We went on a practice run from Akasaka to Tokyo station today to make sure we knew where the Shinkansen was. We are doing the digital tickets for the first time linked to our suica and it’s a new process and a bit stressful. So we don’t want to be too early….but also need to leave time for if it fails.
After we worked out our pacing, I decided I wanted to find ramen street which is on the basement level of Tokyo station. We wandered for a bit, then started to see signage. Yay! It was still surprisingly difficult to find and I was surprised at the lack of signage. Then I spotted Ikaruga which was a highlighted eatery so I knew we were in the right place.
We had to use the ticket machine first (cash or travel cards only) then line up and the lining up process is very strict! You must follow all the rules.
We were the only non Japanese people in the line and in the restaurant and we were seated in about 10 mins so it was quick. About 5 mins later our “original ramen” came out. It was 1290 yen and was really good pork ramen. The broth was delicious.
After lunch we walked back up character street which was creepy as heck and I bought banana cookies. Very tasty. Not worth $12 AUD lol. But at least I succeeded in buying something gimmicky!
We were a bit knackered and peopled out after last nights efforts + the snow tomorrow so dinner was Burger King and an early night tonight.
We slept in again today (this hotel is really quiet so great for sleep ins!) and then headed off to Ginza. I have realised the jacket I brought is simply not going to cut it once we get to Nozawa…if I am not coping in 0C in Tokyo I sure won’t cope in -15C or worse there! Ginza had both a Uniqlo and a Gu store (sister brand of Uniqlo) and failing that a very pricy montbell store. I was out to get the “super warm padded” jacket from Gu rated for 0 down to -25C and was lucky enough they had it in stock! I had to buy it one size too big but for $90 AUD I’ll take it.
While in Ginza, we also gave pudding lab a go. We tried their most well known gimicky product which is called “100％プリンソフト” (100% pudding soft). It’s not exactly a soft serve ice cream, but more like pudding turned into a soft serve style by liquefying the pudding, then running it through a soft‐serve freezer machine so it comes out creamy, soft, and swirled. You also get to choose two accompanying sauces. It was expensive but I thought it was yummy.
After lunch and shopping it was nap time before a wander to Hie Jinja Shrine and dinner at my all time favourite restaurant Kobe Beef Kaseikii 511 Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511.
The shrine is apparently lovely during the day but we wandered over after they had closed to see the 90 Tori gates at night time.
Then we walked 10 mins to the restaurant. Among the 12-point scale, they exclusively offer Kobe beef rated BMS 11 or higher – an extremely rare grade representing just 0.1% of the approximately 800,000 Wagyu cattle produced worldwide each year. So…definitely expect to pay $$$ for that level of Wagyu. This is definitely a special occasion restaurant for us! I even had to bring a nice dress just to go here haha.
This was my third visit and we did notice changes this time! Everyone had a separate seating area and it was quite private (although you can hear people next to you). It’s also different to other countries where a degustation is very spread out….this was one dish straight after another. I think that may be a cultural norm though? Not sure.
I did the four course menu with sirloin and B did the same one but with ribeye :
1. Kobe-beef rillette
2. Appetizers
(Kobe-beef ham with smoked cheese
Red wine braised Kobe-beef
Marinated Tasmanian salmon)
3. Fruit tomato Salad
4. Kobe beef sushi
5. Kobe-beef minestrone
6. Kiln-baked Kobe-beef Sir-loin steak(150g)
7. Dojima Roll Cake
It was delicious! And so worth the cost. We continued our tradition of pairing with a French Pinot noir although I do note they seem to have shifted from having a sommelier to training their service staff in which wines to suggest. He did seem to know his stuff though.
After dinner we wandered down the road to champagne and gyoza again and had a few glasses of bubbles before we then walked 50m up the road to codename mixology which had very expensive but very tasty cocktails. We were able to sit at the bar and watch them make the drink which was definitely worth it.
