Tokyo in 4 days

On board the Hakutaka Shinkansen bound for Nagano and onwards to Yudanaka, Yamanouchi, home of the snow monkeys and numerous onsen (11:24 am 30 Nov 2017 Thursday).

Tokyo is a huge city of more than 10 million and the Metropolitan area is of course huge. It even has the biggest Chinatown in the world located in Yokohama about half an hour by fast train from Tokyo central.

My wife and I have been to most of the favourite tourist spots but it's still nice to revisit Sensoji Temple for the fourth time.

The famous lantern at Sensoji. My wife wondered when she would be able to come back again.

Getting from Haneda to our AirBnB apartment in Shinjuku took a really long time due to the waiting time for the connecting trains and having to walk up and down several steep stairs with the luggages. And then we got confused by the pictorial instructions giving by the apartment owner. It said to cross the street but it wasn’t precise enough and we crossed the other street at the junction. Asking for help in the middle of the night can be difficult. We asked a guy doing deliveries (yes at midnight) and after looking at the address pointed us back to where we came from. Pinching the photos given by the apartment owner, we finally located the correct place to cross the street. Using google map to locate the address is apparently even more confusing as it has led clients to incorrect locations.

Once we were at the apartment I dropped a pin on google map on my iPhone and labelled it. From then on, we never got lost finding our way home no matter where we were in Shinjuku. Of course you must have roaming or data or in our case a pocket wifi graciously provided by the host. I wonder why the host does not just provide the gps location to the guests? The problem with addresses is that google maps has to interpolate the house number but if the address system is not systemic the results can be erroneous.

quite dark and deserted around midnight just outside of Okubo station ...

... but Family Mart (or 7-Eleven and Lawson) will make sure you don't go hungry.

Space is a premium in Tokyo. Our 2 bedroom apartment has two small bedrooms, a tiny kitchenette, a shower and a toilet. No dining area, no lounge. The apartment we stayed at in Budapest is luxurious compared to Tokyo. But the host also provided four cans of beer in the fridge labelled “free drinks” as well as bottle of red wine. Must be the special “stay 4 nights get free booze” deal. Just kidding.

The first place we went to see fall colours was the Inner Garden at Meiji-jingu. The sky was downcast so most photographs came out a little subdued.

Meiji-jingu Inner Garden

We had better luck at the Koishikara Korakuen Garden was just peaking (thanks to a heads up from Boo Teik). There are so many gardens and this one we have not been before. It seems there’s a collection of Marple trees in this garden and with the fine weather and the sun occasionally peeking out some photos turned out quite nice. After the Korakuen we decided to give momiji a short break.

Korakuen

Tsikiji is always bustling with tourists and always fun to visit. Now they have limited the visiting hours to the market itself (I think until 10 or 11 am). We tried a few things including the yakitori and mouchi and sat down for some seafood don (rice). The food was good but seems very overpriced. You do have to pay for quality but it makes me shudder at the cost of living in Tokyo. They do have cheaper food options and we found some to be excellent - not just value for money but just really tasty in it’s own right.

Unagi heaven

We had good western food too in Harajuku (Hoshino’s Coffee) to celebrate Moong Nah’s 57th Birthday (27 Nov) and later had ippudo ramen in Roppongi (thanks again to Boo Teik). 

Happy Birthday to my sweetie

On the fourth day, we decided to head out to Yokohama, attracted by the Kirin Brewery tour (which eventually abandoned because of lack of time) and the Cup Noodle Museum as well as the largest Chinatown in the world (did I say that already?). Childhood memories were triggered and my wife remembered she used to have Yokohama steak (probably Eden Restaurant) back in Penang. We went to the top recommendation on Google and it was very nice (though pricey but worth it). For dinner we headed for Chinatown which offered just too many choices that we got confused and again turned to google which suggested a restaurant with 4.2 rating opposite where were standing on the sidewalk. We were not disappointed.

Make your own cup noodle

Lovely seafront at Yamashita Garden, Yokohama

Pokemon raiders on the streets of Chinatown, Yokohama

Everyday we walked more than 20,000 steps, clocking 16 km on the first day. The weather is cold but pleasant for walking. Luckily all four bodies are physically able and willing for walking tours. It not only saves money but you really do get to see more of the city. And Japan is very safe to walk, even late at night.

More photos on googlealbum Momiji 2017

12:28 pm, about 30 minutes from Nagano.

published at the Bozanso, Yudanaka

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