Japan - Day 1-2 Arrival / Tokyo Acclimation

Day 1 - Arrival 

Headed Out

Today we landed in Tokyo at the Narita airport after a 13 hour flight from Dallas. This was the first trip to Asia for everyone in my family except me and the longest flight the kids had been on. They were not looking forward to the flight home.

After clearing customs we got our mobile Wifi units from Ninja Wifi at the counter on the way to the train.  In Terminal 2 it is to the left when you come out of baggage. Then we went downstairs to catch the train, but first we picked up IC cards at the Keisei travel desk.  Read more about IC and Wifi and why you should get both of these before you leave the airport in the Japan Prep blog.

Then we took the NEX (Narita Express) to Shinjuku Station. We were able to get all of our luggage onto this type of train - it's a limited express and doesn't have a lot of commuter traffic.  From the station, we eventually navigated to our hotel a few blocks away.  

Shinjuku Station is the busiest train station in the world with 3.6 million commuters per day. That's about six times the volume of Union station in New York.

We stayed at the WPU hotel which was a great location - near the station and near a lot of entertainment and food options.  For dinner we visited Omoide Yokocho also known as Memory Lane or Piss Alley. This is a tiny alley adjacent to the station and only a block from our hotel.  It has a couple dozen Izikayas which are tiny bars or restaurants that only can seat about 10-12 people. Some of them have upstairs.

We stopped at one and had a beer with several skewers of yakitori (or kushiyaki) which are beef or pork or chicken skin or chicken or vegetables skewered and cooked over an open flame.  They're affordable and delicious (ooishi (Oh-ee-shee)). We looked around briefly then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

We were all awake by 4am which was 2pm Texas time. 

Day 2 - Guided Tour

We headed out early to get some breakfast at a Western-style restaurant and pick up our passes for Hakone (area near Mt. Fuji) two days from now.  The restaurant was called Sarabeth's which is an international chain. It took some work to find it in the shops above Shinjuku station.

After picking up our passes from the Odakyu Sightseeing Center in the station (enter by Happy Lemon), we waited for our guide Koichiro at the Keio Department Store.

Koichiro and the gang

I had found Koichiro on ToursbyLocals.com to give us a walking tour for eight hours.  I figured it would be a good way to be introduced to the city - how to get trains, use the IC cards, and find some hidden gems. Koichiro was open to doing whatever we wanted and I had messaged him we wanted to see Akihabara and Shibuya.

Akihabara

Once we met up. we headed first to Akihabara, the Electric Town.  This is a center for buying electronics, but also has a lot of stores catering to Anime and Video Games. The first stop was the electronics superstore Yodobashi Akiba. This is a seven-story Best Buy on steroids with everything from Anime figurines and video game merchandise to household appliances, business stuff, even cosmetics and batting cages. The kids got a couple small souvenirs.

Then we went to an arcade - we saw some pachinko (a cross between pinball and slots, which seems very luck-oriented) and a lot of claw machines - Brooke's favorite.  We left Akihabara but could have spent a half day there wandering through the shops.

Harajuku

On the way toward Shibuya we stopped at Harajuku and ate Ramen at a small shop where we would not have known how to order or pay. Luckily Koichiro got us in and ordered.  Then we headed to Takeshita street which seemed like it was a fake Disney street with kids dressed in outlandish costumes, tons of candy stores, and tons of pet cafes (no food, just animals).

We spent a half-hour at an otter cafe where we held and played with adult otters and then with baby otters. There are also pig, hedgehog and even Meerkat cafes. Some people think it's unethical to have such establishments, but it sure did seem that the otters were happy and well cared for at the place we went.

  

Shibuya

Shibuya Scramble with people courtesy of escape.com.au

Our picture - people waiting to cross

Shellie at the 

Hachiko statue

This is one of the iconic places in all of Tokyo with the famous crossing (Shibuya Scramble) where hundreds of people simultaneously cross the intersection.

 

We went up in the Shibuya Sky building and saw the crossing from above as well as all of the surrounding Tokyo. We ended the day by visiting a sword shop and the Pokemon store.

View of Shinjuku from the top of Shibuya Sky

GODZILLA at Golden Gai

After leaving Koichiro and going back to the hotel to freshen up, we headed down the street to another Alley area called Golden Gai. This was a little seedy - part of it is a red light district, but we had a dinner of Shabu Shabu - hot pot cooked meats. 

We walked around a little and saw some rats digging into trash bags - there are no trash cans in Japan, but in Golden Gai there were trash bags in the alley full of rats.... We didn't spend much time there - didn't want to get into trouble.

 

Japan - Day 3 - Tokyo

Japan Day 3 - more Tokyo

Black Vanilla

Octopus (Tako) Cracker

Today we were on our own to navigate the subway system and started out by heading downtown to the Tsukiji Fish Market.  This used to be the place where the fish would come in and get auctioned off daily -  giant tuna and all other creatures of the sea, but now the market is split in half with that auction part happening in a new location. But here, you can sample fresh fish and other foods in locally operated stalls over a four x four block area.

We sampled Octopus cracker where they smash an octopus or shrimp under a press and make a crispy cracker as big as your head. We also had fresh oranges, black ice cream, and raw tuna. I was hoping to see more weird creatures here, but almost everything was pretty normal. Asia normal.

Shellie dressed up as a Longhorn

Tokyo Tower from the Go-Kart

We left from the fish market to drive Go-Karts. Originally I hoped to do this at night, but I missed the timeslot and had to go with a day option. Maybe it was the safer option.  We felt really confident with the vendor we selected which was Tokyo Street Kart.  We took a train and walked for about 20 minutes to get to their location on Tokyo Bay. 

