Travel Diary #2: Central Japan Day 3 (2/2)

From Gotemba Premium Outlet, we moved on to experience a short bullet ride to Nagoya. As it was a 2 hours ride, the sightseeing bus stopped halfway at a rest station for us to go washroom and buy some things at a convenience store.

Stopped halfway at a rest station.

I bought a new drink for the 3rd time. This time, it was salt and lime drink. I don't know why I buy that but I like to drink lemon or lime.

We leave the rest station and continued moving on to the bullet train station. After an hour, we arrived at Mikawa-Anjo station, a station away from Nagoya station.

Mikawa-Anjo Station

Interior of Mikawa-Anjo Station

Our tour guide bought the bullet train tickets for us. While we were waiting for her, I looked around to see the station and the ticket prices.

Bullet train ride ticket prices for each station.

According to the East Japan Railway Company website (http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/index.html), the bullet train that we took is Tokaido Shinkansen (Hikari and Kodama trains). Since we took the bullet train, the price that we paid from Mikawa-Anjo station to Nagoya station was 2,720 yen (Basic fare of 470 yen plus super express ticket fare of 2,250 yen). Quite expensive to ride a bullet train.

The ticket before (above) and after (below) entering the gantry.

It was our own responsibility to take care of the ticket without losing it because if you lose it, the train officer will take it that you are traveling from Tokyo to Nagoya. Instead of 2,270 yen train fare, it will cost you 10,880 yen!

Our bullet train has arrived!

There are 4 railway tracks at Mikawa-Anjo station. The 2nd and 3rd tracks do not stop at every station while the platform stations stop.

Although the bullet train ride was a short one, it was very fast (at 366km/h) and reached Nagoya station in less than 20 minutes.

Arrived at Nagoya station.

We had our dinner at Nagoya station and the tour guide took us to the ramen street. The ramen street is similar to Ramen Champion in Singapore, featuring the ramen stalls from different parts of Japan. We went to the furthest one and tasted Asahikawa ramen.

A bowl of salt-flavored ramen with an egg as a top-up.

Lava egg!

After dinner, we went to stay at another hotel named Nagoya Kanko Hotel.

Nagoyo Kanko Hotel

Twin room for me and my younger brother

At Nagoya Kanko Hotel, you can wear the pyjamas provided by the hotel. It saved the hassle of bringing out my pyjamas from the luggage and placed it back in the morning.

Pyjamas provided by the hotel

My normal routine inside the hotel was to switch on the TV to see if there were something nice to watch. Interestingly, there was a live soccer match going on between Japan vs Singapore. They were playing for 2018 World Cup Qualifiers match. Previously, Singapore beat Cambodia 4-0 on 11 June match (Also the day where Singapore U-23 got eliminated in the 1st round of the SEA Games soccer match). We only watched the 2nd half of the match and the score was 0 - 0. It was normal to see Japan kept attacking to score a goal but Singapore goalkeeper saved many times. Although Singapore only attacked less than 5 times, they played very well as they did not let Japan score a goal. Before the match, many Japanese fans posted comments stating that Japan would win the match, 10-0 or 6-0. After the match, it left many Japanese fans surprised and angry. Well, will we see Singapore footballers in 2018 World Cup? It's still too early to say but currently Singapore is still on top of the Group G table with 4 points.

Some screenshots of Japan vs Singapore soccer match.

I went out with my parents to walk around and bought Ippudo ramen bowl at a nearby convenience store.

Street view of Nagoya

That's the end of Day 3 in Central Japan.

To be continued for Day 4.

Travel Diary #2: Central Japan Day 3 (1/2)

3rd day in Central Japan and we were staying at an onsen hotel around Mount Fuji area for a night on the previous day.

We went to the 9th floor for buffet breakfast and saw a magnificent view of Mount Fuji outside the hotel. It came as a surprise because we didn't know Mount Fuji can be seen from the onsen hotel while we were having our buffet dinner.

The view of Mount Fuji from the onsen hotel. It's not very clear but you can still see the peak of the mountain.

For my breakfast, It was a combination of Japanese and Western style.

Scrambled egg, bacon, sausages, teriyaki chicken, mackerel, mixed vegetables and porridge.

Apple juice and miso soup.

We packed our luggage and leave the onsen hotel after a heavy breakfast. The first stop of the day was to visit Saiko Iyashi no sato Nenba (Healing House).

Entrance of the Healing House

View of the houses and the roofs resemble the samurai warrior helmets.

