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TOKYO, JAPAN _{11th Year Anniversary in Japan (Tokyo Leg)}

July 2019 – 11th Year Celebration !!

On our way to #JaFun 🇯🇵

It’s my first time while it’s his second. Our Plan A was to trek Mt Fuji, but oh well, there’s always a Plan B!

We flew from Singapore to Tokyo (NRT) via Scoot Airlines.

We bought our Suica Cards online from a re-seller in Singapore for S$5 and had it reloaded in Narita Airport for S$100 each. Suica cards are usable in different cities in Japan and a much cheaper option as compared to JR Pass.

We also got ourselves a 24-hr Tokyo Metro Pass (S$10) to use on Day 1 city tour around Tokyo. It’s unlimited; it can be used for the Tokyo Metro lines all you want! This ticket provides a more efficient and more reasonable way to travel around the greater Tokyo area.

TOKYO

Touchdown Narita Airport ✈️

From the airport, we traveled by train to Asakusa station for our hotel – Smile Asakusa Hotel which is a 10-min walk where Tokyo Skytree can be seen. The hotel is cheap but decent considering it’s not a hostel with a shared bathroom (we have our own bathroom). However, the room is very small – good for couples to stay. Location-wise, it’s very convenient to walk to the metro station and other nearby attractions.

On our first night – using our 24-hr Tokyo Metro Pass, we scheduled to meet my boyfriend’s cousin at Tsukiji Market for dinner. We ended up eating at Sushizanmai. This local sushi restaurant is everywhere – famous for its affordable, oishi, big a$s sushi platters.

Look at that face 😋

After dinner, we decided to have a quick run to see Tokyo Tower. We didn’t go to any observation deck as we realized we won’t be able to take a nice photo of it behind the glass, and opted to went near it – it’s free!

Then to Shibuya Crossing. Japanese people are so disciplined and organized – it’s amazing to just watch them cross the street.

For our next day, we can’t decide which one to go to… we’ve read a lot of stories about it and it only made us more confused (in a good way) and more excited than ever. So, guess what? We went to both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea on separate days, of course, to maximize the time.

Before we headed to Disneyland, we got our coffee and breakfast from 7-11. There are a lot of convenience stores and vending machines everywhere in Japan. It’s so convenient that one can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our favorite to-go snack is the melon bread 😋

The famous melon pan!

It’s one way to save money instead of getting hotel bookings inclusive of breakfast, and time.

Tokyo Disneyland

Exciting days ahead!
Rejoice, Disney babies – this is literally the happiest place on Earth! We don’t have many photos on this day since we’re so busy deciding which ride to go first and lining up for rides, and sadly, it was raining.

My happily ever after ~ ✨

Here’s our top pick rides:

Pooh’s Hunny Hunt
Space Mountain
Haunted Mansion
it’s a small world
Big Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
Star Tours: The Adventure Continues

Splash Mountain and Monster’s Inc were always a top choice from others, but both were closed that day.

Tokyo DisneySea

This is by far, the best theme park ever! Don’t miss the chance to visit DisneySea if you happen to go to Japan. Contrary to popular belief, DisneySea is far way better than Disneyland. Others might opt to do the classic Disneyland only; don’t do the same mistake. When caught between two parks, go for this unique experience – thrilling rides (not just for kids like Disneyland) and amusing architectures.

Indeed, this is the happiest place on earth!

Here’s our top pick rides:

Tower of Terror (!!!!!!!!) – ‘go big or go home’ ride!
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – one of a kind ride
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull

The rest of the rides are fun but these were our top 4 ones shouldn’t miss. Others will suggest to get the Fast Pass tickets – we didn’t. We managed to make the most out of it despite the long queue and even without the FP Pass ticket. Just be sure to be there early, bring snacks to munch while in line, and prioritize FP labeled rides.

❝If you can dream it, you can do it.❞

~ Walt Disney

One last thing not to miss: Fantasmic! show in Mediterranean Harbor.

Ahhhhhh… Disney!

The next day was a bit relaxed. We planned to view the Mt Fuji in Chureito Pagoda but we decided not to spend time back in Tsukiji Market for F-O-O-D!

Tsukiji Market has a whole stretch of streets just for food – grilled and fresh seafood, matcha-flavored everything, ramen, Kobe beef, name it!

The next stop was Harajuku that is renowned for colorful street art and youth fashion, with quirky finds.

Rainbow everywhere!

We found a secret store where one can find a lot of different photo booths – Japanese style!
We used to have these kinds of photo booths in the Philippines (90s kids will know) but I guess it ran out of demand because of the selfie gen kids.

This photo has been printed out and was downloaded from the app: as one and each photo separately; it came as a video (GIF ^{not posted as the file is too large to upload}) too!

What a fun day it was! We had a lot of time to spare so dropped by the Meiji Temple nearby Shinjuku.

_{FYI: Tripods are not allowed in this area.}

Before heading back to hotel, we had a quick stroll and passed by the Sensoji Temple.

_{Random street art along the street to Sensoji Temple}

_{Majestic Sensoji Temple at night ✨}

Tip: When visiting the Sensoji Temple, go at night to avoid the crowds and the heat.

Around the temple, there are a lot of shops for souvenirs and food. We decided to skip a proper dinner and have another food trip session for us to have more different food choices.

We decided to head back to the hotel earlier than usual to pack our things for our transfer.

Hope you enjoyed the first part of our tour in Japan!
See you on our next destination -- Osaka 👋😎

^{Duplicate post on paulajogalix.wordpress.com.}

Jo Alix

_{A Filipino currently living and working as a corporate warrior in Singapore, aiming to share experiences with the people who have the same interests. The goal is to be traveling one country at a time while keeping sustainability in mind, so hoping to inspire other travel junkies too!

Don't forget to vote, comment and follow!}

Ja-FUN Ja-FUN in Tokyo

July 2019 – 11th Year Celebration !!

TOKYO

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo DisneySea

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