17 Nov 2016 (Thu)
We woke up in the wee hours of a Thursday morning to catch our 6.30am flight to Osaka, after struggling to clear my work and do our last minute packing at night. Much could be said if we had not done much planning to our itinerary as much as we had wanted. Nonetheless, the day came for us to embrace and go on our much awaited holiday trip.
We checked in at the airport as soon as we reach Terminal 2. Checking in was swift, and we collected our pocket wifi on-the-go for our data needs in Japan. As soon as we were able, we made our way to the departing gate and boarded the plane. ANA lived up to its name and the plane swiftly took off to Tokyo. The 6.5 hours flight was bearable, save for a few bum-aches, a decent meal and limited selection of movies.
We arrived in Narita quite on time, and we're quickly greeted by the courteous Japanese. Customs were a little confusing though, as we weren't informed of and given the customs declaration forms. But soon we found our way out and collected our luggage. Impressively, the Japanese was superbly organised and efficient, albeit their limited written and spoken command of the English language.
We had our first meal, ramen, at the Narita airport and had the on-the-go wifi working. Before long, we checked in the domestic flight, and boy, the customs were strict. The flight was slightly delayed and though operated by ANA, the services and plane were to be much less expected.
Again, we were greeted by wonderful and helpful Japanese and as well as the cold chilly weather. The information desk we approached directed us to the airport limousine coach which cost us ¥1,000 for 2 and 30 minutes to Shin Osaka where our hotel awaited us. Thankfully, our hotel, though small, was just a short 3-min walking distance to the train station.
Dinner was a simple but expensive Mos Burger meal, and we supplemented it with onsen (local street food but found at convenient stores). We were absolutely exhausted and we turned in as early as 10pm into the cold winter night.
18 Nov 2016 (Fri)
Iris and I were just too tired to wake up early. We've discovered the day started early for Osaka and guessed it was a shorter day time for Japan. Our day started with redeeming the JR pass for Kansai West Area and onigiri (Japanese rice cubes) bought at the local 7-11 convenience store. We were a little lost trying to figure out how to use and where to board the trains, but after a few minutes we were on our way to our first destination--Kobe Sannomiya.
Kobe is where you will find the famous beef, and our hunt for a popular steak restaurant brought us to Steak Land, where we've discovered they were so famous they had the whole building and a couple of branches all within walking distance. Of course, our ¥7,760 lunch (about S$100) didn't disappoint us, with the kobe steak (200g) totally tender, chewable, juicy and sweet.
Next stop was Himeiji, where we would find ourselves racing against time to reach Himeiji Castle before the closing time at 4pm. The white beauty stood with its grandeur, welcoming us despite one hour to the day's closure. We climbed our way up to the highest point (seven floors high) and were treated to a rare, spectacular scenery of the Himeiji area.
Naturally, our legs brought us down the main keep of the castle faster than we went up. We strolled the streets of Himeiji and went to Daiso, Piole (their local Takashimaya) before making our way back to Shin Osaka. And as expected, the day was turning dark at 4.30pm, before the weather dropped to about 13-14 degrees.
19 Nov 2016 (Sat)
We lazily begun our day checking out of the hotel at Shin Osaka and making our way to the train station. We tried the famous takoyaki and figured out with a bit of fuss our way to Namba station. Their train station lines, to my amazement, was so complex and slightly complicated that it took us a couple of flight of stairs trying to figure out which platform we out to go to. Not to mention that these train stations did not have any escalators.
After a while of figuring out, we finally reached JR Namba and thanks to our a good sense of orientation, we got to our Air BnB apartment which was double the size of our hotel at Shin Osaka. But that definitely came without a bit of fanfare--we literally walked around the building before getting to the right unit number! Once there, however, we were an hour too early so we settle for a nice cozy meal at a local restaurant (which featured automated payment system) and hung around there until our room was ready.
Our Air BnB room really surprised us. It featured double beds, had a mini bath tub, a separate toilet, washing machine, microwave, etc. The only downside was a lack of TV, interesting shops, and a 700m-walk to the nearest JR Namba station. Nonetheless, we were still very pleased with our apartment and the hassle-free access into the otherwise condo-like apartment building.
Without much ado after our checking in, we made our way to the fame Dontonburi area, a street shopping and eating heaven for all. Naturally, it did not disappoint. Our first walk about let us to the 3-floors high Starbucks with ample seats that even on a weekends you could find a seat to rest your tired legs without much of a difficulty.
We walked further down the street and saw much more, from cosmetics stores to eateries and convenience stores. Of course, we tried the popular okonomiyaki and yaki-soba which satisfied our appetites. Not to be contented, we walked to the recommended BIC Camera mall which featured almost every available electronics and electrical appliance. We literally had our hands on a pair of G-Shock watches for a discounted price.
