Reset search
Off to JapanOff to Japan
SatelliteEdit route

Off to Japan

April - May 2018
We are about to spend 3 weeks in Japan - Amr’s first time there, and this is the first time for me using this blog...so let’s see how we go! We meet Carole and John Petrich in Kyoto for the last week, and we all come back to Sydney. Read more
  • 30footprints
  • 2countries
  • 32days
  • 109photos
  • 0videos
  • 8.2kkilometers
  • 7.8kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 1

    Preparing for Japan

    April 21, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    In a week we leave for Japan...well 10 days. And this time we haven’t even started to pack yet! Writing this just to get familiar with using this blog..hope it will work well and I can add photos and share as I used to on travelpod. So I will write another instalment when we actually start...we fly out on May 1, fly to Tokyo where we will stay for 10 days, taking daily walks and excursions. Then Kyoto where we all stay for 10 days. We will even be able to unpack in the hotels!!Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 3

    Still preparing and exploring the blog

    April 23, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Nothing new. Will practice adding a photo...just want to get all familiar with how to use this before we leave. I feel this blog may work well and if so will use it for our big jaunt in Spain in September/October...here’s hoping!Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 10

    Packed, all set and at Ibis airport!

    April 30, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Tomorrow morning we fly off at 8.15, and we are now already poised for flight! We drove to the Ibis - these hotels are now a home from home!! Such familiar rooms, and very comfy beds. Anyway, after checking in we drove on to Como for a farewell dinner...last day of the holidays for Jess, Liv and Ted. Played Rummikub with Liv, and with Cathy also after dinner...went with Cathy to Ted’s swimming lesson - Jess drove (!!) my first time with her, and have to say she was fine...quite busy traffic, night time and having to change lanes on the Princes Highway...so that was an experience. We left the car there, so that she can practice driving with it. Had lovely dinner, then got train back to Mascot. Almost missed Wolli Creek and walked the wrong way to get to the hotel, but all sorted now for our walk back to the station early tomorrow morning. There is also a shuttle, but they say allow a minimum of an HOUR to get to international terminal!! From Mascot!!! Makes the train look good and traffic free!

    So now having our free drink (as we are such good Ibis customers), and soon will go to the room, have a shower and know that we are all set for the morning’s departure. Next report will be from Tokyo.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 12

    Arrived in Tokyo

    May 2, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Last night was too fuzzy to write up yesterday’s travel day....travel days are usually boring and not worth mentioning much, but it had some memorable moments...first I have to say that we had a perfect start...getting the train from Mascot to International was the RIGHT choice! The hotel people said there was a shuttle and it was much cheaper...but on investigation they said to allow an HOUR to get there (must make stops at many other hotels, not a dedicated Ibis one) and also with our senior Opal cards it only cost $7 on the train, same as shuttle....anyway, that is boring, but satisfying.

    The JAL flight was perfect. It was a Dreamliner, 2 seats on the sides and 4 in the middle, so we had 2 on the side...one funny thing...we were all settled into flight mode, and when they came round with the drinks trolley before serving a meal I asked for white wine, and Amr asked for sake, then remembered that in fact it was 9.30 am (8.30 Japan time!), so we switched to juice...the polite attendants tried not to look surprised...anyway, we had a sort of breakfast, but more like a lunch, slightly Japanese style - and they did bring alcohol with the actual meal, and we had it anyway then!! Nothing more, except that when we had a meal before landing at 5.15pm we were surprisingly a little peckish by then and anticipated a little box of Japanese morsels, and to our amazement lifted the foil and there was a spag bol (no choice of meals), a little salad with Italian dressing and a TimTam!! Oh well, we will have 3 weeks of Japanese food. But JAL was perfect to fly with. I have never seen such immaculate toilets at the end of a 10 hour flight....they must polish and replenish them after each use...

    Anyway, enough of the flight. Landed and went straight to the ticket counter to get tickets for the Narita Express train to take us into the city...I took us right to Shinjuku which was handy. We had been warned by many people of the difficulties we may find on arrival there as it is apparently the biggest and busiest station in the world, with many layers, exits (60+), shops, and thousands of people walking busily in every direction. I’ve heard that 5 million people pass through it every day. And this is golden week (a week in the year when public holidays join up and everyone is on vacation), so maybe extra busy. We emerged from our train and stood gazing and wondering, went down and up a few escalators without much progress...trying to go in the direction of West entrance....finally found an exit to a street, still not much indication...Amr went to the info in a store and she helpfully gave him a map which showed our hotel - only a few minutes walk, but we wouldn’t have had a clue which direction...happy ending, we arrived, sigh of relief, and are here now for 9 nights.

