The Jukebox Clan Does Japan

[Deno]

Thanks @jukebox333 Great Trip Report, with a lot of useful information. We are heading there in August, so your info is very helpful.

 

[rbjhan]

The plan is to try it somewhere the table can share a plate, not where it's placed in front of one of us and it's that soul's task to make it vanish

I'm not expecting to like it, but have got myself in a headspace where I'm willing to try it

I had it in Matsumoto and Kumamoto.....meh really not my thing. I can eat the meat but holy cow the fat was just so....off putting
Besides, you see why it's only popular in those places? Hmmm, I have a theory.....

 

[elanshin]

Ha ha be careful about Basashi 馬刺し..... it's not everyone's cup of tea, certainly not mine
*And you know I eat almost everything!

@jukebox333 the best way i can say is that it's up to how its prepared. Overall if its done well you wouldn't even realise its horse. Done poorly and you're wondering why you didn't go have beef.

 

[drron]

Not only in Japan but ate it in Iceland as well. I don't mind it at all but nothing special.

 

[jukebox333]

Sunday was to be South West Tokyo, starting with Teamlabs Borderless. The kids had pushed this as a must do, as well as Teamlabs Planets. I was a little sceptical about doing both so close to each other, but there was no clear favourite in the reviews – different people got different things out of each.

I booked the 0900 slot, wanting to be there early, use the dead time 0700 – 0900 for travel, and hopefully beat the crazy crowds. It was a smart move. By the time 1000 rolled around, corridors we’d had to ourselves were filled with screaming kids unleashed by don’t-give-a-damn parents, and obnoxious *loud* Westerners, intent on telling everyone within earshot their interpretation of the works.






I have to say ¾ of the installations are amazing – you walk into rooms and lose all sense of balance, gravity, height, direction in some cases. Gradually, that feeling is taken over by immersion into the art. Photographs don’t do it justice – I can’t recommend it enough.

 

[jukebox333]

We came out, and what had been a cold, grey day was now sunny… and of course we’d pencilled in a group laundry session. So the two young kids went off to Shibuya and around and about, while Wendy and I schlepped down to Ginza with a suitcase of dirty clothes. With five people in tow, it quickly adds up. Again in hindsight, perhaps we should have washed a day earlier when it was wet.

I did manage to revisit Sakura-Dori Street outside the hotel, and the blossom there in full sunlight were just heavenly.

 

[Pushka]

Sunday was to be South West Tokyo, starting with Teamlabs Borderless. The kids had pushed this as a must do, as well as Teamlabs Planets. I was a little sceptical about doing both so close to each other, but there was no clear favourite in the reviews – different people got different things out of each.

I booked the 0900 slot, wanting to be there early, use the dead time 0700 – 0900 for travel, and hopefully beat the crazy crowds. It was a smart move. By the time 1000 rolled around, corridors we’d had to ourselves were filled with screaming kids unleashed by don’t-give-a-damn parents, and obnoxious *loud* Westerners, intent on telling everyone within earshot their interpretation of the works.

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I have to say ¾ of the installations are amazing – you walk into rooms and lose all sense of balance, gravity, height, direction in some cases. Gradually, that feeling is taken over by immersion into the art. Photographs don’t do it justice – I can’t recommend it enough.

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Excellent. We are going there too.

 

[jukebox333]

Washing took about three hours, and I again offered Levon another night with his old man, which he accepted with a little trepidation. The temp had dropped in the afternoon, and the wind was picking up. It was about 5C but felt much worse. We headed for the Shibuya crossing, then Tower Records Shibuya, and finally another Instagram hotspot at Shibuya’s Sakura-dori Street.


















The plan after that was to grab a feed around Meguro River and look at the illuminated blossoms there, but it was bitterly cold, so after our meal we cut and run back to the hotel to warm ourselves up and get ready for an early start the next day.

 

[jukebox333]

Next up: Mt Fuji.

I'd done the Hakone Freepass thing on my 2008 visit, and not seen Fuji, so my eldest convinced me that seeing Fuji from the Five Lakes area might be a better way to do things. That needs a car, and my first thought was to hire a van and driver for the day.

When I researched this, it costs around $800, which is not outrageous for a 12 hr day, but all the van-and-a-man places seem to have a fixed itinerary; you get taken to certain spots, for certain amounts of time, and have zero flexibility. That's not me.

So I checked on car (van) rentals, and it was pretty affordable. There was a Nissan car rental office at the Nihonbashi entrance to Tokyo station, so we could pick up there dramas first thing in the morning. I decide we'd make it an overnight trip, to give us time to see Fuji in the afternoon of Day 1 and the morning of Day 2.

