Woot, back from Japan.

1st time travelling overseas alone. Quite an experience I mst say. Anyway, I made it from Singapore - Tokyo Narita Airport - Sapporo Chitose Airport. I did not even have a good time to look ard Narita before I made my way to the domestic flight wing which was all the way at the end. At Sapporo Chitose, I met with my boss and the Jpn agent whom I have been working with, Mr Yamamoto..anyway no pics. But here's an airplane ahhwha We were having lunch at one of the airport's resturants. Now there's this odd looking gadget called the 'waiting card' if I rem correctly. You are supposed to put this blinking thing onto ur table, where there's an area to put. Here's how it looks like.

Sapporo was snowing when I was there! AHHA being in tropical SG all my life, I seen snow for the 1st time. It was indeed a beautiful sight..That is if u see it under a roof. It is no fun if u go outside in the snow where the snow will hit u 'piak piak piak' and all that's left is a wet patch. Here's some pics I took when I was whisking my way to Nagoya in a bus.

We stayed at this nice little inn called Toyoko Inn. The stay in Sapporo was a short one. READ: there's no time. This is a biz trip not leisure. After meeting our Jpn clients, where we had quite a lengthy meeting, from afternoon til night. I was basked in endless cig smoke for almost 8 hrs. We had dinner which was mostly sashimi,some seafood,beer,sake..I was quite thirsty then and I down quite an amount of beer on an empty stomach, soon I began to feel the effects hahahaha..anyway I was told I mst drink no matter what, if u are doing biz with Jpn. I had conversation with my clients..tho at times I cld not catch what he was talking, so I just nodded my head hahahaha..

The next day we moved to Nagoya to a small town called Toyohashi. 豊橋. This is the streets ard the hotel I stayed.

I had my 1st lunch there. Tempura soba.

Oh yeah, it tasted great.

The resturant.

Interior decor.

Travelling in Jpn can be a daunting task, esp if u are travelling with like 60+++kg of HEAVY n BULKY luggage. That's my boss's luggage btw which includes a ultra BULKY bag for collecting of samples. Their train systems ARE a mess. U need to purchase tickets btw, no way as convenient as local MRT. Their trains systems are messy because there are several types of trains. Some stops at every station, some at some stations, some at major stations and some stop at only selected stations. There's the well known Shinkansen which can costed u hundreds per trip and among others. Some seats are free seating (cheaper), some are reserved (more exp) some are smoking cabins.

Here's some resturants which we went as well as the food.

Had cold soba..oke not to my taste.

At another resturant on Fri night with a nice manager whose wife joined us later during the dinner.

This taste DAMMMM good cos they were so fresh and sweet.

The best place was prb at this small little town where a business partner/old friend of my boss stayed. I met this very nice elderly man in Beijing. He is really such a grandfather figure and so nice,warm and friendly. He is staying at such a nice house..and its REALLY nice with gardens and wooden planks and..more flowers.

Then we had our lunch here.

After meeting, he brought us to a huge electronic supermarket. We saw this nice oven which heats up water til 300 C. As the video demo, this 300C water is so hot, it can light up a match and burn paper! It is not ordinary water vapor or steam. It is just heat. It also have hundreds of pre-installed menus in it, so u can simply select what u wan, close the lid and press start. It is very simple to use cos it was designed for elderly people. Amazing product which u might not get to see in local stores. Basically, there were games, mp3 players, computers..Service was quite good, as demo by the lady who demostrated the oven. I almost bought PSP there and a Jpn mac keyboard ahaha but I went home empty handed.

Anyway, the next day it was time to go back home. I went to Tokyo alone via Shinkansen..with a 30+kg luggage (the sample bag) as well as my own luggage. How can I go shopping in Tokyo with that?? Tokyo Station is a nightmare cos it is sooooo huge and the signs are not helping much. I got onto a wrong type of train, luckily I can pay on the spot for that ticket. This train was heading to Narita Airport and so was the other one I bought the ticket for.

This is the plane i took, Pokemon..

The funny thing is whenever Im in Jpn, the Jpn all speaks to me in Jpn. Do I look Jpn? I got comments I look Jpn twice by 2 of my clients. I thought I look 101% Singaporean..but overall, this is a good experience to practice my Jpn. One conclusion, it is not fun working in Jpn cos I see most people working into their twilight yrs, like tat nice Jpn uncle who lives in the nice house showed above. Work to Jpn is VERY important and it comes 1st for most people. Jpn eat VERY fast too. Anyway, I gotta brush up my liquior holding ability and eating speed.

So food there for me was basically raw fish, green tea,beer, sake and rice. Not so much of rice tho..and I been feeling hungry since Sun..ahha Oh yeah, how can i forgot to mention. I actually managed to buy some stuff for myself and my company and mum. For myself, I got a new Casio I-Range watch which costed me ard SGD300. I initially wanted a Citizen, it is very unique with multiple faces, digital analogue, temperature and some other stuff. It is ard $350 if im not wrong. When I took a look at it, it is 'cased in China' and the back of the watch dun feel very good..compared to the front. So I hesitated abit and walked ard the airport.

After getting my cakes and cookies (honestly, I dunno how they taste when I bought them ahhaha), I went back to take a look and then i saw the i-range watch. It feels pretty slick and good and it is wholely made in Jpn and is sold in Jpn only, so without much hestitation, I bought it. I always wanted a more...I also bought a CD, Koda Yumi's Best / 2nd Session. Honestly, I got to know her name from FF X2 soundtrack, then I somehow know now she is one of the hottest, literally hottest singer in Jpn now with her F cup boobs, sexy image and sex oozing MVs. Anyway I got the limited edition which comes with 1CD + 2 DVDs. After hearing it last night, I realised this is quite a good album! After coming back on Sunday, I have been dead beat everynight after work.

okok im broke. I am gg to save money to go on a spree in Jpn sometime in the future. I LOVE JPN!!!!, it is a thril lto go shopping ard there!