29-07-2015 ~ Fly from Tokyo to Okinawa

Woke at 05:30 and unfortunately C was slightly less than perky after our over indulgence at NinoNino last night... This meant all timings slipped away a little. However, we packed our suitcases, checked out and caught the 09:30 Tozai Line from Kudanshita to Nihombashi, then changed to the Haneda Airport Line & arrived at 10:15.

We'd booked our flight in the UK, and so had the paperwork ready to check in for our 11:05 flight with ANA. There was a fairly long queue at the ANA check-in desks but we got called forward at 10:40 to check in for our flight as time was becoming an issue. Passports weren't needed for domestic flight and liquids were allowed in hand luggage (what novelty!). We were checked in, through security and sitting on the plane by 10:50 - so efficient! The plane had 3x4x3 seat formation and was about half empty. We were seated in the middle section behind the break so extra leg room, with empty seats all around us. After napping for an hour or so we were given free soft drinks and a lovely air hostess also gave us a little bag of sweets with 2 ANA postcards as she'd asked about our plans for our time in Japan and was surprised (impressed?) with the answer she received.

We landed at Naha Airport, Okinawa dead on time and went straight to baggage claim where our bags were some of the first ones off then out to airport lobby. I was in desperate need of food at this point so we headed to the 'Curry & Spaghetti café' directly on the right as you come out of baggage claim. We had really good pork & chicken katsu kare here, though the soft drink choice was slightly unsettling; I received a luminous green fizzy drink that really did just taste of fizz, no idea what flavour it was supposed to be...

After checking out the fish tank at the airport doors we walked to the monorail station and went seven stops to Kencho-Mae to get to our hotel (Abest Naha Hotel). There were beautiful views from the monorail on the way.

The main street (Kokusai Street) in this area is full of hotels and shops; our hotel was down the first side street on the left so very easy to find. After checking in and putting sun cream on, we stepped out into the glorious heat and sunshine to explore. The shop on the corner of our street and Kokusai had glass and souvenirs in so we went in to look. The shop workers were very helpful and friendly (no English but we found it didn't matter and we all understood somehow).

After looking at the glass wares we found ourselves next to the alcohol section, and within 5 minutes the lady had given us 3 'tasters' of sake each (about 200ml each glass). Initially I wasn't too keen on the idea of more alcohol after the dubious wine last night, but actually this was the first time I'd experienced 'hair of the dog' & it worked! We tried coffee sake (good if bitter), peach sake (middle bottle - oishii!), and some sort of citrus sake (not to our taste) and we ended up buying a small bottle of peach sake for ¥420 (about £2.50). (Subsequently this bottle travelled half way round Japan with us; it was too good to drink all in one go)

After purchasing our sake we turned to leave and were confronted with snake alcohol (?!) I'm still not any clearer what type of alcohol it was but pretty unsettling to see in a souvenir shop. There was also Albino Snake alcohol on offer (There were these big 5 gallon jars with snakes in then smaller bottles with smaller snakes in)

We then walked down the street having to dodge into every 4th shop for relief of air-con as we were still acclimatising (it was 18C when we left the UK, 39C here in Okinawa). We found a covered market on the right hand side of the street (about 3/4 of the way down) where I bought 3 lengths of printed cotton fabric totalling 4m for ¥2900 which is about £4/m. Then it was time for our obligatory stop at the convenience store for apple juice and snacks and then back to hotel for a little nap before dinner...

...The nap turned into sleep & we didn't make it out again... Midnight snacks of Madeline & marble cakes for dinner it was.

28-07-2015 ~ Mount Fuji Day Trip

We woke up at 07:00 and got ready for our day trip to Mt Fuji (¥13000 each booked through Japanican online from the UK); unfortunately it looked to be a cloudy day but we were hopeful. We caught the Chuo Line from Iidabashi to Shinjuku Station to get to the meeting point at Keio Plaza Hotel. We seriously underestimated how big Shinjuku Station was going to be and so it took us at least 15 minutes just to get from the platform to the hotel exit which meant we arrived at the meeting point at 09:08 when we supposed to arrive at 08:50. Luckily the tour guides were doing a final call as we arrived so we were able to get on the tour bus at 09:10. Phew! 

