Wednesday 30 May 2012

Japan (Nagoya-Anjo-Nagano) - Day 2 - 17 May 2012

After having a nice breakfast at the hotel, at around 8.30 am, we departed from the hotel to do the business, which was a factory visit to MAKITA factory in Anjo. Our local guide was a nice Indonesian lady who had lived in Japan for about 30 years. When we arrived at the factory at around 10 am, we were guided to see the process of making the spare parts and machines. In the end, we were allowed to see the showroom and exhibition, and they served us with drinks. While having a drink, we conversed with the local guide to practise using our Japanese. 

A nice breakfast
 At 11 am, we went from the factory for our lunch place, which was all-you-can-eat yakiniku! The name of the place was Stamina something (I couldn't read the kanji). There were a lot of varieties besides yakiniku there, for example, sushi, curry rice, noodles, pasta, gratin, ice-cream, waffle and a lot more. We had a very hearty and delicious meal over there. How I love the place!

After the stomach was full, we traveled to Nagano our next stop, at around 2 pm. It was a long journey, about 4-hours bus ride. At 6 pm, finally we arrived at Ikenotaira Shirakaba Resort Hotel. We were told that there would be a gala dinner starting at 7.30 pm. However, since the hotel is equipped with an onsen - open public bath, we thought of experiencing it first before dinner.

We were told before that we were supposed to be completely naked inside the onsen, so we did so. However, I was sad to see some fellow tour members still wearing their underwears inside the onsen. I guess they were too embarrassed to be naked, but I still think that we have to follow the rules though. Luckily there were only us there, so nobody complained.

Japan (Singapore-Osaka-Nagoya) - Day 1 - 16 May 2012

Pardon me for the lack of update, because I just came back from a trip to Japan! Actually this trip was supposed to be 5 days only, since it was a semi-business trip, but my sister and I decided to extend it for a week more, so we could explore Japan by ourselves.So, we explored Japan on 16-27 May 2012!

The first 5 days were a group tour, so we followed all the tour's schedule. We departed from Jakarta by Singapore Airlines at 7 pm. We had a transit at Singapore, and at 1.45 am we departed from Singapore to Osaka. Our first stop should be Nagoya, but since that day there was no flight from Singapore to Osaka, we had to stop at Osaka first, then going to Nagoya by bus.

                      


We arrived at Kansai International Airport at around 9am, and directly went to Nagoya by bus. In the middle, we stopped for a toilet break, and my sister and I bought a nice croquette. Since we spoke some Japanese, the auntie asked us where we were from, and when we answered Indonesia, she told us that she had gone to Bali. Wow, Bali is just so popular!

Yummy croquette

At around 2 pm, we arrived at a restaurant to have lunch. The restaurant served us Kishime - Nagoya-styled noodle with tempura. The waitress told us that we supposed to dip the tempura into the broth. The Kishime was indeed delicious, and the tempura was very crunchy.


Kishime with tempura