darthlemsip

Hello there dear readers, after a substantial absence from posting my trips on this forum, I am back with an apology - and a trip report of course.

So firstly the apology - I never did finish the Grenada or Singapore trip reports from way back when, and nor did I continue to document my adventures. To be honest, I got a little travel weary and lost my appetite for it, and a new role at work is keeping me busy in terms of work and travel. But that’s no excuse - if you start something then you should finish it, and I didn’t, so I’m sorry again.

But I have renewed vigour now, and hopefully the three people that regularly read my reports are still here and can forgive me. So with that in mind, let’s get on with why you’re all actually here - did Mrs Lem let me pack? Err, I mean our trip to Japan.

So, on with the show. I’ll be doing this semi-live, as we departed today (I’m writing this bit on our transit stop), and PROMISE I will keep it updated – I have a lot of time on trains coming up…

Part 1 - Getting the darn thing booked

This trip has been a long, long time in the planning. Mrs Lem turned 30 last summer, I turn 40 this coming December, and for a number of years we had discussed the idea of doing ‘a big trip’ somewhere in between the two - officially titled 30/40 (we’re so imaginative). It initially started as a plan to take a couple of months off work and travel the world, but my change in role and Mrs Lem getting a new job entirely put paid for that. It then became a month long round the world trip, but realised in the planning that getting in all the places we both wanted to go to was a) impossible, b) prompted some fairly heated debate on where to actually include and, c), once we’d compiled that list we realised we’d only spend a few days in each place before jetting off again.

So we were back to square one. As we’d also decided to move house, we did consider abandoning the idea completely, or deferring until 40/50, and putting the money towards said move, but ultimately came to the conclusion that it was something we’d talked about doing for so long that we’d regret it if we didn’t - but still had nowhere to go.

Going over the list of countries that we’d included in the RTW planning, we quickly realised the one that we’d both immediately agreed on was Japan. So a nugget of a plan formed - three weeks in Japan, with a week somewhere on a beach at the end to decompress. The beach week was then split off to later in the year, otherwise we’d be using most of our paid work holiday in one hit, and we briefly toyed with the idea of stopping over in the Middle East on the way back for a few days, but it wasn’t really a big enough draw, and we ultimately concluded on an extra day in Japan and a day at home to recover before having to go back to work.

So, we were finally there - three weeks in Japan. Right, how do we get there, what do we do when we’re there, and where do we stay? Plenty of shrugged shoulders in Lem Towers.

Let’s start with the where and the what, given that was done first, and fed into the how.

As neither of us had been there before, we started chatting with friends that had been, reading TR’s on here, and reading travel magazines. Almost every single publication, and more than one lot of friends, recommended a company called Inside Japan Tours. If you take nothing away from this trip report other than considering using them for a trip there, I will still be happy. They were brilliant. Once we had a vague idea of what we wanted from using their sample itineraries, having settled on a self guided tour, we gave them that and a budget, and they went off and worked their magic. After some adjustments to their initial effort, the second one was spot on and we were set for 3 weeks travelling around Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Myajima, Hiroshima, Okunoshima and Osaka. They took care of hotels, trains and buses, private guides and event tickets, we just had to take care of the how...

We (well, I tbh. Mrs Lem generally stays out of this bit other than some specific instructions - “I want a flat bed and I don’t want to spend ages transferring anywhere”) spent an equally long time looking at how to get there. Given the significance of this trip, we wanted to do as much in first class if possible - this ruled out flying direct with either of the Japanese carriers as it was just too expensive for our budget. We could have done it in business, but was still more than a lot of first class journey’s that had a transfer.

I looked at everything possible - QR, CX, LH, EY, EK, AF, even BA, and many, many others, and, taking advice from SFO777 (thank you again), ultimately settling on Air France La Premiere to Tokyo, with KLM’s new business on the 787-9 home from Osaka.