[About Saiko Iyashi no sato Nenba (Healing House): Situated on the North West of Saiko, the Nenba area had been a well-known settlement with thatched houses of "Kabuto-zukuri" (Samurai warrior helmet resemblance on the roofs) until a typhoon struck the area in 1966 and the village almost disappeared. Fortunately, the scenery of the thatched houses with Mount Fuji in the background revived after more than 40 years since the typhoon struck Nenba. The name "Saiko Iyashi no sato Nenba"was born to conserve the region's history, culture and the environment.]

The place is very quiet and it is a great place to enjoy the sights of the healing house. There are different exhibits in each house, providing information about the healing house, how the typhoon affected people in that village and the history behind reviving the scenery before the typhoon struck.

Apart from visiting the exhibits and viewing the artifacts, there are also restaurants, snack stalls and souvenir shops for you to visit as well. If you don't want to spend money other than the admission fee which is 350 yen for adult and 150 yen for child (primary and secondary schools), you can try their peanuts for free. I'm not sure if there were other foods available for tasting but I'm 100% sure peanuts are free to taste. However, don't take too much even if it's free.

After visiting the Healing House, it's time to go up to Mount Fuji. Fortunately, the sky was clear and we were able to ascend the Mount Fuji 5th Station. Upon arrival, each of us received a souvenir coupon for an exchange of a gift.

The gift that we've gotten after giving the coupon.

The height when we ascended Mount Fuji 5th Station: 3,776m.

 After we received a small gift, we went to a souvenir shop for shopping. After that, we went to the temple further up and got to see a close-up look of Mount Fuji.

As we moved up to the temple, raindrops started to pour and it was all thanks to our wonderful tour leader, he predicted the weather correctly that...I didn't get goosebumps at all!

The next stop was to have another free & easy shopping time at Gotemba Premium Outlet. As we moved on to the 3rd day in Central Japan, you will notice that there's a lot of shopping involved. If you missed out on buying something that you liked previously, there's always another chance for you to purchase at another place. However, unlike other travel packages, those shopping stops mentioned previously and more after that were free & easy. There's no listening to the sales person in a room, asking you to try this and try that and buy something. In this Central Japan trip, NO! There's no forced shopping stops!

Gotemba Premium Outlet is a place where all the famous brands that you know are all in one place. From sports accessories to fashion apparels to cookwares, you name it, they have it.

Ferris wheel behind the Premium Outlet

There are a lot of well-known stores in there, internationally or locally so we had more time shopping and eating inside the Premium Outlet.

Before we started our shopping, we went to have our lunch at a food junction. There are a lot of foods for you to choose from, ramen, curry rice, pancakes and even...Singapore chicken rice?! No picture was available but when I heard from our tour guide, I was a bit surprised but then again, I didn't get goosebumps.

I ate Tonkatsu curry rice with a cup of ice tea to accompany with. Finally, I got a chance to eat Tonkatsu in Japan!

After eating our lunch, we went to shop for clothes and shoes. Yeah, mainly those 2 items.

Most items in Japan, consumables or not, have all prices marked with 8% tax (E.g. If you buy a 100 yen product, you are paying 108 yen along with tax). Apart from Premium Outlet, many stores will display prices which have tax added to it in brackets like 100 yen (108 yen) while some don't hence it will be very troublesome like us having lots of coins due to the 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 yen coins after realizing that we forgot to add tax to it.

Not only limited to Premium Outlets, stores located around tourists attraction sites and shopping malls allow foreigners to enjoy tax-free shopping.

[Tax-free shopping: Spend at least 10,001 yen and above to enjoy all items priced without 8% tax in  it (Amount may vary in some shops other than Premium Outlets). Once you reach the minimum spending amount, simply present your passport and they will staple the receipt inside it. When you leave Japan, remember to return the receipt inside the passport at the airport's tax refund counter. Other information regarding tax-free shopping can also be found on the internet.]

Tax-free shopping first happened at Adidas where we bought a pair of shoes and clothes. After calculating, we thought we have reached more than 10,001 yen. However, the total turned out to be 9,350 yen because the clothes that my father bought had a discount. Hence, my mother threw in socks into the basket. I almost fainted at the counter as we were 1 yen short from tax-free without hearing my mother said 650 yen for the socks. My math failed! Again, my mother threw in another pack of socks to reach the spending amount. I presented my passport for verification to enjoy tax-free shopping.

Is tax-free shopping really good?  It's good yet so troublesome. Good is when you can enjoy tax-free while troublesome is when too many goods are in your hands and you have to make space to your luggage.

After shopping at the Gotemba Premium Outlet, we went to experience a short bullet ride to Nagoya.

