Japan - Chasing Mount Fuji in Autumn!

Japan has been mysterious to me in many ways. I have heard of extreme stories about Japan and I always wondered what would life in Japan be like. Few of my friends had visited Japan and described the country as "out of the world", "different from any other" and "truly a must experience". These descriptions left me wondering if Japan has to be a long trip and if I could truly manage and afford it.

Autumn in Japan

It was my hubby, Sai's birthday in December and we planned way in advance to visit Japan to celebrate his birthday. We planned an 9 Days and 8 Nights trip to Tokyo, Hakone and Kyoto. We thought, if we like it, we could just re-visit it. December is typically winters in Japan so it was time for us to pack our jackets, winter clothing along with other travel essentials. We had pre-booked the JR Rail Pass which could be activated upon landing in Tokyo.

We were booked on Vietnam airlines with a stop over at Ho Chi Minh City Airport for 3hrs. Travel duration from Singapore to Tokyo is approx 7hrs. It was a long flight ahead. The flight was comfortable but I faced an issue with food. Vietnam Airlines does not really offer vegetarian food unless pre-booked. Their default food on board is fish, pork or beef - I do not eat either of these. I survived the flight eating buns with butter and some fruits. Thankfully, there was a stopover at HCM city and I could grab a lot of food during the transit.

Day 1:
We arrived in Tokyo (Narita Airport) early morning around 7am. The airport was decent and not as fabulous as our Changi airport. What struck me as extraordinary was that - the toilets were extremely clean and the WC was a composition of technical gadgets. Various buttons had been installed for enhanced experience. I shall not divulge any further because this has to be experienced.

Our 1st stop was JR counter to activate our rail pass. Once activated, we headed towards Starbucks to buy breakfast while waiting for the next Shinkansen to Shinjuku. It was only upon boarding did we realise that Shinkansen goes directly to Kawaguchigo (Mt.Fuji) from Narita. This information is not widely available and we were informed by the JR staff that the train only goes to Kawaguchigo on Saturdays. All other days, it stops at Shinjuku.

We alighted at Shinjuku as per plan and headed towards the station across to board the "Romantic Train". This train is not part of the JR group and the tickets have to be purchased locally. We had a break of about 2hrs and so we roamed around the streets of Shinjuku with our luggage, grabbing some delicious waffles as our lunch. Given the Christmas season, there was a festive vibe everywhere. Another noticeable fact was - Japan is a land of vending machines. Everything is available in vending machines - hot coffee, cold coffee, umbrellas, etc.

Romantic train took about 2hrs to reach Hakone directly. The route is through various villages of Japan. From a distance, we could see the elegant Mount Fuji. It was a clear day and the visibility was great. We reached Hakone around 3pm and wanted to walk towards our "Ryokan". Ryokan is a traditional Japanese Housing usually with an onsen (Natural spring). The Japanese streets were a little confusing and we decided to ask for directions. GPS appeared in Japanese! We approached a bakery staff for help. That was our very first interaction with a local and we were amazed at the politeness with which she assisted us. She took a print out of the map in English and highlighted the directions. She even offered to walk out of the store till the bridge and showed us the way. As if this wasn't enough, she apologized for not taking us to our destination. Throughout the world, I had not experienced this level of politeness anywhere. This was an awestruck moment for us.

Streets of Hakone

We walked and reached our Ryokan (approx 15mins walk) - Hakone Senkei Plaza and checked in. The walk was a pleasure. The weather was cold and the scenery was purely serene. Autumn colours were oozing out giving the town a postcard look. The room was spacious and was furnished with Japanese furnitures (e.g. tatami). We were so tired after the journey that we decided to nap. We woke up around 6pm and wanted to eat something. We headed out only to find everything closed. The town closes by 6pm. All shops close by 6pm. We found a restaurant that was open till 7pm and was willing to let us in for the last order. I had a prawn and vegetarian tempura set with hot soup. It was delicious and perfect for the weather. We explored the deserted streets of Hakone ending the night with a Japanese ice cream (again, delicious)! Hakone was cold with an average temperature of 1-2 degrees.

