Japan Trip Update/Report

[Haley R]

Okay, that Pokemon cafe is beyond adorable! My BF is a HUGE Pokemon fan so added that as a must do for our trip. This is the reason why I love reading TRs, so many things out there you don't come across via Google alone.

Thank you for keeping this updated as you go, it's so fun to follow along "real time"!

Just make sure you book ahead of time for the cafe because it does get full. While we were there they had a sign saying no walk ups. I think we were able to make it a month in advance? You’ll have to check because I can’t remember. It was both of our favorite things yesterday though!

 

[AngelDisney]

Trip Report-Day 4
We slept in this morning because we were super busy the last two days and I had knee problems. I didn’t get out of bed until around 10:30 am. Syth went to 7-11 earlier in the morning for food. I ate a Caesar salad and a bag of cut up pineapple. We tried buttered potato chips that oddly tasted like cheddar.

Our first thing was our Pokémon cafe reservation. We took two different trains and we love taking trains now! It’s so much fun. I highly recommend the metro pass if you’re in Tokyo for 1-3 days. When you use google maps it shows a blue M if it’s a metro line so you have to pay attention to that.

Now to the Pokémon center. It is absolutely adorable inside with a huge store. They have miniature plushies and every single Pokémon available. My favorite is Raichu and I couldn’t find him anywhere so I asked a staff member and she went to the back and found him which made me so happy. I had to ask her at first if she spoke English (eigo hanasemasu ka) and she made the hand signal for a little but we had no issues. We ate at the Pokémon cafe which was so cute. I had the Gengar grape smoothie and omg was that good. Syth ordered a latte and they steamed a design into the foam. Our meals were just okay but we knew coming in that it was more for the atmosphere. A giant pikachu comes out and dances which is fun. At the end we bought a pikachu dressed as a chef because why not? We spent a lot of money here, I’m not gonna lie.

Our other major thing was the baseball game at Tokyo Dome. Before the game we rode a roller coaster that went through the top corner of the dome! This cost us $20 so pretty expensive. For dinner we had noodles, popcorn, and a hotdog in the dome. All were decent and reasonably priced. The hot dog was only $3! They gave us FREE under armour jerseys for the game! These things would’ve cost at least $50 in the states but here every single person was given one for this game. One thing I thought was interesting was how many people came with suits on. I’m assuming they came straight from work. Our host said everyone here works nonstop. The game was fun and I love that they do chants when their team is batting. I thought it was funny that there were cheerleaders and they did a routine after one of the innings. It was fun to see how different baseball is in Japan. It’s mostly the same but there are some small differences. We left after inning 5 because we were pretty tired and have an early morning tomorrow. Overall a pretty fun day!

Your day sounds like lot of fun! Pikachu is adorable!! We are going after lunch. Hope to be able to see him there! And yes, reservation opens a month in advance.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/nintendosoup.com/reserve-table-pokemon-cafe-japan/amp/

 

[Haley R]

Your day sounds like lot of fun! Pikachu is adorable!! We are going after lunch. Hope to be able to see him there! And yes, reservation opens a month in advance.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/nintendosoup.com/reserve-table-pokemon-cafe-japan/amp/

They bring him out for every reservation time so you should see him. They also tell you which section to sit in when you get there

 

[Haley R]

Trip Report-Day 5

We were extremely tired this morning because we did laundry late last night and got hardly any sleep. We ate granola bars for breakfast on the go since we had to get to the ghibli museum.

We got to the museum around 9:20 am and there were maybe 15 people in line. By the time they let us in at 9:50 the line was huge. If you’re going here it’s essential to get there early. Our ticket let us in at any time but some tickets have a timed entry. If you have an any time ticket I suggest going right when they open. We both felt the museum itself really wasn’t anything special. We wouldn’t recommend it and wouldn’t go back. I guess we just felt like there wasn’t much to see and once people started pouring in it was uncomfortable. We were going to eat at the cafe but it didn’t open until 11 and people were already sitting and waiting at 10.

After the museum we were going to go straight to Odaiba but, for reasons I won’t mention, we had to go home first. We stopped at 7-11 on the way home. I ate spaghetti and a soft serve ice cream cone (that was in a package). Both were delicious. Syth had a tuna/egg/ham sandwich and some noodles with pork.

It took us about an hour to get to Odaiba. We took 4 different trains. We walked through a building called Venus Fort by accident but it was really cool inside. It was themed to Italy and had restaurants and shops. Eventually we found Teamlab borderless digital art museum and got in line outside at 3:12 pm. We got to the front of the line to get in at 3:37 pm. I’m not gonna go into great detail about the museum but it’s 100% worth every penny. I think this was my favorite thing so far, or close to it. Our favorite rooms were the wave room and the crystal forest. The wave room is super relaxing. We sat in there for like 10 minutes. It’s also really cool that you can draw your own creatures and they appear up on the screen. If you’re able to, go first thing in the morning. We had to wait over an hour for one exhibit.