Our tour guide Ito-san talked the group through aspects of Japanese Culture, History and Mt Fuji. The bus drove for an hour to the Mt Fuji Visitor Information Centre for a comfort break, then carried on for another 30-40 minutes to 5th station. We were surprised how crowded 5th station was; absolutely crammed with hikers, tour buses etc. and also how much cooler it was up there - at least 10-15C colder than ground level and not so humid (which made it about 25C but it was still a temperature shock) - I was very glad I'd bought a cardigan with me. The clouds were hanging low over the main courtyard and surrounded us so visibility was very poor.

We were given 40 minutes to look around 5th station so we exchanged the voucher we were given as we got off the bus for a 'lucky bell' at the back of the first shop on the left. We then looked at the shrine behind the shops which was our first look at an authentic Japanese shrine.

We were unable to see Mt Fuji from the viewing platform due to the clouds but we were still hopeful to see Fuji on the way down. After this we crossed the courtyard to the shop on the far side where I bought some origami earrings, then it was time to get back on the bus. 

On the way down the clouds started to clear an were able to partially see Mt Fuji. The driver stopped at the last car park before leaving Mt Fuji so we could get photos. Hello Mt Fuji!

The bus then drove for 45 minutes to the restaurant for lunch which was great and much needed! The meal included ebi katsu and veggie katsu, cold chicken, tofu, miso soup, rice, and ramen with hot green tea to drink. The restaurant overlooked Lake Kawaguchi and was beautifully sunny - a complete contrast to Mt Fuji!

After lunch we were due to go up the Hakone Ropeway but it was too cloudy so Ito-san arranged for us to go up Mt Kachikachi via cable car instead (30 minutes drive away from the restaurant). The views on the way up & down were stunning! Even with the cloud you could see for miles across the lake and mountains. On a clearer day you could've seen Mt Fuji too but unfortunately Fuji had become shy again. We spent 30 minutes at the top of Mt Kachikachi then back down the ropeway to head to Hakone on the bus.

This was a 70 minute journey so after teaching us how to make an origami Mt Fuji, Ito-san left us to nap or watch out the window. We drove straight to the Kojiri pier to catch the 16:30 catamaran across Lake Ashi to Hakone-en. Beautiful views, very serene 10-15 minute ride with recorded narration giving information about the lake and buildings along the bank. Upon disembarking we were ushered to a handicrafts shop of marquetry specific to Hakone. I was thrilled as this was one of the crafts I was dying to see. There were every sort of goods with marquetry on and even ceramic plates & tea-towels with printed marquetry designs on. I was thrilled with the 2 pieces of beautiful marquetry I bought as I have been dying to see it 'in real-life' since I saw a video 10 years ago of how it was constructed.

 

The bus ride back took 2.5 hours due to traffic congestion, but Ito-san talked about the Onsens of Hakone and played us traditional Japanese music (beautiful) so it wasn't a bad journey.

We arrived back at Shinjuku and took the train to Akihabara (Electric Town) to look at electronics/games/¥100 shops and dinner. We walked around Akihabara looking for specific shops like 'Book-Off' and 'Trader' (M's interest in games) then it was time to look for food. As we didn't have a lot of time here we decided to come back at the end of the trip.

For dinner we went to NinoNino which was amazing! We sat at a 2-person table which had a semi-divider between the table and walkway so there was a degree of privacy. We had no clue what to order but luckily between our server's medium-level English and our pigeon Japanese (& J-Sho app) we managed to order beef and pork 'Shabu Shabu'. This was another DIY dinner but very different to the first one we had... First arrived a split metal dish on a gas hob, then arrived plates of raw meat, beansprouts and a pink paste in a bamboo tube. After asking the server what to do we started putting the meat in the brown liquid (we assumed it to be Dashi) and the pink (chicken) paste in the water side. 

The whole meal cost around £43 (!) This was with 6 plates of meat, 1 plate of veg, 1 chicken katsu kare side dish, 4 beers & 3 glasses of wine. Very reasonable price!
Slightly worse for wear we got the subway back to the hotel quickly as the subway stops at 00:00...

27-07-2015 ~ Ghibli Museum & Exploring Tokyo

Good effort at getting in sync with Japan time, but we woke up at 04:00. After talking to people back home on Whatsapp (Japan is 8 hours ahead of UK) and trying to sleep again, we gave up and started planning our day.

We went for breakfast at 07:20 on the ground floor of the hotel and exchanged our paper vouchers for a choice of 3 meals. We both chose the rice meal, which resulted in a bowl of rice, pot of green tea, and a 9-compartment plate with small pieces of fish, egg, pickles and some unidentifiable foods. I was feeling adventurous and so tried everything - BEWARE the pickled plum! Felt like my face had been sucked inside itself; so sour! Next up was a red blob that seemed to have little balls inside a skin... This was very spicy! I was later enlightened that these were spicy fish eggs... Other than these early morning shocks the meal was good though we were confused as to why we weren't given a cup to put the tea in - we later learned that the meal was called 'Rice in Tea' and we should've poured the tea into the rice bowl... you live & you learn.

