Japan (Part 2/3 - Disney Resort)

[20 July 2013 - All pictures from Multiply have disappeared! Booohoooohoooo! So, until I develop the technical know-how, this will be a pictureless entry.]

Everyone should visit Disneysea & Disneyland. They are possibly the best man-made production ever!

(As always, wrote the first few lines eons ago and now, must finish writing before I forget.)

Tips when going to Disney Resort Tokyo. (I'm going to put a number of pictures here so just wait for them to load, okay? Most pictures will be irrelevant to the text. :D

1. Go on weekdays.

The carparks were empty when we got there on a Wednesday morning. But by Friday afternoon, there were cars everywhere!

 

Disney Resort Line. Cool stuff.

See the empty parking lots?

2. Avoid Japan school holidays.

Unless you love crowds.

We saw lots of little girls dressed up in princessy outfits. LOTS. 

3. Go when the opening hours are extended to 10pm.

We were fortunate that the opening hours were extended to 10pm for the entire month of June. We managed to go back to our hotel to make the kids nap for 2 hours in the middle of the day so that we can go back to the park and stay til closing time.

Had we gone in March, the parks might have closed at 6pm and that will be a mighty shame. 

Disneysea. So nice, right?

3. Bring your own food because halal food is difficult to find.

We managed to make contact with a VERY VERY nice person from the Tokyo Disney resort whom we met at the Natas fair. After asking him a whole string of questions and then some, we asked about the ease of finding (vegetarian + seafood - alcohol) food at the Disney Resort. A couple of emails later, he managed to list down a few restaurants in both Disneysea and Disneyland where we can get food that meets our requirements. 

At Disneysea, we can eat the tempura set without the miso soup at Sakura Restaurant.

At Disneyland, we can have the tempura set at Hokusei Restaurant or the vegetarian set from the Eastside cafe.

Once we got to the restaurant, we told them that we had allergies to pork, beef, chicken, mirin and sake and the restaurant staff would take care of the rest. At Hokusei restaurant, we were seated and waiting for our meals but we were told that the oil used to fry our tempura was also used to fry the pork cutlets. So, off we went to Eastside cafe. The vegetarian set was surprisingly good!

Fortunately, we brought had our instant rice and some instant Brahim stuff too so we didn't go hungry during the Disney leg of the journey. Instant noodles came in handy too!

Our nice contact person from Disney Resort also managed to arrange a  (vegetarian + seafood - alcohol) breakfast for us too. We took it on the first day but decided to skip it on the second day because of:

i. time - When you have breakfast at the restaurant, you have to spend time eating there and you lose precious time especially if you book a hotel that gives you a you-can-enter-the-park-15-minutes-earlier pass. 

ii. price - It was possibly the most expensive breakfast we've ever had in our lives. It cost us about SGD120 for 2 adults and Huda. Farah ate for free. So we had it once for the experience and decided that a SGD120 breakfast experience is best had once in a lifetime. 

Expensive breakfast. But really appreciated the effort made by the restaurant staff to ensure that the food met our requirements.

Vegetarian food at Eastside Cafe. Possibly the nicest vegetarian spaghetti I've ever eaten.

TheHusband's favourite character - Donald Duck

4. Avoid breakfast at the restaurant

As above. What you should do instead is, pack your food. Wake the kids up at 8.15am. Get them ready.  Leave the hotel at 8.30am. Go to your desired park. Enter at 8.45am and see all the others just die of envy. Take pictures with Mickey Mouse without the queue. (He is the most popular character. Queues to take pics with him are terribly long!) Watch people run into the parks at 9am.

If you don't have enough food, there are 1-2 shops that sell pastries. Kalau tak was was, you can buy from these shops.

5. You need to spend at least 4 days there. 

We went to Disneysea on the first day and Disneyland on the second day. We didn't have enough of both. Despite what many people say about Disneysea - that it is more suited for bigger children - we disagree. Our family happen to adore Disneysea a whole lot more than Disneyland. 

Perhaps it's because we visited Disneysea first, so we were completely awed by the magic of it all. By the time we went to Disneyland on the second day, some of that awe had been chipped away?

