Japan- Tokyo - Korea Town

This Korea Town is just 10 minutes walk from our hotel. This place is not in our itinerary, but hey! Just a 10 minutes’ walk and you’ve left Japan and entered Korea Town.. Why not?! LOL

The reason we are here mainly because we are looking for our DSLR SD card. Apparently someone is thrilled to go to Japan; he forgot to bring the memory card with him.Luckily the price is much cheaper compared to Malaysia. This place is a wonderland to the gadget lovers.

It is nice to stroll along the Korea Town. Unfortunately I am not a big fan of K-pop <Running man is an exception>. I am sure K-pop fans don’t want to miss this place. There’s a wide selections of K-pop drama cd,dvd, posters-you name it. Variety of food but again no halal food means no dining or food testing session for us. They sell cheap cosmetics and skincare product, but hell no – I am not going to put them on my face. The electronics devices and gadgets are much cheaper compared to Malaysia and that is why Mr Husband repeatedly brings us here. That’s it – Definitely not a cool place for me but a little bit of Korea in Japan?.. What an experience!

Just to share some tips with you ladies, if you are coming to Japan with infant or toddler, you may consider bringing baby carrier or baby sling with you. For toddler, please bring the most lightweight stroller you can possibly find. I am glad we didn’t bring our bulky peg- perego stroller here. Japan is not so baby-friendly. Some subway or train station didn’t have elevator so you might need to carry up/down the stroller. You also might want to save space in the crowded train. Carrying heavy stroller can be exhausting.

We are very pleased indeed when we found this Quinny Yezz stroller. It is less than 5kg and easy to fold and unfold. Sometimes Sara refused to seat in her stroller and preferred to walk or run around, so we just fold it and carry it like a bag. This stroller is simply genius!

It is not easy to find a Halal food here. Most Japanese don’t speak English so they cannot answer your simple question like ‘pork or beef?’ or ‘what inside this?’ and the menu also in Japanese. The only Japanese delicacies that we have tried are Hokkaido cake and Takoyaki.

Tip no 2: Bring instants food. Food can be very expensive in Tokyo. Just imagine the cone ice cream (RM1) here is 390 yen <about RM10>. We recommend instant food from Sharifah brand. Her Briyani kambing is just excellent! You don’t have to bring rice cooker or what so ever with you. Just put the pack inside the kettle, fill the kettle with water and boil. Boil 3 times repeatedly and the dinner is served! Bon Appétit!

I don’t really like Brahim’s as I taste Sharifah is better. Beriyani kambing, beriyani ayam, ayam masak merah, nasi goring kampung, kari daging, there are so many to choose from. You might want to try it all. I am sure you don’t want to eat the same thing everyday right? 1 pack is enough for both of us. Alhamdulillah.

Tip no 3: Do not bring tripod – Tripod is not allowed in most places. These include Disney and Universal Studio. So leave it at home. You might want to bring Gorilla pod instead but we can assure you the Japanese are more than happy to help you snap your family photo. Most of them will offer to snap your picture even without you asking.

Tip no 4: Download Hyperdia application –Japan have the most complicated rail system. But you won’t get lost as the English instructions are pretty clear. However you might want to have this application in your phone. It can be very handy. You will never know when you need it.

Tip no 5: Use hyperdia application to calculate how much you will spend for train tickets to your destination. Then only you decide whether to get the JR Pass or not. In our case JR Pass will cost us more. JR Pass is fix to 28 900 yen per person. Bear in mind, most subway don’t accept JR Pass. So you still need to buy tickets to some destination.

Tip no 6: Get the Suica card for fast and easy access to all train and subway. This is not a discount card but definitely will help you save time and energy.

Tip no 7: If you are coming from Narita airport, you might want to get N’EX card. Narita express train will transport you from airport to the city at lower cost.

Tip no 8: Do not directly breastfeeding your baby in public <even with cover>. Bottling your EBM is a good option. I think it is considered offensive to the Japanese. They can’t help but stare.

Tip no 9: Leave your heels at home. You might do a lot of walking so a comfortable crocs or boot would be a good choice.

Okay.. I am running out of ideas now.. I will definitely share with you more tips as I write about our Japan trip. Till then… Be good okay!

xx