I thought I’d update with a fraction of my photos of Japan this long weekend to make up for weekday-hiatuses to come. We went to Disneysea instead of Disneyland as I’ve already been to Disneyland in California. There are many similar rides but the ones in Japan seem shorter and smaller. Love was in the air as Disney prepped itself for Valentine’s day! The park was absolutely beautiful and I pretended I was in Venice and Paris all at the same time!

One of my favorite photos of an unknowing Japanese couple on the gwendola, they’ve got the best seats for photo taking!

They’re not stingy with all these gorgeous tulips…

The new Tower of Terror ride that wasn’t that scary after all.

If you’re there, I urge you to try the Black Pepper Popcorn! I wonder why nobody thought of that earlier! We had 2 tubs that day! They came in strawberry, chocolate and sea salt flavors too!

Yummy!

One of their many themed toilet signs

Something that I bought in Disney, can you guess what is this? Answers and a couple more photos under cut.

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Tags: black pepper popcorn, boxers, carousel, disney, disneysea, genie, gwendola, honeymoon, japan, married life, sinbad, toilets, tokyo, tokyo disney sea park, tower of terror, tulips, valentine, valentine's day

Hello everybody! I’m back from Japan and it was a really wonderful experience! We visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka and visited Universal Studios Japan and Tokyo Disney Sea Park! We took the Hollywood Dream The Ride and it’s possibly one of the best rides I’ve ever taken! I’ve never screamed more!! You get to choose 1 out of 5 tracks to listen to while taking the ride, how clever is that?! I chose Osaka Lover by Dreams Come True and now it’s on repeat on my Winamp player.

Listen to it here:

The Tower of Terror at Disneysea was a little disappointing and not very scary though; all the rides in Disneysea seem smaller and less scary compared to Disneyland LA.

Shinkansen (bullet train) ticket from Osaka to Kyoto

Japanese boy on the shinkansen we took

Almost 1000 photos to go through, will update with more soon!

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Tags: ANA, boy, bullet train, compare, disneyland, disneysea, dreams come true, holiday, hollywood dream, honeymoon, honshu experience, japan, kyoto, LA, married life, osaka, osaka lover, played, review, ride, roller coaster, shinkansen, song, tokyo, tokyo disney sea park, tower of terror, universal studios japan, usj, 新幹線

Anything goes

Add a little spunk to your life at Tokyo’s zakka housewares shops. Hanna Kite visits five of the best.

Photo by Hanna Kite

Bottled green tea in Boston tastes pretty much the same as it does from a vending machine in Shibuya. But no matter how international our planet becomes, sometimes a certain something can only be found one place on Earth. For interior-knickknack devotees and accessory-minded folk, zakka, or “miscellaneous goods” stores, are the cornerstone of life in Japan, the trusted source of goodies when a bag or apartment needs a touch of personality. There’s nothing quite like them beyond Japanese shores.

While a walk around Shimokitazawa or Kichijoji guarantees a zakka encounter, the following five stores in Jiyugaoka and Daikanyama are the top shops in Tokyo’s zakka central. They offer a little more than your standard basket and wire-plant-hanger fare, and a more distinctive selection than Loft.

Read more: Metropolis Tokyo

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Tags: guide, Shopping, tokyo