Tokyo Honeymoon 2019

April 28th-29th

We got married on April 27th, and the following morning we did some quick laundry at my parents house and left around 9:45am for LAX. Our flight was at 3:30pm via Singapore Airlines. We arrived to the Tom Bradley International Terminal and there was a huge line. Thankfully the huge line wasn’t for our airline, we were so happy we chose to fly with Singapore. The whole experience with them was great, most comfortable economy flight we flew even though the flight was over 10 hours. Our flight departed at 3:30pm on April 28th and arrived in Tokyo at 7pm. We navigated to a JR counter and got our Japan Rail Pass, and next to it was an information counter where they told us how to get to our hotel. We were directed to the train and purchased our tickets with yen. We didn’t have our Pocket Wifi yet, so I was worried about getting lost, but we ended up making it just fine. We stayed at The Royal Park Hotel Tokyo Shiodome.

April 30th

We had a breakfast buffet included with our stay, and they had a good selection. I ordered scrambled eggs from the chef and that was the first time I ever saw eggs made with metal chopsticks. We walked over to Ginza district and saw all of the fancy shops. We went to one of the shopping malls, but everything was very pricy, to be expected in Ginza. We did get to try some matcha ice cream, but we got the strongest matcha flavor and hated it–it tasted like seaweed. Then we walked over to the Tsukiji fish market, which was crowded. We walked around, and some of the areas were so jam packed that it was very slow to walk through. It was cool seeing the various vendors, I even saw strawberries on a stick. I got boba, and it was okay. We walked back to our hotel and got some rest. We took a nap, and ended up going back out to visit Don Quijote late at night. We roamed around for a while in that store, and purchased a few things. We definitely were messed up with the time change.

May 1st 

I woke up around 4am, and we went to breakfast around 7am. Most hours for tourist stuff here ranges from 10am to 10pm, so we hung out at our hotel until about 9, then we headed to the train. Today was the first day we could use our JR rail pass. We went to a ticket counter and reserved our tickets to Kyoto, since we were visiting during Golden Week and expected large crowds. Our requests weren’t available, but we were able to make it work with some other rail times; definitely glad we did reservations. I was nervous about using the train system here, but it turned out not to be bad at all. Thank goodness for pocket WiFi—google maps would tell us which platform to go to, I just had to make sure it was using the JR line which you can find out after you click the route. With JR passes you go through a separate entrance by the normal entrance, and a worked checks that your pass is valid. We headed to platform 5 for the Yamanote line, which I had read about being the best line to have a hotel near. I’m sure glad we chose a hotel on the Yamanote line. We took 4 stops from Shimbashi to Akihabara. We first went to Yododaba where there were rows and rows of iPhone cases. This is the biggest electronics store in the area, and they had levels and levels of it. We went here since it opened first at 9:30am. Around 10:15am we headed back to the main electric town area of Akihabara. The buildings were tall with lots of colorful Japanese signage on them. 

We headed over to Sega first. The first two levels were UFO prize games. The levels above that were arcade games. We looked around at the UFO games but there were a lot of prizes we weren’t familiar with. For the arcade game, we also weren’t familiar with those. After going through all of the floors, we took the elevator back down and started walking around the street. There were many “maids” advertising for the various maid cafes in the area. We went to the Hobby Paradise next and there were multiple levels of collectibles and souvenirs for anime related stuff. After, we headed to Tonkatsu Marugo around 11:10 for their 11:30 opening. There were just over 40 people in front of us, in a restaurant that only seated 20-30. We ended up waiting over 90 minutes to get seated. They have us hot towels and green tea after we sat down. We ordered our tonkatsu right away—Joseph ordered the medallions and I got the other pork dish. We waited around 20 minutes and then received our red miso soup, bowl of rice, salad, and tonkatsu.

My first bite of tonkatsu was delicious, the breading was so good. Joseph ended up liking mine more than the premium medallions. I got a little grossed out when I saw the chunks of fat in the pork, but when I was able not to think about that it was good and soft. The miso soup, salad, and rice were also very yummy. They gave us jasmine tea to finish off our meal, after our 5 or so cups of green tea.  The jasmine tea was so yummy, it was like desert after lunch. After, we headed over to Sega and started playing some UFO games. Joseph got addicted—there were multiple times he was close to getting a prize. Then we headed to Akihabara gachapon where there were many yen machines that dispensed prizes. I got a toy story alien prize, but was sad that the Pokémon prize I wanted from another machine was all out. Then we headed to the mall, Atrei, and stopped at a few shops and UFO prize places along the way. We headed back to our hotel around 4:30pm, and we were so tired. I took an hour nap, and then I went to go see the clock based off the Miyazaki film Castle in the sky nearby at the Nippon television building.  That was a cool sight, but it was also quite cold and rainy.  I went back to the hotel and slept at 7pm. 

