From Kawasaki To Enoshima On A Rainy Day

Things didn't go as planned on Day 10 of our trip. It rained almost the whole day! Booohooo!

Got out from our warm hotel room late and had brunch at Kawasaki Station food court. Udon for Zaini and I and Raimie had two shrimp filled onigiris.

By now, I was nursing a swollen, throbbing gum and chewing was torture! Ugh... Just the thing you need when on vacation; in a country you barely speak the language. I prepared a whole lot of medicine for the trip but nothing for this. Got something from the drug store and it actually took 3 days for the throbbing to stop. :(

And that's why folks, no running for me these few days. The throbbing coupled with a blistered heel makes bad travel company but continuing on...

From Kawasaki Station, we travelled to Ofuna. Purchased the Kamakura Enoshima Pass and travelled to Enoshima. The day turned out to be more of train rides trips instead of visiting sites in Enoshima and Kamakura. Bummer.

Deciding not to brave the cold rain and risked a sick child afterwards, we spent a bit of time there indoors before deciding it's best to try and visit some sites in Kamakura instead. Woe us. (Insert choice Shakespearean curses here if you like) LOL

With the rain we had to chose which site to visit in Kamakura and we selected the Kamakura Daibutsu, with long stops at souvenir shops. I don't know about you but while the Daibutsu itself is great and all, the fact that the people at the ticket counter and souvenir shops readily speaks English to me makes the experience less thrilling. Hard to please this one foreign tourist, eh? xD

It was still raining after our visit to Daibutsu and Zaini "pretended" not to hear me wanting to visit Hasedera. huhuhu Can't blame him though. We didn't have our umbrella with us this time, having forgotten and left it in Osaka. :(

You can't say we didn't make an effort to sightsee in Enoshima. We did make our way there after visiting Daibutsu but then decided to call it quits and hopped on the Shonan Monorail (cool, this suspended monorail, I tell you) from Shonan-Enoshima Station to Ofuna Station. For train buffs, the Shonan monorail is the first monorail of its kind in Japan.

Arrived Kawasaki Station feeling completely famished so we headed to the nearest Yayoi-ken there and had a nice hot (and cheap) dinner.

I was ready to call it quits for the day but the two boys wanted to go out some more (more like going to check out some games at Yodobashi Camera) so after hoarding boxes of chocolates along with a bottle of gum medicine that I had no idea consisted of what, we went our separate ways.

Those two really had a good time without me because it took them ages to return to our hotel room afterwards!

By the way, when this post is up; we are already safe and sound back home in warm, sunny Malaysia. ^^ Not to mention back to work. Ugh.

Kawasaki Walking? Not So Much...

We didn't travel much around Kawasaki the two times we spent the night there so we only saw just a bit of the place but here's the bit of Kawasaki we saw.

The view from our hotel room at Nikko Hotel. One of those rare times we actually have a room with a view. ^^ We usually stayed at Toyoko Inn chain and the view from our room would either be the next building's wall or an empty lot in Tokyo if we were lucky! XD

Night view, again taken from our hotel room at Nikko Hotel.

A shopping arcade. Plenty of pachinko and game parlours along the streets too. Rows and rows of them! @.@

A pedestrian scramble in Kawasaki. Of course the famous pedestrian scramble would be in Shibuya. 

Tip on how to annoy others in your group when travelling - stop at random places and get left behind just so you can take photos. Then, pout a bit (A LOT) when you do get left behind and start an argument! Repeat this all through your vacation. LOL

Walking down the street. Where were we headed to? For some dinner and we found our favourite place for cheap eats - there is Yayoi-ken nearby Kawasaki Station. Yeay for cheap eats!

Ready for dinner!

My dinner. It cost less than 800yen and come with free refill of rice and all I can drink hot tea & cold water! ^^

A different view from this hotel room. This time, we stayed at Toyoko Inn and got ourselves a view of a carpark and a train station right in front of our room!

