I visited Japan in mid February. In this trip, I went to Aizu, Nikko and Hakone as you see the above map. I also have taken several attractive trains in this trip. I would like to share my experience.
First of all, I arrived at Narita airport by Japan Airline flight from Vancovuer, Canada. I would line to tell you about the first day in Tokyo.
My flight arrived 30 minutes earlier. My original itinerary was supposed to be the following:
16:30 Arrival at Narita airport
18:19 Departure from Narita Daini station by Narita Express #44
19:17 Arrival at Tokyo station
But I have done custom and immigration in actually 20 minutes! And I went to third floor in the airport terminal building to receive WIFI router at the post office. WIFI route is my life line. I can’t survive without this device. And then I jumped into JR ticket office, booked Narita Express and purchased Suica. And I hopped in Narita Express.
My revised itinerary was the following:
15:50 Arrival at Narita airport
16:48 Departure from Narita Daini station by Narita Express #42
17:46 Arrival at Tokyo station
I saved 1.5 hour at that point. I expected I would be able to take 30 minutes earlier Narita Express. But everything was so smooth and completed much faster.
I checked in the hotel in Akihabara and left my luggage. I started to explore night in Tokyo.
My first place to visit was this.
Yes! It’s World famous Tokyo Skytree. But I did not go up. The reason why I visited there was purchasing ticket. I was going to take Yagan railway and Aizu railway on next day. In Tokyo, only Tobu railway’s travel agent sells 2 days unlimited ride ticket. Most of travel agent were closed at 19:00 But Tobu travel agent at Tokyo Skytree opened until 21:00.
By the way, I saw Tokyo Skytree at Kinshicho station. It was better view.
And then I went back to Akihabara and went to Yodobashi Camera and book store. Because I had to buy the toys and some books for my daughter and my wife. They gave me the wish list. I had to finish my business first. 🙂
I finished the shopping and I was starving. When I planned, I have researched cheap local restaurant in Akihabara. I picked this restaurant.
Akihabara has many electronics stores, “Otaku” culture, AKB48 and many things. But this restaurant is something different in Akihabara.
That’s why I was there. This old style Japanese dinner can be seen in local area. But it’s very hard to find this style restaurant in the heart of downtown Tokyo.
I had Chicken Karaage (deep fried chicken).
I was very satisfied with this meal.
After dinner, I went to Shinjuku.
I had to book Odakyu Romancecar. And also I needed to brush up my memory about Shinjuku station. Because I have received many inquiries about Shinjuku station.
I would take Odakyu Romancecar on the last day of this trip.
I went to Shinagawa station too. It was same reason as Shinjku to brush up my memory.
It was 22:40. But there were still very crowded. There were so many passengers at the platform.
I stayed in Akihabara. My accommodation was very unique and a bit different from a common hotel. I will talk about this accommodation at next post.
Continue to the post, Trip to Aizu, Nikko and Hakone in 2014 winter – Part 2, Stay in First-Cabin Akihabara.