Then it was home time and drunken sleep time for me 🙂
We slept in today after our big day trip yesterday and then headed to Imakatsu Akasaka which is a very well known katsu place walking distance from our hotel. This is their local (smaller) store which often has lines but we got in just before it got busy at about 11:45am. The katsu chicken was sooooo juicy! And delicious. And the set comes with refillable cabbage (use the white sauce on that) plus rice, pickles and miso soup. Yum yum yum.
After lunch I did a few hours of work (yay travel and online uni) before we headed to the only onsen/sento bath I could find that was both tattoo and woman friendly. Rah Tokyo, get with the times please! This was the same onsen we visited 6 years ago called “Mannen-Yu” and is very local but also one of the few tattoo okay ones. It’s down a weird, tiny alley in Korea town. We also had the super interesting experience of a drunk local coming in, throwing up and then being removed by very angry owners. Not often you see Japanese being angry in public!
After the onsen, we visited Shibuya crossing (and got a semi decent photo from the free shopping centre overpass) before we ventured up to Shibuya Sky. We also saw the Hachiko statue which had a very long line I chose not to join so I snapped this sneaky photo instead.
I did try getting into L Occitane cafe before we did the free overpass photo but they had no view seats and the food was stupidly expensive….so free overpass it was!
I pre bought our evening tickets for shibuya sky (6pm session) about 2 weeks before and it was a good decision as they were totally sold out for the whole day about a week ahead….when we left just after 7pm the line was absolutely bonkers. I did try for sunset at midnight on the day tickets were released a few weeks ago but they sold out in under a minute.
We got to see the sky view, ride the (slightly terrifying) glass sided escalators and almost freeze to death as no hats or beanies allowed. I thought my ears might fall off.
We didn’t realise they have a bar within the inside viewing gallery so I recommend have a drink at that bar…which included premium view seating if you make a purchase per person. Don’t buy the food! It was awful. Just grab a few cocktails and some hot chips to justify the seat usage.
Then we headed to the champagne and gyoza bar around the corner from our hotel which was delicious! It’s very small (about 15 seats) and even though I was exhausted the fact they had spare seats as we went past meant I wanted to give it a go! Minimum spend is 1 drink per person and the champagne of the day was REALLY good although not cheap. Can also say the gyoza were top notch. I want to go back here again when I’m a bit more alert lol.
We went on a visitor/tourist day trip with “VIP Japan tours today” which can be found at this link:
We met the bus at Shinjuku Post Office and it was all fairly easy, – small group, allocated seating, clear instructions, and we left exactly on time (I love you, Japan). The tour order got flipped because of traffic, so instead of finishing at Enoshima, we started there.
Enoshima Island was a beautiful first stop. It has that relaxed coastal feel, little streets you can wander, and plenty of spots to stop and take in the ocean views. The shrines are tucked into the greenery and feel unexpectedly peaceful for somewhere that apparently is so popular in peak times. And on a clear day, you can even spot Mt Fuji in the distance…sadly our day wasn’t clear.
We paid $5 AUD to use the escalators going up and walked back down the stairs. I considered it $5 well spent.
After that we headed to Kamakura and visited Hase-dera first. The gardens are gorgeous, the temple grounds have these sweeping views over Kamakura, and there is an eleven-headed Kannon statue although somehow we missed that? I was very happy to see some cherry blossoms though! Not sure how they are surviving in the middle of winter but I’ll take them.
Then we went to Kōtoku-in and the Great Buddha. You can also go inside the statue, which I didn’t expect to be so interesting…and now I can tell everyone I’ve been in Buddhas butt. It is just a quick peek, but was cool to see how they made all interlocking plates. It started to snow properly while we were at the Buddha (not that common here) so we went back to the bus a bit early and I got to feed a tiny wild squirrel that likes to hang out with the parking attendants.
Our last stop was Tsurugaoka Hachimangū Shrine, walking through the big torii gate and into a space that’s all ponds, bridges and gardens. From there we strolled down Komachi Street as well which is apparently shoulder to shoulder in tourist season (spring and summer) but was nowhere near as busy in cold/snowy type weather. I ate a Buddha cake with custard which was tasty and felt slightly sacriligeous.
