We were in Japan for 10 days in March 2012. Follow our trip as I try to document what I remembered and hopefully you will be able to find something interesting to add to your itinerary when you visit Japan!
Day 2: Tokyo (rest day)
I love organising trips. That’s a known fact among my friends. And when it comes to overseas trips, I always try to add some rest days in between the crazy touristy stuff that we would do. So on our second day, we decided to rest! We arrived at Tokyo Station in the afternoon. We would be visiting Hakone and Kyoto on a Japanican Shinkansen and Hotel Package the next day, so we decided on a one night stay near Tokyo Station for convenience sake.
Now, train stations are confusing. I even got lost here on Flinders Street (yes, I don’t take the trains much) so you can imagine how flustered I was when we couldn’t find our exit to the hotel. There were a million gazillion exits at different directions leading to different areas – and yes, I exaggerated a little, but not by much. So we got lost in Tokyo Station for the next 20 minutes or so. Yes. Fun!
When we finally found the exit, it wasn’t difficult to find Hotel Ryumeikan, a 5 minutes walk from the station (if you get out from the right exit of course). I really liked this hotel. For about $150 per night, you get a double bed with some desk and luggage space on the side and a rain shower function in the bathroom. We chose the Forus room which included this really interesting bed side system with choices to dim your light or to play one of those nature sounds with timer to aid your sleep. Pretty cool. Not the cheapest you can find, but for a honeymoon or a one night relaxing sleep, it’s worth it!
The staffs were really friendly, they even kept our luggages after check out for the next 3 days whilst we travel elsewhere, even though we weren’t coming back to stay at this hotel. And, because we mentioned it was our honeymoon, we received a bottle of champagne on arrival. Oh and they provided us with a handy Tokyo map!
Once we’ve settled in and rested, we walked around the area rather aimlessly. And that was when I realised that it was White Day! In Japan, Valentine’s Day is for girls to give gifts or chocolates to the boys and therefore White Day is the time for guys to respond. So every March 14 (one month after V-Day), guys would buy gifts to give to their girlfriends! How awesome. We should have White Day here too.
We also walked around Daimaru shopping centre and found some really interesting and very Japanese stuff! From kimono to warrior dolls to artworks:
That was a pretty fun and relaxing walk, after all we didn’t want to tire ourselves out on our rest day! So after all that walking, we walked some more around some random small alleys where there were a couple of restaurants and chose one that looked rather convincing. We had set meals which included a bowl of noodles, a small bowl of rice or side dish and some gyozas on the side. Yup, heaps of food! I wish I could tell you the name of the restaurant, but we didn’t actually take note of that. What we did do, though, was to take a before and after photo of our dinner adventure:
Yum. And with that, we went back to our hotel room and enjoyed a good night rest… We’d need that because the next few days would require a lot of travelling!
Note on the type of travellers we are: The hubby loves to just walk around and immerse himself into the culture, getting lost in the process and tasting local foods. I, on the other hand, love photography and I love people watching. Oh and I’m a keen observer of all things kawaii. We both appreciate the beauty of nature, but are more the type who love big cities and the hustle bustle. Castles and temples won’t make us go WOW! as much as Kit Kat in different flavours.
The rest of the days of our March 2012 Japan trip:
- Day 1: Tokyo Disney Sea, Urayasu
- Day 2: Tokyo (rest day)
- Day 3: Hakone
- Day 4: Kyoto
- Day 5: Kyoto and Kyoto (rest day)
- Day 6: Tokyo – Harajuku, Yoyogi Park, Akihabara
- Day 7: Tokyo – Shinjuku
- Day 8: Tokyo – Ikebukuro
- Day 9: Tokyo – Imperial Palace & Shibuya
- Day 10: Tokyo – Odaiba
Would you plan for rest days when you’re on vacation? What do you usually do on your rest days?
Hey juls, just started blogging and found urs! yay! So Japan has split vday into two parts? Perfect excuse to buy choc roses and eat a boxful not once but twice a yr! Which part of jap will u be off to this yr?
Hey Betty thanks for leaving a comment! Oh yeay, you’re blogging too now, awesome! :)
Will be going to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto with day trips to Nara, Kobe, Yokohama and Takayama. Can’t wait!!! <3 Have you been to Japan?
No I haven’t! I’ve heard so many good reviews,its on my top list! And what’s more, a friend who went in may said the food is cheaper than oz!! Haha.. That’s awesome news :) and yes I started blogging recently to pen down my thoughts and motivate myself to keep writing. How do I follow ur blog?
On the top right hand side, there should be a “Subscribe to this blog” area, where you can just add your email address! :)
Well, things aren’t dirt cheap there, in fact, I thought it was rather expensive… But I love it. Hehehe.. Definitely on my to-go-over-and-over-again list.
Pingback: {Japan 2012} Day 4: Kyoto | juliegozali.com
Pingback: {Japan 2012} Day 3: Hakone | juliegozali.com
Pingback: {Japan 2012} Day 1: Tokyo Disney Sea, Urayasu | juliegozali.com