Japanuary 2024 - the trip that nearly wasn't

[bPeteb]

Beppu Hells - Friday 16 Feb 2024 Part 3
Next was oniyma (crocodile) jigoku - so called because they use the warm water from the hell to breed crocodiles. The jigoku itself was not very appealing. Just murky water with a lot of sulphurous steam.

The crocodile part was where things really went down hill for me. There was a very high density of crocodiles in the holding ponds, and several animal welfare issues were immediately apparent, with dirty water, odd, obsessive thrashing and visible fungus and skin diseases on the snouts. I felt very sorry for the crocodiles.

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Absolutely no concept of animal welfare at zoos/aquariums in Japan. Since our first trip to Japan in 2011 (Osaka Aquarium - a lone and very lonely finless dolphin, then Tokyo (?) Zoo - appalling) we have not visited a zoo or aquarium in Japan since.

Loving the trip report Seat0B

 

[Seat0B]

Absolutely no concept of animal welfare at zoos/aquariums in Japan. Since our first trip to Japan in 2011 (Osaka Aquarium - a lone and very lonely finless dolphin, then Tokyo (?) Zoo - appalling) we have not visited a zoo or aquarium in Japan since.

Loving the trip report Seat0B

Yes I totally agree. We have made it a point never to visit a zoo or aquarium in Japan for this very reason, and particularly to avoid the animal cafes, which by all accounts are pretty cruel to the poor animals.

And thanks for travelling along with me - as you may have seen I really got into your report about Resilient Lady. As a total cruise newbie, it was very interesting and potentially helpful to me as I contemplate my first cruise next year (now that the silver hair is really coming in!). I love reading other people's TRs so I'm chuffed when people enjoy mine.

 

[bPeteb]

Yes I totally agree. We have made it a point never to visit a zoo or aquarium in Japan for this very reason, and particularly to avoid the animal cafes, which by all accounts are pretty cruel to the poor animals.

And thanks for travelling along with me - as you may have seen I really got into your report about Resilient Lady. As a total cruise newbie, it was very interesting and potentially helpful to me as I contemplate my first cruise next year (now that the silver hair is really coming in!). I love reading other people's TRs so I'm chuffed when people enjoy mine.

just posting a very different cruise report

 

[Seat0B]

just posting a very different cruise report

Oooh I will get on it later in the day!

 

[Seat0B]

We have made it a point never to visit a zoo or aquarium in Japan for this very reason,

...which is why I was so surprised and dismayed to see those poor crocodiles at Oniyama Jigoku and the piranha (and other tropical fish) at Shiraike Jigoku. So I should have said, we make it a point to never intentionally visit a zoo or aquarium. These ones were sort of sprung on us. We got out of them as fast as we could.

 

[RooFlyer]

Photos fro other years are full of signs, wires, poles and window flare! But yes we have been very very lucky.

BC I took the train down to Fuji the town with a plan to getting a taxi closer to the mountain to get a better look. I can't remember why, but that plan fell apart after I disembarked, so, what to do. Walked around (very unappealing area) and found a multi-story car park. Ah! Unobstructed views! Not quite



Just stick to the train ...

 

[Seat0B]

@RooFlyer you have very similar photos to mine! The train has been very successful for us.

 

[rbjhan]

Fuji-san is difficult alright. I remember going to Hakone many years ago, and this view from the lake Ashi, yikes



However I did have better luck on Shinkansens...

 

[Seat0B]

Heatwave in Tokyo - Sunday 18 Feb 24

Weather forecast for today is 19 degrees, which is 11 degrees hotter than average. Tuesday is forecast to be even hotter at 22 degrees!! You can see the more usual February daytime temperatures of 5-8 degrees appearing for the end of the week - after we head home to Aus.




I don't have a thing to wear to suit those temps, so will just have to force myself over to Uniqlo flagship at Harajuku and buy me some cute Japan art T-shirts (specialty of this store) to tide me over. I got 2 really nice ones for ¥1990 each - bargain! Mr Seat 0A did the same.



JR Yamanote line not too crowded at 1030.



After hitting Uniqlo hard, we had a coffee and sakura mochi at Starbucks and wondered again at their business model which seems the same the world over. Students buy a drink and coddle it for hours whilst using free wifi and taking up seats, meaning there are no seats for actual customers. We did eventually manage a seat, and were glad to have a bit of a rest. Shopping in Japan is serious business and quite tiring. At this point we decided that seeing as we were shopping we would call it a shopping day and go to a few other areas, which was pretty silly given it was a Sunday .

