Japan Spring Time 2015: Day 8

The weather on day 8 was a bit gloomy but at least it wasn't raining just like what the forecast that day would say. I thought that it would be colder once we go up near Mt. Fuji; it's a good thing that the weather was ok although still cold. By Train, Mt. Fuji is about 2hours at least from Tokyo. So had to start the day very early..

5:00 AM	Wake-up, Breakfast, Getting Ready
6:30 AM	ETD Shinjuku Sta.

Luckily, Sakura Hotel Hatagaya is just a few minutes away from Shinjuku Station. Our train to Otsuki leaves at 7:30 AM. No rush as we waited for our train.

7:30 AM	ETD Otsuki Sta.
8:31 AM	ETA Otsuki Sta.
8:35 AM	ETD Kawaguchiko Sta.
9:30 AM	ETA Kawaguchiko Sta.

There was only 4 minutes of transfer time from Otsuki to the next platform, the train going to Kawaguchiko. So we had to run up the stairs, then down to the next platform to catch our train or else we would have to wait for another hour for the next train. According to my research, you can pay the fare on the train. No one collected our payment so we had to pay our fare at the Kawaguchiko Sta. PASMO Cards won't work as we didn't tap on our cards when we got on the train to Otsuki.

Tip: If you see on Hyperdia the tight transfer time from Otsuki to Kawaguchiko, catch the train leaving that time and just pay for your fare when you reach Kawaguchiko Sta. If you don't want to run just like we did, you can also wait for the next train but that would take another hour.

Far away picture of Mt. Fuji

Lake Kawaguchi

Once we arrived at Kawaguchiko, I bought our bus tickets going back to Tokyo via the Shinjuku Highway Bus. I got our maps and then bought our tickets for the hop-on/hop-off Retro Bus.

Retro Bus photo courtesy of Mt Fuji Explorer

You can choose from among the 22 view points you want to get off to take pictures around the lake or pictures of Mt. Fuji as your background. Take note that there are two types of Retro Bus, the green and the red. One of these lines goes around the Mt. Fuji area and the other one goes to the other lakes in the area. The one we took was the Red Line, it goes around Lake Kawaguchi then back to the Visitor Center/Kawaguchiko Sta.

From view point 14 or 17?

The recommended view points are 14,17,19,22.

From view point 22

From view point 22

From view point 22

There was still lots of time to spare so we went to the Kachi Kachi Ropeway. You can either walk up the hill or ride the cable car. 

Bunny!!

Cablecar

Snacks!!!

View from the hill

Bunny vs Raccoon

View of Lake Kawaguchi from the hill

After eating some rice cakes and then drinking tea, we headed back to Kawaguchiko Sta. We rested for another hour since our bus leaves at around 5 PM.

10:00 AM	Explore Kawaguchiko: view spot 14,17,19,22
	Visit Kachi Kachi Ropeway, lunch, then head back to Kawaguchiko Sta.
4:00 PM	ETA Kawaguchiko Sta.
5:10 PM	ETD Shinjuku

You can charge your devices at the Kawaguchiko Sta. and also buy your souvenirs. They also serve free water as well for visitors like us. :) Travel time to Tokyo was smooth and it only took about 1.5-2hours.

6:55 PM	ETA Shinjuku Express Bus Terminal
	Went to Shibuya for Dinner
	Explored Shibuya

We bought our dinner at the basement of Tokyu Department Store in Shibuya. It's the foodie's dream because the market was huge and there were lots of fresh seafood to buy.

There's no seats or tables so we had to eat it at the rooftop of the store. So cold but the food was great. We still wanted to explore more of Shibuya so we opted to eat it there rather than going back to our hotel.

Hachiko Status outside of Shibuya Sta.

Shibuya Crossing

Sailormoon make-up

9:45 PM	ETD Hotel
10:15 PM	ETA Hotel

After exploring Shibuya it was time to go home. Need to get ready for more Tokyo Adventures!!!


Expenses:
Food: Approx. Y2,000/person
Fuji Hop on/off bus: Y1,200/person
JR train ticket from Otsuji to Kawaguchiko: Y1,140/person
Kachi-kachi Ropeway: Y700/person for Roundtrip
Bus from Kawaguchiko to Shinjuku: Y1,750

Japan Spring Time 2015: Day 7

Day 7

The exciting part of going to Tokyo for me was getting to ride the Shikansen. For me, the Shinkansen is one of the greatest modern machines invented. It can run more than 230km/h, getting you to your destination in half the time than the regular train.

