Early Autumn Japan Nov 2016 - Tokyo

It was in 2009 that I visited Tokyo. First flight, and first overseas trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. Fast forward 7 years later, here I am again. However, didn't stay long as the main focus for this trip, would be Kyoto.

For accommodation, stayed at Hanzomon once again. Haha, but this time round, the hotel wasn't as close to the train station. Travelled via ANA ($654.50). Bought the 7-days JR Pass ($399) to travel from Tokyo to Nagoya, Nagoya to Kyoto and Kyoto back to Tokyo. The train tickets to these major areas would've cost about ¥10360 + ¥5070 + ¥13080 which was roughly about SGD350. In between, we also used the pass to travel to places like Hinode. There were other transportation charges as not all areas are covered by JR trains.

Quite liked the food served during ANA flight. Not sure what possessed me to take the 630am flight. Had to wake up like 330am to get ready and be at the airport by 430am. Then, went to get the wifi router from Changi Recommends as they were having a promo of $5 per day. Hassle free as booking can be done online with SMS confirmation.

Quite a number of people were travelling to Japan and our flight was full. Breakfast was served about an hour after we took off. Had the Set B as I wanted to eat omelette.

ANA breakfast menu

my choice

cold soba and cold fruits early in the morning

I think I made the right breakfast choice. Soba was refreshing. The best part was that the omelette was served hot and fluffy. So yums! The hash browns were the soggiest and pretty oily but I've enjoyed the meal.

hot omelette with sausages and hash browns

Watched Dory and an anime called "君の名は" (Kimi no wa). It was nicer than I thought. Worth watching!

君の名は movie poster (credit to original owner)

At Narita Airport, exchanged the voucher for JR Pass for the next day use since our stay in Japan is 8 days and 7 nights. To get from Narita to Tokyo, we purchased the N'EX (Narita Express) train round trip tickets for ¥4000.

Narita Express to Tokyo

sunset on the way to Tokyo

Stayed at Grand Arc Hanzomon while in Tokyo. Got a twin room for SGD210 (¥15,500) per night. The room was smaller than expected but at least they gave us one with a good view. We could see Tokyo Tower!

night view

Tokyo Tower

Only one thing to do in Tokyo after checking in to the room. To find dinner! It felt like winter as the sun sets pretty early in November. It was rather dark by 6pm.

aisle to the room

basin outside the toilet

beds

toilet

amenities

Nearby the hotel had plenty of food options but we decided to head on to Ginza. Had wanted to eat sushi buffet style as there's one there but unfortunately, no one did any reservations prior and the queue was too long. Found an udon shop and decided to dine there. The shop was practically empty and we were the only table at that time.

The proprietress is an elderly lady and she brought out the English menu. I chose the Tenzaru with somen set while friend had the beef (gyuniku) with udon. Basically, the shop sells only somen or udon. Ooh, I like specialty shop!

English menu

yes, we were the only customer

The gyuniku udon arrived first and it looked good! Mine was even more impressive. Large large bowl of somen!

Gyuniku Udon ¥1274.40 (incl. tax)

Tenzaru Somen ¥1566 (incl. tax)

The somen was so Q and refreshing. Just can't stop eating. Strands after strands of that superb noodles were inhaled in no time. Loved the ginger paste, daikon and spring onions as these provided some variety in taste. The tempura was generous and liked most of the stuffs except the sweet potato as it tasted a tad too raw. The prawn was huge in size but somehow overdone.

It was such a (ful)filling dinner. Took a slow stroll along Ginza to work off some of the fats. It was cold at night and not many people on a Saturday night.

streets of Ginza

young saxophonist

like Orchard Road