Hezu

For future reference: If you buy the HSL regional ticket for the train at HEL, you can use the same ticket with unlimited changes not only on the local trains, but also on trams, busses, metro and Suomenlinna ferry within 80 minutes. Thus, actually you would not need to buy a separate ticket for a tram ride.

And another price tip for public transportation in Helsinki region: install HSL app on your mobile phone and you can buy the tickets with slightly cheaper price. That app also includes a route planner, which can be useful to navigate around the region.

nordic

757

Amazing report and photos. Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

M.Wilson

Spymon

Thanks, it really was. Proper foodie stuff coming up later including plenty of seafood and veggie options so I think you will enjoy this one.

Thanks for the tip, working out the cost of fares on many local transport websites are confusing (even ones I know and use almost everyday)

Me too. Thanks for the helping keep me motivated to post more.

Thanks you! After a brief break due to visitors and the world cup it's time for some more posts.

offerendum

Really looking forward to it

Spymon

Our flight landed around 20 mins late into Narita and we were glad to be on our way and off the plane. Despite being behind schedule after waiting a while to get our passports stamped with tourist visas we still had plenty of time to pick up our Pasmo cards before getting our train into town. A Pasmo card is one of the many IC cards available in Japan that you can use on local trains, buses and even purchases in shops and from vending machines across the country. With the complex nature of some of the train and bus fares having an IC card of some sort makes life significantly easier.

We then had a good long wait for our Sky Access train into town with a quick change onto the Asakusa line.





We stumbled off the train at Asakusa, trying and failing to work out the right exit. We finally emerged from the depths into a clear Tokyo night with the golden illumination of the Asahi building and the neon spectacle of the Tokyo Skytree to guide us to our hotel, or so we hoped.





As our pocket Wi-Fi was waiting for us at the hotel all we had were some google maps screen captures to guide us. We took a guess, with Ms. Spymon leading the way and although we'd not chosen the optimal route we arrived at the Karimanon gate of Senso-Ji and shortly afterwards spotted our home for the next two nights, The Gate Hotel.





(Taken on a different occasion)

We were warmly welcomed at check in. The hotel lobby had spectacular views of the Skytree and straight away we really felt we had arrived in Japan. The hotel acknowledged it was our honeymoon and in addition to giving us a room on a high floor with Skytree views they gave us a voucher to spend in the hotel which was used the next day for drinks and snacks on the 14th floor bar. An envelope containing our pocket Wi-Fi was also handed over. We headed up to the room to drop our things and also found a beautiful card congratulating us on our marriage along with some of the hotel's own brand bath products.







We then headed out to Senso-ji to take in the atmosphere. The complex is beautiful at night with all the buildings and gates illuminated. It also proves a popular spot for selfie taking. Whilst the area is peaceful and quiet, a lot of atmosphere from earlier in the day when all the shops are open was missing. We walked around taking pictures for a bit before heading back to the hotel to crash. It had been a long few days.



















We woke up fairly bright and early as we had planned and headed for Kappbashi coffee. Our route took us past an interesting assortment of shops selling every odd and end required for the restaurant trade from rusty grills & ceramics to signs and high quality plastic food.





We enjoyed our coffee and breakfast set. I am a big fan of the Japanese style extra thick toast/sandwich bread. The coffee was also excellent as was the simple décor of the coffee bar. Fuelled up we were ready for some studio Ghibli magic. But first we had some early teething problems with our new friend Mr. Wi-Fi Buddy who decided he did not want to give us internet access. Thankfully a quick reboot later we were friends again and he helped guide us towards the metro station.









Unfortunately we had made the mistake of turning off our Wi-Fi Buddy when on the train with the hope of saving battery which was actually unnecessary. After taking the right exit from the station but turning in the wrong direction we fired up our friend and unfortunately our phones picked up about a zillion hotspots but not our buddy…



After a brief discussion we did an entire loop of Kichijoji Station ending up back exactly where we started. In the end we got our bearings and found the route through Inokashira park which was a rather lovely spot that came the added bonus of being clearly signposted. We were now in the mood for our Ghibli adventure.









