Exterior of Tsukiji Fish Market. 

The main street on the way to Tsukiji. The ramen and gyu-don stalls are located along this stretch.
 

Just another shot for posterity : Tsukiji Fish Market 

Fruitie-goodness! 

A small street near Tsukiji Fish Market 

Konnichiwa Tokyo! : Day Two

And thus begins day two of my mis-adventures in Tokyo city.

First stop on the itinery was Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, otherwise, more commonly known as Tsukiji Fish Market (it being located at Tsukiji, very near the metro staions). To give the other shops credit, although the whole area is centralized around the fish market, there are a multitude of smaller stores surrounding the fish market, selling fruits, vegetables, foodstuffs....ARGH...FOOD!! AB-FAB!*drool*...The food (i.e. ramen, gyu-don, sushi...rice cakes) are all rather inexpensive compared to city prices and just taste wonderful. Anyway, we were gearing up for fresh sushi, so we had to bypass the tempting ramen and gyu-don(beef bowl) stalls. So off we went towards the main attraction : the Tsukiji Fish Market.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/galleries/tokyo/

This was an eye-opening experience. First of all, the one thing that struck me was the enormity of the entire complex. I've never seen such a big market in my life. I've seen the place on TV (Japan Hour) but nothing beats personal experience. All the different types of fish, and sea creatures on sale...it's really must-see-to-believe-it. We didn't explore too much, partly 'cos we were hungry (it was 9.30am and we haven't eaten breakfast); so we went to look for grub instead.

We were looking for this sushi stall; Dai-wa. Read up and saw on TV that this was the place to go for sushi. We also confirmed a presumption in a guidebook we read; Japanese people love eating cheap(or rather,reasonable) and good food and if you see a queue , you're not likely to go wrong.

And so right it was.

Dai-wa occupies 2 stalls and each stall can occupy up to 15 occupants at any one time. Naturally, someone must leave before any person can enter. Fortunately, we started queuing just as a large group of locals finished their meals, so we only had to queue for 15 minutes.

We sat down at our places and stared at the chef.

Transcipt:

Us : *stares at chef*

Chef : * stares at us*

Us : English?

Chef : No..no Engrish.

SHIT!fumble..mumble.

Us : Sushi?What sushi you got? wu menu boh? wa buay hiao gong jee-poon wei.

Chef : huh? li gong simi lan? (ok...he didn't say that. he just said "eh?" with a puzzled ezpression. And neither did we speak in Hokkien either.)

Luckily...he got the hint of our absolute ignorance and he offered "setto?" which we knew to mean "set"...and of course we ordered the set. We didn't know anything else.haha.

And how satisfying it was, even though we didn't really know what fish we were eating. The absolute freshness. The texture. UMPH! You can just feel each individual firmament of the fish's flesh..taut, juicy. Or as some of us may know..it's TOIT. And the freshness. I was eating this shrimp(raw) sushi. I just popped it into my mouth and pulled off the tail. When I placed the tail on the table, it was still twitching. (I'm so gonna burn in Hell.)

It was only a few days later that we knew what the heck we were eating, of which I will write in detail later.

Anyway..we finished up quickly and the bill came to about 3150yen per person. That's about..SGD45 .

Next stop, the Imperial Gardens. We decided to walk there, since it was pretty near. We'll also get to go through Ginza on our way there. Took a leisurely stroll and did some small snack-shopping on the way. We took about 2 hours to get to the gardens.

Then we went to buy the tickets for Day Three's adventure: Disneyland. After that, we went to Tokyo Station for shopping and dinner...And we fell in love with the Daimaru food supermarket. Oh...all the vibrant colors and smells of the bento sets..sushi..crackers...Foodie's heaven.

Anyway, we lingered around the area, shopping and eating and went back to our hotel at about 9pm.

Then I went for ramen again. And sausages.

And beer..peach beer.

mm-hmm...

Konnichiwa Tokyo! : Day One

Right....so where shall I begin?

Of course...touching down at Narita. We reached Tokyo at around 3pm on 23 Mar after a...erm...*counts fingers*...7-hr flight. It was raining pretty heavily when we reached Tokyo..and it was chilly...9 degrees. What with the wind et al.

(Truth be told, I was looking for this bookshop which sold some pretty good porn mags when I was last there...but...arrgghh..couldn't get away with my family around.)

