Bashful Mount Fuji in all her glory

Day 8 (Mon, 2 June 2008)

We're up bright and early today because we're going on the Mount Fuji Hakone day trip by Sunrise Tours. Getting to and around Mount Fuji is rather complex, so we decided to just go with an organised tour. No need to carry maps and sheets of instructions today. Hooray!

The breakfast spread was identical to yesterday's. We suspect that the elderly lady (who's the only staff about in the restaurant in the mornings) has been cooking up that same breakfast for the last 30 years. There's a cat majestically upright outside the restaurant, looking through the glass pane as if surveying the guests within. It would appear that the cat is a regular because there was a sign by the glass:

After breakfast, we took a short cab ride to our pickup point, the Tokyo Dome Hotel. We were afraid of being late and missing the coach, so we left really early and ended up being there half an hour before the pickup time. Aside, the night before, Kenneth had gone down to the Hotel Edoya reception to ask if it was easy to catch a cab outside the hotel. The night receptionist obviously knew no English because Kenneth came back upstairs and said it was like a conversation between a duck and a chicken. He did manage to pick up our luggage that arrived from Nikko though.

We were picked up in a large coach and sent to Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal where we were transfered to another coach. We had requested for the English speaking guide, so we were put on the bus with the Aussies and Americans, among others.

And this was our guide - a very bubbly and chatty lady from Osaka. She told us to call her Mary. She imparted lots of interesting titbits about Mt Fuji (which for the life of me, I cannot remember). I do recall her saying that Japan's most famous peak is a very "shy" mountain because it's often shrouded in clouds and mist, rendering it not visible, especially during summer (they don't tell you this when you sign up for the tour!)

The funny thing was, just as she was saying, "I'm not sure if you'll be able to see it today..." Mt Fuji came into full view towards the left of the bus! All the passengers started exclaiming and taking pictures, it was a magnificent sight. We could even see all the way to the peak which according to Mary, is very rare in summer. She described how she had brought a group of tourists to Mt Fuji on a day so foggy that you couldn't see beyond 10m, let alone the mountain. She told them to hold up a postcard of Mt Fuji and pretend it's the real thing. It's always funnier when it happens to other people.

Our first stop was the Fuji Visitor Center. This is close to the base of Mt Fuji and here, you can get some pretty spectacular shots.

Like this one. Ain't she a beaut?

Next, we drove on towards the Mt Fuji 5th station. At altitude 2,305m, the 5th station is the highest point of Mt Fuji you can get to on wheels. Any higher and you'll need to go on foot. The actual height of the mountain is 3,776m.

Silly us didn't realise that getting to the 5th station was via a winding mountain road. By the time we reached the 5th station, Lesley-Anne had turned green and the minute she alighted from the bus, her breakfast came back up. You can see she still doesn't look too happy here.

However, all that was soon forgotten when the kids caught their first sight of ice, err... snow.

You can see the mist was already starting to roll in. By the time we had left the 5th station, the mountain had completely vanished. Thank goodness we were there early!

The bus took us back down to the base of the mountain where we had lunch at a restaurant. Each of us had a beautiful bento box (not made of styrofoam this time!) which had:

Assorted sashimi

Chinese-style jellyfish

Tamago (omelette)

Smoked duck

Salmon and scallop roulade,

Karage (fried) chicken

Grilled salmon, Bilberry cheese

Prawn tempura, Rolled tofu

Rice and miso soup

And sherbet for dessert

I didn't memorise the menu lah, we took a picture of it (can you say obsessed about food?)

From there, we moved next to Hakone, a town near Mt Fuji. Here, we boarded a boat and went on a cruise of Lake Ashi. Lake Ashi is a crater lake (like Lake Chuzenji in Nikko) known for its many hot springs.

The cruise was pleasant enough but it had begun to drizzle and once again, visibility was affected.

From the harbour, we walked to the Mt Komagatake ropeway - an aerial cablecar. From the cable car, we were supposed to be able to take in spectacular views of Hakone National Park and Mount Fuji.

However, what we saw from the window was this:

Sigh... it's raining again. In earnest this time.

There wasn't much to see up Mt Komagatake because of the mist, but that wasn't enough to stop Andre from having fun. He managed to find an arcade game and as far as he was concerned, that was way more interesting than any old mountain.

