During our families get-together, my uncle was telling me where he’s planning to take his 2 kids this summer as they have a long break in-between the school year. It is quite challenging to find something that the kids will love and the adult will equally enjoy.
Welcome to the world of cruising. Nope! I am not talking about driving your car leisurely, but a different approach to vacationing on a large cruise ship.
Oasis is Royal Caribbean’s Biggest Cruise Ship that offers lots of things to do. At 225,000 tons, there lots of areas to explore. The children and teens area is the largest on the ship at 29,000 square feet. There is also the zip line which span 82 feet in length and suspended nine decks high. Of course, you also have a carousel, tropical park, children’s theater and pools for the younger kids. Your child will never run out of things to do.
As for the adult, there’s choices of spas, exotic food buffets, shopping, sports deck, shows, entertainment, pools or just relaxing your beautiful rooms while admiring the views at sea.
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This past Saturday night was the 6th time I’ve ate at this restaurant since it’s grand opening a few years ago. My friends love this place since it is located centrally in Hawaii’s largest shopping mall, Ala Moana Center and there is lots of free parking. Another reasons is that the choices of foods are really GREAT as they have 4 different types of stations.
Tsukiji Fish Market and Restaurant offers any diners a unique dining experience as they are entertain by a live Hawaiian band and shown hundreds of varieties of different dishes ranging from traditional Japanese, Chinese, Korean and fusion plates. In addition to the buffet, you can also dine at their sushi, yakitori and robatayaki bars. Don’t forget the sake!
For those fish lovers, the fish market next door offer an assortments of fresh island fish for purchase. No wonder, even my youngest brother picked this place as the ideal location to celebrate his union. It was definitely a packed house and everyone easily gain a extra pound as the food was delicious. I ended up going to the buffet line 3 times. YIKES!
Tsukiji Fish Market & Restaurant
Hours: Sun-Sat lunch from 11AM — 2PM.
Dinner from 5PM — 10PM. Open on all holidays.
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Irasshai! Welcoming the season of Spring. As people in Japan waited patiently for the snow to melt, the hard buds that cover plum tress slowly swell and begins to bloom. There is nothing more beautiful for those that have gone through rough, harsh winter then to see the sight of red and white cherry blossoms.
As the days length and the temperature climbs, the sight of cherry blossoms can be seen all over Japan. Each evening on the nightly news, cherry blossom report are also broad cast along side the weather report as the first bloom in Kyushu make their way slowly up Honshu and finally reaching Hokkaido in the month of May.
The Japanese have a special affection for these cherry trees. Groups of friends, families, business colleagues and overseas guests joined in the fun of picnic under the cherry trees as the chat and talk about the beauty of the trees. Popular viewing sites in Japan includes Kukuora Castle, Ebetsu Mountain, Kitakyushu City and many others.
Cherry blossom viewing under a clear blue sky is quite enchanting and the view at night is equally splendid. It was one of my favorite activities to do while living and teaching English in Japan. My students and I would sing, dance, eat and chat under the cherry trees. This is Japan at it’s best!
Anyone loves curry? We are fortunate to have a wide selections of the best curry in town from Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and even grandma’s secret recipe. This post will focus mainly on a very popular Japanese Curry House.
What I love about Curry House Coco Ichibanya is their company’s motto “Briskly, sharply and always with a smile”. From the cooking staff to the waiters, the service is excellent. As each one of them quickly get the job done. As customers leave, the table is quickly clear and fill with hungry people. None of the staff seems like they do not want to be at work. The decoration of the restaurant reveal a warm, friendly environment with bright colors.
In addition to the great customer service, the food is excellent. You have a choice between spicy or mild and portion size. The customer can elect to have 2 or 5 scope of rice which are all weigh therefore not allowing any mistakes and making sure, everyone has the exactly that amount. I, personally, have seen in other restaurant where portion size differ on the same dish. Last week, my best friend and I ordered 2 pasta dishes and when it arrive, my dish seems almost twice her size. She was a bit annoyed. We end up splitting the my dish since it was so large.
Coco Ichibanya has allow you the option to add on different items to your dish. For example, I had the spinach, egg plant and kim chee. Yup! Super Spicy! There are about 20 – 30 items that you can add on. Why not head down and get some curry? Don’t forget the water!
Curry House Coco Ichibanya
98-199 Kamehameha Highway
Aiea, HI 96701
** In addition to Japan and Hawaii, they also have restaurants in China, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand.
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One of the newest addition of the Las Vegas is not on the strip, but located in Downtown. A 150 million dollar tower brings new energy and style to a rather quite part of town. This new tower is part of the Golden Nugget called Rush. As part of Fremont Street, Rush Tower brings contemporary luxury and elegance.
Guests arriving at the entrance on Carson Street will be in surprise by the impressive porte cochere. The spacious lobby captivated by posh furnishing and custom designed lighting will give off a sophisticated look. In addition, the magnificent 75,000 gallon tropical fish aquarium as a backdrop for the reservation desk.
There are more then 500 spacious rooms in the Rush tower. All rooms are 20% larger than the North and South Tower of Golden Nugget. The tower also included 4 Penthouse suites and 70 Junior Corner Suites which provide beautiful views of the Vegas Strip or their famous pool.
Food, food and food. Rush Tower has superb dining option including the new Chart House Aquarium Restaurant with new custom menu offering signature dishes. The spacious dining with beautiful interior designing can seat 200 people. In the middle of the action is a 75,000 gallon aquarium that is filled with colorful and exotic fish. Definitely a place to kick back and relax.
Pack your bag and head down to Vegas.
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Almost every culture has it’s own form of entertainment. For us in America, we have Las Vegas where their is shows, concerts and most definitely casino full of gambling. In Chinese culture, there is Pai-Gow and Mahjong. For Japanese, there the popular game of Pachinko.
I first heard of Pachinko when I was teaching English in Japan. You could hear the sound on every street corner as machines were spilling out balls. Similar to all slot machines in the world, Pachinko has beautiful decoration, music, announcement and flashing light. As a foreigner in Japan, I was a bit curious so I walked into one of the Japanese parlour and started to played. It was a challenging game for beginner, but provided hours of entertainment.
A pachinko machine is similar to a vertical pinball machine with a large amount of small steel balls. The player fires the ball up into the machine whiles it travels down through a mass of slender, pin-like nails. Most of the time, the ball falls to the bottom and you lose, but if it goes into certain pockets, more balls are released as jackpot. Since gambling in Japan for cash is illegal, balls that are won can be exchanged for prizes ranging from Hello Kitty pens to higher end item like a Louis Vuitton bag. There is also house hold items as well as the latest electronic devices.
If you happen to walk a Pachiko Parlor is the wee hours of the morning, you will see a very long line of people standing outside and waiting for the doors to open, eagerly wanting the “best machine”.
Next time you travel to Japan, why not try your luck at a Pachinko Parlor. You never know, you could win the next “jackpot”.
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