After 3 months stuck on the rock known as North America, it was time to break free to the Land of the Rising Sun. Booked last summer to include the Japan and Korea DOs, and give me some extra time, I booked the ANA IAH-NRT route in J, and then OZ NRT-ICN in Y. Given my Hilton Diamond status and point stash, I booked 5 nights at the Hilton Tokyo and 2 nights at the Conrad Seoul.
Stick along for lots of ramen, beer, whisky, soju, Hiltons, and all that fun. My liver and body clock are only now beginning to forgive me and I’ve been home for almost 4 days...
Planned segments:
NH J IAH-NRT (and arrival in Japan)
On the ground in Tokyo, Hilton Tokyo, and Matsumoto
OZ Y NRT-ICN and Conrad Seoul
On the ground in Seoul and our visit to the Demilitarized Zone (and missed run in with Mike Pence)
OZ Y ICN-NRT and Hilton Narita
NH J NRT-IAH
Sunday, April 9
It started on a beautiful Sunday morning, sunny with a slight Spring chill in the air. I made my way to IAH and arrived about 9:30 am, so about T-2. I felt no real rush to get to the airport since I knew ANA used a contract lounge, and due to Texas liquor laws, the bar at the Amex lounge didn't open until 10:30. Priorities, amirite?!
There was no wait for business class check in, and I noticed that ANA contracts out its ground duties to United staff and lounge access to the Terminal E United Club, which makes total sense for a once a day flight. Again zero wait at security despite no precheck. For those not familiar with IAH, Terminal D, which is home for nearly all non-United international flights is very sleepy in the morning and grows to be a mess by late afternoon.
I bee lined for the Amex lounge for some food as I'd been awake since 5:30. After some food, a Bloody Mary, and a stop at the ATM it was time to board, which began a couple minutes before 11, the stated boarding time.
NH 173
IAH-NRT
777-300
Seat 8K (Business)
I had been excited for this flight, as my first time on ANA and first real trip to Japan. ANA doesn't seem to be frequently covered around here, but the reports I had seen paint a good picture of ANAs premium cabins.
I arrived to find all of the goodies laid out perfectly on the seat, including bed pad, blanket, slippers, amenity kit, and headphones.
As boarding progressed, the crew came around with PDBs (choice of sparkling wine or orange juice) and Japan landing cards. We eventually pushed back about 25 minutes late, not that it was any imposition on my schedule.
In the air the crew jumped to serve lunch. I chickened out and went with the western meal, which was quite solid.
The amuse Bouche featured salmon, marinated mushrooms, and duck liver. I enjoyed all but the liver and had a G&T to start.
The salad was a crab meat and avocado salad which was delicious, as was the corn soup. Moved over to the bubbles to accompany this part of the meal (ANAs wine list was nothing to write home about)
I chose the beef for my main, and again was cooked a very nice rare, rarity for plane beef (pun intended
)
The dessert was a bit of a disappointment. I chose the blueberry cheesecake, and it was OK, but not very flavorful and it was served a bit too close to room temperature for cheesecake, so it wasn't very firm in texture.
I spent the next 4ish hours drinking Hibiki 17 and watching House of Cards and La La Land, which was actually enjoyable. Note in this picture, you can see how private the staggered business class is. I could barely see any of the other passengers unless they got up from their seats.
Somewhere around 6 hrs in, the Hibiki had me hankering for a bit of food, so I ordered the ramen bowl which was hit the spot. Somehow I managed the chopsticks better at this point than I do sober.... A good thing since they do not provide forks with this meal (although I'm sure they would if asked).
I put the bed down and took a 4 hr nap and was woken up by the FA before the second meal. Due to the relatively high temperature of the cabin, I didn't use the blanket or the bed pad. I had the same issue on Cathay last year and had to just kick the blanket aside. Pajamas are not provided at the seat or proactively, but as I discovered on my return flight, they are provided if you ask.
For breakfast I had the Japanese menu. I wasn't super hungry and picked at it, though the fish was good and the rice was amazing, or as amazing as rice can be.
Another Hibiki and House of Cards episode and we were coming in for landing, where cherry blossoms greeted us as early as the Narita lawn sign.