After breakfast we left to go to the Ghibli Museum. SO EXCITED!! We took the Tozai Line from Kudanshita to Nakano (¥200 each) then the Chuo Line to Mitaka (¥170 each). We caught the dedicated Ghibli bus from bus stop 9 to the museum and arrived well before 11:00 (we got a return bus ticket for ¥320 each).

As we got off the bus we saw the Laputa robot! (see above). There was no queue so we went straight in - we'd bought our tickets months before through one of the certified online stores in the UK.

The museum entrance is stunning! It looks like the baby's room from 'Spirited Away' and there are stained glass windows all round with images from all the films. So beautiful!
Down the beautiful wooden staircase to the basement floor which holds the cinema and the first room which has exhibits of toys, models, 3D scenes and old film movies. There were 2 especially clever exhibits with strobe lights & models of characters in successive poses of movement (running or jumping etc).

On the next floor up are two rooms that look like the animators studios full with sketches, drawings, colour charts, models and storyboard books - I could've spent hours in these rooms but M wanted to continue exploring. On the top floor is the cat bus soft play area - great half scale fluffy model of the cat bus with cuddly soot sprite toys (unfortunately for children only). On the other side of the top floor is the Ghibli Shop - so many things to buy here! Though it was busy the queues for the tills were fairly short. We came away with postcards, 3 packs of playing cards, notepad, badge, and an Ohm model...

The door next to the cat bus area leads to birdcage staircase up to the roof where the Laputa Robot is. There was a small queue to take a photo with the robot and then a path leads around behind the robot to the other end of the roof where a cube from Laputa Castle sits.

Sadly there were no photos allowed inside the Museum but we got a few of the outside...
This museum is AMAZING, we can't recommend it enough! There was no time limit on our tickets and we spent about 2-2.5 hours there.

We got the bus back to Mitaka station and caught the train to Ikekuburo to check out Sunshine City. Be aware Sunshine City is a 20-25 minute walk from the station which was pretty hard work in 36C heat and humidity to make it feel 42C! Lots of ice cream was consumed along the way, as was a Family Mart lunch of Chicken Onigiri/Cold chicken noodles. Sunshine city is a huge complex with shops, restaurants and 2 indoor 'theme parks'. We looked at Pokémon World, Disney Store, and a shop that sold character goods including Ghibli, Moomin and Snoopy. We bought really good ice cream & sorbet from Blue Seal which is an Okinawan chain (coincidence as we're going there after Tokyo).

We took the train to Harajuku and walked down the famous Takeshita Street which was super busy (as is the norm I believe). We didn't see anyone fully dressed up though there were a few girls in unusual clothing.

We walked back to the station via the parallel street of high end shops (Dior, Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren etc) and caught the train to Shibuya to see the famous crossing that's in the movies. We thought it was organised chaos. One of the things we loved about Japan is that most cities have the bird tweet noise to accompany pedestrian crossings, and the fact that no one jay walks! Everyone waits and crosses only when the green light shows. Very impressive!

We stopped for dinner at a restaurant under the bridge opposite the station & used the vending machine ourselves! We ordered two pork ramen with cold green tea & a beer, good cheap fast food.

Exhausted we headed back to the hotel for shower and sleep.

26-07-2015 ~ Arrive in Tokyo...

After recovering from the super sweet breakfast there was about 1.5 hours of flying left which we spent flying over Japan (finally! Russia is a huge country!) We were given customs forms to fill in to be handed in to passport control (remember to fill in the back as well - we saw quite a few people sent to the back of the customs queue for not having forms filled out correctly)
We landed at 10:25 & had a long taxi to the gate; off plane, through passport control & straight to baggage claim. WELCOME TO JAPAN!!