Entering our room at Toyoko Inn Kawasaki. It's an annexe from the main building hence the uncovered corridor to our room. But pretty interesting, and the car park view is sure nice. Well, much nicer than seeing a gray wall when you open the window!

So if we didn't actually go around the area to sight-see, why exactly were we there in the first place?

To bring our Son to this place - the place to be to meet Ultraman in Kawasaki! And meet his Heroes, he certainly did! Anyone wanting to meet Ultraman when they go vacation in Tokyo and ask me for a place to recommend, I always recommend this place to visit.

Ultraman Mebius greeting the kids

 

Raimie and Ultraman Zero.

The Hustle And Bustle At Kawasaki Station

The two times we came to Kawasaki, I had hoped for some time to cover Yokohama but as it turned out both times we spent way too much time at Ultraman Club and the Bandai Namco Wonderpark and also an awesome good time over at a blogger friend's house. Kak Hani had so generously opened her house, even cooked a delicious lunch for us. Raimie got hooked playing Nintendo Wii with her son and daughter there and was pleading for us to get one by the time we stepped out the door. Did we get it? Read this post to know. ^^

Anyways, just some photos of Kawasaki Station. This is a pretty busy station, that's for sure. 

As with other big stations in Japan, plenty of stuff to see and shop in/around the station. Plenty of coin lockers at Kawasaki Station to stuff all those shopping bags for a while too.

A 300yen locker that we used to stash our stuff in before hitting the nearby mall after checking-out from our hotel.

We'll be heading back to Kawasaki for either the first few days of our upcoming trip or the last few days of it. I have some JAL vouchers and we are thinking of using it on a couple of nights over at Kawasaki's Nikko Hotel.

Anyhoo, I should seriously look into visiting Yokohama. But then again, after seeing photos of Enoshima on a few blogs that I've been reading, I'm tempted to make a side trip there instead. Whaddya think?

Places We Stay : Toyoko Inn - Kawasaki

Read also :
Places We Stay : Toyoko Inn Akita.

Apart from Toyoko-Inn in Asakusa and Akita, we also spent a night at Toyoko-Inn Kawasaki. Last year, we spent the night in Kawasaki at Nikko Hotel and had wanted to stay at Nikko Hotel again but the rate was a tad high because we had waited until the last minute to make the reservation. So, Toyoko-Inn became our choice for Kawasaki.

Again, there are several Toyoko Inns in Kawasaki snd the Toyoko-Inn Kawasaki we chose is located nondescriptly away from the hustle and bustle of Kawasaki Station, with about 7 minutes walk from the east exit of JR Kawasaki Station. We actually had a bit of problem finding the hotel at first.

We got there a bit too early for check-in so we just left our bags there before heading out again for sightseeing. See that two machines in the photo above?

This hotel has no staff manning the reception at night so for those wishing to get a room late at night, they can do so by using the vending machine. A vending machine for hotel booking - cool, eh?
 

The dining area. It has a humungous TV here for diners to watch while enjoying their meal. And also a big coffee/tea machine for guests to enjoy for free. I like free stuff. LOL

Our room was interestingly located outside the hotel corridor.

Our room for the night. This hotel even has a pantry area in each room.

The next day, we went down quite late to have breakfast. Unlike most Toyoko-Inn chains, this hotel only provides minimal amount of bread for guests. Lucky for us as we were able to get the last three bread left in those bread baskets. That and with cups and cups of coffee for me and green tea for Raimie and Zaini were all we had for breakfast that day.

Day 5 In Japan: A Great Time At Ultraman Club

Raimie sure had a blast at Ultraman Club, spending time meeting up his heroes and did some shopping too! If your kids love Ultraman and you are in Tokyo or Yokohama, this is the nearest place you can meet Ultraman everyday.

I bet any Ultraman loving fans would love to be here, regardless of age. :)

Raimie receiving briefing before meeting his current hero : Ultraman Zero

After the meeting (that include some nice personal moments with his hero), off he went and played in the play area. You can play shoot, bounce and kick at the bouncy gym (or whatever they call it), play the latest Ultraman video games and so much more there.

