While on our way to Suzukien Asakusa for the world's strongest matcha ice-cream, we passed by this small alley cafe and stopped by for coffee. It's a small space but very cozy. I fell in love immediately going into Sukemasa Coffee shop as Tamia's "So Into You" (one of my favourite songs) was playing in the background while Audrey Hepburn's "War & Peace" (one of my favourite AH movies) was projected on the cafe's main wall. Cute alley cafe, decent coffee, 90s music, classic movies, my heart!!

By the way, I had a really great time at Suzukien Asakusa tasting the various levels of matcha ice-cream there. The hojicha + No. 7 matcha combo was my favourite and I enjoyed every scoop of smooth, nutty, bitter goodness in that ice-cream cup. Would get a fix of this everyday if it was near our Tokyo stay, seriously good!

Our second attempt to Meiji Shrine was a success after we missed the closing gate time on our first day in Tokyo. The stroll towards the shrine was well-shaded, relaxing, and cooling with a lot to see along the way. I was impressed at the upkeep of the forest hence I googled about it and found out later, that a century ago, Japanese arborists implemented this fantastic idea of planting different trees in this artificial forest which will regenerate independently without any human interference for 150 years. How clever of them!

Speaking of trees, upon entering Meiji Shrine's courtyard through the main shrine gate, I saw two identical trees and remembered being astonished at how these two trees have almost the same shape and height after 100 years! Upon closer inspection, I realized that there were not two but three camphor trees in the courtyard, two trees to the left and one on the right (refer to last Meiji Shrine photo below). 

These two trees on the left of the main shrine were planted side by side with a string tied to both of the trunks, bonding them forever. This Meotu kusu a.k.a Couple Tree was said to represent Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken as they were known to be lovebirds in real life. It's not every royal story where the emperor loves the infertile empress until the end of time (yes, she had no child of her own and the emperor did not abandon/banish her which was most of the case for monarchs back then).

Of course, I had to take a photo of the iconic 96-year-old Harajuku Train Station building which the world will say goodbye to soon.

Takeshita Street did not disappoint me with it's quirky stalls and cool fashion. I really wanted to get a few items but my luggage was almost filled up and I had one more week in Hokkaido after this, which I was afraid, might need the extra space. So I guess, Tokyo shopping trip will have to wait until I come back another time.

Afuri Ramen killed it with its yuzu-infused ramen broth and I wished I had another stomach for an extra serving. The hint of citrus makes the entire bowl lighter and less greasy unlike the traditional pork broth which has a much more richer after taste. I had my share of various ramens throughout my trip here and I always find it hard to make it to the end of the bowl because of the pork broth. Aside from Suzukien Asakusa, this ramen gem needs to find its way to Malaysia too, PLEASE!

I know I will madly miss Tokyo after this and I really want to come back because there is just so much more to this place that I want to explore. Not to mention that I didn't got to do the shopping that I wanted.

It was a tiring night for all of us and we still had to do our last minute packing for the next day as we were to fly in to Chitose, Hokkaido. I remembered packing halfway through and my eyes were about to shut yet my heart was feeling excited at the thought of seeing snow for the first time in my life! Can't wait to post up on Hokkaido! Till then!

When I was prolly around 7, I went up on stage and shook hands with Mickey and friends at a shopping mall's Christmas event. Out of all of the characters there, only Goofy gave me a hug at the end (ngawwww), which also explained why I had to get the Disneysea ticket with his face on it. Also, seeing this bunch on stage for the second time in my life was such a beautiful, upgraded deja vu version of my first encounter with them. Here is smol me and Goofy:

The first thing we did was to get cute headbands to get into that Disney spirit! Prior to all of this, I actually did some research on the available headbands and eyed on a pair of studded Mickey ears. Initially I didn't want to wear one because I thought it would look embarrassing but yo, everyone there had an extra pair of ears, three extra eyeballs, some with antennas, some with horns, and many more creative varieties. What is wearing a headband if others took the effort to cosplay as their favourite character? With that said, I highly recommend everyone to get a favourite headband and wear it proudly throughout the day!