First International Trip: Japan 2015
On March 18th, my family as well as my boyfriend's family left on our spring break trip to Japan. However because our flight wasn't till night, I had time to celebrate my sister's 16th birthday with her! We decided to go up to the north shore, get some shells, and eat some shrimp before coming home to pack.
Yes, we got Matsumoto's Shave ice BEFORE lunch
And still managed to mop our favorite food. Giovanni's Shrip.
Whe we got to the airport around 5 pm we were waiting at the gate when my mom surprised us with a cake for my sister's birthday! She felt bad we were going to spend the rest of the day flying so she carried in 10 cake slices from a japanese bakery. We ended up singing so loud we embarrased her...but you only turn 16 once!
Once we took off the flight felt like forever because I didn't sleep AT ALL. I have the hardest times sleeping on planes because I get sooooo uncomfortable. My feet and legs get fidgity, I'm a side sleeper so I have to lean on something to fall asleep, it's just terrible.However although I didn't sleep I was quite happy with the way we were treated on Hawaiian Air. We had a newer plane so each passenger had they're own tv with a selection of free movies to choose from. On the way over I watched 3 whole movies... Zero Dark Thirty, Pitch Perfect, and Frozen, because the songs just never get old :) We were also served 2 meals on the flight over, and although I didn't eat much of it, the quality looked decent compared to what airplanes normally serve. We flew into the Tokyo Haneda airport, and had to wait in customs for almost an hour before getting our bags. From the moment I stepped off the plane I felt sick. I don't do well with motion, especially on boats and planes. (You do not want to be anywhere near me on a boat) However after I loaded up on water and walked around for a bit the headache started to go away.
From the airport my family was suppose to take a shuttle to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel but because we arrived at such a late time the shuttle had stopped running. (We had call them to get our money back) Instead we were put to the test, and had to take the subway lines the minute we left the airport. Figuring out the lines was actually a lot easier than expected and pretty self explanatory, the tricky part was getting in all our luggage. Luckily when you get on at the airport the train cars are pretty empty so you have a lot of room to work with. By the time we got to Shinagawa Station it was a completely different story.
The Shinagawa Prince Hotel was located right across the street from the Shinagawa station, which we had purposely planned. You can literally get off the train and be back at the hotel within a couple minutes. It's in the perfect location. I was also super excited because I knew my boyfriend would be meeting me in the hotel lobby! After not seeing him since last month, I couldn't wait to be in his arms again. Of course when I saw him across the lobby I dropped all my things and ran to him... I have to say... It's one of the best feelings in the world.
Leaving my bags behind when I saw this kid
The pictures are a bit blurry... And my little sister is in them too... But the moment was still amazing.
After our embrace and inital catch up, we headed up to our room. The room is pretty small, but really we were okay with it because of the location and FREE BREAKFAST! This breakfast only comes if you are staying in the N tower. The rest of my family stayed in the main tower and got bigger rooms, but didn't have the free breakfast.
DAY 1:
We started out early on our first day, trying to make the most of my boyfriends 3 days with us in Tokyo. We first decided to go to tsukiji fish market early enough to avoid the crowds but not early enough to see the tuna auction. The tuna auction would have been cool to see but you need to stand in line and reserve a space the morning of, which means you need to be standing out there before 5 AM. A little too early for us... Instead I set my alarm for 0630 and had about 30 minutes to get ready before we met in the lobby at 0700. I decided to wear a striped dress shirt from f21 paired with a brandy Melville high waisted skirt. I also wore over the knee black socks with my Tom's Desert wedges in black mentioned before.
Because the weather was still pretty chilly I also brought along my white peacoat from Guess. I really love the look of dresses and skirts with over the knee socks when wearing coats. This is a picture I have of the coat and socks.
Anyway, back to the Tsukiji Fish market... We got to see many of the sushi shops as well as some other shops selling omiyage and cooking goods. My brother was able to find a knife here to bring home for a chef and my parents were able to buy some snacks to bring home as well. We also entered the open market and got to see where the fish and other sea creatures are sold. This area was SOOO busy. Constant carts crossing and workers walking back and forth. They also don't seem to appreciate tourists at all and pretty much ignore you when you're walking through. They also have no problem yelling at you if you get in their way, so watch out!
These are photos from the open market. As you can see everything is done straight out in the open. All the cutting of fish, and storing of them can be seen! Very cool. But if you can't tell from the photos, the ground is very slippery and dirty in the market. Closed shoes were a good choice.
This is a photo of the Tuna combo we got. With different cuts of Tuna on rice.
