It had been a long while since we had a family vacation. When I started organising a short vacation trip to Japan, I asked all my children whether they would like to join us on this trip and was surprised that all of them wanted to. I was really pleased that they all wanted to and so all planning is based on a family vacation.
We went to the airport by car and train. We drove to a town nearby the airport where there is a train going to the airport and left the car there which is very much cheaper in terms of parking fees.
It was a late flight with a transit in Hong Kong and landing in Tokyo Narita early the next morning.
Day 2 - May 22nd.
Landed in Tokyo Narita at 6:20am very tired from lack or no sleep because of the very badly designed seats of the Boeing 777-300 of Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong. It must had been the excitement of knowing that we are in Japan that woke us up.
First destination is to
Tokyo Station in the
Marunouchi area. Main aim is to get our
Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto which is our next destination in a couple of days time.
 |
| Tokyo Station |
 |
| Getting a bite |
 |
| Enjoying the meal |
They have a good system to avoid slow decider occupying precious space in their eateries. You have to decide what you want to eat first, pay to the machine, get a slip which is also the receipt. Then get into the eatery, hand over part of the slip, find a place to sit and when your food is ready they'll call out your number and you'll be enjoying your food in no time. Yum!
I got a message from our Airbnb host that we can check in earlier so we decided to check in first so that we do not have to lug our luggage with us.
After checking in we went to check out the station in
Shinagawa where we will be boarding the shinkansen so that we would not lost our way and miss the train on the day when we travel to Kyoto.
 |
| Snack Time - Takoyaki |
A
Takoyaki yatai in Shinagawa and it is our very first time eating it ... yum!
 |
| Many Other Stores |
After all the eating and running around we decided to call it a day and headed back to our Airbnb place to get cleaned and a good night rest.
Day 3 - May 23rd.
The first destination was
Tsukiji Fish Market. We left a little late hoping to miss the office rush hour crowd but at one section of the subway we experienced the
sardine cramp!
 |
| BBQ Scallops ... yum! |
 |
| 3 different toppings |
 |
| Not Real! |
 |
| Egg on a Stick |
 |
| Eggs of Different Flavours |
We spent half a day here strolling and eating, they were also generous with their samples of pickles but not the fresh seafood. It is indeed a seafood paradise. The beef is lovely too especially the
Kobe Beef. The tenderness and taste of the beef is just heavenly ... yum-yum!!!
 |
| Must Eat - Kobe Wagyu Beef |
Next we headed to
Shinjuku, the Skyscraper District side to the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to enjoy its free observation decks which provide good panoramic view of Tokyo and we could see
Mt. Fujiyama from there.
After taking in all the views and a little walk around it was time to eat again. Must be all those walking that is making us hungry.
 |
| Yum! :) |
After a nice yummy meal we headed towards the shopping side to explore further.
3 of Japanese most popular entertainment outlet -
Izakaya,
Karaoke and
Pachinko.
Look!!! It's
Godzilla on the loose! We were a little early and Godzilla is resting, according to the people there Godzilla will rise a little taller every hour or maybe 30 minutes to roar like a time keeper.
Our favourite pastime in Japan after 7:00pm is to visit Departmental Stores, the basement where the food section and everything will be on discount ... yum!
Day 4 - May 24th.
Our first destination was
Kappabashi Street in
Asakusa district. Since everyone cook in the family, this is a must visit area. This place was not as interesting as we thought it would be but nonetheless our curiosity was satisfied. We saw
Tokyo Skytree while walking in Asakusa an attraction which is not in our itinerary.
 |
| A Knife Shop |
Next destination was
Akihabara, lots of electronics and home appliances.
 |
| Everything Under 1 Roof. |
 |
| Hehe! |
Next stop
Shibuya, a place where lots and lots of people crossed the road here each day and also this is where the dog
Hachiko waited for its master to return from work each day. A statue of Hachiko is erected here in remembrance.
Next we headed towards to
Harajuku, to
Takeshita Dori which is an interesting place to see some new culture in Tokyo. Along the way we saw some "
Mario Karts" yes they are tourist driving the carts. No I wouldn't do that!
Finally we arrived in Takeshita Dori and we did not see any real strangely dressed people, only a few that are mildly different.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Kyoto by
Shinkansen. Kyoto will be PART 2 .
No comments:
Post a Comment