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Showing posts from December, 2012

Cycling Around Mount Fuji

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Note that this photo is a posed shot. You are supposed to cycling anti-clockwise around the lake! Haha If you are deciding between taking the train to Kawaguchiko or driving, you can check out the car rental prices at   https://www.nipponrentacar.co.jp/english/user-guide/reservations.html   and train prices at   http://www.hyperdia.com/ It depends on whether you’re staying overnight at Kawaguchiko and the number of people travelling. Remember to add toll fees of about ¥4200 one way. We decided to rent a car but forgot about the toll fees so it ended up being more expensive. I’d say if you’re staying for one night and there are at least 3 of you, renting a car is a good option. If there are two of you and you want more freedom to move around (such as going to neighbouring places like Oshino Hakkai, Chureito Pagoda, Yamanakako etc) it is also better to rent a car. You should also be warned that traffic is congested upon leaving and arriving at Tokyo. We parked our car at our ryokan Kozan
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Japan Dec 2012 Day 13: Yokohama

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About half an hour from JR Shimbashi is JR Sakuragicho, a convenient stop if you would like to visit the cup noodle museum (about 20 min walk from the station), Minato Mirai and red brick warehouses. There is also the minato mirai station but it's not JR. The signature semi-circular building representative of Yokohama is Intercontinental Hotel.  We were torn between the Yokohama ramen museum and the cup noodle museum and found the cup noodle museum but were very glad we went to the latter. It was very fun and interesting because we could make our very own cup noodles for JPY 300 per cup (Entrance fee: JPY 500 per person). This should be very enjoyable for families with children as there are also classes parents and kids can sign up for to make their own noodles. We saw many elementary school children there for an excursion. From the museum, it’s a short 3 min walk to Akai Renga, the red brick warehouses and from there we walked through 2 rows of sakura trees (of cos there w
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Japan Dec 2012 Day 11: Yudanaka, Nagano

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After about 2 hours from Tokyo via the JR Asama shinkansen, we arrived at Nagano 長野 to catch the Nagaden panoramic train to Yudanaka 湯田中(about 50 mins, make sure you take the front seat!) where the ryokan shuttle picked us up.  We stayed at Jinpyokaku , a small exclusive ryokan with only 6 rooms, highly favoured by celebrities and artists such as poets etc. It was very cold and snowing outside so the owner upgraded us to a suite! =D The room was very big with a kotatsu (table with heated blanket) where we spent most of our time. There's something very comforting about wrapping yourself in the warmth of the kotatsu in very cold weather =) When they made our beds, they placed hot stone pillows at the feet under the duvet! What a thoughtful gesture! No more icy cold toes! ^^ About 20 mins walk from the ryokan is the entrance to Jigokudani, home of the snow monkeys. We had lunch at a small restaurant along the way, recommended by our ryokan. From the entrance, it’s another 1.6 km
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Japan Dec 2012 Day 10: Katsuura Market, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

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Before catching the long train to Tokyo via Nagoya, we dropped by at Katsuura fish market for some tuna action. This market is supposedly the largest in Japan for fresh tuna. By the time we arrived in Tokyo, it was late afternoon so after checking into our Sunroute Hotel (Shimbashi) and resting for a while, we headed to Roppongi hills  六本木ヒルズ (on Hibiya line) to check out Tokyo City View, an observatory on the 52 nd floor where you can see Tokyo tower and its surroundings. As it was also the 110 th anniversary of Disney, we bought some memorabilia from the Sky Dream shop. It costs JPY 1, 500 per person for the observatory, art museum and sky dream shop. Dinner was our usual kurobuta shabu shabu at ichi-ni-san which I blogged about here . This time, we went to another branch at Ginza Inz, in Ginza, just one stop away from Shimbashi on the Tokyo metro subway. After getting off at Ginza station, head to exit C9 and the shop is just at the exit, which leads to B1 of the building. I
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Japan Dec 2012 Day 9: Hongu, Wakayama

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This is the same video as Day 8 Before checking out of Nakanoshima, we took a stroll on the roof-top to the observatory about 400m away for a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean.  The hotel shuttle boat dropped us at the pier where we caught a cab (JPY 580) to Kii-Katsuuta station (we were too lazy to walk with our baggage hahaha). A friendly boat staff helped us to call for one =) We chatted and when told that it's our 10th wedding  anniversary, he gave Chris a pat on the back and said, "大変ですね!" (It's been hard on you!) LOL We rented a car from the Nippon car rental shop right in front of Kii-Katsuura station for this part of the trip due to the infrequent bus times and the short daylight hours. They gave us a Honda Fit with a boot that comfortably fit our two 28-inch luggage bags =) Do have the phone numbers of your destinations handy if you want to use the GPS (they call it Nabi i.e. Navi). We used both the GPS and google maps on our smartphones =) Our first
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