My Family: Day 1 of Japan Trip

Finally touched down at the Land of the Raising Sun at around 7am. Clearing of custom is a breeze as there's Immigration Officer to guide us to the correct counter. After collecting the luggage, we proceed to the JR train counter to purchase the Nartia Express (N'ex) and Suica package which cost ¥3500. The package includes the N'ex ticket (express train from Narita Airport to downtown Tokyo) and a stored value train card (act like our EZ Link Card) which has a value of ¥1500 and ¥500 deposit. So with this package, the N'ex ticket only cost ¥1500 whereas a normal N'ex ticket will cost ¥3110 without the package. This special rate is only applicable to Tourists.

The counter selling the ticket for Narita Express

Nartia Express and Suica package

Route via Nartia Express. Only stopping at major stations.

In the end, we took the Keisei Limited Express to Downtown Tokyo. See the no. of stations that it will be stopping

Now came the hiccup. When we approached the gantry to N'ex, we were told that there's some technical problem at the track and thus the earlier trains have been delayed and as result, our train will be delayed as well. God knows how long it will take for the train to resume service. Luckily the N'ex attendant speaks Chinese and advised us to take the Keisei line instead. Heeding her advice, we refunded the N'ex tickets and bought the Keisei limited express tickets which cost ¥1000 for adults and ¥500 for children. It is much cheaper then the N'ex but it stops at almost stations (around 20+ stations) and seats are not reserved so if you are unlucky, you will not get a seat. There's also no compartment to store the luggages so it's pretty inconvenient if you have big luggages.

We alighted at Nippori station and transfer to the JR Yamanote Line to Shinjuku. The train and subway may look intimidating to first timer taking the train as there are too many different train lines but you will get used to it after a few rides. To prevent getting lost, you can also access this website http://www.hyperdia.com/ and enter the starting point and destination and it will work out the routes i.e which JR line, subway lines to take and where to transfer etc and also with the cost of the tickets. This website has been very useful for us as we used it to workout the cost of the tickets to see whether we need the 1 day unlimited pass or not, which line to take for each destination and to find out which is the shortest route.

The train system is not a problem to us, it's the carrying of luggages up and down the train stations that pose a problem to us. Most of the stations do not have an elevator and we have to carry the luggages up and down many times. So it's really not recommended for ladies with heavy luggages to go for F&E.

Reached Shinjuku Station and walked towards Takashimaya Time Square. It's not really easy to locate the place as there are too many exits in the station. We asked for direction from a Jap lady and she's kind enough to bring us all the way to the correct exit. This is 1 thing that I liked about Japan, Japanese are so friendly. We had lunch at Katsukura, a Tonkatsu restaurant at Time Sq. Katsukura is a chain that serves good Tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is the Japanese term for pork cutlet that is fried with a coat of bread crumbs. They serve the katsu with a huge, refillable serving of hand cut cabbage, and barley rice.

Kennie who hated eating pork also commented that their katsu is very nice. It was cooked just right, very tender without any strong porky taste. We also shared a serving of fried prawns and they were really very fresh and large.

Before our food arrives, we were given a mortar and pestle along with some freshly roasted white sesame seeds. We grind the sesame seeds and add in the sauce. The grind sesame seeds and sauce goes really well with our food. Our first meal in Tokyo has greeted us with much satisfaction. Hope this feeling will remain the same throughout this trip.

Different types of sauce for the katsu

After lunch, we went to Disney Store at Time Sq to buy our tickets for disneyland and disneysea for Mon and Tues. This advance ticket is not really very flexible as we are not allowed to change date after purchase and we will need to go on consecutive days instead of going on different days. But at least we do not have to queue for the tickets at Disneyland and it's guaranteed entry. Then we did some window shopping at Time Sq. Gosh. The things here are super ex. A normal T-shirt cost at least $80. Hope such price tag is only for high class shopping centre and not at other part of Tokyo.

Next, we went to Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal to buy our bus tickets to Lake Kawaguchiko. We had a hard time finding this place and most of the locals do not know this place. Managed to find the place after a few wrong turns (super shack from carrying the luggages up and down the stairs). Easiest way to find this place is to look for the signboard to Keio Line and you will see the signboard for Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal when you reached Keio Line. Bought the advance tickets for Weds at ¥3000 for adult & ¥1500 child (round trip).

We checked in at Toyoko Inn Ikebukuro Kita-guchi No.2. It's conveniently located at just 5 minutes walk from Ikebukuro JR station North Exit. Ikebukuro station is the second busiest station in Tokyo (Busiest is Shinjuku Station) and it's surrounded with huge shopping malls and shopping streets so it's really very convenient. It cost around ¥9000 a night for a twin room and it comes with free bf. It's considered a good rate for a hotel at this location in Tokyo. The receptionist is kind enough to offer us to apply for their membership at ¥1500 and we were given an instant discount of 30% for Sun and Mon. The downside is that the room is really very small. There's only a small area to move around, not even big enough to put our luggages. Guess this is the same for most hotels in Tokyo.

Most of the toilet bowls in Tokyo comes with auto wash and heater functions. Super High Tech lor.

After settling down, we had dinner at 1 of the Ramen store near our hotel. We will need to select the food from the Ramen ticket vending machine. We slot in the money, choose the Ramen that we want, machine will give us a ticket and we will pass the ticket to the counter. The Ramen will be ready in a few minutes, pick up the food and eat it. This is a common sight in Japan but not sure why the Japanese came up with this idea. Why can't they follow the simplified way of ordering the food over the counter?

Nice fried rice from 7-11. Cheap Cheap. only ¥105

Went shopping at Tobu, a large shopping mall beside Ikebukuro Station. We liked the Basement level most as there's a huge varieties of food selection. Everythings looked so yummilicious. In the end, we bought back some sashimi and alaska crab back to our hotel for supper.