I was also very happy to get a new beanie here with proper ear coverage as I’m struggling with the cold!! It was 5C and snowed today….we aren’t even officially at the snow yet and I’m freezing.
The bus dropped us back in Shinjuku around 5:30pm and this time we were on the same side as Omoide Yokocho skewer alley (memory lane). We walked up and down to check the whole alley out as it wasn’t too busy, then we settled on a small bar that still had seats at the front counter. You have to squish in tight and they cook the food in front of you! We had chicken yakatori and a beef one as well….plus delicious plum umeshu with Soda. It’s also normal to have a seat charge here (about $3 each) so don’t panic about it being a bar scam if they have one when you visit.
Steps: 16590
Japanese food: Lawson fried chicken, miso soup, rice, octopus tentacles (for B), Buddha cake, yakatori and some umeshu in Soda.
Us: we know Google, we found about 57 of them this evening….
We did also find two lots of delicious ramen, the harry potter cafe, the magical “lord cat” in 3D in Shinjuku, a very dodgy walking street that was more in line with what you expect in Thailand and vending machine hot chocolate.
During the day we went for a walk from our Akasaka accomodation to find the Harry Potter cafe. Super gimicky and expensive but really interesting if you’re a HP fan.
After this visit I had a 1 hour uni lecture from 5-6pm and then we headed off to Shinjuku to try and work out our day trip pick up point for the next day. After some wandering and 57 different exits we did eventually work it out!
In relation to the somewhat dodgy street, Sakura Dori, or Cherry Blossom Street, is a vibrant lane in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, known for its lively atmosphere, diverse establishments, and neon-lit scenery.
Once known as one of Kabukicho’s more ‘dangerous’ areas, it has transformed into a popular spot for tourists and locals alike…while still having an awful lot of 18+ signs and “girl bars”. We ended up here by accident after visiting the 3D “lord cat”. The giant 3D cat billboard in Tokyo, better known as the “Shinjuku Cat” or “lord cat” and is one of those fun little surprises Japan is known for. It sits on the Cross Shinjuku Building just outside the East Exit of JR Shinjuku Station, and the curved 4K screen makes the calico cat look properly three-dimensional. It stretches, yawns, meows, and peers down at people below, with different routines running across the day, and it pops up every 15 mins between ads.
After we found the cat, we realised it was the opposite side of Shinjuku station to the famous skewer alley and I was not up for another trek back through that Shinjuku labyrinth. Instead we went down cherry blossom street and had dinner at “Kamakura” known for its ramen in a clear, French style broth.
Steps: 10733
Japanese food: 2 x ramen, 1 x gyoza, vending machine snaaaacks!!
Given this was a much longer plane trip than I’ve done since my back quit being supportive (both literally and figuratively) we decided to fly with Air Asia and have an airside stopover at KLIA2 including the samasama transit hotel. We also like air Asia as it is cheap with lots of upgrade options so I could get priority boarding, extra legroom, priority check in etc…and as always we found the service and airline pretty good.
The first leg was 5.5hrs Perth to KL. I had paid for priority check in, boarding and extra legroom seats which was a very good call as Air Asia seats are teeny tiny! We were able to snooze for small parts of that flight but as anyone who has been on a plane and is over the age of 10 can attest to…sleeping on planes is hard.
We then had about a 10hr stopover at KLIA2 in Kuala Lumpur so around 8hrs of that was used to sleep at the airside hotel (it takes 6 and 12 hr bookings). I woke up feeling pretty good from that sleep and being able to have a shower also helped. We had lunch at Ah Yum in the KLIA2 food court and I gave my chopstick helpers their first try out. I’m a fan, hopefully they mean I can eat food without wearing half of it now! I also like that these ones are a little more subtle than the cute panda and dinosaur ones they make for little kids.
Second leg was 7.5 hrs from KL to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. I did try for a flat bed “bid” upgrade but no luck. I’ve upped my bidding budget to try again on the way back lol. We had a sonic themed hedgehog themed plane! Both inside and outside.
