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Day 5:
Took the earliest train possible to Kyoto, about 40min. We bought the city bus one-day pass as there is only one single subway line in kyoto, which goes everywhere but the important places we wanna visit. Arrived at Kyomitsutera shrine 清水寺, one of the best known shrines in Kyoto, if not in the whole of Japan. There is this nice little walkway leading to the temple with traditional Kyoto shops selling okashi (japanese sweets) and souvenirs. There were some youngsters wearing kimonos, even the guys, and they look really cute!! The shrine was located on a hill, with different sub sections and the entire building was constructed solely using wood. Not a single nail or metal piece was used in the process. Too bad we chose a sunday, and in the golden week somemore, and we had a really hard time squeezing through the people.
After that we moved on to Higashi hongganji (东本愿寺) and nishi hongganji (西本愿寺), and there were much lesser people. Maybe these two shrines were less famous, but nevertheless still over a hundred years old. Lastly we took two buses to the second most famous temple in Kyoto, 金阁寺 (I forgot the Jap name for that). Basically the name came from the golden temple in the middle of the small lake, and apparently no one is allowed to go up the temple or else all the gold would be gone by now =p
Took a 1hr bus to Kyoto station and back to Osaka, before going to one of the outlets for some shopping. Managed to grap a nice jacket for 1050 yen, abt S$15. We found a really nice 24hr minimart near the hotel, where we settled most of our dinner. The bentos there are sold at half price once past 9pm, and just like what i have read in a book, a lot of Japanese will loitter around in the mart close to 9pm and follow the "sticker obasan" who goes around pasting half price stickers on the bentos. Had omelete rice for dinner =)
Day 6:
Went to Rinku Town premium outlets for more shopping early in the morning, as we are departig for Tokyo in the afternoon. It was really big, and resonably cheap. But still a bit expensive compared to the premium outlet in Vegas. Most of the local Jap brands are cheaper than those imported. Managed to grab a pair of Le Cock De Sportif sneakers and some more clothes. There were close to 180 shops in the outlet, and most of the stuff are 20-40% cheaper than retails.
We left at about 4pm with loads and loads of stuff and took the shinkansen again back to Tokyo. Shinkansen is no doubt the fastest mode of transport in Japan, but also the most expensive. A 2.5hr ride to Tokyo from Osaka cost about 15000 yen, which is about S$225. I think most of our money was spent on transport. But still, free and easy tour gave us a chance to try out ALL the different modes of transport in Japan.
Day 7:
Visited the Grand Palace gardens early in the morning, which was just below our new hotel. A pretty nice place i would say. Spent about 2hr walking around before moving to the 2nd most famous shrine in Japan, Asakusa Shrine 浅草寺. Just outside the Asakusa station you can see a row of shop houses lined with white paper lanterns and black words. There is also a narrow street leading to the shrine similar to that of Kyomitsutera shrine. The most prominent logo of Asakusa shrine is the gigantic red lantern with the words 雷门 written on it, weighing close to 200 tons. Managed to grab some souvenirs along the streets before setting off to the next station.
Took the subway for the nth time (we bought the one-day pass, finally) to Ginza, which is supposed to be the 'Orchard Road' in Japan. We went to the largest MUJI in Tokyo (3 storeys) and some other nearby shops before setting our lunch in a ramen shop. It was a typical but good ramen shop in Japan. First you have to select your food from a machine at the entrance and a ticket will be printed out when u pay. Then you are supposed to give the ticket to the chefs, who will in turn pass you a form for you to indicate the softness, saltiness, spicness of the noodles as well as the side dishes. The instruction for filling in of the forms comes in End, Chi and Korean, which was quite user friendly. There is also a cute machine infront of each seat for you to buy extra eggs 温泉蛋. You can put in 50 yen for half an egg and 100 for a full one. The soup is the traditional Jap soya miso kind, a bit salty but very rich. I added more chili to enhance the flavour.
After lunch we moved on to harajuku again for some last minute shopping. The last time i went most of the shops were already closed when we came out of DAISO. To my disappointment it was pouring heavily and i hardly found anything except for a pair of shorts. Shibuya and Harajuku are supposed to be the shopping paradise for youngsters as they are well known for cheap and super trandy clothes. It proved to be true. But after hunting in a few shops you will soon realize that most of the shops are selling similar kinds of clothes, and it it hard to find unique ones. Nevertheless im still able to grab some stuff in the midst of everything.
We left harajuku at 7pm for the nest stop, Odaiba 台场, which was near the Tokyo port. It is quite ulu as most of the subways do not pass there directly and we had to take a private train there. It was quite freezing at night due to the rain, and by the time we reached, the viewing platform for the famoud Rainbow Bridge 彩虹桥 was already closed. For your information, rainbow bridge is not rainbow coloured!! But still it looks bright and nice at night, which reminded me of the 情人桥 at 渔人码头 in tapei =）There was also a ferries wheel in the distance, which was instead rainbow coloured. We settled our dinner at yoshinoya, which proved to be not bad after all. There is even sukiyaki (jap dark sauce steamboat with udon and raw egg as dipping sauce). Yoshiniya is considered quite cheap in Japan, as it is like a fastfood restaurant. Had a hearty meal before going back to our hotel.
Day 8:
Left the hotel early in the morning and took two trains to Narita airport, before bidding goodbye to Japan.
Conclusion:
I certainly didnt expect myself to speak soooo much Jap there, all the way from buying tickets to booking hotels to order food to asking directions. Basically when i speak Eng, most of the Jap people dont really understand what i was saying, and i had to result to using Jap. And once i start to speak Jap, all the people started saying Jap to me, so the cycle continues. But really good practice i would say. I will never have so much chance to practice my Jap if i had gone with a tour agency instead.
Among all, the thing that left the deepest impression in my mind is the attitude of the service industry. All the hotel staff are very polite and greetings is a must each time they see us. When we went shopping, we are supposed to remove our shoes before going into the fitting room, and they even have head covers for the ladies to cover their faces before removing their clothes so as to protect their make up. And after paying for the stuff, they will pack everything nicely and even take your clothes to the entrance of the shop and bow to send you out. All the subway lines have a rule that says mobile phones are prohibited on the trains, so only messaging is allowed. So all the trains are super quiet all the time.
Lastly, it was quite a tiring journey especially for me, as i ended my papers just a day before the trip and i had almost no time to rest till these few days. Everyday is some what hectic as we have to rush to take trains and buses, especially when we are planning all the visits ourselves. I spent a lot of time asking and finding the places, and we have to wake up close to 530am everyday and only return to the hotels close to 11pm. But all in all, it is still a memorable experience for all of us as we really went to a lot of places that tour agencies will never take us to, such as the old hot spring. But i would say that travelling free and easy in Japan is not easy if you have absolutely zero command of Japanese.
Next stop: Hokkaido!
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Labels: life46 japan trip 2009
