June 16, 2011 - My 17 days in Japan. Detailed account.
In May of this year I decided to visit Japan after noticing airline prices start to go up. I went to Japan last august for Hanabi and stayed in Ito. This time I booked my hotel/flight about two weeks before I actually left, and got recommendations on a nice hotel from my Japanese friend.
I paid about 95,000 yen for the hotel room(Hotel Mystays) that I would be sleeping in for the next two weeks, that includes breakfast which I tacked on for an additional 1,000 yen. I would say the breakfast helped me out alot. I also purchased a JR pass for 14 days, which costed over $500...a bit hard on my wallet.
I left on May 20th and returned to LA on June 6th. I took a plane straight to Haneda airport where I landed early that morning around 5AM. The airport was empty and security was rather suspicious of me, asking me questions about why I would be flying there so early. ^_^;
After getting through the airport I went to the empty station and took the train heading for Yokohama, where my hotel was located. I was tired and needed a shower, but I ended up getting lost and had to ask a japanese high school girl for directions. She gave me bad directions and I ended up on a train in the opposite direction where I ended up at Jimmuji station. ^_^;;
I eventually made it to Yokohama station, but got lost again while trying to find the train to Koganecho. I was suppose to take the local line there, but ended up on an express train that passed the stop. It seemed like every station employee I spoke to gave me different directions. I finally found my way to Koganecho after many hours...I was throwing myself through the door by that point. Of course, it was still around 9 or 10AM, so I couldn't check in yet. ^_^;;; The hotel staff was very nice though, so they let me into my room. The hotel had rental laptops available that I used several times....though it's 1,000 yen per day and they are painfully slow. The hotel had free wired internet but I'll bring a tablet next time.
After a nice shower I spent my first day(Saturday) walking around Yokohama and checking out the sights. I walked down the river next to the hotel which went all the way down toward the Pier and Minato mirai 21. I visited Landmark tower(Sky garden), landmark plaza, queen's square, Nippon-maru, cosmo world, etc. Later I drank Mango while watching a performer entertain a crowd of people below the tower. It was very cool, I even recorded part of it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Egx3NOyP0Q
At night I walked the streets behind my hotel and found many shops lit up and stalls selling food along the street. The next morning I ate breakfast at the hotel where you can sit staring out toward the river while relaxing music plays over the overhead speakers. Really prepared me for each day.
The second day I continued exploring Yokohama and visited Chinatown, Yokohama stadium, the red brick warehouse(there was some event going on so many tents were being setup), and even picked up my JR pass from Yokohama station.
The third day, monday, I took a trip to Tokyo and visited the Imperial palace in Marunouchi. I passed the courthouse where I came upon a large crowd of protesters, not sure what they were protesting, something about an airline..:o I then visited Hibiya park and treated myself to beer and german food. I went to Akihabara and walked around for a bit, didn't do much aside from checkout some of the stores and arcades, though I did visit a maid cafe for the first time(didn't really like it, they charged me $20 just for some coffee...I guess the extra was for maid service or something).
The fourth day I met up with my Japanese friend and she took me to Asakusa where we visited the Senso-ji temple and ate delicious food. After checking out the Asahi beer headquarters and Sky tree, we took the Tokyo cruise/Water bus up and down the Sumeda river for an hour or two while drinking beer.
The fifth day I didn't have a plan so I hopped on a train heading in the direction of Ito, so I could visit some seaside towns and take pictures. Along the way I stopped at a few small stations and explored the rural neighborhoods nearby, the streets were empty and the walkway next to the road was barely big enough for a person. As I continued toward Ito I came within view of Mt. Fuji(Fujisan) which I wasn't really expecting...so I got off at Hara station and walked out into the countryside to take some pictures.
I went to Fuji city and got even closer to Fuji, where I took many pictures of the famous mountain. 8)
I walked passed many fields and saw farmers working away, I even met a Blueberry farmer who asked me to visit his home the next time I come to Japan and gave me some kasugai peas as a snack. :)
The sixth day I took the shinkansen, Hikari, from shin-yokohama to Nagoya. I walked in a circle around the city and visited Nagoya castle, Nagoya TV tower, the spaceship Oasis 21(shopping area), the science center, Spiral tower, etc. Nagoya castle was impressive and had many high walls all around it, and the Oasis 21 mall was awesome...I loved how they built it to look like an actual spaceship. :D At the end of the day I stopped at a ramen restaurant and ate, it was delicious and the glass window in front of me facing the outdoors had water running down it...giving off a beautiful shimmer effect where I was sitting.