To be continued in Part 2 of Central Japan Day 3.

Travel Diary #2: Central Japan Day 2 (2/2)

Part 2 of Central Japan Day 2 continues at Sushi Yachiyo in Tokyo for DIY Sushi Making.

The restaurant itself is located at the basement. As we arrived, we were told by the chefs to wash our hands before making our own sushi. After washing our hands, we wore the hat, left-hand glove and apron and were ready to make our own sushi.

Hat, glove for our left hand and the apron. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

Sushi ingredients were prepared to make our own sushi.

5 different sushi have already been done by the sushi chef – unagi, sweet beancurd skin, prawn, scallop and cuttlefish (?). The other 5 have to be made by ourselves – salmon, salmon roe, egg, tuna and cucumber. I never treated that sushi making as easy because just by dipping our hands in water and taking a small serving of rice, I already knew my lunch was going to be ruined in my hands. The rice stuck all over my right hand! Damn it!

The sushi chef taught us one step at a time at making different kinds of sushi. Although I struggled at lot, I finished doing all 5 kinds of sushi.  The egg, salmon, tuna and salmon roe were the ones I believe I did the best whereas for the cucumber one, I thought I was going to do kappa maki but turned out to be temaki as the chef to roll the seaweed like a cone.

My DIY sushi! All looked great except for the Temaki. Despite that, the sushi chef and the waitress gave me good compliments about my sushi.

10 different types of sushi were not the only lunch for the day. There were salad with chicken karaage, noodles and green tea to complete the wonderful meal.

As we were eating our lunch, a certificate was given to each of us as completion of the DIY sushi making course. Does it mean that with the certificate, I can open up a sushi restaurant and become a sushi chef?

We continued our journey to Shinjuku, Tokyo for free and easy. We visited the Shinjuku JR station and underground shopping center. It’s like the shopping center in underground MRT but Shinjuku made me “WOW” as compared to Singapore. It was one of the largest and busiest station in Japan and with so many exits, it’s very easy for us to lose the way.

Inside the underground JR station, there is UNIQLO and outside there’s a directory but…

I thought UNIQLO only sells clothes. Since when did they start selling PCs, beauty products and electronics as well? As I look down the directory, I saw the word “BICQLO” instead of “UNIQLO”. I knew the logo of UNIQLO but I was tricked by the 1^st 2 letters. I thought it would be amazing to see UNIQLO has its own building.

[About BICQLO: BICQLO is a combination of BIC Camera and UNIQLO, selling both home appliances and fashion apparels in one big department store in Shinjuku. It is the only store in Japan as in other areas, you could only see it separately. BICQLO in Shinjuku has altogether 9 storeys and 4 basements. Apart from these 2 retailers, you could also visit GU (another fashion apparel aka UNIQLO’s sister) on the 7^th storey, futsal field at the top and many more.]

The entrance of BICQLO

We bought some at the pharmacy on the 1^st floor and clothes on the 2^nd floor (but they put it as the 1^st floor even though I climbed up the escalator). After shopping, we went back to the place where we were supposed to meet our tour guide and tour leader outside FamilyMart (Previously I thought it was Family Mart). While waiting, we bought drinks inside the Mart. This time, I tried something different. It was Salt & Lemon and it tasted so sour! At least, that drink helps to prevent heatstroke.

Salt & Lemon drink on the right.

We leave Shinjuku and moved on to stay at an onsen hotel named Fujinoboukaen Hotel where we can see Mount Fuji. We slept inside a tatami room for the first time.

The entrance of the hotel

Beautiful flowers outside the hotel

Tatami for the night

I changed into Yukata and wore the slippers for the onsen after checking in. I felt excited as it’s a great opportunity to experience onsen in Japan for the first time. Pictures of the onsen? Cameras aren’t allowed inside the onsen. Sorry! I could say the temperature of the onsen was around 45 degrees and I almost could not take it. 10 to 15 minutes inside the onsen is enough for a person.

Yukata as a replacement photo for the onsen

Slippers to enter the onsen

After the first onsen experience, we had our buffet dinner at the 9^th storey and a large sashimi fishing boat with 11 different types of sashimi were served on our table! It’s fresh and delicious!

Buffet dinner was not the end. At the 3^rd floor onsen area, there’s free ice cream for us to take which was initially supposed to be after our onsen but never mind. There were 4 different flavors – Mango, orange, grape and soda. As orange and grape were nowhere to be seen, we took mango and soda ice cream. Mine was the soda flavor.

Soda ice cream

Day 2 ended at the onsen hotel.

To be continued for Day 3.