Days 1:-
It was 11 months ago planned by my wife at the time when we were just girlfriend and boyfriend. Thanks to Air Asia airlines yearly promotion. Well the day was arrived when we had to pack bags and go to Tokyo, Japan.
We were somewhat ready to face 5°c of temperature. 9th March 11:45 pm we boarded plane from Don mueang airport. Reached Tokyo
7 am local time at Narita airport. Chilled everything. 5°c temperature. And strong cold breeze. Bought 5400 ¥ 3 day unlimited local train ticket to reach at our hotel Tounganeya at Ueno province of Tokyo.
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| In Train in Japan |
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| With Sakura flowers |
So impressed with their complex but robust train coverage. Seems the train is available to everywhere. And punctuality that no one can beat. Never late more than 2 mins. Time has got proper respect in Japan. After all this is the only thing everyone gets limited in life. Getting out of train station near our hotel first thing we did was taking photos with Sakura famous in Japan for its leafless big well spread branches loaded with light pink flowers.
We didn't sleep well in our economy class 5.5 hour long flight. We were feeling super cold. Despite of these odds there was no scarcity of will power of exploring the country we both entered first time. We reached hotel, threw our bags and boarded train for station Asakusa. First view place we chose was Sensoji temple. The oldest Buddhist temple of Japan. When we came out of Asakusa train station. We were confused where to go. So I asked a middle aged local man for directions. Surprisingly he had a one page map in his bag he tried to explain me with help if sign language and finally gave me that map. Great help Thanks Japan.
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| At Sansoji Temple |
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| At Sansoji Temple |
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| Local snacks near Sansoji Temple |
Place was nice. Connected to traditional market. Full of locals and tourists. We prayed in temple walked around the market, tried some local fried eatables and ended with lots of selfies with temple buildings background in both of our phones.
Hence after we had a brisk walk in Asakusa park. Brisk because it was little uncomfortable to walk in open in such a chilled weather. We boarded train again to visit our next stop Skytree. A 630 meters tall structure( second tallest in world after burj khalifa) primarily built as radio and TV signal tower but now developed as tourist attraction with lots if decorated restaurants and shopping points. They asked us entry fees of 3000
¥ to reach top floor. My future oriented wife looked at me and I decided not to waste money there. We captured few selfies with skytree from ground floor and boarded train again to go to Akhibara- the huge electronics and cosmetics market. My wife was dragging me to cosmetic section with obvious reasons and I was drifting towards electronics. I wanted some rare life comforting electronic gadgets. We finished our shopping with straight 29.8 km walk as measured in dayday health band gifted by my company on last Christmas. We ended our first day with dinner in authentic Japanese Sushi restaurant and boarded train again back to hotel.
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| Selfie with Skytree |
Walked distance 29.8 KM today
Good night.
Day 2 :-
Second day started and we planned to visit local fish market. Another tourist attraction. Boarded train for station tsukijishijo. Good hospitality of sushi restaurants. The super fresh sushi items. Big fish packing and transporting place. I was impressed with their small career vehicles. Three wheeler bikes with space at back to hold material. And fully covered wind screen.
Lost many times to get the correct train station to board while traveling in Tokyo.
My wife had a big list of cosmetics to buy so she dragged me to Tokyo train station by saying there are electronics too. But by the time we finished the cosmetic shopping we had lots of bags to carry. And by lots of I mean really alot.
So we had to come back to hotel to keep stuff and go back. Next stop was to go Akihabara once again that we visited yesterday. Many things were still left there. Akihabara electronic district was our next stop. While walking I saw an interesting shop. Love Me- Sex toy shop.
First time in life so decided to see what they were selling. First floor was dedicated to sexy transparent dresses of all kind for women. Basement was full of wild sex toys. 2nd floor was for women sex toys. 3rd floor had men section where I took a walk. WOW. technology is so fast they they were selling almost every possible intimate fantacy. A sex vagina, a blowjob vagina, artificial boobs. Artificial half women back to perform doggy style sex pose with different sizes of vagina holes. Now I know why Japan's population growth is in negative. Jokes apart, the shop was crowded and people including women were buying their fantasy stuff as normal as grocery shopping in malls. One thing worth mentioning here is vending machines. They are every where in each building we visited. Selling mostly toys, candies, drinks, snacks and many more things. While walking around electronic district we saw buildings dedicated to console and computer gaming. Noticed maid cafes where along with normal restaurant facilities one can also enjoy cute Japanese girls dancing around. We had ice cream on the way. Weird to eat ice cream in such a cold whether but since the shop was crowded so we decided to eat. One thing worth noticing was that Japanese people don't eat while walking. We both were not hungry much so decide to skip dinner and came back to hotel ending our day.
Walked distance 18 km today.
Goodnight
Day 3 :-
My wife's friends joined today. They came 1 day after us to Tokyo. P Boy the guy visiting Japan 6th time was now your planner and leader. Today's first stop point was the sacred Fuji mountain. We wakeup early to board train to shinzuku station to start 1.5 hour bus journey to Fujikawaguchiko the view point for Fuji mountain. A life time 1.5 hours journey. Snow loaded mountains both sides of road. We stop by a herbal garden having nursery of herbal plants and herbal items. Did lunch in an authentic Japanese restaurant. I ordered shrimp friend rice with mayonnaise. Different and tastier than Thai food. Other people ordered famous soupy dishes of Japan. I couldn't because I can't eat pork or beef due to my religious constraints.
