dtam

Written by Daniel Tam

Hakodate day 1

I left house at 0606, got 2 rice balls from Lawson and ran a tiny bit of the way to make the 0613 train from Ootsuka. My shinkansen was…

Getting ready to holiday in Hokkaido

We called at least seven sushi restaurants but they all said the same thing: they only take bookings for foreigners through a concierge. It…

Imperial Palace Outer Gardens

I left the house at 1245 towards Tokyo station to explore the grounds around the Imperial Palace. It was a very short walk to Kokyo…

More doing nothing

When I got up I tried to book sushi restaurants with Elbert but for some reason most of them went to answering machines and one said that…

Hamarikyu Gardens

I left for Shimbashi station at 1240 and found lunch upstairs in a building that I’d read had a decent view of Tokyo Bay. None of the…

Walking over Rainbow Bridge

I left for Shinagawa at 1300. On the train I noticed that I would pass by Meguro station so I got off to eat at Menya Ishin, a Michelin…

Sushiko Honten Ginza

When I first came and told them that I had a reservation, one of the staff welcomed me to the counter on the ground floor, but as I headed…

Shinjuku Gyoen

After booking sushi lunch for tomorrow, Elbert and I left the house for Shinjuku at 1515. After lunch it was time to see what we came for…

Manten Sushi Marunouchi

I didn’t get enough sleep but that didn’t stop me from getting up early so that I could make it to Manten Sushi, a place that Bob’s aunt had…

How I've been organising my stay and keeping track of my spending

Autumnal Equinox Day A public holiday where I did nothing… When I woke up I planned out my Hokkaido trip for a bit, and looked up sushi…

Some things that I miss while living in Tokyo

(apart from friends and family): affordable potato chips, especially the deli style ones that Kettle and Red Rock Deli are popular for…

Rugby World Cup Fanzone

Last time I was in Nihombashi, it was with Bob’s aunt, it was at night, and we didn’t spend much time there. This time I wanted to go during…

Shopping successful

Today I was determined to actually buy things rather than leave them behind in the basket. I left the house at 1425 and caught the train to…

Another shopping fail

I went to the west side of Ikebukuro station for the first time today. It seemed like more of the same, with plenty of department stores and…

Tokyo Station, sorta

I left the house at 1305, hoping to explore the area around Tokyo Station and Nihombashi. After exiting the station I looked for food at…

Minor caffeine poisoning

I left the house for Harajuku station at 1600, hoping to just sit in some cafes and learn Japanese. The whole Harajuku and Omotesando area…

Shopping in Ikebukuro

We were woken up at 1210 by the doorbell but went back to sleep. It’s actually happened a few times so I guess door-to-door salesmen are…

Do nothing rest day

I left the house at 1515 for breakfast. I finished the chips (which were way too sweet) and half the gummies when I got home. The sugar…

Asakusa again

Elbert and I met up with Bob and Christine in Asakusa, where they had rented kimonos. We returned the hired kimonos and then spent the…

A long day of shopping and eating

I met with Bob and Christine at 1200 to have lunch at Sushi Kidoguchi. On the walk there from Harajuku station I noticed that my calves and…

Roadtripping day 4

Bob and I got up early to go for a 4-5km run around part of the lake. The sky was clear and we could see Mount Fuji really well, although we…

Roadtripping day 3

We got ready and had a short nap after the huge breakfast, then left at 1040. We spent the rest of the day driving to some of…

Roadtripping day 2

Our food was waiting for us when we got to breakfast a bit past 0800. We were really full after the meal and relaxed a bit before…

Roadtripping day 1

We saw that a lot of trains were cancelled due to last night’s typhoon so we checked out late at 1100. Out on the street you wouldn’t even…

Cupnoodles Museum

I left the house at 1300 to meet Bob and Christine in Yokohama. I was going to go on a roadtrip with them around the Mt. Fuji area, so I…

Eating locally on a lazy day

Bob and Christine went to Kamakura which was even further south of Yokohama so I couldn’t really be bothered tagging along. Instead, I slept…

Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum and Chinatown

I left the house at 1100 and it took me about eighty minutes to get to Shin-Yokohama, where I met Bob and Christine to visit the Shin…

Nezu Shrine

I left the house at 1600 to visit Nezu Shrine. The temperature felt nice walking to Sugamo station, but when I got off a few suburbs over…