After changing into shorts & sandals we went to train ticket counter just outside baggage claim. We bought 2 singles (about £33) on the JR Line to Tokyo where we changed to the Subway Tozai Line for 2 stops to Kudanshita (¥170 each). We used Exit 1 and walked 10mins to our hotel (APA Hotel Tokyo Kudanshita)

The hotel has orange frontage and is past the Grand Palace Hotel. We arrived at 13:30 and paid ¥2000 to check in early. We had booked a small double room for 3 nights plus breakfast. The room was very compact but had everything we needed including regular double bed, fridge, air con, TV, bathroom with hi-tech toilet and shower over 1/4 bath.
(I've reviewed all hotels on Booking.com so you can check there for my ratings. Booking.com in itself deserves a review: it is the perfect website for booking hotels for this sort of travelling - free cancellation up to 2 days before date of stay, pay on check-in, so easy to use. Very happy we used this site for our bookings.)

After a 4-hour nap we got ready to go out and look for a restaurant and to check out the local area.  We walked back to the Subway station exit 1 and turned left to go down what looked like the main street of the area. We walked up & down the street for a couple of hours looking at shops & restaurants & finally settled on a small restaurant down a side street (unfortunately didn't get the name!).

It had sliding shoji doors and a U-shaped counter with the kitchen at the back; the vending machine at the front corner was a bit confusing (& intimidating) luckily they had an English menu & very helpful staff. We decided on our food & the very nice man behind the counter took our money & operated the vending machine for us to get our tickets; we kept one half & the chef got the other. We ordered pork (¥800), beef (¥1000), beer (¥300) and sake (¥330). It turned out to be a DIY restaurant so we were brought a skillet of raw beef, and a skillet of raw pork & beansprouts to put on the hot plates stationed around the counter. Using the provided sand timers we cooked our meat to perfection and ate it along with our rice & miso soup. The sake was cold and the bottle very deceptive - there were 4.5 full glasses in there! Amazing price as for the same amount you'd pay at least £8 in the UK (This was less than £2!). It was the best first meal in Japan possible, and it only cost ¥2430 (about £13!).
(Picture of aftermath of meal - sorry, we were too hungry to get a picture before)

We stopped by the 7/11 on the way back to the hotel for ice cream & apple juice (and bought cold jasmine tea at a vending machine which are everywhere in Japan). Went to sleep at 22:30 to try to get body clocks in sync...

25-07-2015 ~ Travel from UK to Tokyo via Moscow

(We'd bought our flights in November 2014 for around £620 return each with Aeroflot, flying via Moscow). 
We had an 11:50 flight from Terminal 4 London Heathrow with Aeroflot, which meant we had to leave the house at 07:00 for the 2 hour drive from Wolverhampton to Terminal 4 Long Stay parking (pre-booked was £103 for 3 weeks). The shuttle buses come every 10-15 minutes to take you from the long stay car park to the Terminal which takes 5 minutes.

I'd checked in online the night before but Aeroflot didn't have a baggage drop counter so we had to queue for an hour (!) at the online check-in counter. However we were told our luggage would be transferred at Moscow so we didn't have to worry (phew! it was 1.5 hour connection time between flights in Moscow, didn't want the extra stress of having to transfer luggage).

We were departing from Gate 20 so went to wait. We started boarding at 12:00; taxi'd back at 12.17 and take off was at 12.25. The plane had 3x3 seats. Slightly worried about late take off as we were due to arrive SVO 18:00 with boarding for next flight due to start at 18:20 & take-off at 19:00...

Flight from LHR to SVO was 3 hour 20 minutes, we landed 17:50 (Moscow local time) in Terminal F (! Flight details said we'd land in D & take off from D...). The flight to Tokyo was departing from Terminal D and it's a 15-20 minute walk from F to D. We were rushed through passport control & bag scans and then an Aeroflot employee was waiting to guide us to the connecting flight at gate 5. (Luckily as it was a long walk!) We joined the queue to board when there were only 3 people left in it. Phew! Boarded bus to the plane which was 2x4x2 seats.

Take off was scheduled for 19:00 but left at 19:15 probably due to late initial flight. Duration was 9 hours 20 minutes & due to arrive 10.30am (Tokyo local time). The plane had excellent entertainment facilities: Movies; TV Series; Games; Kids Channel etc. Earphones were provided, as were slippers & eye-mask.

We were served lunch on the first flight and then dinner and breakfast on the second flight. M had beef stew and chicken stew for lunch & dinner. I had ordered Lactose free meals which meant I had fish in tomato sauce with potatoes or rice and veg 2 out of 3 meals (I had the fish for lunch and then politely declined it at dinner and had the chicken main meal instead). Drinks were served before and after meals, with red or white wine being available with lunch and dinner, and otherwise it was juices, water, cans of fizz etc. For breakfast (about 8am Japan time) we both chose pancakes - super sweet! and a bit too much tbh at midnight UK time...