Sunrise Nippon Part 2 Spring version

[hikaeru]

Hi, am waiting for my return flight.

It's gonna be a very long story

After my first trip to Japan a.k.a Tokyo Dome PULL UP trip last December, I booked another flight tickets to Osaka in April, right after Eid and my mom's birthday because I wanted to let my parents see sakura.

It was thoughtless of me, I didn't check the sakura forecast.
When I told my friends, all of them said I won't be able to see sakura by that time.

Damn! 🤦🏻
I checked previous forecast and 2024 forecast, was thinking whether I should go to Hokkaido or Aomori to see sakura, it was seriously a headache 💆

In the end, I gave up.
In Islamic teaching, we have this phrase or belief, "bismillahi tawakaltu alallah" which literally means In the name of Allah, I trust in Allah.
If God would give a chance for us to see sakura, then we would see it no matter where we go. So, I gave up on searching for sakura.
We'll just go and enjoy spring in Japan.

Initially I was planning to visit Osaka, Himeji, Kyoto, Nara only, but I remember my dad was asking about Tokyo hop bus during our last trip.
I'm not really interested but, as he had asked before, I'd like him to ride it, especially as my parents aren't walkers. They'd be tired to walk for a long distance, enjoying Tokyo's scenery while on bus wouldn't be a bad idea.
So, I gave up on Kyoto Nara and changed to Tokyo.

I was interested in Tokyo Doitsu Mura, my plan was to ride hop bus on 15/4/24, go to Doitsu Mura or Yatsu Rose Garden (in Narashino 🤭) on 16/4/24 and head to Nagoya on 16/4/24 night for a bus trip to Takayama and Shirakawago on 17/4/24 - Another bus trip so that my parents can enjoy the scenery without having to walk a lot.

I booked almost everything 2 - 3 months before our trips. Hotels, shinkansen, restaurants, entrance tickets.

1 month before the trip, I broke the news to my parents.
Their reactions weren't as excited as me.

My father was like, I don't like the idea - I know it's because of financial constaint. But I don't have any responsibility on others, I don't marry, I don't have kids, my salary is solely for me, so I don't find it a burden to spend on my family.

My mother refused at first, saying she is tired, she cannot walk far. True, she isn't that young. She may look healthy and strong but perhaps walking, rushing to catch the train may be hard for my parents.

So I gave up on Doitsu Mura/ Yatsu Rose Garden/ Sakura Hiroba and was thinking for another plan when I watched Dai-chan in Hirunandesu where they went for local train trip. That'd be a good idea.

So I searched for local trains in Chiba where we can see beautiful scenery, and I came across Kominato Tetsudou. This is it!

I studied the timetable and attractions at each station and I decided to stop at Yoro Valley Station to enjoy the nature.
I booked the tickets from Japan Transit Planner.

Few weeks before the trips, my friends texted me saying sakura was expected to bloom later than previous year and I might be able to see it. Lucky ✌🏻

As for the hotels, initially I booked a hotel in Asakusa for 1 night, but I don't know. Few days before the trip, I didn't feel comfortable with the hotel, I'm worried about the distance.
The night before our trip, I cancelled the booking and rebooked Livemax Hotel at Nihonbashi because it's closer to Tokyo Station.

13/4/24: First Day Osaka
We arrived 20 minutes earlier.
We had udon for brunch at Kineya Mugimaru in Kansai International Airport, then we headed to the station near our homestay in Shin-Imamiya. We put our luggages at a coin locker nearby and headed to Osaka Castle Park.

So lucky!
We may miss the full bloom by about 3 - 4 days but the sakura had started to fall, so we managed to see showers of sakura at Osaka Castle Park.

We rode a road train to go around Osaka Castle Park.

