Dynamic Tokyo Tour

Our Tokyo babymoon would not have been complete without this tour on our first full day in the city. Our Japanese friend, Y, suggested a tour with Hatobus because he’d brought out-of-town friends on it before. After searching through their tour options, I decided on the full-day Dynamic Tokyo Tour for 12,000 Yen.

We visited the Tokyo Tower where Wen was fascinated by the mascot; the Tokyo Banana, and saw a foggy outline of Mt. Fuji which our tour guide promptly told us is a one in ten chance of seeing. Our tour continued to the Happo-en garden where we learned about the intricacies of a traditional tea ceremony, including turning the side of the cup with the flower design away from the mouth when sipping the tea.

Feb 14

Tokyo – Where to Eat

4 days are simply not enough time to eat your way through Tokyo. This is a city that boasts the most Michelin starred restaurants in the world (not that we could afford to eat at any of them). The places that we did visit were all memorable and we highly recommend to fellow foodies. Below are our favorites from the trip with a brief description, details, and of course links to food photos. Be forewarned, English is not spoken at most of these places. Ita daki masu!

Feb 11

Missing my kicks

According to the BabyBump app on my iPhone, I should have felt some flutters by Day 126. The message showed up right around our Tokyo babymoon and I started to tear up. I managed to control the initial welling of emotions so I don’t think Wen realized how disturbed I was by the non-flutters until I felt teary again later that same day (and told him about it). He proceeded to do some quick research and reassured me that my high placenta position and this being our first baby makes it perfectly normal not to feel any kicks until even the 5^th or 6^th month.

Unfortunately, it certainly didn’t help that Day 135 said “By now, baby has started moving around in your tummy, and you’re probably wondering what on earth he/she is doing in there.” Yeah, thanks. Now I’m wondering if my baby is truly healthy because I’m not sure I’ve felt any movement. So I console myself that the baby must be kicking my bladder and causing that need to pee every other hour. Or maybe the slight soreness and indigestion I feel is really the baby kicking around. But mainly, I think I’m just so clueless that I need to literally see a slight imprint of his foot on my tummy (from inside out) to really feel his kick.

Whatever the reason, I definitely cannot imagine or be sympathetic to any complaints from pregnant women about the kicks they feel from their baby. It must be one of the top ten best moments for a mother and I can’t wait to say “Yes! That’s definitely a kick!”

Feb 10

Potato Farm – Hokkaido @ Narita Airport!

One of the tastiest and hardest to find snacks has suddenly shown up in Narita Airport!

If you’re not familiar with Jaga Pokkuru from Potato Farm (a division of Calbee apparently), you’ve been missing out on one of the great snack finds in the past few years. Until recently, they were only available in Hokkaido and often in limited quantity. We’ve received the occasional box from our Japan-faring cousin and have always pined for more. While similar to other fries-shaped snacks, there is a certain butteriness to the Potato Farm ones that is just other-worldly.

So if you happen to be transiting in Narita, do your tastebuds a favor and pick up a box of Jaga Pokkuru!

Feb 9

Ginza Tenkuni – Tempura Kaiseki

Sticking out like a brick thumb at the southern end of Ginza’s shopping district is the multi-floor shrine to tempura, Tenkuni. From its humble beginnings in 1885 as a simple yatai stall, it is now a destination for tempura fans. G and I decided to try Tenkuni based on the recommendation of our Japanophile and tempura-fanatic friend. While neither of us are particularly crazy over tempura (too doughy and oily), the way Tenkuni served up deep fried cuisine has certainly has made me reconsider my stance on this battered tastiness.

Feb 9

Daisan Harumi – Sushi Nirvana

We started off our trip with a visit to a cult favorite of sushi lovers- Daisan Harumi. This tiny 8-seater (and 1 table) restaurant is known for its top quality fish and eccentric chef/owner Kazuo Nagayama, who in addition to preparing wonderful sushi also dabbles in book writing, ceramic design, and seaweed harvesting.

Feb 7

Sayonara Tokyo =(

It’s Monday morning, which means back to the real world for G and me. Catching-up on a week of work is tolerable, but the withdrawal pangs from the Japanese food tour is really painful. Editing the photos from our trip certainly does not help. Sigh.

Jan 29

Week 16

While there are still 24 more weeks to go, it’s amazing to think that already 4 months have passed. At this point, Wen Jr is the size of an avocado, ~10cm, and is actively moving about inside the womb. As for the mother, she’s still feeling quite a bit of the first trimester nausea and heartburn =( Hopefully these symptoms subside in time for her to enjoy some much needed vacation and good eats on our Tokyo babymoon!

Jan 18

Happy Anniversary!

It’s been six years since we had our first wedding, and so we celebrated at one of our favorite restaurants – Yakiniku Yazawa the other night. It’s been an adventurous last few years with school, work, the move to Singapore, and now a baby on the way. Through it all, I consider myself very lucky to have such a loving, supportive and feisty wife and soon-to-be mother. Love you!

Jan 17

Tip: Coconut Water

We went to our favorite beef place today because Wen read that Japanese beef has an equal content of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. Since I haven’t gained any weight since conceiving 4 months ago (the gynae appointment today measured a loss of 0.3 kg), I figure this indulgence is more than timely. And, the hubby says it’s our wedding anniversary dinner so who am I to argue with that.

Anyhoo, the manager there is now pretty familiar with our tastes and basically helped to place our orders for us. She also recommended that I continue to resist eating my favorite raw beef salad when I tried my luck asking if that was ok. Instead she recommended an oxtail soup that she said would help build up the baby’s bones. Then she gave me a few other dietary tips, including one on coconut water – drink at least 2 coconut’s worth of water per day in the last month of pregnancy.

According to Judy, coconut water helps to reduce the jaundiced effects of newborn babies. I’m not sure if this is an Asian thing but I was definitely jaundiced when I was born and had to be ‘sunned’. One time, my mum even forgot to take me back in after a long bout of sun-tanning so I’m really not sure why I’m so fair. Judy’s first child was severely jaundiced and not only required UV rays (no more risks of forgetting your newborn under the sun now that technology can provide controlled UV rays) but also had to be fed goat milk for a few days before she lost the yellowness and developed a fair complexion.

I did some googling and found this. I suppose it makes sense because coconut water promotes digestive health. Also, from a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) point of view, coconut is a ‘cooling’ fruit and is a life-saver during that last month of pregnancy when you’re probably going to perspire a lot from all that internal heat (the oven is almost done baking after all).

Still not convinced on the miraculous properties of coconut water for pregnancy? Read this article and you’ll even find that this miracle fruit may just be something you want in your diet the minute you find out that you’re pregnant!