After that, it was a ride to Odawara station to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo. At Sunrise Tours, you can opt to get back to Tokyo via coach or Shinkansen (the Shinkansen option is more expensive, obviously).

If you haven't had a chance to experience the Shinkansen, then this is a terrific way to try it. It's very, very comfortable and smooth and by golly, it's fast!

Just like the Tobu Spacia train, the seats can be rotated backwards and forwards. By the way, the seats are also centrally controlled. We saw an empty train at a station as it was being cleaned and suddenly zzzppppt! all the seats automatically rotated back to their original positions. How amazing is that?

Although we were scheduled to arrive at Tokyo station at only 8pm, we actually arrived 2 hours ahead of schedule because of the smooth traffic. Tokyo station is a historic monument in itself. It's undergoing renovation right now, hence the scaffolding.

Although we had planned to have dinner at Daimaru department store which is next to Tokyo station, the kids were tired. Since it was our last night in Japan, I suggested going back to Hotel Edoya and repeating our scrumptious dinner at Umejaya. Never was a decision met with such approval!

The weird and the wonderful at Harajuku

Day 7 (Sun, 1 June 2008)

It was a bright and sunny morning... whazzat? Sun's up?? Hallelujah!! Our first sunny day since Disney. And no better day for it too, today we're going to explore Harajuku - the youth district.

But first, breakfast. Hotel Edoya's buffet breakfast is included in the room charge. Unlike the one at Palm Terrace Hotel, the selection is much smaller and mostly Japanese style. They have a dozen choices of pickles, grilled salmon, tamago (egg), a sweet bean salad, miso soup, rice and rice porridge. On another table, there is a mini pseudo-Western selection comprising sausages (which tasted chewy like lap-cheong), salad and hard rolls.

The two tables were squeezed into a tiny room, only about 4 people could fit into the room at any one time. I have to point this out: you see the rice and soup bowls in the picture? They're made of styrofoam!!! The Japanese make styrofoam Bento boxes that look like wood, doesn't surprise me that they also make styrofoam bowls that look like ceramic. Methinks the Japanese are many things, but environmentally-friendly they are not.

I think Lesley-Anne and Andre were missing the breakfast at Palm Terrace. They're not the only ones. Somehow we can't appreciate pickles at breakfast.

Out in the sunshine, we took the subway to Meiji-Jingumae station (it's right next to and linked to JR Harajuku station). Harajuku is also a hop, skip and jump away from the famous Meiji Shrine. Now, we're not really interested in visiting shrines but I'd read that it has a fabulous iris garden which is considered the most beautiful in Japan. Since we were here, I thought we should take a look.

Here on the left is the torii (gate) to the shrine (or rather, the walkway to the shrine which is some 800m away!) Torii are part of the Shinto religion and passing under them supposedly purifies the worshippers' hearts and minds before they pray to the gods.

We walked along the path for a bit and came to the entrance to the iris gardens. There's an entrance fee. We walked on eagerly around the park, following the signs. After a while, we realised we were at the exit. Did we miss it? Where on earth was the garden? This was what we were expecting to see:

Finally, when we retraced our steps, it dawned on us that we had passed the garden without realising it. Here's why:

In the entire patch of green, there was a grand total of 3 irises!! What nobody tells you is that the irises come into full bloom only for a while in mid-summer. It was only the beginning of summer, so they were only starting to wake up. The gardens were also supposed to be blooming with azaleas in spring. Like this picture on the left. But what we actually saw is on the right.












Too early for irises, too late for azaleas. We had to resort to taking pictures of pictures. For this, they charge admission!

Felt a little ripped off, but never mind lah. We walked around the rest of the gardens. This on the left was a well belonging to one of the Lords from the Edo period. Pure water supposedly gushes out from it all year round.

On the way back out towards Harajuku, we saw this wall of barrels. They contain sake and are used for ceremonial purposes.

From the old and religious to the new and funky. Harajuku is truly a happening place. There's so much going on! We saw some very interesting advertising gimmicks (pictures below). The one on the left is actually a truck with two live women. I have no clue what they were advertising but there was a huge crowd watching their every movement.



We walked over to Takeshita Dori, the shopping street of Harajuku. This was the scene that greeted us:


Wah, mayhem! But very interesting. Here, there are budget shops galore and we went into a Y100 shop - 4 floors of bargains, everything at only Y100 each! Takeshita Dori also had a lot of cheap food on the go, from crepes to pizza. Too bad we didn't try any, we didn't want to spoil our lunch, which was...

