3 Weeks in Japan - The Post COVID Version!

[rbjhan]

3 weeks after almost 3 years!
In fact I've mentally given up on this one seeing Japan kept playing chicken with their borders...Finally the announcement came! Couldn't believe my eyes...
And I got award seats on Qantas, ha ha. Pre COVID that almost never happened...downside is they are not flying from Melbourne atm, so I have to go via Sydney and the dreadful bus transfer, not happy.

I'm still sorting through the pictures so here's one little teaser...

 

[rbjhan]

I am not sure what's the reason behind Qantas putting me on the 2pm flight to Sydney, seeing that QF25 departs at about 10pm...but after hearing horror stories about tickets being cancelled by call centre staff, I decided not to try my luck with this one. I can spend some time in Sydney lounge watching Netflix or something, that's not too bad!

The Spice Bar in MEL is not actually offering noodles atm, sigh.


3 cup chicken it is then.


Flight was uneventful, and food acceptable.


The SYD QF international business lounge however, was a disaster...terrible food, aircon not working well, and impossible to find charging ports
So I relocated to Plaza Premium, at least it's quite empty!

 

[rbjhan]

After some podcasts and Netflix, finally boarding time!
Oh I have missed you!


4K


Who designed this amenity bag? Genuine question.


Breakfast was quite good imho.



Hello Tokyo!

 

[RooFlyer]

Great to see this happening again!!

 

[rbjhan]

Great to see this happening again!!

Thank you!
I've booked and got cancelled 3 times...before this one.

 

[rbjhan]

Shipped my big case to Nagoya, and off we go!
Side note, the lady from TA-Q-BIN can't speak English at all (and she works at the international terminal!), luckily during the Melbourne lockdown I started Japanese classes...if you want to use this service better learn some simple (but important) words.



It was way too early for my next train ride, so I went to Sky Spa Yokohama for my first onsen No pictures, ofc.

The Saphir Odoriko 1 was scheduled to depart Yokohama at 11:24, imagine my surprise/shock when time came and the train was nowhere to be seen! This being Japan, my first thought was that somehow I went to the wrong platform and missed the train altogether!

But I knew this was the correct platform, because:


My Japanese is not good enough for me to go around asking random passengers about it...so I waited and waited, finally saw some staff walking past, and they confirmed this was in fact the correct platform...

And finally this came up, noticed the clock!


Late for 25 mins?! Is this really in Japan?!!! But alas, at least I didn't miss anything...

 

[rbjhan]

And here it was! Saphir Odoriko!



Tickets for this train go on sale one month in advance on Ekinet.
I was 3 days late and managed to grab the last single ticket for this particular train! No kidding.
After I bought mine the page was like:


So yeah. very lucky.

What is Premium Green you ask?


Car 2 and 3 are private compartments. This one was empty.



Car 4 is dining car.
Amazingly not crowded at all




I noticed most of my fellow passengers were eating Ekiben.
Well more beef curry for me then.

 

[rbjhan]

So I arrived at Izu Atagawa station somewhere around 1:40 pm...was a bit worry about hotel pick up, I did email them earlier about this train being delayed. But still amazed that they showed up like 10 secs after I exited the ticket gates. I had a good feeling about this ryokan instantly

Bousui , deep down Izu Peninsula, have great ocean view of course.
Lobby


My room is called ムーンロードルーム Moon Road.


Bedroom


It's all about the angles, you see. Because this room is actually on level 2....

 

[drron]

Fantastic. We had given up on Japan so not back there until October 23 but then 3 trips in 6 months.
Amazing when a train is late. We had it happen in Aomori after a land slide . The Station master came and apologized to every passenger.
On the limousine bus once it was 3 minutes late so the driver got up and bowed to the passengers and apologised.

Great to see current situation.

 

[rbjhan]

Fantastic. We had given up on Japan so not back there until October 23 but then 3 trips in 6 months.
Amazing when a train is late. We had it happen in Aomori after a land slide . The Station master came and apologized to every passenger.
On the limousine bus once it was 3 minutes late so the driver got up and bowed to the passengers and apologised.

