Sujono’s Blog

oct 10, took the JAL to Narita Airport, the meal was terrible, but they have Ume Shu ^^

oct 11, arrived in Narita 07:00 in the morning, after meeting with my second father, we went to Narita Nikko Hotel to pick his Korean friend ( she ).  The weather in the morning was around 15-20 degree C, during noon time about 25, and in the evening drop to 20-15.  Our first trip was going to the Tsukiji fish market, the number 1 fish market in all of Japan, they have a very organized auction system and the fishes are as fresh as they can be.  A super duper so very different view from Jakarta’s fish market ;p  we had some sushi lunch in one of the sushi restaurant near the market.  During the lunch time it was so full that we had to sit in the 3rd floor, and to our dismay the sushi didn’t taste so good, although the sea eel taste marvelous and the fatty tuna too, it seemed that the good cook was in the 1st floor.  Finishing the lunch, we walked around the shops.  Some cooked food shops don’t even have any place to sit but still people queuing just to get some bowl of ramen or some rice bowl.  took some pictures with theater players ^^.  Afterwards we went to Akihabara, the electronics districts.  from the smallest cable to the latest pasokon ( personal computer ), from the smallest anime figurine and costume to sex shop you name it, they have it.  We had a coffe in a Maid Cafe, the waitress in side the cafe all dressed up in maid costume, so kawaii, they use very polite japanese language and addresses the customers as ‘master’.  No etchi stuffs in this cafe, just enjoying a very small room and the maid walking around so kawaii, unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos.  It was also the first time for my second father and his friend too.  Quite an experience, Indonesia should’ve be more creative like Japan lol.  Hence we went to Sensoji Temple ( a Budhist Temple ) in Tokyo area.  The path going to the main hall was surrounded by small kiosks selling sweets, clothes, souvenir, charms, etc.  We ended the day by eating ramen, the most delicious ramen I’ve ever tasted in Ikebukuro.  I stayed in the business hotel in Ikebukuro area, what a tiny little room ;p  Ikebukuro also one of the crowded area, filled with depaato ( department store ) like seibu, parco, tobu, etc, from the branded clothes to the warehouse sale.  Btw, we rode on an AMG Kompressor SL 500, it was so great the traction was so powerful, too bad speed limit is a very strict rule in Japan.

oct 12, I woke up around 8 o’clock and had an onigiri breakfast.  at 10:00 my father came to pick us up using Lexus LS460, and we headed to Nikko.  Little that we knew that it was gonna be a so very very traffic jam, it took 5 hours to reach +/- 130km.  We couldn’t even had any lunch, because all the food in that area was sold out ( can you imagine that? the whole town didn’t have any food left to sell, well except for some 7/11 store ).  We ended up eating snacks that my father and I took inside the plane, yup that was our lunch for 3 persons, 1 small pack of crackers and 2 small packs of dried nato.  We arrived in the Toshogu Temple 15:00 we spent about 1,5 hour sight seeing Tokugawa memorial tomb and temple ( Shinto Temple ).  It turned out that it was a long weekend ( monday was holiday ) and also the start of autumn where the leaves started to turn yellow and red.  Afterwards we went to Chusenji Lake, also another 3-4 hour drive for about 10km.  If you have seen InitialD anime then it was the same style of mountain road that we were passing.  My father’s initial plan was to stay 1 night in the chusenji lake area because it has onsen ( hot spring bath ) but also beyond our expectation, it was all booked.  After circling around looking for some hotel and restaurant, we returned back to Ikebukuro with disappointment and hunger ;p  the downhill road was extraordinary, the very tight continuous hairpins was amazing.  I really wanted to drive but my father won’t let me because I don’t have International driving license :(  We arrived in Ikebukuro 23:30, we had some okonomiyaki and monzayaki.

oct 13, first trip of the day we went to Tokyo Tower.  also another traffic jam, human traffic jam ;p

