10 Jun 2024 - Tokyo Day 1: Tokyo SkyTree (Observatory)

Tokyo Skytree is a must-visit landmark for anyone traveling to Tokyo, Japan. It's not just a tall tower; it's a symbol of the city's modernity and a testament to its advanced engineering.  Standing at a staggering 634 meters (2,080 feet), Tokyo Skytree was once the tallest tower in the world.  Though surpassed by a few structures since its completion in 2012, it remains the tallest structure in Japan.

The true highlight of Tokyo Skytree is its observation decks.  After lunch, we decided to pay a visit.  The Tembo Deck, at 350 meters, offers stunning 360-degree panoramic views of the city.

According to some online reviews, we could see Mount Fuji from here on a clear day.  Too bad, it's pretty cloudy today so no Mount Fuji for us.

The tower's design is a fascinating blend of traditional and modern aesthetics. Inspired by Japanese pagodas, its form tapers upwards, offering both strength and elegance. This design, along with cutting-edge engineering techniques, ensures the tower can withstand even the strongest earthquakes.

For an even more elevated perspective, the Tembo Galleria climbs to 450 meters, providing unparalleled vistas of the sprawling metropolis.

At one spot, there is a glass floor where we could look straight down to the ground.  Not for the faint-hearted.

The Tokyo Skytree complex offers more than just breathtaking views. There's a vast shopping complex at its base, perfect for picking up souvenirs or indulging in some retail therapy. The complex also houses the Sumida Aquarium.

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10 Jun 2024 - Tokyo Day 1: Tokyo Skytree Town

Prior to this trip, we had tried to make a reservation for a meal at Kirby Café Tokyo but it was simply impossible because all the slots were immediately taken up within seconds after it's open for reservation.  We suspect there are groups that use bots to make those reservations and later sell it to others for a profit. In fact, we have seen some websites that claim they can help to secure a reservation but for a fee, which is pretty ridiculous (around SGD40-50 per person).  Though we do not have a reservation, we still decided to go take a look to see if it's possible to walk in or make a reservation onsite.

We took the metro from Ginza Station to Asakusa Station and transferred to Tobu SkyTree Line to Tokyo Skytree Station.

Kirby Café is located on the 4th floor of Tokyo Solamachi, home of the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest structure in Japan.

When we arrived at Kirby Café, we saw people queueing outside, and we thought we could just join in the queue.  However, after checking with one of the staff, we were told that actually those people all had a reservation.  They were just waiting for their reserved time slots.  Dining in the cafe without a reservation is impossible.

Though we cannot have a meal at the cafe, there is a Kirby Cafe Store where we could visit.  The store's main draw is its collection of exclusive Kirby Cafe merchandise.

Kirby is Javier's favourite character.  Though disappointed that we could not have a meal at the cafe, he was satisfied after he got his Kirby plushie.

Tokyo Skytree Town is a sprawling entertainment and shopping complex clustered around the iconic Tokyo Skytree.  Tokyo Solamachi, the sprawling shopping complex at the base of the tower, caters to every whim.  Over 300 shops offer a diverse mix – fashion, electronics, souvenirs, and even traditional Japanese crafts. Foodies can indulge in a vast array of restaurants, featuring everything from casual cafes to high-end Japanese cuisine.  Following are some interesting stores in the complex.

There is also a Pokemon Center, decorated with colorful Pokemon characters and has a fun and inviting atmosphere.

We had our lunch at a food court.  Though it's just a food court, the Ramen that we had was comparable to any restaurant's standard.

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10 Jun 2024 - Embarking on a 7 Days 6 Nights trip to Tokyo (Itinerary included)

We touched down at Haneda International Airport Terminal 3 at about 6:30am this morning.  After clearing immigration, which took a while due to the long queue, we first went to top-up our IC cards that we bought during our previous trip to Osaka/Kyoto.  We then use the IC cards and took the Keikyu Line from the airport towards Shinagawa.  We then transfer to the Toei Asakusa Line towards Asakusa and alighted at Higashi-Ginza Station.

From Higashi-Ginza Station, Ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza, which will be our accommodation throughout this whole trip, is just a short 5-minute walk away.

The Ginza (銀座) is Tokyo's most famous upmarket shopping, dining and entertainment district, featuring numerous department stores, boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, night clubs and cafes. One square meter of land in the district's center is worth over ten million yen, making it one of the most expensive real estates in Japan.

