While my last trip to Tokyo was done under the scorching heat of the summer sun, this trip was hassled by the heavy wind and rain. The primary focus of this trip was to hike Mt. Fuji, but we were fortunate enough to squeeze in some of the more touristy places during the other remaining days. This trip is definitely one for the books.
Day 1 – Arrival and Gotemba-bound
- Arrival at Narita International Airport Terminal 2. After a looooong process through immigration, we bought some sim cards for internet and tickets for the bus to Tokyo Station.
- Less than an hour’s travel from the airport, we arrived at Tokyo Station. Explored the shops, especially those in Tokyo Character Street.
- We had our late lunch at Rokurinsha inside Tokyo Ramen Street. This was incredibly delicious and set the mood for the rest of the trip. The noodles were thick and chewy; the dipping soup was bursting with umami. Apparently, they make the soup from a variety of dried fish (Niboshi) to achieve this. The flavor was very rich, but it was a different from the usual tonkotsu broth I always have. No guilt here, just incredible taste. A great start to the trip.
- We took the local trains to Gotemba station and checked in at Select Inn Fujisan. Gotemba felt like a place built specifically to cater to those hiking Mt. Fuji. Getting off the station, you could already see the mountain from afar. The weather was a bit cloudy and it was getting dark so we quickly bought some essentials from the konbini inside the station.
- The hotel offered dinner service which was a bowl of delicious beef gyudon. Afterwards, we met up with our climbing team at the hotel lobby to get to know each other. Bed time followed right after.
Day 2 – Fujinomiya and Mt. Hoei
- Woke up early for the Hotel’s breakfast buffet then packed our things and checked out of the hotel.
- From Gotemba Station, we rode a bus to Mizugatsuka Park, a sprawling concrete field that serves as a parking area for hikers. Aside from a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji, the park boasts a 2-storey Souvenir shop that serves every Mt. Fuji merchandise you can dream of. After spending some coins on Mt. Fuji gacha, the group and I waited for another bus that took us straight to Fujinomiya Trail 5th station.
- After some final preparations, we started the hike up to the Fujinomiya Trail 6th Station. This mountain hut (Houei Sansou) was our accommodation for the night.
- We started our side-trip, an out and back hike to the Mt. Hoei Crater.
- Back at the 6th Station, we had our dinner and it was lights off early.
Day 3 – Mt. Fuji up and down
- We had to delay our hike start due to heavy wind and rain, but we eventually started hiking up Mt. Fuji. I will be detailing the hike in a separate post and linking to it from here.
- We reached the Fujinomiya Trail 8th Station before we turned back. The summit was closed due to the wind and rain. Deciding not to risk our lives, we slowly made it down the mountain, meeting up back at the 6th Station.
- After a quick headcount, we made our way down to the 5th Station where our organizer got us tickets for the bus back to Mizugatsuka Park. Then it was another ride back to Gotemba Station.
- Back at the hotel, we procured our belongings and changed into comfortable clothes before saying goodbye to our group. Some were heading back to Tokyo, others Osaka, and even Nagoya.
- Rode the train to Odawara Station and checked in to Hotel Kunimi Odawara.
- Late lunch at Ganso Aburado Aburasoba. Tried this place because of a google review that said it’s the “best mazesoba” they’d had. After tasting their special bowl, I have to agree. I’m not a mazesoba expert, but it’s definitely top 3. Dry noodles but the sauce is delicious, especially with a parmesan kick. The countertop also has more than 10 condiments you can use to dress up your bowl so I was able to taste a lot of flavors from a single bowl. They only serve two kinds of aburasoba, the special and the spicy miso. Shane ordered the spicy miso but we found it a bit too salty. Definitely stick with the special and adjust to your liking with the provided condiments. They also had free-flowing tea included. I’m so glad we chose this for our meal. We also got in right before the queue of locals started pouring in. My favorite meal of the trip, tbh.
- Explored the Higashidori Shopping Street beside the station and the neighboring alleys. Found a Don Quijote and some drug stores so, of course, we went in to find some omiyage (souvenirs) for our people back home.
- Walked around Harune Odawara, a quaint underground mall beneath the station. It had a random assortment of food shops and handicraft stalls, but nothing really caught our eye.
Day 4 – Monorails and rain
- Had breakfast buffet at the hotel’s restaurant and checked out. It was raining and continued to do so until our last night in Japan.
- Headed towards Miyukinohama Beach, it was a straight walk following the main road from our hotel. The rain let up a little so we could take some pictures of the beach, but it was a shame the weather wasn’t cooperating. The place was very quiet and aside from a few crows, it was the perfect place to sit, relax, and ponder as the waves crashed against the shore.
