them. Every time I'm in Ikebukuro I just have to buy one. They come in different flavors. They also have salty ones and sell lemonades too.
I only knew Prezel as a salty food but never eat it sweet. I really recommend to try the vanilla milk prezel they are soooo delicious.

Taiyaki

It's a sweet pastry. I know them through animes. I badly wanted to try them since them.
They are soooooo delicious. They are filled with different flavors like anco, cream, .... Anco are sweet beans mixed to a paste. It's really delicious. They have also salty ones.

Bakery store

There are a lot of bakeries in Tokyo. They sell different pastry and bakery food. They are a bit of pricy but I really like them. They are way too yummie. They have stores in the most main stations like Shinjuku, Tokyo Eki, Ikebukuro, Akabane,..

yogorino

OMG!!! I found this stand in the AEON Mall in Saitama, where I live and it totally remind me of Italy. They are selling yoghurt ice creams and crepes in different flavors. In Italy we have similar stands too. I really love them. Actually I prefer the ice cream from Italy better, since they are bigger, pricier and the ice is softer.
But still seeing something from my home town made me sooo happy.

10 random things about Tokyo

What's with all those bottom?!?

1. Toilets with seat warmer

I heard before that the toilets in Japan are totally out of our league. I even thought I would need a guide for it. Actually all those buttons on the side are features. They still work like our toilets do. The thing that totally made me speechless were the seat warmer. I mean like seriously that's somehow really cool, but still kind of wierd.... That's sooo Japan. =)

2. Puricura

Ever heard of that??
They are really popular here in Japan. Basically they are pass pictures you take with your friends. The cool part about it is that you can add many features, like stickers, texts, emotions and much more. It's a lot of fun. Somehow you always look good on these pictures. It's really worth trying them out, because it's a really good memento from Japan.

3. Sweet Crepes

I don't know if other countries have them too. In my country we only have Crepe with Nutella. But they can not be compared to the Crepes from Japan. They basically are Crepes that come in different flavors. I only knew them through animes. They really are delicious. I really looove them. There are a lof of Crepe stands in Harajuku.

Entrance to the Meiji Shrine

4. Visiting Harajuku

Sooo many people in Harajuku

Harajuku is one of my favorite places in Tokyo. It's awesome for shopping. There are sooo many different stores. There are also the basic stores like H&M, F21 and Topshop. Also a lot of other stores.
Harajuku is known for it's fashion. There are a lot of people that are really styled. It's a lot of fun watching them. I think this quarter is really fun. On the other side of the station, there is also the Meiji shrine, the biggest Shintō-Shrine in Tokyo. Next to it, is the Yoyogi park. It's a really cool park to hang around or for Hanami.

5. Crossing in Shibuya

Seriously this crossing is really impressive. It's sooo much fun to see all those people cross the streets at the same time. Wooooow!!! There are sooo many. It's always like this. It's not like once a day. It's the entire day long. Really impressive.

Oppa Gangnam Style!!! =)

6. Shin-Okubo Tokyo's Korean town

K-POP stairs in Shin Okubo

Yess!!!! I'm a K-POP fan and find paradise there. My school is situated there and I didn't know that it was the korean town in Tokyo. Imagine how my eyes were shining as I arrived there for the first time. ;) There are many korean restaurants and fan stores there. It's a really cool street, definitely worth visiting it.
And while you are already there you have to try Hottok. They are really yummie.












7. Karaoke

I'm not a good singer. I never sing in public. Only at home, in my car, under the shower but I'm always alone.
I still wanted to go to Karaoke, because it's sooo Japan. I wanted to know what they love soo much about it. Seriously it's soooo much fun. Actually it's not that easy to sing karaoke. I needed e few songs until I got the hang of it.


8. Izakaya

No plans at the weekend? No problem just go to a Izakaya. There are a lot of Izakayas all over Tokyo. There you can drink and eat for good prices. It's really lively in there. Pretty much fun. I like to drink cocktails and eat Yakitori there.

