The Chronicles of the Tay Family: 10 Dec Tokyo here we come!

Glimpse of our plane

All ready to jet off! We reached home at 5 plus yesterday after an amazing staycation with the cousins in JB, had dinner and were frantically packing away. We had not gone to a wintry country for 6 years, and did not feel very prepared to take on the frosty weather.

Woke up at 4.30am to get ready, the kids at 5am, hopped onto the car at 5.30am AMD we were soon at the airport! Had an early breakfast and we were on the plane at 8am! Papa sat with Jun, Mama with Mei and Jie with Tong.

Checked into Mimaru Asakusa. Lovely, clean and chic apartment. We loved the design of the bunk bed and thought we would do the same for the new home!

Ok it was already dark at 6pm? We went out to find food and explore the city.

First Jap food we tried - sweet potato balls and cake. Yummy!

Papa and Jie gushed about the food served in the plane. Papa had pork rice and Jie had curry rice.

Saw a quaint candy shop and they bought a bottle of candies. The kids said this was what was shown in the movie with the soot spritz. They were just coloured rock candies in the shape of flowers but the kids loved them.

At the street market which led to the famous Senso-Ji temple.

There were still quite many tourists there though it was already dark.

We did the touristy thing of drawing lots at the temple and Mei, Papa. and Mama got bad prophecies. There was a sign that told us not to worry should we get dismal divinations. Simply tie it to the rack and leave the bad luck behind,

Jun prayed for stellar PSLE results and his divination said his wishes would be granted at a later time.

The highlight of the day - we had an incredible, eye-opening, exorbitantly costly Kobe beef dinner cooked by a chef in a private dining room.

Tong merely wanted to try the beef sushi, and there was some miscommunication between Papa and Mama, so Papa ended up ordering some 400 grams of of premium and sirloin steak.

The chef was studying in Japan and came from Indonesia. He was jovial and friendly. We initially wanted to order less food but he told us very politely in a non-embarrassing way that it would not be enough for everyone. Then he did his best to cut everything into 6 portions. Nice chap!

Served with vegetables and two bowls of rice. The kids were sweet and made sure they looked out for one other, making sure that everyone had a bit of the rice. They knew the food was expensive and did not want to order more. Even if they did not like the food, they showed good manners. Mei finished chewing the premium beef.

They declined the vegetables politely. Mei liked the sirloin steak more! Ha it was fattier thus softer. More expensive too!

The beef fats were fried to a crisp and were tasty with rice. Mama had some portions left over from my sirloin and was frying it for Mei but she was full by then and did not want it.

Luckily, Jun gobbled it up (he really liked the fatty bits!). Ha Papa said I almost threw $20 away.

The chef said they served the best Kobe beef in Tokyo. Here was their gold trophy to prove it.

It was a $600 meal! Papa and a mama would never have spent this kind of money on food for ourselves. But I must say, it was a very memorable experience for the family. I was sure that we would talk about it for many years to come - that fateful night when we had the $600 beef. Ha, oh dear, already used up 1/10 of Papa’s spending money budget!