Anyway...this was it. The beginning of my lil holiday in the Land of Anime, sushi, urabon, automated commodes, happening porn, sashimi, sake, porn, OLs, teriyaki, hot springs, highschool girls, vending machines, ramen, lagi happening porn, Sony, manga, Swing Girls, Lisa Ono(sorta)....Yoshinoya.

So off we went looking for our hotel..and we found it without much trouble. Hotel Kitcho (http://www.kitcho.co.jp/english/) is its name and it's located just a short 10-15minute walk away from TCAT, located at Ningyocho. However, if you have a lot of luggage...then the distance may seem pretty daunting.

Therefore..we took a cab and we reached there in no time (like...5mins). Did the usual jigmawig for check in...got to our allocated rooms. For the first leg of our journey, I'll get to sleep in a Japanese-styled room with my dad, 5th sis and bro-in-law.

By then, it was already 6 plus in the evening..and it was still raining. So off we( my 7th bro-in-law and I) went exploring around our hotel area looking for dinner.

Eventually, we found this ramen stall nearby...and we all had...well..ramen for dinner. So let me give a short elaboration on how to order your food in a typical Japanese eatery.

Upon entering, you'll notice a vending machine located in a corner. Instead of canned drinks or whatnots, you'll see a lot of Jap words. This is, in fact, the menu and so, you'll have to choose what you want, insert the cash, buy the coupon, give the coupon to the counter...sit down and wait for your food.

So there I was...merrily and randomly pressing 2 buttons (1 being a bowl of ramen, cos I understand a bit of Japanese and 2...of which I had utterly no idea what it was @ 100yen). All our ramen soon arrived and we were slurping away. I was still waiting for my second item (that 100yen thingee) when we all finished our ramen so I asked the counter staff when it was coming.

And of course, he didn't understand me...and I didn't understand him either. Thus, I had to gesticulate wildly about ordering 2 items and being served only 1. After a short 5 minute period of awkwardness....one of the Japanese patrons in the eatery said gently,

"Extra-large. Your bowl. Big"

Oohhhhh....riiiiggghhhttt.

Hustling and Bustling.... 

A close-up look at the Tokyo Tower...check it out Hui X! 

The Imperial Palace gates... 

Unagi!!*drool* 

Some of the sushi available. It's fucking fresh! 

Dai-wa at Tsukiji Fish Market. THE place for su-shi. Mega-mama-power-gila-knnsb-----ho jia! You'll have to queue..definitely. 

The Happy Committee + affiliate members.  

This is a haiku. Of me at Kamakura.That's a big Buddha. 

yeah....that's a scallop. KNNSB big hor? 

Gunung Fujee 

I'm kinda proud of this shot.hehe..swee boh? 

A snapshot of the Tokyo skyline...taken from Roppongi Hills. 

Musings101:2

Huff puff!

Running a kinda tight schedule these days. Just came back from Tioman a couple of days ago. Was on holiday with the key members of the Happy Committee. Had a really great time (even if it's only for 24hrs)...look out for Operation Tio Man and Frenchie Foo!

And I haven't even started on my Tokyo bloggies yet.

i'm a pro......crastinator. No more.

Anyway, I had to rush back for this Prosecution course held at AGC. For the uninformed, that's the Attorney-General's Chambers. If you don't know, then fergeddaboutit. Ignorance is bliss, or so the general public is (mis)led to believe. So....I'll be stuck in this room for 5+3 days for lectures from 9am - 6pm. Thankfully, I've survived 2 days and just got a couple more days to go.

It is informative and quite interesting....albeit, I tend to space out after a while; so it's not all bad.Though I'm still wondering why it costs 800 bucks for the course.

In any case, I shan't dwiddle-tiddle my time on these nonsensical little rants of mine which...argh. There I go again.

Next!

The Happy Committee in "Operation: Tio Man! and Frenchie Foo." 

Musings101 : 1

Attended a quaint 2hr workshop conducted by the National Library Board this morning. Showed us some clips from movies and ads. Supposed to derive principles and learning points on creativity and innovation from these clips.

I, however, found it quite "a trip down memory lane" after watching the clips. FYI, the clips shown were from Cinema Paradiso, Cool Runnings and M*A*S*H and some others.

