Tokyo to Tohoku 2026 (AKA how many honeymoons is too many?)

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Hello, me again!

So where to this time? Well as the old saying goes, if a bear was catholic would you hear it fall? Or something like that...

We decided to do it a little differently this time though! Off the beaten Aussie paths of Hokkaido, Nagano and Niigata and into uncharted territory for both of us, the great white north of Honshu! No Singapore or Hong Kong stopovers this time unforunately, just SYD-HND return.

The trip was only booked 12 days prior to travel. I'd been umming and ahhing about it for a while but the catalyst was finally being able to get through to payment on a JAL First reward through Qantas (and a pretty decent snow forecast!). Unfortunately after repeated attempts to unlock business seats home I had to settle for a classic plus reward for myself and my wife in economy. Immediately submitted an upgrade request as well. While I was happy with the 155000 points for the first reward, paying 143000 points for economy (plus another 83000) to upgrade was easily my worst redemption yet.

With flights booked it was on to itinerary planning. After a very chaotic few days in Tokyo in summer 2025 we wanted to return in winter to see what the 'overtourism' looked like in another season. I also found a stay plus free night for one of our most aniticipated new hotels, The Fairmont Tokyo, which combined with ALL points for the 3rd night meant we paid $1300aud for 3 nights compared with a full price rate of over $4000. This redemption certainly softened the blow of the awful flight price, as did the strong AUD to JPY.

After Tokyo we headed north, all the way to Aomori for a whistle stop tour of the snowiest city/prefecture in Japan. After a night here it was off to Morioka for 3 nights, Sendai for 2 and then Bandai Atami Onsen in Fukishima for 2 nights before returning to Tokyo and staying Villa Fontaine Grand HND T3 for our last night.

As usual I'll break the trip up by day with some summaries of flights and accommodation as well.

I know this is just 1 of 5 or 6 Japan trip reports going on right now so I appreciate if you read this at all and hope you'll stick along for the ride!

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 1 (Part 1):

Much like my last trip report, one of the most anticipated parts of this adventure was over by the conclusion of the first day...

As i mentioned above I had been seeing availabilty for JAL F through QFF for months prior. Unfortunately most of this was ghost availability with nothing showing either on Qantas' end when calling or on ExpertFlyer. Finally on the 6th Jan EF showed availability across all cabins on JL52 for an 18th Jan departure. From here I checked if it would allow me to proceed to payment which it did. This was the catalyst to scramble on return flights though as you saw above nothing too special came of this.

So after a Saturday night wedding of 2 really close friends, and both with some sore heads ourselves we loaded the suitcases and ski/board bag and set off to SYD. P7 Valet has been working a treat for us both convenience and cost wise so we pulled up as usual, unloaded the gear and said goodbye to the car. Up into the check in area and then a long walk alllllll the way to the K departure zone. Check in was fairly prompt for JAL F with only 2 groups ahead of us. After the bags were tagged and sent on their way we conveniently found a new(?) oversize drop off right behind the K check in area. A good thing to know if you are closer to this side of the terminal rather than having to go all the way back past the A row.

Back the opposite way to fast track security and immigration. All in all from Parking the car to duty free took about 15 minutes, most of which was walking from 1 end of the terminal to the other!

Hunger starting to come on and a craving for a coffee to at least stay awake until the flight (at this stage we were running on about 4 hours sleep) we headed straight to the QF first lounge for our first visit of the year (maybe last) and first breakfast visit for a few years.




We both had some yoghurt and muesli before my wife had the fritters and we shared the bacon and egg roll. Both very good as usual but I was saving myself somehwhat for the culinary trip we were about to embark on!



We left the lounge and headed to the gate where boarding was about to commence and almost strolled straight onto the plane. Now, spoiler alert, we have actually sat in these seats before. If you've read my last trip report there was an equipment change from Hong Kong to Tokyo in June 2025 and at the gate we were 'upgraded' to the forward cabin, however seat aside that flight was nothing like this!




Awaiting us at each seat was a pillow, blanket, water bottle and gender specific 'gift' from Shiseido.



We quickly put our carry ons above and then stowed our personal items under the huge ottomans in front and settled in. We were offered a welcome drink while I perused the menu.





We'd already made our decisions based on seeing the menu online prior to departure but the presentation within the leather bound case was still wonderful!

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 1 (Part 2):

The last thing to be handed out before take off were the amenity kits from Heralbony.





They contained the usual lotion and lip balm from Payot as well as a moisture mask, eye shade, tissues, dental kit/mouthwash, ear plugs and a very useful charger (USB-A to USB-C/lightning) which got a workout on our trip. The artwork also came with a touching story. (The black and gold case was the womens 'gift')

We departed the gate about 5 minutes behind schedule and left a very dreary Sydney morning behind.



