Day 3 in Japan

Had a really great sleep in the tatami styled room, woke up to see such a scenic view on my window was super fantastic. I never have the habit of waking up in the morning and go to the window for some view but this time it was worth it. Day 3's itinerary was visiting a Premium outlet with all the famous brands located near Mount Fuji. Did a lot of shopping and bought some stuffs there, had a great deal at Coach boutique, bought a sling bag (winter collection) for 20% off due to winter season. Jef got a pair of leather Nike shoe. After ending our shopping, headed down to Ginza for our lunch and more shopping there. Overall it was a very pleasant experience shopping at Gotemba Premium Outlet Stores and view nice view of Mount Fuji every where you go.




Gotemba Premium Outlets is located approximately 60 miles west of Tokyo on the heavily traveled Tomei Expressway, midway between Mount Fuji and the Hakone resort area. Its trade area extends from west Tokyo and Yokohama to Shizuoka Prefecture, and includes approximately seven million people living within a 90-minute drive. Additionally, Mount Fuji and Hakone comprise Japan's top tourism region, receiving approximately 6.5 million visitors annually.

Gotemba Premium Outlets has been one of Japan's most successful new retail properties since its opening in July 2000. The original phase remains 100% leased to more than 90 international, domestic and restaurant tenants, including Bottega Veneta, Brooks Brothers, Coach, Cole Haan, Diesel, Escada, Ermenegildo Zegna, GAP, Kenzo, La Perla, Laura Ashley, Nike, Royal Copenhagen, Space (Prada, Miu Miu), Timberland and Versace. The expansion, also fully leased, adds five restaurants and 68 new retail stores, including Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Dunhill, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Hunting World, Kate Spade, Loro Piana, Meleze (LVMH Group), Salvatore Ferragamo, Theory, Tod's, Tommy Hilfiger, TSE, Vivienne Westwood and YSL.

The Ginza 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 more than ten million yen (more than 100,000 US dollars), making it one of the most expensive real estate in Japan. It is where you can find the infamous $10 cups of coffee and where virtually every leading brand name in fashion and cosmetics has a presence.

Went to Harumi Bay and took a cruise to Odaiba Palette town. Harumi is written as Qing Hai (love sea) in Chinese, is a reclaimed land 2 km in a near distance from Ginza, is a rare depopulated area in Tokyo. A crowd of visitors once rushed into the international exhibition hall all the year around. After the hall moved to Ariake in 1996, the buildings of those days changed to the central cleaning factory. The Harumi Island Toriton Square, composite facilities with some high-rise buildings, also opened on the canal side in April 2001. Most lands are still on the redevelopment project.

Harumi Passenger Ship Terminal is at the tip of this reclaimed land. From the observatory in the terminal, you can get a whole view of Tokyo Port with some vessels under anchorage. In the twilight, the window lights of silhouetted buildings begin to shine like jewelry. The outline of illuminated Rainbow Bridge seems a necklace of the port.

Daiba, literally meaning "fort", refers to some of the man made islands in the Bay of Tokyo, which were constructed in the end of the Edo Period (1603-1868) for the city's protection against attacks from the sea.
During the extravagant 1980s, a spectacular redevelopment of the islands into a futuristic business district was started, but development was critically slowed down after the burst of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s.
It was not until the second half of the 1990s, that Odaiba developed into one of Tokyo's most interesting tourist spots and the highly popular shopping and entertainment district, which it is today. Further development of the area is still underway.

This very cool futuristic looking building is Tokyo Fuji Television Station.

Aqua city shopping centre, one of the many big shopping building situated in Odaiba.

Ramen Theme Park

There were a total of 6 Ramen restaurants inside Aqua City, we ordered 2 bowls of pork soup base ramen, rating for the taste = 4 chopsticks!

Look! Odaiba is such a great place to go even the Ms Liberty cannot resist the temptation. Maybe she prefers to have a change of scenery....

Jeff holding the trophy of Statue of Liberty, must have been very honoured! Is she heavy? hahaha (that was my idea!)

This place is one of which Jeff was looking forward to go, Toyota Mega web city show case. This showcase can be considered as a Toyota car theme park as it features a lot of different themes inside. There are Toyota City Showcase, History Garage, Toyota Universal Design Showcase, Rides ( ride one automatic car, formulae one car stimulation ride, and kids hybrid ride). Too bad due to time constraint we had only limited time of 30 minutes there.... Jeff was really pissed for that arrangement! Me too, as I couldn't get to finish all the rides in there... what a waste.

Experience automatic driving in a small Electric Vehicle (EV) Commuter. The EV Commuter is a great way to move between pavilions. You can even move around inside Toyota City Showcase with this vehicle.

After visiting Toyota Megaweb Showcase, we proceeded to Shinjuku Park observation Tower to admire the night scene of Tokyo.

Streets of Shinjuku, lots of eating places, pubs, pacinkos, clubs, massage parlour and women clubs too! Gigolos.... Lots of gangsters, yakuzai there...

APA Tokyo Bay Hotel and Resort situated at Makuhari. In the ten years since development of Makuhari New City got underway in 1989, a full complement of facilities has grown up, including office and research buildings, commercial space, hotels, residences, schools, parks, stadium, and of course, Makuhari Messe. The hotel is considered 4 star hotel, with spring bath providing free for guests. Though it's a 4 star, rooms in hotels are usually very small.... save space...

See how small the room is, we had difficulties putting our luggage in the room, cannot stay in the room for too long. Claustrophobic!