Visiting Japan - massive pics ahead!

[jw0n]

I've never been to Japan, so both my wife and I decided to make a trip there. It would be a 9d8n getaway, primarily focused around Tokyo only. Some of my friends have managed to fit in Osaka and Kyoto in that sort of small time frame, but we decided against it, as I love cities and it was my intention to try and explore Tokyo.

We arrived at Narita airport at about 7am, so once we checked out from the airport, we had plenty of time to kill before we could check in to our Airbnb. So we decided to drop the luggage off at some of the lockers in Shibuya St and head out for brunch. That is truly perhaps my first experience, waiting in line for food.







Yep, 1 hour line to get into a small restaurant for lunch. This is one of the cheapest Michelin starred restaurants in the city, and while the food was decent, I don't know if I would call it mind blowing. Perhaps a little too much for the simpleton in me to appreciate. Now that we've gotten into the subject of queues, I just want to put it out right now, that most of the popular food joints in Tokyo will tet your patience. We've waited in anything from as little as 30 mins, to as long as 90 mins for food. No kidding. At some restaurants, you pay you food first before you get seated; occasionally via a vending machine. Very popular ones have English descriptions, but I was told that the truly Japanese ones would not bother seating you.

And so, onto more pictures of waiting for food!











Was it worth it? Well, I don't usually wait for food, but I had to make exceptions here. Some of the places we went to could definitely justify the wait times. Others I felt a little lackluster. Wait, wait. I forgot to share pictures of the actual food. Here goes...











This time of the year is the beginning of Spring in Japan. In other words, Sakura season! We went to Chiyoda-ku to view Sakura at night first; would you believe it, there was a queue to the "vantage point" to snap the supposedly best picture? I mean, come on...







The next day, we had plans to have brunch at a conveyor belt sushi joint in Meguro. Since it was close to the Meguro River, we decided to go for a walk and try to burn off the rice from our meal. Sakura is prettier in the day, in my opinion. The weather was pleasant in the mid teens and while I don't enjoy long walks, I actually found it quite pleasant (despite there being hordes of people).







More to come, more to come... pictures are still being uploaded.

[Kostas]

nice pics Won thanks for sharing , the food looks good , but where these fast food joints ? the waiting would kinda suck, but hey its a adventure , the scenery looks beautiful !

[MonBK]

Awesome pics Won.

[1William]

Nice pictures. Looks like fun.

[Abdullah71601]

Awesome pics. People seem to be spending a significant chunk of their day standing in the queue.

[brandrea]

Great pictures Won

[cop414]

Looks like a great trip Won

[KenNethcole]

Thanks for the pics. Been a few years since I been to Japan. Hopefully someday things align again and I can go back.

[jw0n]

Thanks gents. Our last dinner in Tokyo was at Shake Shack, and I doubt you guys would be interested! However, they did have a "Japan exclusive" black sesame shake that was delicious!

Abdullah, people do seem to spend a lot of time in queues for food. Both day and night. Here's a funny story; we came across an izakaya (think of it as skewered BBQ, but with erm, slightly unconventional parts from a cow/pig/chicken) which only had a 5 min wait for a table. Wife insisted we go; so light snack it was.







The reason for this? Another queue for Soba. In fact, this was the longest queue for food; almost 2 hours in the cold and light drizzle!



But really... it was the best soba I've ever had in my life. Not just because of the wait, but the texture and cook of the noodles itself... wow. And the ingredients in the tempura... super fresh. Really, must visit if you are in Tokyo!

[RazorD]

Beautiful photos!! Thanks for sharing!

[Danny83]

Very nice pics

[Gaijin]

Won! Welcome to Japan Bro!

Love Japan.

Foodie paradise here. Lived here now for almost 10 years.

I'd rather have a chopstick stuck in my eye than live in Tokyo.

Fun place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

[RW16610]

Wow, lovely! Great pictures! Keep 'em coming

[FTX I]

Fantastic pics. Thanks for sharing.

[Blansky]

Great looking food but 2 hours in line, no thanks.

Love these type of pictures from other cultures and places.

[jw0n]

Thanks guys! Gaijin, 10 years! You are a lucky man! I only had a little over a week, and because I'm a city boy, we decided to spend most of our time in Tokyo. Next trip; Kyoto and Osaka perhaps. I have heard beautiful things about these places, and I definitely want to visit someday.

Some of you know I love cars, so we decided to rent a car to drive up Hakone. To the fans of the Initial D anime, I guess you would understand why I wanted to give it a go (even if in a crappy rental ).

Here's the cheapest car available for rent; not too bad for a 2d1n trip for two - enough space for an overnight bag and shopping at the Gotemba Outlet store. For those who were wondering, it isn't difficult driving in Japan; the drivers are courteous and the GPS fairly easy to navigate. The sights... beautiful.

[teqp]

Very cool photos, Won. The uni and eel bento box look so good.