Before leaving, we did online immigration registration and got a QR code to get through a bit quicker. However as I now use some fairly strong painkiller medications, it turned out some of them are illegal in Japan. I had to do a customs import request. It was a huge ordeal – specifically worded med cert, 4 page application, attaching photos of all meds and their boxes. Then having to wait to see if they would approve. Then when it was approved, I still had to go through the “naughty line” on arrival! Stressful but definitely not worth pissing off Japanese border control / police by bringing them in sneakily…and we were still through in under 2 mins. Just had to show the correct boxes to match to the paperwork.
As we arrived quite late into Tokyo (and had to deal with the customs narcotics declaration debacle) we did a private car transfer to the hotel (argh the cost was obscene) but it all went smoothly with Tokyo Porter.
We checked in just after midnight at the Hotel Risveglia in Akasaka. It’s a great area to stay as it’s cheaper than some of the more central locations but only a 5 min walk from the hotel to multiple train lines. So many good food places around here as well!
If you’re ever wondering how peri menopause makes brains do weird things….I researched our Tokyo hotel for ages for this trip. Read blogs, read online reviews, looked at train lines and access to places we wanted to stay, bed sizes (poor 6ft Brad), pricing and so on.
I finally settled on one after hours of research.
We arrived and B says “this is the exact same hotel we stayed in when we came here in 2020”.
Me: noooo I researched it so much, no way.
He was right lol.
Shout out to this hotel as it is affiliated with the Yamamoto luggage transfer service. So with 2 days notice we were able to fill out a slip, pay at the hotel and sent Bs rather large ski bag on to our accomodation in Nozawa. That will make the transiting part on trains a lot less stressful
Japan tip: We pre loaded our suica cards into our iPhone wallets before we left so that should make things nice and easy to get around. Just tap and go! Easy to add credit with Apple Pay as well
I was so excited to see my fur babies again today!
Our trip home was a bloody long one! It’s always challenging coming home/going to Niseko due to the Japan domestic travel legs but because we were flying Air Asia it was even longer than usual. On the plus side, the flat beds were once again very comfortable and I had no knee issues because we didn’t spent 12-15hrs in economy.
We left our lovely Freedom Inn hosts with a parting Australian gift of caramello koalas. While we love this accomodation, I am not sure if we will ever return. The large attraction here for B is that you have access to Hanazono lifts early every day and there is very little accomodation on this side of Niseko so its super quiet until around 11am….however as of yesterday a GIANT Park Hyatt hotel has opened on this side of the resort. That, combined with the increase in smaller accomodation venues nearby, means those quiet lift days will be long gone as Hanazono just doesn’t have the infrastructure to support an influx of that many people. It’s just so pretty though! And I really like the small, no drunken idiots feel they accomplish most of the time.
We departed Freedom Inn for Sapporo using a 2hr private transfer as the coach was going to be problematic in terms of timing. It cost a fair bit more than the coach but the stress was hugely reduced around making flights etc. The transfer dropped us at Sapporo’s New Chitose airport and then we flew on a domestic JAL flight to Osaka.
We accessed the public landside lounge there and it was great for a few hours rest while we waited for the air Asia checkin to open. I really wanted to buy duty free in Osaka (ummm hello sake and umeshu!) but had read a lot of things online saying Australian laws now say it will be confiscated if you are transiting in between where you buy it and your Australian destination. Dammit. I used our 6hr stop over here to sit on hold to NRMA insurance in Australia as both our cars have been damaged in a hail storm back home. I did eventually get through. Position 20 was a great improvement from the day before where I was position 189 and the wait time was over 16000 minutes.
From Osaka we flew with flat beds to KL overnight, then had a brief stop before we transited on to Sydney. The air Asia lounge at KL is pretty shit, we highly recommend the SamaSama lounge if you can afford the $30AUD. You get bette power point access, free food and more comfortable chairs. Plus better toilet and shower facilities. This time around we stuck to our included air Asia lounge access since it was only a short stop over. We also got some duty free here – yummy umeshu (plum wine)!