SUSHI!!!!

We really wanted to try sushi and I had read some great reviews online about this Sushi Kaiten place just opposite the Harajuku station. It's basically sushi on a conveyor belt, with different coloured plates denoting different prices. Prices start from Y60 (S$0.80) so it's very affordable.

We had to wait for about 20mins, there was a long queue. The place is quite small, only one round of conveyor belt and counter seats. No booth seats. The sushi chefs are in the island and you can see them making the sushi for the conveyor belt or as per your order.


To say the sushi was fresh would be an understatement. I think if the fish was any fresher, it would be wriggling on the plate. I don't have pictures to show what we ordered because we were too busy eating! (I looked through my pictures and realised they were mostly of empty plates).

It was extremely good value for money too. You could order a plate of 5 different types of tuna sushi (including the coveted tuna belly) for just Y680 (S$8.90). We tried the tuna belly sushi, it was melt-in-your-mouth quality. I've never had anything like it. This was the most expensive item in the restaurant and still it was only Y510 (S$6.60) for two generous pieces. When it comes to sushi, my kids can really eat, so when our bill only came up to something like S$47, I was shell-shocked. What? Did they forget to count half the plates or something?? No, again the low tax, no service charge, free ocha and towels really made a difference.

After a very satisfying lunch, we thought it was time to see if the Harajuku kids were out yet. By then, it was already getting crowded. By the way, if you want to catch all the action at Harajuku, you have to go on a Sunday. That's the only day the teenagers will make their appearance. Anyway, this was the crowd in front of Harajuku station waiting to cross the road.

We walked over to the bridge area where the teenagers are said to gather and we saw that they'd already begun to congregate. Many of these kids dress up as their favourite anime characters. Among the girls, the two favourite looks are gothic or Lolita. They all come with matching trolley bags (presumably to hold their clothes and accessories) and readily pose for pictures. These were some of the groups we saw:





















But for Lesley-Anne and Andre, this was not the highlight of Harajuku. The highlight was in the form of a 7-storey mega toy store called Kiddy Land. And if you think this is just a place for kids, think again. It has an entire floor dedicated to electronic toys and gadgets, I saw "boys" of all ages at the store.











Andre just went gaga. I think he could have stayed at the store all day. Although he did go "eeeee!" when we went to the Hello Kitty floor and was bombarded by an onslaught of pink.










When we finally managed to pry Andre away from Kiddy Land, we walked down Meiji Dori, the main shopping thoroughfare, towards Shibuya station. Nothing much to see. It was mostly lined with upmarket boutiques and we're not exactly your boutique type (we're more the pasar malam type).

On the left is a picture of the many vending machines that can be found in Japan. They're quite something - they don't just dispense drinks, they dispense anything from umbrellas to food.

Interesting fact: Shibuya train station is the third busiest train station in Tokyo, with something like 9 different rail and subway lines and get this, 2.4 million commuters passing through its gates A DAY. There was a scene of the famous Shibuya crossing in the film Lost In Translation.

The Shibuya station building is occupied by Tokyu, a massive department store. When we went to check it out, we found a kids playground on the roof. You would think that after 3 days at Disney, Andre would no longer be interested in these mechanical coin-operated cars. But no.... maybe he was still smarting from the fact that we didn't buy him anything from Kiddy Land (don't judge me till you see the price tags).

Time to get dinner. We went to the basement of Tokyu, which was the Tokyu Food Fair. For a while, we completely forgot about dinner, we were too fascinated by the humungous range of food. Ready-to-eat food, pre-packed food, fresh seafood, meat, veg, fruit, you name it, they have it.










On the left below was the selection of sushi. On the right was the fruit section.









And this, I have to show:

Nope, you're not seeing things. Those melons cost a whopping Y16,800 (S$218) a pair. They cost as much as one room night at Hotel Edoya!! Melons are prized presents in Japan, mostly given as corporate gifts. I couldn't believe they were just casually displayed on the rack. At that price, I would have locked them behind a glass window. I was so paranoid I kept telling Andre "don't touch!"

Anyway, no melons for us. We bought sushi and Bento boxes back for dinner. For fruit? We had dried prunes.