Home again, home again

Glad to be back home! (not)

I had a really great time in Japan. I found out that I have a Japanese fashion sense (shopping trip next time, anyone?) and that people around the world are awesome. Looking forward to our next adventure.

sayonnara!

Tokyo Disney Sea

Sign you'll see at the Maihama Station exit.

Since we already have a yearly pass to Disneyland in Los Angeles we decided to skip Tokyo Disney and instead hit up Tokyo Disney Sea. Talk about a good decision!

Getting there
It was really easy to get to Disney from Tokyo. Catch the Yurokucho line and get off at Maihama Station. From there you walk over to the Disney train system which costs Y200 each way. Yep, you read that correctly. You have to pay to use the Disney trains. At least if you have the Suica card you can use the money on your card to pay for the ride.

Disney train cost Y200 each way

Ports

Map of the Tokyo Disney Sea Park

First of all, it’s beautiful. They put a lot of money into creating great architecture that really makes you feel like you’re in on the “ports”. Take a look at some of the great-looking “ports”:

Arabian Sea Port

Mysterious Island Port

Mermaid Lagoon Port

More Mermaid Lagoon Port

Lost River Delta Port

Journey to the Center of the Earth ride

Delicioso
Every port has a different type of popcorn. We tried black pepper and caramel, but they also had milk tea, curry, etc. The black pepper was surprisingly good. We had some twice. They had churros (yea!) but they were hard and had some kind of filling in them (what the hell? lol).

They also had some chicken that looked great and smelled awesome. It’s sold in the Lost River Delta and everyone was eating it. I guess looking good does not equal tasty. LOL We each ordered one, but the skin was on it and the meat was a bit rubbery.

We had “lunch” at Vulcania Restaurant in Mysterious Island. Expensive! It’s a Chinese cafeteria style restaurant. We chose it because it seemed familiar, but I learned that I don’t know anything about Chinese food! LOL It was tasty, but I was salty because it cost so much.

All things considered, I had a great time. Some things were familiar, but different and some things were totally new. I’m glad I went.

Going,Going,Back,Back, to Tokyo…

In Harajuku someone was actually bumping a rendition on Notorious B.I.G’s “Going Back to Cali” (which is a rendition of LL’s, but i digress) but replaced “Cali” with “Tokyo”…I thought that would be fitting title. We are back in cold ass Tokyo and our stop was by Tokyo Disney (I chose this stop because it is some what close to our new hotel in Shinagawa, Hearton Hotel Shinagawa). Quick checklist for next time if you want to fit in for Japan’s winter time, a sturdy fashionable coat (parka,trench, wool…I brought a hoodie, it keeps me warm but it doesn’t look like I change clothes for photos [I left my fly coat at the front door at home, not trying to stuff it in luggage, I know dumb!]), more slacks/chinos, less jeans (Tokyo is a fashion society where only kids wear jeans), a man-bag (all Japanese guys have man-bags), and a couple scarves (check and check). But I digress, when we arrived, we had time to kill until a 2pm check-in, so we forged into the city. If you can get use to the New York subway line, Tokyo Metro is some-what similar with color schemes and major stations that connect multiple lines, two days of riding and its easy, even in Japanese. We went to Shibuya to get photos of Shibuya crossing and the statue of Hachiko the faithful dog. Shay actually tried curry at a Japanese restaurant (Sukiya) and enjoyed it, its actually one of the cheapest places to eat if you like beef bowls and curry ($3-$5 meals). After running around, we returned back to the Hearton Hotel for check-in and the room is pretty dope by Japanese standard, its like the Hotel Ginza Diaei but more space. When in the room, we slept like the dead (lesson#1 bus rides make you tired).


Next day, our plan was to checkout the Earthquake Museum and then the Ghibli Museum. The Earthquake Museum was at the Ikebukuro Fire Station and was kinda interesting, I think it was something that Shay would probably go more into detail about. As for the Ghibli, it was suggested by a Tokyo couch surfer and it was more of a disappointment when we discovered that no photos were allowed. It was a quirky museum of a anime Japanese children’s story, which was totally in Japanese and not setup in Please Touch format, so it felt uninviting if you did not understand Japanese…this made for a short trip. Lastly, we stopped at Namco Namjatown in Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City, another quirky amusement location by the makers of the Tekken video game series but video games were not the focus of Namjatown. There were mazes, photo opps, food, and all around craziness here. We have plenty of pics because words could not proper express the sentiments of this place which only cost $3.50 to get into but you have to pay for each maze and attraction you want to experience, the full experience pass costs about $35. No full pass for us, remember amusement parks aren’t Shay’s thing, but it was quirky enough for us to roam around for a couple hours. Am I the only one who thinks it would suck for me to get a full pass and ride everything by myself, while Shay waits? I felt better with us just staying together. Anyway, enough fun, we headed back to the rest so we can gear up for Tokyo DisneySea tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.

Corey

Namja Town

When we checked in to our last hotel in Japan (back to Tokyo), Corey noticed a big sign that said Namco. That company makes video games like Tekken (fighting game) from back in the day, so we decided to find out if there was a museum/experience that we could visit. Of course there was! LOL

Namja Town is located inside Sunshine City (take the Yarakucho train to Higashi-Ikeburo. Sign will say Sunshine City at the exit). Of course, we can’t do right, so we got off at Ikeburo Station and had to walk to Sunshine City through the rain. It wasn’t far, but it would have been smarter to get off the stop before (Higashi-Ikeburo). Once you’re inside the complex signs will direct you to the 2nd floor and the entrance to Namja Town. It’s a really interesting place. I’m not really one for video games, but there were tons of things to look at, take photos of/with, and eat.

