Our Tokyo trip had come to an end, and we flew home to Singapore on Singapore Airlines Business Class from Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) Terminal 1. Our boarding pass said we could use the ANA Lounge. Nice! The check-in staff then gave us a handy tip: take a photo of the map so we could […]

After slurping down a comforting, steaming bowl of ramen at ICHIRAN in Asakusa for lunch, hubby and I hopped on the metro to check out one last shrine on our Tokyo itinerary: Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine) 明治神宮. Neither of us is religious, so our shrine visits aren’t about traditional prayer or specific rituals. Instead, it’s […]

We’d spent the whole morning weaving through Nakamise Shopping Street, snapping photos at Sensoji Temple and nibbling on street snacks along the way. By noon, the snacking had worn thin. We wanted something hot, something comforting, something we could sit down with. So we walked over to ICHIRAN Asakusa Rokku for a proper bowl of […]

We had just demolished a bigger-than-your-face chicken cutlet at Asakusa Anshinya. Stomachs full. Then we spotted another queue right opposite. Asakusa Menchi — also sitting on my must-eat list, thanks to review after glowing review. Full or not, we joined the line. Asakusa Menchi Sells One Item. That’s It. Asakusa Menchi sells minced meat cutlets. […]

Sensoji Temple sits at the top of almost every Tokyo itinerary. Arrive mid-morning and you’ll understand why that’s both a blessing and a curse. When my hubby and I turned up, the crowd near the main hall was already shoulder to shoulder. So we did what any hungry couple would do — we skipped the […]

If you’ve been hunting for the best cakes in Nagoya on RedNote (Xiaohongshu), HARBS would’ve popped up on your feed more times than you can count. That’s exactly how it landed on my Nagoya to-try list. After a heavy late lunch at Unagi Unayasu Nishiki, my tastebuds were begging for something sweet, so off we […]

Okay, I’ll be honest with you upfront — I’m not really a fan of unagi. Freshwater eel (and honestly, a lot of freshwater fish) tastes a bit earthy and muddy to me. Plus, unagi has all those tiny bones, so the texture just isn’t my thing. But hubby? He absolutely loves it. It’s like a […]

After our morning at the Toyota Commemorative Museum, we took a quick 5-minute walk over to AEON Mall Nagoya Noritake Garden. I really wanted to check out the Tsutaya Bookstore there — you know, the one with that magical optical-illusion wall of books that’s all over Instagram. Once we were done admiring the viral book […]

If you’ve been doom-scrolling travel reels lately, you’ve definitely seen that staircase. You know the one. A towering wall of books that looks like something out of a movie. I was recently in Nagoya checking out the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, and since it was just a quick 5-minute walk over to AEON Mall […]

Arrived in Nagoya way too early to check in. Dumped the luggage at the hotel and went hunting for lunch. Misokatsu Yabaton kept popping up on every Nagoya must-eat list, so off we went to their Esca Underground Mall outlet, right by the Shinkansen side of Nagoya Station. Spoiler: it lived up to the hype. […]

Goodbye Singapore, hello Japan! We’re off to Hakuba for our very first snowboarding adventure, but decided to spend a couple of days exploring Nagoya first since we’ve never been. If you’re flying in too, here’s the lowdown on getting from Chubu Airport to Nagoya Station via the Meitetsu train — the fastest, cheapest, and most […]