May 2nd 

So we went to sleep at 7pm and I woke up at 1:30 am.  Joseph woke up around 2am. I woke up to Jonas brothers tour dates being announced, but there were so many Sunday and Tuesday California dates that I was super disappointed that I couldn’t make it to more than one date.  Back to Japan, we had our buffet breakfast at 6:30am when the place first opened. We were pretty hungry since we hadn’t eaten dinner the day before.

We went back to our hotel and I took a nice nap. Then we headed out to Asakusa via the JR Yamanote line to Ueno, and then the Ginza line to Asakusa. Sensoji Temple was very close to the train exit, we arrived early around 9am but there were already a ton of people. By the time we left around 10, it was much more crowded, so I recommend getting there early, there were a good amount of shops open around 9/9:15.

We walked down Nakimise-dori which are the many shops that lead up to Sensoji Temple. Many shops have similar items, so keep in mind to be on the lookout for the various prices.

Once near the temple we paid the 100 ¥ each to get our fortune. We both got bad fortunes and had to tie them up.

We inhaled some of the smoke at the front of the temple along with many others, since this is supposed to help heal ailments. And then we went up the steps to take a quick look inside. We left after and headed to pick up our luggage at our hotel, then went to Tokyo station to check out Donguri (the Ghibli store) and wait for our Shinkansen (bullet train). Tokyo station was so crowded, we asked for directions to Donguri, and arrived at a long walkway inside that was filled with people, shops, and food. I had initially wanted to try the ramen here at Tokyo Ramen street, but there didn’t end up being enough time. We only had 1.5 hours until our 1:33 train. We walked for a while and finally found Donguri, and it was quite busy. I love Ghibli films and was excited to see a shop dedicated fully to that. I bought a few items, grabbed a quick bite from McDonald’s since that was the only to-go item I could find in the area, and then we speedily walked to find our Hikari Shinkansen. Riding the Shinkansen/bullet train was pretty cool, it was fast. They surprisingly never checked our tickets. The 2.5/3 hour train ride went by fast. I was worried about having 3 bags (Carry on suitcase, backpack, and canvas tote) since there is supposed to be a limit of 2, but it was fine. There was a ton of legroom to put your bag in front of you, and an overhead area where we put our suitcases. Once in Kyoto, we walked to our hotel—The Garnet Hotel. Our room is the smallest hotel room I’ve ever had, but that’s to be expected in Japan. We splurged on our first hotel, and that one was closer to a hotel room back in the US. Around 7pm we headed out on the bus to Ichiran, a ramen place where you get your own secluded cubby to sit in. We had a hard time figuring out the bus system, but Joseph figured out to use the bus number to look for our bus. We waited about 20 minutes for Ichiran, and then got to sit in the individual booths.

We ordered the following – Joseph (medium seasoning, rich flavor, with green onions, recommended garlic, 2 spicy, soft noodles), Vanessa (medium seasoning, rich flavor, with green onions, recommended garlic, 1/2 mild, soft noodles). We were both very happy with what we chose, the ramen was yummy. After we took a short walk over to Round one, a nearby arcade. We put in $10 for medals, and played addicting coin games. We headed back to our hotel around 10 and went to sleep around 10:45pm. 

May 3rd

I woke up at 4am again, so I worked on formulating the itinerary for the day. 

Here is what I came up with:

Hoshino coffee at Kyoto station at 7am

JR Nara line platform 1 to Inari station for a morning visit to Fushimi Inari

Take the Keihan main line platform 1 to kiyomizu gojo and walk 8 min to yumekata for 210 ¥ or Gion Shijo if still early and want to visit nishke market 

Taxi to 

Kiyomizu dera

Otowa waterfall 

Walk to 

Hokanji Temple 

Walk to Maruyama Park 

Walk to Hanami-koji Dori/Gion Shirakawa 

Possibly walk to Nishiki Market 

Bus 59 or 12 to

Kinkakuji Temple gold

Bus 205 to Yumeyakata

We ended up going to Hoshino coffee around 8:30, which left us pressed for time. Hoshino coffee in Kyoto station was yummy, I ordered the French toast plate which was delicious, and Joseph ordered the strawberry pancakes which he liked.