This is a picture of my boyfriend and I at a restaurant in the Tsukiji strip. There are so many to pick from but this one had many good set combos and also options for those in our party who didn't feel like eating raw fish at 8 in the morning (Like me). I would highly recommend it. We got fatty tuna nigiri and some other types of sushi. (The Ahi is a must)
After eating our fair load of sushi we headed out down to Yokohama to the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. The train ride was a bit lengthy but it was something my boyfriend and I had planned to do a while before so we were willing to take the time to go down there. The cool thing about Hakkeijima is that it is located on it's own island. And the park has both an aquarium and amusement rides. First you walk from the station to the island across this huge bridge. When we visited there were people in the distant clamming in the shallow waters.
After the bridge you go to the center of the park to buy your tickets. There are many different options, but we decided to buy the aquarium ticket and an individual roller coaster ticket. There were 4 different aquarium buildings all of which focused on marine mammals. (My favorite!)
This their Whale Shark! My first time seeing one
This aquarium also had HUGE tanks with glass windows from floor to ceiling. Not to mention they also have under water escalators and tubes that are super fun to walk through!
(My Japan video shows a lot of these)
The other tanks of the aquarium had Manatees, Dolphins, Sea otters and many other mammals as well as some fish. The aquarium also had the biggest sunfish I have ever seen. (Wish I got a picture of it). Overall I really liked being here because there was no crowd. Which was a pretty big thing for my boyfriend and I. Some of the exhibits are a little run down and dirty, but we got to spend as much time as we wanted up against the glass because there were not many people there. (Such a rare thing in Japan)
The theme park of Hakkeijima didn't have too many adult rides other than the roller coaster and the Blue tower which resembles the Tower of Terror in America. The roller coaster is built over the water and gives an amazing view of Yokohama at the top. It was definitely one of my favorite parts about the park. The wait was only about 5-10 minutes too, making it even better.
Sadly we couldn't bring the GoPro on the Coaster, so none of that footage is in the Japan Video.
The only other ride we went on was Blue Fall (actually only my dad and boyfriend did, the rest of us were too scared) which resembles the free fall rides we have in America. Again there was no line here and with the all day park pass you can ride the rides as many times as you want. (Well worth the money, because otherwise it's 10$ each time)
This ride is shown in my video as well.
Overall Day 1 of Japan was amazing and really kept us busy. This last picture is at the gift shop of Hakkeijima where we could pose with some of the animals they had! Be sure to check out my video which has many clips from this first day to get a better idea of what the park was like
Japan Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEzHTmiEQI
DAY 2:
On our 2nd day in Japan we started out by going to Ueno park. Getting there was easy from Shinagawa because they have a train station for it right in the main loop. I thought Ueno park was fun just because there's so many different things you can do. I would recommend at least once in your life if you've never been. My boyfriend and I started our day by choosing to go to the Ueno Zoo first. The Zoo had almost every animal you could think of, but it was SOOOOO crowded. Which made it so much less enjoyable. (We did go on a Saturday Morning). Then we went to the Japan national museum pictured below. This museum had a lot of art as well as samurai swords on display as well as a Japanese garden in the back.
Before leaving for the day we also made sure to stop at the food trucks which sold frozen bananas, yakisoba, skewers and many other Japanese dishes such as takoyaki.
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| Capybara |
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| Some kind of Hawk? |
These are pictures of some of the more unique animals.
These are pictures of the first Sakura that were in bloom.
After our little day trip here we headed up to Oshiage for our reservation at the Owl Cafe! Reservations for the Hawkeye Owl Cafe need to be made prior to visiting and luckily for us my boyfriend's sister handled all of that. The staff there could speak english fairly well so I don't think there should be any language barrier problems although the site online is in Japanese.
When we walked in there was a bar facing a glass that looked into the room where all the owls were kept. I would say there were only 8-10 seats here which may limit your party number. We had 10 people total and were split up into 5s when going into the room with all the owls. The party outside the window could enjoy drinks while watching the others inside handle the birds. Altogether it was 1500 yen per person, with a drink (tea/soda/beer) and an hour with the birds.
Sometimes the birds go a bit crazy and fly around, (which freaks me out, because I don't really like birds) but for the most part they were very calm. You can't pick up every owl because some bite and are very fidgety. Also! make sure you wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty. They tell each party when going over the rules that owl poop may get on you. Thankfully no one got pooped on in our group but we did see it happen to the party in front of us as she was holding a bird!
For dinner my boyfriend really wanted to eat good Tonkatsu so we decided to try a place his sister heard was really good called Maisen. Boy was she right. Everyone enjoyed their meal here and my boyfriend thought it was one of the best he had in Japan. The teishoku we got came with miso soup and rice.
After dinner we decided to walk around the main strip of Harajuku so my boyfriend would get a chance to see what it was like. Takeshi-Dori (main street of Harajuku) had a ton of shops but most of them were aimed at girls. He was able to find a pair of Nike Roshes that he liked though which made him pretty happy.
