Chasing Cherry Blossoms, Old Friends & Uncle Jack

[Jacques Vert]

This trip is highly recommended.















Photos courtesy of +1

 

[Jacques Vert]

We drove back to Fukuoka and arrived back at the Hilton just in time for happy hour.

Forgot to take photos of the room but the lounge was excellent and food/drinks were fine, as is the view.











And a few beautiful bonsais in the foyer:

 

[Jacques Vert]

Next day we moved to the CP Fukuoka; not really because we were on another mattress run, more so because the Hilton was over $A1,000 per room on the Saturday night.:shock:

As it turned out, this was an excellent choice. We were given complimentary lounge access and the CP is very centrally located; just 5 mins walk from the Hakata main railway station from where it is only 2 stops/5 minutes on the subway to the airport (and only Y260 per ticket).

We spent the day walking around Fukuoka:

 

[Jacques Vert]

More Fukuoka:













Our room at the CP:

 

[GarrettM]

This trip is highly recommended.

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Photos courtesy of +1

Was featured in the Bond film Skyfall was it not?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Was featured in the Bond film Skyfall was it not?

A frequent flyer and a 007 fan!!! Well done.

I believe it was but I haven't had time to see the film (too busy travelling).

I should have mentioned that I rarely recommend specific tours/attractions; this one was well worth the money (assuming you pick the weather as well as we did).

JV

 

[Jacques Vert]

So from Fukuoka we flew JL to Tokyo Haneda.

Our flight was on a B777 in Class J. I have already talked about the poor earning rates on JL. Class J (which one check-in agent described as "almost business"), earns 325 points and 10 status credits.:evil:

When you fly JL domestic, the ground staff wave you goodbye (sorry, mata ne) as you taxi away from the terminal. A little strange at first but you soon find yourself waving back to them.



At Haneda, we found our bags and then went to find the LIMO counter. Turned out to be almost adjacent to our bag carousel. Actually not a counter but a vending machine which we managed to use very efficiently (after some help from a lovely Japanese lady who just happened to be buying tickets at the same time).

The bus stop for the LIMO was immediately outside the terminal from where the vending machine was; all very easy and efficient.

The LIMO dropped us at out hotel: the Hilton Odaiba. A very nice hotel with a lovely executive lounge (photos to come).

I have to mention that the delightful young lass who helped us with our bags and pointed us towards check-in said: "Thank you for your Royalty".

I referred to +1 as HRH for the next couple of days

 

[Jacques Vert]

First some photos taken from the plane on the descent into Tokyo:








The bridge disappears into the tunnel:







Of course it needs an air vent:

 

[Jacques Vert]

The LIMO dropped us at out hotel: the Hilton Odaiba. A very nice hotel with a lovely executive lounge (photos to come).

Some photos from our room and the executive lounge at the Hilton Odaiba:

 

[Jacques Vert]

The Rainbow Bridge:

 

[Jacques Vert]

That afternoon we went for a stroll around Odaiba Island and there was a dragon boat race underway:

 

[Jacques Vert]

And from the executive lounge as evening fell:

 

[jojen]

Thanks Jacques Vert & Gem56 for a fantastic trip report and photos. You have certainly,given us some ideas for next years trip and also a few ideas for our visit on our way home in a few weeks.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Thanks Jacques Vert & Gem56 for a fantastic trip report and photos. You have certainly,given us some ideas for next years trip and also a few ideas for our visit on our way home in a few weeks.

The pleasure is ours.

 

[Jacques Vert]

So next day +1 did some more shopping for material. I'll let her add her comments later.

Then after a full day shopping, we caught up (over dinner) with one of +1's nephews who happened to be in Tokyo for business at the same time as we were there for leisure.

Dinner was at a nice family-run Yakitori restaurant in Roppongi called Kushimura. The food was good but we forgot to take photos.

Love this sign spotted on one of the trains:



Not sure what else you would do at the last stop?




These driver-less trains are a lot of fun; there is always competition to see who gets to sit where the driver normally would:







When we got back to the Hilton we had a nice view of the Rainbow Bridge from our room:

 

[Gem56]

Thanks to info supplied by AFFers plus others on our travels around Japan, we arrived in Tokyo armed with an extensive list of quilting fabric shops to visit. I suggested to JV that he head off for a day of sight-seeing while I had the day of roaming for fabrics. Knowing that JV thought I may get lost and he may never see me again, I did think that was not going to be an option. Consequently we both had a very full day of shopping.

While fabric shops are closing in Australia, I was delighted to see that was definitely not the situation in Japan. One particular area that I could have spent at least a week in is Nippori Textile Town with wall to wall fabric shops and most of them jammed packed with shoppers. And then there's Yuzawaya, a chain of stores a bit like the Spotlight stores only much bigger.

Together with the fabric I purchased in Nagoya I finished up with 41 meters of fabric of all sorts and saved somewhere between $500 and $700. Enough to give me another trip back to Japan!

 

[amaroo]

Terrific TR!

 

[Jacques Vert]

Breakfast at the Hilton Odaiba is a little strange. We thought we would try one of the main breakfast areas rather than the Executive Lounge; often the range is broader in the main areas. There are two breakfast areas but both had a queue to get in. They have an "express lane" for HHonors members where you get to jump part of the queue but I felt a little embarrassed queue-jumping, especially as others had been waiting quite a while.

Officially the waiting was because the restaurants were "full", but we could clearly see that there ware plenty of empty tables in one of them. This didn't please our fellow travellers, one of whom was heading to the airport for an early flight and looked like missing out on breakfast altogether.

So we headed back to the executive lounge where it was straight in, no waiting. I understand the lounge has only been open since earlier this year and the Hilton website still shows no lounge at this hotel

 

[Jacques Vert]

After breakfast it was off to the Odaiba station on the Yurikamone line again; did I mention it is less than one minute's walk from the hotel? This time we took an all-day pass for the princely sum of 820 Yen each. We got off at the last stop, Shimbashi (the one where you have to give up your seat).

We then took the Metro to Oshiage via Asakusa. For this we bought another all-day pass: the combined pass for both the Tokyo subway and the Toei Subway (cost 1,000 yen per person). At Oshiage, we headed to the Tokyo Skytree:








I have to say we were disappointed with Skytree. We only went to the first level from where we had an excellent view of the smog:

 

[Jacques Vert]

Looking down closer in the view was clearer:










And looking through the floor was interesting:




We didn't bother to pay the extra 1,000 yen or so to go to the higher level as the smog would have been worse. Overall, I don't think it was worth the money (maybe on a day straight after rain, but disappointing the day we were there).

Also, you seem to loose perspective when you get too high. This was the third high-rise that we went up and we both felt that the Umeda Sky building in Osaka (post 121), although only half the height, was a better experience (and 800 yen against 2,060).

Another thing about the Skytree: they have an express lane for international visitors where for a considerable extra charge you get to jump the queue. We decided to join the normal queue which took only about ten minutes (not the 20 minutes we were told). Although it may be worthwhile on a busy day.