Claudette & Nev Go East! - Japan Nov 24 - LIVE!

[PoohBears#1fan]

Is there snow visible on Fuji yet?

Apparently it's the first time in 130 years it hasn't had snow on the summit by October, although I was reading the other day that it has now, I can't see any in your pictures?

This was last week...

Definitely no snow!

[Claudette]

Originally Posted by Jaybeez

A smooth journey day is always good, I was like Nev when I went to Japan and slept for most of the flight. Have a fantastic time

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Yes he did well, I am shattered though and am going to bed now at ten to eight.

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

Glad you’ve arrived safety & love the look of Nev’s toffee pudding 😋😋
Great that the pugs got in the cockpit too, how lucky 🤩
Shame no WiFi on board though, hope you can get the Pokémon cafe anyway
🙏🏻
X

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I had wanted to book the cafe shortly after take off and go later on arrival date (i.e. today) but the lack of wifi meant that was not going to happen. I have got a slot for tomorrow evening now though, there were a couple of days slots but it is the wrong side of Tokyo for our plans tomorrow.

Originally Posted by PoohBears#1fan

Is there snow visible on Fuji yet?

Apparently it's the first time in 130 years it hasn't had snow on the summit by October, although I was reading the other day that it has now, I can't see any in your pictures?

This was last week...

Definitely no snow!

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Nope there was not a drop of snow and we did turn and go around it a bit so we saw more than just one side. I would have loved to have seen it snow topped.

[Claudette]

This will just be a quick update as arrival day was a bit of a write off for me in particular, not that we had much planned for arrival day anyway. As mentioned already, the arrival into Haneda and getting to our hotel easy pretty easy, taking no more than 90 minutes and using an unbooked taxi. We spotted a Starbucks as we approached the hotel and had decided this would be our first stop after dropping bags. A well needed coffee.

Unfortunately soon after I started to feel a little unwell so we decamped to the Hilton’s executive lounge which apparently we have access to, I don’t remember that. The Hilton got a room ready for us as soon as they could and we were in our top (38th) floor room by midday. It is a perfectly pleasant room, but I had thought it would be a little bit fancier and I was not expecting single beds. To used to US twin bed rooms meaning two doubles or queens I suppose!

We got ourselves organised and showered up, but then I was done for the day as my long suffering back started to feel the effects of a long flight and I just needed to get comfortable and rest. I was also pretty shattered with the lack of sleep since Sunday.

Nev however was on a mission and set off to explore Shibuya and book our Shibuya Sky experience which unfortunately is impossible to prebook without a Japanese credit card. He had a nice afternoon but unfortunately the Shibuya Sky Rooftop set that we wanted (which is a sofa and canopies at the top) were all booked up until next week, so this is not going to happen this trip.

Meanwhile I had my old faithful room service club sandwich for a late lunch. It was a good one and reasonably priced.

Later on Nev went out again to Shinjuku and brought us back some gyoza for supper but I didn’t take a photo of these.

It is early here but we are feeling well rested now and my back is a lot better so we are probably heading to Sanrio Puroland in a few hours, we want to avoid public transport until after rush hour.

[ClaireNJ]

Originally Posted by Claudette

This will just be a quick update as arrival day was a bit of a write off for me in particular, not that we had much planned for arrival day anyway. As mentioned already, the arrival into Haneda and getting to our hotel easy pretty easy, taking no more than 90 minutes and using an unbooked taxi. We spotted a Starbucks as we approached the hotel and had decided this would be our first stop after dropping bags. A well needed coffee.

Unfortunately soon after I started to feel a little unwell so we decamped to the Hilton’s executive lounge which apparently we have access to, I don’t remember that. The Hilton got a room ready for us as soon as they could and we were in our top (38th) floor room by midday. It is a perfectly pleasant room, but I had thought it would be a little bit fancier and I was not expecting single beds. To used to US twin bed rooms meaning two doubles or queens I suppose!

We got ourselves organised and showered up, but then I was done for the day as my long suffering back started to feel the effects of a long flight and I just needed to get comfortable and rest. I was also pretty shattered with the lack of sleep since Sunday.

Nev however was on a mission and set off to explore Shibuya and book our Shibuya Sky experience which unfortunately is impossible to prebook without a Japanese credit card. He had a nice afternoon but unfortunately the Shibuya Sky Rooftop set that we wanted (which is a sofa and canopies at the top) were all booked up until next week, so this is not going to happen this trip.

Meanwhile I had my old faithful room service club sandwich for a late lunch. It was a good one and reasonably priced.

Later on Nev went out again to Shinjuku and brought us back some gyoza for supper but I didn’t take a photo of these.