Why 4 days? 2 days at Disneyland and 2 days at Disneysea. The parades are amazing. The rides are just as spectacular. Heck, even the view is something to go "Wow!" about. 

We had to skip some parts of Disneyland because we simply did not have the time. But thankfully we were there during the non-peak period so Huda the thrill-seeker managed to ride the roller-coaster (the kiddy one, of course) 3 times each at both Disneysea and Disneyland. 

6. You will end up buying those mouse ears (and an assortment of souvenirs)

I told the kids early on that I will not buy those hairbands with mouse ears for them. They are ridiculous, I told the kids. You won't ever wear them when we get back home, I added. They'll become white elephants, I further emphasised my point. Then, I turned out to be the one who insisted on buying them those mouse ears. 

If you see a product you like at a particular shop, don't think the way I thought - "I can get them later. Don't want to lug all those Monsters Inc lunchboxes all over Disneyland. I can buy them at the big souvenir shop near the entrance when I'm leaving the park." You thought wrong. Once you leave that particular land, you will never see those cute Monsters Inc lunchboxes anymore. The souvenir shop at the entrance only sells Mickey and Minnie products. Princess characters/Monsters Inc/Lilo and Stitch etc can only be found in their specific lands. So, don't hesitate. Just buy.

And that will include the popcorn buckets. You can buy cute fat buckets for your popcorn at both Disneysea and Disneyland. If you see a bucket that you like at Disneysea, BUY IT. I didn't, thinking that I was going to Disneyland the next day so I might as well buy it there. Big mistake. The designs are different and for the month of June, the designs at Disneysea were a lot nicer than the ones at Disneyland. Grrrr. 

It got rather chilly at Disneysea once night fell. But as a kiasu mom, I was well-prepared. I had jackets, gloves and scarves for the girls but nothing for myself. Had to sit on my hands to keep them warm.

7. Get a stroller

If you didn't bring your own stroller from home, rent one at the entrance. Absolutely essential. You can also see the stroller parkers at work. They are amazing. (All Disney cast members are amazing. Digress a bit more - All staff working there are called cast members. Even the cleaners. Because they are part of the magical formula of Disneyworld. Their level of service is unparalleled! You can ask just about anybody for help. The cast member who was sweeping the area would put away his broom and dustpan and answer your queries as best as they could.)  

Back to stroller parkers - Their job is to make sure that all strollers parked near the rides are orderly. If say, someone who is done with the rides takes away his stroller that's parked between a couple of strollers, the stroller parker will swiftly move in to ensure that there are no gaps and that all strollers are parked in the most orderly fashion. 

Of course, this being Japan, people don't steal the valuables that you leave in the stroller. So, you just bring your wallet with you and you can leave everything else in your stroller - even that much-coveted popcorn bucket that is no longer being sold at the resorts.

Sleeping Beauty with the Sleep-Refusers

8. Watch all the parades and the shows

MUST MUST MUST! This is why you have to spend 2 days at each park. There is no way you can watch all the parades and shows and still soak in the sights and sounds and take the rides AND queue up to take pictures with the characters. If you go during the non-peak periods, you will have a chance to be right in front with absolutely nobody blocking your view. I love it!

9. Stay at the Disney hotels

You gotta get the full Disney experience. We stayed at one of the Disney hotels and we appreciated the convenience of being able to return to the hotel to get the kids to nap, among other things. 

Kid-size room slippers + stool for kids. So attentive to detail! 

10. Lock your jaded self up in the hotel safe

If you are going to go there and act like everything is a big conspiracy theory ("Why are the cast members so happy? Are they in some kind of cult?") or if you think that you are way too cool for this Disney stuff, you might as well not pay the Disney resort a visit. Somehow both TheHusband and I were captivated and dazzled by our entire Disney experience that we talk about going again (right after we file for bankruptcy for this trip) and spending at least one week at the Disney resort.

One is too big. The other one is too small.You girls are just not meant to live in a castle. 

After I cast this spell on you, you socks-and-sandals-wearing-woman, you will learn the error of your ways and learn to dress up the way princesses ought to. (Needless to say, the fairy godmother forgot to charge her magic wand so the spell didn't quite work.)