After the play session, it's time for some retail therapy at the M78 shop (official Ultraman Shop):

Snacks, Ultraman can drinks or  Ultra Heroes SD figures. Or do you fancy an Ultraman Kids' beer?

Raimie was happy playing the arcade games too!

Day 5 In Japan : Kawasaki

Day 5 saw us travelling back to Tokyo and then head off to Kawasaki.

We went to Kawasaki for two reasons. Raimie of course wanted to see his heroes, Ultraman.  A trip to Ultraman Club which is located in Lazona, Kawasaki is a must for us. Judging from this photo, the trip was a success, don't you agree? :D

The other reason was to visit a friend who lives just a station away from Kawasaki station. She is busy on weekdays (on most weekends too!) so we were lucky that the Saturday we were in Kawasaki was a "free" day for her.  I guess we lost track of time while at her home because we were there for SIX hours! 

Kak Hani, thanks so much for your kind hospitality and those great food. Raimie enjoyed playing with his new friends despite the language barrier. I apologise if we impose on you too much but it sure was great meeting you and your lovely family!

A Day With Zoffy At Ultraman Club

After meeting with Ultraman Mebius the day before, Raimie was pretty excited at the chance of meeting with Zoffy (a senior ranking Ultraman, for those not in the know). After checking out from Nikko Kawasaki Hotel, we went back to Lazona and head towards Ultraman Club again.

Zoffy's appearance. Unlike Ultraman Mebius appearance that came with a live show, Zoffy only interacted with the children. Not that Raimie complained.

 

A chance for a photo with Zoffy is not to be missed.

 

Then, after everyone had taken their photos with Zoffy, it was time to learn some cool moves together.

 

All too soon, it's time to bid farewell to Zoffy.

We initially planned for just on visit to Ultraman Club but it turned out that we made two visits there. Raimie enjoyed himself, not only because he gets to meet his heroes but also because he got to play with other kids.

He's already talking (trying to brainwash me, more like) about us making a return visit to Kawasaki, specifically to Ultraman Club. Mommy and Daddy better starting savings lots of money now!

A Close Encounter With Ultraman Mebius And Empera Seijin

Going to Ultraman Club, in Namco Wonderpark Heros' Base in Kawasaki, Raimie wouldn't miss meeting his favourite heroes at any cost!

For us, the main highlight of going to any Ultraman themed places is meeting the Ultra Heroes themselves, be it at Ultraman Festival, Ultramanland, Ultraman Stadium, Tsuburaya Jungle or here at Ultraman Club.

The stage area

The staff setting the mood for the appearance of Ultraman Mebius battling Empera Seijin. Just look at the kids' concentration.

 

The appearance of Empera Seijin to battle Ultraman Mebius, right in front of the children. For any Ultraman fan, you can't get anything cooler than this. The "live show" went about for a few minutes with plenty of tumbling, fighting and lighting effects, much to the joy of the kids.

 

Raimie being "protected" by the staff member against any attack from Empera Seijin.

 

As expected, Ultraman Mebius won the battle. After Empera Seijin was gone, it was time for Ultraman Mebius to teach the kids some cool moves and gave some advice. Children, listen to what Mebius has to say now. :)

 

Then, it was time for group photo. There was no individual photo session with Mebius, so everyone had to make do with this group photo session.

 

And all too soon, it was time to bid "sayonara" to Mebius.

Was Raimie happy? Definitely! It's all worthwhile taking this trip from Tokyo to Kawasaki. Heck, we made our way to Kyushu the last two years to visit Ultramanland and even traipsed the countryside to go to Terai in Komatsu, Kanazawa for Ultraman Stadium, you know!

But maybe, he'll get way too cool and big to be such an Ultraman fanatic in years to come. Well, he still has his Kamen Rider that he love.