Japan Trip: Preparation and Day 1: Shinjuku
It all start when perhaps I really wanted to go overseas, yet none of my friends can join me and I’ve never traveled overseas by myself before. So in my msn nick, I say, “Need traveling companions.” Well, an acquaintance Vania answered my call.
Agreeing on the destination Japan, we began our planning. We got our air tickets at http://www.airfares.com.sg/ and book our hotel at http://www.zuji.com. Vania like to splurge a bit on Ryokan - a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats; so we went to JTB salon at Takashimaya where the staffs recommend us Yoshiie Ryokan at Hakone area.
Here are some excellent links I like to share with you, if you’re planning a trip to Japan.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/
Japan National Tourist Organization
Japan official tourism site for the introduction of Japan
http://www.japan-guide.com/
Japan Guide.com
Sometimes less is more, with its simple layout, this website explains everything from transportation, food to Japan’s attractions.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo
How can I forgot Wiki Travel: Tokyo
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
Lonely Planet
The website of the famous travel guidebook publishers, I mainly check the Thorn forums for travelers’ Q&A of Japan
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Japan Times Online
An online Japanese Newspaper, I mainly check this site for the listing of festivals.
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/
Train Route Finder by Jorudan Co., Ltd
This site saves us over 20,000yen. Originally we were planning to get a JR Pass at 28,700yen but as the date drew closer, I start to have a nagging feeling inside me that the JR Pass might not be worth the value for our trip. Using this site, I found out our estimate usage of trains only up to around 8,000yen.
I must rave about how easy this site is! Simply key in the station names of the beginning point and the end point of the journey, choose your date and estimate timing and viola! Recommendation of train routes, train stations, where to transit, the cost of the journey and the estimate timing of the journey!
Day 1 09 August 2008: Shinjuku
Weather: Cooling at night time
Our flight is 6.00am so we meet up at Changi Airport at 4.30am. It seems the flight we’re taking goes from Singapore, transit at Japan before going to America, so they are plenty of foreigners queuing up with us. There are plenty of portable counters where the Northwest airline counter staff interview one to one, asking questions like what is the purpose of trip, what is the duration of the trip, have you make your hotel reservation yet. They also ask to disclose any liquid form items. So I show my medicated oil, toothpaste and lip gloss, which they store it in a transparent zip lock bag for me.
Next in the line, there’s this self service touch screen machine where another Northwest airline counter staff awaited. They simply scan our passport and touch a couple of buttons on screen and viola! Boarding pass is printed and ready for us~ we check in our bags and meet with Vania’s parents where they give their advice. (My mom leave halfway ^_^;; )
The gate opens at 5.00am so we took our time to walk to our waiting area and onto the plane. The flight journey took seven hours so we catch up on our sleep. I watch Kungfu Panda on the plane, cute show though it can do without the butt jokes (=A=)
* Breakfast on Northwest airline plane N20, egg and bread is yummy~ <3
* Cute clouds~
* The last scenery I saw before I fall asleep
I know when we’re near to Japan when we start to see huge ships at the sea. Slowly (I feel!) but surely our plane is just about to reach Japan!
* Thought I saw patches of green but darn clouds are blocking the view.
* The clouds start to clear up
* and then!!!
* THE LAND OF JAPAN!!!
(This is when I got excited and snap plenty of photos with the similar scenery ^_^;;; but I’ll be showing one photo only.)
We reach 30 minutes earlier than we expected. Following the crowd and signage, we clear the Japanese customs. Ooh~ photographs are not allow in the customs area but I saw this cute uniform wore by the Japanese air stewardess~!
After getting our bags, we first went to the Travel Service Center at basement 1 of Narita airport terminal 1 to buy our Sucia + N’EX card at only 3,500yen! (1,500 for the narita express ticket from airport to Shinjuku and 2,000 for the Suica card). It’s a must to get their Tokyo Handy Guide Book! It’s very useful during our trip because it show the local maps of Tokyo!
When we’re purchasing the Sucia + N’EX card , the Travel Service Center staff arrange reservations for Narita Express train tickets at the same time. So we went to the Narita Aiport T2 train station (which is directly opposite of the Travel Service Center). With the Narita Express train tickets on hand, we manage to look for the correct train carriage and seat number. It took around 1 hour and 20 minutes to go from Narita Airport to Shinjuku where our hotel is.