    We love Ibis hotels and were greeted and given our free drink vouchers etc...but have to admit that the room is small!! But we have rearranged all their things (cups, tissues...all the stuff they have lying round) so we can use every surface for our stuff and unpack! We will manage fine. The beds are always super comfortable and I slept like a bomb - for the first time for months actually took a pill and slept unmoving for the whole night...Amr said he even had to turn out my light...so now up and ready to face our first exploring day...Amr is the tour organiser, and today surprisingly he wants to go to Ginza- the posh shopping area...he has found a walk there in our book of walks (borrowed from Peter and Louise and kindly left by them at our hotel before they left)!

    Last night before hitting the sack we walked round here and found endless streets and alleys of little eateries with the noodles and food we love, interspersed with a pizzeria once or twice! So we had a good bite last night, and certainly won’t have trouble finding places to eat. Off now to see about breakfast....Amr had a preliminary excursion this morning, and has found a Blue Bottle shop which is our favourite coffee place in the whole world I Think!!! This entry is rather full of mundane detail I think, will try to e more exotic when we have started to see more!! No photos yet.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 12

    A day in the Ginza area

    May 2, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So today we went to look round the fancy shopping area, and sort of get our bearings. Amr had to have a shopping day, so good to get it done and have him satisfied...and he is the tour manager for our visit anyway!! So we left quite early, maybe 9 am, and Amr led us to the Blue Bottle shop and we indeed had a perfect coffee - excellent start. Then we braved Shinjuku station again...it is not a station as one would think of a station...it is an enormous complex in many layers, with shopping malls, entrances to many different subway lines and main train lines, and once in it is hard to get out again. Anyway, we wanted to buy our Suica cards (think that’s the word?) which work sort of like Opal cards, so you can get on and off trains and buses without buying tickets etc...did that at a machine without too much hassle...and miraculously found the correct subway line to Ginza, which entailed a change at Shibuya.

    We alighted at Nihombashi following the book instructions, saw buildings etc of interest, and wended our way back towards Ginza proper. Early in the morning it was not nearly as crowded and chaotic as it was in the evening...shops don’t open till about 10.30. The chaos is quite fun and not in the slightest threatening...we passed Tokyo Station on our way, and this is of course another monstrous complex. Here we bought the Shinkansen tickets to go to Kyoto on May 10. We called into many food halls and gazed at the displays of beautifully presented food....I am sure in 1984 when last here, with Michael and Paul aged 12 and 15, none of us appreciated Japanese as we all do now, and mainly tried to find food we understood!! What a different era!

    Finally we bought some packs of yummy stuff, but had the problem of where to actually eat it! People were lining up to get them, but presumably took them back to offices, or somewhere...in the Ginza there aren’t many visible parks (of course we saw one later in the afternoon),so we ended up sitting on a wall beside a building to eat! Now strengthened we went to UniQlo....even I was happy with this...the Ginza UNIQLO is the biggest in the world and has 12 floors!! I didn’t get to them all, but did end up buying a jacket, a cardigan and Amr got a supply of underpants!! We had fun and then moved on to Bic Camera, another enormous place - JB hifi ++ - I actually bought some cheap sunnies there, as thought I had forgotten mine - but have since found them hiding in a forgotten pocket in my new backpack!! My iPhone says we walked 8 kms which is fairly respectable, and I am now feet up and drawing breath.

    Amr left and had another reconnoiter round here and now has returned and reminds me that we stopped for coffee/tea in Oslo Coffee, where we sat on beautiful Hans Wenger chairs and watched the passing parade. Also, we looked in a famous paper shop this morning where they have the most gorgeous paper, and for fans and origami...will show photo.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 14

    What we did Thursday May 3

    May 4, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    It’s now Friday morning - I have decided to mention the date each day as I can’t see it listed in the blog..just numbering the days since the first entry! Anyway, will now try to remember all that we did yesterday as last night I decided to go straight to sleep rather than hype myself up writing!

