Japan - Kyoto - Day 7

- Wednesday, October 7th 2015 -

We bid our farewell to Hakone today, making our way to Kyoto.  Once again using the Hakone Free pass and a bus, we arrived back to Odawara Station.  We took the Shinkansen Hikari, which is apparently a very very fast train, the ride being just over two hours long.  I even napped a bit on the ride, as most of the time we were in cities and watching out the windows there really tires your eyes.

While leaving Hakone though, and first boarding the train, you could see Mount Fuji beautifully.  The skies cleared up and the weather got warmer again. The train passed through many tunnels, leaving the mountainous scenery behind for awhile.  Finding our hotel was super easy, but we arrived at 1pm and check in wasn't until 2.  So, we left our luggage behind with the very helpful staff and went to find lunch.

Lacking my usual insane sweet tooth, I passed up the Apple Custard pastry displayed on the right of this picture and got a chicken breast massive sandwich.  Food was delicious and we had chocolate milk with icecream on it as our drinks.  They even give free toasted bread out with a ordered drink, and that was tasty as well!  Emma getting her usual cola, and I went for a delicious Vietnamese cinnamon coffee with whipped cream on top.

The location of this hotel, the Daiwa Roynet Hotel was amazing.  There was a Lawsons, 7-11, and the train station within a stones throw of where we were at!  Our forwarded luggage was there waiting for us so when we came back after lunch and got checked in, everything was ready for us!  Emma had done a quick outfit change, as Hakone had been cold and Kyoto was very toasty.  With still a few hours of daylight left, we pulled open the map and chose a place that was 'close'.

Well.  Kyoto maps are deceiving, what looks close is actually pretty far.  And I'm directionally  challenged.  We decided to go to the Nijo Castle. Which should have been "Just up the road".  We took a rather indirect route, and made a note that this was why there were buses.  We still didn't end up really braving buses.  Probably not a bad decision since it's not like we hadn't walked a lot yet that day, and there's a flat fare fee of 260 yen per ride.  Adds up when you're not going far, which unfortunately, we often didn't go far (we had to just change stations or whatnot).

Anyway.  We arrived about an hour before closing time, and as we walked in they were doing last call for the actual castle entry.  So we made a B-line for that and got to explore the very pretty little castle.  Information was bilingual, if not trilingual most of the time so we could read and find out what things were about, unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside of the castle.

The details around the castle were breath taking. This decorating one of the arch ways to get into the grounds.

Above is the entryway to the castle that you can't photograph inside of.

Follow the cut for the gardens

Japan - Hakone - Day 6

- Tuesday, October 6th 2015 -

We got up bright and early, having bathed that morning and munched our tasty breakfast.  The company at the table never got the hint to leave this girl alone.  What kind of question to a clearly Asian woman is "Do you speak Finnish?" out of the blue?  Why would she speak Finnish, leave her alone. Her short replies generally mean she's not interested.  Men!

Our bus stop (Sengokuhara) had some others from our accommodation at it.  They'd done everything we were planning on doing today, yesterday, so we went ahead and followed them down the mountain.  Making sure to get on the right bus that way and being pointed in the right direction to where we wanted to go.

Our first stop was the cable car, which sounds like a gondola or a tram out west, but it's not.  Much more like an incline I suppose.  I didn't get many pictures from the car as the windows kind of warped things and it stopped frequently, a main mode of transportation apparently.

Unfortunately, Mount Hakone was acting up and the rope way (actual cable car/tram/gondola) was closed due to it.  Though, I do like the story of "I couldn't go on it because a volcano was having a hissy fit".

At the top of the cable car, there was a substitute bus running to take people back down to where the ropeway would've let you off.  It smelled strongly of sulfur.  The scenery we drove past was pretty neat.  An area covered in smoke that we could only guess what was causing it.




Where we were dropped was the Pirate Ships.
Well.  They're not REALLY pirate ships, more like ferries that are decorated.  Still, it was a beautiful view and a little fun.  Short trip.

 

Our lovely view while waiting for our ride.

Mega healthy lunch of curry bread, milk tea for me, CC Lemon for Emma, a croissant and a  rather unsatisfactory cake for me.

 

There's our ship!

Follow the cut for the rest of the day ~

Japan - Hakone - Day 5

- Monday, October 5th 2015 -

Today we left Tokyo, heading to our next destination; Hakone.
For our trip to Hakone, we took the rail line to Shinagawa, and from then went to the Shinkansen Kodama!  Bullet train, woo!! We arrived early enough to get to see a few speed by, it was so cool! 

 The bullet train ride only lasted about a half hour, taking us to our next transfer point, Odawara. Starting in Odawara we'd get to use our Hakone Free pass, which is a tourist travel pass that lets you use pretty much all forms of transportation for 'free' (pre paid, really).

Super unfortunately, almost none of my photos from this day are actually sharp.  Not sure why.  I know I failed at standing still SOMETIMES. 

so green!

 It's a great idea, since the bus ride to get to our destination was quite a few stops in, that particular bus made over 20 stops!  Hakone was much more spread out than either of us thought it would be.

our Yutaka and towels!

