Day 2: tokyo

*back dated entry*

after a good night rest, we woke up to a fresh day in tokyo... first stop is to buy our shinkansen tickets since the first week of jan is heavy traffic flow in japan... so we want to play safe & secure our seats... of cause we can take the non-reserved seats but that's definitely not a wise choice since we will be traveling with big luggage....

we went to the ueno JR station, there is this midori (green) window place whereby you can get train tickets... you just show your JR pass to the staff & you can start buying advanced tickets... i did my research on hyperdia so i told the staff the exact train that i want to take... i think it's easier for both party or else you can spend the whole day at the counter

JR midori window

our shinkansen tickets

after getting our tickets, we got our breakfast from andersen bakery which is just next to the ticket counter

andersen bakery

beef croquette

cinnamon roll thing

the bread are nice & they all look so delicious!!!! so after that we head to our next stop which is harajuku cause i want to get my KinKi Kids concert tickets!!!! so normally you have to join the johnny's fanclub in order to buy their concert tickets but i saw before this shop in harajuku which sells all sort of concert tickets, mainly johnny's though.... so want to try my luck there since KinKi Kids are having their concert tomorrow in tokyo dome.... but before that, we have to fill our stomach & we went to the famous kyushu ramen store...

my "everything in" ramen

yummy egg

road side stores in harajuku

again, the standard seem to have dropped since the first time i been to this place but still quite nice especially the egg... just delicious!!! along the way to meiji shrine area, you can see multiple food stores selling mainly okonomiyaki & small snacks... this is really interesting to me since i never seen it before for my previous trips....

takeshita street

KinKi Kids concert ticket!!!!

after filling our stomach, we walked to takeshita street.... it was really crowded!!! so i walked along the streets while scouting for potential shops to target for luckybag tomorrow =) & of cause i went to the ticket shop which i mentioned & gotten my KinKi Kids concert tickets!!! YEAH!!!! 10k yen per ticket which is about SGD$111.... decent price i would say.... mine is like the cheapest ticket, those front seats cost like 80k yen per ticket.... me being cheapo wont spent so much $, i am contented with just being inside the concert.... i actually took a picture of the shop but somehow it got corrupted & i cant open it =(

next, we went to tokyo station to check out imperial palace...

tokyo train station

outside imperial palace

you can see the moon at 4pm!!!

imperial palace

swan swimming in the pond

tokyo train station look pretty nice but sadly it is undergoing some renovation so cant get a better view.... so from the station you can walk to imperial palace... it took about 20min to reach somewhere near imperial palace....  we were actually abit disappointed since we imagined the palace to be something grand but i guess we walked from the wrong side so we didnt get to go inside imperial palace area but just took picture somewhere nearby.........since it is a popular attraction, there are quite a number of tour groups in the area so it's very difficult for you to get a nice picture of yourselves without being photobomb.....

after that we just roamed around randomly before heading back to ueno for dinner....

rice bowl at matsuya

different type of sauces

this time we tried matsuya... is like yoshinoya, they sell beef bowls..... personally i prefer sukiya or yoshinoya..... the good thing at matsuya is you can add in your own sauces but the beef doesnt taste that nice....

on our way back to hotel, we saw this sugarbutter place at ueno station... there was quite a number of people queuing at the store so kepo us went to take a look... they sell this waffle biscuit thing, somewhat like shiroikoibito.... we bought 1 pack to try & it doesnt taste that fantastic... it's like waffle sandwich with condensed milk.... & that ends off our 2nd day in tokyo =)

Day 1: tokyo

*back dated entry*

yup yup, not only the most anticipated honeymoon trip is here, my long awaited chiong luckybag trip has arrived!!!! i cant describe how excited i am!!! have been wanting to buy luckybags for years & finally get to do it!!! of cause honeymoon trip!!! lovely!!!!

so we took SQ for this trip cause they were having a promotion (which i posted previously)... we took 9.20am flight & only landed in tokyo about 5pm..... so the first thing we did after we came out of the custom, we bought our train passes....first we went to keisei bus ticket counter at narita terminal 1 to buy the train ticket since i wont be activating our JR pass till we leave tokyo....

keisei bus counter map, photo taken from here....

tokyo subway 3 day ticket

the bus counter is just in front of you when you come out to the arrival hall... i think they stop selling the metro pass at narita but only available at haneda airport.... but i think this pass is more worthwhile if you using it for 3 consecutive days.... more information can be found here....

next, we went to exchange for our JR pass.... i mentioned in my previous post that you have to buy your JR pass outside of japan & we gotten ours from JTB... so they will give you a receipt/voucher kind of thing whereby you have to exchange for the actual pass when you arrived in japan....

JR pass voucher.. photo taken from here...

