It’s been a week since I posted about Japan. Dang! I thought I had a momentum going but I guess work and health took over my life last week. After spending our final day in Tokyo (for the first leg) yesterday, we’re off to Takayama to look for Jonny! We’re really excited to be visiting Takayama and are especially stoked that Jonny’s wwoofing host, Keiko-san and her family, invited us over for a homecooked Japanese dinner.

One bad planning on my end is that we hardly had enough time for Takayama, because I didn’t factor in bus delays and our Gujo trip before making the hotel booking. I catered 3 nights for Takayama initially, which was more than enough. But after reviewing our final itinerary, we got the dinner invite and I realised it would be a waste not to go to Gujo Hachiman (to make food replica!) and Kanazawa on day trips.

So imagine arriving in Takayama on the 19th at around 2.30 pm (traffic!), going for dinner at 6pm and leaving for Gujo and Kanazawa on the next two days. We only had a few hours on the first day for Takayama, plus the evenings of Day Two and Three. There is too much to see! If I could plan the trip all over again, I would dedicate two full days for Takayama (excluding travelling day), a day for Gujo, and a day or two for Kanazawa.

We didn’t have the time, but there is so much to do in Takayama. The next time I go back, I will be sure to visit their vintage toys museum, Takayama Showa Kan and Hida Folk Village.

We left for Takayama via the highway bus (6690 yen ~ SG$74). The bus is our cheapest option since we’re not activating our Japan Rail Pass till the Takayama-Kyoto leg. The journey takes 5.5 hours and we departed at 7am from Shinjuku. For details on how to buy tickets, please read my previous post on Mt. Fuji. The destination is different but procedure is the same. Grabbed some DELICIOUS sandwiches for lunch on board.

Our bus got delayed by 2.5 hours on the road and we only reached Takayama at 2.30 pm, leaving us with 2.5 hours to explore the Old Town before most of the shops close at 5 pm. Tragic! Takayama actually reminded me of Seville, a really small Spanish town with a handful of attractions all round.

Our hotel was Spa Hotel Alpina Hida Takayama which we booked from Jalan.net for 34900 yen ~ SG$388 for three nights. Jalan.net is not a malay site, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s one of Japan’s largest online hotels & ryokans booking site. No payment is required at the point of internet booking. We paid cash at the hotel frontdesk.

The room was great. Clean, relatively spacious, with great wifi and aircon, plus it was 5 minutes on foot from Takayama train and bus station. As it was already mid afternoon, we went for a quick tour in the Old Town before meeting Jonny and his host family for dinner.

We visited Takayama’s Old Town and Old Private Houses, which by now are quite saturated with tourists. The preserved streets reeked of commercialism, and to be honest, I didn’t have a great impression on my first day. But read on, and you shall see the other side of Takayama, as I did when we went back to explore the Old Town during sunset two days later.

People people everywhere.

We tried Hida beef, dango (toasted glutinous rice dough) and some excellent yuzu and grape sake from the sake brewery. The drinks looked and tasted harmless, but we started sweating like pigs ten minutes later. I still felt warm hours after the drink! Jason ended up buying two bottles of sake home.

The highlight of our day has got to be having dinner with Jonny’s host family.

Our BFF Jonny from Jonathan Teo Photography is now wwoofing (working on a farm in exchange for food, lodging and experience) at an organic farm. When his host Keiko-san heard we were coming, she warmly invited us to her home for dinner. Of course, we shamelessly accepted.

Keiko-san and her husband have been hosting wwoofers from all over the world for the past nine years. She used to be a kindergarten teacher and he a civil servant. Now they grow their own organic vegetables and sell them at the morning markets.

Here’s a video of Jonny showing me Japanese cucumber. I would never have thought that the leaves have a crispy, squishy sound!

Above: Keiko-san picking eggplants for our dinner. All the main ingredients you see are grown on the farm, including rice, potatoes, the sweetest corn I’ve ever tasted, Japanese cucumber, eggplants and tomatoes.