What I noticed was, Osaka people love to wave at people 😂 People on the street purposely ran approaching the moving train just to wave at those riding it 😀 They were very friendly

But, here came the problem.
I don't know what kind of place Dotonbori is, but I booked a cruise at Dotonbori for the night activity.
The cruise was so plain 😂

But that wasn't the problem.
As we walked through the street to have dinner at Panga Halal Yakiniku, the street was... scary 😂
All I can say is, it is scary and all I can remember is, Shuhei 😂
I saw a big poster of Shuhei I don't know who but I guess, he is a popular host there 😂
My dad was not comfortable to walk there.
But, the yakiniku was delicious 😋 and on the way back, we managed to buy yaki-imo 😋

14/4/24: Second Day Himeji
Early in the morning, we headed to Sannomiya to have coffees at Pascucci Cafe (The coffee at Shin Kobe Pascucci Cafe was delicious when we went during our first trip) and to meet my foster families in Kobe.
They would join our trip to Himeji.
I had a good time at Himeji, but I don't want to describe in details my activity in Himeji 😂
We had lunch at Senhime Chaya restaurant. The curry rice was delicious 😋
I messaged the restaurant earlier to book for halal menu.

Then we headed to Himeji Castle. To make it short, Himeji was wonderful and the people were friendly.

We returned to Osaka at night, to have our dinner at Zerohachi Halal Yakiniku - Just only two days, the cost for food was expensive but yea, that was our mission, my sisters and I wanted to try a lot of Japanese food, so we prepared like 200,000 - 300,000 yen for food.

When I told my Japanese friends about my itinerary, all said it's a hard schedule, and they asked why I chose Kominato Tetsudou and Yoro Valley instead of other more tourist spots. Like, no one usually go there, it's not a tourist attraction, my friend said.
Honestly, I was worried about my own plan when everyone said that.

15/4/24: 3rd Day Tokyo
I started the day with posting a lot of Happy Birthday wish to Arioka Daiki online everywhere I could 😂
I may not say this, many of you might not know, but Tamamori Yuta and Arioka Daiki have been my favorites since J.J.Express so 15th April has always been a special day for me

In my heart, I also wished Matsumoto Kouta a successful and safe senshuraku for his butai.
I purchased 2 tickets as soon as he announced the butai, though I knew I cannot go.
I was in Tokyo, but I didn't want our family trip this time to be Johnny's related (like the first trip was actually plan because my sister hit for JUMP's PULL UP) so I decided not to go seeing Kouta (I wish I could see him once and tell him my 応援)
Thanks to Mariko for going on my behalf

So, we headed to Tokyo very early in the morning.
My parents are the type that will become moody if they don't have breakfast especially rice
I had them bear with margerine buns and maple pancakes I bought from 7eleven

We rode the hop bus as soon as we arrived in Tokyo.
The bus was so dull and the weather was very hot.
They didn't seem to enjoy it at all.
They looked tired, so I gave up to ride all the 3 courses.

We only rode Blue and Red courses and went to have lunch at Kiwamiya Hamburger at Tokyo Station.
The hamburger was nice but the best was its rice! 😋
It has halal certificate, but I noticed the staffs didn't change the glove when handling both non halal and halal meat ☹️

My parents seriously looked tired.
We went to have our dinner at Sushi Ken, Asakusa.
My parents don't eat sushi but they have grilled salmon and tempura.
My father likes salmon and my mother likes tempura but that day they didn't seem to enjoy the meal ☹️
My father hardly ate anything

The initial plan for 16/4/24 was going to Tokyo Station at the early morning and headed to Goi Station.
I knew it's difficult to find halal food through Kominato Route, I planned to bring cup noodles for light lunch and headed early in the afternoon around 2PM to have meal in Tokyo, then spend the time in Tokyo Station while waiting for our train to Nagoya at 19:00.

Frankly, yes, the schedule was very tight and hard.
So, I changed the schedule again.

I should be checking out on 16/4/24 morning, so I extended my stay for another night until 17/4/24 so that, after returning from Goi at 2PM, my parents can rest at the hotel until our night train, th