Breakfast at the Keiunkan

Posted on June 30, 2024June 29, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged Breakfast, Food, IRL, Japan, Keiunkan, Salmon, Tofu, Yamanashi

Given the hotel’s remote location, prestige and price to match, I’d be remiss if I didn’t show what they served for breakfast. Such a complete Japanese spread, and yes, there is rice cooking in the small pot towards the back.

Taipei Traffic

Posted on June 29, 2024June 29, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged Driver, IRL, Night, Taipei, Taiwan, Traffic, Uber

Dinner at the Oldest (Running) Hotel in the World

Posted on June 28, 2024December 6, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged Dinner, Food, IRL, Japan, Keiunkan, Sashimi, Tofu, Wagyu, Yamanashi, Yuba

Forgot to post this grand multi-course dinner during my stay at the Keiunkan. It’s a whole bounty of winter produce. With a private dining room overlooking the same river and a dedicated waiter (really a butler? pretty sure she was assigned to us throughout our stay) going through each dish, the dining experience was serene and classy. Then again, you’d have high expectations when the hotel costs $1000 a night.

P.S. Anyone notice the paper “face mask case”?

Mount Guanyin

Posted on June 27, 2024June 26, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged IRL, Mountain, River, Taipei, Taiwan, Tamsui, Water

Shinkansen Ice Cream

Posted on June 26, 2024June 26, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged Cream, Dessert, Food, Ice, IRL, Japan, Shinkansen, Train

While to many it’s but a simple cup of ice cream, the lore stretches to the early days of the Shinkansen, where the less-modern freezers and high-quality cream made for rock hard ice cream when purchased onboard the trains. Since food and drink sales onboard the trains have almost ceased, it’s getting harder to sample these. I missed my chance at the SCMaglev and Railway Park Canteen, but thankfully the Shinkansen Green Cars still has onboard mobile ordering, allowing me to enjoy this nostalgic rock-hard dessert.

Tiny Japan @ SCMaglev and Railway Park

Posted on June 25, 2024December 6, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged IRL, Japan, Miniature, Model, Museum, Nagoya, Osaka, Rail, Shinkansen, Shirakawago, Tokyo, Train

Tokyo (the Tokyo Tower made it obvious).

SCMaglev and Railway Park

Posted on June 24, 2024December 6, 2024 Posted in PicsTagged Awesome, Computer, IRL, Japan, Museum, Nagoya, New, Old, Rail, Shinkansen, Ticket, Train1 Comment

Probably my favourite place that I visited in Nagoya, the SCMaglev and Railway Park is a haven for train lovers. Everything about Japanese train history, from the steam locomotives to the avant-garde maglev trains, and everything in between from onboard refreshments, tickets, even the toilets were on full display! Whilst I’ve been in other train museums in Japan, this definitely blew the ones I’ve visited out of the water.

I regretted leaving this place as an afterthought when I visited for the first time, which left me with not enough time to explore the place before I had to rush back to the station to catch a bullet train to Tokyo. Visiting this place the second time was much less rushed and allowed me to explore even more of the place, but I still feel like there’s not enough time to look at everything – I didn’t have enough time to look at the special cafeteria nor the theatre sections. Given some of their exhibits rotate, I could probably make a case for visiting a third time. Maybe someday.

I did buy the comprehensive museum guidebook to tide me over until then.