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.

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.

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

Universal Studios Osaka, Japan

Hated it! LOL

Naw … it was okay, but pricey. It costs Y6,200 to get into Universal Studios Osaka. That’s $76! We (mostly “he”) got on:

Jaws was really good

It’s a lot better than the one in Los Angeles. I won’t tell the ending, but you’ll have two surprises that are fun on this ride.

This one had great lights and tech, but since I couldn’t speak Japanese it wasn’t as fun as it could have been. I could follow along and get the gist of the story, but I wouldn’t recommend it to non-Japanese speakers.

Wack. Wack. Wack!

You walk through 3 stages. The first shows a video of Director Ron Howard talking about the movie (in Japanese). The second shows a video of two actors in the movie talking about the movie (in Japanese). The third actually puts on a pretty good pyrotechnics show with a bit of a surprise. It took waiting in a 45 minute line to watch 2 videos and view a 2 minute pyro show. If that’s your thing, that’s cool, but know what you’re getting into.

I’m hoping Corey will speak on this one. I thought it was a rollercoaster so I didn’t get on it. He said it was pretty good though.

Again, I was too much of a wuss to get on it. Corey says it’s like Space Mountain, but better because the seat twirls around as you’re going up and down on the rollercoaster.

We didn’t make it on Back to the Future because the line was too long. We should have waited for this one ’cause Backdraft … you guessed it …. sucked!

Weird and wonderful snacks:

Weird and wonderful gift shop items:

Kyoto

So, we made it to Kyoto! This city is all about the old Japan reminiscent of the Edo period. On the list of things to do:

Kyomizu Temple

This is a temple that was funded, mostly, by the first (and possibly only) Black Shogun of Japan! His name is Sakanouye no Tamuramaro.

The temple doesn’t mention Tamuramaro except to say that he funded it, however there is a big chubby, Black guy at the front! LOL

There is also a holy spring. You get in line to drink from the spring with a long laddle-looking spoon that everyone else drank out of. They say it’s been sterilized by ultra violet rays … .okay ….

It’s easy to walk around, there are tons of people to watch, and lots of people (young women and families) walking around in kimono. Kyomizu is next to the infamous Love Stone. Legend has it that if you can walk between the two love stones with your eyes closed without injuring yourself or falling down that you’ll be lucky in love. To help, there is a vendor set up to sell you charms to find love, bind your love tightly, get pregnant, have an easy delivery, do well on an exam, etc. for a small fee of course! LOL

Both Kyomizu and the Love Stone are free to visit, but beware:

– The beautiful part of Kyomizu costs Y300 per adult to enter
– There is a “rebirthing” experience that costs Y100
– Buying a cup to drink the water from is Y200

Nijo Castle

It’s a castle. If that’s your thing, then do your thing, but it was a waste of money to me. It cost Y600 per adult (the most we paid to get in any museum, site, etc.) and there is nothing to experience that you won’t get a better view of in a guidebook.

Firstly, you can’t take any photos inside the castle. Boooo!

Secondly, the castle doesn’t have anything inside of it. It’s just walls and floors. I’ll save you some money and show you the only room with figures of feudal Lords meeting with the Shogun. Oops! I can’t because I couldn’t take photos, but when you get to the gift shop they’ll sell you a postcard of the scene for Y120.

Lastly, the “nightingale floors” don’t sound like birds singing, they sound like birds dying.

Obviously, I don’t have a whole lot of good things to say about Nijo Castle, so I’ll move on.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

What a beautiful place. Take the #5 bus from Kyoto Station and exit at Inaritaishamae. Once you get off, there will be a little street about 10 feet up (in the same direction the bus is going). When we went, there was a little French restaurant on the corner. Walk up that street (you can only go up one way) and you’ll see little shops on either side of the road. Keep walking. You’ll start seeing red and white banners with kanji on them. Keep walking. You’ll cross over the train tracks. You’ll see mini-prayer gates in different sizes being offered by the vendors. Keep walking. When you get to the point where you can go to the right or the left, go to the left (up the mountain).

All of a sudden you’ll see a huge orange prayer gate in the middle of the street. That’s Fushimi Inari! It’s beautiful and quiet. Don’t forget to drink a bit of water from the front gate.

Ninja Tour

First off, there is a difference between a ninja and a samurai:

Ninja
covert spy
assassin
has cool tech tools like ninja stars
more like CIA

Samurai
honorable defender of the lord
skilled fighter
has dope swords
more like military

Next time we come to Japan we’re doing a ninja tour! LOL Samurai are cool and all, but who wouldn’t want to be the secret person doing awesome adventures with cool weapons and tools? There are so many interesting ninja sites and we won’t have time to see any of them. Humph!

Ninja School (about 90 min train ride from Osaka)

Ninja Museum (about 90 min train ride from Kyoto)

Please let me know if you know of any other cool ninja sites so I can start planning my next trip to Japan!

=)

PEACE,
Shay

Hiroshima

There is way more to do in Hiroshima than I originally thought!

We went to the Mazda Museum

Visited Peace Park

and went ti Miyajima Island to the the floating torii gate.

Of course, there is much more to say, but I’m at a cafe trying to post before my battery dies. I’ll share more later.

=)

PEACE,
Shay

Zoom, zoom, zoom

I know I’m really excited about this, but I can’t say enough about Mazda cars! The tour was led by a woman that’s English was almost as bad as my Japanese, but she had a great personality. We took a tour that covered:

– The history of Mazda Corporation (it wasn’t always a car maker)
– A showroom with some ooooold Mazda cars (i bet they still run. it’s a Mazda, baby!)
– The way that Mazdas are created, painted, etc. (you knew different grades of pain felt different)
– The factory floor (computers are awesome)

It was a cute little tour and it was free, so if you have some spare time and a Suica Pass (it’s about 3 stops from Hiroshima Station) then go take a look. You have to email to request a spot on the English speaking tour.

Hiroshima Castle

Today, we went to visit Hiroshima Castle. Um…. yeah …. awesome! The funny thing is that this wasn’t even on my list of things to see. We came all the way to Hiroshima from Tokyo (an over night bus ride on the Willer Express) to get here to see …. The Mazda Museum!

Most people think of the dropping of the world’s first atomic bomb when they think of Hiroshima, but not me … I think of rotary engines! Zoom, zoom, zoom! LOL

Anyhooo… we didn’t have anything to do on Monday (most of the museums are closed on Mondays) so we headed over to the castle. The main area is free, but the castle tower cost Y360 for adults and Y180 for children. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but for about $7 with 5 hours to kill, we said, “why not”. LOL We walked from Peace Park Street to the Castle in about 30 min, but it felt like 10 min. You’ll pass through the shopping district, a KFC, Subway, and various other buildings so you spend so much time looking at things that you don’t realize that you’ve arrived! You’ll have to walk through an underground tunnel to get there (it’s on a busy street) and when you come up you’ll see a huge moat and a wonderful bridge.

When you cross the bridge you’ll see a large building to your right. It’s free to go in and that’s because there isn’t much to see. It was cool, but I wasn’t impressed. We wandered the grounds and took photos of the area. Folks were walking around, eating lunch, and generally hanging out in the area. I could see the castle tower from across the street and wondered what it was, so when we realized it was a museum dedicated to the history of the family that created the castle in general and samurai culture specifically we decided to go in. I’m so glad we did.

5 floors of awesome exhibits, videos, and clothes, capped off with an awesome view.

So. much. fun.

You anger me. Yes. We must fight. Yes. Hmmph!