From Arizona to Japan! Japan and TDR Trip Report Nov 10-24!

[disneyobsessed808]

I've never done a trip report before but figured that this would be a great time to start.

There are some great TRs here, and hope to add my own to help future travelers.

I am taking advantage of the holidays off so I'll be going from November 10-24, 2012 (Veteran's Day to Thanksgiving Weekend). I will be flying to Japan on my own on Delta, meeting my friend/ex-bf who travels to Japan every few months. I promise that I'll spare you the arguing with my ex that will inevitably happen, and bring you only the sightseeing part of the trip. Fortunately, he speaks/reads Japanese, and knows his way around the transportation in Japan so he will be a helpful guide.

I will be staying with my friend's friend while there so won't be staying at any of the Disney hotels.

Here is a little bit about me: I'm Anderson (or Andy, though that's my friend's name also). I live in Flagstaff, AZ and work in Education. I love Winnie the Pooh and collect Pooh stuff, so I might be featuring some Pooh stuff. I also collect vinylmation, so some of my trip will be dedicated to that as well. My main park is Disneyland and DCA.

I went to Tokyo once before and visited the Tokyo Disney Resort and LOVED it. Unfortunately, I had a gout attack when I was there, so I am hoping that does not happen again.

Another thing to know about the both of us is that I am mostly a vegetarian (though I stray every once in a while - let's see if I will this trip) and my friend is a vegan, so you'll get to see some non-meat vegan food, which might be a challenge to find.

So enough about us - here are my very tentative plans. However, not every day is filled up so please feel free to give suggestions for any of the cities we are planning to visit. We are getting a rail pass to use for five days or so (the scheduling doesn't allow us to get the full 7 days out of it.) I am finding it a bit difficult to plan since there is so much to do and have no idea what is must see!

November 10/11 - Travel
November 12 - Tokyo
November 13 - Travel to Kyoto via Shinkansen. Kyoto for the day (Moss Temple, Golden Pavilion). Travel to Osaka.
November 14 - Osaka. Shopping mainly...any ideas?
November 15 - Travel to Fu kuoka. Sumo tournament
November 16 - Fu kuoka. Travel to Kyoto. More ideas?
November 17 - Kyoto. Travel to Tokyo
November 18 - TDL!!!!!!!!!!
November 19 - TDS!!!!!!!!!!
November 20 - TDL and TDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 21 - 24 - Tokyo. Need more ideas. Studio Ghibli Museum, Shibuya Crossing

As you can see I have a rough outline but need more suggestions. What do you all think?

What would you say are must dos in Tokyo? In Osaka? In Fu kuoka? In Kyoto? I would love to hear what you think!

[PrincessInOz]

I'm just pulling up a seat for this ride.

Your plans sound great and I'd love to see how you go with it. I'm sure some of the others that have been to Japan recently will chime in with their thoughts.

Here's hoping that you remain gout-free, fight-free and care-free on this trip.

[disneyobsessed808]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

I'm just pulling up a seat for this ride.

Your plans sound great and I'd love to see how you go with it. I'm sure some of the others that have been to Japan recently will chime in with their thoughts.

Here's hoping that you remain gout-free, fight-free and care-free on this trip.

Glad to have you on board! I hope the trip will be gout-free as well!

=============

I am making my plans as to what to do. I generally have some good ideas for Tokyo and Kyoto, and a few for Osaka.

Tokyo - Miraikan, Ghibli, Imperial Palace East Gardens, Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens, Akihabara, Tokyo Metro Government Offices, KiddyLand and Omote-Sando, Advertising Museum, Senso-ji Temple

Kyoto - Moss Temple (Maybe, though it's 3000 yen, a bit pricey), Golden Pavilion Temple, Bamboo Forest, Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Osaka - Osaka Castle, Den Den Town, Ame Mura

Fu kuoka - Canal City, Sumo Tournament

I would love to hear if anyone sees (or rather, doesn't see) something that is a must-do missing from here.

I also am thinking of straying from my vegetarian diet once to try a steamed bun at Disney Resort, since I've heard a little about them. Anyone have a picture - what are they filled with exactly?

[DreamSweetsLove]

Originally Posted by disneyobsessed808

Glad to have you on board! I hope the trip will be gout-free as well!

=============

I am making my plans as to what to do. I generally have some good ideas for Tokyo and Kyoto, and a few for Osaka.

Tokyo - Miraikan, Ghibli, Imperial Palace East Gardens, Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens, Akihabara, Tokyo Metro Government Offices, KiddyLand and Omote-Sando, Advertising Museum, Senso-ji Temple

Kyoto - Moss Temple (Maybe, though it's 3000 yen, a bit pricey), Golden Pavilion Temple, Bamboo Forest, Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Osaka - Osaka Castle, Den Den Town, Ame Mura

Fu kuoka - Canal City, Sumo Tournament

I would love to hear if anyone sees (or rather, doesn't see) something that is a must-do missing from here.

I also am thinking of straying from my vegetarian diet once to try a steamed bun at Disney Resort, since I've heard a little about them. Anyone have a picture - what are they filled with exactly?

