Finally blogspot allows me to publish entries properly -.-...

After FYP I wanted to go Tokyo for a holiday after many yrs of not travelling outside Sg. So I suggested this to my mum... Then my mum and I went Tokyo together from 3rd of August to the 7th. My dad and bro unable to tag along because my dad needs to work and he actually already travels alot on his own for work purposes and my bro due to his own medical reasons.

Anyway this was the itinery for this free and easy trip. We bought a package tour (accommodation + air plane ticket with JAL)

3rd August 09 (Day 1 Night)

(Arrival at Narita airport around 4pm - watched GOEMON on the plane - Highlyn recommended movie for ppl who like action movies like me)
- 4.30pm :
Took the limousine bus to Shinjuku station west exit and then take taxi to hotel
- 6.30pm :
Arrived at Shinjuku Higashi Sunroute Hotel around which is a small hotel located directly at Higashi shinjuku metro line
- Checked into hotel and took care of some paper work




Hotel Room pics (Hotel is small but cozy)

Amenities include:
-LCD tv
- Thermoflask/boiler
- Hairdryer, fridge basically all neccessities they have
- Only prob is the plug they use is 2 pin, no 3 pin so i couldn't charge my PSP

After that we had dinner at a nice self-service restaurant opposite the hotel (btw most of the restaurants/supermarket are all self service 1)



The food is real cheap (u can eat until u're full for like 1000 yen for , 2 pax), drinks
are free flow (just water and koucha) and the food is like home cooked chinese food.

Not to mention I loved the TV programs in Japan. They have a variety of channels and I love the Jdramas and variety shows with Arashi, SPEED, Aya Ueto and so many more celebrities as well as the music channels just rox! They were playing pvs from bands like Bounty, EXILE, Mayand misc jpop songs.. Btw I watched a bit of Buzzer Beat (the jdrama) when I was there. I wish I could watch them HD when in S'pore... Keyhole quality is just not good. I dun even mind paying if they could offer me HD quality IPTV.

Continuing on after dinner we took a walk around the hotel area. Went to supermarket to buy some drinks and food. Well since the hotel area is quite near Shinjuku Kabuki Cho (the red light district area) there were a few shady characters lurking around at night. I was even shocked to see a Host club near the hotel area o_o... As interested as I may be - (yea, I am quite interested in Host clubs cuz i watched dramas like Giragira and Yaoh which feature alot on Host clubs and found them to be somewhat interesting...) Of course I didn't go because its expensive anyway and that was not the purpose of the trip. Lol but I think it could be good to experience once in a lifetime. Well.. maybe..

After that we had an early night and the next day was a rushed one...

4th August 09 (Day 2 Full Day - Mt Fuji guided tour)

The estimated time to reach Keio Plaza hotel to take the tour bus was around 20 minutes from our hotel. This I confirmed with the hotel staff.

- 6.30am :
Breakfast
- 7.15 am :
Left the hotel to travel to Keio Plaza Hotel situated near Shinjuku station. Shinjuku station was 1 stop away from Higashi Shinjuku but it took us some time to ask for directions to figure out the exact place to exit to find the hotel. Fortunately, there was this v.kind old woman whom I asked for directions and was helpful. (Well most of the ppl there are... ) When we eventually reached the hotel we left on the tour bus that took us to the point where they would split the ppl into diff tour groups.
- Travelled on the bus like 3 hrs to Mt.Fuji visitor's center.
- Most of the trip was travelling on the Motor coach hearing the tour guide talk about some realities of Japan like historical stuff, work and marriage life etc. Some of the stuff which I already knew... The tour guide's english was bad and hardly understandable btw -.-.


Mt Fuji Visitor's Center

Basically inside the visitor's center we were given 15 mins toilet break -.-. So.. there was barely any time to browse around. But inside are basically souvenir shops.


Mt.Fuji 5th station

Again we were given 15 mins break.. Idk wth is wrong with this tour and 15 mins breaks. But there were so many shops and we only had time to enter around 2 of them quickly buy some stuff and then head off. Btw it was the climbing season so that's why its so foggy and there's lots of ppl.

So yea. we travelled like 3 hrs to come to this place, given 15 mins break then travel all the way down to go for lunch -.-.



We had high class lunch at the high class hotel near the theme park. I forgot its name. But its the hot spring theme park with alot of roller coasters. The guide told us not to go ride the roller coaster cuz it takes around 45 mins to wait for it. Lunch wasn't really to my liking I still prefered the dinner on the first day of arrival (and the lunch is around $30sgd or so)

After that we travelled by motor coach to Lake Ashi and set a cruise. Nth much really just enjoy the scenery and wind.



Random pictures of Lake Ashi scenery

After that we reached Hakone and took the ropeway. That was the only time we saw Mt Fuji from far ~ when we were coming back down the ropeway.



This should be 90 degree clockwise. Im too lazy to rotate the image and im rushing this entry :x. But that's Mt.Fuji somewhere hidden in the clouds. At least we saw this or the trip would be entirely a waste.