I also became a compulsive watcher of live webcams around Fuji, to figure out where the best in places to be for photographs are. Turns out it's on the East side in the morning, the West in the afternoon.

Looking at accommodation, there are a lot of places to stay around Kawaguchiko, but I cast my net a little wider, and found The Mount Shoji Hotel, out on Lake Shoji. This place has rooms with the most gorgeous view, and indeed one of the live cams is right near it, so you can see exactly what you are getting:

I kept a close eye on when their bookings opened, and grabbed three Fuji facing rooms the day they went live. They were a mix of Japanese and Western style, but the main thing was they all had views.

Knowing I'd be bringing the van back in to central Tokyo, I decided on a Mon-Tue rental, as (hopefully) the traffic would be lighter on a Tuesday.

That cast the die for timing.

As the date got closer, the Central Tokyo Nissan office booking did not open bookings for April. No idea why, and when I emailed them, I didn't get any response beyond "Please wait". The booking spanned two different months, and I started getting nervous, knowing I needed a van to fit us all in.

Time for plan B.

I checked the other Nissan offices, and saw the Hachioji office had van availability. This was far on the west side of Tokyo, which meant less city driving, and so we could subway out there, and pick up the car at 8am, but be almost a third of the way to Fuji, so that made a lot of sense.

I locked in the van booking, and we were set.

It is quite cruel watch Fuji weather. There are days it looks like a postcard, other days a grey fog covers everything.

Last week, it became clear we were rather unlikely to get good weather.

I had one "floating" day in Tokyo Thursday of this week, so made a prcautionary car booking for that day, just in case the weather didn't co-operate but Thursday looked good - we could do the main sights in a single day if push came to shove...

But it wasn't to be. Leaving Tokyo we had solid overcast. The temperature was dropping, and Oliver came back with a weather report forcasting snow for the evening.

Snow?????????

 

[jukebox333]

Sooooo... my Really Clever Plan™ was to head to Chureito Pagoda mid morning of Day 1 if we got there before the crowds and the sun had shifted, the across to Kogamasao Memorial Park, then Oishi Park, then loop down to Lake Tanuki, before ending up at the hotel. Day 2 we would get up early, grab sunrise photos from the view in front of the Lake, Then tackle Chureito again before it got too crowded, and then head for Oshino Hakkai. Most of these places have live cams, so the plan had been to monitor those for how the light looked, and if some places got clouded in, move to others.

In the end, they were **all** clouded in.

Well, snowed in, actually.

Cutting our losses, we headed for Shiraito Falls, and then to the hotel.






The view is stunning, and would be more so if it were clear.

But this place is old, and tired... there's literally a trickle of hot water from the taps, and no towels are provided.

It's also one of the more expensive places - because of location.

But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Because sometimes, there's magic in the air...

 

[craven morehead]

Well, here we are live from Tokyo!

The great news is, that HKG transfer was seamless. We got away from PER on time, and into HKG on schedule. After the long walk to the transfer area and back to gate 63, I was met by my son and his girlfriend, who had navigated safely from BNE.

Both Cathay flights were on the very good side of acceptable for Y - one thing that stood out was the cabin crew acknowledging my status by greeting me as I took my seat, and calling me by name throughout the flight. It's stupidly petty, and changes nothing, but it does feel nice.

We flew over Taipei en-route - I worked there for 2 years, so that was a nice touch - and we did manage a glimpse of Fuji poking out from above the clouds. Hopefully it won't be our only view...

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Narita was actually stress free. Our gate was close to the terminal, and even though we stopped just past the airbridge for three of five of us to empty bladders (!), we were only on the third row of the chicane leading to the QR code reading stations. Lots of help for anyone needing it at these counters, and we were clear of airside in about 40 mins. We grabbed NEX tickets (also fuss free - I'd watched YouTube videos so knew exactly what to do) and we were on our way into Tokyo city less than 90 mins after landing.

Signing on

 

[rbjhan]

a compulsive watcher of live webcams

OMG are you me???

 

[jukebox333]

Sorry - missed the photos of the waterfalls. They were quite scenic, and only a short walk from the carpark:







Knowing there was nowhere other than the hotel open for dinner out at Lake Shoji, I had pinned a half dozen options in my Google Earth Master Map, and told Levon he could make the call as to where to try and head for a feed.

It was 2C and falling, and rain was turning to sleet, so he picked the first place that wasn't a sushi venue, and isakaya called 海鮮料理赤坂 in Fujikawaguchiko. The drive there was a challenge, as the snow started to get heavy.