The seventh day I took the shinkansen again to Nagoya, but I hopped on another and went to Kyoto. The Kyoto station is very large and had many entrances, I also noticed groups of school children were always somewhere around the station...I assume Kyoto is a popular place for school field trips. I went and checked out this little mall area called Kyoto Avanti but was shocked to find that most of the stores inside were for women. I've never seen so many cute dresses and clothes in my life...I quickly fled that place. I took a walk around Kyoto and saw many stores and temples, but decided to go somewhere a little more "old Japan." I took a walk away from the popular shopping areas and headed toward the mountains. I passed over a few bridges and even took shelter from the rain under one. I passed through many small towns and walked some streets that were barely large enough for cars to pass through. I eventually arrived at the start of the path leading up to the Fushimi inari taisha shrine...a path leading up the mountain with over 10,000 Torii(or so I've read). :) There were many small shops along the road selling trinkets.
It actually took me a couple hours to reach the top, mostly because I kept stopping to take pictures and had to take shelter where I could from the rain. The steps were slippery and the path leading up the mountain was empty of tourists or visitors...I felt like the only person on the mountain while walking up. Many little ice cream or coffee shops nearby were closed. There were some interesting sights on the way up...like the heavy-light stone. You guess whether the stone is heavy or light, make a wish, then lift the stone...if it's as heavy as you guessed, your wish will be granted. I guessed wrong...the rock was much heavier than I thought. I tried again and cheated by guessing that it was heavy this time...but the stone became suprisingly light in my hands. It was very mysterious.
I made it to the top of the shrine despite the rain...but slipped on the last step and cut my left hand on some rocks. I had to go all the way back down the mountain to find first-aid. I know to carry band-aids next time...
I ate omurice that night before leaving Kyoto, it was an omlet with rice inside of it...usually with a source or meat on top of it.
The eighth day I was tired and didn't want to take anymore long shinkansen trips, so I stayed in Yokohama for the day and walked over to World porter. I ate the most delicious desert that I've ever had in my life there...
Hot waffles with ice cream on top with chocolate. The restaurant was called Pianeta. Afterwards I went inside the Red brick warehouse mall, which was incredibly crowded...I didn't spent too much time there. I walked over toward Yamashite park and visited the Osanbashi pier. They had some sort of Hula dancing event going on and lots of people selling hawaii merchandise. I saw the Marine tower but didn't really go inside.
The Ninth day I took the train over to Tokyo and visited Minato where I walked through the Zojoji temple grounds, I briefly walked inside one of the temples and saw a buddhist priest praying for a family. The smell of incense was in the air. I walked around the temple and saw many Zijo statues of children lined up silently observing visitors. They had been decorated by locals usually for good luck or to protect the souls of dead children. Further up the street was Tokyo tower, which has a nice observatory where you can see most of the city. It was raining so visibility was low and it was very cloudy that day.
The rain cleared up so I took the train and visited Shibuya, Harajuku and shinjuku in no particular order. I'm not into fashion so these places mostly didn't interest me, though I did browse their streets for a few hours. Notably, I visited Hachiko's statue in Shibuya and Takeshita dori in harajuku. Toward the end of the day I went over to Ikebukuro to visit Sunshine city...but I spent an hour or two walking up and down the streets but could never find it. Instead I just found a confusing train station and loads of love hotels.
Day ten, I took the trains over to Nikko...it was a longer ride than I expected and it seemed the trains didn't run at all hours. I picked up some tourist guidebooks and jumped on a Nikko line train. The train passed through the distant countryside and through some forests before finally arriving at Nikko which is surrounded by mountains. Judging by all the signs you can tell that they were really pushing for tourism here as they promoted this place as being the closest thing to old Japan that you will find.
Nikko was a really amazing place, I loved how the sunlight was breaking through the clouds over the distant mountains and all the little shops along the main road. I walked in the direction of the world heritage sights and saw the sacred Shinkyo bridge over the Daiyagawa river. I walked through the park and saw Rinnoji temple along with Toshogu shrine, where there were many old buildings and green forest in every direction. I even went off the beaten path and stumbled upon many old places that tourists would probably miss. ^_^ The thing I don't like about Nikko, is that everything costs money. You have to pay to enter many of the temples...I think the Toshogu temple costed over 1,200 yen.