It may not be the tallest tower but the view from 280m, is something out of the ordinary.  It is also a dating spot in the night time.  Tokyo is definitely a concrete jungle, a beautiful concrete jungle.  All of the buildings are well maintained, even the housing area looks so tidy.  Despite all the modern touch, some area are left as green as possible.  This is something that the Indonesian government has to learn.  Lunch time we went to a kani ( crab ) restaurant, all kinds of crabs are available.  I forgot which crab we order, but it was damn delicious especially the kani sashimi ( I love sashimi ).  They provide some thin stick with pointy edge on one end, and small shovel on the other end.  It is so easy to eat crab with that apparatus, why Indonesian seafood restaurant doesn’t provide such apparatus?  Later we took a walk down the Ginza street, a brand showcase.  Never been to Paris? You don’t have to, you can find all the glamour and the atmosphere in here, even the local people visiting this area dressed to kill.  Price? You don’t have to ask, you already know the answer ( shopping in Japan is cheaper?? Where did get that info? Unless you’re buying cars and some electronics stuff ).  We went inside an office supply shop ( I forgot the name ), it was amazing.  All items are made to its finest details.  You’ll get the best quality for your money.  After having some oden for dinner, we drove around some area.  The infamous Red light District, and the Imperial Palace.  The night was still young but our schedule had ended.  My father’s friend ( we lived in the same hotel ) took me to pachinko, we played evangelion pachinko.  Gosh I don’t understand the system, but some can make lots of money from it.  That night we lost more than 30000 yen ;( But please don’t tell my father, onegaishimasu ^^’

Oct14,

In the morning my father’s friend had a work to do, and we also had to go to the factory.  After saying good bye, we drove to Saitama ken, just about 1 hour drive from Ikebukuro.  Saitama is such a beautiful country side, the scenery is still very green and natural.  Our factory is surrounded by some small farm and trees, it was so beautiful.  In the afternoon, another Director came and join us.  This guy has 5 guns, one day in the shooting range, he can fired up 1000-2000 shells.  Very fun guy, but when it comes to factory and process improvement he is the fiercest of all ^^’.  In the evening I had dinner with one of the engineering staff, he can speak English very well.  We had some unagi ( Japan eel )in the nearby restaurant, couldn’t find the word to express how delicious the texture was ^^.  Nothing much happened during that day.

Oct 15,

Morning time I went to the factory again, and waiting for the other Director ( the gun craze one ) to come.  We went to some area ( I forgot ) to buy some performance part for my car.  Such a cool shop selling performance parts for Toyota cars, the name is Netz.  Apparently it is quite a famous shop for Toyota cars in Japan.  That time if I had +/- 170000 yen, I would buy the complete turbo performance set for my old Vios.  Since I didn’t have that kind of money so I had to make do with set of TRD clutch disc and clutch cover ( couldn’t wait to install it ;p ).  In the afternoon we went back to Ikebukuro, we went to Bic Camera to buy a pasokon.  So I bought a Vaio ( at last I can have a Vaio ), but have to be super be careful because it’s white, so have to clean it regularly.  A little regret though… anyway we had some coffee and chat.  Great chat, mostly about girls, comparing countries, girls, work, girls, and guns.  This Director is also one of the company share holder, he has a son, and his son is the marketing executive and also the president for Hongkong business.  Dinner time, we had some tonkatsu ( pork katsu ), good lord the pork tasted so juicy and tender, I’m not such a big fan of katsu but that one really thrown me to the sky.  Before I ended the day, I strolled through Seibu and Parco depaato, and ended up spending lots of money for some omiyage ( puresento = present ).

Oct 16,

My father came to pick me up at the hotel and then we went to the head office aka his house in Narimasu area.  I also learnt how to ride the trains, the JR line, Tobu line, and the subway.  My father’s mother is such a friendly person, I was nervous as hell thinking about the meeting, but it turned out ok.  Then, I met his wife, also such a nice person.  My father took me to his home and showed me the founder of the Toyonaga Denki Kenkyusho ( his father )’s shrine.  Deep down I thanked him for such a destined meeting.  Finally I had found someone who has a messy room like mine ^^.  His study room is a mess, just like my bed room ( oopss… ).  After some tempura lunch we had a meeting with our partner company in Matsuda area.  In the evening, also a very first memorable evening, we had dinner in a Ninja restaurant.  Very interesting and unique place.  They design it like a Ninja hideout, complete with trap doors, falling bridge, rivers, and caves, even all of the waiter and waitress wear ninja outfit ( our waitress also so kawaii ^^ ).  No, not the waitress that made me feel the way I am now.  It was my father’s friend’s university friend, nihon onna.  Gosh she looks so kawaii, so gentle, so elegant, so… I actually got nervous around her ( so childish, huh ? ).  Anyway that was also our first experience to eat in the Ninja restaurant.  We ordered some Ninja surprise menu, at the end of the meal, a male ninja came and display some of the ninja magic trick.  Simple tricks like we saw in the TV, but the ambience and the live interaction made it so special.  Gosh you should see the way she eats, so elegant… I couldn’t help not to look at her the entire dining time.  A 2,5 hour dinner seemed so fast, reluctantly I had to end the night.