Our last stop for the day was an unforgettable dessert at the Pablo cheese tart. The take-away queue was never ending and we chose to rest our achy legs and indulge in a melting cheesecake. This was probably the highlight and absolutely satisfying dessert we had of all times! It was amazing!
We made our back back to our Air BnB apartment which was about a kilometre away, and spent a couple of minutes to get the water heater going (that was quite amusing--we almost searched every corner of the apartment including the distribution board!). Exhausted, we bathed and wasted no time and turned in for the night. Day achieved, next exciting day coming up.
20 Nov 2016 (Sun)
Today was one of the rare mornings we woke up as early as 7am. We had our on-the-go breakfast at the Family Mart, another version of their 7-11 outlet. But food wise, we favoured the latter for their selection and quality. But nonetheless, most of these convenience stores had window counter seats where you could rest, relax, have a quick bite and also recharge your handphone!
We soon made our way to Inari Station via transfer at Kyoto Station. Kyoto is another prefecture which is largely different from Osaka. It breathes of a strong cultural heritage and ageing landscape. Inari station is where it houses the famous Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine. Unaware, we begun our journey up, which turned into a mountainous trek up Mount Inari. 3/4 up, which is about 40 floors up, our aching legs could no longer bring us another further and we trekked down to a small food street that featured interesting menus.
Our next stop was Nishiki market in the north-eastern part of Kyoto. We were awed by the landscape and cooling weather, and before long we reached this stretch of streets which reminded us of Orchard Road. Famished and tired from the long walk at the Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine, we took shelter at the Ichiran ramen store, before standing in queue for a good 20 minutes. Needless to say, the popular ramen did not disappoint and we left with a satisfied appetite and a full stomach.
At the end, we decided to give up looking for Nishiki market and head back to Osaka station instead. By then, we had realized that the JR Pass we bought for us in the Kansai Area had only served us for a good area, while some harder to reach areas served by Midosuji and other lines had to be assessed by other line tickets.
So we took the Kyoto line to bring us back to Osaka, while surviving the long train ride on our feets in a packed peak period train carriage. We reached Osaka nearly exhausted and went to Daimaru for a quick shopping buy and strolled the alleys behind the shopping malls. And boy, we found a ramen stall serving great food at local prices and that soon became our dinner.
Our last pit stop for the day was Dotonburi (though we were there only the day before). However, this time round we took the train from Umeda and Shinsaibashi. Only there did we discover that the Dotonburi shopping stretch begun at Shinsaibashi. We walked, we shopped and ended up at this comic portrait shop where we had our portraits drawn into a comic-like colour sketch.
Back at the apartment, it was only then that I discovered the extent of the Mount Inari climb--a big blister the size of a 5-cent coin on my toe! That explained why my left foot was hurting so badly after the mountainous trek.
So far, we had been enjoying our Air BnB apartment. It had allowed us to sleep spaciously and as well as to do our laundry so that really lightens our load. We have another 2 more days in Namba, Osaka, before we leave for Tokyo via Shinkansen (bullet trains) on the coming Tuesday.
21 Nov 2016 (Mon)
The day begun slightly later for us. As usual, we could not drag ourselves out from the comfortable bed. We decided that we would take another route to try get some breakfast at the Aeon supermarket, and that did not disappoint. There was a huge selection from pastry, confectionery, sandwiches to sushi, grilled, and deep fried. There was even an eat-in cafe area for you to have your breakfast and recharge!
We took the JR line to Nara where we were warmed by the chilling weather. The streets of Nara towards Nara Park was so different--it was surreal, clean and peaceful, quite unlike other places in Japan we had been to. Feeding the deers was definitely an experience for Iris, while I was busy fending myself off from the poos the deers left on the grass!
We walked the streets from Nara Park back to the station, and again, we chanced upon another local restaurant that served decent udon and oden which cost us reasonable. From there, we struggled against the cold weather and took a ride to Osakako where the highly recommended Osaka Aquarium was. The ride was a bit long so we took time for a short nap in between.
The Osaka Aquarium definitely did not disappoint as there was a huge display of big fishes like the whole to small ones like the anchovies. The only downside was that the aquarium was circularly built, so we had to go round and round it to get to the lower floors. And some of the aquariums seemed too small for the faster, bigger fishes. Funnily, after the exhibit we sure felt a bit hungry for a sushi / sashimi dinner.
We made our way back to Osakako station, by then it had begun to drizzle. The weather forecast for our next destination, Tokyo, which we would be leaving for the following day, was expected to drop further to near zero degrees. Nonetheless, we made no hesitation to troll through the Dotonburi Street for one last time before we leave Osaka for Tokyo.
