Japan 2018

March 2018 - March 2024
An open-ended adventure by Wendy
Currently traveling
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  • Day 2

    Japan here we come

    March 13, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    It was happening, we were starting our adventure to Japan.
    We had a very early start as our flight was taking off at 0920 hrs.
    First to Pink Elephant to drop the van off.
    Then the shuttle bus into Tullamarine Airport.
    Check in. then through "the doors".
    Plane was on time .
    It was a movie marathon lasting the 10 hours and twenty five minutes to Tokyo airport.
    The food was great, Imogen wouldn't eat so I had to help her out.
    Leg room was minimal but the entertainment and excitement got us through.
    Imogen used me as a pillow and April used Imogen as a pillow.
    Ray battled through!
    April slept for a couple of hours , watched two and a half movies and enjoyed the Pasta dish.
    Two hours difference between Melbourne and Tokyo so we gained time arriving at Narita
    Airport at 17:45 hrs.
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  • Day 2

    Tokyo Hotel Agora Place Asakusa

    March 13, 2018 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    After a long trip on the plane, a long trip on the train then navigating via Google map it was wonderful to arrive at our hotel. our first experience of the Japanese heated toilet with the squirt option, it was love at first try, once your butt hits the heated seat it has won you over, not to mention the rest ( I promised Ray I wouldn't mention the squirt option).
    The girls loved the night shirt supplied by the hotel, Immy wouldn't give it up, Ray sort of looked OK in it and of course mine didn't fit!
    April was really happy with their room especially when she saw ours.
    There were lots of goodies in the bathroom, little hairbrushes, sponges shape like animals as well as the usual shampoo, conditioner and tooth brushes.
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  • Day 2

    Narita Airport Tokyo

    March 13, 2018 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    After collecting our luggage our first job was to locate the Exchange Office for our rail passes.
    Over to April and the job she would have to take on for the entire trip, well almost.
    It was a long process as we had purchased four 7 day passes then thought about it and purchased another four 7 day passes for the second week. This proved to be an advantage but more about that later. We were all given a rail pass lanyard to carry our passes in and hang around our necks.
    We also had to purchase Suica cards to ride on the Subway trains, the cards were 5 yen each then you loaded money on to it as required.
    Next we had to catch a train to Asakusa which looked close on the map but took over an hour.
    There was a friendly guy on the train that asked if we needed help, he worked for a Japanese domestic Airline, had finished work and was on his way to his girlfriend's place. He spoke English which we were to find was a rarity on our travels.
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  • Day 3

    Shopping in Tokyo

    March 14, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    It was a big day.
    We had trouble trying to decide where to have brunch and ended up having it
    in the Tokyo Station complex, a city in it's own right. Shops galore , food everywhere and
    restaurants all over the place. We settled on sweet pancakes Japanese style at Fari-beurre very sweet , tall and fluffy.
    We did see the entrance to the Imperial Palace and a beautiful white Swan
    The shops in the Tokyo Station took up a lot of our time especially the Pokemon shop..
    Lots of cute stuff like Hello Kitty and Snoopy.
    We set off to find a toy shop or two and found a shop that sold the fish shaped red bean biscuits and ice-cream Ray had a Sesame seed flavor and Immy had Strawberry.
    We brought some novelty items mainly pens then were off to a Cat Cafe but he who will remain nameless lost his JR pass and we had to back track a few stations both subway and above so we lost alot of time not to mention the cost of the weeks pass.
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  • Day 3

    Cat Cafe near Agora place Tokyo

    March 14, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We went to a Cat cafe and we were very excited about the whole thing but the Cats seemed to be over it. They must have had a busy shift and couldn't really be bothered with us. We had pats but it was so hard not being permitted to pick them up and cuddle them.Read more

  • Day 4

    More shopping & Eating

    March 15, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Slow start today.
    We had breakfast at Familymart al lsorts of fried Chicken which had become Ray's favorite food, I was happy with my Red Bean Bun. Imogen stuck with her Chocolate milk for breakfast as always and April had a variety happened in her space.
    Don Quote store was a blast with everything you could imagine but no dolls or good Pokemon stuff. Imogen got upset and down tools staying home for the rest of the day.
    We went back to the shops and went to Seiko which is Walmart in Japan. We tried to find a Sushi Train Restaurant with no luck. Eventually we found an upstairs out of the way place that served the cabbage pancakes April & I love with the brown and white sauce. Normally you would cook it up on the hot plate yourself but the fellow took one look at us and decided he would do it for us. It was great and now I just can not get that taste out of my mind.
    We returned to the Walmart shop and picked up snacks and dinner for that night.
    Went back to the hotel , while I had my Nanny nap April went to Akihabara and visited with some Hedgehogs at a cafe and there was an Owl and a Rabbit.
    When April returned to the hotel Ray and I went for a walk and ended up at the Tokyo Skytree it was late and very quiet , no lines so we went up to the Observation deck.
    We had a late dinner back at the hotel and sat with a couple from Hong Kong , their son was moving to Japan to go to Uni and was moving into an apartment so they were helping him set it up. We did the clothes washing in between chatting . They shared Strawberries with us and they were great we then started our addiction to Japanese Strawberries, it didn't take much to hook April too.
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  • Day 5

    Nikko

    March 16, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We are on our way to Nikko, catching multiple trains and ascending from 113 mts to 533 mts. Have been excited to see our first real blossoms on the occasional tree while looking out the train windows. There are so many high rise buildings to house the incredible population then all of a sudden there is a Temple or Shrine 100's of years old just sitting under the shadow of these multi-story concrete constructions. Before our change of train at Utsunomiya the scenery became increasingly rural with larger homes , more trees and farms. We went past a solar farm and then could just see snow on the tops of the mountains.
    Charles and his wife ran the Guest house and cook all the meals, magnificent meals oh so tasty. We had the four beds in the one room an a unit bathroom, it's a prefabricated bathroom that looks like it's just lifted into the house in one go.
    We arrived in Nikko, it was a bit cooler than what we had experienced in Tokyo so coats were on. We found the hire car Nissan place and hired a nice big van. It wasn't hard to find The Teddy Bear house as it was on one of the main roads from the village.
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  • Day 6

    Fox Village

    March 17, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    11-3 Fukuokayatsumiya, Shiroishi, Miyagi Prefecture 989-0733, Japan.
    Up in the mountains but where I still couldn't tell you.
    I missed a very important turn when the navigating job was handed over to me while April had a sleep. As a result it took 5 plus hours and a few paying toll gates before we were on the right track. Ray ended up driving all day without complaint.
    The Fox Village cost 1000 Yen each and was an experience. The foxes looked well cared for and there wasn't much doggy smell. There were lots of Foxes and a few different colours, they were so cute you really did want to pat them. Inside there were Goats , one took a liking to Imogen and I think she thought it was sweet.
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  • Day 6

    Edo Wonderland

    March 17, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    We rushed off to Edo Wonderland the special place that April was really excited , this being one of the main reasons she wanted to come to this area.
    Unfortunately all the navigation devices died and the car's system kept defaulting to Japanese so we were left to navigating ourselves. We did stop to get directions which proved to be a waste of our time. We did find it be didn't have long until it closed and most of the attractions and shows had finished.
    It was still very interesting but we couldn't take photos unless Ray's GOPRO was working.
    Would like to come back and spend a whole day here. I felt so bad for April she must have been so disappointed.
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