Wandering Fel

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8D Avia Japan Tour: Tokyo Skytree and Ueno Park

Cherry blossom viewing at Ueno Park Tokyo

Jim Beam Highball Truck at Ueno Park on weekend

Japanese cemetery on the way to Tokyo Skytree

Cherry blossom viewing near Tokyo Skytree Japan

It’s already November and I haven’t finished documenting my travel log from March. But the good news is we are coming toward the end of the travel log and I’m gonna start a new one in December. After our challenging walk at Nakamise Street, we boarded the tour bus again to go to our next destination Tokyo Skytree and Ueno Park. However, the tour does not book a visit to Tokyo Skytree for us so it’s more like photo stop with Tokyo Skytree as a background. Thankfully I’ve been to Tokyo Skytree before although I did not want to spend $ to go up to the observatory deck since I have been to one at Tokyo Tower. But I feel it’s really a pity not to at least stepping into the tower and take a look around the shopping mall underneath the tower. There’s even a huge Totoro shop there.

Oh well, the tour participants seem to be happy enough to pose with Tokyo Skytree as its background so what can I say. After spending 20 minutes here to take picture, we made our way to where the bus could park and then boarded the bus again to next destination, Ueno Park. The road between these two popular tourist destinations is heavily congested especially since that day was a Sunday. So we were stuck for nearly 30 minutes with Japanese cemetery view from our bus window. We saw that each tomb seems to have names imprinted on the wooden sticks. Our local tour guide explained that usually the tomb consists of a family of 4 so you will see many sticks at the top of one tomb. I suppose they layer the casket on top of each other inside one tomb plot.

Someone asked what if the family is huge, would they be able to be buried together? In this case, the tour guide explained that it is common for a big family to be buried separately or even, cremated. Hmm, I suppose land is also scarce and expensive too here in Japan. Not just in Singapore. Haha.

45 minutes later we finally reached Ueno Park and since back then we were at the last week of sakura season, festivity vibe could still be felt right at the centre of Ueno Park where people have picnic while viewing the sakura tree. In addition, there are many food/ drink stall (which is mostly offering beer I dunno why) and also, street performances because it was Sunday. Not sure if the weekday vibes of Ueno Park is that jolly though. There is no entrance fee to Ueno Park so you can just stroll inside to enjoy the beauty of the park for free. To be honest, I prefer Shinjuku Park to Ueno Park for sakura-viewing but the entrance free to Shinjuku Park is not free and you are not allowed to bring alcohol inside the park. Plus minus I suppose.

How to spend 30 minutes in Nakamise Street, Tokyo?

No food or drink sign at Nakamise Street Tokyo

Filled fried bun at Nakamise Street Tokyo Japan

Sakura filled fried bun from Nakamise Street Tokyo

Red bean manju from Nakamise Street Tokyo Japan

Strawberry mochi from Nakamise Street Tokyo Japan

Yummy strawberry red bean mochi from Nakamise Street Tokyo

Melon cream bun from Nakamise Street Tokyo Japan

Japan melon pan from Nakamise Street Tokyo Japan

Funawa Patisserie at Nakamise Street Tokyo

Making pancakes at Funawa Patisserie Nakamise Street Tokyo

Red bean sweet potato dorayaki from Funawa Patisserie Tokyo

Japanese wedding parade at Nakamise Street Tokyo

If you are visiting Tokyo with a tour group, chances are you will have an opportunity to visit Asakusa Temple and Nakamise Street. One thing to take note is that you probably will not have a lot of time to explore these two places and if you visit these two places on a weekend, oh boy, the challenge has become way higher because this area is packed with people. In order for us to go through the crowd until we reach Kaminarimon Gate, we had to spend around 15 minutes. And since we are only allocated 45 minutes in this whole area (oh yes, are you freaking kidding me), we have to move in an orderly planned manner.

After the tour guide let us roam freely, we quickly explored the alleys to enjoy some street food. If you think you can just eat while strolling like what you do in any kind of street food, you may have to remember not to do that here at Nakamise Street. Eating and drinking while strolling is completely against the rule of Nakamise Street. You can only eat or drink whatever you buy in front of the shop. Yikes, I suppose we have to chomp faster if we want to try as many food as possible here.

Considering that we had to queue before securing our food, being able to eat 5 kind of different food at Nakamise Street within 30 minutes is a satisfying result to be honest with you. However, I did give a feedback to the tour group about this crazy amount of short time given to us to explore the area. Oh well, I’m sure they are not going to do anything about it and it’s not like I’m gonna join another tour group if I’m coming back to Tokyo so yeah, whatever. From all the food shop that we visited within 30 minutes, the longest queue is gotta be at the whipped cream melonpan and Funawa Patisserie. Funawa Patisserie seems to be a famous sweet shop in Nakamise Street as its shop is huge and it even has its own eating area (i.e. a few tables where people can stand while eating their food).

There are actually a lot of shops selling souvenirs too but we totally had no time to even check them out in that kind of time limit so yeah, I hope I have the chance to revisit this street again in the future. But until then, I suppose I have just to be grateful to be able to catch a traditional Japanese cart carrying a couple in Japanese traditional wedding gown. Did they just really get married or is this just a parade for tourists? I can’t be sure but still, happy to be able to catch that. Haha.