Oct 17,

Had some beef bowl from Yoshinoya, cho oishii.  Long time ago they also have some outlet in Jakarta, but only for few years.  I missed it so much, last time I had some Yoshinoya bowl in Singapore, but now in Singapore only 1 outlet left.  If you haven’t tried it, then you must try it.  It’s a kinda fast food type, but it tastes better than some middle-low restaurant serving the same dish.  Hence, I went to a supaa ( super market ), sooo many things that made me drooling again, if I was an anime character, I might stuck my face on the counter and ogled.  The fishes, meats, poultry, and cooked food are so neatly organized.  They also give out some free samples to try, all counters.  Some joked, that one can lived and not starved to death in Tokyo, because if one tasted all the provided food samples in a supaa, it was a full course meal.   At 11 o’clock my father’s friend came to pick me up.  We rode the JR line to Shinjuku, but we missed the stop, so we got off in Shibuya.  Not far from the Shibuya Eki ( eki = station ), there is a statue of a dog, called Hachiko.  That dog was said to be waiting for his master to come home every night, but one day the master had an accident and passed away.  Hachiko kept on waiting day by day until itself also passed away.  People living around the area then built a commemorating statue of this loyal dog.  Hence now, it’s a number one popular and favourite meeting spot.  If you have an appointment in Shibuya, you will definitely ( or at least try once, it’s fun ^^ ) use Hachiko as the meeting spot, young and old.  That day the 2 of us walked about 25000 steps ( my father lent me his mobile, and it has this steps counter application ).  From Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Omotesando Hills, Meiji Jingu, Tokyo Mid Town, Roppongi hills, back to Shibuya by subway, and Ikebukuro.  Shibuya, and Harajuku are best known for its street fashion.  One can find all kind of fashion, from the sweet-kawaii to the hardcore gothic, formal office wear to dead sexy tiny winy mini skirt / dress.  I know some Indonesian girls claimed to be harajuku style, but from what I see, they are not a even milimeter close.  So girls, just go to Japan and see how the real Japan street fashion is ;).   In some small streets in Harajuku, they sell many interesting clothes & wears, like the kawaii Lolita cosplay ( imagined a Victorian ( if I’m not mistaken ) girls wearing fancy dress with frills of laces, embroideries, and ribbons ), sexy undies, gothic Lolicon, normal up-to-date clothing, etc.  For the first time of my life I actually saw a complete art exhibition of Picasso, interesting… didn’t understand most of it, interesting though.  The view from the 52^nd floor of the Roppongi highest building ( forgot the name, moshiawake arimasen ^^’ ) in the night time is so unbelievably enchanted ( note, also a good dating spot ^^ I wish I was there with Yuumi chan… (sniff..)…), we can also go up to the top of the roof, the sky deck.  Tokyo Tower looks so glorious in the bed of stars.  The second memorable night had finally come, and I embraced it with great anticipation and anxiety.  We had dinner with her friend again ( Kumaki Yuumi ) from last night.  Btw, my father’s friend’s name is Jeong Ji Yong.  We made an appointment in front of the Hachiko. 　There were hundreds of people surrounding the Hachiko, all were waiting to meet their friends.  Finding her in the sea of people just like some romantic movies ;p  that night we had dinner in 2 restaurant, because the 1^st restaurant serving Japanese food didn’t taste so good, so Jeong san wanted to try another restaurant, so we went to the upper floor and had some Italian food.  Again she really enchanted me..

Oct 18,

I felt so sad, because she already had an appointment with her friends.  I had a free time in the morning so I tried to ask her out　but …

I had another gyu don at Yoshinoya to ease my sorrow, but it didn’t do much good ^^’

So I decided to go to Akihabara by myself using the JR lines.  There, I browsed through almost all Anime and game shops   I’m sure I can live happily in Japan, provided that the company pay for my apartment rent ( because it’s cho takai = super expensive ) ;p  good food, lots of anime & games, cool cars, kawaii girls, neat public transport, good neighbourhood, good scenery, lots of working stress, and lots of sexy girls to make you more miserable, what more can you ask for   what a depressing Saturday ^^’.  I ended the day with some sushi in the Sunshine city building in the Sunshine michi with my ever loving father. 

PS; the sushi didn’t taste so good.

