Yokoso! Japan Day 8 - Hakone

Last day of our journey! We were very excited to be going Hakone for a relaxing soak in hot spring, after having walked and done so much the previous days.

The journey to Hakone was pretty long tho. We first took the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku to change to the "Romancecar" via the Odakyu line to Hakone-Yumoto station, which is usually the starting-point for visitors to Hakone. From here, we would then take a bus to our first destination for the day: Hakone Kowaki-En Yunessun/Mori No Yu (our hot spring place). The whole journey took more than 2 hours. I happily slept on the train most of the time.

The Romancecar:



Yunessun (hot spring place):







Yunessun is not your typical traditional hot spring place where you have to go in naked with other strangers. It is a spa-themed theme park/resort where you can try different types of hot spring, and with special "flavors", such as green tea, sake, red wine, chocolate, etc. My favorite was the coffee jacuzzi-style bath, where wafts and wafts of coffee aroma penetrate every cell in your body, leaving you relaxed and rejuvenated. Besides relaxation purposes, hot spring is also good for the skin and helps to open up pores. Besides hot spring, there are also other water recreational activities, such as the water slides, and swimming pool. For an entrance ticket of 2,800 yen (with disc; ~S$42), it is pretty worthwhile.

(No photos available, as none of us had waterproof cameras)

There is also food and beverages sold in the theme park, and all payments are made using this "watch", which you will then make the payment before leaving the place. There is also free shampoo, shower and conditioner available in the shower rooms, and hair-dryers at the dressing tables. Very convenient.

We soaked in the hot spring for about 2 hours, and left the place at about 2+pm.

Our next stop would be Gora station, where we would take the Hakone Tozan Cablecar to Sounzan. (Refer to map).

Gora station:



The Hakone Tozan Cablecar. It maybe hard to tell from the photo, but it actually travels up/down an inclined slope (similar to the peak tram in Hong Kong).



From Sounzan, we then took the cablecar on Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani, which is our next destination.



Us on the ropeway. Here, we can see lotsa mountains and the surrounding scenery in Hakone:



Owakudani, or Great Boiling Valley, is a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and hot springs in Hakone.





A rather amusing signage introducing the "kuro-tamago", or the "black egg", which is a specialty in Owakudani hard-boiled in the hot springs, turning the egg shells into black colour. Eating one supposedly adds 7 years of longevity. No harm trying, right?



Kawaii hello kity in black egg:



Another Hello Kitty hugging a black egg. Hello Kitty is indeed everywhere in Japan:



The black egg. Besides the black shell, it is no different from a normal hard-boiled egg:



We then took the Hakone Ropeway again to our next destination: Lake Ashi.
Supposedly we should be able to get a good view of Mount Fuji on the cablecar, but disappointingly the area was too foggy for us to see anything.



We would be taking a pirate-like ship/cruise across Lake Ashi, and enjoy the scenery, and possibly a glimpse of the Mount Fuji and its prolific hot spring. We could consider ourselves really lucky if we did catch a glimpse, as the clouds and bad visibility often block the view of Mount Fuji.






On board the ship. Ahoy!





Us on the ship, and imagine Mount Fuji is behind us *lol*







The journey took about half an hour or so. May not have mentioned earlier, but the Hakone Free pass that we bought (cost 5,000 yen for a 2 day pass, ~S$75) allows us to take the romancecar to and fro Hakone, as well as all the transport/bus we would be taking in Hakone itself. It may appear pricey, but it is probably worthe money given that the tranport here is not cheap.

At Moto Hakone-Ko:



Thought this was a rather gloomy pic that i took, with the looming clouds looking menacing:



At the bus interchange to take the Hakone tozan bus back to Hakone-Yumoto station. The area is surrounded by mountains:





A quaint restaurant-house in the vicinity:




Little houses "tucked" in the mountains:




The journey back to Hakone-Yumoto station was rather quiet, except for a traffic accident that we went pass along the highway. I was heavily asleep for most of the journey tho.

Back at the Hakone-Yumoto station, a nice little red bridge leading to the Yumoto-Fujiya Hotel:









It was about 6pm when we came back to Hakone-Yumoto station. We grab the chance to "raid" the shops here before they close (they close rather early over here, probably bcos there's very little crowd at night).

Dinner was at a BBQ-style place. An amusing episode ensued at the place. As the shop-owner did not speak much English, and we didnt understand the words or the pictures on the menu, we had difficulty understanding which item referred to which, particularly for the different parts of the cow. The shop owner was very entertaining; she tried to tell us which part of the cow each item is, by pointing to a part of her body!

In the end, all of us decide to order chicken instead.







The food was very tasty; i had fun cooking the chicken meat which was very well-marinated and succulent. The onion was also very tasty and sweet. This chicken set, which consist of the main dish (chicken, onion, capiscum and brinjal), rice and miso soup, cost us about 900 yen (~S$14).

An old poster for Sapporo beer:



Besides the tables that we sat at, there were tatami seats available in the restaurant as well. I was glad that we took the chairs instead, as i doubt my legs can stand being curled up for such a long period of time while eating!



After having had a satisfying meal, we left Hakone via the romancecar. It was about 9pm when we reached our hotel. As tomorrow we'd be taking an early flight back to Spore, we quickly packed our bags and had an early rest.

The next day, we took the limousine bus from Hotel Metropolitan, which is about 10 mins walk away from our place. This is highly recommended if you stay nearby and have to carry heavy luggage back. This is also much preferred to taking the train, as it'd be packed. For more info, can refer to this weblink: http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/timetable/narita/ikebukuro_h.html

The ticket costs 3,000 yen (~S$45). The price is close to taking JR line + Narita Express.

