Diary of Happy Belly Lady : June 2016

, by Unknown

Konnichiwa Nippon! Part 2 - Tokyo Day 1 and Shinjuku Station guide

Konnichiwa! or in case it's already PM time, Konbanwa!

I would like to share to you my 8D7N Japan trip itinerary, which is started from Tokyo - Osaka - Kyoto and back again to Tokyo.

Let me start with my first day in Tokyo ^^

First day in Tokyo, me and my sister straightly go to the famous park in Tokyo, one of the best place to experience Hanami (picnic by the Cherry blossom) in Ueno Park. Since we arrived in Tokyo early morning, we cannot checked in our apartment first. Thus, we rent locker to put our baggage in an electronic store near Shinjuku Station south exit.

FYI, be ready to get lost in Shinjuku Station guys, because it is the biggest train station in Tokyo which has West, West Underground, South, Central, and East Exit.
But don't worry, I'll give you some tips so you won't get lost more than half an hour there. Here's how to board train in Shinjuku Station:

Find the train routes in Hyperdia to know which station you'll stop at
Take notes which train Line you're going to board
Read Shinjuku Station map to know which side of the station does the train will board and the Line number. You can googling the map or read the map inside the station.

Here's an example.
You want to go to Ueno Park from Shinjuku and the train routes from Hyperdia is as follows:

So to go to Ueno from Shinjuku, you'll have to stop at KANDA station first and took JR Chuo Line for TOKYO, after that you took JR Keihin-Tohoku/Negishi Line for OMIYA and finally stop at UENO station. Then where to board JR Chuo Line for TOKYO in Shinjuku Station? Check out this map: JR Shinjuku Station Map
If you still find it quite confusing, you can ask the operator in Information counter, they speak english well :)

And once arrived in Ueno Station, you can see the park right across the station...

It's 2nd week of April, but only a few trees still on full bloom :(

Gudetama cotton candy

Mini Tori Gates

Once we finished exploring the park, we went to the oldest temple in Tokyo,

yes it is the one and only..Asakusa Senso-ji Temple

How to get there?

From Ueno Park, we took subway (not included in JR Pass) to Asakusa station via Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. Since it's not included in JR Pass, we had to purchase SUICA card to tap in.

However, the Senso-ji Temple is located around 1,3 km from the station. You can reach there either by walking or riding a rickshaw, like my sister and I did.

Mandatory tourist photo by the Tokyo Skytree

Tetsuya-san, our rickshaw driver + guide + photographer

Asakusa Senso-ji Temple is very crowded at that time, mainly because it's main tourist spot in Tokyo. Although it's very crowded, you can still took photos (in the middle of the crowd) and you can stroll around the area.

On the way to the main temple, you will walk passing by Nakamisedori Shopping street that sells lots of Japanese souvenirs, snacks, and soft ice cream. Believe me, it's hard to not to stopped by, at least to take some snaps or eat.

Teru teru bozu doll

Dango - Failed bokeh edition

Cherry blossom soft ice cream sandwich

After getting distracted by those cute stores (and foods), we finally arrived at the entrance of the main temple, which is marked with the red giant Kaminarimon gate where the giant lanterns are hanging. Kaminarimon actually means "Thunder and Lightning".

When we're about to enter the temple, suddenly we were stopped by this parade. So we decided to take some snaps...

And finally the main senso-ji temple

Have I told you that there is no entrance fee for those places? Yes mate, it's FREE of charge to enter both Ueno Park and Asakusa Temple. I even got the chance to try out free hot ocha in Asakusa Temple :)

Before going back, we decided to have an early dinner at a famous ramen restaurant in Japan, which we accidentally found during our way back to the train station.

I present you a bowl of ICHIRAN Ramen

Classic Tonkotsu Ramen (non halal) and Tamago

Lucky for us, we don't have to queue at all, and we sit on table for two, not on one table with separator, probably because we ate there at 4.30 PM. In my opinion, the taste is not slightly more delicious than Ikkousha or Ikkudo ramen in Jakarta because actually the soup tastes almost the same as Ikkousha ramen. The price is also almost the same as in Jakarta (cheaper than Ippudo). However, you can customize your order, whether you want less oil, more garlic, less spicy, etc. For details how to order the ramen, click HERE

Basically all restaurants or food stalls in Japan are using vending machine to receive order. You just need to pick which food and drink you want to order by pushing the button (or sometimes touch screen), put the money in the machine, take your returns and give the printed receipt to the clerk or directly to the chef.

First day in Japan was a blast indeed.

I'll post the 2nd day on next post.

Sayonara!