If you would like to try the steamed bun you could go for the Minnie version which is strawberry milk flavored. The Mickey bun has pork and teriyaki chicken inside.

http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/t...st_boiler.html

[disneyobsessed808]

Originally Posted by DreamSweetsLove

If you would like to try the steamed bun you could go for the Minnie version which is strawberry milk flavored. The Mickey bun has pork and teriyaki chicken inside.

http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/t...st_boiler.html

mmmm, those look good. i was thinking of the gyoza bun at mysterious island, but don't want to "cheat" if they aren't worth it.

[DreamSweetsLove]

Originally Posted by disneyobsessed808

mmmm, those look good. i was thinking of the gyoza bun at mysterious island, but don't want to "cheat" if they aren't worth it.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. The gyouza dog is really famous for it's line but I'm not sure if it's worth it to cheat or not. I thought the Halloween version was yummier but no clue what it had inside! I think the normal gyouza dog has minced pork and probably minced cabbage inside but not sure. I think it's hard to find vegetarian food at TDR but wish you the best of luck. I know some restaurants will have a vegetarian menu if you ask for it so it may be easier to ask at guest relations ahead of time.

[jsilvers]

Originally Posted by disneyobsessed808

Tokyo - Miraikan, Ghibli, Imperial Palace East Gardens, Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens, Akihabara, Tokyo Metro Government Offices, KiddyLand and Omote-Sando, Advertising Museum, Senso-ji Temple

A few ideas:

• If you enjoy Akihabara, you may also enjoy Nakano Broadway - nowhere near as glamorous, but a rabbit warren of anime/manga/etc. shops.
  
• The war museum associated with the Yasukuni shrine is multi-lingual (like many museums in Tokyo) - but it tells the history of the "Great Pacific War" (as well as other Japanese military history) from a very different perspective. Another museum worth visiting IMHO is the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
  
• There are several aquariums in Tokyo, but Tokyo Sea Life Park (near TDR) is probably the best of them. Although I have yet to visit the Sea Paradise park south of Yokohama. I don't think there are any "must sees" in Yokohama itself, but the Ramen Museum makes for an off-beat stop.

[disneyobsessed808]

Originally Posted by jsilvers

A few ideas:

• If you enjoy Akihabara, you may also enjoy Nakano Broadway - nowhere near as glamorous, but a rabbit warren of anime/manga/etc. shops.
  
• The war museum associated with the Yasukuni shrine is multi-lingual (like many museums in Tokyo) - but it tells the history of the "Great Pacific War" (as well as other Japanese military history) from a very different perspective. Another museum worth visiting IMHO is the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
  
• There are several aquariums in Tokyo, but Tokyo Sea Life Park (near TDR) is probably the best of them. Although I have yet to visit the Sea Paradise park south of Yokohama. I don't think there are any "must sees" in Yokohama itself, but the Ramen Museum makes for an off-beat stop.

Thank you for the tips. I definitely will do some more research into these!

I definitely might have to check out the ramen museum. I visited gyoza stadium last time, and love the concept of the food theme park. Ramen is one of my favorite foods too. I love noodles!

[disneyobsessed808]

i'm leaving for japan tomorrow!

[DreamSweetsLove]

Super crowded today! Hope you are enjoying TDL!!

[disneyobsessed808]

Originally Posted by DreamSweetsLove

Super crowded today! Hope you are enjoying TDL!!

No kidding! It was crazy on Monday too. At least I got to go on Pooh twice. That is the best ride EVER!

[DreamSweetsLove]

Originally Posted by disneyobsessed808

No kidding! It was crazy on Monday too. At least I got to go on Pooh twice. That is the best ride EVER!

Yes! Monday was pretty crowded! What happened is that for some schools it was a make up holiday because they had a school event on the weekend. Today the crowds are lighter.

[disneyobsessed808]

So things might start to get blurry. It's been more than a week since I actually was in Osaka.

The only thing we really did this day was go to Osaka Castle and ride the Ferris Wheel.

So we headed out on the Osaka subway line, which compared to Kyoto's subway, was a breeze to navigate. The subway to Osaka castle, exits directly to Osaka Castle Park.



Cool fountain at the front of the park





View of the castle from beyond the outer and inner moat. We really need more moats in the United States.







View from the 8th floor of Osaka castle.

It really was a lovely park, so that was a really nice bonus as well



We then headed for a restaurant near Osaka Aquarium for lunch. Nearby there was a huge ferris wheel. Japan loves their ferris wheels. I saw at least 6 during the trip to Fu kuoka on the bullet train and two were in pretty small towns.



The Ferris Wheel was pretty awesome and gave you great views of the bay and of the city. The worst part was that as we approached the top, it started raining and hailing so it was really loud in there and nerve-racking





We then headed to America Town to do some shopping - mainly at record stores for my friend, but I also got to go to the Disney store for vinylmation. The area had quite a few interesting shops, including this gem which I'm pretty sure was not officially licensed.





Sweet manhole cover.

After that I mainly waited for Andy to finish record store shopping, and we went to dinner at Nataraj, an Indian restaurant with vegan options. On our way to dinner, we actually got lost, but fortunately found it in time. The japanese address system is ridiculous!

Also some random thoughts about Japan.

- The Japan address system is crazy. It's good Andy has a phone here or we would be lost all the time for sure.
- No Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke. Boo!
- Lots of Kawaii stuff here.

Next up: ***uoka and Sumo!

[PrincessInOz]

Loving the fall colour in your pictures. Looks like you're having a great time.

Thanks for the updates!

[vettegirl]

Really enjoying your review!