[nfld]

Very nice pics. My daughter just came back from there, she likes Japan very much. We visited Japan with her 10 years ago, I must say it was my best vacation so far. Enjoy your time there and look forward to more pics.

[Amex4711]

Awsome pics
Tokio is amazing ... I visited Tokio in the past

[mrricks]

Nice pics. I NEVER wait on line to give people money
.
I lived in Kyoto and found the best option is to go to backstreet neighborhood restaurants and take away places.

[importstunna]

Awesome pics! My favorite country to visit!

[fusionstorm]

Great pics! Please do add some color by mentioning the restaurant locations you went to (not every place is easy to figure out from the pics). Family wants to go back to Tokyo soon for another visit.

[jw0n]

Phil, the uni and eel bento box was indeed fantastic; it's a place called Ichinoya in Kawagoe (where there is another river by a shrine, said to be a good spot for Sakura). However, prices are really expensive (at least by my standards).

As for the wait for food; gents, the missus wanted to try these places. As the saying goes, happy wife equals happy life, so I am merely complying. We are on holiday after all; not very much else better to do. Back home, I simply refuse to get in line for food; happy to take my business elsewhere. If anything, Japan has taught me a lesson with patience!

Back to the story; Hakone. Apart from the scenic drive, there really isn't very much to do there. We went through the usual tourist stops - first at Hakone Shrine. There's a lake up in the hills and a queue to the edge of the water for pictures. At the shrine, people seemed to make a little prayer, tossed a coin into a box, then ring the gong. We did the same.

As we were making our way back to the car, we saw a pretty lady who'd climbed up the stairs in heels. To say she was underdressed, is an understatement - I mean it was about 9 degrees out and with wind, definitely colder. I had a t-shirt and jacket on, with a pair of sneakers on my feet and I was freezing. Don't know how she did it!







Next stop, Hakone GeoMuseum located within the center of the Hakone Volcano. This isn't the highest point of Hakone; the original volcano stood at about 2,700m and the GeoMuseum was at around 2,200m. Its neighbour, Mt Fuji, stands at 3,776m and can be seen from Hakone. Unfortunately, due to poor weather, Mt Fuji remained hidden from view.









Winds were strong; strong enough to force the cable cars to a stop when we were there. Let's just say that, in shorts, a t-shirt and a jacket... I was freezing!! We tried to look for some baked sweet potato to nibble on and we spotted a stall on the side that seemed to sell food. All we ended up was with a rice biscuit that did nothing to warm our bellies

[jw0n]

Originally Posted by fusionstorm

Great pics! Please do add some color by mentioning the restaurant locations you went to (not every place is easy to figure out from the pics). Family wants to go back to Tokyo soon for another visit.

Cheers for the suggestion; I'll wrap up at the end with all the food places I found were worth trying If you follow me on Instagram (@jw0n), I have also tagged the location to most (if not all) of the places we stopped by. Some of these places cannot be found on Google (or Facebook or Instgram), so I had to use their Japanese names. No worries, I can summarize once at the end as well :-)

[fusionstorm]

Nice pics of the sites! You and the wife make a cute couple, as well.

[teqp]

Originally Posted by jw0n

Phil, the uni and eel bento box was indeed fantastic; it's a place called Ichinoya in Kawagoe (where there is another river by a shrine, said to be a good spot for Sakura). However, prices are really expensive (at least by my standards).

Won, I've only been to Japan once and the uni never disappointed. LOL at the prices, my meals were never cheap in Japan. I forgot about the yakitori photos. I'm sure that was good as well. I love the chicken hearts, skin and cartilage. Thanks again for the photos, it looks like you had a nice time.

[BNA/LION]

Great Experience! Nothing better than traveling... Have Fun!

[swatty]

Looks like a great trip

[antbkny]

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing

[jw0n]

After the GeoMuseum, we headed for our hotel in Gora so we could check in. It's one of the many hotels available; but we wanted a room with a private onsen. I haven't work up the courage to go bare naked in public, yet!

From there, we headed for the Gotemba Outlets. Think of it as just another one of those Outlet malls, but with a fantastic and scenic drive there. Wish I could stop for pics, but there was just no where en route to park the car.



Naturally, I picked up something from the outlets... my goal was to get a Seiko with kanji daywheel after all, and once I saw the SARY057, I knew I had to have it. Clean lines, beautiful black sunburst dial, polished hands and indices... almost like a baby GS! It was a cheap thrill that scratched a big itch, so no complains!



The Gotemba outlets closes at 8pm, so we left at 8pm. Which was not such a great idea, because most restaurants and places for food (as we later found out) close around 7-8pm. After an hour looking for food, we decided to head to the coolest place to hang out in the area... which also has food. Yes, 7-Eleven!



Our hotel is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, which was nice. It was remote, quiet. We slept on mats on the floor, but I felt great waking up in the morning. The only thing I had to get used to, was the um, view out the shower. Yes, the shower and tub area stares out into the open, where there are trees and Sakura flowers still in bloom... and 400m below, you can see a parking lot!