Our room.

The patio!

 Either way, we eventually landed at our bus stop and hopped off.  The "Fuji Hakone Guest House" sign being pretty clear behind us, but my map saying go down a dark alley, and there signs posting us that way as well.  We got checked in, filled out some paperwork and shown our room, number 7.  Being told it was an upgrade and nicer than the other rooms.  Our heater had issues, but otherwise it was an amazing room.  Traditional Japanese! There was a mens toilet and a womens toilet, but the shower was shared, an indoor and an outdoor bath as well.  Our host suggested we take a walk to the end of the street and explore one of the shrines.  So off we went!

View down the hall from our room. 

Leaving the Inn.

hi ho, hi ho, it's down the street we go.

So ahead is just a bunch of pictures of the place we found and the cemetery attached to it.  Not too much to say other than ooo pretty.  So click the cut to continue.

Japan - Tokyo - Day 4

- Sunday, October 4th 2015 -


Today we slept in a little!  Not too much, but our plans didn't start until 10am.  Sporting Studio Ghibli Museum tickets, we made our way out of the usual area we had been spending time in.

We were told to get off the train at Mitaka and walk along the water way for about 15 minutes.  The waterway was lovely, the sidewalk narrow, and it was refreshing to see a more local side of Tokyo.  Less busy, more families, more daily activity.

The path led us through adorable little forests, beyond gates and around ball fields.  Eventually winding around to where a officer was standing and people were beginning to gather.

Photo from Emma

That's about when we saw the Totoro 'welcome' gate! Fans old and young took their turn posing with this adorable booth, Emma nabbing a chance towards the end after making plenty of purchases at the gift shop.


We continued onward around some lovely landscaped architecture.

Even the lamp posts makes me think "Ghibli" doesn't it?  Looks like it could come alive at any minute.  We're able to walk up there, the top of the 'bird cage', but there was a bell ringer who'd come by every once in awhile, drawing attention up there.

Our tickets weren't to let us in until 10, and we'd arrived a bit early so joined the line to get in.

All of the windows had beautiful art in them from all the different movies Miyazaki had done.

Continue after the cut for more ~

Japan - Tokyo - Day 3

- Saturday, October 3rd 2015 -

HUGE nerd post up ahead!  If you're not interested in anime, TURN BACK NOW!!!

Another morning up bright and early to find Ikebukuro's famed Otome Road.  The first attempt, we left bright and early to find it.  Walked around for ages without any luck.  We'd probably gotten there by 9:30 and turned around around 11:30 after two hours of having no luck and lightly arguing about this places existence.  I'd never have visited Ikebukuro if I hadn't heard about this "Female's Akihabara" area online.

Looks promising, but wasn't the right place.

SO CLOSE. It wasn't Animate. Didn't really have what we were looking for.

Defeated we'd returned to Shinjuku, getting food in us and revisiting the Alice Cafe for some photos.

Alice door in more detail.

Their food display

Inside the Alice door.

Halloween is big in Japan.

Then back to the hotel to to furiously google how to find this place. Irritatingly, we had turned around JUST before we would've been in the right area!  You have to walk beyond this bridge and cross the street, we'd turned around at the bridge, so frustrating!  Instead of going down to Harajuku like we planned, we turned around and went back to Ikebukuro, now with a better idea of where we're going.

Photo promoting  Free! Starting Days.

Take two.  Keep going!

This here starts Leanne's failure at navigation.  I can navigate amazingly when I'm in a car helping someone else.  No problems!  Public transportation?  Walking around?  I have this obsession with going left.  Always left, never right.  Though sometimes I'll go straight.  Later found out this is genetic, "Ranger Rick" is my dads nickname, apparently it comes from getting lost and turning left a lot.  OH WELL, Good thing Emma's got a better sense of direction than I do.

We found it!

Emma purchased one of these things for us. It was a ton of fun TBH.

Where we gambled and got the above photos of us done.

I spent a lot of time failing at games here actually.  I think this was the actual place I gambled away ¥800.  Didn't walk out with anything I think.

The holy grail of otaku culture.  I had high hopes for this place.  And following this picture is going to be a dozen or so pictures of things I have no idea about and am a nerd for. View their captions!

Japan - Tokyo - Day 2

-Friday, October 2nd 2015 -

No rest for the wicked! I'd set the alarm for 7, but we're up at 6:30.  Showering, grabbing our western style buffet breakfast with strange apple juice and rice with packets of flavoring, we get ready four our busy day.

At 9am we have an appointment for four hours with our tour guide, Ms Atsuko Inuzuka, aka Anne.  Anne was awesome, she spoke good English and taught Emma and I a lot about navigating and our surroundings, what things meant, and some traditional things.  She came prepared with her own IC card so we didn't have to pay for anything travel wise for her!

We hit the ball rolling, meeting her quickly and heading to Shinjuku Station (pointing out Godzilla on the way there) where she took us to our first stop; Asakusa.

