Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

The below photos were taken on the Canon F1.8 50mm fixed focal length lens. Starting to fall back in love with it, and most of all, that drives me to practise more on holding firmly on taking photos.

This place is so hip and now becoming the fashion icon.

Most of the shops would have a kind of bags of blessing 福袋 - a bag with 5-8 items inside which are packed on a package bargain sale at 80-90% off. So Addidas and many foreign brands join this super sale. I absolutely think it's a good move as it will clear up all the stock so that the next season would come in fresh instead of re-moving those old items for making up like they are new. This is what we call "fashion" - keep going!

Captured this one for the salesman shouting their bargain buckets with addidas logo at JPY10,000 (US$120).

Godiva's green tea chocolatier - haven't tried it yet. Think it'd be good.

Shinjuku part 1, Tokyo, Japan

1. Many restaurants around Kabuki area.

2. Guess what for the line - it's the 1/1/10 new burger being served - triple deckers. Haven't seen Wendy's for a long time.

3. busy as usual.

4. Almost all the shops closed for the 1st day of New Year.

5. Nishi (west) Shinjuku.

6. Kimura San.

Narita Express, Japan

I rarely took Narita Express (express train connecting Narita Airport to Tokyo downtown) because of the lower frequency like departure every 1 hour. As this time the waiting is around 20 minutes and in thinking about the possible traffic in Shinjuku area due to the New Year's eve, I tried it finally. The train fare is JPY3,300 (US$38) as compared to the coach at JPY3,000(US$36). However, you would definitely control the time more precisely. The whole journey takes 1 hour and 15 minutes on a distance like 120-140 miles. The coach takes around 2 hours.

1. the platform. 2. the train arriving.

3. the seats. 4. it's on reserved seating.

5. the seats are quite spacious.

Come in, Tokyo! Come in, Tokyo!

Tried so hard in taking a super zoom photo before landing Narita and I used 300mm to zoom at this place at about 150 miles. Though it's still blur, this is what I used to watch TV when I was a kid - Tokyo Bay! Gozilla attacked Tokyo Bay! OK, the reality is this Tokyo Bay is just surrounded by this super metropolitan Tokyo where 20 million people stay. BTW, you can see a jet flying off the Haneda Airport (south west of Tokyo) - the old Airport before Narita.

King Tak Town porcelain 景德鎮, China

A friend of mine often travels to various provinces in Mainland China. He handles a lot of merchandise for his various production jobs and got to know where to find and how to determine the genuine goods in China. I got some nice gifts from him and realise those so-called porcelain made in King Tak Town I bought in HK may not be genuine nor of the standard quality. The first time I washed the new ones I got. I am impressed with how light and thin as well as very evenly made of this bowl. The texture is like silk. I am glad that at least some of the classic cultural things are still being preserved other than those scandalous news about products made in China. So I made a comparison to a Japanese porcelain made bowl (HK$100, US$12.5) and the new one I got.

1. Look at the bowl inside, you can see the light reflection is not that silky and shiny and some slightly rough texture on the surface.

2. See the difference. Shiny and silky and delicate.

3. a look to the whole bowl of the Japanese made one.

4. You can see the bowl is in a nice round shape and it's very thin.

5. the bowls.

Kouryu Noodle Shop, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

I like this shop's branches in Hong Kong since their first establishment 7-8 years ago in Tsimshatsui, but somehow haven't tried this one in Shinjuku. So this time I gotta try it. It turned out it's a lot better than the one in HK - almost 30% better in terms of noodle and soup base.

1. This shop is just like the others in Shinjuku - very congested and you need to buy a ticket at the entrance. 2. Everything is about vending machine. So if you want an extra noodle, soup, egg, you just need to insert another coin in this mini-vending machine. Right to it is the water dispenser - so unique!

3. See each of the side order to accompany your noodle. 4. My noodle at JPY850 (US$10). Note the middle mini-red - it's the chili paste. I prefer a little hot. Everything is so nice and I took the soup all. Nothing left!

5. See how small the shop is. 6. We needed to climb up this narrow stairs.

若狹家 Sushi Rice, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Left my luggage in the hotel room, rushed out for a quick meal to settle my unrest mind getting haunted for Japanese food - ramen, sushi or any bento... Sorry forgot the English name of this shop. Too oishi to forget it.

1. OK, this shop captured my hunting eyes as it's quite full with locals and it's situation in the side street of Kabuki area of Shinjuku. Ordered a smaller bowl of sushi on rice at JPY790 (big one at JPY1,100). At first I wanna try the one with Sea Urchin but gave up as I wasn't sure the shop offers fresh sashimi. Besides, I needed to save room for a ramen later. So this one is indeed very nice, totally different from those I tried in most Japanese restaurants in HK and BKK. The salmon and tuna are superb! The rice of course is OISHI....! 2. The shop offered a competition for finishing a super big bowl of sushi rice (original price is Y3,980) and if you can finish it in 15 minutes, the meal is free. So this board showed those winners and the fastest one is 9 minutes! The size is 8-10 times bigger than the one I tried.

3. the post for this free meal in 15 minutes or you pay. 4. the shop is very typical Japanese style and quite congested. You need to eat like a pigeon in a bullet cage, but I don't mind being so and I can say I would die for it. 5. See all these nice combinations!

5. See all these nice combinations! 6. the shop entrance.

Shinjuku Prince, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Shinjuku Prince is the most convenient tourist hotel. The hotel has undergone a renovation lately. So at around US$140 net during the New Year's season, it's a very good deal.

1. Shinjuku Prince lower floors used to be Seibu Dept. Store but now no more. It's the hit one - Uniqlo and of course the Muji replacing it. 2. Shinjuku Prince is along the JR line and next to Kabuki area. The brown one behind is Shinjuku Prince. These 2 photos were taken on my Canon 400D with a fixed 50mm focal length (equil. 80mm on 35mm).

3. hotel room to NIshi(west)-Shinjuku - the main commercial area. 4. another view.

5. JR line is downstairs and very busy desule. 6. the room is Japan's standard size but they do renovate from head to toe with things of good quality..

7. the bed. 8. the bathroom looks small but then not so. Very good design. The water faucet, sprinkler and everything are of some very high quality. BTW, shower gel, shampoo are super goodorf le.

9. See the room has everything. BTW, the TV video and sound quality is superb! I watched the annual "Red White" contest last night. Very professional. This is something I like Japan. They work everything into every single detail.