Our sushi / sashimi dinner did not materialise until near 10pm where we walked back from Dotonburi to our area where the popular Kura Sushi was. However, we were taken aback by the long queue (which estimated about 45 mins to our turn), so we headed off to another restaurant that served us deep fried food that turned out to be rather tasty. And after which, our curiosity brought us back to Kura Sushi where we were the next in line and tried a couple plates of sushi. And boy, our dinners took us to nearly midnight before we headed back to our apartment.
22 Nov 2016 (Tue)
What happens when you've over stretched yourself at trekking? You would wake up with a sore calf. That's what happened to us in the morning.
Morning was a struggle with our physical limitations and last minute packing before we leave for Tokyo. We dragged our luggage from our Air BnB apartment to the nearby subway and boarded the train to Shin Osaka station. We packed some bento lunch boxes and waited patiently for our 11.20am Shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo.
Excitement filled the air as we made our way past the gantry to the platform where we stood in line with the rest of the reserved seats passengers headed towards the same destination. Business travellers, holiday couples with luggages such as us, and as well as single casual travellers boarded the clean, in-flight-like train carriages that have rightfully established the Shinkansen as a first class world transportation.
Our Shinkansen experience was a pleasant and peaceful one. Just like taking a flight, every facility is well provided for, from food and beverages, to washrooms and reclining seats (that didn't give me backache, by the way). It was so comfortable that I could seamlessly fall right asleep and awake only when I was hungry or when my wife needed to get pass me!
In what seems like only a short ride, we reached Tokyo in under 3 hours from Osaka. We dragged our luggage out into the open and was greeted by a cool breezy weather. With some experience garnered from our Osaka endeavours, we headed in the right direction to our hotel where it would be our accommodation for the next 4 evenings.
Our Tokyo hotel was much better than the one we had stayed in Osaka, though it was slightly more inconvenient. We've checked in without much of a fuss, and unpacked a little before making our way to the Snoopy Museum. Tokyo itself is much served by many different subways plying in different directions, so it took us a little while to figure out which subway line to take and which entrance we can get into.
Tokyo was more hilly than I've expected. Walking to Snoopy Museum was not a stroll in the park but a gentle climb up of the street that was probably about 20-25 degrees steep! Nonetheless, the Snoopy Museum was a little disappointing. It did feature how the cartoon strip Peanuts had evolved through the ages, but there was an apparent lack of variety of the Snoopy merchandise.
We made our way from the museum to the foot of Tokyo Tower. By then, the weather has dropped drastically to about 15 degrees Celsius. We shivered in the cold weather of the night and made our way to Tokyo Station. We were caught by surprise upon our arrival as we were mazed out by how gigantic Tokyo station itself was.
On our way back after a long and tiring day (not to mention our aching legs), we stopped by 7-11 convenience store and bought some small bites on the back to the hotel. It was such fun as having an ice cream in the cold breezy weather could be so satisfying.
23 Nov 2016 (Wed)
It was some sort of a Japanese public holiday today. The weather dropped drastically to about 9 degrees in Tokyo as well. As we made our way to Yoyogi station en route to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, we walked in the cold breezy weather and our reward is a nice paranomatic view of Tokyo itself. We spent about an hour there before we make our next stop to the Meiji Shrine.
It was quite a walk to Meiji Shrine as we had discovered. Greeted by the yellow leaves of the maple trees, we were excited to explore what was inside. About near a kilometre later, we saw huge crowds with young children with their families all in Japanese traditional costumes. Together with what seemed like load full of fruit and vegetables on display, it became more apparent that it was some sort of a harvest festival that featured children of ages three, five and seven.
We continued our long walk in the cold weather to the nearby Shibuya shopping district. Soon, we found ourselves indulging in our own shopping and I soon found myself being the carrier man for shopping bags and carriers. Not to forget, we found and tried the Nanbantei at Shibuya which cost us a hefty meal of ¥6,600+ for lunch.
Before long, we encountered the amazing Shibuya crossing where at a traffic intersection of various roads when the lights all turned red, road users from all directions made amazing crosses to their designations. It was quite a peculiar sight and was what made Shibuya famous on the Japan map.
We almost forgot about dinner until we had dessert at this pancake shop. Our late lunch at Nanbantei sustained us until then when we braved the cold and headed back to our hotel with our stomachs filled only with hot pancakes. But alas, we had some planning to do for our Disney trip tomorrow.
24 Nov 2016 (Thu)
The weather forecast the day before was snow for today as the day begin. True to the predictions, it begun snowing at about 7am in what seemed like heavy water droplets. But as we walked out into the streets, it became more apparent that it was not rain but snow.