* Inside of Narita Express
On our first journey, Vania got scold! She was using the phone to call to her friend who is living in Japan. After talking for a while, a female passenger who is sitting in front of us, actually stood up, turn to us and, and ask Vania to use the phone at area at the end of the carriage in a very unhappy tone. This sort of came as a surprise to me because I always thought Japanese people are very quiet/shy people, but I guess this show how much Japanese people dislike disturbances in train. In the end, Vania was so worry till she refuses to speak to me during train journeys. (^_^;;)
Upon arrival to Shinjuku, we exit by the South Terrance exit and found our accommodation “Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku”. Man there are so many stairs on our war to the hotel and to make it worse, we’re lugging our heavy bags (>_<)
* Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, a excellent hotel for its close location to train station.
After resting a while, we decide to explore Shinjuku! We head for the department store Istean where Vania bought her must-buy item, pierre herme’s macarons.
* Streets of Shinjuku
* Intersection towards Istean, this is the junction where I get to see my first real life Ganguro! (no photos though because they’re far away |||oTL)
We start to explore the basement of Istean where the supermarket is. They sell plenty of stuff from fresh produces, fish, meat, foreign food like sausages, cheese, wine etc …
* This is a HUGE fish head! Imagine it’s the size of my torso!
Of course our aims is the DESSERT/ CAKE SECTION! OMG, SO MANY COLOURFUL, BEAUTIFUL, CUTE CAKES AND DESSERTS! I should have take a photo to see the splendid display of sweets. Vania found her shop and bought her must-buy item, Pierre Herme’s macarons. I also wanted to buy some cakes but we fear the cake will melt/ tilt during the exploring at later part so we didn’t get oTL
While we were walking towards Istean, Vania express her interests in a certain restaurant, which she read it somewhere on the internet that it’s a famous franchise chain. So after we finish window shopping at Istean, we went to the restaurant. It’s specialty are omu rice! We bought a dinner set with a salad, main dish and a drink at 1,595 yen.
I had seafood salad, curry omu rice while Vania had 7 vegetable salad and beef omu rice. *in heaven* The omu rice is nothing like Singapore, the egg is so buttery and aromatic =D~
Our first Japanese meal!
* Seafood Salad~
* Curry Omu Rice, even though I’m full till I want to burst, I still finish up every single drop of it because it’s that nice.
After having our dinner, we head to Kabuki-cho, the infamous red light district.
* On our way to Kabuki-cho, it’s too dark to take photos ^_^;;
* It’s very common to see people using bicycles to travel.
* Streets of Kabuki-cho
* Hey, it’s my shop!
I didn’t get to see any shady gangster people though (I was hoping to see a full body tattoo men in white suit and fedora) XD We did see plenty of bishies, apparently working at the host club nearby. I feel their appearances are tend to be towards of a bad boy image with dyed hair and stubbles =D~
* Real Life host Club, Vania was swooning everytime a bishie walk pass us.
* Passing by a pet shop, sooooo cute~ <3
Next on our schedule is Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. On the way, we pass by a pachinko game parlor. It’s on my to-do list so we went inside. It’s very noisy and smoky inside! We ask for a staff how to help but our limited Japanese and loud environment makes it hard to ask. In the end, the staff demonstrates by inserting a 1,000yen bill into the machine and plenty of small balls appear. By turning a handle, I can control the speed of how fast the tiny metal balls spit out of the machine. The objective of the game is to get the balls to enter a center gate and start up the digital slot machine and hopefully hit jackpot. I only managed to get 3 balls into the center gate and didn’t won anything (=3=)
After trying the pachinko, we continue our way to Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. It’s kinda a strange sensation to go from a shopping/ party zone with its loud noisy music and neon light into a working district with tall skyscrapers and impressive architecture.
We got totally lost at this area. We ask a couple of fellow friendly tourists and they confirm we’re on the correct way but the building is closed! What the, I thought I read somewhere it’s open till 11pm!? In the end, we can only admire the architecture and return to our hotel. (though we spend more time begin lost and thinking how to walk back to hotel) There’s a convenience store located directly opposite of the hotel where we bought most of our breakfast and snacks.
* Forgot to mention, there’s this window at our bathroom, I do not know if it is for when people like to view the scenery while brushing their teeth or EECHI!!!
