The sky was dark by the time we settled down at our stay for the next few days. The long hours of travelling through frozen landscapes of snow and bare trees famished us to the core but still, it didn't stop us from exploring the nearby town and the ski parks. While searching for a dinner place at Hirafu Slope, I was welcomed by the arrival of snow, showering lightly above the town, making it all very dreamy and romantic. Upon reaching the ski rest stop of Grand Hirafu Base, the rain of powdery flakes got heavier as though a snow confetti cannon was launched at me, celebrating my achievement of walking up to the top despite my empty stomach and frozen face.

This was where I had my first glimpse of skiing right before my eyes. I tried to observe and absorb as much as I could to prepare myself for my skiing session the next day. My anxiety had to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into, especially when it kept reminding me about Michael Schumacher's unfortunate skiing accident. Dark thoughts aside, I was for sure pretty much stoked for my first ski lesson, always happy to learn a new sport!

Finally stopped for dinner at Hirafuzaka where I remedied my hunger on a cold night with plain ol' udon noodles and fried tofu pieces soaked in warm dashi soup. I might look back at this dinner some day and regret on my timidity to order something out of the ordinary than the common Kitsune Udon. 

I LOVE HOTEL BREAKFAST BUFFETS. Well, I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to say that in a general way because I ALWAYS take the same scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, ham, butter, hash browns, and toasted bread which cannot go wrong no matter where I am. Yea, I know. I'm pretty dull when it comes to food because if I like that one dish, I can have it for days and years and never get sick of it.

Alright, enough of my boring food review, let's talk about THE VIEW. It was a bummer that I could not document and capture the beauty of my breakfast view via camera phone (though a small part of it is visible in the photo below) because sometimes that's just how it is, nature is always best perceived with the naked eye rather than its technologically-advanced counterpart. So I'll just have to describe it here just so that when I revisit this post in the next decade, my memory will be jolted with the image of this peaceful scenery that accompanied me while I relished on my morning meal.

After a sentimental feast in the morning, I switched emotional gears during my super fun yet tough ski lesson. My lack of stamina and leg strength meant that I had no time to think of sleeping winter trees as I had a hard time maneuvering around. Worst of all, my legs gave way and I fell off the magic carpet.

The slow moving conveyor belt transports the skier from point A to B while the skier stands on it without needing to move a single muscle. Yet I fell off the belt halfway through because my legs decided to go jelly on me. I remember lying on the snow after my fall, thinking if I should just pretend that I fainted or get up and face the awkward situation. I chose the latter, not because no one came to my rescue, but because my face was frozen anyway, nothing to save, really.

As Asians who value every single cent spent, we decided to illegally continue 'practicing' after class hours to make the most out of our ski lesson fees. By then, the gray afternoon skies were gone and the purple evening canopy loomed over us signaling the end of the day. It was an extremely enjoyable day, for me at least, and I got to practice until my energy cells died.

That's one whole day spent at the slopes of Grand Hirafu and to save our lethargic bodies from breaking down, we gave up on searching for restaurants and dined in at Hirafuzaka once again, and you guessed it right, I ordered Kitsune Udon, again.

By the way, I had no guts to use my film cameras in Niseko just in case the snow takes their lives away nor had I the confidence to take care of them in this weather. But I guess my phone camera would work just fine!

xoxo,

R.

While on our way to Suzukien Asakusa for the world's strongest matcha ice-cream, we passed by this small alley cafe and stopped by for coffee. It's a small space but very cozy. I fell in love immediately going into Sukemasa Coffee shop as Tamia's "So Into You" (one of my favourite songs) was playing in the background while Audrey Hepburn's "War & Peace" (one of my favourite AH movies) was projected on the cafe's main wall. Cute alley cafe, decent coffee, 90s music, classic movies, my heart!!

By the way, I had a really great time at Suzukien Asakusa tasting the various levels of matcha ice-cream there. The hojicha + No. 7 matcha combo was my favourite and I enjoyed every scoop of smooth, nutty, bitter goodness in that ice-cream cup. Would get a fix of this everyday if it was near our Tokyo stay, seriously good!

Our second attempt to Meiji Shrine was a success after we missed the closing gate time on our first day in Tokyo. The stroll towards the shrine was well-shaded, relaxing, and cooling with a lot to see along the way. I was impressed at the upkeep of the forest hence I googled about it and found out later, that a century ago, Japanese arborists implemented this fantastic idea of planting different trees in this artificial forest which will regenerate independently without any human interference for 150 years. How clever of them!

Speaking of trees, upon entering Meiji Shrine's courtyard through the main shrine gate, I saw two identical trees and remembered being astonished at how these two trees have almost the same shape and height after 100 years! Upon closer inspection, I realized that there were not two but three camphor trees in the courtyard, two trees to the left and one on the right (refer to last Meiji Shrine photo below). 

These two trees on the left of the main shrine were planted side by side with a string tied to both of the trunks, bonding them forever. This Meotu kusu a.k.a Couple Tree was said to represent Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken as they were known to be lovebirds in real life. It's not every royal story where the emperor loves the infertile empress until the end of time (yes, she had no child of her own and the emperor did not abandon/banish her which was most of the case for monarchs back then).

Of course, I had to take a photo of the iconic 96-year-old Harajuku Train Station building which the world will say goodbye to soon.

Takeshita Street did not disappoint me with it's quirky stalls and cool fashion. I really wanted to get a few items but my luggage was almost filled up and I had one more week in Hokkaido after this, which I was afraid, might need the extra space. So I guess, Tokyo shopping trip will have to wait until I come back another time.

Afuri Ramen killed it with its yuzu-infused ramen broth and I wished I had another stomach for an extra serving. The hint of citrus makes the entire bowl lighter and less greasy unlike the traditional pork broth which has a much more richer after taste. I had my share of various ramens throughout my trip here and I always find it hard to make it to the end of the bowl because of the pork broth. Aside from Suzukien Asakusa, this ramen gem needs to find its way to Malaysia too, PLEASE!

I know I will madly miss Tokyo after this and I really want to come back because there is just so much more to this place that I want to explore. Not to mention that I didn't got to do the shopping that I wanted.

It was a tiring night for all of us and we still had to do our last minute packing for the next day as we were to fly in to Chitose, Hokkaido. I remembered packing halfway through and my eyes were about to shut yet my heart was feeling excited at the thought of seeing snow for the first time in my life! Can't wait to post up on Hokkaido! Till then!

When I was prolly around 7, I went up on stage and shook hands with Mickey and friends at a shopping mall's Christmas event. Out of all of the characters there, only Goofy gave me a hug at the end (ngawwww), which also explained why I had to get the Disneysea ticket with his face on it. Also, seeing this bunch on stage for the second time in my life was such a beautiful, upgraded deja vu version of my first encounter with them. Here is smol me and Goofy:

The first thing we did was to get cute headbands to get into that Disney spirit! Prior to all of this, I actually did some research on the available headbands and eyed on a pair of studded Mickey ears. Initially I didn't want to wear one because I thought it would look embarrassing but yo, everyone there had an extra pair of ears, three extra eyeballs, some with antennas, some with horns, and many more creative varieties. What is wearing a headband if others took the effort to cosplay as their favourite character? With that said, I highly recommend everyone to get a favourite headband and wear it proudly throughout the day!