TR--Girls' Trip to Asia---Next Stop: Japan!--updated 10/16--Day 15 --TR Finished

[PrincessInOz]

Yukata are really affordable because it's a light summer kimono but if you don't go just before or during summer it will be difficult or impossible to find. Prices can range from around 30$ US to hundreds of US dollars. The cheaper ones come in a set but you can also buy the pieces separate at a nice department store. Kimono itself is much more expensive but you can probably find on at a decent price, around a couple hundred US dollars, at a second hand store but it's much harder to wear and care for.

Thank you!


One of these years, I'm going to make it to Japan. I'll have to keep this in mind.

 

[dangdang18]

I love the pictures!!! hope i can go oneday

 

[pandv_2000]

Thank you for updating. It looks like you had a fun time. I can't wait to check out some of these places in less than 2 weeks - we only have 4 nights and reading your TR makes me wish we had far longer.

 

[battymum]

Loving your tr, sometimes I find it hard to get excited about or upcoming trip, I think it's because we are not saturated with tourism ads, but the tr us certainly helping. I am so disappointed there will be no sumo in April.

Oh, and love the Yakuta's, where did you buy them?

 

[belle2211]

Yukata are really affordable because it's a light summer kimono but if you don't go just before or during summer it will be difficult or impossible to find. Prices can range from around 30$ US to hundreds of US dollars. The cheaper ones come in a set but you can also buy the pieces separate at a nice department store. Kimono itself is much more expensive but you can probably find on at a decent price, around a couple hundred US dollars, at a second hand store but it's much harder to wear and care for.

Do we have a Yukata? All the stores were saying Kimonos so I have no idea!

I think I can safely say that I can stare at those Sumo Wrestlers all day...especially the skinny one.

Lol!!

Thank you!


One of these years, I'm going to make it to Japan. I'll have to keep this in mind.

You will love it!

I love the pictures!!! hope i can go oneday

I hope you do too!

Thank you for updating. It looks like you had a fun time. I can't wait to check out some of these places in less than 2 weeks - we only have 4 nights and reading your TR makes me wish we had far longer.

We had such a blast! Your 4 days will fly by!

Loving your tr, sometimes I find it hard to get excited about or upcoming trip, I think it's because we are not saturated with tourism ads, but the tr us certainly helping. I am so disappointed there will be no sumo in April.

Oh, and love the Yakuta's, where did you buy them?

Your upcoming trip will be so much fun! We saw lots of stores that were selling the kimonos (Yakutas?) but we got ours the food market in Kyoto.

 

[belle2211]

We woke up this morning and headed to Tokyo Tower.

On the way there, we saw an interesting way to transport multiple children outside of what we thought was a daycare center

Almost there

Ooh..sparkly

We went all the way to the top. Sometimes the elevator was a little creaky which freaked the other girls out but didn't bother me

They had a glass floor at a couple of spots

We also did some souveneir shopping. I got breakfast at Pink dot. I copied Cori and got waffles with bananas, chocolate syrup, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and cocoa flakes cereal. It was sooo good!

The girls headed back to the hotel to finish packing but I was done so I stayed on the subway to go back to 100% Chocolate Cafe to get the disbride who had reccommended the store to me a hot chocolate mix. I had to get myself a pack too! I thought I was going to really be pushing it on time but I ended up having plenty of time.

All of our luggage!

Schayenne and her mom came to the hotel to say goodbye. So nice! Then we took a bus to the airport. It was so much more convenient than trying to take the subway with all of our luggage. At the airport I ate what I thought were some yummy sushi (and took some to go) and pot stickers. I forgot to take a picture of the food. It was soooo crowded at the airport. I have never seen an airport so busy before. At the gates, there were so many people that everyone was sitting on the floor and you could barely walk around!

Then once we got on the plane, just after we had pulled back from the gate, they discovered a drainage problem so they had to pull back into the gate and we had to sit on the plane while they fixed it. It was an hour delay. I decided to finish my sushi but I couldn't eat all of it so I shared with the guy in our row.

I wasn't too hungry when they served our first meal but I ate a teeny bit of it. There was a beef and rice dish, salad, couscous with shrimp, roll, and strawberry cake.

Well, something I ate at the airport gave me food poisoning (we're thinking the pot stickers since Cori had the same waffle thing as me at Tokyo Tower and I shared the sushi with the guy in my row and he was fine). I spent most of the 12 hour flight in the bathroom. I was so mortified and disgusted. The worst plane ride of my life and probably one of the worst times of my life. I hate plane bathrooms anyways and hardly ever use them. So to have to be in them for most of 12 hours, sick, was horrifying.

And we were worried about making our connecting flight becuase of the delay because we only had an hour and 50 minute layover and would then only have 50 minutes to get through Immigration, get our bags, go through Customs, re-check our bags, and get to the gate. All while trying not to be sick. Luckily that flight was delayed too (although Rebecca wasn't so lucky and missed her flight again--remember, she missed the one out to Hong Kong too!) Then that flight of ours got stuck on the runway for an hour with no air. I managed not to be sick while we were stuck there but as soon as the sign went off so I could unfasten my seat belt, I was right back in the bathroom. Blah!

Kory met me in the airport to help with luggage, thankfully (he had no idea I was so sick). I came home, took a shower and cuddled with my family. I had a blast but it was so nice to be home. I only wish I didn't have such a horrible ending!