Keiko-san told us that they don’t leave Takayama, but wwoofers bring the world to them, and they’re contented. In this picture you also see two other wwoofers from Toyoma and Macau. Bestest meal in Japan so far.. I know this experience will be impossible to beat!

Tommorow we set off for Gujo Hachiman on our day trip with Jonny on his off day. And before I go, remember I mentioned that there’s really another side to Takayama Old Town? Fast forward two days later. We got back from Kanazawa just in time for sunset, and decided to visit Takayama Old Town even though many of the shops had closed by then, since it was our last night in Takayama. It turned out to be our best decision yet. I was quite disappointed on my first day here because everywhere was just so crowded. As if to prove a point, she revealed a different side of her to me unreservedly that evening.

Quiet and empty, the Old Town I saw that day must have been what it used to be before tourism’s attempt at manipulating it. I left Takayama for Kyoto the morning after I took these pictures. This must be her last effort to show me how charming she really is. Thank you Takayama, for spending the time with me. I know I will be back because we missed out so many things. For now. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I loved experiencing them!

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COMING UP..
Japan Day 5: GUJO HACHIMAN: Replica Food making and the best meal in Takayama

You might also be interested in my previous Japan posts:
Japan Day 0: Trip Preparation – Useful websites, Staying connected, Japan Rail Pass, Getting around [here]
Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: How to get from Narita Airport to Shinjuku + our Airbnb accomodation [here]
Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: Ichiran Ramen and a visit to Piss Alley [here]
Japan Day 2 – TOKYO: Standing Sushi Bar, Tokyo Disneyland and Fu-unji Tsukemen [here]
Japan Day 3 – TOKYO: Mt. Fuji (Lake Kawaguchiko), Harajuku and Tonkatsu at Maisen [here]

The post Japan Day 4 – TAKAYAMA: How to go to Takayama + BONUS Old Town pics appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Ok you need to read this post because Jason and I voted today’s lunch and dinner as the best meals we’ve had in Japan, and we’ve eaten at A LOT of places throughout the trip. He ranks lunch at Uogashi Nihinichi Standing Sushi Bar as his #1 and dinner at Fu-unji as #2 but it’s the opposite for me. Still, quite something!

This is our itinerary for our second day: Stop by Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal to pick up our Mt. Fuji and Takayama bus tickets > lunch at Uogashi Nihinichi Standing Sushi Bar > Disneyland > dinner at Fu-unji. If you wish to know how to buy and pick up bus tickets to Mt. Fuji, look out for my next post.

Uogashi Nihinichi Standing Sushi Bar
Address: 1F Kasai bld. 1-12 NishiShinjyuku Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
Opening hours: 11:00 to 22:30 (Monday to Friday)
Nearest station: Shinjuku (near Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal and all the camera shops)
Website: http://www.uogashi-nihonichi.com/english/index.html

After picking up the tickets, we went for lunch at Uogashi Nihinichi Standing Sushi Bar, just a minutes’ walk from the bus terminal. Contrary to belief, you can find cheap and good food in Tokyo, and sometimes that also means having your lunch standing. There are probably enough standing space for eight people. You eat at the counter where the chef prepares your sushi right in front of you upon order. Jason voted this his best meal in all of Japan and I voted it as my second favourite – and we have eaten at A LOT of places. Maison (our next day’s dinner and supposedly the best tonkatsu in Tokyo for more than 3000 yen ~ SG$34 a set) didn’t even make it to the top 5.

We met a friendly Indonesian guy and his kid at the door. The four of us were the first customers when the outlet opened at 11 am. Seeing we were first timers, he gave us the best advice yet: Aburi (blow torch) everything!

The aburi selections – ebi, salmon and squid – were my favourite as I’m not exactly a fan of raw fish and seaweed. At 75 yen ~ SG$0.85 a piece, this is the epitome of how excellent food doesn’t have to be expensive in Japan.