Day eleven, I was meeting my Japanese friend for dinner so I stayed in Yokohama and took a trip over to Sankeien gardens. I figured it wouldn't be too far to walk, but it took me nearly 5 hours...@_@ I don't regret it, I saw some parts of Yokohama that I normally wouldn't have. I passed through markets and saw fresh fish being sold and was greeted by merchants. On my way back I stopped at Yokohama stadium where the place was lively with activity and stalls were setup selling food just before a big game.
Day twelve, I returned to Kyoto and explored the city in more detail. I bought delicious snacks from the station bakery and visited Kyoto tower and Higashi honganji. I walked through the Nishiki Market area and ate Taiyaki that only costed 100 yen.
I walked around the city checking out the shopping areas and eventually stopped at Nijo castle...but was disappointed to find that it was closed for the day. ;_; I went to a Curry restaurant called CoCo ichibanya which was awesome.
Day thirteen, I took a trip to Mitaka to see the Ghibli museum which was a good 30 minute walk from the train station. It was raining again that day so I figured I could take cover in the museum and enjoy myself...but when I arrived, there was a notice saying the Ghibli museum was closed until June. ****.
Dejected and wet, I went over to Shin-Yokohama and visited the Ramen museum and Nissan stadium. The Ramen museum looked fairly normal on the upper floor with pictures of ramen from different parts of Japan and little utensils that you could purchase...however the basement level of the museum was like something from another era.
There were several Ramen restaurants but you don't pay inside, you have to buy a ticket from a nearby vending machine where you input your ramen selection. You just give the ticket to the waitress and they make your Ramen...it was great. The Ramen was really hot, just enough to warm me up.
Day fourteen, I took a lengthy train ride over to Osaka. I visited the Osaka-jo hall and Osaka castle, which were fairly close. There were a ton of people there that day, apparently a concert was being held at Osaka-jo. Near Osaka castle was a relaxing river where I saw many people fishing or strolling about. I saw a doll resembling Sinatra that was setup and singing his songs in the park. I bought a lot of good food from the stalls in the area(though the Takoyaki wasn't good on my stomach) and Osaka castle was impressive, see the top picture for this report. People in Osaka were very friendly and I even had some people stop to ask where I was from.
On day fifteen the weather was very nice, so I took the Yurikamome monorail over to Odaiba(island in Tokyo bay). There I visit Sega's Joypolis, the Odaiba statue of Liberty, Fuji TV and many of the shops and malls there like Aqua city. I walked through Shiokaze park where some sporting event was taking place, but was disappointed that the giant gundam was no longer there. I also came across some racecar event and saw the drivers drifting around a track while hundreds of people cheered. Toward the end of the day I walked over to the Oedo-onsen monogatari and enjoyed the hot springs, it wasn't my first time so I knew what to do...but I did make a few mistakes like walking on the hard floor without taking my shoes off. >_< The price was lower than what was posted outside and I only paid 2,100 yen. I picked my Yukata and changed in the locker room after storing my things. The next area was full of restaurants and game rooms where I saw people sitting on Tatami mats laughing and having fun.
The Onsen was very hot but I relaxed under a tree in the outdoor onsen area for a while, I probably would have fallen asleep there. I was very sad to leave as the sun began to set. Back in Yokohama I arranged to meet with a Japanese friend and we had dinner before I had to leave Japan. Afterward she took me past the local temple and up this hill overlooking the entire city where I got some great pictures.
The last day in Japan I took one last walk around Yokohama and said goodbye to the Landmark tower that I had been used to seeing everyday by now. I took my bags and headed to the train station where I had a case of misfortune...I wasn't allowed to enter the gates using my JR pass, because it expired. I had messed up and made the last day of my JR pass for the 5th instead of the 6th...>_< I was going to take the Narita express using my pass...
I had no yen left and only my Visa card...so after a lot of trouble I eventually had to buy a NEX ticket for 4,000 yen. I was just happy to get to Narita airport on-time...though I was broke by this point. I traded my Suica in at the airport for some extra money, and a 200 yen refund.
Japan is a really wonderful place and despite the recent disasters that destroyed many towns much of Japan is unaffected in the south and was relatively safe. I experienced one or two small earthquakes while there but nothing I haven't felt in LA. I will definitely try to return for my third time next April for Hanami and would like to eventually move to Yokohama some day if I ever get the opportunity. :)
