Japan - Tokyo

Our last gig in Japan – Tokyo. One of the biggest cities in the world, we graced Tokyo for 5 days. I felt somehow it wasn’t enough. I could have easily spent another 5 weeks there!

Accommodation

We stayed in this AirBnB  West of Shinjuku station near the Nishi Shinjuku 5 Chome subway station. It was quite conveniently located with subway and bus stops going straight to Shinjuku or Shibuya. The apartment itself was quite cosy and size wise was about the same as the studio we stayed in Osaka, which for Japanese standards seemed quite spacious. Though, we were a bit worried with the signs all over the apartment building warning us that 'no room should be lent out as a guest houses'  😱, clearly a reaction to guests staying in the same apartment we were in.

What would they do if we were found out? Would they kick us out?! Luckily, we didn't get to find out. 

Sights

Imperial Palace

A spot Fabs wanted to see, the garden surrounded the palace looked beautiful in Google maps. Somehow, we got to its nearest station by accident, so he thought we should check it out even though we were quite exhausted by this stage. But as it was dusk by the time we were there, I felt he took me to a wild goose chase around this massive park in semi darkness.

Still beautiful

Oedo Onsen Monogatari

11am – 9am; Yurikamome line to Telecom centre

We are totally into hot springs by now so we decided to go to this Onsen as it was a rainy day. It was quite a trek from our place, especially because I had mistaken our final destination as Atami, an onsen town an hour outside Tokyo. Fortunately, the misunderstanding was cleared before we boarded the shinkansen and we managed to stay in Tokyo before too late.

Whilst Busan Spaland was very relaxing and calming experience, Tokyo's Oedo Onsen felt like more of a theme park. It also felt older.  It had relaxation rooms, massage chairs and there were a lot more restaurant choices, but there weren't any spa rooms. Not to mentioned the price was about 4x of Spaland!

Quite noisy but excellent food court with plenty of options

One of the relaxation/eating tatami areas

Tokyo Dome

Fabs's managed to get us tickets to a baseball game. Baseball is huge in Japan and we didn't realise the game was for the top two teams in the league - Tokyo Giants vs Hiroshima Carp! Since we were sitting within Hiroshima's supporters, we decided to go for them. It was heaps of fun until Fabs spilled his (10th) beer on the guys in front of us when Hiroshima almost hit a home run about 20 minutes before the game was over. We left 10 minutes after the incident.

The beers were served at your seats by cute ladies carrying kegs on their backs walking up and down the isles

Shibuya 

Hachiko Statue

This shiba dog is so faithful that he became a national symbol of loyalty in Japan; Hollywood even made a movie about him. If you haven't watched Hachiko, get on it. Especially entertaining during PMS or whenever you feel like you need a good cry. Warning; this movie will likely make you a dog person if you are not yet one.

The most loyal dog in the world

Shibuya crossing

Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world, it is supposedly best viewed from the Starbucks across the road from the station. I didn’t even want to fathom how busy that Starbucks would be, so we (well me) were content in just viewing the crossing from the station.

One side of the crossing

Harajuku

Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku

One benefit of having a real estate enthusiast as a boyfriend is that he's just as ecstatic as me when he sees a shopping mall we haven't been before. Granted we have different reasons, but at least I could get him to go with me anytime I wanted to go to one. This particular one had an awesome mirrored entry as you go up the escalators, very clever design indeed (or so he told me several times).

Mirror mirror on the wall

Takeshita Dori

The symbol of Harajuku and birthplace of many of Japan's fashion trends, Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) is a narrow street lined by shops, boutiques, cafes and fast food outlets. I found it to be quite tacky and the styles were too out there for me, but that's probably because I am not a teenager and not from Tokyo. The street was extremely busy and crowded which by this stage of the trip, we were also trying to avoid!

You have to fight with other tourists to take this photo from the top of the street

I was to get the famous Santa Monica crepe, but when we passed Zaku Zaku Croquant Chou I saw a huge queue; always a  leading indicator that there would be awesome food, so we went for its ice cream and cream puff instead. It was so milky and delish!