We also ordered the premium ootoro (raw tuna belly) at 350 yen ~ SG$3.90 a piece. It was so good! But Jason’s favourite has got to be their Negi Toro (minced tuna belly and scallion). He let out an exclamation when he popped one into his mouth and the sushi chef stopped his blow torching to ask us what he just ate.

The Indonesian guy also told us that he flies to Tokyo frequently for business. He loves sushi and has tried many sushi places but always comes back to this one. And no wonder! The price and quality at Standing Sushi Bar is hard to beat. I was stuffed! Here’s part of the menu. Excellent pocket-friendly sushi!

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Tokyo Disneyland
Opening hours: 8:00 – 22:00
Nearest station: Maihama Station
Website: http://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tdl/

Our next stop was Tokyo Disneyland! To get to Disneyland from Shinjuku, take the train to Tokyo Station to transfer to Maihama Station. We really loved the theme park!

We booked our tickets (6900 yen ~ SG$77) and paid online with UOB JCB card. I had trouble paying with an SG-issued Visa/Mastercard, but had no problem paying with an SG-issued JCB card. From their website:

Once the payment is completed, just print out the ticket either in black and white or colour, then go straight to the gates with it. There’s no need to exchange the printed tickets for another pass at the entrance.

Our online tickets came with free express passes, but the average waiting time was about 15 minutes anyway. A word about the fast pass. To get the fast pass, you basically fold your A4 size ticket into an ezlink card size with the barcode facing out. Insert the folded paper into one of the fast pass machines and choose your time range. Return to the attraction/ride within the time range you have chosen and skip the main line. Initially we thought we only had to show the folded paper at the entrance of each ride and get instant access. Turned out that you still got to queue la, but it’s like getting a “queue number” instead of standing physically under the sun.

Our favourite ride in all of Disneyland, The Haunted Mansion! Please don’t miss this!

We had an incredible day at Tokyo Disneyland but IF we had to choose between Disneyland in Tokyo and Universal Studios in Osaka, I’d choose USS. But why? Go for both!

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Fu-unji 風雲児
Address: 2-14-3, Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Opening hours: 11:00 to 15:00, 17:00 to 21:00 (Monday to Saturday)
Nearest station: Shinjuku
Website: http://www.fu-unji.com/

And if lunch was incredible, dinner was phenomenal. We went for tsukemen (1000 yen ~ SG$11 – cold ramen noodles dipped in a separate warm broth) at Fu-unji, located in Shinjuku, pretty close to our lunch place. The small eatery not only has great food, it has excellent customer service and a chef that looks so much like Takuya Kimura that we both went, “Eh, Gatsby!” when we first saw him. Sorry, couldn’t remember Takuya Kimura’s name at that point.

There are only four main options. From left to right, the first button is for ramen, second button is ramen with extra ingredients, third button is for tsukemen, and yep you got it, fourth button is tsukemen with extra ingredients.

We got our food tickets and waited. There were people in front of us in the queue but there were also a couple of empty stools. We were thinking why no one wanted to sit down. Are they doing takeaway? Do we sit? Do we wait to be offered seats? Why the empty seats? If you’re thinking of simply sitting down on those empty seats, DON’T. These people are not doing takeaway. Those seats are not for you! Wait patiently to be invited to sit down and tell the chef if you want a regular, medium or large serving for your noodles – they’re the same price.

It’s the first time I was having tsukemen, and Fu-unji’s version came with an almost creamy and very unique bonito and chicken broth filled with pork belly, bamboo shoots, scallions and tamago. The noodles were thicker than regular ramen noodles and al dente to perfection.

Jason ordered the ramen (950 yen ~ SG$10.50). I loved both, but I prefer the tsukemen by leaps and bounds. We were there at around 7pm and surprisingly the queue wasn’t all that bad. At least no one was queuing out the door. We waited for 15 minutes max (I have heard about hour-long queues!). Quite a different story when we were leaving!

