10 days Japan Sakura Trip March 2016 (Part 1/2)
- Vincent Chan
- Aug 26, 2016
- 11 min read
So, it might be a little bit late but I reckon Japan was a good place to visit again and therefore I'm gonna share where did I went and some of my reviews here.
Back in the second half of the year 2015, I've managed to grab myself and my family some darn cheap flight tickets to Tokyo Narita in All Nippon Airways (ANA). The reason why it was cheap? Well, Kuala Lumpur-Tokyo was their first service launched in Malaysia and I bought it during their opening promotion period. And by the time I was writing this, they had already launched a few more flight services to Haneda and also Kansai.
So with flight tickets bought, time to do some planning and learn some Japanese.
Before departing to Japan, there are few things that I would like to point out though:
1. You don't need a Visa to Japan if you are carrying Malaysian Passport.
2. In Malaysia, rather than rely only on local Travel Agencies, Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) actually had a few branches here in Kuala Lumpur as well as some other major cities. The best thing here is that you can pre-purchase most of the Theme Park tickets, Book your hotel, Ground Trips, Train tickets and talk to the real Japanese expert!!! I'll share the location of the Main Office down below.
3. Data roaming in Japan using Malaysia's operator is generally rated around RM30+ per day, the cheaper option here is to rent a Mobile Wi-Fi Device here from a vendor and bring over to Japan. However, if you are choosing Airbnb as your accommodation, most of the place are equipped with Mobile Wi-Fi already and you may carry it around and stay connected all the time.
4. Trains and subway in Japan are incredibly on time, Google Map timing is 99% correct in Major city.
Day 1 - Arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport
Narita Airport is the main International Airport in Japan. However, it is approximately 50km away from the city of Tokyo, which is about the same concept as our KLIA.
There are a few ways to go from the Airport to the City, and because we were gonna stay around Shinjuku (新宿) area, the easiest way would be taking the newly launched Train service, Narita Express (N'EX) by Japan Rail (JR).
Return trip ticket was significantly lower at only 4000yen, seat was reserved as per ticket and you may reserve the seat for return trip as well but only when you can confirm your return train time later.
Seat was very comfortable and wide with tray to put your small luggage as well as lockable tray at the rear end of each coach for larger luggage. However, I don't see the needs of locking them so I just leave them there hanging around.
The trip took us about 55 minutes from Narita to Shinjuku, mind you that Japanese Train are 99.999999% on time, and we were here in Shinjuku Station.
Shinjuku station is the busiest train station in the world with dozens of exit on the ground as well as underground leading to different directions. Lucky us, we managed to find a JR office there and bought each of ourselves a Suica card.
So a Suica card is something like our TouchnGo here in Malaysia, except it is even more widely accepted in Japan. Trains, Buses, Taxis, vending machine, 7-11 and stuffs like that that had a Suica logo on it, you can use it.
It comes basically free as the price you paid for the card is loaded into the credit of the card itself, price starting at a minimum of 1000 yen of value. 500 yen or anything left inside (if lower than 500 yen) will be deducted should you decide to return the card when you leave the country.
My parents and us left Shinjuku Station and went back to look for our accommodation in Nishi-Shinjuku Go-chome while my sister went back to their staying place in Higashi-shinjuku. Just 2 stations away from Shinjuku station using Toei-Oedo Line and we were there. Checking-in was swift as we followed the instruction given by the Airbnb owner.
The unit was for 4 and there are 2 rooms in there, equipped with kitchen and a separated toilet apart from the bathroom. Well, do not criticise the size of the unit using Malaysian's house standard.
So, we roughly unpack the stuffs and went out for some late night dinner. The time was already late by then and we were clueless about food around us.
Luckily, we were staying quite near to some Japanese local fast food and the presence of 7-11/family mart/sunkus in Japan is very abundance. So we went to a Matsuya (松屋) to grab our dinner.
Tips: if you are on a budget trip in Japan, local fast food like Matsuya is one of the best place for you to enjoy local food without paying a fortune. Food were always up to their standard and price was around 600 yen for a nice bowl of don.
We went to walk around the park just opposite of our apartment after the dinner, the weather was cold, very cold indeed. Colder than what I've anticipated, although 2ºc it was not a problem for us but it is bad for Sakura. Sakura season started when the weather turns from Winter-ish to Spring-ish. Oh no!
Day 2 - Tokyo (Meiji Shrine, Shibuya, Harajuku)
Nice weather for day 2 with scorching hot sun hanging around, we went to look for my sister and off we go for a day in Tokyo. First, some brunch in Higashi-Shinjuku.