After that it was the end of the trip. The tour group split into 2 - most took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo station (that's so out of the way for us) so we had chosen to take the motorcoach back to Shinjuku instead. The estimated arrival time was 8.30pm but was delayed until around 10pm due to traffic jam because of an accident. The tour guide left us in the care of the motor coach driver who couldn't speak English. I had to converse with the driver in Japanese to relay the information to the rest of the passengers. When we finally reached Shinjuku a caucasian couple asked for directions to their hotel which was Shinjuku Washington Hotel. The hotel is actually pretty far from the station compared to Keio Plaza because before that I considered going to Shinjuku Washington Hotel to catch the tour bus.

The department stores there close like 8pm so we found some fast food restaurant which sells Tonkatsu dons near Shinjuku west station and had dinner there. The ice coffee tasted horrid. Haha but it was free flow. After that took the train back to our hotel.

5th August 09 (Day 3 Full Day - Garden tours Tokyo Free Guide)

I had engaged the services of this volunteer organizatio Tokyo Free Guides 2 weeks in advance. The guide was Hiroko-san a young housewife who is a tour guide basically lol. She has a family of four and when I asked her she said she wanted to practice her tour guide skills and English. Of course I understood her efforts in trying to converse with us though not completely unstandable but it was a well praised effort to converse with us. Firstly, I told her my digital camera had no more memory and she took us to Big Camera which sold alot of those electronics stuff and I bought a 4Gb memory card for like 2000 yen or so. After which the first stop was Shinjuku Gyoen a really nice place with 3 types of gardens - Japanese garden, French and i forgot what was the last.


Japanese Garden


French Garden

Yea I took more pics of the japanese garden cuz I liked it alot.

After that we header for Meiji Shrine near Shibuya area. There's really nth much there.. Just a long walk inside hearing alot of history stuff about that place but not understanding much of it. Lol.

After that we walked around Harajuka area and went Daiso 100 yen shop. Apparently the stuff there is not like Sg daiso where everyting is $2. Even though daiso is a 100 yen shop alot of their stuff are not 100 yen. The price varies but the daiso there is like about 5 stories.


The street has alot of Kera clothes shops

I forgot what's this place called but according to Hiroko-san this place is the most popular street in Harajuka where alot of youngsters gather. Btw at that time it was summer and the ppl in Shibuya and Harajuka were just so colorful and there were many women who wore yukatas walking around the streets. Its a really pretty sight. What can I say? I just love their fashion ^_^.



When I came out of the street I spotted the Arashi poster tingy on this building.

Lunch was at Sakura-tei, an Okonomiyaki restaurant at the outskirts of harajuka.


Sakura-tei building

Inside is alot nicer because the design is just so cool and cosier but my camera sux taking picture close up so alot of the shots are like badly taken. We had okonomiyaki lunch buffet tingy and ate until so full. But it was super healthy with all the vegetables and stuff and delicious too!

After that we went the the Imperial Gardens near Tokyo station. But I won't put up pictures here because its basically the historical stuff again. An ok place to visit for visitors. I was more interested in the Japanese gardens. But anyway... after that before leaving for the hot springs we gave Hiroko-san a farewell/thank you gift and she directed us to the shuttle bus stop where we took the bus to Oedo Onsen Mongatari.

I took some pictures there with my mum wearing rented yukatas but the images came out kind of blurry cuz the camera cant really take good pictures close up.. Basically there was summer price which was cheaper than the usual and alot of visitors when I went (quite few caucasians). You can use the different type of hot springs there for your relaxation - eg: they have quite a number of indoor baths, suana and bathing facilities for use as well as foot message + barrel baths. But we only tried foot message and indoor baths. The ppl there are open to nudity so the caucasian women only go there for message not baths.

6th August 09 (Day 4 Full Day - Garden tours Tokyo Free Guide)

The last full day I actually had planned to go to Ueno Park and Zoo. My mum being v.tired from the walking last few days and rushing here and there didn't want to so oh well.. Last day we decided to just take our own sweet time. Morning we went for the hotel's breakfast buffet then we went shopping at the dept stores near Shinjuku like Isetan, Takashimaya Times square and the Marui stores. I went to the Algonquins branch at Shinjuku. I loved their clothes seriously... Algonquins is my fav. j.label but the clothes there are all around 4k yen ++. So I didn't buy anyting =(. Instead I went Marui one and bought a shirt and bag from Sexy Dynamite London cuz they were having some sale.

7th August 09 (Day 5 Plane Back)

Left the hotel early and went to Narita airport. Did a bit of last minute shopping at airport.

Overall I can say this trip was great exposure for me. And a piece of advice for those who want to travel to japan. If you go free and easy do ensure u have a fren over there who knows japanese as a guide OR know how to speak japanese because the ppl there mostly dun speak english especially the older generation. Even if they can speak it may not be on an understandable level.