I think I've covered all the essential points. So I'm going to send this off for publishing!

PS: I doubt that an Osaka segment will ever see the light of day seeing that it took far too long for this one to appear. So, just in case it doesn't, here are some tips which I was saving for the Osaka bit:

1. Get Takuhaibin service

Takuhaibin is bag delivery service. We took the train everywhere and it will be ridiculous to lug everything on the train especially when we have to change trains frequently. (We had 2 average-size luggage, one duffel bag, a stroller and one box containing food. So, from Tokyo, we sent some of our stuff to Osaka and bring only one suitcase with us to Disneyland. (Recap: We went Tokyo -> Disneyland -> Osaka.)

The bag delivery service is quite reasonable and very dependable. For an average size luggage, it costs about SGD20 to get it delivered to your hotel. You can ask your hotel lobby about this service and email the receiving hotel to inform them that your luggage is coming earlier. 

2. Take the bullet train

It is an amazing ride! The interior of the train itself is drool-worthy. The speed is astounding although TheHusband couldn't feel it. 

3. Watch what the staff at the train station do when the trains pull up at the platform.

They bow to the trains!

4. Take the Rapid train from the Osaka city centre to the airport. 

Then, when the train reaches the airport, hang around at the platform til the train is good to go. See the seats turn around. 

Japan for the Muslim Family with Kids (Part 1/3 - Tokyo)

Edited on 29 March 2014: Finally! I added pictures! Dunno how long it'll take me to add pics to the Disneyland entry, though. Do wait patiently. :D 

Alhamdulillah.

We're almost reaching the end of our Japan holiday and it has been an uneventful one. That is good. Very good.

Getting there. I think we took SIA (or some other full-service flight 
judging by that screen at the back of the seat)

I also promised a few friends that I'll write about my trip. If they wish to come to Japan, I hope that this will be helpful to them. Just like last year, we spent an inordinate amount of time finding out about food. we don't want to depend on just plain bread for survival during our 2 weeks in Tokyo/Disneyland/Osaka. For those with no dietary restrictions, a trip to Japan will not require as much planning as food is not an issue. 

FOOD

It's quite easy getting halal food in Tokyo. South Asian restaurants are aplenty. But just because it sells curry, it doesn't make it halal. We stayed near the Shinjuku area and here are the places where we ate:

1. Taz Mahal

Alight at Shinjuku Station

The building is behind Odakyu shopping centre, 

Buffet meal. Unlimited servings of rice and curry (normally about 3-4 types) and a fixed number of plain naan for 1000¥. This is the standard price for buffet meals at Indian restaurants.

Entrance to Taz Mahal

2. Merah Putih Cafe

Station: Shin-Okubo

Address: Shinjuku-ku Hyaku Nin Cho 2 – 10 – 9 Shin Okubo Initial House 304

Go out of the station, cross the road. Turn left. The restaurant is on the 4th floor. The building is opposite a 100yen shop.

Website: http://merahputihcafe.wordpress.com/

Tips: Go during lunchtime when the Nasi Padang set goes for 650¥

Entrance to the shop. Just a small restaurant on the 4th floor.

The Menu

The girl and her food

  3. Indian restaurant 

Station: Okubo

Go out from the North exit, cross the road, turn left. The shop is some distance before the intersection.

Tips: The owners claim that everything is halal but we had our doubts so we stuck to rice with shrimp and vegetable curry. 

(Basically, that's how we do things when it comes to food in Japan. Unless we are very sure that it's halal, we stuck to seafood.)

I don't have any pictures of this restaurant. This is the place which is nearest to our apartment, Hundred Stay. The shrimp curry is NICE! 

4.  Kebab & Indian Restaurant (Cannot remember the names)

Location: Ameyoko - which is somewhat like Bugis street, only much better

Station: Ueno

We ate at two places here last year. One was a kebab place which has the halal sign on the board near the stall and the other one was an Indian restaurant. 

At this juncture, you're gonna think, Indian restaurant again? I have kids! What will my kids eat? Don't worry. The Indian curry has been tweaked to suit Japanese taste buds so they are perfectly kid-friendly. However, Farah is quite fussy about food so she survived on our home-cooked dinner (see #7 below) and lots and lots of milk.