8D Avia Japan Trip: Lake Kawaguchiko, Mt Fuji and Gotemba Premium Outlet

Early lunch at Lake Kawaguchiko Mt Fuji Japan

White sakura tree at Lake Kawaguchiko Mt Fuji

White peach ice cream from Haagen Daz Japan

Morning view of Mt Fuji from Lake Kawaguchiko

I don’t know what I’ve been doing from April to October except for trying to resuscitate my saving account to stable condition after few months of unemployment but hey, hello October I suppose. Can’t believe I haven’t even completed my blog post about the last spring trip to Japan. Talk about procrastination hahaha. Japan has been enduring a tough summer this year and hopefully Trami would be the last typhoon that they have to endure. When the typhoon not in town though, Japan is beautiful.

However, I heard that catching the view of the top of Mt Fuji is tricky, no matter what the season is. I managed to catch it during my first trip to Japan with my bestie but when I went for the second time, it was not very clear. Even though we specifically went to Lake Kawaguchiko, one of the famous viewing spot of Mt Fuji. The top of the mountain is foggy. Some of the tour participants kinda grumbled because before we had our meal, we could see the top of the mountain from our bus. But then, it’s impossible to defy the itinerary of a tour group when you join one so we continued our journey to Gotemba Premium Outlet with heavy heart. Thankfully, in the middle of the pit stop, we managed to see white sakura trees and happily taking picture with it for a while.

Gotemba Premium Outlet is not that huge and that’s good for us because we only had 3 hours to cover the whole outlet. This is especially hard because there are three people in my family and everyone has different needs to cater to. We managed to go through every shops according to everybody needs though, Coach for me, Kate Spade for my mum and Adidas/ Nike for my brother. And even, eating Haagen Daz on the way. But I had no opportunity to check out those Disney/ Pokemon stores. Oh gosh, shopping is also an ordeal when you join a tour. The best thing is, you don’t have to stratch your head figuring out how to go to and from Gotemba Premium Outlet because it’s pretty out of the way from downtown Tokyo. Make sure you spare some time to grab those limited edition flavour of Haagen Daz ice cream. A lot of them can’t be found in the convenience stores in the city. The white peach is pretty good. Yumz.

We stayed the night at one of the hotels alongside Lake Kawaguchiko. If you think all the hotels near the lake are in good condition, you may want to rethink. The hotel that we stayed seems to be kinda old and it does not have a lot of basic amenities like hot water, stable wifi connection, and stuff. Oh gosh, it’s literally the worst hotel that we stayed during our 8 days trip in Japan but guess what, this is the most expensive hotel from the pricing perspective. Why is that the case? We found the answer when the sun rose the next day. It’s because the hotel is facing the direction of Mt Fuji and you will be able to see the view of the lake together with the mountain (and its reflection in the water). Oh well, I suppose everything is about perspective, isn’t it?

Taking Shinhotaka Ropeway to Hotaka Mountain

Forest and snow mountain view of Hotaka Japan

One hour distance away on the road from Takayama, we finally made our way to the next destination Shin Hotaka. Shin Hotaka is where you can take ropeway journey up to the Northern Alps of Japan. As it is located pretty near to Takayama, there are a lot of bus services going to Shin Hotaka for the onsen and ropeway but I suppose you need more research to figure out the route, especially if you are not Japanese-speaker.

Alternatively, you can join a day tour and you just need to be ready at the point where the bus will pick you up and the tour guide would have already bought your ropeway ticket and book your lunch meal up in the mountain. There are many stations along the ropeway but if I’m not wrong, you need to alight at the earliest stop to have your meal. The lunch set provided to us at the restaurant is pretty standard and I can probably conclude that the lunch is healthy since the tofu pieces seem to be bigger than the beef. You are supposed to cook the beef at the hot plate where the tofu is plated. The soup that the waitress instructed us to use for cooking, though, is not meant to be eaten. It tastes weirdly salty if you slurp the soup. Sp, I just obeyed the instruction and slurp the miso soup instead. I randomly spotted gacha slot machines there and oh boy, did I just get Pikachu and its poke ball? So cute!

After we finish eating, we are back to the ropeway to continue our journey further up the Northern Alps. So what’s so special about this ropeway? Based on www.japan-guide.com, Shinhotaka ropeway apparently has one of the largest elevation gains in Japan as it climbs over 1000 meters up the side of the Hotake Mountain Range, which includes Oku-Hotakedake (Japan’s third highest peak. It’s also the first double decker gondola cars ropeway. While I’m not a pro about cable car and ropeway car, I think the view from Shin Hotaka ropeway is so beautiful with the combination of forest, snowy ground, mountain, snowy mountain peak and blue sky. It also offers breathtaking view of the Okuhida region. Make sure you stand near the glass if you want to catch the view but be careful if you are scared of height okay. If you did not manage to get the window spot in the ropeway car, don’t worry, you can make your way to the viewing dock and take picture with the mailbox to prove that you have conquered the top.