As we were early, we left our luggage at the hotel concierge and began our Tokyo adventure.  As usual, below is our itinerary for this trip.

Day 1: Tokyo SkyTree Town, Tokyo SkyTree, Arcade at Ito Yakoda Hikifune, Café Capyba, Asakusa Riverside (Day), Nakamise-dori Street & Sensō-ji, Asakusa Riverside (Night), Short Night Visit to Akihabara, Check in to Ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza

Day 2: Tsukiji Outer Market, teamLabs Planets, Exploring Odaiba, DiverCity Tokyo Plaza, Life-Sized Unicorn Gundam Statue, Statue of Liberty and Rainbow Bridge, Sunset and beautiful Night Views

Day 3: A full day of fun at DisneySea, Dinner at Saizeraya

Day 4: First look at Shibuya, The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour, Dinner at Shinjuku, Light Show at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building South Observatory

Day 5: Kanda myojin Shrine, Maid Cafe and Lunch at Akihabara, Transparent Public Toilet, Meiji Shrine, Shibuya Hikarie Sky Lobby and Scramble Crossing Experience, Shibuya 3D Billboard, Tokyo Tower, Our "Harvest" so far

Day 6: Uniqlo Ginza Flagship Store, Ginza Pedestrian Paradise, Pokémon Center MEGA TOKYO ＆ Pikachu Sweets, Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, Dinner at Shinjuku, Giant 3D Cat Billboard, "Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo!" Light Show, "Catches" of the Day

Day 7: Godzilla Statue at Hibiya, Ginza Six Rooftop Garden, Last look of Ginza and lunch, Haneda Airport Garden

9 Jun 2024 - Attending Anime Market @ Suntec

Jerlene had recently joined the Sakuran Japanese Cultural Club (SJCC) in NYP as her CCA.  The club’s five divisions are Origami, Manga Anime Illustration Drawings (MAID), Japanese Music & Dance (JMD), Cosplay Anonymous and Film Addicts.  She had chosen JMD and Cosplay among the five divisions.  Jerlene had been into Anime for a while.  SJCC aims to share their love and appreciation of the Japanese culture to everyone in NYP! The members cultivate an interest in Japanese culture and language and build up self-confidence to improve their communication skills with the Japanese community.  

Today she attended an Anime Fest with her friends.  She even got herself a wig and a simple cardigan to attend the event.  I will take a picture of her cosplay look next time when it's more "polished".  :-)

3-7 Jun 2024 - YDSP Science & Technology Camp

Javier attended the Young Defence Scientists Programme (YDSP) Science & Technology Camp this whole week.  In this camp, the students took a deep dive into AI and robotics and learnt how to program drones and bots to complete tasks autonomously.  Through eye-opening lectures and hands-on workshops, students learned and explored all about engineering and infocomm technology and even challenged their skills in a mini competition.  Javier said he had enjoyed the camp and made many friends with similar interests.  On the last day, he and his teammates even went out for a dinner.

DSTA posted a video on their Instagram page.  Watch it here.

23 May 2024 - Javier's Mid-Year Results

Today is the last day of school for term 2 and Javier got back his report book.  Other than his higher Chinese which he got a B3 (but still a huge improvement over D7 in term 1), he got A+ for all his other subjects.  Great results and he fully deserves it with the effort that he had put in.

18 May 2024 - Recipient of three Awards at TJC 46th College Day

We attended TJC's 46th College Day this afternoon with Javier who received 3 awards for Top in Mathematics, Dean's List as well as ACE Awards that are presented to students in recognition of their holistic excellence in their studies and leadership.

This is another proud moment for us as parents.

Very well deserved, Javier!  The file that I use to keep all his certificates are almost full now.  

15 May 2024 - Jerlene's Sketch of our Kitchen

When Jerlene was younger, she was quite bad at her drawings.  Many a time I had to help her with her art works.  Now that she is studying in School of Media at NYP, one of the initial skillsets that she got to pick up is sketching.  When I first saw her sketch of our kitchen, I was very surprised!  It's not fantastic but it's definitely miles better than what I would have expected from her.  With more practices, I'm sure she will improve by leaps and bounds.  Keep up the good work!