Japan Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEzHTmiEQI
DAY 3:
For my boyfriend's last day on the trip we decided to go to Chiba to visit the Kawatsura Strawberry farm. It took us about an hour and a half to get to our destination by train (from Shinagawa to Naruto station) and just a couple minutes from the station to the actual farm. My boyfriends sister told us that it might be muddy so I decided to wear jeans, Steve Madden boots, and a Forever 21 Sweater over a flannel. I also brought a long a jacket that I didn't end up using because it was super hot at the farm!
The farm was a collection of greenhouses in which you could pick (all you can eat strawberries) for only 1500 yen!
(The Sun was really bright... you can usually see my eyes)
I ate sooo many strawberries while we were here I thought I was going to get sick. They give you a little plastic tray with condensed milk which makes the berries even better! Each row is also a different kind of berry. They vary between hardness and sour-ness. Some would say "soft, and little-sour" while some would say "very hard, and very sour". Personally I like the firmer and more sour strawberries, but I tried everyone and they were all good. So much bigger and juicier than those you buy in stores.
Japan Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEzHTmiEQI
DAY 4:
Looking down from the lantern there was a row of shops that led to the Asakusa temples.
Once you get down the strip the temples come into view. Also right before the entrance of the temples is the smoke you are suppose to wave over yourself for good luck. 
Then we walked back down the strip on the other side of the street to check out what things they had. I personally didn't buy too much here but my family bought a set of chopsticks with special prints on them, and we all bought soft serve cones.
Japan Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEzHTmiEQI
DAY 5:
During our last day in Tokyo we decided to take a day trip down to Yokohama. This is where we visited the Cup Noodle Museum. Here we got to make our own cup noodle from start to finish, but drawing designs on the cups as well as picking our soup base and toppings. This process is best shown in my Japan Video.The first step to creating your own cup noodle is designing your cup. These are some that my family members did. They have plenty of markers for you and paper on the tables so you can practice your drawings before putting them directly on your cup.
Once you're finished you move through a line where you pick what soup base you want. (There are 4 choices: Curry, seafood, original and I don't remember the last one) Then you can pick up to 4 different toppings by pointing through the glass.
Once this is done they shrink wrap the cup for you and you can take it out of the museum in a little air bag. (You have to deflate the air bag before going on the plane though)
Walking to and from the train station in Yokohama (to the cup noodle factory) you pass through an amusement park. The rollercoaster looked too fun to pass up so we bought tickets for that one ride.
When we got back to the hotel we had a little more time to shop so we went back to Shibuya 109 where I was able to make some purchases of cutesy Japanese clothes. This is a Liz Lisa Top (Shoulder ribbon blouse) and Bottom (Floral Shorts) paired with Forever 21 Jellies. In America we have so many places to buy tight, body con dresses but hardly any places to buy cute clothes you can wear to dinners or to church. That was my biggest shopping goal coming to Japan and I found some pretty cute things I think I'll be able to wear. Before this trip I really had no idea what to look for but my boyfriend's sister is a fashionista when it comes to this type of style and coordinates clothes better than girls living in Japan. (So for ideas my sister and I just followed the types of things she wore, while picking things we thought were cute)
My sister and I also found a Purikura machine so we spent a couple dollars and took photos in it that we could decorate.
DAY 7:
The next day in Japan we decided to head up to Nara to see the deer! The train ride was a bit lengthy but definitely worth it. This was one of my favorite day trips we took in Japan! For the most part the are walking around minding their own business unless they see that you have crackers in your hand. Then some of them will CHASE YOU DOWN. Beware. They will bite your clothes and head butt you which can be seen in my Japan video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEzHTmiEQI .
They will also take paper/maps right out of your hands and start eating it so make sure you keep everything in your bag.
In addition to Deer the park also had a lot of temples. The famous Todaiji temple is also located here. We didn't go inside but we got a good view of it as well as the statues outside of it.
DAY 8:
For our last day in Japan we headed up to Kyoto and Arashiyama to see the Snow monkeys! While we were there we also saw the bamboo forest and the river. We actually went into a temple here too, but I think that we could have skipped it. This is what the temple looks like along with the lake in the background.
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In the back of the temple is where the bamboo forest is, but you don't have to pay to visit that!
Then we crossed over the river to hike up to the monkey park! The river was beautiful with gondola type boats transporting people from one side to the other.
After crossing this bridge to the mountain pictured above, we began the hike! (It was a pretty mild hike. There was always a clear path and not too steep on an incline, although it was tiring)
Once we were up there monkeys surrounded us! You could buy snacks to feed them in the house and they would take the food literally right out of your hand. It was so cute!
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Don't try to touch their hands while they are grabbing food though. One of the people I was with tried to pet the monkey's hand and the monkey scratched her!
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