Shinhotaka Ropeway operating hours:

8.30 to 16.45 (April to November)

9.00 to 16.15 (December to March)

Admission:

From the bottom: 2,900 JPY (roundtrip), 1,600 JPY (one way)

8D Avia Japan Trip: Hida Beef Fest at Takayama Old Town

Hida beef katsu from Takayama Old Town Japan

Hida beef katsu from Takayama Old Town store

Hida beef buns shop from Takayama Old Town Japan

Hida beef bun from Takayama Old Town Japan

Brown on sake barrel at Takayama Old Town Japan

I am getting a bit lazy to write lately because the burden of daily life has make me losing my inspiration. But I forced myself to write tonight no matter what it takes. Anyway, I feel it’s easier to write about past travel story because it somehow motivates you to earn dollars to fund your next travel plan. So let’s continue our walk in Takayama Old Town, shall we?

If you are not keen to go for sake tasting with empty stomach, you may want to take a deeper stroll to the alleys in Takayama Old Town because you don’t know what you will find out here. For instance, the road will lead you to a food store selling Hida beef skewer. Hida beef is so popular here in Takayama but it doesn’t come with cheap pricetag so in order to make it more affordable (and hence, attracting cheapo tourists’ attention like us), shops in Takayama Old Town sells Hida beef at various sizes. One skewer of Hida beef costs 500 JPY. Considering you can get a bowl of ramen at that price, oh well you know it’s not really a cheap delicacy but don’t leave this place without trying it, okay?

A few steps later we stumbled into a fried beef Croquette shop. I suppose all the shops here claim to sell Hida beef so let’s just believe them since there’s no way for us to proof them otherwise. I love this traditional croquette, it’s so crispy and the taste of the hot beef in curry sauce just burst at your mouth when you bite it. Yummy. Best to eat it hot so devour it straight away upon getting your hand on it.

Next, on the way back to the meeting point with the tour group, we saw a shop selling Hida beef buns. Since we are not going to see anymore Hida beef after leaving Takayama Old Town, we decided to say goodbye to this lovely old town by buying this beef bun. Same with the croquette, it’s best to consume this bun immediately because it won’t be so nice when it’s cold. I wish I have more time to explore Takayama Old Town but there is not much you can do when you join a tour group. At least, I had the chance to munch a lot of Hida beef that day. Oops, must not forget to take Brown after some photo-taking hehe.

8D Avia Japan Trip: Hida Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market

Miyagawa Morning Market at Hida Takayama Japan

Huge packs of Pretz at souvenir store in Hida Takayama

Sarubobo dolls from Hida Takayama souvenir store

Takoyaki stall at Hida Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market

Red bean bun from Hida Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market

I like to check the surrounding of the hotel that I stayed in whenever I am in foreign country. Japan is no exception and I love it when I found out that there’s actually something to see within walking distance from our hotel in Takayama, Hida Takayama Hotel. From google map, I can see that there are two markets near our hotel but the nearest one would be Hida Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market. Since mum would definitely have revolted if I left her in the hotel by herself, I decided to chose this market for our after-breakfast morning walk.

While the walk is considered easy (no uphill route), it is still not an easy feat for mum who broke her knee last year. But she seems to be fine to walk at her own pace and she let me and my brother to walk further ahead to check the route just in case we took the wrong path. So by the time she reached the intersection, we would be in time to alarm her that the walk that we just took was actually wrong. Oops. Well, I never say I am good with map but neither is my brother.

After several turns, we finally managed to reach Miyagawa Morning Market which is located at the riverside. A lot of tourists seem to cycle to reach the place but my cycling skill is noob so it’s out of the question for me. Plus who is strong enough to give my mum a ride, definitely not me. She’s not heavy. It’s just me who is weak. LOL.

There are many things to see at Miyagawa Morning Market from souvenir store which sells Sarubobo dolls and huge version of Pretz (oh my, they sold it in 9 packs too) to food stalls such as takoyaki and buns filled with Hida beef or red bean. We just had a bit too many Hida beef the day before, so we tried out red bean bun this time and it tastes so comforting if you eat it while it’s warm. Yummy.

You will feel this good morning stroll vibe while you are walking through the market. We saw our tour guide there too shopping for miso. My mum quickly joined him and well, I did not really know what happened but she ended up with two packs of miso. It’s not for soup base though, it seems to be eaten together with beef. That sounds pretty good actually. Too bad I’m staying away from my mum so my brother will be the person who enjoys this benefit. Damn, I’m kinda jealous but it’s my own faullt. My choice of life, actually.

Do take a walk here if you have the time to spend in the morning. Since it’s named morning market, I guess it will be safer to come in the morning (like around 8 or 9AM) because I’m scared it will close in the afternoon.

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Wandering Fel

8D Avia Japan Trip: Tokyo Skytree and Ueno Park

How to spend 30 minutes at Nakamise Street, Tokyo?

8D Avia Japan Trip: Lake Kawaguchiko - Mt Fuji - Gotemba Premium Outlet

8D Avia Japan Trip: Shinhotaka Ropeway

8D Avia Japan Trip: Hida beef fest at Takayama Old Town

8D Avia Japan Trip: Hida Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market