I'm going to Tokyo! And Shanghai! And Hong Kong! PTR

[Karin1984]

Seafood is a very important part of eating in Japan, but there are many specialties in which you can avoid it. I highly recommend you visit a ramen parlor. They are a completely different experience than eating elsewhere. There are many throughout Tokyo. They are very tiny places often with only a dozen or so seats. You pay at a vending machine outside and present your ticket when it is your turn. You are then seated and served. Even if there is a long line, it can move quickly. I also recommend Tonkatsudon, which is rice cooked with onion, egg, and breaded pork cutlet. For many dishes, you may have to find places that specialize in that dish. Here is a list of Japanese dishes from Wiki. If you seek out special experiences, you will almost certainly find it very rewarding:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_dishes

Thank you! This really helps I have to save this page to my phone or make a cheat sheet out of it.

And what was fun to read on wikipedia, is Japan has some Portuguese influences. The friend I am going with originates from Portugal Maybe I can find some sightseeing that combines Japan history with Portuguese history. I hadn't even thought of it, but now... also the relationship between Japan and the Netherlands is over 400 years old. There must be traces of our bond in Japan.

*puts it on the list of things to investigate*

Right now, we are planning for late February 2017. It will be for my husbands and my 10 year anniversary hoping to buy plane tickets this week possibly

It's fun watching your trip plan come together! I need to do more planning but I have to admit being a bit lost on international plans haha

Oh nice reason to travel! If you are flexible with your dates, flying out on a Wednesday or Thursday is often cheaper than other days.
Usually when I travel I start with Trip Advisor and look for top 10 lists of things to visit. But also looking at where is my hotel and what is in the area.

And reading trip reports. Over and over again

 

[Looptyloo]

Oh nice reason to travel! If you are flexible with your dates, flying out on a Wednesday or Thursday is often cheaper than other days.
Usually when I travel I start with Trip Advisor and look for top 10 lists of things to visit. But also looking at where is my hotel and what is in the area.

And reading trip reports. Over and over again

Thanks so much! We are actually looking at flying out on a Thursday, so that works well. But when I just checked the flights I'm stalking, they have gone up about $50. oops! Should probably clear my cookies though, we'll see...

I'm getting a little obsessed with trip reports. I kind of drive my husband crazy with that, but then he's happy that I did all the research once we're traveling haha!

 

[MomoMama]

When I thought about Portuguese influence in Japan, the only thing I could think of is food...Castella (pronounced Ka-Su-Te-La) cake. I heard it is different from the original Portuguese cake, and in Japan it usually comes in rectangular shape, sometimes sold in slices. It is made of lots of egg yolks and sugar, very sweet and fluffy, yet moist. Yum!

The most famous Dutch influence must be Huis Ten Bosch. Originally started as "Dutch Village," now it's a huge amusement park. I have never been there, but I heard the place is beautiful. And it may not be all about Dutch these days. But this place is in Kyusyu...far away from Tokyo. Hope you will find something in Tokyo!

If your friend wants to go to sushi restaurants and you end up there, you may be still be able to order non-fish items. My daughter eats cooked fish, but not raw fish. At sushi restaurants, she eats cucumber rolls, miso soup, and edamame (soy beans). Also some sushi restaurants may offer non-sushi items like noodles and rice bowls. In Japan many restaurants display their menu in front, so you can see what you can get before going inside of the restaurants! Enjoy!

 

[Gari14]

Have an amazing time, Karin1984!

It sounds absolutely incredible and something Im looking at doing myself in a few years. Tokyo is my no 1 choice I must admit and the others are a bonus

 

[Agent 86]

I have no idea what to see or do in Shanghai yet. What would you recommend?
Maybe the Yu Garden and the City God Temple. And I would love to see/do/visit something on the history of Shanghai.

To be honest, Shanghai is normally where I do my shopping and enjoy drinking cocktails in the numerous sky high and roof top bars. It obviously doesn't have all of the major tourist attractions that Beijing does.

From memory, I enjoyed the glass bridge / walkway at the top of the "bottle-top" building (although I'm pretty sure that it has since been replaced by a new, even taller building), strolling along the Bund and visiting "old" Shanghai with the crazy zig-zag bridge. I did want to visit a traditional "water town" near Shanghai (I guess a smaller version of Suzhou which I'd previously visited), but I ran out of time.

 

[Karin1984]

Thanks so much! We are actually looking at flying out on a Thursday, so that works well. But when I just checked the flights I'm stalking, they have gone up about $50. oops! Should probably clear my cookies though, we'll see...