Mind the reflections

Yum! Fabs thought this was a cheese roll at first but it was creamy custard goodness

Afterwards, I just found out that it was hailed as the best cream puff in Tokyo. 

Omotensando

Referred to as Tokyo's Champs-Elysees, Omotesando is a one kilometer long, tree lined avenue, with numerous luxury stores, boutiques, cafes and restaurants. But that wasn't the reason I wanted to go there.

We've been watching Terrace House back in Australia - a popular Japanese TV series which is now aired on Netflix. It is a mix of 'Big Brother', 'Gogglebox' and 'Have You Been Paying Attention' - it is a fascinating insight into modern Japanese culture. One of the early characters, Mizuki Shida works as a barista in one of the cafes located in Omotesando -  I was so excited and nervous to be able to see her! Then, I realised that I got the wrong cafe saved in my Google maps 😔 so it wasn't to be. 

Naka Meguro Canal

Hibiya Line to Naka Meguro (Meguro-gawa)

We caught a taxi here from our Air B&B to gauge how much a taxi would cost (expensive!). Nakameguro is a quiet residential district of Meguro, Tokyo. It is popular for its unique boutique cafes and stores. For good reason, it becomes a vibrant and active location particularly along the Meguro River during the sakura season.

It was STUNNING. We heard many 'sugoi'  uttered among the Japanese

Shimokitazawa 

Keio Inokashira or Odakyu lines

Fabs wanted to check out this "bohemian" neighbourhood; it is considered the most affordable neighbourhood in Tokyo with its narrow streets filled with vintage clothing shops, quirky cafes, live houses, indie fashion outlets and artist studios.

Even the street signs were peeled off. How very hipster!

Shinjuku

It took us about half an hour from our accommodation by foot to Shinjuku. We passed the Skyscraper District, with many office towers and five stars’ hotels, before we were hit by neon lights and countless shops surrounding Shinjuku station. Fun fact: it is the world's busiest railway station, handling more than two million passengers every day!

Kabukichō

We stumbled upon Kabukichō, when we noticed many host and hostess clubs.  It is an entertainment and red-light district - where the famous Robot Restaurant is located. My friend recommended me to check it out. But at the end we never did, since it was quite expensive and I was really tired 😞

Bright neon lights everywhere

Golden Gai

I think this is where small bars originated. They are very small; with only a handful of seats - we could get to know the bartender pretty well if we spoke Japanese. There were dozens of them dotted the area; most with cover charge but offer a flat rate for drinks. We were a bit early and most of the bars were empty, but I could definitely see this place going off into the wee hours of the night. This would be a perfect place to go if you need a good D&M with the bartender after a night out on the town and your mates have gone to bed. 

Such a party goer that I am (not), we didn't end up going to any; as all I wanted to do at this point was to just lay down in bed and sleep 😅

Takashimaya Department Store

After walking approximately 16.3 km the day before, we decided to have a hanami day. We went to Takashimaya Food Hall to grab some fancy bento boxes. And it was a food heaven. Fabs was dreaming to get locked in there overnight so he could eat everything without getting arrested.

Huge sushi borito

Then I saw Sembikiya. Japan's most expensive fruit shop - I just had to try one of its infamous fruit. I bought (possibly) the biggest apple I've ever seen in my life. It was the size of a nashi pear and costed AUD 20 for one. I later found out that even though there is nothing particularly special about the taste, the reason it was so expensive is that it is seen a prestigious gift to give to someone on a special occasion. 

Most expensive and over-rated apple ever. I can't say it was worth it

Yoyogi Park

After Takashimaya, we walked to Shinjuku Gyoen National Park to proceed with our picnic - just to realise the park doesn't allow any alcohol and closes at 4.00 p.m. which would only leave us an hour. So, I looked for another 'greeneries' on the map: Meiji Jingu Gaien.