All along the way you'll be seeing pictures of me randomly fangirling, I like Anime.  I like seeing anime in random places. Totoro is very popular.  And look! A vending machine!  They're everywhere! Selling Beer, soda/tea/HOT coffee, and cigarettes most often.

Anne was awesome and took plenty of pictures of Emma and I along the way.  This was as we were heading into Asakusa Nakamise Shopping Street. A crazy busy strip of tourist shops and nick-nacks everywhere.  Anne was very good at keeping us together while worming us through the sea of people.  She also explained about the guardians on either side of this gate, one had their mouth open and the other closed.  Beginning of life and end of life, pretty  neat to learn WHY something was the way it was. 

I snapped a shot of a cute charm shop, as I'd soon learn they were everywhere! While walking we got hit by a very tasty scent.

This shop was making fresh Taiyaki (i guess?). Though not always in the shape of fish, it seemed to be Taiyaki.  Red bean paste inside, and pancake batter on the outside.  Cooked in front of us, Anne bought a bag for us all to try it fresh!  I really liked this version, and didn't again buy it this fresh, but the things on the shelf didn't taste nearly as good.

Follow the cut for more~ 

Japan - Tokyo - Day 1

- Wednesday, September 30th 2015 and  Thursday, October 1st 2015 - (flying across the international date line!) 
This trip was organized through "Inside Japan Tours", semi custom package that did the usual trip that it seems every tourist does.  Still, good way to learn the ropes for a first trip!

Woke up bright and early at the wonderful hour of 3am.  Or was it 3:30? I don't even know.  All i know is that I showered, had some breakfast and my mother took me off to the airport.  Leaving the house by 4 so I could catch my United flight at 7am.   The drive was uneventful, I had planned on buying us both coffee when she was dropping me off, but sadly it was only curbside drop off where we went.  So, off I went!  Security and baggage check was smooth and easy.   The first leg of my trip was Denver to LAX.  Don't recall the people who sat beside me much on that one, but I'm sure I had company.  I've gotten better at not talking the ear off of people around me when I travel.

Landing in LAX was easy, but I was going from the domestic side to the international of the United terminal.  I didn't know that would be quite such a walk!  My small roller luggage was on me this time, unlike the return trip which I'll get to later.  So I wasn't too sore hauling it up and down the U hallway.  While loitering there I grabbed a snack, got some coffee, travel pillow, and changed over $500 into Yen.  The exchange rate at the place was terrible! It was only ¥104, later on I was getting ¥100 for 84cents.  There were lots of young children on my flight over, and room for me to upgrade myself into Economy Plus. Which I did.

The lady next to me wasn't pleased that her empty row now had me in it, but we didn't really talk and neither of us bothered eachother.  She was a cruise travel agent on her way to Singapore and back for the airline miles.   Movies I watched... Mad Max: Fury Road, Pitch Perfect 2, Tomorrowland and tried to watch Jupiter Ascending but...couldn't... watched an hour of Wild, which I'd finish on my return leg.  Dream liners are pretty awesome.

My first impressions of Japan was "smells like dirt, it's raining, very very green! Unique trees, and kinda makes me think of Scotland."  Though the city doesn't smell so earthy, smells more like car pollution.  There was always a haze, even on clear days... The biggest difference from here and Scotland was that it's WARM!  (note: I've been to Scotland 4 times, usually visiting my travel companion of the trip; Emma)

Landed and got through customs smoothly enough (I had to go through twice since I didn't fill out my customs forum right), avoided the Japanese squat toilet, exited and saw my ride (Green Tomato was the company) holding a sign with my name on it.  The woman was gabbing on her phone so I snuck up and loitered behind her until I was noticed (totally not creepy) and got checked in.  The ride was smooth, I was the 2nd out of 3 parties to get dropped off at my hotel.
For our Tokyo leg we stayed at Ibis Tokyo Shinjuku. They had the rest of my tour package waiting for me at the front desk which was nice.  checked in and the room was tiny!  My traveling companion and I took up all the room with our suitcases.  But I did enjoy their buffet breakfast, I was able to go in my pajamas and not feel terrible.  Eating rice for breakfast was interesting.  Their apple juice is stronger and more apply than American stuff. ANYWAY!
The hotel was up an escalator, our room keys were fancy, just run them over the censors for the elevator and room entry.  Emma had arrived early on her flight, and send me a message of "i'll text you when I'm on the shuttle" around 4pm.

 (view of Shinjuku Station area from the hotel)

Long story short, she had some hiccups. I went outside to wait for her around 6, since it took about two hours to get here from the airport.  Wandered around in the rain for a half hour before heading up to the room to check her status, finally getting the  "Emma luck, involves a break down. I'm on my way now" message at 6:30, having missed the "i need the travel agency number" and a few panicked messages.  Oops... got my phone connected to the wifi and took a nap until she messaged me saying she was in the area.  Heading back down to wait again.
Luggage was lost, panic had happened, but she made it!
We didn't end up having dinner, so we went to bed fairly early.  Tomorrow we had a busy day planned!