Right now all four of you are looking at the title of this report again and going “Huh?” Well, about a month after I booked it, I got a notification the plane from CDG to NRT had been changed to one without La Premiere. AF offered rebooking to a different day, or a full refund - the former wasn’t possible as hotels were already booked, so we took the refund (side note - Air France’s refunds take a ridiculously long time, think it was about five weeks before the money came back) and my search started again.

This time I settled on an all first itinerary and chose Emirates over Thai and Etihad due to flight and transfer timings (and Etihad meaning we’d have to get back from Osaka to Tokyo). The first leg would be on Qantas, but I was fine with that as I’d flown their first a few weeks before making this booking this and was very impressed.

In a moment of plane geek joy, it later transpired that we would be on the last QF10, and penultimate A380, from LHR-DXB, as it switched to LHR-PER or LHR-SIN, dependant on your onward point, the next day. I’d never done a final flight before, so I was happy. Mrs Lem just shrugged.

With it all finally booked, it was time to sit and wait. We’d finished booking this 9 months out too, so it was a long wait. However, it eventually became time to go...

darthlemsip

kosy91

Off to a good start. Looking forward to the rest

darthlemsip

A quick interlude now we've arrived in Japan - I know what you're all thinking, did I get to pack? Did I heck. I stood around like a spare part until I was banished from the room. The origami ninja did her thing, and three packed bags were left for me to carry downstairs. They are, however, all full to the brim - so I suspect by the time we leave Osaka there may well be four or five bags coming home...

And what did Mrs Lem think of EK F? A sneak preview:

offerendum

I stay tuned

darthlemsip

Part 3 – and we’re off part b) Right, where was I when we last spoke? Ah yes, Tokyo. So another quick step backwards to finish up how we got here.

Not long after boarding was called for the leg to Narita, we finished up our drinks and walked round to the gate, to find it was already displaying last call.

I have a thing about getting to the plane as soon as boarding is called – I may have shared this with you previously, but I was once travelling back from Mumbai, sat in the airport bar having a beer, wondering why my flight hadn’t been called (as it was leaving in 10 minutes) and the old style clacker board didn’t show any delay. That’s when I heard my name being called by a harassed looking woman. Identified myself and she said, rather sharply, “Your flight is ready to go, we’re holding it for you” – I sheepishly pointed at the board and got “That’s broken!” back, in a tone that suggested I should have known this. I was then rushed through both layers of security, all the while she was on her radio saying “I have the passenger, do not offboard”, and literally thrown onto the plane with the door being closed behind me. I then had to do the walk of shame through many, many glaring eyes. Since then, I’m usually one of the first onboard.

Anyway, after that heart sinking moment, I was assured it was not for us, but to get all of the economy passengers to the gate promptly.

I’d flown EK F previously, but Mrs Lem had not. You can see from my previous post what she thought of it. I have since been informed this is the only way we will now travel. She wants the seats in our car replaced too.

By this point, it was quite late and I was feeling tired, so after a PDB of Dom 2009, decided to forgo food, have a quick nightcap and get a few hours sleep – we were arriving into Tokyo at about 17:30, so figured it would be best to get some shuteye now and be in a position to sleep later that night (more on that later)

Bed was made, PJ’s on and the wonderful crew asked what I’d like for my nightcap – chose The Dalmore King Alexander III single malt. This is a very nice whisky, retails at a little over £150 a bottle in the UK. When asked if I would like a small or a large, I opted for the small as I was somewhat sleepy. Now, I don’t know what Emirates use to measure out their drinks, but I’m not sure in what universe half a glass is considered small. If she’d used the fingers method to measure, she’d used the fingers of an elephant.

Basically it knocked me out – laid down, closed my eyes and woke up 6 hours later (funnily enough, needing water).

With a couple of hours to go until landing, I took the opportunity for another first – showering on a plane. Gimmick or not, and low water pressure aside, it was fantastic and I felt perfectly refreshed afterwards. Can also tick off ‘Get naked on a plane (preferably without being arrested)’ off my bucket list.