I'm getting a little obsessed with trip reports. I kind of drive my husband crazy with that, but then he's happy that I did all the research once we're traveling haha!

Were you checking Delta Airlines? One of my colleagues who works on airline partners once told me Delta usually raises their fares on Tuesdays.
Same here, hard time balancing not constantly talking about it, but my friend does benefit of it when we there. All the plans I made for WDW last year resulted in short waiting times and good restaurants

When I thought about Portuguese influence in Japan, the only thing I could think of is food...Castella (pronounced Ka-Su-Te-La) cake. I heard it is different from the original Portuguese cake, and in Japan it usually comes in rectangular shape, sometimes sold in slices. It is made of lots of egg yolks and sugar, very sweet and fluffy, yet moist. Yum!

The most famous Dutch influence must be Huis Ten Bosch. Originally started as "Dutch Village," now it's a huge amusement park. I have never been there, but I heard the place is beautiful. And it may not be all about Dutch these days. But this place is in Kyusyu...far away from Tokyo. Hope you will find something in Tokyo!

If your friend wants to go to sushi restaurants and you end up there, you may be still be able to order non-fish items. My daughter eats cooked fish, but not raw fish. At sushi restaurants, she eats cucumber rolls, miso soup, and edamame (soy beans). Also some sushi restaurants may offer non-sushi items like noodles and rice bowls. In Japan many restaurants display their menu in front, so you can see what you can get before going inside of the restaurants! Enjoy!

Unfortunately the village is too far away. Otherwise I would have gone there, a friend once went there and she said it was so surreal. I'll ride by the real Huis ten Bosch instead, as it's still in use by the royal family, it's not open for visits.

If I cannot find anything, it's not a big deal. But I do like seeing what the Dutch did through the ages, when I am in a museum and there are the Dutch old masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer, I always go by it. It's the one little bit of national pride I have ;-)

Have an amazing time, Karin1984!

It sounds absolutely incredible and something Im looking at doing myself in a few years. Tokyo is my no 1 choice I must admit and the others are a bonus

Thanks! Yes, it's the same for me. I really want to see Tokyo, but I'm also curious to see the other 2 parks. Especially Mystic Manor in Hong Kong and Pirates in Shanghai (okay, and Peter Pan, want to see the updated version!)

To be honest, Shanghai is normally where I do my shopping and enjoy drinking cocktails in the numerous sky high and roof top bars. It obviously doesn't have all of the major tourist attractions that Beijing does.

From memory, I enjoyed the glass bridge / walkway at the top of the "bottle-top" building (although I'm pretty sure that it has since been replaced by a new, even taller building), strolling along the Bund and visiting "old" Shanghai with the crazy zig-zag bridge. I did want to visit a traditional "water town" near Shanghai (I guess a smaller version of Suzhou which I'd previously visited), but I ran out of time.

I am already running out of time! If it wasn't for the money, I would spend a full week in each city just for sight seeing.
A quick search on google doesn't bring up any glass bridge still in Shanghai, last year they did open a new one that was at the Shanghai expo in 2010.

I'll wait with the rooftop bars, as by AUG17 no doubt there will be new ones, but it is something I hadn't thought about doing, thank you for the tip!

 

[Gari14]

Thanks! Yes, it's the same for me. I really want to see Tokyo, but I'm also curious to see the other 2 parks. Especially Mystic Manor in Hong Kong and Pirates in Shanghai (okay, and Peter Pan, want to see the updated version!)

Oh, I totally agree as I want to see them all as well. I must say, Pirates in Shanghai looks incredible and I need to go on that so bad!

 

[Agent 86]

A quick search on google doesn't bring up any glass bridge still in Shanghai

It's the observation deck of the Shanghai World Financial Center. At least part of the walkway from one end to the other is glass.

 

[Karin1984]

So over 6 months later and the plane tickets are booked, insanely cheap. We scored round trip tickets for about 475EUR (about $500) for our longhaul flights from Europe to Shanghai and back from Tokyo, with decent travel times and layovers. The domestic flights can wait for a while, I think they are too expensive currently.

- 19 days, including travelling. Leaving on Wednesday returning two Sundays later.
Shanghai first, 2,5 days in the city, 2 days in Disney
Hong Kong second, 1 day city, 2 days Disney, 1,5 days city
Tokyo last, 1,5 day city, 4 days Disney, 1 day city.