We continued on to walk there, just to found out that there was no space for a picnic. It was a sporting ground full of kids practicing baseball, gymnastic and athletic. After quick bickering, we decided to catch a taxi to Yoyogi (other option was Ueno Park, but it was further away from where we were) and AT LAST! 2 hours later we got sit down and enjoy our bento surrounded by sakura. It was really an amazing experience and highly recommended to anyone visiting Japan around sakura season.

Beautiful afternoon surrounded by flowers

Day Trip from Tokyo

Hakone

We agreed we were only to go to Mt Fuji if the weather would be nice. And it was gloriously sunny and warm on our last day in Tokyo. We saw it would be the case the day before, and after (not so) lengthy discussion we agreed to just hire a car to go there instead of getting the Hakone Freepass.

Luckily there was a 24 hour Nissan Rental Car next to our Air B&B, so we grabbed a car and off we went. It was about the same price as the 2-day Hakone pass, but the added flexibility and the lack of tourists at the places that we went was priceless.

Just like South Korea, international driver license is required to drive in Japan. And after our road trip there, Fabs was quite comfortable driving overseas and we also had a trusty GPS to take us to our location so it was quite straightforward.

Warning! Foreign driver; may drive recklessly and doesn't know the rules. The magnetic sign behind our car 😆

Hakone Shrine

My friend tagged me on an Instagram post of this shrine which instantly made me wanted to go. The shrine stands at the foot of Mount Hakone along the shores of Lake Ashi.

To be honest, other than its huge torii gate in the lake, it's just like any other shrine we've seen in Japan. Good photo spot though!

Lake Kawaguchiko

It took another hour before we reached the lake. And along the way we saw the majestic Mt Fuji. How could this mountain be standing by itself and be so perfectly triangle in shape?! It was gigantic and dominated the view; we were in awe of its majestic beauty all the way there. On the way we stopped by a supermarket, grabbed a couple of bento boxes and decided to have a picnic by the lake overlooking the magnificent mountain.

One perfect mountain

Yurari Onsen

Being in a volcanic mountain area there are naturally onsen in Hakone. Most accommodations in Hakone have their own onsen but only some are open to the general public. As we were not staying in the city, we needed to find a public onsen and this one delivered.

I never get tired of the view of the mountain, but when we saw it while being in the onsen, it was a different experience altogether

Food

Ichiran ramen

Japan, 〒150-0042 東京都渋谷区宇田川町13, １３−７ コヤスワン B１F

This chain of ramen restaurants are everywhere in Tokyo. We went to its Shibuya branch. Delicious, famous and seemingly always has a queue (as shown in the pictures all over internet). Luckily when we went at 11.30 p.m. there weren't any. Yay!

We paid via vending machine, filled in the questionnaire (spiciness, soup thickness, noodle textures, etc), and we were served on our own little cubicle. If you're after a delicious tonkotsu ramen, this is the place to go.

I don't recommend this place for a date as we were sitting separately in our private boxes

Nom nom nom

Rokkasen

Japan, 〒160-0023 Tōkyō-to, Shinjuku-ku, 新宿区Nishishinjuku, 1 Chome−3−1, 新宿サンフラワービル

So, the first night we were in Tokyo we attempted to come here - the restaurant located on level 6 but we went to level 5 instead and ended up at this all you can eat and drink (optional) kushikatsu restaurant (I am not quite sure what it's called). It was pretty good, though we came out smelling like a deep fryer.

Deep fried everything

We tried again on our second last day and it was fully booked, so we made reservation for the next day (our last day). Persistence paid off, we got in! What a perfect spot to end our Japan trip. All you can eat wagyu beef, snow crab, other meat/seafood/rice/noodle and all you can drink too!  Fabs was food hangovering (really, it exists) the next day, he couldn't eat anything until 4.00 p.m.! I was half laughing and half feeling sorry for him.

Quite a spread

Extra

Japan full of mixtures of old and new. Like their toilets.

Traditional toilet helps my squats training 

Comes with instruction

A modern and most common toilet now in Japan. Comes with heated seat, water spray, dryer, and musical background to hide unwanted noises.

They also have massive groping problems in their public transports resulted in train carriages dedicated only for women.

