7D6N Japan Itinerary: Tokyo (Disneysea), Osaka, Kyoto

I was very into Jpop during my teenage years and have been wanting to visit Japan since a decade ago! Now that I am finally financial independent, my dream came true!

Day 1

I could not believe that I am in Japan! =D

Couldn’t sleep on the overnight plane and feeling very lethargic yet eager to explore Tokyo!

We took very long to find this place, Tatsunoya Ramen!

It was definitely worth our effort! The noodle, the soup, the chashu, the egg, everything was just perfect!

Ramen Tatsunoya 龍の家Address: Japan, 〒160-0023 Tokyo, 新宿区Nishishinjuku, ７−４−５
Hours: 11am–12am
Phone: +81 3-6304-0899

We bought lots of thermal wear, some scarves and gloves from Shinjuku Uniqlo. Uniqlo Japan was so much cheaper mainly because
1. it is from Japan
2. yen is very weak now. SGD1 can change for Yen85
3. massive sale
4. we get tax refund!

The staff was so polite, he bowed to every single customer who took the discount voucher from him.

We were walking around Shinjuku area and saw it was some kind of public holiday in Japan today and Uniqlo was having massive sale!

As for dinner, I wanted to try yakitori and we went to this yakitori place which rejected us because we are foreigners. Some Japanese are really xenophobic! The staff even pointed to us the sign outside that says “only Japanese allowed” which we did not see when we entered.
It was so upsetting as this place totally destroyed my perfect impression of Japan. But W cheered me up and we went to look for other yakitori place 🙂
So we walked around our hotel and found this.

The yakitori was average but at least the staff were kind to us!

Day 2
We visited the Meiji Shrine near Harajuku.

It was a pretty long walk from the metro station to the shrine so please do not wear heels ladies!

So lucky to witness a traditional wedding ceremony!

Adorable Japanese kids 🙂

Made from vegetables!

Since Meiji Shrine is near Harajuku, we hop over and tried some Gindako takoyaki for lunch! It was as good as the ones in Ion!

Bought some cosmetics in Harajuku. Thank you W for carrying!

At night we went to the Shibuya crossing and shopped at Shibuya 109! Shibuya 109 is the trendy mall for teenage girls and I have always wanted to visit this mall after seeing the numerous features on the Japanese magazines!

But dream and reality do have some gaps. The clothes in 109 were really expensive and since they were selling winter wear, I decided not to get any. The free wifi was very good though 🙂

Tried creme brulee at the L’Occitane Cafe, where we rested our feet and watched the busy shibuya crossing. I love the creme brulee =D

L’OCCITANE 渋谷店テラス・ド・プロヴァンスAddress: Japan, 〒150-0043 Tokyo, Shibuya, 渋谷駅前ビル 1-3 階 Hours: 10am–9pm Phone: +81 3-5428-1564

Day 3
Day 3 to Asakusa!

Kaminarimon gate to the Sensoji Temple. This place was crowded with tourists.

We decided to try the rickshaw though it was not very cheap (SGD30+) but we just want to give it a try!

Our rickshaw puller is an undergraduate and he says this job gives him extra allowance and is better paying than other jobs. He seems to be interested to learn English and says that finding jobs in Japan is getting more competitive nowadays.

Although it was very crowded, I still like this place a lot.

W really love his food a lot!

Many souvenir shops.

We dropped by this random place and had the best tempura udon ever! I’m not an udon fan but this literally changed my perception of udon. The udon was QQ and the tempura prawn was fresh and not oily! The tempura flour was not thick but just nice. This set was also affordable at around 1300yen.

It seems like any food stalls in Japan are good. The worse is only mediocre but we never encounter any bad ones despite not doing our research!

Kanouya Udon 手打ちうどん叶屋
Address: 東京都台東区浅草 1-37-12
Hours: 11：00～21：00 (closed on Wednesdays)　＊Sundays & PH 20：00
Phone: 03-3844-6424
Website: http://www.denbouin-dori.com/shop/kanouya/

We could see the skytree from here!

We then head over to Akihabara as I wanted to get some Dragonballs for my brother. Akihabara is the place for manga stuff and electronics!

Brother would love this!

Lots of toys catching machines which W love!

Our itinerary is really packed, and after Akihabara we head over to Ginza, which by then W was so exhausted and went for a massage while I shopped alone 😦

But I soon realised that Ginza is just like Orchard Road, full of branded shops which I cannot afford.

So we went over to Tonkatsu Maisen Tokyo Daimaru for our tonkatsu!

The tonkatsu was comparable to our Ma Maison in Mandarin Gallery. In fact I like our sesame sauce (they do not have in this Tokyo outlet) but Tokyo’s cutlet is fluffier and softer.

Tonkatsu Maisen Tokyo Daimaru
Address: Japan, 〒100-6701 Tokyo, Chiyoda, Marunouchi, 1−9−1, 大丸東京店 Daimaru Tokyo
Phone: +81 3-6638-6871
Hours: 11am–11pm

Day 4

Last day in Tokyo so we had a hard time deciding between Disneyland or Disneysea. In the end we decided on Disneysea as it is the one and only in the world.

We bought something silly since it was my first time in Disney! The day was cold despite the sun and W’s silly hat really kept his head warm! Good buy!

We had sushi dinner in a restaurant near Disneyland and it turned out to be very good! Did not take any photos as we were busy chatting with the chef.

Day 5

We took a bus to Mount Fuji, Kawaguchiko station which was about 2 hour ride. From the Kawaguchiko station, we took a cab to our Hotel New Century.

It was dinner time when we reached Kawaguchiko and as it was a small town, there was nothing much to do but to eat and sleep at night.
We walked down to this restaurant near our hotel and I’m not kidding, anything we order in Japan was just so good!

Very happy with our food!

We were given yukata where we tried on and went to the onsen in the hotel. There wasn’t anyone as it was pretty late and I had the whole public onsen to myself! 🙂

The next day, we set off to see Mt Fuji and to go to the town area.

Not forgetting the 11 course breakfast prepared by the hotel! Heavenly!

The peak was covered by the cloud when we set off. They say that Mt Fuji is a shy mountain.

However, the cloud started to clear and we could see the peak of Mt Fuji!

It was a long but scenic walk to kawaguchiko town. We saw some people rowing boats and we really wanted to do that but we did not have enough time. We promised to come back to Mt Fuji again as we really like the quaint town and the beautiful scenery.

Some local markets in the town.

We spent the late afternoon and evening taking bullet train to Osaka for the last part of our trip. Time really flies when you are travelling!
We stayed in Daiwa Roynet Hotel Osaka which was really small but was a clean business hotel. It was on promotion when we got it so each night cost only about SGD60+. The hotels in Osaka seems to be cheaper than in Kyoto and since we had big luggages, we decided to stay in Osaka and do day trips to Kyoto.

Day 6

We joined a free English walking tour in the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

W caught some toys in Kyoto and we had to carry around the palace.

We went to this tonkatsu place which sells pretty good tonkatsu but not as good as the one in Daimaru Tokyo.

We had to grind the sesame ourselves.

Lots of shopping here!

Very expensive sushi and from the display, we thought it was the price for two pieces (but only one came!) Luckily we only ordered 2 plates as we were still full from the tonkatsu.

Day 7

We went to look for my Japanese friends who stayed in my house last time. We visited Osaka castle together 🙂