We toddled off to the newly opened Daiso Flagship in Ikebukuro (replaced the one at Harajuku). Oh my, it was huge, crowded and so over-heated. "OK" I said, "let's meet up in 30 minutes, I don't need to buy much, just a few trinkets for Seat Granddaughter." My first text said "can I pls have another 30 mins" and my second said "still not finished, another 30 mins pls" - luckily Mr Seat 0A knew to expect this, and plus he was having a whale of a time too - ¥770 apple watch chargers anyone? All up, we spent over 2 full hours in this store.

Today was a real Tokyo experience, with crowded shops, crowded streets and very crowded trains, but honestly, all part of the fun. By now thirsty, hot, hungry and footsore, we headed back to the Celestine for a rejuvenating cuppa and a shower and then out to eat in the izakaya alley near Tamachi JR station. Decided on Ramen at Ifu - a buy a ticket in the machine ramen shop popular with the locals. I had red miso ramen with pork and corn, which was delicious. And Mr Seat 0A had spicy ramen, which was ....spicy AF! The broth was already spicy, and then just look at that added chilli sprinkled on top! Plus I was obviously getting way too coughy, eating ramen with chopsticks in a cream coloured T-Shirt ! Skated through with no damage to dignity or clothing. Almost a local now.



Once again I fogot to take photos of the room but did get a couple of shots of the view from our room - day and night. It's very pretty.

 

[Black Duck]

I have been really enjoying your report and getting lots of information , thank you.

Love those t- shirts and I also get a kick out of Daiso but I am usually in Korea. I look forward to getting to Japan for the main branch. I am just not keen on the current crowds that seem to be overwhelming Japan.

 

[rbjhan]

Ha once I had to source some short sleeve for the weather (20C or something like that), obviously all the shops were selling winter gear, ended up in Uniqlo too!

 

[Seat0B]

I have been really enjoying your report and getting lots of information , thank you.

Love those t- shirts and I also get a kick out of Daiso but I am usually in Korea. I look forward to getting to Japan for the main branch. I am just not keen on the current crowds that seem to be overwhelming Japan.

The crowds are pretty intense in the usual tourist spots, but much less so if you venture even a little off the beaten track.

 

[Seat0B]

Ha once I had to source some short sleeve for the weather (20C or something like that), obviously all the shops were selling winter gear, ended up in Uniqlo too!

I love Uniqlo. The quality is pretty good and the prices are reasonable. I’m very excited that we now have a Uniqlo store here in Canberra.

 

[Black Duck]

The crowds are pretty intense in the usual tourist spots, but much less so if you venture even a little off the beaten track.

Thanks Seat 0B? My plan is to go to more out of the way places, mainly because my major interest is ceramics, so that will help but I do want to go to Kyoto etc. I suppose it's a bonus that the ceramic villages/towns are almost always outside the busy cities. Shigaraki and Bizen are high on the list. Karatsu if we can to visit a fellow potter I haven't seen in years.

 

[rbjhan]

I love Uniqlo. The quality is pretty good and the prices are reasonable. I’m very excited that we now have a Uniqlo store here in Canberra.

Ah yes our first was back in 2014(?) or something...I've been a regular customer ever since!

 

[Seat0B]

Finally, a gap in my schedule to finish off this trip report!

 

[Seat0B]

We visit the new Samurai and Ninja Museum - Monday 19 February 2024

Last year we were quite disappointed to learn that the very enjoyable Samurai Museum in Shinjuku had closed permanently. This year, we were very pleased to discover that it has re-opened in Nishi Asakusa. It's a very short walk from the Tawaramachi Subway line station, and conveniently, this is the same station that serves Kitchen St!!!!

Cost was a bit steep at ¥3300 per person, but Mr Seat 0A is a big fan of this era and loves Japanese armour, so it was a no brainer for us.

We dressed up in replica armour for some fun photos too cheesy to post here, and also got to throw shuriken (ninja throwing stars) - which is much harder than it looks. Still, I did at least manage to hit the target and make it stick!