On the Japan routes, EK offer both Western and Japanese cuisine. I opted for the latter for breakfast. Showtime EK style, as one of our more popular TR posters would say:


Other than the salmon and miso soup, I’m not sure what a lot of that was, I can tell you it all tasted wonderful though, the glaze on the salmon was a particular favourite.

No sooner was that cleared away, we started final descent into Narita and were on the ground shortly thereafter. Didn’t have to wait long to see the Cherry Blossoms either – there were many lining the runway as we decelerated…

We were reunited with our bags and airside within 30 mins of touching down, purchased tickets for the Skyliner and headed off to Ueno. A quick Uber from there (as I could not get a taxi to stop for us) and we were in the hotel at 19.30. That’s impressive.

We’re off out for the day now on a private guided tour of the city, so I’ll be back tonight to type up the first couple of days here, and continue with the food photos

adampenrith

This is going well - congrats for acknowledging your challenges with outlook - and double congrats for being so open about them.

As for the hair and the shirt - they both work for you.

I loved my time in Japan so will follow and enjoy every moment

darthlemsip

Madone59

Thank you for sharing, and not just about the trip. The shaved head is cool, you've got my ^^.

darthlemsip

Part 4 – Tokyo, days 1 and 2

We’ve had five nights in Tokyo before heading on to Hakone, from where I am writing this

The hotel we were in was the Richmond Asakusa – pretty basic, but perfectly fine as somewhere to sleep, and a great location to explore the city from. Quick side note, Japanese TV is simply bonkers. Think Takeshi’s Castle and multiply that any weird stuff you ever saw on The Word. Then you have breakfast TV here.

But anyway, we’re not here to watch TV we’re here to experience Japanese culture. Mainly by eating their food and drinking their drink.

Step 1: Drink



Step 2: Forget to take any other pictures of food that night… Sorry

Having mutually decided been told that we were going to do as much local food in the side street places as possible on this trip, thus setting the tone for the rest of our meals, we wandered back through narrow streets towards our hotel, and came across some stunning cherry blossoms near the oldest shrine in Tokyo.









Was in bed for 11pm and…. Wide awake at 2am again.

Every single time.

Mercifully we both dozed off around 5am, and woke up again around 11. Whoops! Fortunately we had nothing scheduled until that evening, so we headed out for an explore, basic orientation and exchanging the vouchers for our JR rail passes. Onwards!

First some lunch at a local Ramen place





Very, very nice, and set us up perfectly for a day of exploring.

For those that don’t know Asakusa, it’s the historic district of Tokyo, and a world away from the neon lights and crowds you usually see Tokyo depicted as. Well, except in Sakura season when there are crowds everywhere.







One thing we learnt very quickly is the difference in the Japanese mentality when wanting to get somewhere, or do something – there will not be a second thought given to pushing through, stopping anywhere (often directly in front of someone), leaning against you on the train when there’s no handrail etc. To a westerner, this can be incredibly frustrating and bordering on rude, but it’s simply a different culture – in the end you just have to let it go and go with the flow. Yet somehow, despite all this, it was still strangely peaceful wandering around Ueno park and along the riverbank, with all the families gathering for picnics under the blossoms.

I’ll do a separate post after this with some more shots of the blossoms, there were a few!.

We did come across a fabulous bit of architecture in the headquarters of the Asahi Brewing Co.



The building on the left is designed to resemble a pint of beer, while the one on the right hosts what is supposed to be a flame on the roof. Not sure about that, look more to me like someone has been eating Ferro Rocher without taking the wrapper off…

We spent a pleasant few hours wandering through various parks, and trying various snacks – including the most literal translation of fish sticks I have ever seen


More foods should come on sticks

Then headed back to the hotel to meet or guide for the evening, Mike – a late twenties New Yorker who has lived in Japan for the last five years. We were supposed to go on a bar crawl with him, but hit it off so famously that our crawl was precisely two establishments, as we traded tales of travel horrors (he naturally won, being a guide) and stories of what it can really be like for a westerner living in Japan. It absolutely flew by and I once again forgot to produce the camera, other than for two occasions (which I only discovered a couple of days later, scrolling back through pictures):

Firstly, this is raw horse. It was very nice, but it was shown in the fish section of the menu. Because Japan



Secondly, Mrs Lem and I at the end of the evening (which I later remembered Mike wanted me to send on to him.) Yes, we were definitely worse for wear.