There are 2 kebab stalls here. One does not have the halal sign while the other one has. The 2 stalls are near each other so if it's not the one in the background here, it has to be the other one a few metres away.

5. Gyumon

And for some yakiniku -

Restaurant: Gyumon

Address: 3-14-5 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Station: Shibuya

Go out from the South exit. Climb the overhead bridge and go diagonally opposite where there's Shibuya Police Station. Go straight along Meiji Street. Walk walk walk. Just before you hit the Nami-Kibahsi Intersection, turn left. It's a small restaurant.

Here, we ate Japanese beef. 

It was divine. 

Website: http://www.mhalalc.jp/img/MalaysiaHalal13.pdf

Initially I was quite skeptical about halal Japanese beef. How is that even possible? But our good neighbours, the Malaysians, have made it possible.

Entrance to the restaurant

All the tables on the ground floor were occupied so we were led to the second floor. 

We had our own room and we sat on the floor to eat! So quaint! 

 Yummy yum yum!

We grilled the beef on the charcoal stove. Three different plates of beef slices were given, each from a different part of the cow. One of the parts (can't remember which one because I was high on beef) was amazingly tender. It melts in your mouth! I wish I had a bigger stomach. (It's big enough as it is but not big enough for this!)

By the way - not quite related - according to lonelyplanet, Japanese Kobe cows are not fed on beer and given daily massage. That is just a myth. Lonelyplanet researches did not see a single drunk cow in their visits to Kobe. 

6. We took a day trip to Mount Fuji on one of the days. (Mount Fuji's direct distance from Shinjuku is at least 95km, based on googlemap's calculations. So, that info will come in handy for those concerned about solat jamak/qasar.)

Lunch was provided during the trip and we asked for a vegetarian + seafood - alcohol meal for lunch. We booked the tour with Yokoso Japan and they went out of the way explaining what goes inside every part of the meal when it was served to us. Such excellent service! (Then again, this is Japan. If there's no service, it's not Japan.)

http://www.yokoso-japan.jp/en/index.htm

One of those rare times when the girls sat with TheAyah instead of piling on top of me

7. Self-cooked meals

For dinner, we have cranky kids who did not nap. We don't want to face the world with two whiny kids who test our patience to the max. So we cooked our dinners. We stay in a service apartment with a fully-equipped kitchenette. We brought a bottle of sabun sertu and used it to cleanse all the pots, pans, crockeries and cutleries before using the kitchenette. 

We brought a lot of instant food. Brahim's, Knorr's instant soup (the Asian kind of clear soup; not angmoh style of creamy soup because my Asian kids only consume Asian soups), Nutella, salt, pepper. We forgot kunyit and bought a small packet of it from a shop near Tsukiji fish market for 200¥. 

Dinner is often the same. Knorr's instant soup with fresh vegetables bought from the supermarket. Salmon (sooooooooooooo fresh!) pan-fried in salt and pepper. And when our pepper ran out, salt and the 200¥ turmeric powder. Eggs. Oh gosh! The eggs are beautiful! They have perfect white shells and the yolk is so bouncy! Salmon and eggs from the supermarket, of course. Occasionally, we'll have one of Brahim's instant something - Rendang, Ayam Masak Merah, Sambal Ikan Bilis etc. Served with rice. We didn't bring rice from Singapore so we bought Japanese rice from the supermarket. Cooking the rice is a time-consuming affair especially if your kitchenette only has that one stove top for you to use. 

Then we found out about instant rice. The Japanese are such clever people. They think of everything! We got to know about these packs of rice when I talked to an Indonesian lady who has a sundry store at Ameyoko. This nice lady, Fauziah Al-Attas, even brought us to a nearby shop to show us where we can buy the rice and also some jars of salted salmon that we can use in times of emergency. If you are in the area and need some Indomie instant noodles, you can get it from her shop. 

Fauziah Al-Attas

This is the sundry store owned by Fauziah Al-Attas. This woman is so nice; she brought us to a nearby store to show us the instant rice that we could use.