The guided tour was fun and informative and filled in a few more details for us about how the Samurai class lived, and quite a bit about how ninjas emerged and their role in society. It also improved my knowledge of the Tokugawa and Edo eras of Japanese history. I've left the photos full size so you can read the info on the exhibits if you want to.




They had some nice suits of armour on display too - some with certificates of authenticity and some were replica.




Overall, it was quite fun and interesting, but I really preferred the museum we visited in Kanazawa in 2023. Those exhibits were much better, and many more were certified as authentic by the Japanese government. The whole Kanazawa experience was much less touristy and cheesy than this new Tokyo museum, and it was much less crowded and significantly cheaper at ¥800 per person. They also had much better souvenirs. So if you ever find yourself with time to spare in Kanazawa, I would recommend a visit there.

Ninja Weapon Museum

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www.ninjaweaponmuseum.jp

I managed to avoid the siren call of Kitchen Street this time, having shopped up big last year, and feeling hungry.

After lunch, we visited the large Daiso store at Harajuku because Mr Seat 0A was still chasing the excellent value (¥770) apple watch charger he bought last year as it has been so useful he wants a couple for different locations and also some for gifts. Once again, he bought out the whole stock at Harajuku store, having done the same at Ikebukuro yesterday! That will be messing with their restocking algorithm for sure! next on our agenda wasa spot of shopping at Shinjuku, including a coffee and cinnamon scroll stop when it all got a bit too much. It was excessively hot - I often find Japanese shops overheated, and we again had a record high temperature for the day.




Mainly Mr Seat 0A wanted to visit the Bic Camera store shown inthis photo taken from Starbucks, where I sensibly waited for a while as he ummed and ahhhed before choosing a nice set of binoculars (Canon x 12) that had been on his wish list for a while. These were in fact about 30% cheaper than he could get them in Australia - but it is interesting to note that we usually find most technology items in Japan slightly out of date, and relatively expensive, so it is really necessary to know your stuff before you buy anything.

Final stop on our whirlwind shopping spree was at Gotanda Donki for some very cheap alcohol - way way cheaper than anything you can buy at duty free at the airport either in Japan or in Australia. Also got a great selection of fancy flavour Kit Kats as gifts for friends and family.

Hee's a shot of Mr Seat 0A doing his best to fit in with the locals on the train! Notice that he's in a T shirt and carrying his puffer jacket, whilst all the locals are dressed for the more typical February conditions. They must have been so hot. it was 22 degrees!




Dinner was a repeat of ramen at IFU although I had the shiro ramen, which was not as good as the aka ramen from last night, and Mr Seat 0A sensibly avoided the spicy ramen by eating gyoza.

Once again home feeling very footsore and glad of a shower.


We leave tomorrow to head home, so did a bit of preliminary sorting out of things for packing, threw out a massive amount of packaging (if you've been to Japan, you'll know what I mean) and felt a bit melancholy about the end of the trip.


Just for fun, here are a couple of bits of cutesy Japan that we saw around Tokyo today. First is a poster about manners on the train - interesting to see that manspreading is a thing in Japan too.



And the second was a cover on a water hydrant. Very reminiscent of Astro Boy to this old Boomer!

 

[Seat0B]

Goodbye Tokyo - Tuesday 20 Feb 2024

Down to breakfast by 0900 today to allow time for our packing. A solid effort saw us checked out with luggage left at the hotel by 1130. Our flight home is at 2200 tonight, so we have time to take advantage of being in one of the world's greatest cities.

We decided to walk over to the Tokyo Tower for a little mosey around. It's about 20 minutes from our hotel, and the day is blue and very warm - another 22 degree scorcher forecast, so the walk should be quite pleasant, as long as it's not too hot!

We sauntered along, spending quite a while in the Minato City Shiba Park, which was bursting with early blossoms brought on by the heatwave of the past few days. These are ume (plum) not sakura, but were still very beautiful.



And I'm not sure what these were.



Mr Seat 0A took a photo of me with the trees, some locals and the tower, wearing one of my new Uniqlo T shirts and still feeling the heat!



A little further on, we encountered some influencers in the wild...It was such fun to watch them twist, contort and pout for long periods of time seeking the perfect insta shot.




We enjoyed a visit to the Tower, although we did not ascend. Visited the souvenir shop and got a few cute trinkets for Seat Granddaughter and grabbed a light (very late) lunch.



