I arrived around 7am in Narita and directly welcomed by some kawaii things (plus nice toilet experience ;-)). I only reached the Khaosan hostel in Asakusa, where I stayed for one night, around 10:30.
After dropping my luggage at the hostel, I started my Tokyo exploration. Visited the Sensoji temple and strolled along the interesting Nakamise Dori, could not stand to buy some fridge magnets and a small green tea snack :-P.
From Asakusa area I took metro to Ueno, exchanged my Japan Railpass, reserved the train seats for tomorrow's trip to Nagaoka, and experienced the Hanami in Ueno Koen. Ueno Koen (Ueno garden) was so crowded as I expected, the cherry blossom viewing was beautiful but people did not really have the infamous picnic on the grass but in both sides of the pedestrian street (still below the sakura trees though).
After Ueno, I took JR's Yamanote line to Shinjuku for another cherry blossom viewing in Shinjuku Gyoen which is recommended by LP. Indeed Shinjuku Gyoen was less crowded (we had to pay 200 Yen to enter the park though) and more real park to me. People also did the picnic like what I expected ;-)... The park itself is also beautiful with small river in the middle.
I planned to go to Tokyo Metropolitan Center for a free Tokyo viewing from the high floor, but I decided to walked around Shinjuku through a lot of -doris. Shinjuku is full of shops, along the small streets as well. I returned back 6pm to Kuramae using Toei Oedo line and then walked along the Edo street to reach Asakusa. Got lost a bit actualy, since I chose the wrong direction from Kuramae in the direction to Asakusabashi and Kanda river :-P. But it was also nice to walk around the neighborhood where people live, felt really in Japanese Dorama :-P
I managed to reach the hostel around 7:30pm and so exhausted....
Japan Day 2 (Wednesday, 31.03.2010)
Woke up early morning, several minutes before 6am..I tried to catchup the shinkansen at 8:30am and I wanted to avoid the peak hours of Tokyoers who will go to work. Thankfully I slept like a dead person from 8:30pm and did not wake up at all during the night..
I reached Ueno station around 7:30am, was lucky since it was not yet that crowded using Ginza line metro from Asakusa to Ueno. But I saw the surge of people in Ueno station, was bit scary seeing they all looked the same with office suits and walked very fast to your direction :-P
Finally met Bibip in Nagaoka...after 7 years, she was my house mate during my university years in Surabaya, it was my only reason to drop by in Nagaoka (since I have the rail pass anyway) :-) She picked me at the main station then we went to the only shopping mall there since she needed to buy a present for a friend...and for sure I don't mind. A lot of kawaii things (again), good that I only bring a small suitcase :-P
We went to Nagaoka Institut of Tech campus to pick up Mas Handri, her husband who works there and we had lunch together in a sushi restaurant (the one with conveyor). The most delicious sushi I've ever eaten...oishii ne...and thanks to Bip and Mas Handri for the treat :-P
After dropping Mas Handri back to the campus (it was working day), it was already around 2pm and I plan to take the train at 3pm.... Bibip took me to the Haifa monument (I hope the name is correct :-P) then dropped me back to the main station.
It was not a long reunion, but it's nice to find someone you know (especially someone whom you did not meet for quite a long time) in a new country :-)
I continued my trip back to Tokyo, then to Shin-Osaka with the shinkansen. I planned to stay in Osaka for three nights and the small hotel that I booked is quite luxurious for a backpacking trip, the single room is small but has the private toilet and shower, tv, internet (cable) connection, tv, fridge and hair dryer.
Japan Day 3 (Thursday, 01.04.2010)
I started the day around 9am and visited Osaka castle (and ate torayaki for the first time..yummy). Decided to take train to Nara after lunch, Nara used to be the first permanent capital of Japan, not so far from Osaka. It was bit raining when I arrived in Nara, but Nara is compact and most of the interesting sites to visit are located around the Nara-koen so walking was still a good option. I walked through a street with a lot of shops and visited small and big temples. The most interesting for sure is Todai-ji with its Daibutsu (Great Buddha)which is one of the largest bronze figures in the world. It was originally cast in 746 but was re-cast in the Edo period. The park, Nara-koen, is the home of around 1200 deers and yes, they were roaming freely in the park (which reminds me of the monkeys in monkey forest in Indonesia). It's kind of cute at the first time, but they can be agressive, I mean really agressive. I walked around with free Nara's map and some brochures I got from the Tourist Information Center on my hand. I did not realize there was one cheeky deer interested to what I held, and he/she just bitten the pile of papers that I held. I was like..whaaat..I did not really mind that the deer wanted my papers, but he (let assume it's a male deer ;-P) wanted to eat them and I just could not let him eat papers (or do they actually eat papers?)..so I tried to pull the papers from his teeth and managed to get part of them (it must have been quite funny to see my 'fight' with the deer :-)). But he still got the Nara's map on his mouth and believe it or not, he ate the paper...completely. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I was a bit afraid that he would chase me after that, so .. I decided to run away. That's the point that I think they are no longer cute anymore and I tried my best to avoid any of them after that :-P.