It costs Y300 to get in or Y3,000 for a pass that gets you in and gives you free access to about 16 of the 24 rides. We bought the Y300 pass and had a ball walking around.

This chair talks to you and moves when you sit it in it.

Making funny faces.

Wilding out! LOL

Getting down with his bad self! LOL

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Ikebukuro Life Safety Learning Center

Before we arrived in Japan, I heard about a fire station in Tokyo that helped people learn about earthquake survival by providing an earthquake simulator. How awesome is that?!

We tried to go Sunday, but they offer guided tours only from 9:30am to 11:30am. We made an appointment and returned bright and early Monday morning.

When you take the tour you get to:
– Watch an awesome video about the Tokyo earthquake
– Learn how to use a fire extinguisher and practice with an awesome screen in the room
– Learn how to exit a burning building and get to practice by exiting a smoke filled maze
– Learn how to duck and cover while in the earthquake simulator room

It was super fun! I learned a lot and the best part is it was free! If you get a chance to check it out, please do.

Everyone learns what to do in an earthquake and how to help others. It’s a great concept. Does anyone know if we have anything like this in California?

When I say Hello Kitty is EVERYWHERE! lol

10 earthquake tips and the viewing of the simulator room

Tips for visiting:
Take the Yarukucho line and exit at Ikebukuro Station. Leave from the exit near Luminare.
Walk towards Mos Burger.
At the Sukiya turn right.
The fire station is on the left hand side.
The Life Safety Center is on the 4th floor.
The people there don’t speak English well, but they are very friendly.
The video is in Japanese with English subtitles.
The training is in Japanese, but you’ll be able to understand everything.

Hearton Hotel in Tokyo

Hearton Hotel Seaside Shinigowa in Tokyo

This is the best hotel ever.

#1 The room is bigger than the rooms in other hotels we’ve stayed in. It’s not huge, but it has enough room to hold the items that come with the room, all of our crap (two carry-ons and two backpacks), and still give me enough room to stretch on the floor each morning.

#2 The hotel is directly across the street from the Shinigowa Seaside train station off the Rinkai line. I mean directly across the street. In a city where buildings are stacked on top of each other and addresses are a joke, having a hotel that you can see from the train station, so you won’t get lost, is a god-send. If you’re coming from the west, take the Yurakucho line and change to the Rinkai line at Shin-Kiba. If you’re coming from the east, take the JR Yamonote line and change at Osaki to the Rinkai line.

#3 We can fit in the bed. In some of the other hotels, I’ve felt as if I was precariously balancing on the edge of the bed all night. I’d say this bed might be a queen, but it gave me enough space to stretch out.

#4 The bathroom has enough room to turn around in. It might sound like a small thing, but some of the bathrooms in Japan have made me feel like a giant and I’m only five foot two inches tall! The bathroom also has a mirror in that has a large part that doesn’t steam up! How awesome is that!

#5 There is wireless internet. When you ask is there is wireless they will say, “no”, but I’m using it right now to type this post. I think it may be a communication issue? Anyhoo… there is a LAN line on the desk, but the cable is about 3 inches long (I wish I was playing) so you’re tethered to the desk. We tried to get wireless because we have two laptops and …. why not? The Belkin Traveler line took us to the same page that the LAN line took us to (to “accept” the terms) and we’re using it now.

#6 It only cost about $90 a night. It’s a bit out of the way, depending on what you’re trying to visit, but you can’t beat the amenities and the cost. Granted, we used a deal on www.SlickDeals.Net to bring the price down about $30, but still.

It's all about yen, euros, and dollars! LOL

Tips:
– The sign for the Hearton Hotel is very large, but in Japanese. There is an English sign, but it’s very small.
– Check-in time is 2pm. I don’t think they know what “early check-in” means or maybe it’s a dirty word. They will hold your luggage, but check-in is at 2pm.

The Studios, as they like to call it…

As amusement park connoisseur, I had to check out Universal Studios Japan and Shay was gracious enough to participate even though amusement parks are not really her thing (except for Disneyland). First and foremost, they do have a Universal City Walk with a few American highlights (Bubba Gumps, Golden Spoon, and McDonald’s, I know, surprised Golden Spoon made it to Japan). On to the park, Shay touched on the particulars (price, rides,etc.) and well here are a few meat and potatoes…The Amazing Spiderman Ride was a 4D conveyor ride (think Disney’s Haunted House with 3d glasses), the reason I say 4D is because throughout the ride the 3D characters interact with you (like the feel of Spiderman jumping on your particular car and feeling heated air while Hobgoblin throws fireballs at your car) this made for a great twist. Next, Jaws was ride by itself, while in LA, it was a part of the Backlot tour and let’s just say its worth the wait. Many other rides are the same as in LA, Jurassic Park, BackDraft but in Japanese, no King Kong, Back to the Future (its closed in LA), Terminator 3D but in Japanese, etc. The only new rides were Space Fantasy and Hollywood Dream the Ride…

I rode Space Fantasy and it was pretty awesome, I have no idea what the characters were saying but it was like Disney’s Space Mountain in a spinning sphere craft with light shows in space and a big explosion at the end, as you are suppose to be reigniting the Sun’s energy, pretty interesting. I didn’t ride Hollywood Dream because the line was longer than a hour and the park closed at 6pm but overall it was a interesting experience (if you have $76 a ticket). This concluded our time in Kyoto/Osaka and the bus for Tokyo leaves at 10:30pm, wish us luck. I’ll keep you posted.

Corey