After we pierced through the clouds and the seatbelt sign turned off I went to the bathroom only to be hit by some of the most intense turbulence we'd experienced. Seatbelt sign coming back on I just made it back to the seat before we got tossed around for about 5 minutes. Thankfully that was the last of the turbulence for the whole flight.

We asked for pyjamas which we were provided promptly. They were lovely and thick and fit me very well, much better than even Qantas' L/XL size do (which really feel like a small L). My only gripe would be that despite being warm and cozy, they were almost too warm for the flight given the temp JAL keep their cabins at.

As i mentioned previously we had decided to make use of the buddy dining seat to share both the Japanese Washoku courses and the western menu to take full advantage of this flight. But first Champagne (unfortunately not Salon but still tasty, and expensive) and some caviar, which is actually listed on the snack menu.




After this the true culinary experience began, and went on for about the next 2 hours!
It started with the seasonal 5 colour delicacy. Hopefully you can read the menu above but the tuna and crab ball were standouts from this lot.




This was followed by the amuse bouch which was a cold pumpkin soup and really the only all around miss of the meal as the texture was very thick. After this came the western entree of prawns and smoked salmon which were tasty and fresh.



Next was what I guess you'd call the entrees for the Japanese menu, marinated salmon and a potato potage with truffle. The salmon was delicious while the potage tasted great but similar to the soup had a bit of a strange consistency for mine.

 

[elanshin]

Ah awesome, you got the JAL F.

I tried so hard to get HND - SYD JAL F back right around these few days but all the flight's back on JL F were ghost phantoms. I'd found all the flights connecting around from South East Asia where we were finishing up all our extended family wedding activities.

Hope you enjoyed the trip.
PS. If you need more honeymoon locations.... Raffles Bali ..

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 1 (Part 3):

Following the Japanese entrees we received the second hors d'oeuvres from the western menu which was seared scallops. These were among the best scallops I've had as far as texture and mouth feel go which was hugely impressive on a plane. The flavour wasn't bad either though more scallops to the ratio of salad would've been welcome.



After the completion of all entree courses the main plate for the Japanese meal was served which was roast beef, along with 2 serves of the chicken rice and miso soup. The beef was great, albeit a little chewy, paired with a delicious sauce that had a good numbing kick from the sansho. The chicken rice was delicious and the miso again amongst some of the best we've had in the air or on the ground.



At this point my wife started tapping out as we were well and truly testing the limits of our stomachs. The crew though had other plans bringing us both western main options! The sea bass was moist and quite tender with a subtle umami to the mussel sauce. The beef was again a little overcooked but the sauce was rich and deep and paired really well with the cheese polenta. (Side note, not the only polenta we were served on a flight on this trip but my many many miles the best...)




Finally dessert time and I think they realised we had nearly reached our limits as they asked what we were after. We opted to just share the Japanese Yuzu Warabi Mochi and paired it with some of the famous Queen of Blue Tea. The Mochi was super light and very tasty, a perfect way to end the somewhat overindulgent meal!




Full to the point of bursting we asked for our seats to be shifted to bed mode and settled in for some screen time.



The bed was huge and very comfortable with the air weave mattress, although not as good as QF F, but probably more comfortable that the SQ suites bed. JALs entertainment is one small area it lets itself down in but I still found enough to watch to pass a few hours.

We had looked at the snack menu and both decided we wanted to try the cheeseburger so rather than taking the full second light meal service we both just enjoyed 1 each. The tomato was flicked aside pretty quickly but for a burger reheated on a plane it was pretty darn tasty! (Just not particularly photogenic).



We changed into warmer clothes shortly after and about an hour later started our descent into Tokyo. On the approach into Haneda we were treated to a sunset glimpse of Fuji.



After landing the arrivals process was as straightforward as ever. Through immigration with out visitjapanweb QR codes. Bags literally came out first and second. Then a short wait at oversized, though nothing compared to our return to Sydney. After this it was through customs and straight onto a rapid Monorail to Hamamatsucho. All in from deplaning to arriving at our hotel it was a 1 hour and 40 minute journey which is one of the quicker journeys we've had.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Ah awesome, you got the JAL F.

I tried so hard to get HND - SYD JAL F back right around these few days but all the flight's back on JL F were ghost phantoms. I'd found all the flights connecting around from South East Asia where we were finishing up all our extended family wedding activities.

Hope you enjoyed the trip.
PS. If you need more honeymoon locations.... Raffles Bali ..

Yeah I pretty much gave up on the return, it just doesn't seem to actually exist. What an incredibly frustrating process though!
Will keep that in mind. They're probably better called Anniversary trips from now on though, I think a 4th honeymoon is taking the p*ss a bit (though the same could be said about the 2nd and 3rd...)