And that wraps up our second day in Tokyo, with happy bellies of course! p/s- We missed Fu-unji so much that after travelling five other cities in Japan, we came back to eat this again during our last leg (Days 13-16) before returning to Singapore!

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NEXT UP..
Japan Day 3 – TOKYO: Mt. Fuji (Lake Kawaguchiko), Harajuku and Tonkatsu at Maisen [here]
Japan Day 4 – TAKAYAMA: How to go to Takayama + BONUS Old Town pics [here]

You might also be interested in my previous Japan posts:
Japan Day 0: Trip Preparation – Useful websites, Staying connected, Japan Rail Pass, Getting around [here]
Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: How to get from Narita Airport to Shinjuku + our Airbnb accomodation [here]
Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: Ichiran Ramen and a visit to Piss Alley [here]

The post Japan Day 2 – TOKYO: Standing Sushi Bar, Tokyo Disneyland and Fu-unji Tsukemen appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I visited Japan for the first time in 2007. I was in my mid twenties and it was a family trip. I don’t remember very much about the trip, except that we were on a guided tour and we visited Tokyo, Osaka and Nara. I remember staying in a Ryokan and eating rice and soup for breakfast, narrowly escaping a snow storm on Mount Fuji and being surrounded by deers in Nara. Err I also remember wearing a Lilo and Stitch hat in Disneyland HAHAHA:

But if not for the company of my family – I travelled with my two aunts, eldest brother, sister-in-law and Aegon – I don’t think I would have enjoyed the trip.

Because I am not made for guided tours.

It was all very convenient, the tour, but half the fun of a trip is taking public transport, figuring out which train platform to get on, trying to communicate with locals in a smattering of foreign language. And getting lost. You have to get lost. So although I have been to Japan before, this recent trip was all very new to me. I had to try and get to know Japan’s crazy huge transport system, figure out their rail passes and mobile prepaid cards, plan our itinerary, buy train tickets, book our accommodation, pick up a few words of Japanese…. you get the idea.

Our 16-day trip: Tokyo -> Takayama -> Gujo Hachiman -> Kanazawa -> Kyoto -> Osaka -> Tokyo
This series of blog posts is meant for the new traveller to Japan, just like me. I don’t promise very comprehensive information because i don’t know a lot, but I’m back and alive so I think you’ll survive la. Jason was an awesome travelling buddy. I must say I am really lucky that we are wired the same way when it comes to seeing the world!

This first post will be about these things:

– Useful websites
– Staying connected
– Buying the Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass)
– Getting around

Some of the information might not be the best or very thorough, but this is what I know and what worked for me. Depending on your own trip preference and circumstances, you will need to research and do a mix-and-match to get the most out of YOUR experience.

Useful websites
These resources helped me a lot in trip-planning:

– Japan-guide.com – for itinerary planning and almost everything you need to know!
– Hyperdia – for train timetables and route search. It does not sell tickets, but it lets you search for train information. You can then reserve a seat on the train you want or simply show up and hope there are seats in the “unreserved” cabin. For example, we have the Japan Rail Pass and will use it to travel from Takayama to Kyoto. I search for train options on Hyperdia, note down the date and train number, then go to a JR office to reserve my seats. This way, we will have seats on our preferred train for sure.
– App: Google Maps – self explantory
– App: Tokyo Subway Navigation – getting around in Tokyo and places of interest around subway stations. Available on both iTunes and Google Play

Staying connected

Pocket Wifi is very common in Japan. We’re not very familiar with it as we are used to SIM cards. It is basically a portable wifi device that allows many people to connect at the same time. You can either use it at home or carry it with you on the move. All our Airbnb hosts provided pocket wifi and we were free to bring it out, but the connection was intermittent and not always reliable. When it worked, it worked really well, but when it didn’t, we relied on our SIM card. We got ours from Japan Experience, the same site that we got our Japan Rail Pass, and it was conveniently mailed to us in Singapore via courier. I noticed some phone companies selling SIM Cards when we touched down in Narita Airport Terminal 1, so you can probably get them on arrival too. But please do further research. The SIM Cards were ok for use all over Japan and our plan was 1MB a day. We didn’t have to change phone companies or SIM Cards as we travelled across the different cities. And surprisingly, free Wifi is actually not available widely and easily in Japan.

