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We returned to Morioka for dinner. Initially we had ramen in mind, but the place we had in mind was still closed for the holidays, opening again tomorrow. Therefore putting ramen off until tomorrow we decided upon an izakaya - Iwate Izakaya Joi- in iclose proximity to our hotel and that on the...

The museum itself has a token entry fee (500 yen for adults, 300 yen for 12-17 year olds) which includes all exhibits and some free experiences such as trying on samurai helmets and holding katanas (swords) that are of course safely in a box. We both enjoyed the museum, particularly ShelleyB-son...

Day 4 and we are off to chase Samurai in Kakunodate. Kakunodate is about 60km from Morioka and on the Akita shinkansen line. It has an extensive old town of samurai residences, some of which are open to the public, although many remain private. Our target today was the Aoyagi Samurai Manor...

Friday is traditionally pizza night for the ShelleyB family. Quite a few places are still closed for the new year holidays, but we did find a cosy place called Trenta. Lovely bases to the pizzas and even ShelleyB-son enjoyed the Proscuitto and Genovese once he got over it being green. My...

We only had time for a little sightseeing before sunset, so headed towards the castle ruins. Did not get much of a chance to see anything, but we’ll have more time another day.

After checkout headed to Ueno station to purchase ekiben for the trip as we would be travelling over lunch. Then onto the platforms to await the train. Which arrived exactly on time. The Ueno to Morioka journey is just over 500km and just over 2 hours with only 2 stops on the fastest journey...

Day 3 and we are heading off to Tohoku. First stop Morioka, which somehow made it onto the New York Times 52 places to go list in 2023. Apparently even residents were rather surprised. Anyway, more details to come. Started the day by packing enough in our small wheeled bag for a few days. The...

😱 Service was not great at check in, but had a much better experience of the service in the bar.

The buffet is all you can eat, and tables are assigned for 90 minutes. That is more than enough time. The savory was very good, but as befits an afternoon tea the cakes were the star of the show. ShelleyB-son and I agreed a “no limits, no judgement” policy for the afternoon. Afterwards...

As a Melbournian I was also keen to ride the local tram, the Setagaya line, one of two tram lines remaining in Tokyo. I would personally call it light rail, as it does not run down the road. But we rode it, and it did seem to fill a bit of gap in local trains. Then from a temple of cats to a...

Next stop was Gotokuji temple, which is perhaps best known as the origin of the Maneki-neko or beckoning cat story. There are many versions of the story, but the one told by the temple is that a Shogun was passing by the temple and was beckoned inside by by a cat, thus avoiding a dangeous storm...

Up earlyish as we had a temple visit planned followed by an afternoon tea at one of the big hotels. Breakfast was in the hotel restaurant. At night it is an Italian restaurant and there was a definite Italian theme to brekkie including a seafood lasagne as well as some Japanese specialties. I...

After refreshing we ate our traditional arrival dinner of fami-chicken and egg salad sandwiches from Family Mart. This was born of necessity on our first visit, where a late arrival into Tokyo left the ShelleyB-family too tired to head out further than the nearest konbini, has evolved into a...

The room continues the panda theme, things everywhere. Even the teacups have pandas. Although a small room, even for Tokyo, it has two really big things going for it. I personally find many Japanese hotel rooms overheated and often the aircon cannot be set lower. However, this aircon could be...

In Ueno we had booked the Mitsui Garden Hotel. Our accomodation this trip is almost exclusively Japanese chains and Mitsui are among the fancier. Check in easy, and ShelleyB-son well looked after with multiple panda-themed gifts. The hotel has in fact a panda-theme going on and we were staying...

Landed right on time at 3.15pm local. Through immigration in record time and despite a slight delay on baggage was out through all the processes in 45 mins. I did see a number of people who had not completed the online customs and immigration forms through the Visit Japan Web and were stuck...

Boarding at 7 for scheduled 7.20 pushback. Pushback at 7.25. First time in Premium Economy. Seats are very comfortable and roomy. They work within a shell system, sliding forward when reclined and thus not affecting the person behind. More than acceptable for a 10 hour daytime flight. The menu...

Early start, with every alarm on and wake up call set too. But actually woke up just before 3.30 anyway. T2 is about 5 mins walk from the Novotel, and we arrived just after 4am. Check in, security and immigration all smooth. JAL premium economy offers lounge access at the Marhaba Lounge. A plain...

Staying tonight at the new Novotel at the airport. Not stayed here before, and signage from the Skybus drop off point at T4 was very poor. Check in was also slow, even in the Accor priority line. Finally to room, which is fairly standard with an excellent view of…the car park Back downstairs...

As the JL774 is an early morning departure we are staying tonight at the airport. We don’t live so far away from Melbourne Airport as to make a stay completely necessary, but I prefer not to be rushing around like a loon in the morning, worrying if I have forgotten something, and no time to...