Japan is very special to us. We are both Japanophiles, and we make every effort to watch all the Japanese travelogue shows we can. I encourage anyone reading this report to watch Prime Japan on Amazon Prime. If you already have, then I recommend you have Roger Webb’s Lucky Me playing on loop throughout these reports. That song became the unofficial song of the Japan portion of our honeymoon. I also proposed to my wife on our last trip at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. We even made a pact to come back every 5 years. Once I finish this trip report I’ll write one up for our previous trip which was a full 2.5 weeks of traveling the main island. This time around, we only had 6 nights to make the most of it, but we were determined to do so.
As I mentioned in my last report, we left The Peninsula (abandon all hope ye who enter there) in fury, after they forgot to come pick up our luggage, forgot our breakfast, and forgot the car service we requested. We thus, sprinted through BKK security Home Alone 1 style, to at least inspect the Sakura lounge at BKK. Due to the distance between the lounge and the gate, and the marathon we made with our luggage, I did not have time to snap pics. The lounge is nice though, nothing flagship, but it definitely was comfortable.
We flew J on JAL from BKK-TYO. We had flown JAL J before, but this has been the best J flight we have ever had, and we much prefer JAL over CX. First, the hard product. Althought this flight did not have the fully recline seats, the JAL Neo was more than adequate for the five hour flight. Personally, I prefer the non fully lie flat seats because I hate having it fully flat, but that’s neither here nor there. We also love JAL’s IFE selection. They always have a bunch of travelogue shows and documentaries about Japan, that we really appreciate. The food was also very good. I always order the Japanese menu when flying JAL, and this one did not disappoint. The star of the courses was the dessert, which consisted of a mango pudding that was delicious and flavorful.
The service and soft product is where JAL shines, and, in this flight, it really stood out. Pat, our flight attendant, was incredibly kind to us throughout the flight. She must have noticed our behavior, because she immediately realized it was our honeymoon. She asked us where we were from and thanked us profusely for celebrating our honeymoon in Japan. When she found out I proposed in Japan, she asked about our trips and listened attentively as we told her about our love for the country. It honestly felt like we were the only people on the plane, and for J service, this was very special.
Later, she came back with a small toy plane, a bunch of sweets, and a bathtub rubber JAL plane “for when you have a kid.” Whoa! Slow your roll there Pat! Towards the end of the flight, she also came by and explained that it’s a sign of good luck for couples to witness Mt. Fuji upon arriving to Japan. She opened up our windows and pointed it out to us from the plane. Good marriage for us!
Fujisan on the upper left
We arrived at Narita Airport, withdrew money at the 7-11 underground, got our SIM card, and took the Narita Express to Tokyo station, and then transferred to the subway to get to the Ritz Carlton. The hotel is located in a large shopping mall and does connect directly to the subway, although there is a signficant walk. I would still recommend those coming to Tokyo to still take public transportation over cabs or car service. You will save time and money.
Immediately upon entering and giving our names and passports, we were congratulated on our honeymoon and escorted to the club lounge for check-in. The lounge was smaller than the RC Kyoto, but RC Tokyo’s was much more refined and elegant.
View from the lounge
We were also assisted by Mariko, the concierge at the lounge, who would dress in a different formal kimono each day (often Christmas themed). She helped us check in, provided us with cocktails and snacks and escorted us to the room. Our room was very large by Japanese hotel standards, and had a great view of Tokyo Tower. Waiting for us in the room, was a beautiful quartet of wagashi (Japanese sweets) and some tea. It was a striking presentation and impressive, although we were surprised no champagne was in the room. It honestly wasn’t a big deal because our room was on the same floor as the club lounge so it wasn’t any trouble to go there for drinks.
Welcome wagashi
view from our room
We had a tight food schedule for this trip, so we needed to get our ramen fix this first night. We did the high end ramen on our last trip to Tokyo so this time we were looking for something different. We elected to go to Afuri Ramen in Ebisu, a small chain ramen restaurant that specializes in a yuzu based ramen broth, and we are so glad we went. The citrus and acid from the yuzu went perfectly with the fattiness and richness of ramen. It helped to relieve you of that normal coma-like feeling one often gets when they finish a bowl. If you go (and I highly recommend you do) make sure you go for the spicy broth, as that was the true winner.
One thing we always do when we are in Tokyo is to try and walk around as much as possible and avoid public transportation. Not because it’s bad, because it most certainly isn’t. But because we feel we see way more of the city when we do this. So, in typical fashion, we walked back to the Ritz, and as we made our way through the nearby park, we were treated to a holiday light show!
We decided to call it an early night because we would be heading to Nikko the next day and we were looking forward to our dinner at L’Effervescence in the evening.
Next Time on A Honeymoon to Remember: Nikko, Sauna, and dinner at L’Effervescence