This restaurant here is a good place loaded with cheap and fast local food, quite nice as well. Went there twice while we were there.
Our first station after the brunch was Meiji Shrine (明治神宫), one of the most famous shrine in Tokyo. It was located near Harajuku, in fact it is just beside JR Harajuku Station.
Going into the area of Meiji Shrine is free except the Garden area. It was gated and you'll have to pay around 600 yen to visit. So we've skip it and went straight into the Main Shrine area. Be prepared for a little walk though.
While on our way to the main shrine, there are a nice bridge there with some Cherry trees along the river. Too bad the sakura was yet to be seen. Wished we were there for another week.
The place was full of Meiji period of Japanese style design and there is a place there for you to write your wishes on a small piece of wooden board and hang it on to a rack.
We roamed around the area before we departed to Shibuya, one of the busiest place in the world.
Once we had arrived there, the first thing we did was to walk the Shibuya crossing. Haha, one thing that's always puzzling us was where the hell did those people came from? The crossing design was kinda special and when it was green, all the crossing was green all at once. This makes the famous scene of hundreds of people if not thousands of them walk across the street at the same time.
P.S. : This is where the Resident Evil and Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift taken placed. Many other movies was taken here as well.
The second thing we do was to look for lunch. While we have no idea what to eat or look for, we stumble across this ramen shop here down the street just few blocks away from the Shibuya crossing. The shop is called 金伝丸. We did not hesitate as we were hungry and it turns out that the first Ramen we tried in Japan here was the best of all the Ramen we taken during this trip.
The soup base here is more into the thick broth with very heavy garlic sensation. Ramen was springy and very delicious together with the soup. Highly recommend this shop here in Shibuya, must try!!!
After we finished our lunch we went walking around Shibuya area and walked all the way back to Harajuku. Shibuya area was a younger and higher ended in price area whereas Harajuku was more of a shopping area for us.
While we were approaching Yoyogi Stadium, we surprisingly found that the day we were there was the night where Shinee had their world tour here in Tokyo.
Unfortunately we were no fans of Shinee so we continue to our next station, Harajuku.
The first thing we came across in Harajuku at the junction was Gindako, one of the most famous franchise of Takoyaki in Japan, not sure whether is it the most delicious though. Anyway, we gave it a try. We had some fish shaped cake too! Before that we actually saw a Pablo cafe outlet just behind Gindako but the queue was just simply too amazing, so we gave up and move on.
We moved on further down the street later and wrapped the day up in Takeshita street. Takeshita street was the main shopping place for the younger generation of Japanese. The variety of stuffs here are the reason why we spend a whole night here just walk around browsing through almost every shops. Didn't buy a lot of things though, sadly. We still had many days to go in Japan and cannot afford to spend that much. Sigh!
Day 3 - Tokyo (Tsukiji, Imperial Garden, Akihabara, Asakusa)
Tsukiji!!! The World's Largest seafood trading centre with over hundreds of food eateries surrounding it, one can find themselves lost in here but never starve. Sadly it will be shifted to some other place by the end of 2016 as this was one of the most valuable piece of land in the middle of Tokyo city. There goes one of the greatest eateries in the world. The market starts trading at 5am and if you wish to watch the auction you may come at that time and take a look at it. But if you are just like a normal tourist who wanted to eat the best of out it, u may come after 9am and foods here will be as fresh as it can possibly get.
Take a subway to Tsukiji Station and 100m down the street u will be greet by scene like this.
Grab a layout plan of the market. Try it all if you've got the time!
These are everywhere!!! 200 yen per stick!!!
Tamago!!!
Scallop as big as child's fist!!! 500 yen for 2
And this is 井上, namely one of the finest ramen shop in Tokyo. We were greeted by the scene like this when we were there. Queue was extended into the side of the road and there are no seats for you, everyone was eating their ramen while standing! And I must say the ramen was almost equally good as what we have yesterday, though it is a different type of soup base. This ramen here is a type of soyu ramen, the soup is clearer but the taste is very nice. Must try!
This Yakiniku Don here at the same row with the ramen shop was also one of the highlight of the day. Big hot boiling pot full of braise beef covering a bowl of Japanese rice, it was perfect in a temperature like that! Must try!
So, after we finished sabotaging our stomach with food, we had a little walk before taking a bus to Tokyo station and walk towards the Imperial Palace.