As it was such a lovely day, we decided to walk back to Tamachi station, about 30 minutes away. We enjoyed strolling through some very un- touristy areas of the city, and I was especially thrilled to find a little supermarket that sold the hōjicha tea I had been coveting since we left Nozawa Onsen. I had looked and looked for it, but did not find it other than as tea bags, which I didn't want. Mr Seat 0A had googled its availability at home, and it was an outrageous price - T2 wants $42 for 50g in powdered form (which is not as nice as the leaf form). The Tea Centre had leaf tea for $11 for 50g, so I resigned myself to that when I got home. So happy days when I was able to buy 150g in leaf form for ¥1100 (about $11)!!! at this little local shop. Very very happy with that.




On the way to the station, we were lured to the Post Office Bank by the fantastic exchange rate on the yen ¥98 to the dollar on our Macquarie debit card. So we decided to replenish our cash reserves while the rate was so good. Another example of fabulous customer service - the Post Office provided a selection of reading glasses (in different strengths) for customers to use if they can't find their own .



By now it was about 3.30 and we had planned to leave for the airport at about 5.45, so we had a bit of time to kill and nothing else on our to do list. So we played our favourite game to pass time - caught a random train, got off at a random stop, and walked in a random direction. We saw a couple of demonstrations about Israel/Palestine situation, and enjoyed some light people watching. Had a bakery snack and a coffee and then made our leisurely way back to the hotel, collected the luggage and wended our way back to the Tamachi station to catch the JR Yamatnote line to Hammamatsucho, where we connected to the Haneda Airport Monorail, and had a smooth and easy ride to the airport, arriving just before 6 pm. Next stop, Yamato Luggage forwarding where I hope to be reunited with our skis and ski clothes after the saga of sending them off. Apple AirTags assure me they are just right nearby, so not anticipating any trouble.

edit: just fixing the photos!

 

[Seat0B]

Goodbye Tokyo Part 2 - Tuesday 20 Feb 2024

Happy days - the ski bags were safely handed over in a matter of moments and we headed back to the check in area, expecting a short wait before check in opened for our 2200 flight. but when we arrived at about 1810, the check in was already open, so we cheerfully checked in, cleared immigration and security with no issues or delays and made our way to the JAL First Lounge.

If you read last year's TR, you'll know I was pretty underwhelmed with this lounge in 2023, but gave it the benefit of the COVID doubt. Well once again, I was pretty underwhelmed. QR codes abound - including now as the only way to register for a shower. Having learnt the lesson the hard way last year, we requested a shower straight away and decided NOT to order any food (also requiring the use of QR code) until we had both had our showers.

The shower was fairly quickly available (about 15 mins wait) and was very welcome after a hot and sweaty day around Tokyo.
Next was some food, which was OK, but nothing really fabulous. There was something extremely pungent in that bento box that actually put me off the bits that weren't so pungent. Portions were very small.



Mr Seat 0A enjoyed the aircraft memorabilia and took advantage of the shoe shine option to get his shoes spruced up.


Our wait time passed uneventfully and soon we were boarded. I had originally planned to eat in the lounge and sleep straight away on the flight, but after my slightly disappointing lounge food experience, I was a bit hungry so ordered a cheese plate, icecream and dessert wine which were delivered to my seat promptly after take off ahead of the full meal service. It was quite pleasant and hit the spot. I was snuggled down for sleep before the meal service proper had even started.







Was woken as requested in time for breakfast as we approached Sydney. This was another absolutely DREADFUL meal. Left is the before shot and right is the after shot. Can you see the difference???
Before : After:

Specifically:

• the fruit was as hard as a rock, presented in an unappealing way, just two scrimpy pieces of manky melon, and was totally inedible. The marks on the bowl looked like maybe there had been a strawberry or two, but they had been removed - perhaps they were mouldy?
• the muesli was hard and totally tasteless - you can see from the tiny bit of milk on my spoon that I did try it, but honestly I would probably have preferred to eat the packaging - at least it probably had some colour
• the quiche was barely lukewarm - serve it either hot or cold (both acceptable in their own way, but NOT lukewarm, and the pastry component was soggy (had absorbed water) and simultaenously also undercooked. After just one tiny bite, I knew it was totally inedible.
• The cup of dishwater served in lieu of tea was also very lukewarm and unappealing. One sip was enough.
• The juice was probably OK but it had banana hidden in it and I absolutely loathe banana so I did not drink that either.