The platform entrance for women only carriage

Even though it was my second time in Japan, I could definitely see myself coming back to this vibrant, quirky, fascinating, amazing place. I would love to visit Hokkaido and Okinawa in the future and experience Japanese outstanding hospitality at least once more in my life. Taipei next to meet up with Fabs’s parents!

Japan - shinkansen escapade

Now that we’ve done the trek, we continued on our Japan adventure to see what she can offer (a lot)!

Miyajima

From Nachi we went all the way to Miyajima. It took us pretty much a full day to get there. We stopped by Shin Osaka to pick up our bags then caught the shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) → Hiroshima JR local train → Miyajimaguchi ferry → Miyamija. This way, we didn’t have to pay any extra fees with our JR pass.

The good looking and long-nosed shinkasen

Once we got to Miyajima, we were exhausted from lugging our bags so we hailed the first taxi we saw. When we showed him the address, he told us there was a shuttle to our hotel only three cars down the taxi line! We didn’t know because all the writings were in Japanese. We were very impressed that in Japan the taxi driver not only didn’t try to swindle our money, but also made sure that we got to the right shuttle driver so we didn't missed the ride.

Sleeping on the floor again

Dinner and breakfast were inclusive and it was plentiful

Once checked in to our beautiful hotel; a ryokan this time - we went for a walk to see the sunset over the floating torii gate and pat some deer.

Gorgeousness

Hiroshima

So, I left my JR pass at the hotel to confirm Fabs' bias that I ALWAYS forget something. I read that we can ride around Hiroshima, so I thought of hiring a bike. Lucky the weather man said it would be raining, so we canned that plan, as I underestimated the distance between Miyajima ferry station to Hiroshima city centre. It took us a good 40 minutes in a tram!

Atomic Bomb Dome 

Hiroshima was the first city to experience the tragic consequence of an atomic bomb which consequently ended World War II.

One of the few buildings to remain standing after the bombing, this building is a bleak reminder of the war

Peace Memorial Park

Afterwards we walked around the park surrounded it - the cherry blossoms (sakura) were out!

Then we went to the the advent of the nuclear bomb. The details were a quite heavy, I teared a bit 😢

This affirms that we should not take peace for granted

Food

Okonomiyaki

Yes, I am obsessed with them. I was told, that Hiroshima's Okonomiyaki are different than Osaka's as they added noodle in the pancake. So we went to Hassei - it didn't disappoint. We also had soba in ours and it was delicious!

Oysters 

Who would have thought!? Even though we were still full from Okonomiyaki and it started pouring, we walked to Oyster Conclave. I love my oysters raw, fresh from the ocean with a little bit of salt and lemon. But they like to cook their oysters here, where we had the set menu.

The main dish from the set menu. Delicious but a little chewy (still prefer the Sydney Rock oysters!)

Osaka

For the following few days, we made Osaka our base to explore the surrounding cities using our JR pass. We stayed in this Air B&B and for AUD 95/night;  it was horrendous. Hands down the worst place we stayed in Japan and the worst Air B&B I've stayed in. It was uncomfortable, run down studio with a single layer mattress and we could hear train noise almost constantly between 6 am to 12 am! The only good thing about it was, it's located near Shin-Osaka, which was the reason I booked it in the first place.

Sadly, we never made it to Omoni (the Okonomiyaki restaurant we couldn't find when we were last in Osaka). We basically just went from our Air B&B to the station this time around, and needless to say, we had many meals in many of the station's different restaurants.

Yummy ramen - I really think no restaurant in Japan is bad!

Kobe

I love steaks. Fabs loves steaks. I guess it made sense for us to go to Kobe as our first choice of city to explore. After 'much' research  we settled in Steakland after an hour queue.