We finished around 9:20 and i decided we visit Fushimi Inari quickly since it was out of the way of the other landmarks we wanted to see. It also can be reached on the JR Nara line, which is free for us with the JR pass. We got on quickly and when we got off at Inari station we were quite close to Fushimi Inari. There were a ton of people. We quickly walked to get to the Tori gates for photos, but the crowd was huge and ended up being a flood of people under the tori gates walking very slowly. We took a photo from outside of the tori gates and quickly headed back to the train station. 

I loved the small town feel here with the narrow streets and various food places. We ended up having to go to a different train station which was further down past the train tracks to get on the Keihan line metro to get to Yumeyakata, the kimono rental place. We got off at the Gojo station and walked quickly to Yumeyakata, we arrived at 10:02am for my 10am appointment. I went through each floor—up to floor 2 to pick my kimono, floor 3 for getting dressed, floor 4 for getting a bag and turning in our goods. I may be wrong on the floor numbers but it was along those lines. I chose a beautiful kimono that was sky blue with pink flowers, a pink flowered belt, and an add-on of a bow to go on my kimono. The place was very busy, it is the most popular place to get a kimono in Kyoto that I found online. I had forgotten to call and reserve a hair styling, and ended up doing a makeshift bun with a hair piece we found later. The kimono process ended up being about 50 minutes in total, without hair and makeup. Looking back, I wish I had ordered the hair and makeup to complete the look. I ended up finding a hair piece at a shop on the way up to the temple. We took a taxi from there to Kiyomizu-dera, a temple that was about 10 minutes and 940 ¥ away. There was a street of shops that lined that walkway to kiyomizu-dera and we had a good time shopping on the way up. There were a ton of people, and many of them were also wearing kimonos.

When we eventually reached the top, Joseph took many photos of me with my kimono.

The shoes that go with the kimono definitely get tiring after a while. I had many things to do in my itinerary for the day, but we ended up tired after kiyomizu-dera. We were going to try and fit in Kinkakuji, but it was going to be an hour bus ride away so we decided not to. We walked towards the bus stop and ended up by Yusaka pagoda and got some photos there.

By Maruyama Park we ate at Gyoza No Ohsho and it was delicious. We ordered 2 orders of 6 pieces of gyoza, and the fried rice was yummy too.  I wasn’t a fan of their sweet and sour pork. 

We went back to Yumeyakata on the train, returned the kimono rental (they help you undress from the many layers), and headed back to the hotel. We stopped at Kyoto station from the Keihan line instead of JR and realized how massive Kyoto station was. It took us a while to navigate to the correct side of the station to get to our hotel. I’m glad we arrived on the shinkansen near the exit.

May 4th

Woke up around 4am again, even though I went to sleep earlier. Decided to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha in the early morning, so we made it on the 5:30am train. In the early morning there is a lot more time between trains, so make sure to check before you go to the station if you are going early in the morning or late at night.  Initially we had some confusion since the gates we used to get to the train during the day were closed off, but then we asked and there was another entrance farther down.

When we arrived, just two stops away, there weren’t any attendants to check our JR pass yet, so we just went though the barrier and showed our passes to the camera. We could see the sunrise coming up behind the shrine, and it was a really nice and brisk morning. 

There definitely wasn’t as many people there compared to the masses we saw the previous day. We got some nice photos and then headed back on the 6:30am train back to Kyoto.  We packed our bag, grabbed a McDonald’s breakfast (many other places had lines and were dine-in, this was the closest to-go place by the train). We got on the Shinkansen back to Tokyo at 8:05am.

We arrived in Tokyo at 11:30am at Shinagawa station. From here we took the Yamanote line to Shinjuku Station.  We walked over to our hotel, Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, which was only about 5 mins away.  We checked in our bags, since they didn’t have any rooms ready early (check in was 2pm), and we headed to Gyokatsu Motomura for lunch. We waited about 30 minutes or so, but after they seated us we got the food right away. This is a beef Katsu place where you have a hot plate in front of you to get you meet to the cook you like. This was our favorite meal of the trip, highly recommend the amazing gyokatsu!

We walked around the shops that evening and had some fun playing games at an arcade.

May 5th 

Woke up around 5am, took a trip to Starbucks, and went out to Shinjuku Gyoen national garden. We ended up taking the long way into the park and accidentally went to the farther entrance. The National Garden opens at 9am.