Finally it was time to see Fuji mountain. We took cable car to reach view point. Bad Luck sky was not clear today and couldn't see Fuji mountain. They say Fuji is female and it's shy sometimes. Very disappointed but was more than happy to see snowy mountains all around and a beautiful lake in center- Kawaguchi lake. We had a bone chilled boat ride in Kawaguchi lake too which we enjoyed on top floor of boat taking photos with shivering hands. Last destination to visit near Kawaguchi lake was Oishi resting point. Awesome experience started when mild snow fall started. Seen first time from naked eyes. Exactly like rain just falling slowly and falling so softly.
It was now time to go back. When we reached to bus terminal we found that bus is delayed and we were offered to adjust all 10 people in smaller Groups to other buses. We refused it and booked train ticket to go back. Longer journey but nice experience. This inter city train had rotating chairs. If train is moving other direction rotate as per your choice. Awesome. P boy had already booked dinner for us. Buffet in town. Every one was enjoying but I could not utilize the value of money I paid due to same reason- I can't eat pork and beef. Some how I ate salad and vegetables to get sufficient energy to feel not hungry. Before we end our day we had 1.5 hours
left. We decided to go for shopping once again. P Boy knew a place where all general items were under one building. I got energetic again to walk in 2,3 and 4 floors. Reason- electronics. Life comforting electronics. I bought trimmer and an electronic face massager. We boarded last train of day at 23:45 and back to hotel.
Walked 15 km today.
Goodnight
Day 4 :-
Another day started and P Boy was ready with his efficient plan to guide us to visit many places today. We board train at 9:20 am for Harajuku station for temple named Meiji Shrine and shopping street. Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine created with forest around when people of Japan donated 100,000 trees after their emperor Meiji passed away in 1912. They did so to commemorate their king's virtues and to venerate him forever. After temple visit we visited near by famous shopping street- Yamashita road. Bought first ever vending machine toy from there a star war character. Japanese like fried fast food. There were many fried items selling in the Yamashita road. I ate them a lot so cancelled proper dinner while walking on that street for 3 hours. In the course we visited kiddy land. One roof stop for all kinds of famous animation character items and their souvenirs. Line character shop was another big attraction. We boards train again from Shinbashi station to Daiba station in Odaiba island. Last changed train was fully automatic with no pilot and big glassy windows. Odaiba island is an artificial island made by Japan since 1850. Wow. Main attraction there were Rainbow bridge, kandam (asian transformer) statue and store and Toyota car show room. Many racing
cars and concept cars. Toyota was giving free accident simulator rides to all visitors Scary and exciting. Plus I was thrilled with handled electronic hover boards used by Toyota staff to move from on place to other in that big Toyota showroom. I want one. Odaiba looked like city of sci-fi movies. Building lightings were changing based on music pattern.
Rainbow bridge was nice view point of skyscrapers with a mini statue of liberty as same as in USA but smaller.
Next stop Oedo Onsen. Crowded at the ticket counter. Excited for my first Onsen visit. Onsen is different types of hot water bath. First step get ticket and change you clothes to samurai style. First bath was unisex foot bath walking on small vertical stone studded pathway filled with hot water at 40°C. Not easy for heavy people due to acupuncture effect of small stones on foot. Felt the long day tiredness was sucked out by hot water through foot way. Spent around 20 minutes there and went out. Next stop was to have hot water bath. Entered inside and what I saw was never seen before. Tens of nude men of all ages walking, sitting, taking shower, etc. As the custom called I get completely nude along with my Thai friends and slipped into one of the big bath tub after shower with just one small towel to put on head to control head temperature. I was keeping it to prevent my complete nudity (being my first time). Sitting in 40°c temperature water gave a relaxed feeling after some time. Out side temperate was 4°c. Subsequently we shifter to open air bath tub and jacoozi. Came out with soothing warm feeling but bad memories of seeing many nude men together. We relaxed out side for some time and then boarded train to back to hotel. Said final bye to awesome new Thai friends from my wife's office because they have different plan for tomorrow and we are flying back to bangkok.
Good night
Day 5:-
We had half day today the flight to bangkok was at 8 pm. We searched out some nearby places to visit and end the final day in Japan. Local museum and Ueno park was in list. But when we checked out of hotel keeping our language in lobby at 11 am we found that its raining. Cold breeze, 4 °c temperature and rain. Cancelled Ueno park. Cancelled museum also because it was 1.3 km away and we couldn't walk in rain. Had a tourist market near by. We walked there. Bought sweets, Strawberry, green tea and of course some toys from vending machines. Wife loves them till now she has collected around 20 such toys. Had one hour still left for boarding train to Narita airport. Spend that hour in coffee shop sipping large cup of hot Cappuccino. Hence after boarded train to airport. We had few hours to do final shopping and end all our remaining Japanese yen. More sweets, chocolates, etc. I found more amazing electronics in airport. Personal air purifier. Hang it to your neck and big identity card and enjoy fresh ionized air around you. Restaurant where we had dinner had one special machine to find the guest. You order at counter and they will give you that machine along with bill. You can go and sit anywhere you want while waiting for your order to be ready. They will search you with help of the device they gave you and bring the order to table. Awesome use of technology. Saw modern toilet in airport. It was single user toilet. The toilet sheet cover kept closed all the time when you enter it will sense from door open and will open up with small flush automatically activated. I just had to pee so I did that. For shitting they had electronic water jet for cleaning once you are done and air jet for drying also. Wow. No touch no germs transfer. Sensor based liquid soap box, sensor based water tap and sensor based hand dryer. This toilet was designed by Tota company. One important lesson learned from Japan is to manage thugs in detailed level and use resources only with as much quantity as required. I have came to this conclusion by seeing their thin escalators in buildings, small rooms, small wash basins, etc ..
Time to board plane now
Bye Japan hope to see you soon.
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