This is the end of my Japan trip posts. I definitely hope that this would not be my last trip to Japan, as i had really enjoyed myself here, whether it is the sight-seeing, shopping or the food. My destination(s) should be Hokkaido, or Kyoto/Osaka/Nara.

Next holiday destination is likely to be China (Beijing or Shanghai). This would be a trip that i'm making with my parents next year. Meanwhile, take care, and do visit this blog whenever you're free. Ciao~ =)

Yokoso! Japan Day 7 - Tokyo

Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Harajuku and Tokyo Tower

We have planned to meet up with my friend Mark, who works in Tokyo, today. Before meeting him, we decide to go up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building near Shinjuku Station. The place offers a view of the surroundings at no cost.

While at Shinjuku station, we bought our train ticket to Hakone the next day, before walking over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, a good 15-20 min walk from the station.

It was pretty early when we reached, and the building was not open for visitors yet. We went searching for breakfast first, and in the end there was only Mac's that was open at that hour. After breakfast, we went up to the observation decks.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (東京都庁舎 Tōkyō Tochōsha), "Tocho" for short, or Tokyo City Hall is the location of the headquarters of the government of not only the 23 wards that people think of as the "city" of Tokyo, but also the cities, towns and villages that comprise Tokyo as a whole. It is also the tallest building in Tokyo at 248m, and the second tallest structure after Tokyo Tower.



Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions then, it was too foggy for us to see any view outside the observation deck at all. Kinda disappointing.

View from Tokyo Metropolitan building

Around the Tokyo Metropolitan building:









Us waiting for Mark to join us. I'm wearin a new top that i bought from H&M the previous day at Ginza:



Our first stop after meeting Mark was Isetan, Shinjuku. Joey wanted to get her Burberry Blue Label bag there; Zhenzhi also bought herself an Agnes B. bag. Me? I looked on and gave suggestions, but yar, didnt get anything for myself.

Next stop was Harajuku. Here you can find the latest youth fashion in Takeshita-Dori, and young girls donning Gothic Lolita-style here. There is also shopping in Omotesando, and historic experience at Meji Jingu Shrine in the vicinity.

The Harajuku station:



Our first destination: Takeshita-Dori:





The clothes here were definitely not cheap. One dress that we saw many Japanese girls wearing costs at least S$50, and it definitely did not look the price! We could have bought it in Bugis St. at probably one-third the price, or even less.

We "invaded" the 100 Yen shop here, however. There were many good finds, such as eyebrow pencil, mascara etc. Also had ourselves some ice-cream crepes at Takeshita-Dori.

Before heading for lunch, we went to shop at H&M. Initially we wanted to check out the Forever 21 that has just opened in Tokyo in April, but we were shocked to see lines and lines forming outside the shop. There were at least 40-50 pple from what i can see, very astonishing indeed!

Lunch was at a Tonkatsu Ramen shop in the vicinity. We had been craving for some ramen since the last one we had at Umeda Sky Building. It did not disappoint. The soup and noodles were very yummy. It was a pity, however, that the egg was hard-boiled style.



After a satisfying lunch, we decide to go to Meiji Jingu Shrine.

Yoyogi Park, adjacent to Harajuku station and near Meiji Jingu Shrine:





The Harajuku bridge that leads to Yoyogi Park and Meiji Jingu Shrine. You will also find youths donning the latest, rather outrageous trends gathered here, hoping to be photographed by magazine photographers, and are willing to take photos for tourists as well.



Entrance to Meiji Shrine:



There is a 15-20 min walk to Meiji Shrine through the park. It was a very relaxing and cooling walk, given the vast amounts of shade that shielded us from the sun. As we had walked alot for the past few days, we really took it easy today at a slower pace, enjoying the fresh air and scenery.



Meiji Shrine:



Meiji Jingu Shrine is a shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. It is said that it is pretty common to enshrine the defied spirits of rulers and/or important personalities in Shinto religion.

Meiji Jingu Shrine was constructed mainly with Japanese cypress from Kiso. It appears that Japanese cypress is a very commonly used wood in the ancient times in Japan.

Being an active Shinto shrine, it is not uncommon to see traditional weddings held here. In fact, we saw three wedding parades when we were there.







Besides the grooms and bride donned in traditional wedding clothes, Shinto priests and shrine maidens, you also will see a big wedding party with women wearing pretty kimono:



A very big tree in the Meiji Shrine grounds. I wonder if there is a significance/history to it:



There were also some bonsai displays in the shrine. These colorful ones with flowers caught my attention:



Thereafter, we went off for more shopping, or rather mostly window shopping at Omotesando. Checked out the UT (from Uniqlo), and bought some nice T-shirts.

Last stop of the day was Tokyo Tower.

It stands tall at 333m, 13m taller than its model - Eiffel Tower of Paris. It was completed in 1958 and serves as a symbol for Japan's rebirth as a major economic power then. Today it is a television and radio broadcoast antenna and tourist attraction.

Seen from a distance on our way there:



Tokyo Tower from the base, with all lit-up glory:



Tokyo tower is usually lit in orange, but it changed colour after some time. During the promotion for Matrix movie, the Tokyo Tower was lit up in green light. I wonder if it was lit up in red and green, or white for Xmas?



We decide to have dinner at one of the restaurants found in Tokyo Tower.

The Unagi-don (plus hot soba) set that me and Dear had. This delicious, succulent piece of unagi definitely satisfied my earlier craving for unagi. The portion was very huge as well, pretty good value for money (cost 1,000 yen ~S$15).



After finishing dinner, we headed back to our hotel, saying goodbye to Mark at Shinjuku station.
It had been great catching up with him in Tokyo, seeing that he is doing well here.

This marks the end of Day 7.
Next day (also last day in Japan): Hakone.