Sumo, Sake and Sapporo Beer

[bPeteb]

Al and I decided to go up the Komagatake Ropeway for some more Fuji pics, plus to make the most of the morning.

It's a short walk from the hotel to the ropeway. I'm pretty sure it's run by the hotel. Or maybe Seibu who own the Prince Hotel group.

It's in terrible condition - the building that you board from, the cable car itself and most of all the terminal up at the top. It looks like something from cold war Russia. It was the same in 2011. They look to finally be doing something about it with workers at both top and bottom repairing the cancerous concrete.



It was way colder than I expected when we got up there. My knee wasn't co-operating so a quick dash to the temple was out of the question. Steps in general had become a problem. We took 15 minutes of pictures as Fuji appeared and hid behind the fast moving clouds. The view from the top of Mt Komagatake is pretty good.

 

[bPeteb]

A couple more of the beautiful hotel


We were on our way back to Odawara station right on time. We'd only ever travelled on shinkansen with a rail pass where you always have a reserved seat. I bought our tickets from a machine and selected reserved but could have saved ourselves a few bucks by not. Half of the carriages had heaps of space. Maybe on some lines you do need a reserved seat but on the 25 minute run to Shinagawa we just didn't.

We were sat in carriage 16, travelling in reverse it was right behind the driver. Shinkansen driver, what a cool job!!



Our hosts were off to Nagoya for the weekend so after a quick catch up we were on our own for the last 24 hours of our trip.

For dinner the three of us went back down to the yakitori bar we'd gone to the first night. We had the deep fried cheese this time. Yum!!!

 

[bPeteb]

There's nothing better on the last day of a holiday, when your flight is that night, than not having to check out and store your bags at hotel reception. What a luxury it was to 90% pack, have a leisurely breakfast and head out on a final adventure.

There's nothing worse on the last day of a holiday, when your flight is at night, than getting your timings wrong and cutting it just a bit too fine to get to the airport.

We chose Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum for our last place to visit and it was fantastic. The problem was it was a long way away. It took longer to get there than we'd expected. There was a delay on the train and we sat at one station for nearly half an hour. Then we couldn't work out the bus from the station so we walked.

Some modern architecture and not-so modern car on the way to the museum




And finally we took way longer in the first couple of buildings than we should have.

Nevertheless it was amazing. It is a collection of buildings from in and around Tokyo that were moved here and reconstructed.

An art deco photo studio



and the portrait that they'll take of you if you want



For me the highlight was a house owned by a Japanese architect who worked with le Corbusier and I'm sure we were told Frank Lloyd Wright. Such a highlight I forgot to take a single picture inside!

One from outside

 

[bPeteb]

We pretty much ran around the last few places because we knew we were short on time. I'd go back in an instant.

 

[bPeteb]

ok, so we do like a bit of architecture and design. I knew I did that never-used degree for a reason

 

[bPeteb]

and two streets of commercial buildings

 

[bPeteb]

Chose a different station to go back on and although it took a long time to get to it, the train trip itself was quicker.

Our travelling companion decided to go on ahead to the airport as she also had a bad knee and didn't want to rush.



What an amazing opportunity it was to stay here. Some of 80 apartments to the left.



Quick shower then taxi to Shinagawa to catch the N'Ex to the airport. For some reason the 5pm wasn't running and the next was 5:30 with an hour + trip to the airport. We'd checked-in on line but any delays might cause some problems with bag drop etc.

J was giving us a running commentary at the airport as she crawled along the Y queue to check-in. I think she said it took nearly an hour. Not immigration or security, just check-in.

We needn't have worried. There was no-one at the business class counter when we got there. No-one at fast-track security and no-one at immigration. It all took us less than 10 minutes from when we got off the train.

We were told as we arrived at the Qantas lounge that it was crowded and that we should go to the Japan Air Lines Sakura First Class Lounge. One of the benefits of One World Emerald. Nice!! Once we found the lounge (!) it was amazing. Only one other couple in there. Champagne and delicious little snacks.



