Today we were heading out to Nakano Broadway, most stores there only open up past midday so we had the morning to spare. As we were heading through Tokyo station to get to Nakano I decided to take the gang over to character street. Keep in mind that Tokyo station is huge, so make sure you leave enough time to try and find it as well as shop, its well worth the visit if you can find it. You may need a couple of hours especially if you have a thing for Japanese characters and mascots! I think Mimi’s face sums it up pretty well! Continue reading…
Posts tagged Japan
Disneyland, the happiest place on earth! Matt was the most excited out of all us to be going to Disneyland, his whole reason for wanting to come (despite spending time with his lovely friends) was to go to both of the Disneylands in Tokyo. Chris and I had decided to visit Disney Sea last time we were here, Continue reading…
Today was my birthday, we were in Japan and I was going to Harajuku……. you cant ask for much more then that! Although the weather had been quite cold recently it turned out to be quite a beautiful day, blue skies and what can be considered warm for winter! I was allowed to sleep in for the morning and was woken Continue reading…
Today we were heading back to Tokyo so as you imagine it was a bit of a rush/mess getting everyone out of the hourse. To complicate things I had also arranged to meet up with Kenji, Sayuri and their Continue reading…
Today I was really excited and eager to get out early! Before we left I had already prebooked for the entire group to do a “Maiko Makeover”, or Samurai for the guys. Chris and I 
had been here on our previous trip so we had a fair idea where we were going. We decided to walk from where we were staying and I was a little concerned about how grey the sky looked as we left the house. It ended up being a pretty decent distance and we are started to get pumped as we walked through some fairly large wooden gates that seemed to signal that we had hit Gion! We had left plenty of time to get there so we had a leisurely walk to the studio and stopped many times on the way to take photos, check things out and to buy lots of souvenirs. Gion is quite an old section of Kyoto Continue reading…
We slept in late today, a couple of long days walking and late nights took its toll! We were meant to get out and visit two places, but since we were out late we decided not to rush both and just went to the Osaka Aquarium. Its lucky we picked today to go the Aquarium, it rained almost the entire day! I think it was the only day it rained in the time we were there. We had to hop in and out of 4 trains to finally get there and when we got off at the closest train station(Osakako station) it was slightly confusing as there was all these signs pointing to the Aquarium but in different directions. Some said they were wrong, others were bigger, we just choose a direction and started walking. You cant really tell from far away but you know you are getting close when you see the large ferris wheel. Before we went into the Aquarium we stopped off at Tempozan market which was next door and had lunch. It was like a small shopping center with a petting zoo, stores and restaurants. They had a Jump store which was completely filled with only One piece merchandise that Mimi and Georgina had a field day in! They also had a Continue reading…
The plan for today was to shop in Osaka! There were quite a few places that we were eager to get to. Unfotunately as most of the day was shopping and because alot of the stores dont allow pictures, we did not get many shots.
We got off to a late start and half way to Kyoto station Chris and I realised that we left our rail passes back at the house! We still could have continued but we would have had to pay for all tickets and Continue reading…
Today was the day to hit the temples and it was COLD!!!! It was the type of cold morning that you can see your breath form a little white puff in the air in front of you. On our way out of the house, we got a passer by to take a photo of the group before we got started. We then started walking towards the train station. We were leaving quite late, time wise by western standards but the shops were just starting to open up and get busy. The atmosphere of a new day was similar and different at the same time, it was quite exciting! Our first stop was Fushimiinari shrine which is only a short train ride away from where we were staying. Continue reading…
Yesterday was a long day of travelling so after a good nights sleep and a late start we headed off to our destination Arashiyama. For the first week of our trip we had activated 
our Japan Rail passes, however these passes were only available for use on JR trains and while it covered the main rail to Arashiyama, the JR Sagano Line, it did not cover the local lines we used to get from where we were staying to Kyoto station. To cover these lines we purchases a Icoca card, the card initially costs 2000Yen, 500Yen is a deposit for the card and 1500Yen is a balance. The card can be recharged at any station and all you need to do is swipe it going in and Continue reading…
We arrived in Japan at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning. I’m not much of a morning person so I was not a happy camper to be woken up by the crew who were preparing us for breakfast at 4am in the morning. I must admit though, that the fact that we were landing in Japan did wonders in snapping me out of my mood. After disembarking from the plane we had to line up to go through customs and retrieve our luggage.
This is my second visit to Japan and Narita airport, the first time that we arrived we caught the limousine bus to Tokyo. The ticket counters are quite easy to find, they are almost directly in front of where you come out for baggage and have english and Japanese signs. You can purchase a limousine bus ticket for 3000Yen or you can also get a deal where you can bundle the limouseine bus ride and also purchase a 1 day train ticket pass for use in Tokyo at a special price. The bus stop is a short walk outside the front of the airport and they do drop offs at Tokyo station as well as several other popular hotels around Tokyo. It’s a no fuss solution, the attendants pack your bags for you Continue reading…