Coming up in the next full part – a private tour of the city, and many museums

darthlemsip

Off at a tangent - cherry blossoms

darthlemsip

Part 5 – Tokyo days 3 & 4

Day 3 didn’t have the best of starts, in a number of ways. Firstly, it was the day we had a private guided tour booked. After meeting Mike the previous evening, we couldn’t have had a more polar opposite guide - Mr Masaki Hashimoto.



Now don’t get me wrong, he really was a lovely guy, and being bored in retirement he’d taken up as a tour guide, but he was very straight laced and a bit boring unfortunately. Having seen other guides with people who were a bit more dynamic, it did end up feeling like we were doing a tour by numbers - this was immediately noticeable when he went through the itinerary with us and we had to cross off the rail pass exchange and Ueno park, having done them the previous day. Instead of offering up alternatives, we simply skipped to item 3 on his list and off we went.

But, we were still looking forward to being shown round an entirely alien city, and the new (back to be being) positive me was ready to fully embrace it. Then came the second part of the bad start. In a very early trip report of mine, I mentioned how I could put my back out just by standing up – but fortunately some physio a few years ago had sorted it out. Until Mrs Lem dropped her phone, I tensed as I went to grab it… and put my back into spasm. Literally 10 minutes into the all day tour.

Balls.

But I persevered on, albeit a bit more slowly – especially when it came to steps or inclines (thankfully the Japanese LOVE an escalator) – and had an enjoyable time in various gardens, the Imperial Palace (which had one of its rare openings) and more temples and shrines than you can shake a very long stick at.


Gateway to the shrine


The weeping blossom


Beautiful gardens, once home to the Samurai. Now home to many tourists


A very, very long queue to get into the Imperial Palace gardens


With some more blossoms – some of which were stunning


Man that queue of people moved slowly


Gives me an idea for preventing any future burglaries. Hope it doesn’t need planning permission.


All the colours in one hit


Money drop at the fish market


Massive oysters, £6 a go!


Lot’s of Sake barrels, alas all empty


Yeah, ok, it’s a bit busy…

But it did highlight some other issues we had – while I fully appreciate that we were shown things of huge cultural significance, they weren’t really what we’d come to Japan for. We were there for the crazy, even (from our view) the seedier side of things (admittedly, we got that, by mistake, as I’ll detail shortly) and had something very different, along with a guide who had an inflexible timetable – despite the 90 minute gain from crossing off the first couple of points.

That inflexibility was apparent at the fish market too – we’d just had lunch in an office block (for reasons we’re still not sure of) before heading to the market, where we took a circular route around the edge. We eventually had to stop him and say we’d like to look inside – this caused much looking at the schedule and consternation. Eventually we took 10 minutes to explore a couple of the alleyways, but then we were off again. I don’t want to sound petty or ungrateful, especially as we would never have known about the Imperial Palace being open, but it was somewhat of a relief when we reached Shibuya (still 90 mins ahead of schedule) and parted ways.

But Shibuya was one of the places we wanted to see, and we spent some time exploring the narrow streets crammed with tat, as well as taking in one of the largest beers I’ve ever seen.


Mrs Lems on the left for scale. And I don’t care what Kirin say, the head on that beer is all kinds of wrong

From there we went to Shinjuku to find the attacking Godzilla:





And the robot restaurant (which we didn’t realise you needed tickets for, so made it no further):



Before heading to Akihabara and the vast array of electronics and, well, smut. While winding our way through one of the floors, we came across the collectibles and anime section. One not paying attention turn later and we were in the over 18’s bit. That was eye opening to say the least. Can’t say either of us are a fan of the school uniform (which extends into real life) or upskirt thing. And it was fully of what can only be described as dirty old men. We left pretty quickly.

