Japan: Going Japan for a holiday

[Tohto]

trip coming up next week! nothing much on the itinerary: one night at Hakone, 2 nights at Shinjuku, 2 nights at Roppongi. will probably just explore around Tokyo. wife wanted to go Studio Ghibli museum but tix sold out...

Waiting for your trip report.

[Jamesc]

trip coming up next week! nothing much on the itinerary: one night at Hakone, 2 nights at Shinjuku, 2 nights at Roppongi. will probably just explore around Tokyo. wife wanted to go Studio Ghibli museum but tix sold out...

 

Wow your wife really have good taste. 

 

I also like the Maserati Ghibli.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Jamesc

[Lala81]

trip coming up next week! nothing much on the itinerary: one night at Hakone, 2 nights at Shinjuku, 2 nights at Roppongi. will probably just explore around Tokyo. wife wanted to go Studio Ghibli museum but tix sold out...

 

? why bother to change accomodation to roppongi? unless u mean it's shinjuku -> hakone -> roppongi etc

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Lala81

[kdash]

? why bother to change accomodation to roppongi? unless u mean it's shinjuku -> hakone -> roppongi etc

i have a friend staying at Roppongi so will be staying with them for the final 2 nights

[Lala81]

i have a friend staying at Roppongi so will be staying with them for the final 2 nights

[Mason016]

i have a friend staying at Roppongi so will be staying with them for the final 2 nights

Edited April 23, 2018 by Mason016

[13177]

trip coming up next week! nothing much on the itinerary: one night at Hakone, 2 nights at Shinjuku, 2 nights at Roppongi. will probably just explore around Tokyo. wife wanted to go Studio Ghibli museum but tix sold out...

Enjoy your japan trip. 

[Jamesc]

Hope your friend's house doesn't turn into this...

 

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/singaporean-man-among-25-people-detained-at-swingers-sex-party-in-thailand-reports

 

I go Thailand so many times I didn't know got this kind of party.

 

Must find out where on my next trip.

 

Oh ok. I've stayed with my friend there before as well in 2011.

Same fren as kdash?

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Jamesc

[kdash]

I go Thailand so many times I didn't know got this kind of party.

 

Must find out where on my next trip.

 

Same fren as kdash?

 

my friend wasnt there in 2011, so no...

[Jamesc]

Anyone know who the Singaporean guy is?

 

Must ask him where is the next international meet and greet party.

 

I always like to get to know more people.

 

Make love not war.

 

[Mason016]

Anyone know who the Singaporean guy is?

 

Must ask him where is the next international meet and greet party.

 

I always like to get to know more people.

 

Make love not war.

 

 

Please remember to avoid taking home the free Special Truffle Dumplings.   Heard that they can give your ulcers.  

Edited April 23, 2018 by Mason016

[Jamesc]

Please remember to avoid taking home the free Special Truffle Dumplings. Heard that they can give your ulcers.

Ok I will avoid those.

 

[Picnic06-Biante15]

I go Thailand so many times I didn't know got this kind of party.

 

Must find out where on my next trip.

 

Same fren as kdash?

 

 

You don't scare your MIL come     after you har....

[Tohto]

For car rental in Japan, normally rent from which company?

Especially I am looking for a AWD SUV I Hokkaido during Dec.

If can get a Forester will be good.

[Charlene0103]

wah envy...

[kdash]

Hakone-Tokyo Trip Report 2018

 

Just a friendly sharing of my “itinerary” in Japan, meant for those who are interested but have never gone to Tokyo and Hakone before, for reference only.

 

Day 1 (Hakone)

 

Let me start by saying how fortunate I am to have great in-laws who agreed to help take care of our kids while my wife and I spend a week in Japan. Our trip actually started with a drive up to KL to “deposit” our kids before flying to Haneda via SG. I know it sounds stupid, but when my wife booked the SQ tickets, the KUL-SIN-HND tickets were actually cheaper than SIN-HND. This is the same flight which @wt_know talked about recently in the SIA thread.

 

After landing at Haneda at 6.45am, we took a limousine bus to Shinjuku, before buying the Odakyu Hakone 2-day Free Pass with Romancecar tickets to Hakone-Yumoto. My first mistake was that I did not purchase the Romancecar tickets online beforehand, so when i reached Shinjuku, the counter person informed that the 9am tickets were sold out, and we had to wait for the next train which was at 10.20am. Subsequently the Romancecar stopped at Hon-Atsugi and all the passengers were asked to alight as there was some train fault (sounds familiar?). In the end we had to change to local JR train to bypass and head to Odawara and finally to Hakone-Yumoto.

 

Limousine Bus from Haneda to Shinjuku

 

Romancecar from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto

 

Hakone-Yumoto

 

We had a quick lunch at Hakone-Yumoto before taking the Hakone Tozan Train to Gora, and then the Tozan Cablecar to Naka-Gora, where our ryokan was. In the end due to the delays, we reached the ryokan 3 hours behind schedule. After settling down and enjoying the onsen, we went to Gora for dinner and back to the ryokan to rest for the night.

 

Hakone Tozan Cablecar

 

Naka-Gora Station. Note the incline. 

 

View from ryokan room

Edited May 2, 2018 by kdash

[kdash]

Day 2

 

Woke up and did another round of onsen before heading out of the ryokan. Took the Cablecar to the topmost station Sounzen before changing to the Hakone Ropeway which brought us across the crater of Owakudani and down to Lake Ashi. As we did not want to risk being caught in the crowd heading out from Hakone, we decided not to take the sightseeing cruise and instead head back to our ryokan to get our luggage. After which, we took the same way back to Shinjuku (walk to Gora via Gora Park, Tozan Train to Hakone-Yumoto, Romancecar to Shinjuku), and thankfully no train fault this time.

 

Crater of Owakudani, with sulphur vents

 

Mt Fuji in the distance

 

Lake Ashi

 

Fountain at Gora Park

 

We checked in at a hotel which is about 20mins walk from Shinjuku Station. From there we took some time to explore around the Shinjuku area and grabbed our dinner before heading back to rest. 

 

Shinjuku

[kdash]

Day 3

 

Today was a crazy day! Please do not try this!

 

We took some time to plan the day before heading out as most of my pre-trip planning was concentrated on the Hakone leg (which I still screwed up). Since it was just the 2 of us, we did not plan to go to Disneyland or Disneysea. Also we bought the Tokyo Subway 72-hour pass which was quite affordable and much cheaper than the JR pass.

 

Our first stop was Tsukiji Market as we wanted to taste the melt-in-your-mouth sashimi again from our previous trip and also to shop around the market area. We avoided Sushi Dai and Daiya Sushi due to the crazy queues and went to Ryu Sushi which was the same shop which we visited during our previous trip.

 

Tsukiji Market

 

Sushi chef at Ryu Sushi

 

Registered PMD in use at Tsukiji

 

Next, we headed to Ikebukuro for unagi don. This was a crazy move as it involved crossing Tokyo city again and we only did that so that we can get to eat at the same shop which we went for our previous trip (see the trend there?). Nonetheless, food was good, price was good, we were satisfied.

 

Unagi don shop at Ikebukuro

 

Third stop was Ueno Park and then Asakusa to visit the Sensoji Temple (another crossing of Tokyo city again). No worries of not getting our money’s worth from the Tokyo Subway 72-hour pass haha...

 

Market at Ueno

 

Ueno Park

 

Sensoji Temple

 

Sumida River beside Asakusa