    So we as usual started well with coffee at Blue Bottle, which we have now discovered was Cathy’s favourite coffee venue when she was here! Then we again braved the station and successfully took a train to Ueno. There is a beautiful park here, and we wandered there and got a ticket into the peony garden which was perfect, peaceful and amazing...there is always such attention to detail and attendants were sweeping and collecting any fallen petals etc...also a shrine - Tosho-gu shrine. There is a pond, a zoo and yesterday there was what looked like a market but we discovered it was a not a regular one, but entirely of children’s books. When we arrived there were not millions of people, and we had the garden in calm, but by afternoon everyone was out! It is golden week and yesterday was children’s day which explains the book fair, and by the end of the day all over the city people are out and about in their millions, literally! It is chaotic but not threatening, and rather fun, unless you are queuing up for anything.

    In the park there is also the Tokyo National museum where we managed to get entry and that was beautiful...we wanted to see Japanese art...there was another special exhibition in another building which was treasures of the Prado which would have been silly for us to see as we’ll be in Madrid in September! Also, forgot to mention that there was dancing in the park...rather elderly Japanese, mainly women but some men, doing a slow almost tai chi type dancing....also there were some buskers playing steel drums, sort of hollowed and making a weird and rather beautiful soft sound! So lots going on and we had a ball.

    Returned to Shinjuku and the milling masses there, but we know our way now, especially if we stay outside the station and walk round the street. So our next event was meeting Greg and Helen at 5.30....they are staying at Cassandra’s apartment, and explained what subway station to go to...which proved a bit tricky from Shinjuku even though not very far away...but we made it following directions (found later there is a direct express route from there back to Shinjuku but the JR information didn’t tell us that!) and met them as appointed, Helen with the dogs on leads!! Fun walking round a neighbourhood away from the frenetic energy of the central city. After a drink with them at the apartment, we walked to the restaurant, Fuku. A tiny busy place, which specialises in yakitori...cooked in the centre of the room over coals, everything - meat, vegetables - came on sticks and was DELICIOUS! You just keep ordering till you have had enough...scallops, chicken balls, mushrooms, garlic, asparagus, chicken wings.....yum. So a lovely night, and we walked back to the station and got the express back to Shinjuku. Great day.

    And to top it off, we successfully made bookings for the restaurants that Cathy and Paul had highly recommended, for Saturday (Paul) and Monday (Cathy)! So we are flushed with success. On the intervening nights we will have bowls of ramen or plates of food from the many dives round us here. Will put some photos, but the internet is rather weak and uploading can be very slow, so may put one now, and add more separately...    Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 14

    Report for Friday May 4

    May 4, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We have had a big day, and it hasn’t ended yet...I have escaped back to the hotel leaving Amr in Takashimaya which is an enormous department store where he can wander and gaze in peace! We did some together - homewares, the gigantic and wondrous food hall (and now I feel starving), but am tired and had had enough!

    So, to start while I can still remember...we set off after our coffee fix quite early this morning as usual, and before the crazy crowds emerged. Got the subway to Harajuku, not very far from here. The plan was to first go to the Meiji Shrine, very special and beautiful gardens round it. Then walk along the big Main Street which is Tokyo’s equivalent of the Champs Élysées - it is a beautiful wide tree-lined boulevard with all the classy shops you’ve ever heard of, and also amazing modern and wonderful architecture....and at the end of this boulevard you arrive at the Nezu Museum, which is a modern building, set in again a peaceful and perfect Japanese garden, and which exhibits just the right amount of art.

    So we started at the shrine, a cloudless lovely day, saw three weddings process in, looked at flower arranging exhibits, wandered in the garden - very pleasant. By the time we left, the people were out in their masses. This is getting to the end of Golden Week, which is a series of public holidays all together to make people have a holiday, as apparently they are reluctant to take their annual leave!! So we went back to the main drag and had planned to take another side street that was mentioned in the book - frequented by the Young where there are trendy shops and things that appeal...as we approached the going got slower and slower, and we turned and saw the problem...the street was literally full...police were restricting people entering so there would not be a crush problem!! Will put a photo of that! Anyway, even Amr didn’t want to try to go there...so we went to the main boulevard and had a good wander, and also were on the lookout to work out where Abysse, the restaurant we have booked for Monday evening is, so that we would find it easily then. I haven’t mentioned a feature of our hotel...they provide a free phone to use during our stay!! Don’t know of 5 star hotels that do that! We can call at any time, anywhere in the world, and also of course use google maps to find directions. Very handy. So with difficulty we did find the restaurant and really glad to have sorted that out - easy once you know!