Then we headed over to Takeshita street, which was quite crowded. It was galore with funky shops mixed with normal touristy shops. We had fun browsing around, I was on the constant lookout for Totoro. At Daiso I got some cute inexpensive souvenirs.

Our favorite sweet crepes were from this shop that is on the right after entering Takeshita street from the train station. Very yummy.

For lunch, we decided to try the Japanese pancake–Okonomiyaki. We both really didn’t like it, but we were glad we gave it a try.

We concluded the day with a show at Robot Restaurant. I really debated with visiting, but we decided to make the splurge since it has SO many good reviews and everyone says its a must. When we arrived, there was a long line and we had to wait a while to pick up our tickets. After we went in we were in a waiting room for just about 5 minutes, and then we were able to go into the small performance room. All the seats and rows were pretty close together. The show was very colorful and filled with some cool floats. We did not order a meal, and I’m glad we didn’t since it didn’t look appetizing. I believe there were 2 intermissions during the show. Overall, I don’t think this performance is necessary with a visit to Tokyo. It was entertaining but if you are filling iffy about it then I would say to skip it.

After the show, we walked back to our hotel via Piss Alley (Memory Lane) for Yakitori. There were a few spots open, but they help “No photos” signs and were busy. We decided to stop at one since I had my mind set to have Yakitori in Tokyo but it was expensive and mediocre. Would’ve probably been better if I waited for one of the spots with a line.

May 6th

Across from Shinjuku station is a bus depot, where there is a bus that goes directly to Disney. It took a couple of times asking in regards to how to locate the bus, but eventually we found it. We took the early bus to arrive shortly before Disneysea’s opening. Once in, we went straight to get fast passes for Journey to the Center of the earth. A lot of people headed for that as well, so it wasn’t difficult to find. Then we walked over to Raging Spirits. We rode various rides, but they all seemed like long waits with short rides. Our favorite thing about Disneysea was the food. The various flavors of popcorn had long lines, and we could see why people got in line first thing for it. The popcorn is very light, and not as heavy as we are used to–it was really good. The potato churro was interesting, and the gyoza dumpling was my favorite. Overall, the park reminded us of California Adventure, but the lands were definitely different. The volcano in the middle made for some nice photos. We enjoyed our visit.

May 7th

On our final day, I finally won my first UFO prize–this super cute toy from Spirited Away.

For our final day, we decided to keep it chill, and went to the VR park in Shibuya. We were there for a couple of hours around noon, and had some fun. There were some cool VR games, but VR still has a long ways to go. I had high expectations, which I don’t recommend. I still think it was a good time, but its not something to put as a high priority. We also didn’t care for the lines you need to wait in for each VR experience.

On the way back to the train, we crossed what was supposed to be the busiest intersection in the world, but around that time it wasn’t really. We did get a glimpse of people going to work in the morning and that looked crazy–like traffic hour on the freeway but with people, non-stop people.

Then we took the train back to the airport and flew home via Singapore Air. Overall we had a good time for our honeymoon, but Japan isn’t a place we feel a need to visit again. I personally don’t eat seafood, and Joseph isn’t a fan of raw, so overall we didn’t care for the food there. I loved the high tech-ness of Japan, and it was definitely the cleanest and safest place I’ve ever visited. Its a good experience.

Places to buy Studio Ghibli Merch

A place that had a really good stock of Totoro merch was KIDDY LAND in Shibuya. I also visited the official Ghibli shop–Donguri at Tokyo Station, and it had some good stuff as well. Don Quijote had some cute Ghibli merch too.

The best place I came across for general souvenirs in Tokyo was the Oriental Bazaar in Shibuya, two stores down from KIDDY LAND. I also liked visiting Daiso on Takeshita street.

Japan tips 

We found that most places open around 10am and close around 10pm, so plan around that 

Make sure to have Japanese yen, after arriving to Narita in order to buy tickets for the train to head to our hotel, they only took cash. Thankfully I had some that has been gifted to me by my coworkers, but if anything there are many currency exchange places at the airport. 

The Japan Rail pass was awesome. Before our trip I worried about being confused on what trains I could use, but the JR line was in all of the places we wanted to visit and it was easy to go through the kiosk by showing them our JR pass.

Recommendations

• Book with Singapore Air if you can, worth the extra $100
• Highly recommend the convenience of the Japan Rail pass
• Visit Fushimi Inari in the early morning hours, the 5:30am train was great
• Eat beef katsu at Gyokatsu Motomura, its worth the wait
• Reserve hair and makeup in advance with your kimono rental
• Try as many snacks as you can if you visit Tokyo DisneySea