At Sydney we had planned to try something new. Because our flight got in just as the last flight to Canberra for the day left, we were faced with an overnight stay and then an early flight the next day (lots of $$$) or the 11pm bus which meant a 3 hr wait, then a 3hr bus trip and then a 40 min Uber ride home at 2am. Ergh. So we were going to give RoadJet a go. Basically a private car picks you and your luggage up in Sydney and drives you to your house in Canberra. I booked and paid for it about 3 months ago and they have been great with checking in with me beforehand, reassuring me about road closures due to the fires etc. However when we landed, I got an email telling me our hire car in Canberra had been cancelled and there were literally NO HIRE CARS left within two hours of Canberra. So we cancelled road jet at the last minute, hired a car at Sydney airport for 3 weeks and drove 3hrs home.
We finally arrived home just before 1am this morning. Our next few days will be filled with continuing to sort out insurance as it seems there is a good chance both our cars are likely to be write offs….but at least no bushfires came through!
B went off to enjoy his last day frolicking in the snow and I woke up with a sore throat and the sniffles – lucky me! I caught the shuttle into Hirafu Upper Village to enjoy my last morning soak at Hirafu-Tei onsen. After a very peaceful time on my own in the outdoor bath, I got dressed and headed over to be first in line for Tozanken Ramen again. Yep, the first time must have just been a not-so-good day because the pork ramen was once again DELICIOUS.
After my ramen fix, I wandered back up the hill to Niseko Alpen Hotel where I had been told they sell Milk KOBO at their small cafe. I had been hearing all about this amazing local cream product for the last week but getting to where it is (a dairy farm on the other side of the mountain) on a bus was a pain in the ass. Yesterday, our driver from Freedom Inn mentioned that this tiny hotel cafe often has it in stock – woohoo! They had Creme Catalana which was like icecream but not icecream – it really was delicious. Niseko Alpen Hotel also has feee visitor wifi which is a bonus.
I got the shuttle and walked back to our accomodation around midday, then I had a nap before B returned around 3:30pm. We settled up our account with Freedom Inn and confirmed our private transfer to the airport for early tomorrow morning before heading off to Mt Yotei onsen for one last soak. While we were there I bought some adorable handmade mittens (made by a disability collective) I had been eyeing off for the last week.
Then it was off to eat delicious ramen at Nakama one last time! This time B got the Ume Shio (with pork) which is their “Star flavour” and was recommended by both staff at the hotel and the Michelin guide. He was a fan although he eats pretty much everything.
Today B went off to Rusutsu (a different powder ski resort about 30 mins from Hirafu) to meet some Australian friends and ski for the day while I navigated the local train system to make my way to Otaru for a day trip.
B used the “Donan” bus service which had a special one running from Hirafu Welcome Centre to Rusutsu and back for the day – we just got our accomodation to call up and book a spot for him since we don’t speak Japanese fluently. The bus was about ¥1000 each way and was fairly easy to use. He liked Rusutsu because it was a bit quieter than Hirafu and the hotels had lots of weird critters.
I had worked out where the local “Niseko United” bus stop at the welcome centre was yesterday so we caught a local bus together from Hanazono Base (a 5 min walk from our accomodation) and then I got on the Kutchan bus while he departed on his day trip with a busload of other snow people. I got off at Kutchan Station (¥400) where I discovered they don’t accept the ICOCA card because they are classified as “rural”. Dammit. It was ¥1290 each way so about $17 and I bought my tickets at a ticket machine. Local trains are waaaaay smaller than usual and this one was pretty full.
The internet tells me “Otaru is a port city known for glass works, music boxes and sake distilleries. They were originally an important fish processing area in the 1920s so the cities series of local canals is a point of difference to other nearby towns.”
I got off at Otaru station and walked down to the canal bridge known as “Chua bridge”. The short walk from here to “Asakusa Bridge” is apparently the most popular for the canal and there were a lot of tourists taking pictures – me included.