Worth every single bite

We went to a Belgian pub, had kushikatsu standing up, went to an izakaya (Japanese pub) in Osaka, and came home at about 2.00 am 😃

We noticed there were quite a few people sitting and drinking/eating by themselves 😐

Stand up bar

Nara

We spent a whole day in Nara. In the beginning we tried to follow the Nara Kōen city walk by Lonely Planet but after Isuien (a Japanese beautiful garden that we couldn't really appreciate due to our lack of artistic trait) we quickly abandoned the walk and just wandered around by ourselves, which is extremely easy due to most of the attractions being in the park within walking distance.

Japanese Garden - Supposed to induce tranquility

Tōdai-ji

The pride and joy of Nara - other than its plentiful wandering deer; Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple with one of the largest bronze Buddha housed in one of the largest wooden buildings on earth. The construction of this temple almost brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. 

We walked around the temple among the other tourists. Fabs was in awe while I forced him to listen to me reading about all the Buddhas in the temple from Lonely Planet.

It was huge

Nara Kōen

After the temple we walked around the park, stumbling into many other temples dotting Nara. We also took the opportunity to feed the deer with their special biscuits that can be bought around Nara. One dear was very aggressive and bit Fabs on the ass, this hindered him to feed any other deer 😄

What a cutie

We walked down the road to JR Nara station (we started at Kintetsu Nara station) and headed to Kyoto. Since it was raining pretty bad, we just went to a parfait place in one of many restaurants in the massive Kyoto's train station before made it back to our dreaded Air B&B back in Osaka.

So sweet!

Kyoto

As I had already been to Kyoto before, I didn't really mind where we went around Kyoto. But one thing I REALLY wanted to do was to dressed up in Kimono. Fabs indulged my wish, so we both donned the kimonos and walked around Kyoto. 

Kiyomizudera

I remembered this temple being stunning, but somehow that image was slightly different than what we saw this time around. It was still beautiful but maybe because the temple was under renovation, or just the sheer number of tourists, it skewed my expectation a little bit. I didn't remember it being so busy and crowded! I came to Kyoto seven years ago around the same time; I guess tourism in Japan must have boomed significantly during that time.

Playing dress up

Maruyama Kōen

We walked through the park and the cherry blossom was in its full swing. Many people were viewing the sakura, as well as enjoying the Japanese picnic known as hanami. There were many food vendors and even a popup bar! It was so crowded though, and I just wanted peace and quite and to sit down properly - so we set to a ramen place nearby.

Another day another ramen. Fabs couldn't get enough of these bad boys!

Tetsugaku no michi

The other place I thought was gorgeous was The Philosopher's Path; which is a walk along a canal lined by sakura. We wandered to (some more) temples we saw along the way and I was getting crankier and crankier as by now we have walked around 20k steps (as per Fabs's Garmin) in our kimonos and undersized wooden jandals. I was walking like a penguin by now as I could barely breathe and my jandals were quite uncomfortable since my socks kept slipping. Nonetheless, I kept a brave face since it was my request after all!

Fabs loved his; he said it was very comfortable and airy. Damn him.

We caught a bus back to the Kimono rental place around 6.00 p.m as the kimonos needed to be return by 7.30 p.m. We tried to catch the main bus which would go to Kyoto station, but it was constantly full so we just caught a random bus that was half empty while constantly checking our map to ensure we headed to somehow right direction. We made it close to the shop and hobbled back - on the way some tourists might have thought we were local as they took pictures of us walking on the street!

Fushimi Inari Shrine 

The next day we headed back to Kyoto. We stored our luggage in one of the many lockers in Kyoto Station to visit another spot I remembered being awesome. This Shinto shrine is located in southern Kyoto and famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates trailed up to the sacred Mount Inari. Again, when I was there seven years ago, it was dead. Now, they even had food vendors leading up to the entrance! Tour buses parked nearby and the train was chockablock with humans (a few too many for Fabs and I to stomach).  

Busy busy busy

The hike to the summit and back takes about 2-3 hours. The crowd thinned out as we climbed up, but we decided to leave after 30 minutes. Somehow, it wasn't as crowded in the main temple when we got down. I think the tourists' buses must have left.

Compare the pair - 2010 vs 2017

Though slightly busier, Kyoto was still impressive second time around. Tokyo next for five days!