"Fall down seven times, stand up eight" ` Japanese proverb
This 13-day trip to Japan was absolutely magical and a true testament to our resilience. I'm going to break it into 3 parts because there is just too much to share in one post. This is part one where we focus on our time in Tokyo and Mt. Fuji. We hope you enjoy this amazing adventure!
Day 1:
We had an extremely early wake-up call, but somehow we were ready to go at 0600. We headed to SFO along with my mom who was driving our car home.
There was lots of traffic, but we made it to the airport around 9:00. It was an easy check-in and then time to get food.
We hung out in the eating area until it was time to board. The flight left on time just after 1200.
We watched movies, ate, slept, read, and listened to music for all 10ish hours. The kids did amazing!
Camilla ate a ton of the airplane food (chicken and rice for dinner and eggs for breakfast), which was shocking considering she is our pickiest eater.
Day 2:
We arrived on time at 1500.
Customs was easy since we did the QR code on the Japan travel site - definitely do that before leaving! It was a little challenging to navigate, but we finally figured it out and it was totally worth it. We hired a driver through Transfeero (get the app too! super easy to use) to pick us up; he was waiting for us after customs. He loaded us into his van and kids passed out immediately.
We drove 1.5 hours to our hotel, Flower Terrace Higashi Shinjuku.
There wasn't any concierge, but it was easy to self check in. There were codes we were given to get into the hotel and into our room.
A few of the reasons we loved this hotel:
1. The location: lots of restaurants and shopping, safe, near the subway.
2. Love not having concerirge because we had a washing machine and you get all the towels and toilet paper and cleaning supplies, etc that you need.
3. Great room! Comfy beds and fit all 5 of us and we had 3 sinks and separate rooms for sink, shower/bath and toilet. Great for a family if 5!
4. Super clean and everything was new.
5. Despite all the aforementioned, it was small but we made it work.
6. And we had a balcony with a great view.
We put our stuff down and headed to dinner. We walked to an Italian place (Pesce D'Oro). We found immediately that most people do not speak English, but you can find other ways to communicate, like Google Translate and Papago.(get both apps too!!). The food is served so fast at the restaurants and it was delicious! One thing to note, that we didn't realize for days, was that many restaurants have a button on the table that you can push to call for help. We were wondering why the servers were just staring at us. We did manage to say "Sumimasen" quite a bit, which is one of the more helpful words to know. It means "excuse me."
Then back to the hotel to crash after stopping at the Family Mart for some treats.
Day 3
Jet lag was kicking in hard at this point and we were up super early. We showered and got ready to meet our tour guide. The night before we got the famous pancakes from the Family Mart downstairs (another reason I love the hotel - near family mart and McDonald's for breakfast).
At 0800 we met our tour guide Toshi (we found our 2 tour guides through Get Your Guide) and he took us to the following:
5. Lunch at Sushi Itadori Bekkan
Sea urchin was so good!
Aidan loved the unagi!
Kendall loved the salmon belly!
Sleepy subway ride to our next stop:
6. Ueno park
7. Asakusa
8. Senso-Ji
10. Shibuya Scramble
Of note: It's a good idea to get a shrine/temple seal at each location you visit and buy a book to put them in. It makes for a beautiful souvenir.
Then to McDonald's for a quick dinner before we crashed!
Day 4:
We got a better night of sleep but were all still up early for our Mt Fuji tour. Yesterday was sunny and hot, but today was very cold, rainy and stormy. Our driver was a little late because of an accident. Went to McDonald's for a quick breakfast and then we were picked up at 0830. We didn't have any traffic leaving the city, but there was so much traffic entering the city!
We arrived at our first stop at 1000. Reality was starting to set in that because of the weather we likely wouldn’t see MT. Fuji :(, but we still made the most of the day!
We went to:
1. Arakurayama Park: Started with a little walk to the top.
You should be able to see Mt. Fuji in the background.
2. Panoramic Ropeway: It was so cold, but the food was good and I can imagine how amazing the view normally is!
You should be able to see Mt. Fuji in the background.
But there were yummy snacks that included dumplings with sweet soy sauce and curry bread! Both a 10/10!!
3. Lunch at Renge: Great Ramen!!
Mt. Fuji should be here.
5. Oishi Park: Beautiful lake views, best ice cream, and beautiful gardens!
Mt. Fuji should be here.
Mt. Fuji should be in the background.
6. Oshino Village: The clouds started to clear and finally saw some mountain!
Mt. Fuji starting to appear as we were driving away!
We made it back to hotel at about 2000. Then went on a quick walk to get boba and McDonald's.
Day 5:
We had another good night of sleep and woke to good weather. We got ready and headed back to McDonald's for breakfast and then uber'd at 0800 at Team lab Borderless.
What an awesome place! We were there for 2 hours. I would recommend not wearing a skirt because there are many areas that have mirrors on the ground, and you can see right up your skirt! There are no maps and many hidden rooms, but it was so much fun exploring! Some rooms are interactive. It also smelled amazing, mostly floral scents. Here are some of the rooms:
You absolutely have to see the room with the mirror balls:
And the steam room:
And aquarium where you draw your own fish:
Then we headed to lunch at Hard Rock Tokyo. It was smaller than I expected, but the food was great and so was the service.
Then we went back to the hotel for a quick break and then headed back to downtown Shinjuku to find the Godzilla. We also checked out Don Quijoti and 711.
We did a bunch of shopping and then headed back to the hotel to drop it off and then Uber'd to Skytree where we finally saw Mt. Fuji!
The elusive Mt. Fuji!
Then for dinner we had pizza at Dominos because everything was literally booked in the area and we were getting hungry and impatient. But we also managed to get more awesome night views of the Tower.
Then back to the hotel to pack for our trip to Kyoto tomorrow!
To be continued in Part 2....
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