[ Day 1: Shinjuku ] || [ Day 2: Sunday Sanrio Puroland, Harajuku, Tokyo Bay Fireworks Festival]
Agreeing on the destination Japan, we began our planning. We got our air tickets at http://www.airfares.com.sg/ and book our hotel at http://www.zuji.com. Vania like to splurge a bit on Ryokan - a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats; so we went to JTB salon at Takashimaya where the staffs recommend us Yoshiie Ryokan at Hakone area.
Here are some excellent links I like to share with you, if you’re planning a trip to Japan.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/
Japan National Tourist Organization
Japan official tourism site for the introduction of Japan
http://www.japan-guide.com/
Japan Guide.com
Sometimes less is more, with its simple layout, this website explains everything from transportation, food to Japan’s attractions.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo
How can I forgot Wiki Travel: Tokyo
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
Lonely Planet
The website of the famous travel guidebook publishers, I mainly check the Thorn forums for travelers’ Q&A of Japan
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Japan Times Online
An online Japanese Newspaper, I mainly check this site for the listing of festivals.
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/
Train Route Finder by Jorudan Co., Ltd
This site saves us over 20,000yen. Originally we were planning to get a JR Pass at 28,700yen but as the date drew closer, I start to have a nagging feeling inside me that the JR Pass might not be worth the value for our trip. Using this site, I found out our estimate usage of trains only up to around 8,000yen.
I must rave about how easy this site is! Simply key in the station names of the beginning point and the end point of the journey, choose your date and estimate timing and viola! Recommendation of train routes, train stations, where to transit, the cost of the journey and the estimate timing of the journey!
Day 1 09 August 2008: Shinjuku
Weather: Cooling at night time
Our flight is 6.00am so we meet up at Changi Airport at 4.30am. It seems the flight we’re taking goes from Singapore, transit at Japan before going to America, so they are plenty of foreigners queuing up with us. There are plenty of portable counters where the Northwest airline counter staff interview one to one, asking questions like what is the purpose of trip, what is the duration of the trip, have you make your hotel reservation yet. They also ask to disclose any liquid form items. So I show my medicated oil, toothpaste and lip gloss, which they store it in a transparent zip lock bag for me.
Next in the line, there’s this self service touch screen machine where another Northwest airline counter staff awaited. They simply scan our passport and touch a couple of buttons on screen and viola! Boarding pass is printed and ready for us~ we check in our bags and meet with Vania’s parents where they give their advice. (My mom leave halfway ^_^;; )
The gate opens at 5.00am so we took our time to walk to our waiting area and onto the plane. The flight journey took seven hours so we catch up on our sleep. I watch Kungfu Panda on the plane, cute show though it can do without the butt jokes (=A=)
* Breakfast on Northwest airline plane N20, egg and bread is yummy~ <3
* Cute clouds~
* The last scenery I saw before I fall asleep
I know when we’re near to Japan when we start to see huge ships at the sea. Slowly (I feel!) but surely our plane is just about to reach Japan!
* Thought I saw patches of green but darn clouds are blocking the view.
* The clouds start to clear up
* and then!!!
* THE LAND OF JAPAN!!!
(This is when I got excited and snap plenty of photos with the similar scenery ^_^;;; but I’ll be showing one photo only.)
We reach 30 minutes earlier than we expected. Following the crowd and signage, we clear the Japanese customs. Ooh~ photographs are not allow in the customs area but I saw this cute uniform wore by the Japanese air stewardess~!
After getting our bags, we first went to the Travel Service Center at basement 1 of Narita airport terminal 1 to buy our Sucia + N’EX card at only 3,500yen! (1,500 for the narita express ticket from airport to Shinjuku and 2,000 for the Suica card). It’s a must to get their Tokyo Handy Guide Book! It’s very useful during our trip because it show the local maps of Tokyo!
When we’re purchasing the Sucia + N’EX card , the Travel Service Center staff arrange reservations for Narita Express train tickets at the same time. So we went to the Narita Aiport T2 train station (which is directly opposite of the Travel Service Center). With the Narita Express train tickets on hand, we manage to look for the correct train carriage and seat number. It took around 1 hour and 20 minutes to go from Narita Airport to Shinjuku where our hotel is.