It is early here but we are feeling well rested now and my back is a lot better so we are probably heading to Sanrio Puroland in a few hours, we want to avoid public transport until after rush hour.

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Argh I’m sorry you had a rough arrival day being unwell & your back was sore 🙁
Glad you’re ok now
Shame about the single beds, takes a bit of getting used to when you’re used to a king or double, but the view from your room is FAB 🤩
Enjoy x

[SuziQz]

Glad you’re feeling better and managed to get the Pokémon cafe booked 👍

[Nev20]

Vending Machine of the day - Arrival day

Japan seems to have numerous vending machines of all shapes and contents. So I have decided to share these with you on a daily basis…

Starting with this rather striking one

This is a vending machine outside ‘Taito Station’, a large entertainment venue full of crane machines (?!) in Shibuya. The contents were rather bland, but as we were flagging a little I decided to grab an iced coffee (I could have got one of the cans hot). I had seen some reports of these being awful, but decided to try it myself… I should have accepted the reports.

I also saw this one

But decided against it… how long had those oranges been in there?

[MrsEgg]

I'm glad your back is feeling better Claudette. I am loving the trip report so far!

[Pep]

Good to here your well rested and feeling better Claudette.
Looking forward to your vending machine updates Nev 😀

[Claudette]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

Argh I’m sorry you had a rough arrival day being unwell & your back was sore 🙁
Glad you’re ok now
Shame about the single beds, takes a bit of getting used to when you’re used to a king or double, but the view from your room is FAB 🤩
Enjoy x

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I think a bad back after a flight is par for the course for me these days. The beds whilst small are at least comfortable.

Originally Posted by SuziQz

Glad you’re feeling better and managed to get the Pokémon cafe booked 👍

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Yes we are going there tomorrow now as I managed to get another slot and it works better with where we will be just before (TeamLabs).

Originally Posted by MrsEgg

I'm glad your back is feeling better Claudette. I am loving the trip report so far!

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Thank you!

Originally Posted by Pep

Good to here your well rested and feeling better Claudette.
Looking forward to your vending machine updates Nev 😀

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Thank you. Nev’s next vending machine is a good one.

[Claudette]

We started the day with complimentary breakfast in the Executive Lounge on the 37th floor. It had quite a nice spread of western and Asian buffet items. We both started with a plate of general western items and then I ordered the rice omelette special and Nev ordered an egg benedict.

The main activity today was Sanrio Puroland which is about 20 miles to the east of Shinjuku and in a fairly residential looking area. We decided to take the Tokyo metro service, I think that is what it is called anyway and I will use that term going forward anyway. It is a bit like the London Underground in that some parts are overground.

Shinjuku station is a bit of a maze but we knew what colour line we needed (pink) so just kept following signs and also painted lines on the floor. We were soon on board but we struggled to work out if we needed to change or not as at a certain point the line splits but both parts remain the pink line. (A bit like the district line that goes to both Wimbledon and Richmond, it follows the same route until Earls Court and then splits). Using google maps and GPS tracking we decided we would need to change and did so just in time. The second train was much more helpful with English announcements and digital boards that hadn’t been on the first one. The total train journey took about an hour, then about a ten minute walk and we arrived at Sanrio Puroland.

We really enjoyed ourselves here, we thought it was very cute. There was a show at around midday with a light show and lots of singing and dancing.

Our favourite part was the boat ride which we waited a long time for but it was worth it. It was a much longer ride than we expected and had some surprising ups and downs.

There was also a little buggy ride on a track but it seemed to be mainly taking you to various spots for photos and then afterwards you can go and edit and buy your favourite photos. Unfortunately I haven't been able to download my digital version yet. I found the buggy a bit uncomfortable, I was on the front row and I am 5ft 8 and couldn’t even sit straight as there was no leg room, I had to side sideways and Nev was in the row behind.

There was also an attraction that was in a small theatre but the seat is quite high, you strap in and it moves along to the screen Soarin style (other than there is no height). The added fun is that you have a magic wand to zap things with and at the end they announce the top five. Nev came in fourth position. I was unplaced.

We returned to Shinjuku the same way, a bit quicker as we were on an express train.

Nev purchased tickets over Klook and paid US22.15 in a buy one get one free offer. Bargain.

We were starting to flag as the day progressed so we decided to move the Pokémon Cafe booking until the next day and had dinner in the hotel instead. On the second floor there are a few restaurants and we went for Zatta which is a cocktail bar and lounge. I ordered a tuna poke bowl which was delicious and Nev had a steak sandwich and chips which he also enjoyed.