About 20 mins later we knew we'd come to the right place as we found a beautiful house filled with flowers and colours plus a huge totoro that everyone wanted a selfie with. We got in line and awaited our turn where our paper print out would be exchanged for a magical piece of film that would be our ticket.





The details throughout the museum were special. There was an exhibition on animation techniques which we liked, a recreation of the main man Miyazaki's work area and all of his influences from books to ads, comics, art… you could really see where the Ghibli style came from. For better for worse photography is forbidden in the museum with the exception of the rooftop garden and café areas, hence the lack of pics.

Speaking of which, there was also a quite wonderful rooftop garden with the giant robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky you could pose with (and we did) plus being in Japan everyone queued up and took it in turn to take each others photos with it.





And finally my favourite part was an exhibition on food in the Ghibli films and how they brought the scenes to life with small details from facial expressions of the characters eating to small movements in a bottle of lemonade to the difficulty of animating chopsticks compared to a knife and fork. Before leaving there was time to watch a special short film only shown at the museum about a day in the life of a small caterpillar named Boro.

We had originally planned to eat at the on site restaurant but the queues for the sit in option were huge so we gave up and enjoyed a stroll back through the park taking a very scenic yet enjoyable walk as the rain came down.

Feeling hungry we decided on what looked like a curry rice restaurant chain and enjoyed a very decent katsu curry for a very low price.







Fuelled and ready to go we had initially planned a walk around the more historic parts of Asakusa, however the rain had gotten significantly worse so we changed plans and headed back to Senso-ji to enjoy it by day and see inside the temple.









We also drew fortunes and quickly wished we hadn't. Mine was quickly tied to the line and I thanked my lucky stars I'd not drawn it a week earlier…





Shake out one of the sticks.



Match the symbol on the stick to the drawers.



Retrieve your fortune.



And hopefully don't draw this one!



But if you do tie it here.



We returned to the hotel for a brief rest and decided to cash in our complements of the manager card at the 14th floor bar. With some regret I might add. Thanks to the awful weather we had 100% lost the view that night. After some prompting all round it turned out our voucher was good for two glasses of wine and either a dessert or some bar snacks. We took two glasses of red and some bar snacks of which the beef jerky was particularly delicious.



We then headed out into the rain dashing quickly to the covered walkways hoping to find somewhere to eat. Our original plan was to walk to the Skytree and check out a ramen place from our guidebook but with torrential rain outside this was scrapped. We did three tours of the area and eventually decided on an okonomiyaki place for dinner. It looked fairly busy and fun, filled with cooking smoke, extractor fans and good times. It turned out the only thing having a good time was a bug dancing inside Ms. Spymon's stomach that made her ill for the next few days.







Here's one they made for us!



We finished off our food for the night by picking up some taiyaki from a popular looking stall. After years of watching anime characters bite happily into these steaming hot bean filled pastries I was expecting some delicious comfort food. What we ended up with was one of the biggest culinary disappointments of the trip...



We called it a night but Ms. Spymon and her new friend had other ideas and with a full day of non-stop travel coming up the timing could not have been worse.

Me on the other hand... I was just fine or so I thought.

roberto99

Great report!

I've had 14 amazing trips to Tokyo.

For a perfectly wonderful taiyaki next time ask for the custard taiyaki. We like to let it age for 10 minutes to get the flavors to marinate together.

nequine

Enjoying your TR so far.

avneeshj

Great TR. I am loving your commentary and the beautiful pictures. Please keep posting more. Looking forward to the rest.

Spymon

Thanks for the tip, I think we gave up too soon on our quest for taiyaki.

Thanks nequine, hopefully at least two new updates today.

More coming up. The vast majority of the photos have now been uploaded and most of the commentary written.