- 3 out of 4 hotels are booked.
For Disney Shanghai we will stay in the Toy Story hotel, but this cannot be booked yet.
We wanted to go with AirBNB, but while I tried to book, I found out that AirBNB requires you to scan a copy of your passport, which cannot be partially blocked out. As the NL government advises against sharing your identity cards when not necessary (for identity theft reasons), I decided to keep looking for cheap hotels. And luckily we found three. I'm also happy with it, when I'm in a country where I do not speak the language, private homes are far from ideal.

Charms in Shanghai
Not as many details, but the hotel looks really nice, we are staying in a room without windows but it's only for 2 nights before we go to the Toy Story Hotel. It has free wifi and includes breakfast.

Evergreen in Hong Kong
I found it difficult to find a well-priced hotel with good reviews in the city center of Hong Kong. We settled on Evergreen, but also in a room without windows according to the facilities we do have a/c, tv, minibar, tea/coffee stuff and private bathroom with either bath or shower. It also says 'with smartphone with 3G network', no idea how this is going to work, but we will see There is also free wifi and breakfast is included.

Wise Owl Hostels in Tokyo.
Initially we didn't want to go for hostels, but as Tokyo is expensive, it was the only option. We do have a private room with a sink, shared showers. It's relatively new, opened last year. Already noticed they are very friendly: For the first time since using Booking.com, I received a personal response from the hotel that my reservation was received, including a confirmation about the kind of room etc. So looking forward for this. It's about 20 minutes away by train from Disney and near the Ginza. Breakfast is not included, but a coffee & muffin costs $5.

- A colleague spent a lot of time in Hong Kong and gave me a 4-page list of tips. 3 colleagues/friends are Japan-crazy and are dying to tell me what I should and should do. So now I seek one more colleague to give advice on Shanghai and I am complete

For Shanghai Anyone here has made use of the 144-hour visa rule for Shanghai yet? Is it as easy as it sounds? I hope it does, as I really don't want to spend extra money on a visa if it's not necessary.

So much to do, so little time! (7 months, 1 week and 2 days...)

 

[Looptyloo]

I have actually been looking at how well priced Tokyo has been. We booked at the Sheraton that is on the Disney monorail line and this last week the price had actually gone down so I was able to re-book. They didn't have any of the cheapest room rate available in non-smoking so I actually got us an upgrade to an Ocean Dream room as well as a decrease in cost. I've been looking at Airbnb for part of our time in Tokyo and found some neat places. So if you're not sure about staying at a hostel, keep looking.

Your trip sounds great! I would love to visit all of the other Disney locations (and I think my husband is even on board to try it) but it will have to wait a while!

 

[Karin1984]

I have actually been looking at how well priced Tokyo has been. We booked at the Sheraton that is on the Disney monorail line and this last week the price had actually gone down so I was able to re-book. They didn't have any of the cheapest room rate available in non-smoking so I actually got us an upgrade to an Ocean Dream room as well as a decrease in cost. I've been looking at Airbnb for part of our time in Tokyo and found some neat places. So if you're not sure about staying at a hostel, keep looking.

Your trip sounds great! I would love to visit all of the other Disney locations (and I think my husband is even on board to try it) but it will have to wait a while!

Unfortunately this is still a budget trip. So hotels (except onsite for SDL) have to below 100EUR per night.

I do not mind hostels, it can be hit or miss, but I have a good feeling about this one. I feel safer in a hostel than I would in an AirBNB, specifically when most likely none of the neighbours speak English. Plus I assume the places are harder tot find as private homes usually don't have billboards outside, then looking for a key/code to get in someone else's house without anyone letting you in... it doesn't feel right to me. And it worries me that AirBNB hasn't responded yet to my questions about sending in a copy of your identity card. With other things they were quite quick to respond. Hostels are fine and a good way of meeting people and usually leads to find interesting places to see/eat/do.

For me these 3 parks were last on my list, my friend only misses Anaheim on her list. I am a bit wary of Asian crowds, but according to recent news items Shanghai's popularity is fading, so fingers crossed for low crowds!

 

[Karin1984]

Did some more planning on Tokyo this week. 2.5 days is really really short, but I think we can manage to see some highlights. On arrival day, we will just wing it.

On one full day we will combine:
- Meji Shrine & Yoyogi Park
- Shibuya Crossing
- Disney Store
- Cristiano's (Portuguese baker, my friend is Portuguese, so we need to honor her heritage )
- Harajuku district to people watch

On the other day
- Imperial Gardens
- Akihabara to people watch, don't think I'll persuade my friend to go to a maid cafe Unfortunately we are not there on a Sunday, which is apparently the big day for the locals to dress up for Cosplay, but I hope we can find some on Saturday, otherwise we shall have fun browsing cosplay shops.
- Visit a rabbit cafe (we have a cat cafe here, so no need to go to Tokyo for this)

For those who already have visited Tokyo, how does this sound?