From there, I walked about 100m back up to Sakaimaich Street where I started my walk along one side towards the music box museum. I had decided to start at one end and head towards the music box museum, then work my way down the other side of the main street back towards the canal viewing station….checking out all the cheesecake shops as I went. There were a lot of cheesecake shops. And sushi shops. If only I ate sushi! I definitely eat cheesecake though and I enjoyed free samples at every single branch of Le Tao I walked past haha. I also bought some Otaru handmade glass as that’s another thing the area is known for. These were the snacks I brought back for B from the cheese shops.
The music box museum looked cool on the outside but I missed the steam clock out the front by a whole 2 mins and there were A LOT of people inside. I had a quick look through but nothing really stood out as awesome. Apparently there are sections you can go in to where the older music boxes are displayed but there was no signage for this and I gave up trying to find it after doing a few laps.
I then walked back down the other side of the main street and caught the train back to Kutchan Station (it’s worth noting the train both ways is insanely busy and some people had to stand the whole 1hr 20 mins) and then the local bus back to the Hirafu Welcome Centre. I arrived about an hour before B was due back from Rusutsu so I checked out the Niseko Alpen Hotel Onsen while I waited for him. It does not have a no tattoos sign but I had mine covered with white bandage tape today. The outside onsen here also looks on to a ski field which was a nice way to pass the time. Costs ¥1000 which is pretty standard tourist pricing.
For dinner tonight we ordered what one of the workers calls “Japanese McDonald’s” which is known as Hotto Motto. They are all over japan and do cheap bento boxes and curry as take aways so our accomodation arranged to collect it for us and we ate in the room. Not bad for ¥590.
Last day on the snow tomorrow before we start the long trip back to Canberra!
Japanese food eaten: weird breakfast pastry, katsu pork curry, triple cheese cheesecake, cheese biscuits, petit almonds and strawberries from LeTAO
This morning I got up with B and caught the shuttle bus from Hanazono to Hirafu with a mission in mind! First – onsen time. I went back to Hirafu-tei and once again had the onsen to myself just before it closed for the lunch break. I then made my way back to the Hirafu welcome centre, purchased a delicious baileys hot chocolate and began a concentrated look out mission for the local bus. There are no labeled bus stops at the welcome centre – it’s a bloody bus/van free for all – and my plan tomorrow is to catch the local bus to the local train station and then catch that train to Otaru for a day trip….but I need to know where the local bus stops first! It was scheduled to arrive at 11:07am and I furtively noted its arrival and departure spot (relatively punctual because this is japan) from my coffee shop location. I also got pretty photos of Mt Yotei which was finally not fogged in.
After playing bus spotto, I wandered down the road to Tozanken ramen and grabbed a number. I was first in line! Woohoo. Their pork ramen is really good although only one slice of pork in the standard dish whereas Nakama (the place we ate last night) had 5 slices in their standard one and it was cheaper. I had the “set” this time which had really good gyoza and was ¥1100. I swear the ramen was better this time than the other day but I was really hungry….
When B got back from the snow we used the private hot bath at the accomodation again so he could relax his muscles and I could float around like a garden fairy while drinking vending machine hot chocolate….coz that’s what hot baths are for right? I also secretly love they are calling him B Smith as his name since I booked all the accomodation this time under my surname haha.
For dinner, we went to Izakaya Nidaime Samurai which was once again recommended by our accomodation. It was kinda like Japanese tapas! Bs friend who was also here skiing from Australia joined us. They had a lot of drink options here and apparently match really well to what dishes you order, we mostly stuck with beer and umeshu though. This place was super reasonably priced – we had 6 shared dishes and 9 drinks for ¥11000 between us all.
The food was excellent – sashimi, pork, chicken, salmon, Japanese omelette and sablefish were all delicious. There was nothing we tried we didn’t like! Except for me who tried sashimi for the first time haha….you can see below for how that went!
Mel's Travel Blog 