We were ushered to a private room, but I had to decline as it was floor seating - none of us are confident we could do that. The hostess was great, and then directed us to the counter - you can see photos of the place in Google Maps.

Dinner was larger than typical Izakaya, more tapas sized, and seafood centric - it tasted great and scored for value - ¥11,700 for five of us including drinks. The menu had an english translation, but I stubbornly avoided the "Recommended dishes for foreigners" choices, and was more than happy with the Oysters and Gyozas that arrived.

We drove home carefully, as the snow was pelting down now, a little sad that we were not going to see Fuji, but excited it was snowing.

 

[jukebox333]

I was awake by 0530, and tiptoed to the window. It had kept snowing all night!

I wasn't going to be able to deliver the money shot of Fuji reflected in the lake, but the consolation prize was pretty darn special: a winter wonderland.

I threw on my clothes and went exploring at 6am.

It was beautiful, peaceful, and stunning:



Our van had about 40mm of powder on it:












Real Finland vibes.

I headed back to the room, buzzing that we were out in fresh snow again.

I turned on the Lake Shoji webcam to see if I could see myself wandering along the shore, and at 7:07am caught this moment:



If you are young and in love, then there's probably not a lot more memorable than being proposed to while walking around Japan in snow you never expected to see!

I'm so proud of these two - they make a great couple, and are very good together.

 

[jukebox333]

With the Fuji viewing options all eliminated, and most of us still feeling different degrees of lurgi, we agreed to have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, then head back to Tokyo early.

I let Oliver have a drive from the lake, to our only stop on the way back, the Yamanashi Prefectural Maglev Exhibition Center - site for live testing of the 500km/h maglev train that might one day connect Tokyo and Osaka. Luckily for us, there were test trains scheduled for the Tuesday, and so we planned to use the float in our schedule to wait there till we saw a run-past.

The drive there:



As we walked from the car park to the centre itself, a test train roared past - diabolically fast.

We made our way inside, and they announced it would return in 10 mins, so we readied ourselves.

It took me longer to type that sentence than you could see the train for.

Inside the centre, there is a mock up of the train:



We watched a video with English subtitles about the maglev, but it was a bit disappointing - it was light, nay missing any technical detail on how the train worked, or what testing was being done. It felt very sanitized.

Film done, I asked one of the staff when the next run past would be - it was 30 mins. So we elected to wait at the upstairs viewing platform to get the best view.

It doesn't look it but this is 500km/h:




I'm a train geek, so I enjoyed it. But honestly, if the test trains are nto running on the day you go past, you can give it a miss. There's a calendar released every Friday for the following week, telling you if tests are running.

Back in the van, and into Hachioji, where we fuelled it up and handed it back. Nissan were a great rental agency, no dramas and very straightforward picking up and dropping off.

Time to head home for a rest, because some of us had Mario... er Japan Kart touring to do in the evening.

 

[jukebox333]

Oliver and I rested up, then dosed up on cough and flu medication, and headed up to Kanda to do our Japan Kart tour.



It was dire weather - driving rain, freezing cold - and when we got there, the operator offered us the choice of a credit, or to reschedule... or to ride.

We chose ride.

I can't tell you how professional these guys were; we got to put on wet weather riding pants and overcoats, then our costumes if we wanted. Is it really an unofficial Mario Kart tour of you don't dress up in this-is-definitely-not-a-Niontendo-costume? Latex gloves, the woollen gloves, clear goggles, and a heat pack for the small of your back.

We were ready!

You get a safety video, and then are taekn down to the garage where they run through operating a go-kart. I'd never driven one before, so it was a bit to take in, but they are clear with what to do, and there's escort cars in front and back of the pack of karts, so you never dont feel safe.

The next two hour were amazing! Around the Imperial Palace, thru Shibuya Scramble, across to Tokyo Tower, and then back to Kanda via Marounouchi and Tokyo Station. We were freezing. We were soaked, even with all that gear on, your hands and feel are just icy. When the rain got heavy, it was like hail on your face. Cars passing by in lanes either side of you. Hectic mayhem.

But ear to ear grins from every single participant.






The dire weather actually made it feel very special - and the way Tokyo Tower disappeared into the mist was just beautiful. Racing thru tunnels and across some of the overpasses, and speeding down into Shibuya in and exposed go-kart was an incredible adrenaline rush.

Tired but happy it was around 11pm when we headed home, and the rain was still going strong - I did manage one more shot of the sakura on the street our hotel is in, before having a much needed hot shower and calling it a day.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

CONGRATULATIONS! Another snowy Japanese lakeside AFF engagement. What an amazing way to remember this trip.