Japan Day 4 (Friday, 02.04.2010)
It was raining in the morning and I decided to take shinkansen and ferry to Miyajima, a small island close to Hiroshima (around-3-4hrs trip from Osaka, to make use of my railpass ;-)). I always love to ride a train, so I don't mind to spend some time on shinkasen. Miyajima is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of famous tourist attractions in Japan. It is a touristy area, but Miyajima has a lot of scenic spots. I don't really mind to stay one night there. The famous floating torii, the beautiful Itsukushima-Jinja, and the lovely walk paths are the main attractions of Miyajima. It's also interesting to see and try the local sweets and foods. Saw a japanese wedding of a japanese woman with a western man there as well. I arrived back in Osaka early evening and still did not want to call it a day. I decided to visit Dotombori, the liveliest nightlife district of Osaka, with a lot of restaurants, shops, and all the neon lights.
Japan Day 5 (Saturday, 03.04.2010)
I left the hotel in Osaka quite early in the morning. I have booked a room in Kyoto for one night and I had appointment to meet Cartoon, my Thai friend who was my classmate when I studied in Magdeburg and now she works in a city close to Nagoya. I met Cartoon and her Thai friends
Japan Day 6 (Sunday, 04.04.2010)
Leaving Kyoto in the afternoon for Takayama, another shinkansen trip, thanks to Railpass :-) Arrived in Takayama in the evening. I stayed in a temple which provides ryokan (a traditional budget hotel/hostel) facility. It was nice finally to try the Japanese style bedroom. I slept in a small room with tatami (with the Wifi connection ;-)).
Japan Day 7 (Monday, 05.04.2010)
Exploring Takayama and its markets in the morning and decided to take bus to Shirakawa-go (something that I never regret though the bus ticket was quite expensive). Shirakawa-go is definitely a recommended place to go. It's indeed like an open air museum (a lot of tourists for sure) but it still gives a nice traditional Japanese experience. The village has a lot of Japanese traditional houses. I love the view from the peak with the village and the surrounding mountain plus the green river. Took almost the last bus back to Takayama, I still managed to walk around a bit after arrived there and back to the ryokan happy and satisfied.
Japan Day 8 (Tuesday, 06.04.2010)
One last walk around Takayama in the morning (I love its cute shops and morning markets) and visited the Takayama Yatai Kaikan where we can see some multi-tiered Yatai (floats) that are used in Takayama Matsuri. I was only several days too early to watch that festival, one of Japan's greatest. It has two parts, the Sanno Matsuri (the one in April) includes the parade of a dozen decorated Yatai around the town, and Hachiman Matsuri (in October) which is a slightly smaller version of the the other one.
It was almost dark already when I arrived in Tokyo, three more days to experience Japan. This time I stay in a ryokan in Minami-senju area. It's a bit long walk to the metro station, but it's only three stops to Ueno-eki.
Japan Day 9 (Wednesday, 07.04.2010)
I started my day very early to go to Tsukiji fish market, but unfortunately it was closed that day. I only found an empty market, but at least I can imagine how big and crowded when it opens. I dropped by to Imperial Palace and walked along the surroundings before I met Yuko in Ueno station. She is my Japanese friend who I knew in Duesseldorf and we had a trip in Scotland together before she left Duesseldorf. It was nice to see her again and it's very kind of her to be able to accompany me to explore Tokyo in her working days :-).
We walked along the Ameyoko Arcade and then went to Shinjuku for amazing view of Tokyo from the top of Tokyo Metropolitan Government office. After that we continued to Harajuku (which made us teenage girls again, too bad I could not find Kimutaku's poster anymore ;-)) and Shibuya. It was a bit raining when we were around Shibuya, but I got a beautiful view of the famous Shibuya crossroad with a lot of people in different colors of umbrellas from a cafe oversee it. Lovely!
I only returned back to the ryokan around 10pm and I felt that I really hurt my leg a lot after the whole-day walking activity. Tokyo definitely needs more than 2 days to explore. I still haven't seen all the interesting places I want to see, but as usual it gives me another reason to come back again. It's definitely one of my fave metropolitan cities. Oh and today was my first time to eat Okonomiyaki, Japanese pizza (or tortilla). It's delicious and we had it in a DIY restaurant so basically we cooked it by ourselves.
Japan Day 10 (Thursday, 08.04.2010)
It was quite a sunny day so I made up my mind to go to Hakone (instead of Nikko, I think I saw too many temples already). I took train to Hakone from Shinjuku. Arrived in Lake Ashi around noon and I could not get any sight of Mount Fuji :-(. After walked along the lake and had my lunch, I took the cruise boat (it's included in the Hakone freepas) and then cable car to drop by at Owakudani. I saw a glimpse of the top of mount Fuji when I was in the cable car, really a glimpse of it since not long after that it's hidden by the clouds again.
I returned back to Tokyo late afternoon, did some final souvenir shopping since it's my last evening in Japan ;-).
Japan Day 11 (Friday, 09.04.2010)
Packed my stuff and left for Narita (and then Jakarta). It was definitely an interesting experience. It's great to visit the place that you really wanted to visit for some time. I love the food, the kawaii things and Japan is a place where I found a lot interesting things but also gave me the familiar feeling at the same time.
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