27 Apr 2024 - Review of the new OBU

It's been a few weeks since I installed the new OBU in my car.  Though there have been much negative feedback on the design of the unit, there are several new features that I thought are pretty useful.

First of all, the date and time are showing very prominently on the screen but what is more important is that the balance value of the cash card is always showing at the top left corner of the screen.  In the old IU unit, I had to pull out and insert the cashcard every time I want to check on the balance of my cash card.

There are also a lot of complaints about the position of the component where cash card is supposed to be inserted.  Many people feedback that it's very inconvenient for driver to reach to that component to access to the cash card.  But the fact is that there is actually no need to access the cash card at all.  If you are talking about exiting a car park with complimentary coupon, all we need to do is to press on the icon at the bottom right corner of the screen and the cash card unit will be disabled.  With this, there is no longer a need to take out the cash card while exiting car park with complimentary coupon.  Also, we can configure auto-top up for the cash card whenever there is insufficient fund.  As such, I can't think of any scenario when a driver needs to access to the cash card.

Another useful feature is that with in-built GPS in the unit, it will detect your location and warn you if bus lane is in operation.  It will also warn you when you entered a school zone or a silver zone.

Recently a new feature has been pushed down to the unit that shows the estimated time to reach certain location (eg. airport) when you are on an expressway.  Going forward, I'm sure there will be more useful features that will be pushed down.

26 Apr 2024 - DSTA Young Defence Scientists Programme (YDSP) Scholarship

We attended the Young Defence Scientists Programme (YDSP) Congress this afternoon at MBS.  It's an annual event organized by the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and DSO National Laboratories (DSO), in recognition of students' outstanding all-round achievements and their interest in defence science and technology.  We were invited to the event because Javier is one of the recipients of the YDSP Scholarship this year.

He received the award from Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Heng Chee How.  Congratz and well done, Javier!

After the award ceremony, we went over to a ballroom next door where there were food and beverages for the guests.

There were also booths all around the ballroom, showcasing students' projects completed during the YDSP program, focusing on topics related to defence science and technology.

It's a proud moment for parents like us.  :-)

17 Apr 2024 - Attending a Conference at The Arts House at the Old Parliament

I attended a conference at The Arts House at the Old Parliament building.

The interior setting really looks like a parliament or a courthouse.  This is the first time I attended a conference in such a setting.  Usually it's either in a hotel ballroom or a convention center.

2 Apr 2024 - Replacement of In-Vehicle Unit (IU) with a new On-Board Unit (OBU)

My car is due for servicing and before sending it to the service center this morning, we had breakfast at McDonalds along Queensway.  This outlet is unique because it's housed within a beautifully landscaped Japanese-themed garden complete with bonsai trees, a tortoise pond, and calming pathways. 

Not sure if you are aware, all cars registered before 1st May 2024 will need to install a new On-Board Unit (OBU) to replace the existing In-Vehicle Unit (IU) in the coming months.  However, we can choose to do the installation during our servicing instead of waiting for the official notice.  As such, I agreed to proceed with the installation.  One thing to be mindful of is that the new OBU does not support most credit cards and cashcards.  Even for CEPAS cards, it is only a few specific ones.  When I collected my car, none of my cards worked.  As such, I had to find alternate route to drive home without having to pass through any ERP.  The cards that are supported are NETS Flashpay Card and NETS/Ez-Link Motoring Card, which I bought one from 7-eleven.

1 Apr 2024 - Spotted Dove nests on a wooden chair at our roof terrace

Tonight while Tracy was doing her gardening at our roof terrace, she suddenly heard some sounds coming from behind.  And when she turned back, she saw a spotted dove nesting on one of our wooden chairs.  In fact, we noticed a bunch of twigs and dried leaves on the chair about a month ago (read this post), and we did suspect if it was a nest.  So tonight it's proven that we were correct.

Across cultures, doves are often seen as symbols of peace, love, new beginnings, and good luck. So, a spotted dove choosing your house to nest in is generally considered a positive sign.

It seems like there were two doves taking turns guarding the nest between day and night, but we were not 100% sure.  The one at night seems to be calmer and remains at its nest even when it sees us.  However, the one during the day seems quite timid and will fly away whenever it sees any movement or hears any sound.  There is indeed an egg in the nest!  :-)