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Tsum tsum at Disneystore in Odaiba Japan

8D Avia Japan Tour: Ocean Club Buffet at Odaiba

Ocean Club Buffet at Decks Tokyo Beach Odaiba

Desserts from Odaiba Club Buffet in Odaiba

Night view of Rainbow Bridge Odaiba Japan

The last day of 8D Avia Japan Tour ended in Tokyo with a visit to the ever-crowded Shibuya crossing and Odaiba, a reclamation land located a distance away from downtown Tokyo. I know that Shibuya has always been a popular meeting spot but I was so overwhelmed with the number of people lingering around in front of Shibuya station where Hachiko statue is located on a Sunday. There is street performance there too with a band playing out some music and the noise of the crowd is enough to mumble out the sound of their performance. If you play Persona 5 on Playstation 4, you will be amazed at the details of Shibuya in the game. Because they are exactly the same with probably exception of political speech because it’s not yet election season. Haha.

We spent probably around 15 - 20 minutes in Shibuya crossing because we wanted to capture a selfie of ourselves crossing the famous 6-way crossing. I suppose only tourist do that so some people (mostly foreigners) photo-bomb our shots. It was fun experience though. After we got tired of crossing the crossings, we made our way to the last stop of our tour that day, Odaiba. The reservartion for our dinner was made at 7PM so we had a bit of free time to explore Odaiba. However, we were advised not to run so far because of the risk getting lost and moreover, the tour guide did not inform us our dinner place so unfortunately, we did not dare to go see Gundam statue. Diver City is located at quite a walking distance from our drop-out point (Aqua City if I’m not mistaken) and it’s not feasible to make my Mum run back-and-forth from Diver City to Aqua City.

I did not really shop much at Aqua City except for a polo t-shirt for my bae from Adidas Originals and Sukiyaki Pringles from the souvenir store at basement level. There is Disney store too so you can get your Disney goodies at Aqua City. At our appointed meeting point, we met up with the tour guides and the rest of the tour participants and made our way to mall called Decks Tokyo Beach to go to Ocean Club Buffet, where our dinner is booked. Buffet in Japan is so interesting because you can see the replica of the food offered in the buffet in front of the restaurant. It seems that Ocean Club Buffet offers international selection of cuisine because I saw all kind of food including Singapore chicken rice. Can you believe that?

There are 2 types of plates being used in Ocean Club Buffet, one has 9 slots while the other has 6 slots. These plates are so cute and at the same time it makes you not to be greedy if you want to have 9 variety of dishes on your plate. Hahaha. I wonder if they purposely use these kind of plates to give the kitchen enough time to cook the dishes. Probably that’s the case since Ocean Club Buffet is mostly filled with group tours. Oh my.

Taste-wise, they are pretty good although some items taste so-so. I love the pasta and the pizza though I don’t know why. Italian-Japanese fusion works well for my tastebud I suppose. If you have your dinner here, make sure to take a quick walk to the balcony area of the restaurant to catch pretty view of Odaiba at night.

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: Asakusa Temple and Nakamise Street, Tokyo

Kaminarimon Gate at Asakusa Temple in Tokyo Japan

Nakamise Street in front of Asakusa Temple in Tokyo

So I have finally decided to use my subliminal amount of leaves to go for 9 days 8 nights trip to Osaka. But when I think about Japan, I remember that I haven’t even finished updating my travel blog about my spring trip to Japan. Oh wait, that means I will be in Japan 2 times in a year, man, I should have gotten that multiple entries visa. But then, I only decided this trip like few days ago and you will need to have your air tickets ready for those two trips if you want to even try your chance to apply for multiple entries visa so yeah, that’s out I guess.

Actually my last write-up about Japan was right about when I was about to enter Tokyo from Mt Fuji. You know you have reached Tokyo when you can see the view of Tokyo Skytree from your window bus. However, a visit to the top of Tokyo Skytree is never in any tour group itineraries in Jakarta so the bus continues to bring us to Asakusa Temple. We were in Tokyo on a Sunday and if you are wondering how’s the weekend crowd is like at Nakamise Street, the street leading to the main gate of Asakusa Temple, you will see head and head of human trudging toward the same direction. In other words, be prepared to get...well, squeezed with some strangers along the way.

Our tour guide did not allow us to make detour or pit stop to buy food because she wanted to dismiss us right at Kaminarimon Gate, the main gate of Asakusa Temple. The main gate is actually pretty impressive but taking picture there without getting any photo-bomber in your picture needs superhuman skill. I did not even feel like trying, to be honest with you. However, if you are not intimidated by the crowd, you should give Kaminarimon Gate closer observation. The huge lantern is especially the famous landmark of Kaminarimon Gate and Asakusa Temple which seems to be the favourite photo-taking spot amongst tourists.

If you are joining a tour, I recommend not to spend too much time at Kaminarimon Gate because there are a lot of food street to explore at Nakamise Street and its neighboring alleys. The problem with enjoying food street at Nakamise Street is that you are not allowed to eat and drink while walking along the street. I’m not sure if there is police to watch over you and summon you fine if you are caught doing that, but I suppose it’s just polite to follow other country’s law and regulation when you are in one. That, and I suspect the food vendor may just scold you right there (especially if they are not youngsters) for eating and walking at the same time.

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)

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Wandering Fel

8D Avia Japan Trip: Ocean Club Buffet at Odaiba

8D Avia Japan Trip: Tokyo Skytree and Ueno Park

How to spend 30 minutes at Nakamise Street, Tokyo?

8D Avia Japan Trip: Asakusa Temple and Kaminarimon Gate, Tokyo

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

8D Avia Japan Trip: Shinhotaka Ropeway