* Inside of Narita Express
On our first journey, Vania got scold! She was using the phone to call to her friend who is living in Japan. After talking for a while, a female passenger who is sitting in front of us, actually stood up, turn to us and, and ask Vania to use the phone at area at the end of the carriage in a very unhappy tone. This sort of came as a surprise to me because I always thought Japanese people are very quiet/shy people, but I guess this show how much Japanese people dislike disturbances in train. In the end, Vania was so worry till she refuses to speak to me during train journeys. (^_^;;)
Upon arrival to Shinjuku, we exit by the South Terrance exit and found our accommodation “Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku”. Man there are so many stairs on our war to the hotel and to make it worse, we’re lugging our heavy bags (>_<)
* Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, a excellent hotel for its close location to train station.
After resting a while, we decide to explore Shinjuku! We head for the department store Istean where Vania bought her must-buy item, pierre herme’s macarons.
* Streets of Shinjuku
* Intersection towards Istean, this is the junction where I get to see my first real life Ganguro! (no photos though because they’re far away |||oTL)
We start to explore the basement of Istean where the supermarket is. They sell plenty of stuff from fresh produces, fish, meat, foreign food like sausages, cheese, wine etc …
* This is a HUGE fish head! Imagine it’s the size of my torso!
Of course our aims is the DESSERT/ CAKE SECTION! OMG, SO MANY COLOURFUL, BEAUTIFUL, CUTE CAKES AND DESSERTS! I should have take a photo to see the splendid display of sweets. Vania found her shop and bought her must-buy item, Pierre Herme’s macarons. I also wanted to buy some cakes but we fear the cake will melt/ tilt during the exploring at later part so we didn’t get oTL
While we were walking towards Istean, Vania express her interests in a certain restaurant, which she read it somewhere on the internet that it’s a famous franchise chain. So after we finish window shopping at Istean, we went to the restaurant. It’s specialty are omu rice! We bought a dinner set with a salad, main dish and a drink at 1,595 yen.
I had seafood salad, curry omu rice while Vania had 7 vegetable salad and beef omu rice. *in heaven* The omu rice is nothing like Singapore, the egg is so buttery and aromatic =D~
Our first Japanese meal!
* Seafood Salad~
* Curry Omu Rice, even though I’m full till I want to burst, I still finish up every single drop of it because it’s that nice.
After having our dinner, we head to Kabuki-cho, the infamous red light district.
* On our way to Kabuki-cho, it’s too dark to take photos ^_^;;
* It’s very common to see people using bicycles to travel.
* Streets of Kabuki-cho
* Hey, it’s my shop!
I didn’t get to see any shady gangster people though (I was hoping to see a full body tattoo men in white suit and fedora) XD We did see plenty of bishies, apparently working at the host club nearby. I feel their appearances are tend to be towards of a bad boy image with dyed hair and stubbles =D~
* Real Life host Club, Vania was swooning everytime a bishie walk pass us.
* Passing by a pet shop, sooooo cute~ <3
Next on our schedule is Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. On the way, we pass by a pachinko game parlor. It’s on my to-do list so we went inside. It’s very noisy and smoky inside! We ask for a staff how to help but our limited Japanese and loud environment makes it hard to ask. In the end, the staff demonstrates by inserting a 1,000yen bill into the machine and plenty of small balls appear. By turning a handle, I can control the speed of how fast the tiny metal balls spit out of the machine. The objective of the game is to get the balls to enter a center gate and start up the digital slot machine and hopefully hit jackpot. I only managed to get 3 balls into the center gate and didn’t won anything (=3=)
After trying the pachinko, we continue our way to Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. It’s kinda a strange sensation to go from a shopping/ party zone with its loud noisy music and neon light into a working district with tall skyscrapers and impressive architecture.
We got totally lost at this area. We ask a couple of fellow friendly tourists and they confirm we’re on the correct way but the building is closed! What the, I thought I read somewhere it’s open till 11pm!? In the end, we can only admire the architecture and return to our hotel. (though we spend more time begin lost and thinking how to walk back to hotel) There’s a convenience store located directly opposite of the hotel where we bought most of our breakfast and snacks.
* Forgot to mention, there’s this window at our bathroom, I do not know if it is for when people like to view the scenery while brushing their teeth or EECHI!!!
[ Day 1: Shinjuku ] || [ Day 2: Sunday Sanrio Puroland, Harajuku, Tokyo Bay Fireworks Festival]