Vibrant streets of Hakone

Tempura Prawn and Vegetarian Set

Day 2:
We woke up early morning to have a sumptuous breakfast at the ryokan and decided to head out to explore Mount Fuji. We had bought the 3 days Hakone pass which included all local train and bus rides. Unfortunately, it was raining and visibility was low. To view Mount Fuji, visibility has to be clear, regardless of the location. Off we started our journey in bus to Kawaguchigo (est 4hrs ride with a stop over at Gotemba). We passed beautiful sceneries and were anticipating to get a glimpse of Mount Fuji. But alas! No Fuji in sight. We alighted at Gotemba and walked around for 2hours before catching our next bus to Kawaguchigo. Gotemba is a mid-point between Hakone and Kawaguchigo. It is famous for branded factory outlets and a mini theme park.

Gotemba Factory Outlets

Kawaguchigo is a beautiful place by itself. Lake Kawaguchigo is huge and is the largest of the 5 lakes surrounding Mount Fuji. During springs and summers, the lake is surrounded with flowers. There are many things to see in Kawaguchigo - such as FujiQ Highland, Ropeway, visting Mt.Fuji's 5th Station, Arakurayama Sengen Shrine, the lake itself and many more options such an onsens, museums, etc. Many people spend about 3days to cover the town. We were unlucky as rain continued to pour down. Trains to 5th station were discontinued for the day and none of the attractions were open. We decided to walk around the town, eat lunch and eventually return to Hakone. On our way back, we met a local who is obsessed with taking pictures of Mount Fuji. He invited us over to his studio for a coffee and chat, which we gladly accepted. He showed us his photography equipment and various Fuji-San's pictures. We even received a photo as a souvenir. It was almost 9pm when we returned back to our ryokan in Hakone.

Day 3: 
We wanted to utilise our Hakone pass and started off to explore Hakone National Park after breakfast. Lake Ashi is a scenic lake in Hakone offering amazing viewpoints. It is a crater turned into a lake after Mount Hakone erupted many years ago. There are shrines near Lake Ashi. The lake also has a cruise and cable car which offers stunning views of Mount Fuji on a clear sky day. We wrapped up Hakone tour and checked out of our ryokan after lunch. Disheartened not to see Mount Fuji, we left the town hoping to come back some day.

Lake Ashi Cruise

Vending Machine at the entrance of Lake Ashi

Our next destination was Kyoto. We were scheduled to take a Shinkansen from Odawara to Kyoto. While waiting at the station, a Nozomi (Shinkansen) zoomed past us. The train runs at 350km/hr and is the fastest. It was an F1 alike moment or us. We boarded our Kodama (slowest of the Shinkansen that stops at Odawara) and proceeded towards Kyoto. It was a 3hrs journey. There are 3 types of Shinkansen that run between Tokyo to Hiroshima route - Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama.

Kyoto station is huge and is like a shopping mall. There are many restaurants, shops and exits connecting to different parts of Kyoto. We had strategically booked IBIS Kyoto which is located opposite of the Kyoto station. The location strategy meant us saving time commuting to explore Kyoto. It was evening by the time we checked in to the hotel. We had a light dinner at the shopping mall next door and called it a night.

Day 4:
We had a light breakfast at IBIS and started our Kyoto tour. Our first stop was Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. The walk inside the forest is quite short and you can find many tourists frantically clicking pictures against the bamboo trees. After the bamboo forest, we entered the Tenryu-Ji Zen temple which has an entrance near the bamboo forest. The temple displayed a wide variety of plants, bonsai and lake. We exited the temple and walked towards the Kyoto bridge. The bridge gets completely frozen in winters and during spring, it is covered with cherry blossoms. The street was filled with locals, ladies adorned is beautiful kimono, children holding candies and tourists busily taking pictures of the scenery.

