Oishii! – Japan Day 03

Our third day in Japan, and we started it off with another early breakfast at our hotel. To our surprise, the breakfast was different again, which means that the menu was rotated, making it less jelak than other free breakfast that we have become used to. Afterwards, we had to move quickly, as today was our Universal Studios Day! We headed quickly onto the train connection that would bring us closer to the Studio, and the final train on the connection was all clad out in a Universal Studio livery, signifying the train’s sole prupose to ferry passengers towards the amusement park.

At the entrance of the Amusement Park, we could not help but to take a picture with the iconic Universal Globe. With this trip, Ashley had completed the tour of every Universal Studio amusement Park in the world, with us visiting all four locations. The park was also decked out in Christmas decorations, which was quite a big phenomenon in Japan.

 

We took some time to take in the scenes and sights of the park, and taking some of the rides that I enjoyed the first time I came to Japan. However, to our biggest disappointment, the main reason why we came to Universal Studios, Jaws, was not open for the whole day! And we were unable to take what was in my opinion, one of the cutest and most dramatic on-rails ride in amusement park history. Sorely disappointed, we left to see if it would re-open later in the day (it did not).

 

We also had a quick lunch at the cafe near Jaws, which was done up in a Jaws aesthetic, further cementing my sadness at not being able to take the ride again, as I had really enjoyed it when I went so many years ago.

Undeterred, we moved onto Harry Potter World, which was the first time we experienced this area in any Universal park. However, none of us being huge Harry Potter fans ourselves, we only simply walked around and tried out the Butterbeer (it was great.) The ride, which was a 3D Motion ride in the dark, was enough in words to put me and ZA off riding it, which seemed to be a good decision, as even Ashley said it was a little nauseating, and she did not suffer from motion sickness while the boys did!

After our honestly disappointing day in Universal, we did have one trick left in our sleeves, which was the Takoyaki “Museum” nearby. It served up famous Takoyaki from all over the country, and we could not resist getting some piping hot Takoyaki after our day out in the cold. Ashley was the most impressed, as she did not try good quality Takoyaki before our trip to Japan now. I also was sorely craving some good quality Takoyaki, and really enjoyed the experience as well.

Heading back towards Tenjinbashisuji, we were again awe-struck by the length of this shopping street. I came here before during my first trip to Japan, but it really felt like it can go on forever. Here, we stopped by Harukoma, a sushi place touted as being one of the best in the region. Entering, we were not disappointed by the amount of choice, and the quality of the food on offer. The menu was extensive and we definitely had our fill of sushi. Ashley especially enjoyed the Unagi sushi, which by no surprise was of much greater quality than the ones that we can get here in Singapore.

 

Before we went back to the hotel though, we decided to stop by Rikuro once more, and got the Swiss Roll! The swiss roll was by far our favourite out of the two products, as the swiss roll featured a nice cream filling, surrounded by a richer, cheese texture surrounding it. The cold temperature was also beneficial for the taste of the cake, as it just toughened the jiggly sponge texture to a semi-soft cake. It was simply delicious.