Anyway...just to recap, Cinema Paradiso won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1989. I last watched it on Channel 12...or Premiere 12. Can't recall when..but it was at least 10 years ago. I loved this film...it's a poignant, touching, funny, heartwarming and sad movie..made me tear when i watched it, even when I was a kid. Oh, just recalled there was a funny scene where a couple was copulating in the cinema amidst cheers. No nudity...just some grinding around and facial expressions. But you get the picture. *grin*
For a much better review : http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/c/cinema.html

Next clip was from Cool Runnings. Well, I didn't catch the show. But I knew what the movie was about. It's actually a fictionalization of the true story of how Jamaica formed a bobsled team for the Winter Olympics. *How cool is that?*John Candy starred in the movie. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing John Candy again. He died in 1994. I loved his films, especially Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Maybe I saw a little bit of myself in him.

Next up: M*A*S*H which stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The whole franchise started with a movie and then the TV dramalization.This is a dark,sardonic, quirky and sad show.And terribly funny...i.e. poking fun at grim reality. The story is focused on this particular team located near the frontlines during the Korean War. Irreverent humor at its most realistic form, totally unlike the Monty Python series(which are pretty good!). Anyway, I'll share the theme song of the movie...and maybe you will see how wonderfully strange it is;

Title: Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)

Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...

[REFRAIN]:
that suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.

I try to find a way to make
all our little joys relate
without that ever-present hate
but now I know that it's too late, and...
[REFRAIN]

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.

All Rights Reserved by whoever owns it.

And that is also all that I will share, because it may be construed as a depressing song.The circumstances leading to it though...are comical. Basically, making it short and sweet...Soldier finds out he's impotent. Becomes despondent. Mates stage a suicide ceremony for him. So you get this spoof of the Last Supper...after prayers..the guy climbs into a coffin, swallows a "poison" pill, and lies down. *the theme song begins* All his friends in the tent file past the coffin and bid their farewells..giving gifts..like a bottle of wine..an Ace of Spades poker card. That sorta thing.

Funny...I feel kinda stifled today. Words aren't quite flowing freely..and I suppose it's quite evident from the stuttering prose I wrote above.

*Deep in thought.*

Anyway, I wanted to share the reason and lyrics to my MSN nickname at the moment; There's Me, taken from the musical Starlight Express. Too bad I never got the chance to catch it...there are a number of nice songs from the musical..mainly....yeah..There's Me of course...U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D and one of my favourites, Next Time You Fall In Love.

However, I figured that it would be more appropriate to leave them out until I can write about them in a further chapter of my other ongoing series "A Love Less Ordinary"(ALLO for short). So..until then.

Thoughts of world domination
are raging through my head.
But hell and eternal damnation,
await for me instead.

Riiiiigggghhhhtttt...

You know about Heaven? The generalization of what it's like...say..the pearly gates, streets paved with gold, cherubims with harps singing angelic hymns? Now, if Andrew Lloyd Webber went to heaven, and he started composing songs for these angels instead...how cool would that be?

"Night time sharpens...heightens each sensation..."

Doesn't sound angelic...but what can I say?

Music of the Night rocks.

What's your kind of heaven?



This has been a production of the Chewrens Telibeeshun Werksop.

A Love Less Ordinary(ALLO) : Part 1

I'll begin with a quote I got from the tee-vee show, Northern Exposure (which I think not many of us remember. This was like...the 'Ally Mcbeal' of the late 80s, early 90s, you know..the 'quirky' genre.)

"Most of you have been where I am tonight. The crash site of unrequited love. You ask yourself, How did I get here? What was it about? Was it her smile? Was it the way she crossed her legs, the turn of her ankle, the poignant vulnerability of her slender wrists? What are these elusive and ephemeral things that ignite passion in the human heart? That's an age-old question. It's perfect food for thought on a bright midsummer's night."
--Martin Sage and Sybil Adelman, Northern Exposure, The Bumpy Road to Love, 1991

Sublime.

I guess it sums it all up pretty well.Whether or not love is requited, I suppose the emotions experienced are k (where k = constant). This leads me to the topic of the day; "My (in)Ability in Finding a Girlfriend."

*suddenly,i'm at a loss...dunno what to type..haha..anyway..*

I must first thank my friend, Smark, for giving me the opportunity to re-evaluate this little(erm..being what...non-existent?) 'Area 51' of my life.

"Thank you, Smark *takes a bow*......"
"ok,your show's over.Now get off the stage."

Right.

So back to where we were, my (in)ability.
For that matter, some guys I know change girlfriends like clothes. And some ladies I know change boyfriends like erm..make-up, maybe.

I haven't changed anything my entire life.Ok, so here's where my Geminian complexities set in. I want a girlfriend as much as I don't want one.