9. Hanami / Parks

It's really popular in Tokyo to go to the park. There are a few big parks in Tokyo, like the Ueno park or the Yoyogi park. They both are really pretty and big. I prefer the Yoyogi park thought. It's better located.
There are always a lot of people in the park. Most of them are in groups. They play, eat, sleep or do whatever they like. It's really nice. Especially because it doesn't feel like you are not in Tokyo anymore.

10. Just try to walk around

It's crazy but most of the time your traveling around with the train or subway. You don't really get to see a lot of Tokyo like that. This is why I sometimes just leave a station and walk around for a bit. It's really impressive what places there are in Tokyo. It's really worth walking around sometimes.

The sun sets in paradise...

Finally found the sea in Yokohama

Tokyo Sky Tree view by night

Still made it in time to see the beautiful Sakura

Back to school - KPOP Street - first week in Tokyo

On Monday I had my first day at school. It's called KAI Japanese Language School. It's situated in Okubo-dori, train station Shin-Okubo, in a korean quarter which is awesome. There are a lot of KPOP-fanstores, beauty and other stores and also many restaurants. There they have brands like Thefaceshop, Etude House and many others.

At the moment we are four students in my class. I'm going to a conversation class. The Sensei are all really nice. I could start in level 2 which is perfect. There are a lot of new things that I'm learning.
My home is about 40 minutes away from the school. It's ok because there are good train connections. I have school in the afternoon from 13:00 until 16:00. At first I thought it was a stupid time in the middle of the day, but now that I have been doing it for some time I got used to it. I still have enough time before and after school.
The school offers some cultural activities like: tea ceremony, jap. calligraphy, Origami,... I thought they were already included in the school fees but I was wrong. You have to pay for each course 1000 円.

Day 1

After school we went to Akihabara the Electro town in Tokyo.
It's really impressive. There are Maidgirls everywhere and it's really beautiful at night with the lightnings.
It surely is worth visiting it once.

Day 2

Yesterday it was raining the entire day, so I didn't want to go too far away. I went to Harajuku near Shibuya. A classmate told me it would be great for shopping and not too expensive.
The shopping street (Takeshita dori) is right in front of Harajuku station. There are a lot of cute clothing stores and I found a beauty store that has a huge collection.
I also found a Missha store there. There are also a lot of crepes stands and if you haven't tried the crepes yet, I would definitely recommend them to you. They are soooo delicious. I'm obsessed with them. You can choose different toppings, like fruit, chocolate, cake, ecc. The cream that comes as a base is so good!

Day 3

Today after school I went to Shinjuku. The station there is huge and around the station there are many shopping malls. There are a lot of cute clothing stores for girls, but sometimes they are very expensive. There was a sweet stores called Le petit mercerie they sold delicious cakes. On the streets in front of the station I found Forever21, Topshop and Zara. There are way more stores but I didn't get the chance to check them out.

JR trains

I'm slowly getting a hold of the trains. Today I didn't purchased the wrong ticket nor did I went in the wrong train. I still have to purchase the Pasmo Pass but I can't find the place to buy it. They told me that it should be available in a Konbini.

Update: You can buy the Pasmo or Suica at the ticket machine in every station. It's the black box. In the end I went for Suica because it's valid all over Japan while the Pasmo is only for Tokyo. I bought a monthly subscription from home to school.

Click here for more informations about Transportation in Japan.

Jr Skyliner

Remember that I told you I went with the Skyliner from the airport to Tokyo. They told me that there are busses who drive to Tokyo for way cheaper prices.

Update: I never once took the bus to go to Narita. I always took the Skyliner because I was never in time to go to the airport. Remember to check the times and if you buy the ticket at the same day be there early. I lost the train because I had to wait in line to buy the ticket and the next train was 40mins later!! I was running like a crazy person throughout entire Narita because I only had 30mins left!! xD