Asakusa

Japan Trip 2013 part 1

2:48:00 am

Hello everybody! ╭(^▽^)╯ How's your day?
This time i'm going to write an overview on my last trip to Japan. I will divided the overview into 2 part. First is Tokyo, and the second one is Kyoto-Osaka. After the overview, i will give you some tips and some good place to go if you're going to Japan without tour. ;)


I went to Japan with my sister and my cousin. The three of us went there without tour, so the itinerary was up to us. We spent 4 days in Tokyo, and we went to these place:
(1st day) going around Inaricho looking for late dinner,
(2nd day) Tokyo Disneyland, Rainbow Bridge,
(3rd day) Ueno Park, Asakusa, Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo Tower,
(4th day) Tsukijin Market, Akihabara, Ginza, Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku.

ALERT: photo spam 













Cinderella's shoes






Our energy was spent on the Tokyo Disneyland. We're really tired and we only got to ride 4 attraction and watched 2 parade. You definitely have to consider whether it's a high season or local school holiday, otherwise you will end up like us -tired for nothing. Not forget the energy left was spent on searching the Rainbow bridge. It was 11pm when we arrived at Raibow Bridge so we can only took some photos and went back to the hotel. Please note you can't walk on the bridge, you can only see it from afar. What a waste. ( ̄□ ̄)




The next day we had hanami at Ueno Park -thanks God our hotel was near Ueno, so we didn't have to go to Ueno Park by subway. The cherryblossom tree -or mostly-known as sakura tree are still there, but not full-bloom (we're kinda late, it's in full bloom a week before we went there) so it's not pretty like i imagine it would be. (∏ ù ∏)













After that i went to Asakusa to see Sensoji Temple. It's a big temple where the locals go in New Year Eve to pray. You can find a lot of shop that selling traditional souvenirs and snack along the way to the temple (Nakamise street - from the outer gate to the temple's second gate -the Hozomon). You can also see a lot of old building from Edo around Sensoji Temple, complete with the jinrikisha -japanese traditional rickshaw. You can enjoy the ride for 30 minutes with 8000 yen cost (for 2 person).








The Imperial Palace is one of the must see place when you go to Japan. Please note that the Palace is open for public until 5pm, and the gate is closed on 4.30pm (you can't go in after the gate closed). The palace have a big and beautiful garden. I saw a lot of beautiful full bloom sakura tree there. It's a pity we can only stay for half an hour and it was raining when we went there, so i didn't take any picture -only recording for a while there.


After the Imperial Palace, we went to Tokyo Tower, and thanks to the rain we got all wet. (  ¬_¬) It was a good place where you can see the whole city -and Rainbow Bridge to brag! Only if it's not raining that day, we would have taken some photos outside the tower..huhu...







The 4th day was spent on shopping district. First thing in the morning, we went to Tsukijin Market just to find that it was closed for the day. Damn! But it's okay since we got to eat yummy sashimi with rather low price. After that we went to Akihabara. Yep! As a fan of anime-manga culture, i asked my sister and cousin to accompany me to Akihabara to search for anime figure. Just a bad luck that i didn't find what i searched for, and with limited time too..(∏ ù ∏)

So to heal my pain, we decided to go to Ginza to specially search for their Melon pan and Anpan, and took a picture of the famous intersection. After we got what we wanted, we run to Shibuya. A lot of branded shop there, with expensive price too. We took some photos with the Hachiko statue and with the 109 building in Shinjuku. After wandering around for 2-3 hours, we decided to continue our journey to Harajuku and found our heaven. We tried the famous crepes and went shopping. I got 3 pairs of cute socks and a cape. My sister got her jacket and domo bag for my baby sister. My cousin got a skirt, and two trench coat (1 for her younger sister). We closed the day at Harajuku with udon as our dinner. After finished our dinner, we went to Shinjuku to see the nighrlife at Tokyo. It was an amazing day, really.. ( ∩_∩ )


After 4 day in Tokyo, we went to Kawaguchi-ko, where the Mt. Fuji is located. It took 3-4 hours from Tokyo, and another 1-2 hours to the hotel i stayed in. The hotel was super cozy and clean, with a super friendly owner. We got to book the onsen privately for 1 hour and what best is we can clearly see the Mt. Fuji through the onsen glass window. It's superb! We spent our precious day there taking photos and relaxing our body before we went to Kyoto.

The Kawaguchi-ko station



Big house. Never find one as big as these at Tokyo













Sakuya Guest House


My super delicious breakfas




See you on next part~
xoxo
Anastasia


credit:
photographer: Angel Goenawan & me -some are my cousin
edited by me