We arrived into Haneda after midnight, tired and ready for bed. Immigration printed our entrance stamps and we were waved through. Desperate to catch the 1.40am bus to our hotel, we were mildly irritated when the customs officials decided to thoroughly check both our bags, but luckily we still made it onto the bus…just! Tip number one for Japan (specifically Haneda), try not to arrive after midnight as they have no public transport after 12am and the private buses are expensive. We paid ¥800 ($9.65 AUD/7.30 USD) each for a 5 minute bus journey! We’d booked ourselves into a fancy hotel by the airport because it was cheaper (including the bus) than catching a cab to Tokyo Disney which was our first stop in Japan. Hotel Relief Premium was amazing and we really wish we’d been able to stay longer but at $86.95 AUD (¥7,130/$66.70 USD) a night we couldn’t really justify it. However, if you’re looking for a reasonably priced (for Japan) airport hotel next to Haneda airport (don’t mistake it for Narita airport) this one was great. The following morning we got ready to make the cross Tokyo journey to Disney. Now, having taken the advice of other backpackers in Japan we had decided against getting a Japan Rail Pass, which meant having to plan our journeys quite carefully. It was on day one I discovered the massive difference that walking to a alternative station could make to the price of a journey. Worth noting that JR trains cross-country are often really expensive but inner city they are often the cheapest option. On our first day I discovered if we walked 2km to a different station it would save us over ¥500 each which is actually enough to buy you breakfast. The walking with backpacks isn’t for everyone but we thought we’d just see if we could get there and if not we’d jump on the metro line to the station. This became a common theme during our time in Japan...”we’ll just see how far we can walk and if it’s too much we’ll get on the train” (we didn’t take the transport option once in 6 weeks). Crossing Tokyo was surprisingly easy given its reputation. We also noticed almost immediately how clean and quiet it was. Here we were in one of the busiest cities in the world and you could literally hear a pin drop! As I had spent my 30th birthday at Disney California it only felt fitting that as a belated birthday treat, Dani got to go to Tokyo Disney. Having had the full Disney experience in California we decided we could book the cheaper and more grown up version this time...the Robot Hotel! (Henn Na Hotel Maihama Tokyo). This is about a 20 minute walk from Disney and, if you book in advance, better value than the Disney Resort Hotels. In saying this, it is not within our or anyone’s ‘backpack Japan budgets. For this reason and because it was a birthday treat we had a separate Disney budget’. Good to know though is that Tokyo Disney is actually cheaper to visit than it’s American and European counterparts. We weren’t heading to the parks until the next day so we decided to pop to 7-Eleven for some snacks before we could check into our hotel. We soon discovered that the snacks we had been led to believe were cheap in Japan such as rice balls were actually pretty expensive and the cost would really add up quickly if you were trying to make a meal. Luckily for us it was this day that we discovered what would become our staple all through Japan...Matsuya. Matsuya is a fast food chain that does mainly rice bowls and they’re delicious. We discovered we could easily get a good meal there for around ¥1000 ($12.20 AUD/9.35 USD) for both of us and at breakfast they have a set that includes a bowl of rice, an egg, a sausage, salad, nori and a side of your choice (tofu for me and beef for Dani) for ¥400 ($4.85 AUD/3.75 USD) for one. This was by far the best value meal we had in Japan and actually made it possible for us to stick to any kind of budget. I won’t bore you with details of our Disney trip if you want tips on Disney (prices, how to beat the queues etc) check it out here. After 4 wonderful nights in our Robot Hotel we were ready to tackle Japan. I had mapped out the cheapest route to our hostel and it would involve another 2km walk and a change at Tokyo station. Yet again it was surprisingly easy to change lines, find our way around Tokyo station and get to our hostel contrary to what we had both been led to believe about the busyness and potential chaos of Tokyo. Our first full day we had decided to head to Kamakura and for once, transport wise this looked like it was going to work out in our favour. There was a JR train going all the way from our hostel stop to Kamakura. There are 2 stations in Kamakura, the first being Kita-Kamakura which, is where we got off to visit Kenchoji temple (¥500/$6 AUD/4.55 USD). This turned out to be our favourite temple in Kamakura and although we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji from the top of the hill when we were there, it’s better if you arrive earlier in the day (we were there at midday) for the best chance. From here we walked to Hokokuji bamboo grove (¥200/$2.40 AUD/1.80 USD). Although smaller than its Kyoto counterpart it’s actually in our opinion more magical because it is quieter and you can actually walk through the bamboo. The adjoining gardens are also full of beautiful plants and flowers, making it a very worthwhile stop. Our final stop was to walk to Kamakura main town in search of the Buddha (¥200/$2.40 AUD/1.80 USD) at Kotoku-in. The statue is large but I feel we have been spoilt by other large Buddhas we’ve been lucky enough to see, so if you’ve travelled SE Asia you may want to skip this one. It’s a long day of walking if you’re doing it on foot but Kamakura is definitely worth the day trip. Tokyo has a lot to offer and is actually many villages that have been lumped together and given the name Tokyo, which literally translates as east capital. This means that there is a vast difference between areas. Obviously we had to do some proper exploring and our first stop was Shibuya, famed for the world’s busiest cross walk. Lucky for us we managed to walk across relatively unscathed because there were fewer people out at 11am on a rainy midweek day. Also popular in this area is high-end shopping, not something either of us have a particular interest in, so we just wandered through on our way to Harajuku. This is the area that you’ll see in your mind when you think of ‘cutesy’ Japan. It’s where you can purchase all your Hello Kitty merchandise, pick up food that is more suitable for a picture on Instagram than for consumption and play with a variety of animals while sipping on strawberry lattes with your face printed on. In short, it’s where all your weird Japanese fantasies can come true. I could have spent hours there people watching but unfortunately the rain wouldn’t let up, so, cold and wet we admitted defeat and headed back to the hostel after about an hour of solid rain and solid weird.
The last area we decided to explore before taking a break from Tokyo in the mountains was Akihabara. This is the area that all the eccentric Japanese gamer geeks hang out. This is postcard Tokyo...the flashing billboards, maid cafes, manga and anime everywhere. We thought the best way to get to know this area was by walking tour. We signed up for Tokyo Localized Free Walking Tour and got a great guide Hiroshi who splits his time evenly between L.A. and Tokyo giving him the greatest mix of mannerisms. As a good way to learn about some of the eccentricity of Japan and get a good in-depth look around one of its many districts, we can highly recommend this tour. After our day in Akihabara, it was time for a break from all the weird and wonderful Tokyo provides, so we set of to see some friends in Yuzawa.
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