Tokyo
Day 1
It was about 30 degree celsius when we landed at Narita Airport, Japan. The flight there from KLIA, Malaysia took about 5 hours. Japan is an hour ahead of Malaysia so we reached there at 7am Japan time, 6am Malaysian time. The immigration department we had to go through was very well organised although there were many people. We took the Shinkansen Express Train from the airport to Shinjuku station which costed about ￥3000. It took about 1.5 hours to get to Shinjuku Station. Language was not entirely and issue as most of the Japanese people we encountered in Japan could understand the basic english and were ever so helpful. We asked for directions to our hotel at the information counter only to find out that our hotel was just around the corner! My mother picked the right hotel as it was really convenient to get around because it was only like a 2 minutes walk from the station. Shinjuku was one of the main stations which connected to most lines! We stayed at Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku which was opposite Family Mart ( a convenient store ). We left our bags at the hotel's reception (they only allowed check in after 2pm) and started our first day! We went to Harajuku by JR Line which costed about ￥140. The train lines were a little confusing at first as there were SO MANY LINES. But after a few trips, I got the hang of it and it was actually really easy! Where is the fun in travelling without getting lost once or twice? Harajuku station leads you to a GAP store right in front of the entrance/exit. Most of the shops were on summer sales when we were there so shopping was really great then! We walked and entered so many shops, which was really fun for me as I LOVE SHOPPING! We saw the popular Anello bag at almost every shop that we walked by and saw it being carried by so many people in Japan! So, if you're vary about which colour to get or if you can't decide if you want it, don't worry you can get it along the next street! So many brands were there and I managed to get alot of things here. We had our first green tea encounter at a cafe at the centre of the place, which you'd notice as you walk down the street from the station. The cafe was filled with plants, and even had a hydroponic shelf! We spent the day till about 6pm here as there was so much to do here.
Harajuku Station
Harajuku
Green tea ice cream
We checked into our rooms at about 6pm and washed up before we went around our hotel area as it was located in the centre of Shinjuku (kind of). So many things were within walking distance from us. Takashimaya was next to Lumine which was opposite the Shinjuku station. Lumine is a mall as well as a train station which connects to the same lines as Shinjuku station. If you happen to get down the train at the opposite side of Shinjuku station, don't panic cause you can cross the wide road using the zebra crossing hehe! We walked around Shinjuku to look for ramen and sushi. We walked around this square which had so many things, and was just across the street from the centre cross junction.
Our first bowl of ramen in Japan!
This sushi place was really good! The sushi was so fresh so good especially the unagi and salmon.
It's called "go around sushi"
This was the front of the sushi place
Made my mom take this with me cause it's japannn!
Super good pastries and sherbet ice cream from Lumine!
Day 2
We started of day 2 early at like 7.30am to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market!
Tadaa Tsukiji Market!
Cold omelette
(¥100)
Fresh raw sushi which everyone lined up for
(¥1000 per set)
After that we switched lines to Ginza for one of the biggest Uniqlo shop! It was massive with about 5-6 floors which was still filled with people anyways. We also entered GU which was also similar to Uniqlo but slightly cheaper. I managed to get quite a few hauls there. Shoes sold in Japan were sized based on S-XL which was different from the usual that we see that are usually numbers. There were many ABC outlets which sold sports shoes. However, their largest size for women was EU38.5 which I couldn't fit cause I have big feet. We spent the afternoon around the area and went back to Harajuku to visit the Meiji Jingu Shrine. We had to change lines to get back to Harajuku from Ginza. Some stations have people to help out if you don't know how to use the lines or else the station officers would be ever ready to point you or even bring you to your platform.
Meiji Jingu Shrine was in the middle of a park which is actually just next to the Harajuku Station.