In no rush to get to my hotel, I went to find the ANA arrivals lounge. They don't have much in the way of real food here, but they do have a beer machine and whisky, so there's that. After killing a couple hours here, I found the shuttle for the ANA Crowne Plaza.
ANA Crowne Plaza
Rate paid: $69 (including tax)
Platinum benefit: free draft beer or wine in restaurant
I figured with the late arrival I'd stay out at NRT where it's far cheaper and I'd crash thanks to jet lag anyway. The room was pretty unremarkable, and I was originally assigned a smoking room, which I didn't request and I got switched to non smoking at check in.
I wondered up to the restaurant on the top floor to redeem my free drink chit and promptly crashed after that. Of course I was wide awake at 2am, but back to sleep after an hour or so of Netflix.
Up in the morning I used the mediocre fitness center, which took me about 20 minutes to gain access to, because my room key wasn't coded to access it. The new key they brought me then effed up all my room keys and I could no longer access my room at all. After 3 new keys, none of which worked, the front desk rep had to escort me to my room and open it with his master key. That's what I get for trying to stay active on vacation!
For simplicity I took the shuttle back to the airport and took the Narita Express train into the city. The foreigner round trip ticket is definitely a deal worth standing in the ticket office line for since it saves you about $20 vs buying at the kiosk.
NEX train is nice and comfortable, and with free wifi the time to Shinjuku Station passed quickly.
Hilton Tokyo
HH Diamond status
Rate paid: 200k Hilton points (50k x 5, with 5th night free)
Room booked and received: King room
I walked to the Hilton Tokyo in the light rain, not realizing they have a shuttle bus from the station. Oops... Anyway I was promptly checked in despite being about 4 hrs before checkin time and was asked to sit and enjoy the lounge while she checked room availability. I didn't receive an upgrade, but didn't mind too much. This hotel is very busy and had high room rates, so upgrading a Diamond squatting for the whole work week probably wasn't a priority. That said the rooms are large by Japan standards and nicely appointed.
View from the room today…
After the rain cleared Tuesday evening
Tuesday
After checking in, I went to grab lunch at funnji ramen, which is in Shinjuku near the station. The rain seemed to keep the usual crowds away a bit as I only had to wait about 10 minutes for a seat. It's a typical ramen shop in that you select your order from a vending machine which prints out a slip for you to hand over once seated.
Well worth the 750Y on a cold rainy day.
After a bit of a rest back at the hotel, it was time for evening happy hour. The exec lounge at the Hilton has their HH from 5-7. The food definitely qualifies as light bites and might be tough to make a full dinner out of it, but what's provided is tasty. The lounge also features free pour wine and spirits.
Wednesday
Today I had breakfast in the main restaurant in the lobby. While the food and selection was very good, it was the only day I ate down here. The lounge had probably 80% of the selection (and 90% of what I wanted), but the real issue is the lobby restaurant is very busy and with lines for the made to order eggs station. The lounge was much calmer and had zero lines for anything. Another perk: free bubbles with breakfast in the lounge
After breakfast, I was meeting a couple folks down at the Kirin Brewery in Yokohama to do the factory tour and tasting. It was about a 1 hr trek on various JR lines, ending with a 15 minute walk on a beautiful day. Wednesday was a 180 turn from Tuesday, weather wise.
Lots of people didn’t heed this PSA
Cherry blossoms in Yokohama
A seemingly safe at grade JR line train crossing that I had to walk across to get to the brewery
The brewery tour was very well done, and very Japan, being far more high tech than ones back in the US. The 3 free 12 oz pours were appreciated before the trek back into town.
Video shown onto the floor of the brewery
An interactive display where the enzymes react to the shapes your hands form
The bottling line. Sidenote: I always enjoy industrial/factory tours because one of my family’s businesses when I was a kid was factory based, so I have memories of my grandpa walking me around through all the machines and explaining what all the different intricate machines were doing.
Finally time to start drinking!
After getting back, I went to lunch at Tempura Tsunahachi around 3. For about 20000Y, got a nice set menu of tempura consisting of prawns, fish cake, and other deliciousness. I met a girl from Taiwan sitting next to me and we set off for the gardens to look at the cherry blossom afterward. We hung out until the park closed at 4:30 and parted ways, so back to lounge happy hour for me!
Cherry blossoms in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