We walked over to Aqua City to eat at TGI Friday’s because I needed some American food lol. I ordered grilled chicken that came with mashed potatoes and vegetables and then I ordered a side of fries (I was hungry). Food was good, service was terrible. We didn’t really have a server because different people brought us drinks and food. I asked at the bar for refills and they never came so I had to go back up again with my cup. They ended up charging us a 10% “tip” without even asking. I thought they didn’t tip in Japan? Idk what happened but it wasn’t a great experience.

I forgot to mention we ordered a pocket WiFi to come to our Airbnb June 1 and we actually got it Wednesday which was 3 days early so that was pretty awesome. We ended up ordering from Japan WiFi Buddy and I highly recommend them. Our speeds have been pretty good using the mifi.

 

[Haley R]

Looks like the rain might be starting late next week which is right when we get to Disney. It better not rain our whole time there or I’m gonna be super mad

 

[DisneySwede]

Hopefully you'll have a balance of nice shots of the castle and enough rain to drive the crowds away

 

[Haley R]

Hopefully you'll have a balance of nice shots of the castle and enough rain to drive the crowds away

As long as I can ride the outside rides with no issues and take some pictures I’ll be good

 

[CanoeRower]

Some notes... I ruined the only pair of shoes I brought to Japan when it rained all day at Tokyo Disneyland. Look for some waterproof shoe covers if there is rain in the forecast.

I see you mentioned planning to do the war museum (Yushukan) which surprised me as that's not high on Westerners lists. None of the other tourists at my hostel had even heard of it and when I went I did not see another westerner. That ended up being my favorite site in Tokyo as it was just fascinating to me to read their take on the wars from 1850 forward.

Also, something about Disney not mentioned here. The scoring on Buzz Lightyear is completely different. You only score if you hit the bullseye of the target and you can only score off each target once. After a lousy score the first time and some on-ride delays the second time I figured this out.

 

[Haley R]

Some notes... I ruined the only pair of shoes I brought to Japan when it rained all day at Tokyo Disneyland. Look for some waterproof shoe covers if there is rain in the forecast.

I see you mentioned planning to do the war museum (Yushukan) which surprised me as that's not high on Westerners lists. None of the other tourists at my hostel had even heard of it and when I went I did not see another westerner. That ended up being my favorite site in Tokyo as it was just fascinating to me to read their take on the wars from 1850 forward.

Also, something about Disney not mentioned here. The scoring on Buzz Lightyear is completely different. You only score if you hit the bullseye of the target and you can only score off each target once. After a lousy score the first time and some on-ride delays the second time I figured this out.

I actually have two pairs of sandals so I’ll be okay if it does rain. It just would stink to not be able to take pictures and possibly have rides closed because of rain.

We ended up skipping the war museum. We were too tired that morning and slept in instead. Dh had found it on a website and thought it looked interesting. We’ll have to save it for another trip.

That’s interesting to know about Buzz. I’m not sure if we’re even gonna ride it. Is it similar to the one at wdw because we don’t like that ride.

 

[CanoeRower]

I actually have two pairs of sandals so I’ll be okay if it does rain. It just would stink to not be able to take pictures and possibly have rides closed because of rain.

We ended up skipping the war museum. We were too tired that morning and slept in instead. Dh had found it on a website and thought it looked interesting. We’ll have to save it for another trip.

That’s interesting to know about Buzz. I’m not sure if we’re even gonna ride it. Is it similar to the one at wdw because we don’t like that ride.

Buzz is similar to the DL version in Anaheim, possibly a carbon copy just with different scoring.

On the rainy day rides kept on breaking down because of all the water guests would bring in, specifically Haunted Mansion

 

[Haley R]

Buzz is similar to the DL version in Anaheim, possibly a carbon copy just with different scoring.

On the rainy day rides kept on breaking down because of all the water guests would bring in, specifically Haunted Mansion

I’ve never been to DL, only wdw. Are they basically the same thing?

It looks like 60% chances of rain every day right now but we have a week before we get there

 

[smeecanada]

The Buzz at WDW has fixed guns. The Buzz at DL you can hold the guns in your hands. DL is much better.

 

[indoshakespeare]

Try the Buzz in Tokyo. You'll wonder why the WDW one is so crappy, lol

 

[Haley R]

Try the Buzz in Tokyo. You'll wonder why the WDW one is so crappy, lol

Haha I think we will try it then. The buzz ride at wdw stinks

 

[Haley R]

Trip Report-Day 6

We started the day off by taking a train to Shinjuku. We went to the Laox Main Store in Shinjuku because we paid ahead of time to ship our luggage from there to Kyoto. We got there around 8:30 am and the store opened at 9. The process was very easy and quick. My confirmation didn’t specify which floor but luckily someone in the store helped us (it was floor 5).

After that we went to Shinjuku station to find our Odakyu romance car for Hakone. (Actually before that we stopped at a Family Mart for food). Finding our train was super easy and it’s awesome!!! We paid extra for the romance car; I think it was $20 together so not bad and we got the newest train. Our train left at 10 am. On the train syth bought a coffee and I bought a plastic monorail with snacks inside and it was only like $10. I’m still amazed how much cheaper things are here.