At this location, we drove on the highway and normal streets all around the Tokyo Tower and over the Rainbow Bridge.  The tour lasted about 90 minutes which was plenty of time.  Only once did our group of five get separated and then we caught up quick.  Be sure to get an International Driver's Licence from AAA before leaving for Japan. You have to prove that you have a license - these aren't toy carts - you're on a real street with traffic.

We got some pretty good speed - up to 50 miles an hour coming down the Rainbow Bridge both ways.  We had a blast - I would recommend this activity highly although at 6'0" each, Bix and I felt a little cramped in the Kart - maybe at a couple more inches and it would have been uncomfortable.

Octopus at Sunshine
City Aquarium - Alive -
Not in Cracker Form - Yet

Jellyfish at the Aquarium

After go-karts we headed west to Ikebukuro and the Sunshine City complex - a giant Mall with an Aquarium and an observation deck.  We spent about 90 minutes in the Aquarium and then another 60 minutes on the observation deck looking at Shinjuku from the opposite side that we were on from Shibuya Sky.  We got a combo ticket online and it was inexpensive fun.  

Tokyo View from Sunshine City

We headed back to our hotel for a rest and then met up with a UT student Jake Stavrou, who is studying in Japan - his parents live in our neighborhood. He suggested a place where you catch your own fish, but we got there a little late for that and just ate pre-caught fish instead. Both of us had early morning travels so we said goodbye to him at our hotel and went in for the night.

Japan - Day 4 - Hakone / Mt. Fuji

 Day 4 - Hakone / Mt. Fuji

Today we took a trip outside of Tokyo to the south about 50 miles to the Hakone (ha-Cone-eh) region which is only about 20-30 miles from Mt. Fuji.

We followed the suggested route of the Hakone Free Pass.

We took a train to Hakone.  We did not buy the RomanceCar option which may have been a mistake - for a separate additional fee, you can ride this version of the train which makes much fewer stops and has restrooms and reclining seats.

When we got to Odawara, we got off the train and then took a second train to the Hakone-Yumato station.  If you take the right train or RomanceCar, it will go there and you don't have to switch trains.

From the Hakone-Yumato Station you board a bus to Lake Ashi. We boarded the H bus which went through town and was probably the slowest, but the most frequent departure.  We got off at Port Moto-Hakone to get on a Pirate Ship which took us across the lake. The scenery around the lake was beautiful with bright green hills and temples and few houses. 

Brooke does her One Piece Impersonation

At the port on the far side of the lake we took a gondola (the "Ropeway") to two stops and had lunch in the volcanic town of Owakudani. The views of Mt. Fuji from the cable car were spectacular and we got more pictures from the ropeway stop. Clouds kept floating in front of the mountain which seems to be a thing, because most images and cartoons fo Mt. Fuji show clouds floating in front of it.

Mount Fuji-san from Owakudani

Once we got to Sounzan, we got off the ropeway and onto a cable car which took us down the mountain. I call these funiculars in Europe.  Basically a tram down a steep slope where the people are on platforms that stay flat while the track goes down the side of the hill.

Mother's Day in Japan

At Kowakadini we got off and took the H bus again a couple of stops to Kowakien to visit the Yunessan water park. This is an indoor/outdoor waterpark with two sections - a naked section and a clothed section (our top pick!)

We switched into bathing suits and first tried out the indoor heated pools filled with Wine, Sake, Tea, and Coffee.  Then we sat in an outdoor heated pool that looked out onto the nearby hills. It was very relaxing.  

Green Tea Bath

Sake Bath

Coffee Bath

Red Wine Bath

We took the H bus back to the train station and took the train home. We ended up eating 7-Eleven food for dinner, which is not horrible in Japan, just not what we would have preferred.

Japan - Day 5 - Tokyo

Japan - Day 5

Today is Sports Day - Sumo and Baseball.  But first we visited the Imperial Place near downtown Tokyo. The palace grounds are right in the middle of the city where the business district is. The main buildings are not accessible and surrounded by moats.  We took a quick picture, then skedaddled.

Our next destination was the Tokyo Conrad Hotel.  Bix wanted to visit it based on the reference in an A Tribe Called Quest song. We had a very pricey lunch and a couple of drinks at this five-star hotel with views of the bay.   

Terunofuji is introduced

From there we decided to head to the opening day of the Sumo tournament. I couldn't get tickets myself directly from the Sumo site, but I got a guided tour through Klook with seats for the afternoon - which are when the best matches are for the day.  Plus our tour guide explained what was going on and how the scoreboard worked, so it worked out for the best.  It was really great to experience the matches live and we could see well even though our seats were in the second to last row in the stadium. Bix was 8 for 9 in picking the winners of the elite matches.

We left just before the final matches which, unfortunately, were with the top-ranked Sumos, including Terunofuju, the only Yokozuna (top) level wrestler, but we had to get to the baseball stadium by 6pm.

The baseball stadium for the Yakult Swallows was not far from Shinjuku, in the Meiji Jingu stadium. We had seats along the first base line which we got in advance through Japanball.com who made the process of buying and receiving the tickets incredibly easy. Bix ate hot dogs and we had a lot of Asahi Super Dry throughout the game. Asian baseball games always seem to be more fun than the games in America. The fans and opposing fans sing songs and cheer throughout the game. 

During the 7th inning stretch, the Swallows fans hoisted small umbrellas. I got some beer-courage to speak Japanese to the young man sitting next to me who was very kind. We talked over the last couple innings and the Swallows won a tight game 3-1 by scoring runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings!

Umbrella Party

After baseball, Bix and I met up with his friend from UT who was traveling with a tour group of guys from England, South Africa, and Australia. We hit up Golden Gai one more time, ending up at a tiny bar called RED. where we took up the whole top floor - all 100 square feet of it.  We got home pretty late, but were good to go for our travels the following day.

GO TO JAPAN DAY 6