Spymon

Unfortunately the morning didn't start as planned. Ms. Spymon was not doing well having spent the night throwing up. However, at this point in time I was feeling just fine and rather than breakfasting somewhere special I popped downstairs and enjoyed a coffee and earl grey donut from Starbucks. Say what you like about Starbucks, or choosing Starbucks in Japan but the food items are significantly different at a Starbucks in Tokyo compared to a Starbucks in London. I enjoyed my donut whilst watching the various photos and videos posted from the wedding of the year. My friend S who was one of our witnesses had her wedding reception the day prior UK time and it looked absolutely spectacular and fun. We were gutted not to be there but we had an extremely good excuse!



Before checking out I also popped up to the 14th floor for some top notch photo opportunities of the Skytree, Senso-ji and Asakusa.





I should have been really excited that morning as it was to be our first time riding the shinkansen or bullet train, something I had dreamed of since I found out that such a thing existed. This was up there along with Concorde, Monorails (now maglevs) and the Orient Express. Sadly the closest I ever got to Concorde was the museum in New York. The others we'll see.

Unfortunately Ms. Spymon was still sick. I encouraged her out of the room towards and the metro as we headed for Tokyo station. We left with plenty of time as there are countless reports of how complicated Tokyo station is. We took the train to Atami before making a short walk to the rear side of Tokyo station. It turned out only two things were hard to find, a toilet for Ms. Spymon and spotting where our train was leaving from as the indicator board was hidden behind a post, right next to the ticket office!

Whilst Ms. Spymon was busy relieving herself of the previous night's dinner, I sorted out our rail passes for later in the trip. Due to the flights we'd only need a week's pass. I also picked up tickets for the next day's bullet train back to Tokyo.

We headed up to the platform where I found Ms. Spymon a spot before snapping away like a madman at the various trains around the station.





Train: Kodama 649 Tokyo to Odawara
Depart: Tokyo Station 10:56
Arrive: Odawara Station 11:31
Seats: Coach 16: 15D and 15E (Reserved)
Locomotive: Shinkansen N700 Top Speed 177mph (285 km/h)







It was soon time to board our bullet but not before an army of maids in pink attacked the train and reversed the seats so they all faced the direction of travel.

For some reason lots of reports state a lack of luggage room on these trains; true there are little in the way of dedicated stands but the overhead luggage racks are generous and unless you are 6 foot plus you can probably store the case in front of you as the leg room on these trains is enormous. Other than how musical the announcements are the other big shock and difference from the European High Speed trains (yes, still need to try the German ICE) is the acceleration. These beasts get up to speed fast and you hardly feel it, just the blur at the window.



An all too soon half an hour later we arrived at Odawara where we picked up our free passes for the next 24 hours giving us an unlimited run on all the local transport in Hakone.



First up it was the Tozan line, a metro type train to Hakone Yumoto. Thank goodness for Japanese punctuality as we dropped our luggage at the delivery counter making the 12:30 cut off with just minutes to spare.







Free of our bags we could enjoy (or tolerate in Ms Spymon's case) some wonderful modes of transport. The train here is unique as not only is it rack and pinion it uses multiple switchbacks to climb the mountain landscape more efficiently. The views are pretty fine too (Just a tad challenging to photograph so you'll have to trust me).



Next up was the cable car. But more in the sense of the San Francisco one then what us Brits might call a cable car which in Japan is called a ropeway. In France this type of train would probably be called a funicular. Having taken an extended drinks and toilet break we ended up being first in line and enjoying beautiful views through the drivers cab.







After that was the rope way, or cable car as I'd call it. Ms. Spymon would probably call it a téléphérique or more accurately a nightmare. The views were great including the expected volcanic clouds of sulphur spewing out of the mountainside. We also managed a few decent sightings of Fuji-san dancing between the clouds.