We got to hakone at 11:15 and walked to our hotel. They let us drop our backpacks off and gave us a map so we could go out and explore. We found out the ropeway is closed for volcanic activity which was a huge bummer so syth wasn’t able to get his black eggs. We took a train to the open air museum. It was about $28 to get in. It was decent-I wouldn’t go back but I would recommend it if you’re in the area. We did the entire hakone circle route (except the ropeway). They had us ride a bus instead of that and we couldn’t see anything so it was pretty boring but there wasn’t anything we could do about it. We got a small view of Mt. Fuji after we got off the pirate ship so there’s that. The ship was my favorite part of the circle route.

We then made our way to our hotel which was right next to Hakone Yumoto station and that was perfect. The room is little but we actually really like it. We are only here for one night anyway. The hotel only has 7 or so rooms so it’s pretty small. We went in search for food and found out everything here closes around 5-5:30 pm. Some restaurants stay open but nothing I was interested in so guess where we went....7-11 lol!! They have so much to try that we get something new every time. We’re just gonna hang out in our hotel and get some sleep for tomorrow. We get to take our first Shinkansen to Kyoto so that’ll be fun!

 

[afan]

I see you mentioned planning to do the war museum (Yushukan) which surprised me as that's not high on Westerners lists. None of the other tourists at my hostel had even heard of it and when I went I did not see another westerner. That ended up being my favorite site in Tokyo as it was just fascinating to me to read their take on the wars from 1850 forward.

Thank you for this info! I've added it to our list for our trip in a couple of years. We enjoyed the military museum in Paris because you learn about their side of things which we generally don't learn here. It'd be interesting to see how they display the war etc. I've seen at least one of their kamikaze planes at one of the smithsonian air & space museums, forget which, but it'd be nice to see others.

 

[Mopedmom1]

That snack car is adorable. Hope u wake up rested and ready for the next adventure!

 

[Haley R]

That snack car is adorable. Hope u wake up rested and ready for the next adventure!

Well I woke up, but not quite rested lol. I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point here. We even got in bed at 6 pm last night and I’m still tired. I’m excited for Kyoto though! We did switch one of our days around because it’s showing 90% chance of rain that day. We were gonna do the philosopher’s path in Kyoto but we don’t want to do that in the rain. We switched it with our Osaka day because we’re doing a museum and aquarium that day. Our Hiroshima day is showing 80% chance of rain but we’re just gonna have to deal with it.

 

[Haley R]

Trip Report-Day 7

This morning, Syth went to 7-11 for some breakfast while I got ready. We woke up at 7:30 am to make sure we got to our Shinkansen on time. We had to take a small train to get to the station but finding and getting on our Shinkansen was really easy. We bought food to take on the train. I wasn’t prepared for just how fast these things go. When we were sitting at the station they kept driving passed and they’re so fast!! One thing I want to mention is that these trains leave on the dot so if you’re late, you’re not getting on. I think it’s funny that the outside of it looks like a plane. The actual train ride was very relaxing and our car was completely silent which I loved. We were nervous just opening our food because we didn’t want to be too loud.

The Shinkansen took us to Kyoto station and we are staying by fushimi Inari so we took a JR train there and they let us drop our backpacks off. Our luggage had arrived at the hotel before us even though we said 6-9 pm so that was awesome! I highly recommend the luggage free travel company. They emailed me every time the status of our luggage changed (shipping, delivery).

We then walked to the fushimi inari shrine. It was busy but we knew it would be at 12:30 pm. We went all the way to the summit but the crossroads has the best view. We got some ice cream there that was expensive but refreshing. We plan to go back one morning to get some good pictures and take some paths off of the main path. There were some food stalls on the way out so we got a chicken skewer and a lemon soda. One thing I noticed about this area is there are a LOT of foreigners and tour groups (some of them not as polite as the Japanese). So that can put somewhat of a damper on things.

We walked back to our hotel at 3 pm to check in and take showers. Our room is a king studio and we booked it with points (so it was free). It’s MUCH bigger than I thought it would be! The bedroom has a big closet, there’s a balcony outside, and a long hallway with a washer/dryer and kitchen.

The last thing we did was go to Gion to see the geisha district and eat dinner. We tried some snacks along the main street that were really good. The shirakawa area is much less busy and it’s older so it’s pretty cool. We ate dinner at Teppan Tavern Tenamonya which was delicious. It’s a tiny little place in the basement of a building. The staff were amazing and the food was so good. We got wagyu beef for $18! I highly recommend if you’re in the area but you have to have a reservation. They had to turn people away while we were there.

One thing we both noticed about Kyoto is it’s way more busy and we aren’t sure we like that. There are a lot more tourists (not speaking English or Japanese) and some of them are pretty rude. There is also a lot more traffic with cars. We hardly worried about cars in tokyo but here they almost run you over. It’s not ruining our trip but just something I thought I’d mention.

ETA: I forgot to mention that we ended up using bug spray at fushimi inari because there were mosquitoes and I did get some bites

 

[hulagirl]

We were nervous just opening our food because we didn’t want to be too loud.

This made me smile. . Really enjoying your trip reports, Haley. I'm glad you're having such a good time!