Great to see current situation.

The worst I've had was in Hokkaido near Noboribetsu, a level crossing accident, fatal I believe.
Train was delayed for over 6 hours.

 

[rbjhan]

I was served a sweet alcohol drink in the lobby, thought that was it. But later in my room they brought out the matcha and wagashi.


Private onsen in this place is simply amazing!




The drinks were water and tea, don't get too excited...


Stunning view.

 

[rbjhan]

Dinner was in a dining hall on the same floor as my room.
They encouraged you to arrive a little early to enjoy the free drinks.



Actual dinner




Steamed abalone.



Nabe was delicious!


Rice


Dessert


And that's why it's called Moon Road...

 

[rbjhan]

Woke up early the next morning and went for a walk outside.




Morning soak in the public bath. Unfortunately compared to the excellent private onsen, public bath is nothing special...it's not bad, just didn't stand out.

Breakfast however, I can honestly say this was the best Japanese breakfast I've ever had!




Waiting for the shuttle to take me back to Izu Atagawa station again...


I've been to many ryokans, this one is definitely top 3 material.

 

[JohnM]

I must ask: isn't a private onsen a tad boring - not to mention being an oxymoron?

 

[rbjhan]

I must ask: isn't a private onsen a tad boring - not to mention being an oxymoron?

Boring? Why?
Say if you are travelling with family or a partner of the opposite gender, private onsen is the only way you can enjoy it together....
Edit, or if you have tatoo.

 

[JohnM]

Boring? Why?
Say if you are travelling with family or a partner of the opposite gender, private onsen is the only way you can enjoy it together....
Edit, or if you have tatoo.

I was reading ‘private’ as solo. Apologies if that is not what you meant.

 

[Matt_01]

The worst I've had was in Hokkaido near Noboribetsu, a level crossing accident, fatal I believe.
Train was delayed for over 6 hours.

We had a delay in 2017 on one of the JR lines in Tokyo, the reason on the sign/ boards someone fallen on the tracks.

Onto a brighter note I have followed your previous Japan TRs and also @drron as they always give us new ideas. Prior to Covid we (family unit) would go to Japan every year or at worst every other year. As a family unit we were last there in 2019, 2020 went by the wayside (Covid) and it was not more than 2 days back MrsM asked if we could add Japan to our 2023 plans. In the same conversation it was stated "if we do not there next year, were are going in the first school holidays in 2024.

 

[rbjhan]

We had a delay in 2017 on one of the JR lines in Tokyo, the reason on the sign/ boards someone fallen on the tracks.

Onto a brighter note I have followed your previous Japan TRs and also @drron as they always give us new ideas. Prior to Covid we (family unit) would go to Japan every year or at worst every other year. As a family unit we were last there in 2019, 2020 went by the wayside (Covid) and it was not more than 2 days back MrsM asked if we could add Japan to our 2023 plans. In the same conversation it was stated "if we do not there next year, were are going in the first school holidays in 2024.

Kyoto is busy as always I find....but mostly domestic tourists methinks?
Now is a great time to go!
I've already booked late Mar/ early Apr 2023

 

[rbjhan]

I was reading ‘private’ as solo. Apologies if that is not what you meant.

Private means you are not sharing it with strangers, that is all. Your group could be one, two, three...I think you are reading too much into it...

 

[Matt_01]

I was reading ‘private’ as solo. Apologies if that is not what you meant.

The term means something different in Japan. Ryokans have 'his' and 'hers' bathing facilities, the nude up experience is subject to local hotel rules. The best way I can describe 'private' in western terms is it like suite with your own tub in your room.

Bathing in Japan can be somewhat different to what westerns consider the norm. On my first trip to Japan I would have never thought I would stand on top of a seven story building in the buff looking out over Kyoto, but it did happen. Also don't worry about the people on the ground level looking up, the buildings are designed so they cannot see /do not see your bits.