    So we kept going on to the museum, but on the way turned into a little side street where there were international food stalls, and had a little plate of ginger pork and rice and a beer, but that now seems ages ago. Got to the museum, very peaceful though lots of people, and wandered in the beautiful gardens - irises in bloom - and also went to a tea house for a tea ceremony. Very contrasting to the milling throngs in the streets!

    Forgot to mention another weird experience - after the shrine and before setting off down the boulevard. Amr spotted a Cat Cafe which he had read about. I assumed it was a cafe with a cat theme, but no - it has lots of real cats you can stroke and look at etc...you have to take off shoes and put everything - bags and shoes - in a locker, help yourself to a drink from an automatic machine, then go in to the “restaurant” and look at cats. You pay by the 10 minutes (I thought 10 minutes was plenty!!) photos of that too!

    So now we came back to Shinjuku via the department store....relaxing and getting ready to head out again to get a bowl of food at one of the many nearby dives. Another thing I keep meaning to mention is the public toilets. I know everyone talks about toilets when they visit Japan...and they are amazing. But the public toilets are quite amazing - they are plentiful..whenever you may need one there is always one nearby. They are immaculate, well stocked and clearly marked - pink (occasionally red) for women and blue for men - no gender confusion here! I love it.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to Japan
    Day 15

    Saturday May 5 - amazing day!

    May 5, 2018 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Today was fabulous. Though long. We set off at about 9, and didn’t return till about 9.30 pm having walked about 24 kms according to Amr’s app! As usual we started at Blue Bottle, then caught the subway to Tokyo station. This was to get to our destination of walking in the Imperial gardens, and also a dry run for getting there with luggage on Thursday when we get the Shinkansen to Kyoto. All fairly simple - Tokyo station is not nearly as fearsome as Shinjuku!!

    We didn’t have crowd problems today, or certainly not in the morning, and Golden Week is now ending and all will return to the normal chaos. Had a gorgeous walk in the gardens, quite extensive and as usual peaceful and perfect. After perhaps a couple of hours we went out by a different gate and visited the MOMAT - Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. This was really good..Japanese art since late 1800s, and occasionally works of known European artists. Just beautiful. And so beautifully arranged...lovely ambience. They do this well. Before actually going in, we got a bento box for lunch from a truck in the grounds of the museum...just right to satisfy us till dinner at the Iron Chef restaurant tonight.

    After that we had a great long walk - first to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours all the war dead and is a bit controversial...I sat under trees and read and played with my phone, and amr went into the war museum. Then off we set back to Ginza as this is the other side of Tokyo station and where we were to dine, so we wore respectable clothes so we would not go back to the hotel ....good plan, and we walked right round the Imperial Palace moat, a beautiful walking track, trees, water, paddle boats in one spot...and found our way back.

    Shopped and wandered in the Ginza, knowing that we had plenty of time to find the restaurant by 6.45 (it was a 7 pm booking but we were told to be there by 6.45...very precise. So all was well till we had our one time of consternation for the day. Amr knew it was on the Ginza, just near UniQlo...but when we tried to find the precise address we looked at the entry in iCal, which had a different address, further away...by now we were cutting it fine, so we decided to get a taxi - hopped in, showed him the address, but of course he couldn’t understand the English...finally thought he had it and we started to go, then Amr found the location on the hotel phone and it WAS on the Ginza....we hopped out of the taxi, hot tailed it to the area near UniQlo but still couldn’t find it...the app said we were close, we asked a shop nearby and she took us to the elevator area in that very building, pressed 8 for us and up we went...we would NEVER have found it on our own...only Japanese....so we had a very authentic and amazing meal. We chose to sit at the counter, facing all the theatre in the kitchen and had the set menu...many courses, but light and delicious and we didn’t feel over fed by the end. Amazing experience. Subway home, managed to escape out of Shinjuku station and here we are safe and sound!    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English