Japan in the eye of a Malaysian

Japan holds a good place in my heart. The smell of winter air and the sweetness of it's strawberries and fruits in winter lingers perfectly in my mind the whole year through.

The people, although they speak nothing but Japanese, most of them, you can't help but fall in love with their attitude, respect for others as well as sincerity.

I can still remember the time I was there and we asked a couple for the direction to the station where we had to take our train. The husband asked the wife to wait for him at where we met them and he showed us the way to the other side of the station which probably took us almost 3 minutes to arrive by foot. He even helped carry my luggage for me as he said he's a man and I'm a lady. Yusri was carrying our other luggage. As usual we parted with the 'bow' to one another and he just slowly walked back to his wife. Priceless!

That was one of the millions encounters of such moments in Tokyo.. Ah! How I wish there's such here.

In Japan, it's all about the metro, metro, metro.. Many travels by metro because environment is an important factor for the citizens. Those who travel to work by train, or by bicycle has higher chance to be promoted in their organization. :-)

If you would like to rent a car, you may do so at the many outlets / at toyopad ( as in Toyota). Even the locals rent cars and i believe it's a cheaper way rather than to carry the liability of owning one.

We stayed at Intercontinental hotel near metro station Tameke Sanno and travels to Ueno daily to go to Ameyo Yokocho. Everything in Japan is quite expensive, but, you can shop alot of things at affordable price at Ameyo Yokocho ( somewhat like Petaling street) where they have last season's Adidas, Nike, YSL, bla, bla, bla.. For guys who are shoe lovers, ABC mart which is all over Tokyo would be the place for you. Japan always has it's exclusive designs for Vans, converse, Adidas/ Nike, so this is the place for you to find those unique shoes!

You may also head to Shibuya to see the famous Shibuya crossing and head to Harajuku where there's another market like Ameyo Yokocho for you to buy affordable stuffs. The normal malls are just super expensive. On most days, Harajuku is filled with japanese wearing iconic dresses and it's definitely fascinating to watch!

Food would not be a challenge for those who enjoys sushi, but since Muslim population is not very big in Japan, Halal eatery is not widely available. Ameyo Yokocho has got a kebab stand that serves nice hot kebab in peta bread though. Or you could opt to have takoyaki ball which are normally filled with octopus/ unagi. Both are going at 500-600 yen each.

There are also premium outlets in Japan and the nearest to Tokyo is Gotemba Premium Outlet. If you visit the outlet, you can head to Mt. Fuji as well as Gotemba is situated nearby. Best bargians would be during the Golden week, which is normally end April - Early May where the Japanese are on a week long holiday. Everything will go on additional 50% discount on top of the already discounted price.The golden week is also about the same time sakura flowers are blooming. So plan your trip according to your objective. It could be shopping, sight seeing or just because.. :-)

Japan can be explored even if you are on a budget. You can also opt to stay in house holiday rentals available on Airbnb. The offers there are pretty amazing as most rentals also offers free wifi in the house and the pocket wifi can also be brought when you go out and can be used as your hotspot throughout Tokyo. How cool is that.

Some of the houses on rental also offers tatami style bedroom which would be interesting to experience. It's worth it if you go with family because it could fit sometimes up to 6 people and it's going at around RM300-RM350/ night for a whole studio. Do your homework and make sure that every penny's made worth a beautiful Japanese experience. Good luck!