That's what ready-to-eat rice looks like. She also recommends this jar of (preserved?) salmon that was a tad bit salty but good enough for an instant meal.

You can either heat this up in a microwave oven or if you are in a hotel room without a microwave oven, by soaking this in hot water. Not boiling. Because the rice is already cooked. This can be found in many shops, sold singly or in packs of 3s, 4s or 5s. 

8. Supermarket Buys

We also had Japanese instant noodles. I came across this website: http://junjungbuih.multiply.com/

This belongs to an Indonesian lady who is living in Japan. She diligently checks the ingredients of all the foodstuffs that she wants to buy and if things like emulsifiers appear in the list, she calls up the company and asks what kind of emulsifiers are used. So, based on her good work, I bought lots of stuff from the supermarket. And of course, chocolates. 

Unfortunately, this website no longer exists thanks to multiply's demise. I wish I had copied the entire blog post or something. Such a pity. It was super super super informative!

PLACES WE VISITED

1. Akihabara (TheHusband's thing)

All techies should pay Akihabara a visit. For me, Akihabara does not make my heart flutter at all so, TheHusband went alone while I tended to sick children in the hotel room. 

Fortunately, the first leg of our journey was not Disneyland. I wouldn't be too pleased if they fell ill at Disneyland. In Tokyo, they took turns falling ill. First Farah. Then Huda. So, we couldn't do as much as we would like to. Thankfully, our apartment was near the train station and it was easy getting around so we took turns going out while the kids rested in the room. 

Getting around is easy as long as you are near a train station. You may have to change trains a couple of times. If you have a stroller, it's best to avoid peak periods.

2. Shinjuku shopping area

There are plenty of things to buy for those with deep pockets. I was looking for raincoats for the kids and me but most of the raincoats I saw in this area was above 10,000¥. That's about $160. Urh, not for my pockets. But there were nice things to look at. Like, there was a rack of pretty pink suits that cost 99,000¥ each. They were placed openly just like how Metro in Singapore would display some random tops. 

In the shopping areas, there will always be at least one building that will cause severe palpitations in TheHusband's heart - buildings like Bic Camera where there are floors and floors and floors of TheHusband's toys. What I like most about these buildings is that there is one floor dedicated to children's toys. There are also lots of hands-on activities for the children. So, while TheHusband salivates over the latest gadgets, I take the kids to the toy section.

 I love these train sets. Thankfully, I don't have space at home for all these things. 

Shiok sendiri girl crooning away

3. Ueno Park - There happened to be some kind of beer-sponsored ice festival going on at that time and Huda got to sled down a pile of fake snow. There were blocks of ice, ice sculptures, ice kachang (minus the kachang) and lots of food.

Throughout the trip, Farah refused to take photos. She would either close her eyes or cover them with her hands.

We gave Ueno zoo a miss. It was a Sunday and it was so crowded. We should have gone on a weekday.

In Ueno Park, there is a shrine that we visited. I'm intrigued by all the stone structures that were built in the 1500s. There are all these big stone lanterns that lined the path leading to the shrine. 

4. Ameyoko (near Ueno)

This place reminds me of Bugis Street. There are lots of things to see and buy here. Lots of seafood, shoes, bags, clothes, fruit etc. You can imagine it, can't you? There's a whole lot of stuff sold there. If you want to get bars and bars of chocolate as souvenirs, you should get it from here too. Cheaper than the supermarkets. 

5. Meiji Shrine/Akihabara

We didn't go to the shrine this year. We went there last year. The path to the shrine from the Akihabara station is lovely. With sick kids, we gave this a miss.

6. Mount Fuji 

This is not Nadirah. She forced me (TheHusband) to write this despite my vehement protests.

We had to get out of our hotel pretty early to get to Shinjuku Washington Hotel, which was where the day tour was scheduled to depart. We finally arrived at the 5th station of Mt Fuji after spending about 1-2 hours travelling on the bus.

But alas, it was drizzling and visibility was poor, so we did not see the top of Mt Fuji itself from the 5th station. We spent 1 hour there (in the souvenir shop and surrounding shrine) and from there visited other places like Hakone, took a cable car and a cruise boat. 

