Japan Trip 2014. Ginza Day

April 11, 2014. At 5am in the morning, we (my two girl friends and I) took our ANA flight from Singapore to Narita.
Finally, I was able to fly to Japan!!!

Before flying to Japan, we already bought our JR Rail Pass for about SGD300+ I think.. This gave us unlimited usage of the JR Line (train) and Shinkansen (bullet train) for 7 days.
Based on my friend's computation after our trip though, we were better off just buying individual tickets instead of buying this 7-day pass..

For reference, aside from our daily JR Line train usage, we also took the shinkansen from airport to Tokyo Station... Tokyo to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka and  Osaka-Kobe-Osaka.

Reason why we weren't able to get back our money's worth was because in Kyoto and Osaka, the JR line wasn't really useful to us and to where we're going..

 After an hour+, we were finally able to reach Ikebukuro station, where our hotel is located. On our way to the hotel, we stopped by this mochi stall located inside the station.
I'm not much of a mochi person, but their mochi was different! The mochi itself was soooo cool, I mean literally. When you put it in your mouth, you get this cool sensation inside your mouth.. And it's just so soft and good.

 We also bought the strawberry mochi. This was even better! The strawberry was huge and sweet and juicy, and the strawberry mochi complimented it very well.

 When we got to the hotel, we asked the receptionist if a package addressed to me has arrived.. and thankfully yes, it has! It was actually our pocket wifi, which I ordered and was in charge of the whole duration of the trip.

This was one of the most useful things we 'invested' in during the trip, and at about SGD9 per day, it was quite a steal. We got it from wifi-hire.com  .

(another useful investment was the ultra lightweight feather-filled jacket [I can attest that it's feather filled because sometimes a piece of feather would suddenly stick out from my sleeve] I bought from Uniqlo at SGD70 equivalent. I did look like the Michellin man, but it kept me warm.. )

 I'm so thankful that my friends are good navigators. If it were up to me, even from points A to B, I might still get lost. Just google the Japan train map and you'd understand.

 After we've checked in, eaten our mochi and rested for awhile, we proceeded to Ginza where we planned to have our tempura dinner. Based on research, Ten-ichi was one of the best in Ginza.

We got there around 6:30pm, but was told that they were fully booked. They will only have free slots at around 830pm so we said we'd just go back at 8.

We went to the nearby Uniqlo to shop some (this was where I bought my dark army green jacket).
Then, we went to the Burberry Blue Label store but it was already closed (at 8pm, I think. This was on a Friday). So, we just slowly walked our way back to Ten-ichi.

 Huh? The girl we saw at 630pm was still eating at 8pm!

 While waiting, they took our jackets and served us green tea.
Because of the good service, my friend jokingly asked 'why, how much is the tempura anyway, sgd200?' and then we laughed.

 When we finally got to our table, we couldn't laugh anymore because the cheapest set meal was JPY12,960! About SGD160.. Not SGD200, but friggin close!

There's ala carte menu, but then there's no English menu for the ala carte, so we might end up ordering more.. So we just went ahead and ordered the cheapest set, one set per person.

 It was expensive because the tempura chef will cook the food in front of you. So really, if you just want to stuff your face and let out a loud burp for a good meal (like we did), this place isn't for you. The meal pace was so slow, ample time given for you to appreciate each delicate bite, while watching the chef fry up your next tempura.

The Ume set, had the following:
2 prawn tempura
4 fish tempura
4 vegetable tempura
1 conger
1 kakiage
Otoshi, salad, miso soup, japanese pickes, rice and fruits (choice of melon, mango or watermelon)

 This was the scallop

 Fish, I think.
I can't upload the prawn tempura.

Anyway, what sets the tempura apart was the batter, which was light and gently crisp with just enough resistance each bite. The prawn head and fish was good, but the prawn itself was surprisingly ordinary.. perhaps the prawn (shrimp actually) was just too slim for my taste.

The most memorable part of the meal was the melon, which was sooooooo goooood!
It was green, and sweet and oh so juicy. Like the moment your spoon touches the melon, the juice immediately oozes out.. oh wow.

Do I recommend this place?
Well, it depends on your budget. If you have extra cash and time, then you can try it, just for the experience.

But if you just want to eat tempura and have fun while doing so, then no. This is a very cultured place.  There's no way you can chat freely and laugh giddily while eating because you might offend the chef.

 After the expensive first meal, we went off to look for a yakitori alley near the rail track (forgot which station), but it's already closed by the time we got there.. Well of course it's closed, the tempura meal took 2 hours of our precious tourist time.

Too bad, because it was the only night we could try it since we wouldn't be going back to Ginza area again given our tight Tokyo itinerary.

All in all, our first day in Tokyo was a big fail.  We spent so much on one meal (which we could've spent later on for more Kobe beef.. haiz) and it took so much of our time that we weren't able to explore Ginza.

Lesson learned: Always check the price first before proceeding. I mean we could've asked for the menu and just walked away after seeing the price.