Back outside and in need of some mind bleach, we set off for dinner. Normally one of us would research where to go to dinner, we have a terrible, terrible record of just randomly picking somewhere. We’re those people you see in the local equivalent of an Angus Steakhouse (side note – I f you ever come to England, never, ever go in an Angus or Aberdeen (as some of them are still called) Steakhouse). In short, we’ve frequently travelled a long way and eaten terrible food. However, our luck their started changing after a recent trip to Edinburgh (a fantastic city) and continued here when we found a recently opened tempura restaurant in the UDX building. There were no menus, you sat and they kept giving you tempura until you asked them to stop



The language barrier also meant we had absolutely no idea what was being served – everything was fantastic though, and it sent us back to the hotel very happy.

Not as happy as someone was the next day though…

When we first booked this and were looking for things to do, Mrs Lem discovered the Cup Noodle museum in Yokohama, and it was the first thing that went on ‘The List’ (the first thing that goes on my list is Scarlett Johansson, but that’s probably a different list). So when the alarm went off for day 4, it was like Christmas Day levels of excitement.

Which continued on the various trains there and into the museum


Sigh…

There was brief respite in the history of varieties room


From the first one in 1958


To the seemingly endless array available today

It was really very interesting, and the story of Momomfuku Ando is fascinating. But the real reason to go there was to make your own cup noodle. There the excitable one ratcheted it up a whole other notch…


Having designed your own label (more in a mo), the first step is to choose your ingredients


Your pot is then shrink wrapped and given to you to take home and eat.

But stepping back a little – the very first step is to design your pot. I was under express instructions to “don’t be an idiot and draw a big nob on it” – so I went with the honest approach.


It almost certainly is

After that, we headed off to the Ramen museum – this is effectively a bunch of ramen restaurants that have got together, rented a building and introduced a cover charge. Very little museum, lots of ramen


Which is no bad thing, I love ramen

Before our final trip of the day – the Kirin Propaganda Tour. This one is free, but there is no English audio option – instead you are given a printout of a PowerPoint presentation which doesn’t seem to match up with anything you see. There is however, free beer at the end.


Wrong, wrong, wrong!


Hurrah! Free stuff! You are forgiven.

We headed back into Tokyo and paid a visit to the Tokyo Whisky Library.


There was A LOT to choose from

As I was in Japan, I figured it was a good idea to try something a bit more local


Lovely

Before finishing up with something from a favourite distillery that I’d never seen before


Also lovely

Then it was time for a gyoza for dinner. In my mind I pictured the stuff you get in the UK which was quite small, so ordered the 10 piece meal.

I’m sure you all know what happened next.


Massive.

But I would not let them beat me, and eat the lot. Before sleeping very, very soundly.

We arrived into Kyoto today, and need to process the slightly bonkers last 48 hours I’ve had, some of which was spent naked outside

Coming up next – wrapping up Tokyo and onwards to Hakone. Which was brilliant.

GSBtravels

Looking forward to the next posts!

Sorry to hear about your guide. Where did you book him through? I'm not sure if this is a flyertalk sin, but I've had great success with ToursByLocals. Our guides in Seoul and Tokyo last year were both fantastic and incredibly flexible. Granted, they can be a bit pricey if you're only a couple for a private tour, but I think they are worth their value when you have just a few days in each city.

If your bags weren't so full, I'd suggest you grab a Hibiki 17 bottle to take home!

palmanfr

Very nice and very well written report ! Enjoy the rest of your trip in Japan. I was there last week for the 4th time and would go back anyday, Everytime I discover new things to see in Tokyo...

Top of climb

Your trip reports are always a pleasure to read. Love your writing style. Welcome back! (And hope you are enjoying Japan!)