Experience in Hakodate, Hokkaido ( Part I )

(Above) On board the Airport Limousine bus, leaving Narita airport

Hakodate was our first stop. It is port city which has a thriving fishing industry and that was the main reason why we were there, to get a taste of perhaps the freshest and value for money Japanese seafood. We made a comparison of prices and found that indeed, the quality and price for far better than those in the other cities we visited in Japan. As JAL doesn't have a direct flight to Hakodate from Tokyo Narita International airport, we had to take an airport limousine bus shuttle service from Tokyo Narita to Tokyo Haneda Domestic terminal, about an hour plus away.

(Above) On the road to Haneda airport from Narita.

One thing about travelling is that the small sums do add up to an amount as transport in Japan free and easy is not cheap. Of course, we could have taken a cheaper way by transferring via train from Narita to Haneda but in terms of time, ease of convenience, we felt the money was well spent, especially if you are lugging your luggage around. Another thing about their buses, public ones included is that the ride is so smooth and quiet, unlike buses in Singapore which are noisy and jerky.

(Above ) Taking a shot in front of Haneda airport's Christmas tree

At Haneda, we had a few hours to kill so we walked around and explored their shopping area and took some photographs. One thing though if you are taking domestic flights within Japan is to check in early so that you know whether the flight has been cancelled due to winter weather conditions and allow yourself ample time to get replacement seats on a earlier or later connecting flight. This happened to us once when flying in from Chitose airport in Hokkaido to Haneda airport in Tokyo.

Reaching Hakodate airport at around 2pm, we took the Hakodate airport limousine bus from the airport to Hakodate central where our hotel is located. One thing that we noted in Hakodate is that life is more leisurely and there are much less people around the streets. Another thing is that small kei cars are in abundance, probably as the Japanese people there are very environmentally conscious based on the local news we watched there where local citizens confront their government officials over waste dumps etc. (Above) In front of our hotel - Hotel Royal Hakodate, which is about 10 minutes walk from the JR train station and bus interchange and 15 minutes walk from the fresh seafood market.(Above)Reaching the JR Hakodate Train station. It's only 4.36pm in the afternoon as Gayle points to the clock in the background but it's already a chilly dark night.

(Above) At Bus stop No 4 at the main bus interchange checking to see what time the bus to Mt.Hakodate is coming. It's about 8 degrees.

(Above) Us in the chilly winter night on Mt Hakodate. It was a challenge to take out my glove within the fastest time to operate our camera before my hands freeze. The cold is very biting.

(Above) The view from the highest point in Hakodate- Mt Hakodate. At this time it was about 5.50pm in the evening. We took a cable tram up. A good time to go would be to reach there just before 4pm and watch the sky turn from noon to dark and you can get good shots of both day and night. The skies turn dark by 4.15 - 4.30pm.

(Above) Their Christmas shopping area, a kilometre away from the train station. Lots of souvenirs and chocolates, biscuits with the Hakodate , Hokkaido theme on sale there. The place seems empty but don't be fooled because everyone is inside the shops taking shelter from the chilly winds.
(Above) Along the seafront area where they have their Christmas lightup and pushcarts, foodstalls. At this point, my hands are freezing but I need my bare hands to adjust the camera and stand. (Above) Having a hot vegetable soup never felt so good in the chilly weather. They have a row of booths selling different types of hot soup. You have to purchase a ticket from the main booth and then exchange it at the booth of your choice which sells the soup that you want.
(Above ) Our first dinner in Hakodate - Pork belly Ramen with soy sauce soup base. Notice that their soup spoon has a jagged edge to 'hook' onto the bowl to prevent it from sliding into the soup. Cost about 500 yen.

(Above) Early morning view from our hotel shows that Hakodate has a low lying buildup area.
(Above ) Gayle in front of the morning Hakodate seafood market. It's about 7 in the morning.

(Above ) Hokkaido Crabs galore on sale

(Below) Roasting our crabs

We spent some time looking through the rows of seafood inns at the market over the next few days in Hakodate and what helps is that they display the dried food items in glass panels with the pricing(above). We finally settled on one inn which had more people eating in it and the waitress was very friendly and helpful, patiently diciphering our hand signals what we wanted to order.

(Above) Gayle posing in front of the inn that we frequented for our daily dose of Hokkaido seafood.