We took a little walk at the top but not for long as the smell of sulphur in the air is not the most enjoyable. There were a few food stalls and tourist shops mostly selling the famous black eggs and other assorted items. As the black eggs came only in large quantities and neither of us were in the mood for what too many eggs can do to you, we passed. Instead I opted for a quick snack of fried rice balls and some black ice cream. Not the delicious black sesame ice cream I enjoyed for lunch later in the trip, but vanilla ice cream dyed black. This mistake was unfortunately one that would last a good few days…











There was just time for some quick snaps of Mount Fuji before he hid back behind the clouds again.



We then took the rope way down the other side of the mountain affording us amazing views of the lake and our pirate boats







After the rope way it was time for a relaxing cruise on our pirate boat across the lake surrounded by glorious mountain greenery.











Feeling suitably relaxed it was time to get the bus to our ryokan for the night. Other than missing our stop by one it was a largely uneventful trip. Top tip: if you see a tour group about to get on the bus and you're not in a rush, get the next bus.

We arrived at Mount View Hakone as planned and were warmly welcomed at check in. We also managed to book in a post-dinner pre-bedtime slot at one of the two private onsen at the resort.





We were shown up to our room and helped to settle in. We picked the Japanese style room and it looked and felt like the slice of classic Japan we'd hoped for, with paper screen doors, tatami mats. yukatas and slippers. I made myself some green tea and worked on this TR whilst Ms. Spymon relaxed a bit.











Before long it was dinner time so we slipped on our yukatas and I flapped along the corridor in my slippers, down in the lift and over to the dining room. The screen doors were opened, and we found a table with our name on it with a feast of food awaiting us. It wasn't quite like the dad eating the chickens in Spirited Away but it was a damn fine dinner spread!





There was a bubbling hot pot of veggies, noodles, sashimi, salad, rice, miso soup, pickles, fruit and lots of other beautiful odds and ends at our table. We started wrong, probably finished wrong and most certainly broke every rule, written or otherwise on kaiseki style dining. Oh well, other than two dishes it was delicious from first bite to last. Overall we were more than happy. Our first attempt at trying traditional Japanese cuisine ended well and set us up nicely for a few meals to come later on in the trip.















We flapped off and away back to our room to prepare for our first time at an onsen bath.



Around 10 pm we shuffled back downstairs to get our onsen key and were shown to a small room in the hotel basement. Inside was a small changing room and shower area looking outside onto a big steaming wooden hot tub filled with nourishment for our bodies and soul. Behind the tub was a bamboo feature that added both atmosphere and privacy.



I made the first cautious steps into the tub and it was just perfect. With all the travelling, food and fatigue I could feel the stress just slipping away. Ms. Spymon joined me and when the sweat started to run we knew we were done. Completely refreshed we returned to the room and bedded down for the night on our futons for an unexpectedly comfortable sleep. We were desperate for a good night's rest as the next day was going be another mad one!

Spymon

We got up fairly early that morning, slipped into our yukatas and headed down for breakfast. Another feast for both the eyes and the stomachs had been laid out for us to enjoy. There was also plenty of coffee to help with that early morning feeling. Believe it or not we'd actually made good time and were packed and ready to leave ahead of schedule.













We settled up the odds and ends at the front desk and wheeled our stuff across the street. Our bus arrived exactly on time and we twisted and turned in comfort and control with our luggage spilling out into the aisles just the once. Not braving the bus all the way to Odawara we got off to Hakone Yumoto, stopped for some coke to settle our stomachs and took our sweet time.

We arrived super early for our shinkansen at Odawara and were fortunate enough to get all our seat reservations sorted for the rest of the trip, result! We waited for a while before boarding our bullet train to Tokyo.

