Tag: tokyo

Japan 2018 Day 21: Travel

May 23, 2018
Japan2018

Today we were leaving Japan. We had an amazing trip, enjoyed the sights, trains, but especially the food.


Having breakfast at Haneda Airport.


One of the offerings at a kiosk, Shrimp & Broccoli sandwich.


I opted for breakfast ramen.


Gillian atop of Mt Fuji.


Gillian with her stuffed Totoro in her knapsack.


Our trip home was through Beijing.


Boarding our plane in Beijing.


We said our goodbyes to Shanna who was heading to Kelowna and then home. Gillian and Susan still in good travel spirits.


Waiting for Angela and Claudia to pick us up at Pearson.

Japan 2018 Day 20: Tokyo – Shinjuku

May 22, 2018
Japan2018

Today was our last full day in Japan. We started the day walking around Shinjuku. This was a fish market unloading styrofoam containers.


A delivery truck with some beer kegs.


This was Godzilla hanging out atop a cinema.


We also made a stop at the National Bank of Japan so Gillian could exchange a really old 10,000 YEN bill that G0ma and G-pa had given to her for the trip.


It was like walking into a movie scene, the bank was empty of any other customers, but the security was intense.


There was a Japanese Boy Band performing in a mall.


Our last dinner in Japan was at another conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Tokyo station.


Gillian and I went to the subway station near our hotel to return our Pasmo cards and get a refund on our deposits.


We stayed at the same hotel as our first night. It was close to Haneda Airport.

Japan 2018 Day 19: Tokyo – Harajuku/Shibuya

May 21, 2018
Japan2018

Today we were exploring the Harajuku and Shibuya areas of the city.


We started by going to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation deck.


A circular traffic light in Shinjuku.


We made another stop at a location in the movie Your Name.


Heading to Meiji Shrine.


Sake barrel wall in Yoyogi park.


Ordering our ramen lunch from a machine.


A Richards in Harajuku.


Then it was on to Shibuya to see the crazy crosswalk.


Shanna with the Hachiko statue.

The Shibuya Crossing.


In typical tourist fashion we crossed a few times.


Mario kart racers.


This group of people ran out as soon as the light changed to take a group photo.


Susan on the crossing.


My camera got a workout on this trip.


No eating sign with an onigiri.


A gas station in Tokyo. The hoses hang from the roof.

Japan 2018 Day 18: Kanazawa to Tokyo

May 20, 2018
Japan2018

We made our way back to Tokyo today. It was our last ride on the bullet train. We really enjoyed our travel by rail using the JR rail pass.


The scenery on the way back was nice, especially with the sunny weather after a couple of overcast days in Kanazawa.


We were able to see Mt Fuji off in the distance.


After dropping off our bags at our hotel we made our way to the Tokyo Dome.


The lineup to get into the store to get our Giants gear.


We had tickets to the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants vs the Yokohama DeNa Baystars.


The beers girls have a keg on their back and they pour draft beer at your seat.


They had four mascots.


The sections are based on the team you are rooting for. Except for the one guy in orange.


Enjoying a onigiri at the game.


The Giants ended up on the wrong side of a 10-2 final score.


Gillian checking out the capsule toy vending machines.


A shelf of onigiri in a Lawsons.


We finally got to experience a packed subway train in Tokyo.


The Studio Ghibli store on Charater Street under the Tokyo train station.


A lineup for a restaurant in Tokyo Station.


We Skyped with Angela and Claudia a few times throughout our trip.

Japan 2018 Day 3: Tokyo

May 5, 2018
Japan2018

Our first full day in Tokyo. Our view from our hotel.

In the breakfast area of the hotel, there was a vending machine with nigiri, unfortunately it was out of order.


Our first task was to figure out to get our Pasmo cards, they are cards that work on the subways and at convenience stores. You load them up and then just tap when entering the subways.


One of the reasons we had just carry on luggage as we would be doing a lot of this in the subways.


We headed to our second hotel. It was the APA Hotel Hatchobori-eki Minami that was close to the Tsukiji market area.


The market was very busy.


with lots of interesting seafood and food.


We got some grilled squid.


From the Tsukji market we headed for the Imperial Palace gardens.


Our final stop of the day was Asakusa.


The gate to Senso-ji Temple


It is also Tokyo’s biggest souvenir market.


The Senso-ji temple is an ancient Buddhist temple. It is Tokyo’s oldest temple, and one of its most significant.

Japan 2018 Day 1 and 2: Travel

May 4, 2018
Japan2018

We started our Japan 2018 Adventure bright and early, Angela and Claudia drove us to the airport for our milk run to Tokyo. Here are Susan and Gillian waiting for our first flight from Toronto to Vancouver where we were meeting up with Shanna.


From Vancouver it was on to Tokyo via stop in Beijing, China.It was a long journey, we went from Toronto to Vancouver (5 hours), then Vancouver to Beijing (11 hours), and then Beijing to Tokyo-Haneda (3 hours). Here we are on the Vancouver to Beijing leg.


We arrived at Tokyo Haneda airport around 9:30pm on Friday and cleared customs. We took a shuttle bus to our hotel that was only about 5 minutes from the airport.