(Below) Our seafood meals over the next few days in Hakodate - fresh sashimi prawns with prawn roe, sea urchin, crab legs, scallop, salmon and roe
(Above ) Crab leg with scallops and sea urchin


(Above) Crab legs with shreds of crab meat.
(Above) Salmon belly, prawns with roe, scallops and sea urchin
(Above) Salmon roe and scallops

(Below) Scallop and prawn miso based soup ramen

(Below) Our smiling and happy faces just show how much we enjoyed eating in Hakodate.

An enjoyable honeymoon in Japan - Hakodate, Hokkaido

(Above) Us sharing a romantic winter moment in Sapporo, Hokkaido with the Sapporo TV tower in the background

We just got back from our close to 2 weeks honeymoon in Japan. Japan was an interesting experience, customised to our interests - sightseeing,shopping and makan. Of all the areas in Japan we visited - Hakodate, Noboribetsu, Sapporo in Hokkaido and Shinjuku, Harajuku, Ikebukuro, Maihama in Tokyo, we thought that the people were more gracious and friendly in Hokkaido as compared to Tokyo though the people in Ikebukuro were equally friendly.

Things that struck us was that the Japanese sales people are really good in their customer service, not once did we get any look of dismay or frustration when we tried things and walked out without purchasing. When we did purchase, they asked about what the purchases were for, if it was for presents, they would ask how they could wrap it up for us, gave us extra designed plastic bags to choose to provide to recipients. When they did not have what we wanted, they apologized profusely. One thing we had to get used to was that even in the small shops, after we made our purchases, the sales people would personally see us to the shop entrance and wish us a good day etc. Another thing is that the Japanese are perfectionists in their design and packaging, from their gifts, cakes, even their packed disposable chopsticks come with a toothpick for digging out the food from your teeth after meal. Just in their nature to think to the smallest detail.
(Above) Toothpick packaged with a pair of disposable chopsticks

Along the way, we saw many humourous english signages which just got us giggling about what they meant. Some samples of what we saw..enjoy.

Weather wise, Hokkaido was naturally cold with Sapporo the coldest with temperatures falling to -2 degrees celcius but the snow scenery made up for it. Tokyo was much warmer and manytimes, we just wore a t shirt and jacket over and we were warm.

(Above) Sapporo winter from our hotel suite on the 20th floor

Well, we will try to put up shots of our trip to Japan in the next few postings for our family and friends. Cheers, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers.

Eugin and Gayle

Days 11 and 12 - Tokyo

(Above) Shinjuku at night

For Days 11 and 12, we will probably spend the day discovering whether there are any new places to visit while we are in Tokyo and also look into the places which we may want to revisit. This would be good so that we can spend earlier days checking out the prices and variety of some items which we may want to buy and then do the purchases on the last 2 days. We may skip the usual touristy areas like Tokyo city and Ginza within the Tokyo metropolitan areas and seek out new areas to discover. After all, that's the fun of doing a trip on your own, you can choose where and what you want to go and do in line with your own personal preferences. For us, our preference is to shop and discover new unique insights in the places we visit and of course, food! For Day 12, we requested a later flight at 5pm which will give us at least half a day more to shop around. The travelling time from Shinjuku to Tokyo Narita Airport(international flights) is between 1.5hrs to 2hrs depending on traffic conditions so you may want to factor that in when planning your program.

Day 10 - 4th Day in Tokyo

(Above ) Mt. Fuji - the icon of Japan

We will leave the hotel by 6.15am so that we can walk a leisurely pace and reach JR Shinjuku station by 6.45am. We will have to purchase a set of two 1 way ordinary train tickets at ¥1150 from Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto. This must be used in conjunction with the set of two Romancecar Shinkansen tickets at ¥870 we reserved and bought the day earlier. To get to our train, we have to crossover tp the private Odakyu Odawara Line which is parallel to the JR platforms on the west side. It is located on ground level, which is a level below the Odayku department store.
(Above) Romancecar Shinkansen

As this is our first ride on a Shinkansen(bullet train), I have read a little about the Romancecar Shinkansen (above) which is a series 50000 train that has the driver’s cabin located above the passenger carriage so that passengers can get a bird eye view out of the front of the train. So if you can, try to reserve the first row seat for an unobstructed view of where the train is heading.The train tilts at high speed through tight curving tracks along the way. The train won a good design award in 2005 and 2006.