There are a lot of people walking towards the Imperial Palace that day, we didn't know what was happening actually until we stop and asked a police there. And then only we knew that it is the first day of the Sakura blossom in Imperial Palace! Didn't know Japanese were this supportive for Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing). Wow!
So finally we managed to see some Sakura blossom although it was not particularly spectacular but we saw it!!! This is the reason we were here at this season anyway. Yay!
Next stop was the famous electronic centre of Tokyo - Akihabara. But we were there quite late and so we were just walking around some of the biggest name there, Yodobashi Camera, Sofmap and the famous 7 floors of Adult's Awesomeness - M's Pop life department!
Yodobashi camera is one of the biggest Electronic Products departmental store in Japan, it was huge!!! Something like Lowyat Plaza in Malaysia but whole building is belongs to a single seller.
Electronic stuffs in Japan are not particularly cheaper than what we have in Malaysia, there is no need for us to go that far for some latest invention, just wait for a few months until it arrives in Malaysia then. Cheers.
The M's Tower, the essence Japanese AV culture. 7 levels of Adult related product, we were not allow to take photos in there but somehow I was able to sneak some photos out from there.
Dozens of different products.
From Videos CDs.
To adult toys.
Alright, enough of the funs! Back to our Japan trip. Wink*
Further north from Akihabara is the famous Asakusa, which is where the Senso-ji (浅草寺) located.
We took a subway to Asakusa station and comes out directly near the main entrance of Senso-ji, a big red lantern with the word Kaminarimon (雷门) on it.
Behind the big lantern was 2 rows of shop, selling all sort of souvenirs like the miniature version of the lantern, traditional Japanese toys and many other things.
At the end of the street comes the shrine, the Senso-ji main shrine. It was already dark when we were there and all the lights are up already, quite a nice sight as there are lots of lantern there lighting up the whole place.
We had a dinner at a restaurant just outside of the Senso-ji and that's it, this marked the end of our third day at Japan.
Day 4 - Mt. Fuji (Kawaguchiko)
Here comes the day we were waiting for, checking cloud forecast, buying bus tickets to Kawaguchiko (河口湖) Station early in the morning at the Keisei Bus terminal located at the outside of the West Exit of Shinjuku Station.
Kawaguchiko Station was one of the station located at the North Side of Mt. Fuji, 2 hours from Shinjuku Station, it offers the full view of Mt. Fuji.
Bus from Shinjuku will pass by the nearest attractions before reaching Kawaguchiko Station. One of the most well-known place was definitely the Fuji-Q Highland theme park. With the possession of the Fastest acceleration, ex-Tallest, Steepest and also the only 4D coaster in Asia, it is definitely one of the must-go in my next visit!!!
We had lunch at a restaurant just opposite of the Kawaguchiko Station which let us enjoy the Mt. Fuji while eating. The Cloud cover were still quite bad by the time we finished our lunch.
From the bus station, we took the free Lake Tour bus to the first station, which is the Lake Cruise jetty station. Then we went to purchase the package tickets for both the Cruise and the Kachi-Kachi Ropeway to go up to Mt. Tenjo just opposite.
Mt. Tenjo offers one of the best full view Mt. Fuji and we were so lucky to have the chance to see the full peak of Fuji. Some people doesn't get the chance to see it even after visiting for a few times. Cloud cover can often be the problem, therefore always check the cloud forecast before departing and also colder weather is an advantage for better weather at Fuji.
We roamed around the summit of Mt. Tenjo before we went down and take the Lake Cruise.
The cruise last for around 20minutes, it carried us around the lake with the Fuji on either the left or right side of us all the time. Very cold weather for us and it is definitely better than what Lake Ashi can offer.
We took the bus back to Shinjuku Station after we had some quick lunch back at the Kawaguchiko Station as we are rushing back to take the bus to Osaka at night.
Before we departed to Japan, I had reserve bus tickets from Willer Express for a trip from Shinjuku to Osaka. It departs from Shinjuku Sumitomo Building to Namba ICAO in Osaka.
There are a lot of buses from Tokyo to Osaka but Willer Express are especially to cater non-Japanese speaking passengers. Seats on the bus are quite tight but pack full with features, the night had not been an easy sleep. There are total 2 stops along the way and it was quite happening in the expressway service station, with a lot of souvenirs and titbits.
We then arrived at Osaka at around 7.30 in the morning.
Footnote:
JTB Malaysia Website:
Mobile Wi-Fi rental:
Express Coaches (English Speaking):
JR East website:
My Airbnb for 4 person in Tokyo:
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