Oct 19,

Have you ever fantasized that you wished you were living inside a movie which had a beautiful scenery? Well I had, I actually lived in that movie.  I couldn’t give sufficient depiction on how beautiful Ikaho, Gunma ken was.  So natural, so beautiful, a perfect harmony of modern and traditional civilization combined.  Not far from there, a small yet unchallenged beauty of a small Haruna Lake.  Have you ever imagined going to somewhere peaceful and beautiful with the one you love? Well that place is a must!  Guaranteed to make your trip a love-love journey   we accidentally found a small restaurant serving trout fish as their specialty.  They have a small pond that we can fish before the it’s served.  Easy catch but it’s all about customer experience.  They do a good job.  We caught 4 trouts, 1 for shio yaki ( salt bbq ), 1 for sashimi ( THE BEST SASHIMI WE’VE EVER TASTED, the meat texture was so soft and tender, also some ‘bouncy’ feeling when you chew it ), 2 for karage ( fried, damn delicious! ) and the bones were used to make some miso shiru.  A must if you’re a fish lover!  Later we had some coffee in a French cafe by the lake side.  So romantic… I just wished…

Upon returning to the hotel, I was in awe, from the outside, it was just a normal hotel, but in the inside, it was designed like a traditional Japanese’ house, complete with tatanami in the room, low legged table, futon, and yukata.  Amazing! That was all I could feel, but I was more astonished when entering the onsen ( hot spring bath ), lots of public pool and private pool, with various type of onsen.  If you’re imagining the hot spring in Lembang, then you’re way out of the way.  One more thing, all must be completely NAKED to bathe in the pool ;p Too bad man & woman’s pool were separated ^^.  Dinner time, we were wearing the yukata and dining in a private room, just like traditional rich people ;p The waitress also wearing semi formal kimono, and served us very well-mannered, typical old Japanese custom.  It was a full course meal, from appetizer to desert.  The Japanese people has a saying ‘eat with eye’, as you may already know, Japanese food is beautifully arranged, this has some historical history behind it.  Long time ago food was scarce, starvation was a common sight, so the food serving was made very little, but they made it look beautiful but nutritiously balanced, so eating wasn’t about mouth and stomach, but also eyes and mind.  Believe it or not, considering my hardcore eating style, I felt so full.  Sleeping in futon couldn’t be any better, I like it.  It was supposed to be a beauty sleep, cool weather, good food, good onsen, good view, good futon… unfortunately my father snored ^^’  I couldn’t sleep if someone was snoring.

Oct 20,

Woke up early in the morning and dip myself in the onsen pool.  So rejuvenating + nato & rice for asa gohan, made my day beautiful.  We departed from the hotel and went to Karuizawa.  It’s a rich man city, at least before the Japan economy crisis, now is just the remnants.  But still gives out a unique atmosphere.  Lunch was the oldest and most famous soba shop.  It’s a kind of noodle made from some leaves?? Served cold with some tempura.  Later in the afternoon, we had some meeting with our customer in Nagano area.  Gosh I almost fell asleep ( ssst… please don’t tell my father ).  We went to Saitama factory before returning to the hotel, I ordered the uniform, looks cool ;p and my father had some discussion with the staff too.  Later I tasted Japanese beef ( finally ) it was not the infamous kobe / matsusaka beef, but still it tasted more delicious than any other beef that I’ve eaten.  Fillet mignon suteki ( steak ), medium done.  As some may I know, I stop eating beef for about 8 years now, but in Japan I made a special case ;p  

Oct 21,

Last day in Japan.  Morning time I walked around  the Sunshine michi ( after another Yoshinoya gyu don ), and I ended up buying 2 Japanese CD, Melody & Shoko.  The 1^st one is good, like it alot.   Lunch was shabu-shabu, this time it was wagyu, didn’t know which grade, but 8 cho thin slices of it cost about 3500JPY, demo honto ni oishii desu   Nothing much that day, after lunch my father left me to do some business and then in the afternoon we went to Ueno, some traditional market for sightseeing.  It’s like Jakarta’s Pancoran ( kota ) area, but of course more organized and clean.  In the evening we moved to Shinagawa and stayed in a 4 or 5 star hotel.  Jeong san is currently working there as their marketing communication or something, so we got some discount.  Even though 4 star hotel, but the room is also so small ;p  Tasted some German food.  Quite good, but couldn’t say I like it very much.  The pork’s foot was good though and the salad. 

Oct 22,

Early morning after asa gohan ( with nato of course ).  We went to the airport, my luggage was 10kg overweight ;p the clutch cover was so heavy.  My father went to Thailand and I returned to Jakarta.  The return trip was horrible, the stupid westerner sitting beside me turned on the reading light all the way.  The light passed through my head and I got a headache because of that ;(  I realized Jakarta 100 years may still couldn’t match the current Tokyo.

Isho ken mei ganbarimasu