The entrance to the park
Some kind of Japanese ritual to wash your hands before entering the shrine
We took the train to Shibuya for the evening. The first thing we went for was the Hachiko statue cause it is quite popular although it really is just a statue. Then we crossed the huge shibuya crossing which really amazed me cause when the lights turned red for the cars, everyone just went in every direction, it's not something you see everyday. Like other tourists, we got drinks at starbucks and sat there to watch the people crossing the super busy road! We had dinner here too, really good ramen and ice cream which we ordered and paid through the machine and gave the waitresses our receipts. Coincidentally, the chef spoke cantonese as he was from HongKong!
Two super qq cars hehe
Streets of Shibuya
Bershka was so neon and soo pretty!
Day 3
Tokyo Disneylandddd! We bought the tickets like a day before from Lawson (another convenient store). I can't remember the price, but it was not cheap. We left the hotel and had a bite at a cafe before taking the train to Disneyland. We had to take a train to Tokyo station then change to another line to Disneyland. If you see many people with Disney character clothes or stuff or costumes, you know you're on the right train. When you get there, you'll have to walk quite a bit before you reach the entrance to the theme park. Also, if you wanna get your accessories to take photos at the entrance, you can buy them as you walk towards the entrance cause there's a really huge shop there. When you're going for the rides, check out the express tickets cause they're mostly free and all you have to do is scan you entry passes and go back to the ride at a certain time printed on your express ticket. OH, Bring enough ¥ to spend cause you'll definitely spend on the merchandises there cause they're all so cute!
You'll probably spend the day here cause you won't wanna leave and everything is worth the time. Also, remember to check out the timings for the parades or just observe when people start sitting along the streets as all the disney characters will be parading the theme park. We stayed for both the day and night ones. The night one was so worthwhile as the lights were amazing!
Churros!
The really popular Turkey Leg which they only sold at the cowboy town area, you can actually find it on the map!
More churros while watching the sunset!
The castle really looks different at night huh
Day 4
Our last day in Tokyo was a lot of walking and trains changing. We took a train to Asakusa to visit the Asakusa temple. When you get out of the station, you'll see many tourists heading to one direction so don't panic if you didn't study the maps cause my mom tried to but we didn't use any of the maps she printed out at all. Most of the things were really easy to find and convenient to get to. The Asakusa temple is the oldest buddhist temple in Tokyo which is pretty huge! You'll walk through streets of shops and stalls that sells all kinds of Japanese things on the way to the temple. Restaurants only open at about 11am there so grab a bite before you get to Asakusa!
Lunch set at one of the restaurants at Asakusa! Really good!
Can't remember the price opps.
Then we went to Ueno to look for Japanese titbits and snacks. Ueno station itself was humongous and had a lot of shops in there itself! We walked out to look for the street which was like a market kind of thing. It was not really near but worth the walk cause there were so many shops there! I finally got my Anello bag here after looking at it so many times cause I saw a really pretty colour which I didn't see at other shops! We were a little vary on whether it was authentic or not so we asked the seller how would we know if it's fake. She showed us a paper that shows how to differentiate them and also mentioned that she has never seen a shop selling fake Anello bags in Japan. People have also mentioned that it's really rare to find fake products in Japan, so we took their word for it.
This is the bag i got! It's like a light navy green colour which isn't a common colour.
Later in the evening, we went back to Shinjuku to walk in Takashimaya cause how can we not? We had shabu-shabu at the top floor which was where all the other restaurants were but the restaurants here were kinda higher class compared to the other ramen shops along the streets.
(¥ 8000 per set)
The skyline from Takashimaya of Shinjuku during sunset was gorg!
So that's about it for Tokyo, it was simply amazingly filled with food, shopping, sceneries and wonderful cultures and people. I hope this post might help those who're planning a trip to Japan or even make you wanna plan a trip there!
I'll break my Japan trip into 2 separate posts cause it'll too long if I included my time at Osaka, sooo stay tuned! xx
Do leave comments or drop me a question on my Ask.fm if you have anything you might wanna ask me!