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

Streets of Kyoto

Once satisfied with the Kyoto streets, we entered the Sagano Romantic Train station and boarded the scenic train. This is a recommended tour for tourists who get to see different landscapes and surreal beauty from the train. There is an open compartment for tourists to take pictures of the unblock view.
Once exited the train, we were at the JR station.

Sagano Romantic Train Station

View from the train

Surreal landscapes

We decided to take a detour from our current plan and boarded the Shinkansen towards Shin-Fuji. We had crossed Shin-Fuji station en route to Kyoto the previous day and had noticed the silhouette of mount Fuji. Since the weather was cloudy, the visibility had been poor. But today was different! The visibility was clear. Shinkansen to Shin Fuji is just under 2hrs. We decided to board the train. We reached around 5:30pm and saw the huge Mount Fuji, but the peak covered with a cloud. The view was still a little blocked. The charm of Fuji is in its snow-capped peak! We strolled around the quaint little town before heading back to Kyoto.

Streets of Shin-Fuji

Day 5:
Day 5 was dedicated for a visit to Nara and Osaka. The connectivity from Kyoto station takes a little less than an hour to reach Nara. Nara is the only place where you would find deers roaming freely in the streets. They will not trouble you unless you poke them. We visited the Todaiji Temple, Kofukuji Temple and Nara park. Played with the deers and one of the deers attacked my hubby (he was just feeding the deer).

Todai-ji Temple

Deer in Nara

We moved on from Nara to Osaka via JR trains. Osaka is a large city and many tourists spend a few days exploring the town. Ideally, tourists spend a day to visit the WW2 site of Hiroshima where the city was destroyed by an atom bomb. Due to lack of time, we skipped this from our itinerary.

Our first stop in Osaka was Osaka Castle, one of the magnificent structures of the city. The indoor hall is a museum accessible to the public. A very wide moat surrounds the castle compound which was built to protect the castle. The castle ground is home to many vendors selling food items to tourists visiting the museum. We decided to walk around the city instead of boarding any more trains. We really find walking as one of the best way to explore the city while observing the locals and their lifestyles.

The Osaka Castle

Our final stop in Osaka was the Dotonburi - a one-stop avenue for entertainment. The place is a vibrant night life filled with shopping streets, restaurants, live eateries, theaters, musicals and the options are plenty for tourists. We explored Dotonburi in evening, tried many foods and shopped before taking the Shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto (approx 10mins).

Day 6:
After spending 3 nights in Kyoto IBIS, we decided to head back to Tokyo to explore the capital city of Japan. It is approx a 4hrs journey from Kyoto to Tokyo via Shinkansen. We were still sulking over not getting a clear view of Mount Fuji and voila - we spotted a crystal clear view of Fujisan from the Shinkansen. This was a "wow" moment for us. Finally - Mount Fuji was visible (even though from a moving train). We had grabbed Bento boxes to eat in the train - most Japanese live on bento boxes owing to their busy schedules. These are available at every station for people to grab and go.

Fuji San

View of Mt.Fuji from the Shinkansen

Bento Box

We were scheduled to stay in Shinjuku Citadines - heart of Tokyo. Upon checking in, we hit the streets of Tokyo.  After eating a quick lunch, we wanted to explore Tokyo. This was where the real JR metro experience was felt. Packed trains and office crowd seemed like a norm here. Our 1st stop was Meiji Shrine. This is a famous Buddhist temple and home to people performing their weddings. Lucky for us to spot a wedding couple at the shrine. The bride was beautifully adorned in a white costume.

Japanese Wedding Couple

It was getting dark by the time we left the shrine. Having had tiring days, we wanted to relax at a bar. Shinjuku is famous for its nightlife and we didn't want to miss a chance of not enjoying nightlife. Surprisingly, even though it was a weekday, the bars were packed. We tried Sake (Japanese Rice Wine) for the first time and it is a very strong liquor. My advice - if you don't enjoy alcohol, don't go for it.