I asked if there was anything else on offer, but was told no, fairly curtly, was given a glass of water, and the tray was whisked away. So I felt pretty hungry by the time we landed. Overall the two breakfasts I had on QF on this trip did not pass muster in any way. Abysmal really.

We landed close to time, and my thoughts started to turn to the transit to Dom for our final leg home to CBR. And that, dear reader, is where things went really pear-shaped. Stand by for tomorrow's instalment!

 

[Seat0B]

"Welcome" home - Wednesday 21 Feb 2024

So bottom line, as foreshadowed, arrival was a total debacle.

After landing about 10 minutes late at 1005, we made a long taxi all but over to Domestic and stopped in the middle of nowhere. Seat belt light went out. Everyone got up, got their bags down, pressed into the aisles and started moving towards the doors for disembarkation. But the doors remained firmly closed.

After some time, Captain came on and announced that we had not been allocated an airbridge, and that we would be deplaning via stairs and then would transferred to international arrivals by bus. He said that the stairs were expected shortly. By this time we had already been waiting for a while and it was approaching 1030. Given the stairs and bus combo, I was now starting to feel a bit anxious about making our connection to CBR which was scheduled to depart at 1145.

Anyway, a few minutes later, we heard and felt the arrival of the stairs, but still there was no movement to deplane. Again after a while, Captain came back on and told us that the stairs were U/S and that the ground handling contractor was looking for replacements and it might take a while, so why didn't everybody just sit down and make themselves comfortable. Arghhhh. New stairs eventually arrived, deplaned, and then the usual saga of disorganisation with buses. Eventually we arrived back at international just after 1100. By now I knew we would miss our connection, but fortunately this was one of the few times I had managed to get all my domestic connecting legs onto the same PNR, so I kind of shrugged and told myself it was QF's problem.

Long lines for e-gates. Bags were very slow to arrive, especially at the oversize counter for the ski bags. Massively long lines for customs and biosecurity and it was almost 12 noon by the time we exited heading for domestic transfer gates.

But the ordeal was very far from over.

As we made our way to domestic transfer, I noticed a suspiciously large flood of people pushing heavily laden luggage trolleys in the other direction. When we arrived at domestic transfer, there was a massive line of people, and when we reached the head of the queue, a QF staffer was standing in the doorway in the classic "no deal" pose. She told us that their check in system was down and they were not accepting any pax for tansfer. Our only option was to walk to the opposite end of the terminal and take the T Bus over to domestic and check in there. By now it was apparent that there was a major cluster going on, so as we walked, Mr Seat 0A pressured me to call customer service to see what I could do about getting home today. I was on a long hold, but when eventually answered, they suggestion was that they could accommodate us on a 2pm flight ----tomorrow. So I said no thanks and left it in the hands of local team.

By now we had arrived at the T Bus stop, and you guessed it, the line was massive, backed up well into the terminal building. I overheard the poor traffic controller on the radio begging for more T Buses to be sent, and being given a hard no. We waited for 40 minutes before we managed to get to a bus. And of course, these buses were not well equipped to deal with hundreds of pax with large bags and ski bags. We eventually made our way onto a totally jam packed bus, and then the driver started yelling at pax to move closer together. From his position, he could see gaps in the heads filling the aisles. From our position, we could see that the gap was multiple ski and snowboard bags stacked on top of each other in the aisles. A stand-off ensued - bus driver refused to move off until passengers bunched up. Passengers unable to bunch up due to amount of luggage. Oh and by now it was about 33 degrees, and everyone on the bus was red faced and sweaty. Plus I was hunrgy and thirsty. So I can only blame my total snap on all that - I just yelled right back at him that there was no way I was going to climb a wall of luggage and perch on the top of it, and he had better just do his job and drive the bus or get off his cough and come and find a better place for the 6 ski bags that I could personally see. He eventually got th message and off we went to Domestic.

When we arrived at Domestic, it was more chaos. Long lines of disrupted pax everywhere. We were all funnelled off to one side, and processed at snail's pace. The Business/Platinum line was not available for pax as it was being used for processing staff who had been disrupted too.

We were eventually allocated seats on a flight at 1515 and headed off to the lounge for a snack and a shower.

Qantas had a shocker.

But, you won't believe what happened next! Spoiler - it was something good - I think.