On board the train, we will probably look to buying our breakfast. I plan to get the Romancecar Ekiben(boxed meal) which will allow us to take back a souvenir of the Romancecar. See above and below for the Ekiben.

The trip from Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto takes about 1.5 hrs. We will take this time to rest or look at the passing scenery(below) Who knows, we may catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji.

(Above) Romancecar pulling into Hakone Yumoto Station, our destination

(Above) Hakone Yumoto Train Station

Upon reaching Hakone Yumoto, we will head to the Yumoto Tourist Office opened daily from 9.30am to 5.30pm to find out more information on Hakone.

I will be checking out in particular how to get to Sounzan which is where the terminal station for the Hakone Tozan Cablecar is located. Apparently, the trip from Sounzan to Togendai on Lake Ashi, symbol of Hakone, will take us 30 minutes.

What makes it worth the trip would be to gaze out from the large windows of the Swiss-made cable car cabins which will allow us to appreciate the sweeping natural beauty of Hakone’s unspoiled foliage and terrain. Owakudani, one of the stations along the way, offers magnificent views of Mount Fuji(above) and hot springs (below) in what is still an active volcanic region.

I will also be checking how we can reach our next point – Gotemba ,either from Togendai Cable Car Station or from our original start point – Hakone Yumoto. Gotemba is a place where 8 days magazine recommended as a place to shop at. Just a visit to the webpage of the shops and brands represented at the Gotemba Premium Outlets and you will know why you can shop till you drop.

The Gotemba concept is a unique shopping experience which puts a cluster of well known shops and retailers in an extra ordinary setting, among the mountains and scenery.

From Gotemba, we will check which is more feasible and convenient to make our way back to Shinjuku. From what I have read, it seems that the most convenient one is to hop a ride on the Kousokubusbus service which leaves from the Gotemba Premium outlet and reaches JR Shinjuku station west exit stop in 2.5 hrs. The one way fare is ¥1700 per person.

Assuming we leave the place at 5pm, we will reach Shinjuku at around close to 8pm. We will probably grab a dinner and head back to our hotel for a break and looking through any shopping buys.

Day 9 - 3rd Day in Tokyo

Waking up at 6.00am , we set off at 7.00 am for Shinjuku station. At Shinjuku station, we will probably get some breakfast. Today, we plan to spend the day at Tokyo Disneyland. However before that, we will head for the Odakyu Sightseeing Service Centre to enquire about getting tickets and information for our trip to Hakone the next day to catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji. The Odakyu Sightseeing Service Centre is located on the 1st floor of Shinjuku Station on the West side of the Odakyu Shinjuku Station platform.

We plan to take the opportunity to take a Shinkansen ( Bullet Train) of which there are a number of types in Japan. The one we are planning to take is the Romansuka ( Romance Cars) which has love seats for couples as the double seats have no armrests to separate a couple, hence the term- Romancecars. A round ticket for one person from Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto is ¥4040(SGD$64). This is inclusive of the limited express surcharge one has to pay in addition to the normal train ticket price since the Romancecars are limited express services[¥870+¥1150]. More on the Romancecar in our next posting on the Hakone trip.

Back to our Disneyland trip. After settling our tickets and information requests for our Hakone trip, we will head to the ticket station to purchase tickets to JR Maihama station where Tokyo Disneyland can be reached. Based on research, it will be good for us to catch the 8.51am train via the JR Chuo line from Shinjuku station at platform 7. It is a much simpler route since we only have one transfer to make. That is, we will only need to transfer at Tokyo Station from the JR Chuo line to JR Keiyo line which will take us direct to Maihama Station. We should reach Maihama Station by 9.40am. The ticket fare one way is ¥380(SGD$6.10) per person. A useful website which one can use to get JR train schedules and costing in advance is from http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi .

