I'm back in Malaysia!
I didn't want to leave Japan but I had to come back ):
Still, guess what? I'm going back to Japan next week with my girls.
We're having our annual girl-trip in Japan this year.
This is how much I love Japan now, haha!
Plus I know better now too, I know how and where to get good food, good deals.
Can't wait to be the tour guide (amateur level, lol) for the girls.
Back to the last day of my trip with Atre.
Day four
I reckon that you don't do hotel breakfasts if you ever travel to Japan.
Japanese convenience stores have amazing food choices.
Breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea time, dinner, supper+++
You can find good food anytime, anywhere.
Most importantly, it's economical.
I got smarter on the last day of my trip.
I knew that Atre would have plenty of food to choose from,
so I planned to have my breakfast outside of the hotel.
Our first stop of the day - AtreUrawa.
The entrance facing Urawa's train station.
Just chilling while waiting for everyone to gather together.
Something different I spotted at Atre Urawa is that the first floor is more like a food court.
Food choices are as overwhelming as expected.
Atre Urawa provides a seating area where you can dine in.
There are also cafes, restaurants and bakeries surrounding the food court.
Breakfast was sorted economically and satisfyingly.
There were more than 20 types of grilled meat sticks to choose from.
Atre Urawa has The Garden supermarket too.
The same as the one in Atre Meguro.
I wonder how do they arrange things so neatly.
What a simple joy just looking at these fresh greens.
They look like high quality fruits.
All packed, ready for gifting.
What impressed me most were the counters outside of the mart.
They call it the bagging area.
I shall call it the DIY bagging area.
The cashiers don't pack groceries for you, they settle the bill for you.
You bag your own groceries with your own bags or with the bags provided at the counters.
It was a Sunday, the mall was busy but not as busy as it is on a Saturday.
I can imagine by bagging your own groceries can help avoid long queues
at cashier counters on busy days.
Sometimes, you waste time on queuing and waiting on cashier to bag your groceries.
Now, you save time on checking out, everyone bags their own stuff and
everyone's good to go after that.
That is not only time efficient but it also shows the unity and togetherness
from the cooperation from every Japanese/every person who lives in the community.
Witnessing a great culture like that makes me all jolly and all desire to have this in my country.
( Atre should really expand to Malaysia, haha )
So much to learn from the Japanese culture.
How to work systematically, how to work together to improve the community.
Like I said in my previous post that Atre aims to enrich neighbourhoods
by building shopping malls within/conected to train stations.
Most of the Japanese take the train to work, to school, to travel from one place to another.
By having malls direct connected to railway stations makes life easier.
They improve the people's quality of life and
they give the public the convenience going through daily life.
I truly believe and admire their aspiration.
Again, flowers for you!
Les mille feuilles de LIBERTE florist
A little out of topic right there.
Moving on to my favourite part of Atre Urawa.
Tsutaya Bookstore
My followers should know that I love to read.
It was mind blowing for me to be there.
Stunning interior design.
The use of wood gives an elegant touch to the atmosphere and also creates a homie feeling.
Aren't you enticed and tempted to read/stay in this wonderland?
It's sad to say that I do not read Japanese.
Foreign reading materials are quite limited.
So, I was just checking out on some illustration books in English.
The greenery gives a feeling of relaxation.
It's important to be in the "zen" mood while reading.
There's Starbucks in the bookstore where you can grab some drinks,
finish your work, hang out with friends ( but maybe you need to lower your volume here, lol )
Other than Japanese comic, I adore Japanese magazines.
I used to copy the fashion style off Japanese magazine, haha.
One of my favourite corners.
Everyone had to wait for me while I had my self-indulgence moment in this bookstore.
Time to leave!
Need to show you the main entrance of Atre Urawa.
Classy~~~
Couldn't get that smile off my face.
What a pleasurable day!
Moving on to the next destination
Atre Ueno
Ueno is one of the top Tokyo districts I wanted to visit so badly.
It is known for some of the finest cultural sites in Tokyo.
A very busy district, pretty similar to KL Central in Malaysia.
The shops are divided into east section and west section.
It's interesting that there's something at every corner of the compound.
Surprises at every corner (:
There's the Garden supermarket here too.
Then, there's this mart, nomono, that sells Japanese ingredients and goods.
It is one of the participating stores to join the Atre event at Pavilion on the 14th of July.
Be sure to check it out and get some authentic Japanese ingredients for
your Japanese meal preparation.
I picked my favourites.
Tamago, Japanese egg, all done and all packaged for you to enjoy!
Dried seaweed dried seaweed.
I love it on my ramen, my rice, everything!
The wide selection of Japanese drinks.
Time for lunch.
We had French cuisine for the day.
Brasserie L'ecrin
The menu is pretty limited as you only need to choose your starter, main and dessert.
Everything is in Japanese, I couldn't understand, haha.
So, I picked pork over fish for my main course.
It's fried battered pork chop with cheese and bacon in between.
I met new people that day.
So, we had our bonding time at the restaurant.
Sharing about experiences and opinions.
We mostly talk about the differences in our ways of living.
I love what I do that I get to interact with different people from different countries.
Shopping time after lunch!
Really really really like browsing through drugstores, cosmetics stores in Japan.
The selections make you want to buy the whole store.
( If only I'm that rich )
You can't buy the whole store so you spend a lot of time in there.
I spent an hour in here, lol, Champ de Herbe.
I always look for the cosme stamps.
Whatever that is cosme number one, I take a second look.
This brand is quite a hot pick this summer.
Mote mascaras and Mote eyeliners.
In a rush? No time to do your brows?
Fret not.
Just put this on and fill in the blanks, hahaha!
Cosme number one.
50 pieces of face mask for only 1900Yen.
I got it to try out.
Urban Research Make Store
A nice boutique with fashionable clothing and items.
Afternoon Tea Living
This store has the cutest things from dining and kitchen, living, stationery to wear.
I'm absolutely looking for an apron, yes I am because it's too hard to resist, lol.
I think my future husband would buy everything here just to keep me in the kitchen, lol.
So, when I got a future husband candidate on my list, I'll bring him to Japan, haha.
Let the cuteness continue.
Tiny colourful meringues (:
Soaps that make you want to shower more, lol.
Laduree has their own merchandises!!!
Just look at the macaron prints!
Jill Stuart handkerchiefs.
Super sweet.
Found my dad's favourite place in Atre Ueno.
Hard Rock cafe and Hard Rock Shop
Have I ever mentioned that my dad used to dress me in Hard Rock t-shirts a lot?
I was tomboy when I was small.
How my dad dressed me -
NY cap, Hard Rock tee, Nike jacket, Levis short jeans and Timberland sandals/Adidas shoes.
He loves rock music too, we used to go to Hard Rock cafe a lot for the burger and live music.
My dad makes me what I am today ;*)
I sent him this picture when I was there, haha!
Ended my evening with the Atre team here.
Went to walk around Harajuku and Shibuya before leaving to the airport.
The whole trip was packed but I enjoyed every bit of it, especially
the absolute sincerity and excellency of Japanese hospitality.
Loved the working experience with Atre team.
Continue striving for what you guys are doing for Japan and then,
share it with other countries.
I reckon the best choice for now is Malaysia! (:
Shout out to the people who want to experience what I experienced in these 4 days.
Do drop by at Pavilion main concourse on 14th of July!
Hope you enjoyed reading my posts!
Last but not least, thank you, Atre.