Buying the Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass)
Transport in Japan is expensive. Travelling inter-region, we combined local trains with highway buses (like SIN-KL coaches) to save money, and even so, we still spent a lot. The JR Pass is expensive and you may not need to buy it. A 7-day unlimited access on JR trains (except certain Shinkansen) cost SG$318. FOR ONLY 7 DAYS! And please note: The JR Pass is only for foreigners and can only be bought outside of Japan. This pass will save you money if you travel inter-region like us. A one-way fare on the Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo already costs about 14,000 yen ~ SG$155. But if you are only travelling within Tokyo, around Hokkaido, or in the Kansai region, there is no need to buy a JR Pass. There are other regional passes that might be more suitable for you. We opted for the 7-day JR Pass and activated it only mid-trip. The JR Pass was also purchased via Japan Experience.

You will receive a voucher which you will need to exchange for the physical pass at the JR office in Narita Airport (or any JR offices in major train stations, for example, Tokyo Station or Osaka Station). Refer to this list for the locations of JR offices. While exchanging the JR Pass, it might also be a good idea to make seat reservations on the trains you intend to take for the rest of your trip. We reserved our Takayama to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka and Osaka to Tokyo seats at the JR office in Narita Airport. As above, use Hyperdia to check train timings, note them down and inform the JR staff you’d like to make reservations.

More information about the Japan Rail Pass can be found here.

Getting around – day-to-day in general

Regardless of which city you’re going to visit, the one card you need to buy is an IC card. It is something like our ezlink card which can be used for transport and as digital money. In Japan, these “ezlink” cards are issued by different companies, so that is why you see some people buying Suica cards and some people buying Pasmo. They work the same.

These cards can be used in almost all trains, subways and buses in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nagoya and Fukuoka and several other areas. You can buy a Pasmo card in Tokyo and use it in Osaka and Kyoto. I used only one Pasmo card throughout my entire trip. We loved it that it can be used to pay for stuff in convenience stores too.. no pesky coins! These cards, however, cannot be used to ride on the Shinkansen, airport limousine buses (more on that later) or highway buses (those SIN-KL coaches..). It also cannot be used outside of IC card coverage areas.

For details on IC card coverage, click here. You don’t actually have to worry too much about it. The major types of everyday transport like railways and metro all accept IC cards, inter-city. Pasmo cards can be bought from ticket vending machines at Narita and Haneda airport stations, participating private railway and subway stations or bus depots. For a step-by-step guide, this page will be useful. You can also buy them from Japan Experience if you’re getting the JR Pass and/or SIM Card (so you don’t have to go figure out the ticket machine), but I think it is slightly more expensive.

We mainly used the trains and metro in Tokyo and Osaka, so the Pasmo card was really useful. In Kyoto, we used a combination of the Pasmo card and a 1-day pass on their very efficient buses, but I will reserve this for my post on Kyoto.

I hope my experience helps you in your trip-planning!

NEXT UP…
Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: How to get from Narita Airport to Shinjuku + our Airbnb accomodation [here]
Japan Day 1 – TOKYO: Ichiran Ramen and a visit to Piss Alley [here]
Japan Day 2 – TOKYO: Standing Sushi Bar, Tokyo Disneyland and Fu-unji Tsukemen [here]
Japan Day 3 – TOKYO: Mt. Fuji (Lake Kawaguchiko), Harajuku and Tonkatsu at Maisen [here]
Japan Day 4 – TAKAYAMA: How to go to Takayama + BONUS Old Town pics [here]

Thank you for being patient with me as I try to catch up on my backlog Japan posts!

The post Japan Day 0: Trip Preparation – Useful websites, Staying connected, Japan Rail Pass, Getting around appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.