TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

Many restaurants in Japan (except for the fine dining league), especially in highly visited areas by tourists have these plastic food replicas as visual aids. Their popularity soared after the second world war when local and international tourism picked up again in Japan. Even the lagers in pints have their own replicas. These replicas are made from silicone material. In the past they used wax models. Because many visitors do not have a basic level of Nihonggo literacy, the ingenious Japanese – always inventing new stuff – found a way to make things easy for all of us during meal times. These plastic food models are truly a lifeline for our gaijin bellies. What would we, lowly tourists, do without them? At many izakaya restaurants though, which are mostly catering to the local market, we rarely saw these plastic food displays. Sometimes they provide pictures on their menu, but not always for all the dishes, unfortunately. So on our first time at an izakaya restaurant we order...

Most toilets in Japan are equipped with modern electronic washlets aka high-tech toilets. They are somewhat similar to the bidets in Europe, but more high-tech in terms of presentation and operation. On the first day inside our hotel room in Chuo, Tokyo, the inquisitive Dutchman quickly discovered in the toilet the washlet buttons on the wall. While inside the loo, he asked me what the buttons were for, so I explained in lay man’s term that it is to clean his bum. The washlet buttons inside our toilet in our hotel room in Tokyo, Japan. You can use the spray or the soft version, and for the women, the bidet function. You can as well adjust the water pressure that suits you. Cool, huh. ‘Have you tried it?’ he asked curiously. ‘Yup.’ ‘How did it feel?’ ‘Hello? You have to try it yourself!’ I shouted back. ‘Don’t be such a wussy.’ OK, I will stop here before its going to get TMI, haha. If you’re not used to it you’ll probably find it a little bit funny, and er, a little...

An izakaya is a casual restaurant frequented by corporate workers, or as colloquially called, the salary men, for after work socials over drinks and food. I made an entry about this here: Izakayas: Traditional Japanese Gastropubs, Male Supermacy and Why is Smoking Indoors still Acceptable in Japan? Everything is in Japanese so I have no idea of the name of this izakaya restaurant. The restaurant is located in Kodenmacho area in Chuo, Tokyo. Dutchman actually spotted this izakaya restaurant near our hotel on his way back one evening. ‘I found a restaurant nearby that you would definitely like! I promise!’ he announced as he entered the hotel room. You know, I was shackled to the bed because of a bronchitis situation which later turned into a pneumonia crisis. Nevertheless, I need to feed myself so I got dressed up and we went to this restaurant. He knows my penchant for very local but nice places to eat so his definition of ‘what I like’ is obviously based on here. He got...

Akibahara in Chiyoda, also nicknamed as Akiba, was one of the places I wanted to visit mainly because of the ubiquitous ‘Maid Cafes’ there. I just wanted to observe the whole maid culture in the background and take pictures of course. Unfortunately I got sick in Japan. I spent most of my days shivering and coughing inside our hotel room. I managed to go out to a few places though but not to Akibahara. Dutchman however did visit. He usually leaves our daily travel agenda to me so each day that I am stuck sick in the hotel room, I gave him tips on where to go. He is a gamer so I sold him Akibahara as the gaming centre of Japan, which it really is. He is of course enthusiastic at the prospect of visiting, however, I forgot to tell him about the maids and the maid cafes. I am normally quite thorough with passing information but when you are sick, you become less sharp. So when Dutchman came back, the first thing he babbled excitedly about were the maids. He does not understand the who...

If I did not get sick in Japan , I would have tried this Pachinko game, which is also called Pachislot and Pachislo. Pachinko is a mechanical arcade game (read: pinball) that has taken the country by storm for decades already. It’s everywhere in Japan, even a friend of mine has gone crazy playing this game. She is addicted, she could not live without it. The goal is to get as many silver balls as you can, and these balls can then be exchanged for prizes. Dutchman however managed to get out during the day and came back with this video: He is a bit like me, always observing and very inquisitive, and naturally he quickly noticed, among many other fascinating stuff and goings-on in Akibahara, the noisy pachinko parlours. ‘The noise inside this game arcade is deafening!’ Dutchman told me. Gambling is illegal in Japan, however, Pachinko is given some sort of immunity and is classified as an amusement activity. I read that the balls and prizes can be exchanged for cash at near...

We just had our first snowfall here in the Netherlands! I don’t think the snow will last long though as it’s all slushy right now. Anyway, Dutchman and I went to the newly opened National Military Museum in Soesterberg Airbase today. We both took a whopping 126 pictures!!! If there is a contest on how many pictures you can shoot in a minute, I sure need to enlist. Now this means I need time to get my pictures ready. So for now let me show you my new uzi. Don’t I look good with it? =) *this thing is sure heavy* For a quick tour of the museum click here: National Military Museum Tour . This museum just opened 2 weeks ago. Visit Period: December 2014 Destination: Soesterberg (Soest - Utrecht), The Netherlands Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)

This might be too touristy but really, it’s just beautiful up there. Trust me on this! The skies were grey and it was drizzling when we went up the roof terrace of the Duomo, but even with the bleak weather conditions, it was gorgeous up there. The views were still spectacular and the whole experience brought me closer to the Gothic Age. The complexity of the details is just amazing.  I was so thrilled to see sculptures of seraphims everywhere, and the sea of gothic minutiae on the wing arches and the pointy spires jutting out from the edges, they are all so elaborately designed. You can get a closer look at them and even inspect their details, and after staring at the chubby little angels for a long time, I think I might have seen one of them winked at me. Haha. I have a Fine Arts background so this kind of stuff gets me excited. Anyway, I can only surmise that architects in the medieval times truly make their lives complicated? Sans the romanticisation of the Mediev...