What a beautiful end to an amazing holiday.

 

[bPeteb]

Flying home I sat in the same seat number and Al moved to 6 so that he was away from the aisle. I shouldn't have had the soba noodles. They were nice. I just didn't need it and left most of the meal. What a waste. Watched a movie accompanied by a couple of glasses of wine, laid the seat down and had a great sleep.

 

[bPeteb]

They seemed to wake us up way early then breakfast seemed to take an age. Fruit salad and muesli.

We both really liked the seats. Looking forward to heading north again in them to Beijing for a couple of weeks in September.

Long lines to use the immigration ticket dispensers but they save time in the long run. Bags out in first half dozen. Fast track customers queue worked a treat. We were in a taxi and (sadly) on our way less than 30 minutes after landing.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Thanks for the report, looks like a fantastic trip despite the hiccups! I'd love to visit Japan at some point.

 

[RB]

I have really enjoyed your trip reports. You have had some great experiences

 

[drron]

I can never get enough of Japan TRs especially good ones like this one was.
We must have been fairly close in our time in Tokyo.Late May for us.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the TR - hoping to get back to Japan in the next year or so

 

[OZDUCK]

Another thank you for some fascinating photos.

 

[Straubs]

Very jealous ... the Hakone museum does indeed look like a must!

 

[craven morehead]

Ok, I'll do the usual and copy over my blog with a few changes...

Pretty soon we left the coast of New Guinea behind and the northern hemisphere was just over the horizon.

Such a quick flight to Tokyo from Brisbane. Nine and a quarter hours. Perfect. A snack of fried rice about an hour out.

Al had been back to talk to our travelling companion a couple of times. As it was announced we were about to descend one of the crew came and asked where our friend was sitting in economy. There was an empty seat behind Al and the crew had decided it would be good to bring our friendView attachment 128918 up with us for landing so that we could all get off the plane together. How nice. She was apparently very confused when they first approached her but eventually understood.

Fantastic view of the coastal plain as we approached Narita. Rice paddies as far as the eye could see with roads running between them. Acres of small solar farms. As the ground became more solid emerald green golf courses. The Japanese love their golf.

With my new Qantas/One World emerald status our bags were tagged first and they were amongst the first half dozen bags out. Yay! Our third's bag wasn't out that much later. Through immigration in minutes. What a breeze.

First stop was the Japan Rail office to activate our rail passes. We had bought JR East and South Hokkaido six day rail passes JR East-South Hokkaido Rail Pass. These gave us any six days in 14 on JR East Shinkansen in northern Honshu and on to Hokkaido and all other JR trains as far south as Odawara and in southern Hokkaido. It suited our plans just about perfectly. The N'EX (Narita Exress) into Tokyo was day one. We also needed to pick-up our tickets for the trains to and from Hokkaido that I'd pre-booked but that we needed to pick up before 9pm the night before travel. Lucky we arrived on time!

We caught the N'EX to Shinagawa where our friends picked us up. How nice!

It was about a 15 minute drive to the embassy. Beautiful apartment befitting our friend's post. We're so lucky to have somewhere so amazing to base ourselves.

Went to a local yakitori restaurant for a late dinner and welcome beers. I love yakitori. Nothing better than salted chicken bbqd on a stick. Yum!! It was a fantastic end to a great first day of our Japanese adventure.

Just catching up on this great TR !

 

[Milboo]

A well timed TR - I’ve taken a few of your tips and places and shared with a friend who heads over this week. Hakone is now on her must visit list.

 

[love_the_life]

We caught the local bus from the hotel up to Gora where our first target was The Hakone Open-Air Museum. Just wow. It was what I had hoped and a whole lot more. The curse of the stairs nearly got me again as I stumbled, and just caught myself, inside the Picasso gallery. But the damage was done and the over-rotation of my knee bothered me for the rest of day and until well after we got home.

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We spent hours at the Open Air Museum - just loved it. Can take or leave most of the rest of the Hakone experience though.