The alleys of Shinjuku are secluded and there are many hidden bars in the vicinity. One of the famous one is the Robot Restaurant whereby you book in advance to watch a few girls acting as robots and serving you dinner and alcohol. There are also real robots inside. Shinjuku is also home to many "Love Hotels" which have themed rooms to aid to your fantasies. Japan is truly out of the world. I had never seen such concepts anywhere else in the world. There is a 24hrs shop called Don Donki which sells everything. We spent 2hrs shopping there before heading back to our hotel.

A glimpse of Robot Restaurant

Day 7:
Tokyo was far from complete for us. We wanted to visit themed restaurants, explore more places.
Our 1st stop was Shibuya - known for the busiest crossing in the world. There is a Starbucks reserve store which is perpetually crowded and busy. We found a spot on its top floor to watch the crossing. Interesting enough to find hundreds of people crossing the road every 5mins. Lunch was in the station, grabbing Chicken Katsu curry with a beer.

Shibuya crossing

We moved on to the streets of Harajuku - a place loved by youngsters. Every Sunday, people dress up in their favourite cosplay costumes and come together to eat, drink and have fun with their friends. Streets were filled with fall colours. We shopped, ate crepes, drank bubble tea, clicked neo prints and bought Japan based Hello Kitty dolls for our daughter back home.

Fall colours everywhere

Crepe Shop in Harajuku

Youngsters enjoying Cotton Candy

Our last stop for the day was Tokyo Tower. The tower is lit up by evening so we had to visit the tower only at night. Truly enough, the tower dazzled and was noticeable from far. But having been to Dubai's Burj Khalifa and Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Tower, this wasn't as impressive and we skipped the ride to the top of the tower. Instead, we found ourselves a cozy cafe nearby and ate to our heart's content. What is a holiday without good food?

We had originally planned to visit the "Alice in Wonderland" cafe in Shinjuku but couldn't visit due to a tight schedule.

Tokyo Tower

Day 8:
Ginza is the Champs-Élysées of Tokyo. Branded stores, huge buildings, elegant lifestyle  - this is the rich part of Tokyo. We wanted to explore Ginza, shop to our hearts content and see how people shop. We visited various shops such as - Daiso, Uniqlo, Aerospotle, Bvlgari, etc. Each shop has 10-15 floors. I had never seen such variety anywhere. Owning a single retail building of its own is something unheard of in Singapore. There are practically malls in Singapore that offer retail shops. Walking on streets and looking at single huge building of a single brand was astonishing and yet pleasing to the eye. We walked around the streets of Giza from morning to evening and finally had dinner at an Indian (Andhra) restaurant. We were missing the spices after 7 days!

Bvlgari store at Ginza

JR Metro Rail

Day 9:
We woke up early to catch our Airport Shinkansen. It was time to head back home after enjoying the Japan trip in its true sense. Japan was truly out of the world. The people, the places, the infrastructure, the beauty - has to be lived. This is one place where I would love to work some day in order to live the life in Japan.

Our flight back home was comfortable. I survived on buns and butter and ate only when transiting at HCM city.

Recommendations:
1) Time in Japan:
If you are able to, spend more time in Japan. We couldn't cover so many places and would love to go back to explore - Such as various castles, Hiroshima, Disneyland and DisneySea, Universal Studios, staying at Kawaguchigo, etc. A minimum of 2 weeks is a recommended timeframe.

2) Season: Japan is best viewed in the spring - cherry blossom seasons. Please look out for Japan recommended itinerary in spring to know more. Do research more on the temperatures before packing for your travel.

3) Accommodation:
As much as possible, try to choose accommodation close to train stations to reduce the travel time. Whole of Japan is well connected via trains and buses.

4) JR Pass - most effective for travel during the holiday. Pre-book it to receive your pass prior to your travel.

5) Food: Some Buddhist monasteries offer vegetarian food. Usually a vegetarian tempura set is widely available at the cafes. If you want a variety, pasta, pizza, Indian food is also available in major cities.

Visit my Instagram Page to view more pictures and find out more about each place :-)
Tummy_Full_Travel

Traveled December 2015