Oh yeah, here's a list of unusual things we noticed in Japan
1) It is almost impossible to find a trashcan. They are hardly anywhere. But the city is sooooo clean! And when you do find one, you have to sort your trash by paper, plastic, aluminum, and other
2) They have these yellow raised paths and we assume they are for blind people on the sidewalks. They were everywhere and we saw quite a large number of blind people compared to what we see here. I think that was such a neat thing that they had.
3) The toilets... A lot are "Eastern" ones..which are just holes in the grounds! It was a big shock for us when we opened the stall door! But the "Western" ones like we are used to are so high tech! They have bidets, flushing noises, and deoderizers! But in some public bathrooms, they don't have toilet paper at all (not like they just ran out but there is never any) so we learned to take tissues with us everywhere!

Overall, our trip was a blast! We had sooooo much fun and made so many memories. I hope that I get to visit Tokyo again some day in the future!

 

[battymum]

Thank you so much for your fantastic trip report, I have really enjoyed reading along.

That flight home would be my worst nightmare, as I am sure it was yours - We're they able to give you a seat near the bathroom.

 

[zanzibar138]

Oh what an awful way to end a great trip - not a good way to fly at all, you poor thing

I've really enjoyed reading both parts of your TR (although I do admit to slacking off on the commenting recently). Thanks so much for sharing

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sorry that you got food poisoning on the way home and had to spend most of your time in the plane toilet. That is NOT fun!


Thank you for sharing your amazing trip with us. I've enjoyed every word, picture and food porn of it.

Much appreciated!

 

[belle2211]

Thank you so much for your fantastic trip report, I have really enjoyed reading along.

That flight home would be my worst nightmare, as I am sure it was yours - We're they able to give you a seat near the bathroom.

Thank you for reading! We had upgraded our seats both ways to Economy Comfort so I was only about 3 rows back. But there was this big space in front of the bathrooms (I originally thought thats where they warmed up the food but there was nothing there) so when I wasn't in the bathroom, I just stood there and no one said anything to me.

Oh what an awful way to end a great trip - not a good way to fly at all, you poor thing

I've really enjoyed reading both parts of your TR (although I do admit to slacking off on the commenting recently). Thanks so much for sharing

Thanks for reading along!

Sorry that you got food poisoning on the way home and had to spend most of your time in the plane toilet. That is NOT fun!


Thank you for sharing your amazing trip with us. I've enjoyed every word, picture and food porn of it.

Much appreciated!

Definitely no fun! But I love seeing everyone's food pics so I was determined to take pictures of everything on this trip. And I did pretty well!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Terrific TR! I enjoyed reading it -you made me want to go to Japan (but not eat the airport potstickers!) How awful for your last meal!

The face characters in the parks, it seemed a few were Asian. Like a Belle in Hong Kong. Was that true or just my faulty eyes? I was wondering how they cast the face characters, because I know Disney has methods.

Seeing the different parks is very interesting!

 

[belle2211]

Terrific TR! I enjoyed reading it -you made me want to go to Japan (but not eat the airport potstickers!) How awful for your last meal!

The face characters in the parks, it seemed a few were Asian. Like a Belle in Hong Kong. Was that true or just my faulty eyes? I was wondering how they cast the face characters, because I know Disney has methods.

Seeing the different parks is very interesting!

Thank you! Definitely go to Japan some time if you are able. As for the face characters--I don't think many of them were Asian. I could be completely wrong, but I don't remember thinking that the face characters looked different and I'm pretty picky.

(Although now I'm going back and looking at parade pictures from Hong Kong and she does look Asian. So maybe characters that are farther away are? NOw I wish I had paid more attention! )

 

[JapanNerd]

Me and my family are planning on going to Japan in March. So I was interested in seeing all these pictures. I have had an interest in Japanese culture since I was a kid. So it was even more fascinating for me to browse through all these pictures. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

 

[disneyobsessed808]

The face characters in the parks, it seemed a few were Asian. Like a Belle in Hong Kong. Was that true or just my faulty eyes? I was wondering how they cast the face characters, because I know Disney has methods.

My friend's cousin (who is White) was a face character in Japan for a while. She was Aurora, and had been working at Disneyland for a while, but Disney sent her to Japan to work for TDL a couple years.

 

[belle2211]

Me and my family are planning on going to Japan in March. So I was interested in seeing all these pictures. I have had an interest in Japanese culture since I was a kid. So it was even more fascinating for me to browse through all these pictures. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Oh you're going to have so much fun! I'm glad you enjoyed my report!

My friend's cousin (who is White) was a face character in Japan for a while. She was Aurora, and had been working at Disneyland for a while, but Disney sent her to Japan to work for TDL a couple years.

I've heard of that happening some from Disney World too. I wonder what the ratio is.

 

[mebbradley]

It was awesome to read this TR! :hug

 

[belle2211]

It was awesome to read this TR! :hug

Yay! Thank you!

 

[angelmichelle]

Lovely TR!

Now that you've been to every Disney park... which is your favorite?

 

[belle2211]

Lovely TR!

Now that you've been to every Disney park... which is your favorite?

Since I work at DHS, all of WDW will have a special place in my heart so I'll take those out of the running. It would definitely be Tokyo Sea..so much fun!