*So what the fuck you want?*.......And that's a bloody good question, my dear reader.

I suppose, at the end of the day, I just want companionship, like all other humans do. But yet, I like to be alone. Maybe it's because I've got so used to keeping to myself that I cannot fathom being in a relationship with anyone.
Walking in the streets is an interesting experience. Let's take Orchard Road for example(and a very common one at that), you see many couples walking around. Now...with all due respect, I can't recall who it is who once told me, "See..all these couple-couple walking around..envy hor?Why can't I be like them too?"

I just smiled and walked on. (I think...or maybe I said something along the lines of, "Aiyah...it'll come lah.Just be ready when it does.")

I don't really identify with what my friend(whoever you are) said.The following is my general train of thought when I see a couple walking on a street;

"Guy...Lady..normal...nice clothes..oooh...nice eyes/smile..check out that cleavage.Say..wonder where he got that shirt from?Don't think I can fit..haha..they look real happy together..happy thoughts..oh, I'm supposed to turn here."

Disclaimer : I don't board this "train" whenever I see a couple. The above was just an example.

And I'll be happy that love exists in our world and the procreation of the human race can be sustained.Somehow.

This seems like it's gonna be a fucking long piece. I haven't even went in-depth on what I'm going to write..or type..ah...blog.

And thus concludes Part 1.

A so-called ordinary blog entry..or something like it.

As you may have read my preceding entry dated 20 February 2005,a little over 1 month and 22 days ago. God flicked on a switch. Not that it has any bearing here, in any sense. This blog is gonna be black...dark..gothic..doused with sporadic grave humor a la Tim Burton....well..not really.

And speaking of "not really", I just recalled something in my past life...around 4 - 5 years ago, when I was a wide-eyed intern in the Big Apple. Back then, I liked using "not really" as an answer, being the indecisive sod that I was(and probably still am). I got along fine with it and nobody(in Singapore) really questioned that until I started my internship at the law firm in NYC. After the round of introductions and orientations around the sprawling office, I settled myself in my cubicle in Corporate, and I was chit-chatting with my colleagues, Francis and Kristy (OMG..I still remember them!)...and then...I was asked...so do you like "so" and "so"?.

"Well.....not really," as per my standard reply.

"waaaaaaaiiiiiitttttt......so is that a yes or a no?" Kristy shot back.

I got stumped.

Suffice to say, since then, I've paid more attention to the nuances of language that I ever had been, though I'm still guilty of the occasional gaffe now and then.

Anyway, back to the main topic of this blog entry, and if you were reading it attentively, you would have noticed that there was none at all in the first place. Well, the main topic of this entry shall be...*drum-roll*.."How I found it easier to buy a pirated WE8i than an original version."

Guess the above says it all. If you didn't know already, I just got an xbox (unmodded) cos it was pretty cheap @ $200. So there I was...toting my wallet, in search of Winning Eleven 8 International (WE8i) original, since I can't play the economically-friendly versions. Went to 2 shops........"Sold Out.Come back next week."

Riiiigggghhhttt....

This, just after I came back from JB last Sat...where there was a gamut of shops selling DVDs and games and off-hand, I can think of 3-4 places in good ol' stiffy Singapore where I can(maybe, perhaps, might..No admittance of liability here.) find the so-called economically-friendly copies.

So now, I have to drop by town or Tampines MM to procure the original. I should really get it modded perhaps.

Oh yeah, just to add, as most of you may well know, I went for a 'lil holiday in Tokyo...and I got lotsa stuff to talk about and pics to post. I'll probably use this blog to tell you more next time.

And can you believe I'm writing this from the office? As my friend, Jessie, pointed out..."(she is) getting fat from procrastination..." and it happened to me. I'll shall get back to my work...but I'm so looking forward to my time-off later this afternoon, so that I can go to the movies.

Arrgh.Work beckons.

And I'm inspired by what another friend, Smark, wrote in his blog......"I dont want to know the meaning of life, just the meaning of mine." How so very true. (No..I don't mean I want to know the meaning of his life, though that would be nice, I meant I want to know the meaning of MINE too.)

Finally, I just want to say how strangely liberating this feels. Having your own blog kinda thing. Imma bit slow, I suppose, in jumping on the bandwagon. It's just feels so cool about being typing whatever you want and I think I shall end with a rhyme or a limerick.

There was a little boy,
who wanted to be a bee.
We asked if he could fly,
and he said..."Well..

Not really."

*bows*