We also were brought to a shop where wasabi ice cream was sold but we did not buy it since it was cold.

Cold cold cold

 Orh. Cold because it was 2305m above sea level. 

We bought black eggs. 5 for 500¥. The eggs were dipped in the boiling hot sulphuric water on the volcanic mountain. Due to the chemical reaction or whatever, the shell turned black. The egg tastes of regular boiled eggs. But it was nice to tuck into those warm eggs in the cold.

Huda writing a postcard to her grandparents

In the cable car

 The cruise ship to Hakone. We were awed!

7. Tokyo Camii mosque

TheHusband has retired from writing so it's back to my primary-school style of constipated writing.

TheHusband did Friday prayers here. So did we. There were about 20 females in the congregation. Some Malaysian tourists, some of South Asian descent and also a number of Japanese ladies. 

Here's specific instructions on getting there: http://www.tokyocamii.org/messages/cform/inqtype:0/lang:en/

Those two heads in white and pink are Huda and Farah.

8. Tsukiji fish market

We reached Tsukiji market at 9am. The market activities were winding down. But there was still much to see. Unfortunately, we did not get to see any whole tuna. But we saw the heads and they were huge.

I suppose this would be the size of a regular tuna sold there:

(Is that even a tuna in the first place?)

When visiting the Tsukiji fish market, it's important to realise that tourists are in the way of the workers so it's best not to bring strollers, stay by the sides and be aware of the surrounding.

We saw giant octopus arms, various shellfish and a whole lot of unidentifiable sea creatures. We also saw people expertly filleting fish! I just stood there, transfixed at their skills.

  

This nifty little vehicle was used to transport stuff all over the market. Remember to give way to them.

There is a lot of sushi place at the fish market. We ate at one and we had rice with sashimi. The seafood is so fresh!

There is a train station just outside the fish market. That was how we got there in the first place. On the way back, we intended to take the train from the station to Ginza but the stationmaster said that the change of trains would be 'complicated' so he suggested that we go to the next train station a few hundred metres away which doesn't require a change of trains. We were glad he made the suggestion because we came across a dry market. I bought the most delicious anchovies there. 

And I also came across shops selling pretty tempura paper. After frying your tempura, you should place it on the paper which will absorb all the oils. Tempura paper sold in Daiso are plain and come in A5 size. But the ones here are so pretty!

I regretted not buying them. :(

A box of cherries for 8000 yen. That's about $130.

9. Ginza/Sony Showroom

We ended up walking to the Ginza area because it was just one station away from the other train station. We wanted to visit the Sony Showroom because according to various Internet postings, it's an interesting place to take kids to. Well, not really for my kids. We watched part of Spiderman 3 there in cinematic comfort. But the gadgets are more suited for older kids.

OTHER PLACES WE COULD HAVE VISITED

1. Sky Tree

This was open just a few days before our arrival but we did not get to go.

2. Toto Building

In Japan, Toto is the brand-name in toilet technology. We were impressed by Toto toilets and I considered visiting their showroom, as suggested by my trusty lonelyplanet guidebook. But, with sick kids, we had to cancel things off our itinerary.

3. Harajuku on Sunday

It would have been interesting to be able to go here on a Sunday to look at all the cosplay madness.

4. Imperial Palace East Garden

It's closed on Mondays and Fridays.

5. Odaiba

The kids would have enjoyed this, I'm sure. 

6. Ghibli Museum

The kids do not know who Ghibli is so this might be lost on them.

LANGUAGE

We got by on basic greetings in Japanese, like

• Good morning/Good afternoon/Good evening
• Thank you
• You're welcome
• Sorry
• Excuse me

We used English for everything else. Japanese can understand English but if that fails, gesturing and pointing at maps help. 

PEOPLE

Japanese are polite and helpful. Some will go out of their way to help you. If you show them your map and point at the place you intend to go, they will whip out their phone and use it to navigate you.

You also see how considerate and respectful they are. Just look at the toilets and you know that this is another civilisation altogether. Nowhere else in the world do you get consistently clean toilets everywhere you go. 

----

Finally. That's the end of Part 1. Part 2 will be about the Disney Resort.