Train: Kodoma 640 Odawara to Shinagawa
Depart: Odawara Station 11:42
Arrive: Shinagawa Station 12:09
Seats: Coach 12 (Seats Unknown)
Locomotive: Shinkansen N700 Top Speed 177mph (285 km/h)

And

Train: Keikyu Main/Airport Line Rapid Ltd. Exp Shinagawa to Haneda
Depart: 12:22 Shinagawa
Arrive: 12:38 HANEDA AIRPORT DOMESTIC TERMINAL
Seats: Unreserved
Locomotive: Keikyu N1000 series Tope Speed 75mph (120 km/h)







Our transfer at Shinagawa was not a success. The station is large and busy and we were searching for the Keikyu line. With a tight connection and not a sign in sight panic started to set it. On closer inspection it turned out this train company was not affiliated to the one we had got off of and therefore signage was minimal at best. In addition the transfer points were a long way from each other. We eventually found the Keikyu line, got on the wrong train, got off before it left and squeezed into the right train headed to Haneda with seconds to spare.

This train truly went at some speed for a commuter train and about 15 mins later we were at the airport. We got off, recharged our Pasmos for Sapporo and attempted to work out the JAL domestic check in process and location of the desks. HND seemed like a pretty nice airport and before long we found the desks and had someone check us in. If you are on regular JL stock you could easily print your own bag tag and self check in. We loved the attention to detail the staff had when taking care of baggage. Security was easy and it turns out liquids are fine but they need to be placed in a special scanner for checking. Thankfully Ms. Spymon's water bottle passed with flying colours.







We walked towards the gates and had a browse for food along the way. Immediately I spotted some chocolate covered potato crisps but this lunch option was instantly vetoed (confession I did buy some at HND for the trip home). I took a few snaps, noticed the very late looking boarding time and went to find lunch. I dug out a bento, a drink and some fancy wafer biscuits totalling up less than Ł10.







I enjoyed my lunch and before long it was time to board, though later than planned as the flight was behind schedule. Our waiting time did allow me to reflect on our short time in Japan so far. There is a lot of technology in place but also a lot of manual jobs we just don't do back in Europe anymore. At boarding there was a man whose job it was just to hold a sign telling people if it was their turn to board despite electronic signs and announcements. When boarding commenced the gates were automatic. However, they are also fully staffed making sure you put your boarding pass on the reader correctly and so someone can thank you for flying JAL. I just can't see it at home where the whole point of machines is to get rid of people rather than help people to do a better job!

Flight: JL519 Tokyo to Sapporo
Depart HND: 14:30
Arrive CTS: 16:00
Seats: 23D & 23E
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200 (Reg Unknown)





Service was friendly throughout on this flight and consisted of a couple of drinks runs. We chose the JAL Sky Time which was refreshing. Entertainment wise headphones were provided, there was also on board Wi-Fi which via the JAL app you can use to watch films and TV shows.

This was a three class aircraft, we were in Y Class (Economy), J Class is Y service with a large leather recliner seat, First which we didn’t see has a further upgraded seat, meal and lounge access. It is possible to upgrade for cash at the airport for a fairly low fee subject to availability. Unfortunately there was no availability on either of our flights. Other than being around 20 mins late the flight was uneventful.









On arrival at Sapporo baggage was on the belts in no time at all so we headed straight for the train to the city centre. All was going to plan till I got a feeling of deja vu and worked out we were on the wrong train yet again… Once more we made the last second dash to the one on the adjacent track. We arrived on time at Sapporo station and changed on to metro. After some minor concerns we'd come out the wrong exit we turned around 180 degrees and saw our hotel standing tall up ahead.

Hotel: Ibis Styles Sapporo
Room: 804 Superior Double, Non Smoking

Check in was warm and efficient and included a welcome drink (not in the bar but simply just handed over at the check in desk) I chose a beer, Ms. Spymon an orange juice. We headed up to our room to quickly unpack. The view was pretty decent including the Ferris wheel overlooking the city. There was plenty of space for all our luggage and to move around the room freely. Clearly it is possible to get a large room in Japan without a large price tag to go with it.