One of the Shinkansen trains in the station

There are different types of Shinkansen trains depending on the speed. The one we took was the Nozomi train. It will take you about less than 2 ½ hours from Kyoto going to Tokyo.

Our Nozomi Shinkansen Train

6:00 AM	Wake-Up
7:00 AM	Breakfast then Leave Hotel
	Go to Kyoto Station
8:45 AM	ETA Kyoto Station
9:05 AM	Ride Nozomi Train to Tokyo

Inside the Nozomi Train, the seats are spacious as I can still put my big luggage in front of me. There’s also an electrical outlet below the window so you can charge your devices. We reserved our seats on the left side of the train, hoping to see Mt. Fuji. The weather that day was not good; it was raining, cloudy so there was no chance to see the snow-capped mountain. L I checked the forecast for the next few days in Tokyo and saw that the day after tomorrow, the day we were set to go to Mt. Fuji, will be raining. I checked with my parents when we arrived in Tokyo that we can see the Mt. Fuji the next day instead, as the weather was much better.

11:30 AM

ETA Tokyo Buy PASMO Cards

We weren’t able to buy the IC cards back in Osaka. So this time in Tokyo, I bought the IC Card Pasmo Card. A reloadable card for subways plus you’ll get a refund when you return the card. The initial load to buy the card is Y5,000. To know more about PASMO, please visit their website:
http://www.pasmo.co.jp/en/buy/

Pasmo Vending Machine

About Tokyo’s vast subway system, we used Hyperdia to check the train schedules, transfers and stations to get to our destinations.

Tokyo Station is a huge station, well for me it was. The station was very busy; you could see people walking quickly getting to their desired platform. Also, there were a lot of tourists as well, looking at signboards or any information boards, just like I did. It was quite gloomy when we got to Tokyo.  Going back to my conversation with my parents about the plan for Mt. Fuji, we went straight to Shinjuku Station. I reserved tickets for the Shinjuku Highway Bus for the day after tomorrow, but the weather will be rainy. So I decided to check if the Shinjuku Highway Bus has available tickets for tomorrow. Sadly, they said it was fully booked.

We had our lunch at the nearby KFC restaurant. I researched if there was any alternative by subway or train to get to Mt. Fuji. We can take a JR Train from Shinjuku to Otsuki, and then transfer to another train going to Fujikawaguchiko Station, jump-off point to see Mt. Fuji. So I bought our JR Tickets at their Shinjuku Ticket Office. We booked the reserved seating which we could have the option of free seating, less expensive, however, it wasn’t offered to us and I didn’t know about it. :|

After buying our tickets we went to Sakura Hotel Hatagaya for our accommodation. It was one bedroom with 1 double bed and 1 single bed. I took the corner room as they said it was much bigger. In reality, it was only good for 2 people but nonetheless, we just needed a place to sleep.

To know more please visit their website: http://www.sakura-hotel-hatagaya.com/

2:30 PM	ETA Sakura Hotel Hatagaya
	Check-in
3:00 PM	ETD Harajuku via Meiji-Jingumae Sta.

Map to Sakura Hotel Hatagaya: http://www.sakura-hotel-hatagaya.com/location.php

This the map from the website, this is via Hatagaya Station

My Mom wasn’t feeling better that afternoon, so me and my Dad explored the Harajuku District

Entrance to the Meiji Shrine Grounds

Barrels of Sake as offering to the shrine

Meiji-Jingumae Sta. is near the entrance of Meiji Shrine. On the way to the shrine, is like a big park in the middle of the city. It was cold and somewhat drizzling that afternoon.

Meiji Shrine

Meiji Shrine area

And right next to Meiji Shrine is Yoyogi Park. Most of the leaves have fallen so there was not much to see, also it was very cold that day. 

Fountain at Yoyogi Park

Leaves haven't fallen yet

I planned to go shopping at Takeshita-Dori, and since we’re in the district where all things cute and anime clothing, Lolita, cosplay and what not I decided to stroll some more of this famous street.

Entrance to Takeshita Dori 

Lots of people!!!

Cosplay store

Stylish pirate costume

Takeshita-Dori is just outside of the JR Harajuku Sta.

I bought some cute socks and this mary jane-ish shoes then we went home.

The whole afternoon was spent on visiting Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi Park and Takeshita-Dori.

I hoped that the next day the weather will be much better since we were really looking forward to see Mt. Fuji. :)

Expenses:

Food: Approx Y1,500/person
Pasmo Card: Y5,000/person

JR Ticket to Otsuki:  Y2,770/person (Reserved seating)

Sakura Hotel Hatagaya: Y53,600 (4 nights for 3 people)

Shopping: Approx Y3,000