 

[jukebox333]

With morning arriving, we had another wet and cold day Tokyo ahead of us. Oliver had been hit really badly with the bug we all have, and knowing we were headed out for a special dinner tonight to celebrate his engagement, he reluctantly stayed in bed and medicated, to try and get a little better.

The morning's activity was Teamlabs Planets, the other Teamlabs project in Tokyo. Again, we'd booked the 9:00-9:30 entry to try and get ahead of the crowd. Except we didn't. When we arrived there at 8:50 there were already 200+ people in line. Thankfully, it did move quickly and we were soon inside.

Planets is very different to Borderless, and I'm going to call it as not for the better. The is much less free-form wandering around, many of the zones, whilst fun, are also gimmicky and do not have the "wow" factor Borderless did. I would go as far as to say less than 25% of Planets moved me in the way Borderless did. Many of the rooms felt like kids playground attractions with fancy digital projections all around them.



















The big hype scene is the water world, where you are knee deep in water, and digital fish are swimming around you. It is initially impressive but the gimmick wears off, and it just didn't have any depth (if you'll pardon the pun) for me.

There seemed to be a hell of a lot of wasted space - long corridors of blackness between rooms that added zero value. We had wanted to do the water world last, but no, you were directed into that zone first.

The other noticible thing was the sheer number of people inside. It was too crowded, even if everyone was behaving well - and of course they weren't. That's greed on the part of the operators; you could have throttled the number of admissions and kept the place more zen.

I am glad we went to both, but as a group, we agreed that for us, Planets was a signifigantly less satisfying experience. If you only have time for one, I'd strongly recommned you make it Borderless, and book for the first admission of the day.

 

[jukebox333]

We headed over to the nearby Tsukiji Outer Market, planning to grab some fish snacks there.

It had stopped raining by now, which was a plus, and it was a couple of subway stops and a short walk before we found the block where all the action is.





Maybe I'm jaded, but I'd like think that's also savvy, because Tsujiki was just a big toursit trap to me. It was packed with tourists despite the weather, all lining up to pay for what looked to me like ridiculously overpriced sashimi and sushi, eel, squid, and other bites. I've seen sashimi on sale around other parts of Tokyo, and know ahead of time what the prices for oysters are going to be on Miyajima - the stalls here were double and triple those rates.

We shared some grilled eel skewers as a consolation prize, and we watched the stand owner cooking up some in the shell scallops whihc was fun, but again, I couldn't put this place on my "must see" list of you only have limited time in Tokyo.

It was only 1pm but we were flagging, so back into the city for a siesta.

 

[jukebox333]

When Oliver told me he was going to propose in Japan, Wendy and I decided we wanted to celebrate with them by going to a nice restaurant for a meal they would remember.

I made shaortlist of places I liked, and let Oliver choose the one he liked best. That was Washoku Mori Yuu, at Roppongi, and we pre-ordered the Chef's choice sukiyaki course/Beef miso sukiyaki and fillet.

By mid afternoon, Oliver was still quite sick, and unfortunately Levon suddenly got really ill - to the point where we started investigating where the nearest medical assistance was. None of this was ideal to say the least.

At "go" time, Oliver had recovered just enough to be present, but Levon was down for the count with a fever and sweats. He was going to have to sit this one out, sadly.

We headed over to Roppongi, and down the back alleys to find the restaurant. I slid back the door, and was met with a single counter in a long room, and an older couple mid meal, with a place setting for five at the other end of the counter - the chef's station was in the middle.

The next two hours were incredible. 11 delightful courses prepared in front of us, the chef working entirely on his own, juggling two sets of customers, eating at different times, so having to repeat some dishes about 60 minutes after he first cooked them.

It really was theatre, and my biggest regret was that the chef barely spoke a word of English, so we really could not communicate with him and tell him how much we admired his hard work.
At the very start of the evening, I did manage to use Google Translate to explain why there were only four of us, not five. I then asked if he could create a bento out of any of the dishes he wa sgoing to prepare; he showed me a lovely bamboo bento box and gestured if that was okay - a thumbs up, and we were sorted.








He took his work so seriously, and there was precision in everything he did. The garnishes were tweezered to that all dishes were identical. And the food was delicious - shrimp, octopus, fish, duck and then beef. All just perfect.

I used Google one more time, and let him know we were celebrating an engagment, and chef's face lit up with joy. It was a perfect moment.

西麻布の和食なら和食杜 侑 | 温かい雰囲気の大人の隠れ家

washokunomori-yuki.com

Highly recommended!