We took the metro in the direction of the Sapporo Beer Museum and enjoyed a leisurely walk through residential Sapporo till we arrived at the beer museum. Whilst we were too late for tastings and a tour we loved how beautiful the old brewery looked lit up at night. Around the brewery there were many Ghengis Khan places filled up to the brim with suited (and often intoxicated) men in their uniform of white shirts enjoying a beer or five to wash down copious servings of grilled lamb.









We walked back to the station and over to the bustling nightlife area for dinner. Between the bar touts, neon, love hotels and restaurants it was quite an experience. We eventually found Daruma which was recommended by our guidebook as being a great place to try Genghis Khan, which in short is cook your own lamb on a special grill along with onions, garlic, dipping sauces, kimchi and plenty of beer.





The food tasted really good and was rather cheap so we went for seconds. We strolled back to our room via a whole bunch of seedy looking love hotels, smelling like a BBQ pit. Quite the experience.

Absolutely shattered we decided to call it a night, or so we thought. We spotted a cute little cake shop that was still open and felt obliged to indulge. At the time of eating these cakes seemed like a great idea.

Spymon

Let's say today was a beautiful day but one that didn’t go to plan one bit. Between both of us being all over the place time zone wise, a lack of sleep and energy from being sick we needed a break. We crawled out for breakfast as it was included in our room rate and all I remember having were a couple of dry and not particularly nice mini pastries and a mug of green tea. I then went back to the room to sleep whilst Ms. Spymon fought a losing battle with the Japanese explanation only laundry room, well I helped a bit along with google translate and neither were entirely successful.



Ms. Spymon also had the hotel cancel our lunch reservation as neither of us were in the place to chow down on a multi-course crab menu.

Feeling brave we decided to walk to the rather lovely Odori park. On the plus side we were never more than five minutes from a toilet stop. Unfortunately there was also a massive food festival in the park.



















After an hour or so we headed off via the metro to Maryuama Park. We had a lovely walk through the park, the weather was absolutely perfect for it and there were plenty of toilets and also vending machines for the best upset stomach drink, coke!









The park and Hokkaido-jingu shrine (supposedly containing the soul of the Emperor Meiji) was well worth the effort. Between the wildlife, buildings and people watching it was great fun and very relaxing.

























However as the sun was fading the real highlight was still to come. On the other side of the park was a winding trail up the hillside with hundreds of little buddha statues and hardly a soul around. Had we both been 100% we would have definitely made it to the top, but between the fading light and our fading condition we called it a day and went back to the hotel for a rest.





















Whilst I slept Ms. Spymon found some reserves and took some more photos of the park by the hotel.









Feeling worse for wear I was craving chips and Ms. Spymon food and we thought that MOS Burger would be more authentic than McDonalds. We did the usual ramble through the love hotels and bright lights around 10 mins later we arrived. Truth be told this place was a bit of a dump with a mishmash of clientele but we ordered our meals and they soon arrived. I was happy just to finish 80% of my food. Lets be nice and say it was ok at best and we were both sad that this was what we had been reduced to.





We called it a night and shuffled back to the hotel hoping tomorrow would bring a brighter day than the salaryman's hangover we were feeling.



Our final morning in Sapporo started with the Ibis breakfast buffet. Again it was not the kind of thing to get me in the mood for food but at least just being in its presence no longer made me feel sick. Same routine as the day before, a couple of pastries and a mug of green tea. Oh well…



We packed, checked out and left our bags ahead of our morning stroll to see the famous old government buildings. Within minutes of exiting the hotel it had become obvious there had been a serious drop in temperature and some cold Hokkaido winds meaning we had to head back for coats before our walk. We nearly skipped this bit of the city and whilst the clock tower was a bit of a downer the park next to the town hall was awash with cherry blossom gently falling from the trees in the wind. Pure magic, every second, so much so we ended up being a little late back to the hotel.












We had a great time in Sapporo all things considered. Up next we head down south to Fukuoka.

nequine

What fantastic photos you took!

Gads, that black ice-cream looked rank!!! No wonder you weren't feeling great after eating it!!!