We had been and encountered close to zero-degree weather conditions, but this day we were totally caught off guard before we set off for the trip. We left our gloves, our scarves, and our waterproof footwear back at home. So, armed with only a padded windbreaker, a padded gloves and an umbrella, we braved the wind, the snow and the chilling temperature to the nearest station that could take us to Disney Resorts.
It would really have looked like a wet morning, if not for the closer examination of the water form that rained down on you. Iris and I took a 600 metre walk to the nearest train station, one-third of us wet from waist down, and upon reaching Maihama station where the Disney Resorts are, it became more apparent that snow was upon Tokyo.
We have to yet take another train line to get to Disney Sea where we had earlier purchased our tickets. Baggage checks were strict but we had earlier hidden our onigiri lunch bites somewhere in our backpacks. Still, the cold weather was the one most torturing, with my nose beginning to feel numb.
We went around with an umbrella in hand, and most areas of attractions were beginning to be packed with queues and lines. We only managed one ride, one show, before we stopped to recover from the snow, after which we continued with another onr-hour queue for "Tower of Terror" ride (which I thought was very exhilarating).
When it was closer to 4pm, we decided that we should go as the skies were beginning to darken. We stopped by the mall there for cheese tart and waffle before we took off to Tokyo station by which the snow had begun to cease but breezy conditions continued.
We continued with some brief shopping here before having a late dinner at McDonald's. We were quite delighted with their chicken wing which cost only ¥150. After which, we put on all the outer wear we had and headed on the 2-degree Celsius temperature and took a 700-metre walk back.
25 Nov 2016 (Fri)
This was our last full day in Japan. We laze around a little late and got out only to Tsujiki station around 10am. We wondered around a little bit before we found Tsujiki fish market where it had to be the highlight of our Tokyo expedition.
Tsujiki fish market is more than the wet, fish auctioning market that is meant only for fish mongers and restaurant chefs. There are other stalls along the street sides that sells cooked food such as tamago, steamed oysters, and onigiri (really fat and gigantic) and as well as raw food like sushi. It was such a feast to the eyes, the mouth and the stomach and we had a great time there.
Reluctantly, we left Tsujiki market for Asakusa where the famous Senso-ji temple is. It was quite a beauty where the birth of Buddhism began in Japan. We were also stopped by high school students who had to practice their English with us for a couple of minutes. We bought quite a fair bit of Japanese biscuits here as well.
When it was nearer to sunset, we made our way to Shinjuku station where another amazing shopping belt awaited us. We had a couple of boo-boo incidents at the train stations such as buying the tickets for the wrong train lines, going onto the wrong platform, and boarding the wrong direction trains. Anyway, all these add to our fun experience, so we have nothing much to complain about.
In the evening, we landed at Shinjuku which seemed like another Shibuya area. Malls and speciality stores filled the streets and we were soon off to explore the area. Being our last day, we did the shopping that we could and the feasting too. We decided not to return to our hotel too late as we sure have much to pack.
Sure enough, our packing held us back until past midnight, and as with other trips, our luggages were almost filled to the brim and zip edges. Nonetheless, we felt we had yet to complete all the shopping that we would have wanted, but alas we could make another Japan trip the next time.
26 Nov 2016 (Sat)
Today was our last day of our trip. We awoke to a slow morning, interrupted by a hasty trip to the morning breakfast before resuming back to the hotel for some last minute packing.
We checked out just before our shuttle bus arrived to bring us to Tokyo Station, and while I rest at Starbucks, Iris made some last minute shopping at Daimaru before we rushed off to catch our Narita Express train.
The Narita Express, operated by JR lines, did not disappoint. The experience and feel was very much similar to Shinkansen and we were able to catch a short nap after the initial hussle with other commuters on board the same carriage. Within an hour, we reached Narita Airport and checked in our baggages. We had lunch at the same ramen stall we had on our very first day landing onto Japan and soon, we were on our way to checking in.
As usual, the checking in was very strict--all electronics, odd-shaped items (even empty water bottles), jackets/coats, had to be laid in the open in a tray for the customs officers to check through. Items that were suspicious were scanned through again and this caused a huge jam at the initial check-in, and we were not any comforted when we saw the long passport customs check.
After all the necessary checks, we were left with only about half an hour to get all the desirable things. Iris got her Issey Miyake bag and we bought some very famous and popular Tokyo bananas and other edible souvenirs back for our friends and colleagues. Some how, I felt that our air plane back to Singapore was an older plane with ageing fitted facilities and seats were not as comfortable as the one I've taken 10 days ago.
These past 10 days in Japan has been very exciting. We've experienced quite a fair bit of excitement, from the sudden snow to the wonderful feast of excellent food and shopping. In comparison, Japan feels very much like Korea but a different feel overall. I would have loved Japan for the weather (less windy) and people, but Korea for its food and its shopping.