 

[jsilvers]

Did some more planning on Tokyo this week. 2.5 days is really really short, but I think we can manage to see some highlights. On arrival day, we will just wing it.

On one full day we will combine:
- Meji Shrine & Yoyogi Park
- Shibuya Crossing
- Disney Store
- Cristiano's (Portuguese baker, my friend is Portuguese, so we need to honor her heritage )
- Harajuku district to people watch

On the other day
- Imperial Gardens
- Akihabara to people watch, don't think I'll persuade my friend to go to a maid cafe Unfortunately we are not there on a Sunday, which is apparently the big day for the locals to dress up for Cosplay, but I hope we can find some on Saturday, otherwise we shall have fun browsing cosplay shops.
- Visit a rabbit cafe (we have a cat cafe here, so no need to go to Tokyo for this)
ostel
For those who already have visited Tokyo, how does this sound?

Obviously, the best agenda depends on your interests, but some thoughts:

For Day 2, possibly also include Ginza (mostly high end stores, but interesting window shopping opportunities - including the basement food halls in the department stores).

To the north of your hostel Sensoji/Asakusa - a more “urban” temple complex than the Meiji Shrine, with a “traditional” looking shopping street in front of it (good for souvenirs, although not really the place for quality shopping). Also in that direction is the Edo-Tokyo Museum, of which I am a big fan (it does have an admission fee - but like many Tokyo museums, it’s relatively cheap, at 600 Yen).

Also, although SkyTree and Tokyo Tower are pricey (although still popular), but there are various free observation decks in tall buildings all around Tokyo. For example, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building is in the same area of Tokyo as the Meiji Shrine/Harajuku/etc.

The Tsukiji fish market is about a mile south of your hostel. Getting tickets to see the tuna auctions requires getting there crazy early (5am or even earlier), but the outer market is open to the public (and the inner wholesale market is open to the public in the late morning).

 

[Karin1984]

Thanks, Jsilvers! I'll look into Sensoji/Asakusa and the Edo-Tokyo musuem, 600 yen is not that much.

I'm in doubt about auction. I'm afraid that if we get up at 3 (I saw a video recommending getting in line around 3:45...) the rest of the day we will be too tired to do anything else. And I'm worried how interesting it will be if we cannot understand what is going on. But walking around the market wouldn't take too much energy, I guess.

 

[disdbltrbl]

My sister and I are headed there from the states....
Day 1 travel Denver to Los Angeles (31 March
Day 2 - 3 travel Los Angeles to Hong Kong (1 April- 2 April)
Day 3 - 6 Hong Kong...
Day 7 travel to Shanghai....
Day 8- 9 Shanghai
Day 10 travel to Tokyo
Day 11 - 12 Tokyo Disney
Day 13 Travel Los Angeles/ Denver (April 12th

 

[shelemm]

Did you say, finally, what your dates are for your trip?

In Tokyo, the Meiji Shrine is near Harajuku, so ti is easy enough to visit both. Otherwise, like most historic places in Tokyo, it's not that impressive. Asakusa is the prime area for the history, and I highly recommend it.

I am not sure what cosplay you will see. It used to be very public, but nowadays I have the impression folks do it more at events where it is for admission.

 

[Karin1984]

Did you say, finally, what your dates are for your trip?

In Tokyo, the Meiji Shrine is near Harajuku, so ti is easy enough to visit both. Otherwise, like most historic places in Tokyo, it's not that impressive. Asakusa is the prime area for the history, and I highly recommend it.

I am not sure what cosplay you will see. It used to be very public, but nowadays I have the impression folks do it more at events where it is for admission.

Yes, it has changed a few times, but in the end we settled on leaving 2nd week of August and returning 1st week of September.

 

[shelemm]

At that time of year, women at TDR were using parasols. The humidity is not so bad, but the sun is punishing. If you get there before rope drop, you'll be toast before opening without some head covering. You have been warned. In fact, the prime advantage of getting there VERY early is that you can wait for rope drop in a shaded area near the front. Otherwise, it's the sun for you.

 

[Luv2Diz]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. We are just starting to plan a trip to Japan and TDR for 2019. It was very helpful to read about communicating since we don't speak much Japanese. We will study and learn as much as possible before we go but will still be far from fluent. Looking forward to seeing Japan already!

OP - I hope you have a great trip!

 

[sambycat]

did this trip ever happen? i'm trying to plan something similar (but from the US), would love to read how it worked out