Reaching JR Maihama Station(above) which is the main access point of Tokyo Disney Resort, we will be able to see the park's main gate located in front of the station as well as the Resort Gateway Station of the Disney Resort Line monorail. The Disney monorail is worth a photography or two due to it’s unique Mickey Mouse-shaped windows and hand straps which sports a different accent color on the nose and sides. The seats in the monorail are shaped and colored to represent Mickey’s button pants. However, since we are only heading for Disneyland only, we don’t plan to take the monorail(below) as it is more useful for those who are travelling to the Disney hotels or from Disneyland to Disney Sea World. Moreover, the 1 day pass on the monorail costs ¥650(SGD$10.40) per person and we can put that money to better use. It would also be wasted since we will only be within Disneyland.

If like us, you are heading only to Disneyland from Maihama station, then it’s probably much easier and faster and to just walk from the station via an elevated walkway a distance of 335m to the entrance of Disneyland. For those who have not bought tickets to Disneyland in advance, they will have to head for the Tokyo Disneyland Resort Welcome Centre on the left after exiting Maihama station to purchase the tickets. Those who will be staying at the Disney hotels can also check in at the Centre.

Just a little trivia, Tokyo Disneyland is the only Disneyland that is not owned by Walt Disney but rather by a company known as the Oriental Land Company. One more reason to access Disneyland via the elevated walkway is that the main store for Disney merchandise known as Bon Voyage(below) is located along the way. It is shaped like a giant suitcase and hatbox and has been described as a Disney store on steroids, meaning it has the grandest selection of Disney merchandise available under one roof anywhere in Japan, even more than within the park itself.

We have been warned that we have to be prepared to spend at least an hour in it gawking and controlling our urges to buy every single item we see there. A good place to pick up souvenirs. We will probably look around and see what we plan to buy and then come back again after we have visited Disneyland as we do not want to be carrying so much stuff around the park. One thing good is you don’t have to worry about rushing back to the store as it closes one hour after the parks close at 6pm. For those who just want to buy merchandise but don’t wish to pay admission fee to get into the park, it is a godsend!

Entering the park after the customary bag check at the ticketing area, we will be planning to move in a clockwise direction, starting from Adventureland to Fantasyland and then ending at Tomorrowland.

As there will probably be queues around, we plan to go for the popular rides during lunchtime so that crowds will be lesser and also being a weekday in winter, there will be less people. We will probably grab meals from the many stands around so that while queuing for the rides, we can munch on food instead of wasting precious time queuing just to get into the eateries or restaurants. We heard that the smoked turkey drumstick is something to look out for. It is sold at the takeaway stands and is value for money plus delicious and tender. It costs ¥472(SGD$7.55) per drumstick and will fill you up. I know Gayle will be looking out for her favourite caramel popcorn, which I read in reviews stating that it’s so fresh and the caramel heavenly! One bag costs ¥300(SGD$4.80).

We will probably use our Fastpass to gain entrance to the haunted mansion located in Fantasyland which is a more popular ride. Fastpass tickets are dispensed by machines outside each attraction that uses them. The guest inserts his/her park ticket into a reader on the machine. The machine then returns the admission ticket and a Fastpass ticket will be printed. This ticket will show the time at which the guest may enter the special priority line at that attraction. The time period given is normally one hour for rides, and 15 minutes for theatrical presentations. It will also show when another Fastpass can be obtained. Fastpass allows visitors like us to avoid long lines at the attractions on which the system is installed, freeing us to enjoy other attractions and then come back at the pre-fixed time with a reserved place for the ride.

We will probably stay until latevening before leaving the park and heading for Bon Voyage. After which we will return to Shinjuku via the JR line. Reaching Shinjuku about 7plus in the evening, it would be time to look for some dinner. We plan to head for a thematic restaurant called ‘The Lock Up’ located at Kabuki-cho 1-16-3, Shinjuku Square Bldg. 6-7F. It has a hybrid prison/dungeon/horror movie theme where customers are led to tables inside stone cells by waitresses in plastic-miniskirt police uniforms. There, one of us will be chained while we are "locked up" in a cell which is where we will have our meals. Before the meals start, customers will be given 2 complimentary choice of coloured vitamin pills.The menu is filled with bizarre drinks (the most well-known of which consists of a rack of test tubes filled with flavored syrups, a flask full of alcohol, and a beaker to mix everything in) and imaginatively titled food. Twice every night, a "jailbreak" is staged in which the lights go out and costumed hoodlums scare the living daylights out of random patrons. It is opened from 5pm to 5am. After this interesting concept dinner, we will probably do some shopping around Shinjuku area before returning to our hotel.