JR service center

 so you need to go to JR EAST travel service center in narita airport to exchange for your JR pass... you can also do it at other major train stations like tokyo station..... the service center is at Basement, same level as the train platforms

actual JR pass, photo taken from here....

yup, this is how the JR pass will look like... you need to tell them the first date which you want to activate the pass.... once you exchanged for the pass, you can immediately purchase your shinkansen tickets... but due to high amount of tourists in airport outlet, they dont provide advanced train tickets purchases...

after that we went to get our train ticket from keisei station to go to ueno....we booked our hotel at ueno cause i felt that place is very convenient & we are quite familiar with it... another thing is that we will be going to nagano after tokyo & shinkansen depart from ueno so yup..... i think NEX may be more familiar to most people but it stops at central tokyo stations so not suitable for ueno.... there are several ways to go to ueno & the fastest is actually skyliner, operated by keisei electric railway....you can purchase their skyliner + subway tickets but i think it's not really worth cause i can take narita sky access line which takes about 15min more to reach ueno but at half price of skyliner....

keisei ticket counter

this keisei ticket counter is located just opposite of JR EAST travel service center.... it is different from the one located at arrival lobby.... so we bought our train ticket from the counter & wait for our train....

train ticket to ueno

train time table

there are different types of trains that go to different stations so do take note for the correct train... the route & timetable map can be found here.... so after about 1hr train ride, we finally reached ueno!!!! i would say ueno is a relatively big station; JR, keisei & metro lines all have trains stopping at ueno so you have 3 different exits at different places... do take note where your hotel is located so that you can come out from the correct exits...

this time we stayed at kinuya hokan... the hotel is just located behind ueno marui... it's in the midst of ueno shopping area so you will have bundle of food & shopping....

kinuya hokan

walking towards hotel via marui

if you are coming for the JR station, you will see marui (OIOI) in front of you... next to it is a walkway linking to ueno shopping street... you just walk through it & the hotel is just at the road after marui building... pretty convenient i would say....

room

toilet

bathroom

so for this hotel, they separate the toilet & bathtub... this is pretty common in japan & doesnt really matter to us.... but the room is really small.... i gotten the tatami style room so you have to sleep on futon... i guess it will be an interesting experience but honestly, it wasnt that comfortable..... got abit of backache when i woke up.....

after depositing our luggage, we went to get our dinner.... we went to fuji soba, one of those vending machine restaurants...... it's located just outside of JR ueno station.... so you order your food via the vending machine by pressing the correct button & pass the coupon to the staff & wait for your number to be called

food coupon

hubby dinner

my dinner

 i would say fuji soba standard kind of dropped... it tasted much better when i first tried it in year 2009... but at least it filled our stomach at a relatively cheap price.... after that we walked around ueno shopping street to get some snack....

taiyaki

close up on taiyaki

 so there is a tsukiji gindaco takoyaki at ueno & they have this special taiyaki... it looked very interesting so we bought 1 to try & it's actually made of phyllo pastry... so you get crunchy taiyaki!!! yummy

meiji yoghurt

i also gotten meiji yoghurt from family mart.... i had this super nice yoghurt on ANA during my previous japan trip & i am determined to try out all the different brands of yoghurt available to find the right one... but no luck for the first try... the yoghurt was nice but not the right one... so yup, that conclude my first night in tokyo.... we retired early to get ready for our next day in tokyo =)

places to visit in takayama

*back dated entry*

actually other than my lucky bag shopping trip in tokyo, takayama is the next place that i really want to visit.... because i want to go shirakawa-go!!!! i have seen so many pretty pictures online so i MUST visit that place!!! both places are in the hida area & the easiest access to takayama is train from nagoya then you can join bus tour group to shirakawa-go... let me share more pictures about these 2 pretty places......

Takayama:

takayama town map, photo taken from here....

takayama literally mean high mountain, it's a small town but you can pretty nice attractions there....

1. old town area

old town area, photo taken from here....

old town area map, photo taken from here....

higashiyama walk, photo taken from here...

morning market, photo taken from here....

in the old town area you get to see those old buildings whereby you can get the traditional japanese feel.... pretty interesting experience.... if you reached takayama early you can check out the morning markets.. i think they are something like the farmers markets in the US where you can get fresh local products... after that you can take a walk along the higashiyama walk where you can overlook the town from high land....

2. hida folk village

hida folk village, photo taken from here....

the place just looks so lovely in this picture but that was probably taken during spring.... so this fold village is located the opposite side of the station, away from the old town area.... from the map, it looks pretty far from the station so i probably wont attempt to walk there in the winter... my lab mate told me that it's not really worth the visit since you will only get the see the folk house which is a museum... i shall see how's my schedule is like before deciding to visit this place or not

shirakawa-go

winter look, photo taken from here....

summer look, photo taken from here....

winter light up, photo taken from here...

doesnt this place just look pretty!?!??! especially during spring with all the greenery... it really give you the relaxing village feel... due to its unique gassho houses, shirakawa-go was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1995.... sadly, i wont get to see the winter light up since it will happen around end of jan =( nonetheless, this is a MUST visit place for me =)

we intend to join the bus tour to shirakawa-go from takayama, information can be found here.... you can also just opt for normal bus ride at a cheaper price.... but i foresee having difficulties finding food in shirakawa-go since it's such a small town, i rather pay abit more & join the tour to get my meal covered ... on top of that, you get an english speaking guide =)