Hello...... Kitty Kitty Kitty.....

Most people know that Hello Kitty's beau is Dear Daniel. And I have the lovey dovey pair in my car for these past few years.

So what will happen when passion gets out of control and the two felines start to mate ?

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Land of the Rising Sun Part 2

We went to Tokyo again in Oct 2008 and Aug 2010. The Oct 2008 trip was a double first for me. My first to Tokyo and on the A380. We got nice, clean and comfortable seats on the upper deck, and received impecable service from the SIA crew. Certainly no complaints there.

We left at about 11.50 pm from T3 Changi Airport and arrived in the morning at Narita Tokyo ready for the adventure. The bus trip to the hotel took about 2 hours and on both trips, we stayed in the Hilton Hotel.

The prime attraction at Tokyo is the Disneyland and Disneysea. At that time, the entrance of Disneyland park was dressed in a Halloween theme, with pumpkin lantern, fake bon-fire and supernatural figures like monsters, ghosts and skeletons.

We spent an entire day at Disneysea and the next day at Disneyland. Some visitors were dressed in costumes as their favourite Disney characters. We liked the popcorns sold from pushcarts and we bought, I think, about 5 boxes of chocolate coated popcorns. Yum Yum.

We also visited the Ghibli museum at Tokyo. The museum showcased the animation work by Hayao Miyazaki (宫崎骏）, the creator of Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and many others.

Most interesting is the actual drawing workshop that 宫崎骏 used to work, which showcased his sketches, models and draft work. On the museum's rooftop, there is a garden with a life-size statue of a robot featured in the animae Castle in the Sky.

Besides that, there is a theatre that screens short animation films created by the Studio. The museum also has an animation bookstore, souvenir giftshop and a theme restaurant called The Ghibli Musuem Cafe where we had our dinner. I think we spent an entire day there and left the museum at night.

On both trips, we went to the temple 浅草雷门观音寺. We paid a second visit to the temple because we missed eating the 人形烧, a kind of sweet waffle dessert sold there. The batter is poured into a heated mold and after a few minutes, animal-shaped waffles await you to whet your appetite . Great finger food when you are walking around the temple grounds.



The Tsukiji Fish Market (築地) is also a must-visit if you want to savour the best and freshest sashimi and sushi. If you visit early in the morning, you may be able the witness the auctioning going on. We went there late in the morning and had our sushi lunch there. Tons better than the sushi sold in Singapore. Heaps good !!!

We also visited the famous Shibuya (渋谷) shopping district on our second trip to Japan. Famous on two counts. Shibuya's road junction is probably the most photographed cross junction because the "scramble crossing" allows pedestrains to cross diagonally on the road junction.

Shibuya also has a famous statue of a loyal dog, "Hachiko", which waited for his Master's return every day outside a train station for a period of 12 years. It continued to wait for his return even though its Master passed away during this period. A statue was erected to remember this loyal dog and the statue is placed facing a train car.

Something is amiss when you visit Japan without paying a visit to Mt Fuji (富士山). So on our second trip there, we planned for a trip to see Mt Fuji from one of its surrounding lakes. The bus trip from Tokyo took about 2 hours to reach Lake Kawaguchi (河口湖）, one of its surrounding lakes. It was summer when we visited, and there was only a tiny hint of snow near its peak.

We went up a hill on a ropeway tram and had a good view of Mt Fuji and its lake. A ratcoon and a rabbit greets you on the viewing platform and the characters seem to be telling a tale about the rabbit taking revenge on a mis-behaving ratcoon.

A short trekking trail led us to a forested area but there was not much interesting stuff there. We also took a 30 minute boat ride around the lake.

I think we left the best for the last. It was the music box museum. The place was decorated and modeled in European architecture and it houses a myraid range of music boxes.

From large mechanised dolls and doll houses to music boxes that you can hold in your palm. A real eye opener. Most of the music boxes resonate classical music pieces. There was a staff on hand to show us the inner workings of the larger music boxes and we could see these art pieces up close.

The wood carvings on the music boxes were beautifully done. I was deeply impressed by the collection. Outside the museum, there was a flower garden. We spent close to 5 hours in total and left at closing time. In the end, we had to call a cab to get back to the train station for our return trip back to Tokyo.

We also went to the prime shopping belt, Ginza to do some shopping and visit the upmarket boutique stores. We ended up spending most of our time in a multi-storey toy store at the far end of Ginza. Most of them are interactive and motorised toys.

Overall a well worth trip.