I finally ate omurice

I left the house at 1500 with the vague plan of finding a cafe somewhere and sitting down to learn Japanese. I didn’t take my laptop but I…

Kyubey, Ginza

Kyubey opens at 1130 and they take walk-ins for lunch, so I left the house at 1050 to hopefully secure myself a seat for lunch. It was…

Shabu-shabu

I briefly woke up at noon when Elbert left the house, went back to sleep, and when I woke up it was already late 😔. We were going to have…

Accidentally catching an idol show

We went to get food at Ikebukuro. It wasn’t excruciatingly hot so we decided to walk for twenty minutes rather than catching the train. We…

Ueno Park

My sleeping mask and earplugs get uncomfortable after a while, so it’s been hard to sleep with them unless I’m just taking a nap. It might…

Asakusa

It’s lightly raining outside and it’s not even that early (1450), should I still go to Asakusa like I planned? Alright, let’s go. Okay it’s…

Accidental lazy day

I woke up at 1520 after turning off my alarm at 1300 and going back to sleep. I just need to sleep earlier and have some willpower to make…

Sushi Kidoguchi

I didn’t get much sleep: I got to bed late, couldn’t get to sleep, and woke up briefly at 0830. What a regret booking so early for 1200. I…

Star struck and bill shocked

I’d set some alarms for 1200 and 1300 but when they rang I just turned them off and slept in instead. With my hopes of getting out early and…

Umegaoka Sushi No Midori, Ginza

I left the house by myself at around 1600 with the vague idea to go to some cafes in the Shibuya/Harajuku/Omotesando area. I had actually…

Akihabara

I watched TI in the early afternoon, and since all the teams that I cared about had been knocked out, I decided not to watch the grand…

Watching Dota 2 all day again

With the help of an alarm, I woke up before noon to watch Vici Gaming lose to Team Secret in the lower bracket of TI 😔. I went out and…

Tokyo Midtown

We got up earlier than usual and left at 1300 because I thought that I shouldn’t waste my entire holiday away, and I didn’t care too much…

Watching Dota 2 all day

I spent the entire day watching The International 2019, only leaving the house once at 1700 to get some food at Lawson. I thought that I…

More of The Roastery

I wanted to try out the public cupping that The Roastery held every Wednesday for a few reasons: just for the experience since I’ve only…

What clothing I've been wearing

I didn’t pull content out of my ass to pad today’s post, rather I had this extra content sitting here and I wanted to add it to a small post…

Exploring Roppongi Hills

We’d decided to go to Roppongi Hills the night before, but we ended up sleeping late so rather than getting there at noon, we got there at…

The Roastery by Nozy Coffee

I’d read about The Roastery in reviews and Jack had recommended it, so I went there at around 1700 to do some blogging on my laptop and try…

I love conbini pasta

I left the house at around 1700 to go to Lattest again, stopping at the local Lawson to get some soy sauce karaage (I forgot to take a…

Japanese bubble tea is expensive

Elbert and I left the house at 1700 to eat at Gagana Ramen, where his Japanese friend was working. Afterwards, while we were looking at the…

More shopping (Omotesando & Shibuya)

I met up with Jack and Cat at around 1230 at Harajuku station for a full day of shopping. We walked down famous Takeshita Street to…

Ginza (including Sushi Aoki)

I got up earlier than usual to meet Jack and Cat for lunch at Sushi Aoki in Ginza. I’ve put the recap below separately, so that this section…

Why/how I'm blogging every day

I’m blogging for myself, so that I can remember what I did when I look back in however many years. I’m blogging for others to see what I’m…

Comiket

Elbert and I wanted to go to Comiket—one of the world’s biggest fan conventions, focusing on publishing amateur work—just to check it out…

Tokyo looks nice at night because you can't see the ugly mish-mash of buildings

I got out of bed at 1330 and studied some Japanese, before having a tomato ramen breakfast at 1600 with Elbert in Ootsuka. We went home and…

A lazy start

It’s amazing to just wake up and not do much… Last time I was in Japan it was winter and both my sweat pants and down jacket had many zipped…

Day 0 in Japan

After my three week trip to Japan in Februrary, I knew that I was going to come back. I loved walking around the streets of Tokyo and just…

Hello World!

I finally started writing rambling...