- Coming back from the beach, we headed to the Odawara Castle Grounds and did the traditional route inside. We passed by the courtyards of the three outer baileys and eventually, the castle keep was right in front of us. Due to the rain, there were only a few tourists hanging about. I resisted the urge to pay money to throw some shuriken at a paper board and instead perused the wares of a nearby souvenir shop.
- We took our belongings from the hotel and rode the train to Ofuna Station. Left our things at Sotetsu Fresa Inn Kamakura-Ofuna Kasamaguchi (not to be confused with the nearby Sotetsu Fresa Inn Kamakura-Ofuna Higashiguchi). When I booked this hotel, it was cheap and I saw the words “Kamakura” so I instantly booked it without looking at the map. Turns out, Ofuna is still a few stations away from the actual, touristy Kamakura. Still, it was a nice neighborhood to be in and we avoided a lot of crowds.
- Searching online, I discovered that this was the terminal station of the Ofuna Monorail. And the end of the line was in Enoshima, a place on our itinerary. Perfect. It was our first time riding a monorail and I was even more impressed by the technological knowhow and adjustments it took to make the entire line operational. Incredible.
- We arrived at the Shonan-Enoshima Monorail Station and walked along Subana Shopping Street. The rain was not getting any better so I gave up any hopes of going to Enoshima Island itself. We’ll have to go back some day. We had some cheesy curry pan at the famous Giraffa stall before heading to the Enoshima Station of the Enoden Line.
- We took the popular train line to the actual Kamakura Station. Along the way, I pointed out the famous sights like the Slam Dunk view and the beaches. I will never stop being amazed by the Enoden line and how it plows smoothly through the surrounding neighborhood.
- From the station, the only place we could explore comfortably was Komachidori Shopping Street. Even in the wet weather, there were a lot of tourists walking about. Hungry from an entire day of walking, we bought some cheap-but-filling croquettes from a stall. The lightly-breaded, deep-fried bread was a joy to consume.
- Returning to Ofuna Station, we spent the evening at a Picasso by Don Quijote. This smaller store was less-intimidating, but they also didn’t have all the things we were looking for. Still, some of the items were being sold for cheaper than usual and this was where we did most of our omiyage purchasing.
- After the shopping trip, we had late dinner at Saizeriya. I’ve heard so much about this restaurant and we were lucky that it was one of the few restaurants still open late. An hour and a half before their closing time, we waltzed in and it was at this moment when we became Saizeriya fans for life. Cheap-but-decent food, a wide variety of menu offerings (I got to eat Escargot for the first time), and foreigner-friendly service. What more could we ask for. Their Cheesy Milanese Doria is exactly to my taste.
Day 5 – Back to Tokyo (still raining)
- We were so impressed by our dinner, we had breakfast at Saizeriya again. This time, we tried the entries we didn’t get last night. Still the same quality, all of them decent with a few bangers here and there. Satisfying without breaking the bank. I will truly miss you.
- We checked out of the hotel and took the train to Ueno and dropped our baggage at Hotel Livemax Ueno Ekimae (which wasn’t really mae of the eki).
- We headed straight to Ameyokocho Shopping Street. Despite the weather, there were a lot of tourists walking around. We visited two matcha stores: Kiminoen Tea Garden and Sanko-en Tea Shop. I bought some Matcha soft serve at the first store and they gave us a tiny cup of hot green tea to taste their wares. At the second store, Shane was able to buy the matcha she needed and the proprietor was kind enough to give us a free taste as well.
- Seeking more shelter from the rain, we headed to Mode Off and Hard Off, looking for cheap things to buy. Thrift stores are a gold mine in Japan. People really take care of their clothes well. A few minutes of sifting through the wares and I was able to find a branded pouch and jacket for cheap.
- A trip to tokyo wouldn’t be complete without going to Shibuya. We headed to the Shibuya Scramble Square and headed to the free viewdeck on the 12th floor. From there, we watched the famous Shibuya Crossing for a while. Then we headed down and walked towards Hachiko Square so Shane can finally meet the world’s most famous loyal dog.
- Feeling hungry, we were supposed to eat at Kura Sushi, but the queue was unbelievably long, so we settled for Uobei Shibuya Dogenzaka. Both are conveyor belt sushi restaurants, but Uobei is a newer method, where you order on a tablet and the food is shuttled to you via a two-way conveyor belt in front of your counter. The food was good and the prices were cheap. This being our last night in Tokyo, we splurged on the sushi and came out full and satisfied. Shout out to my favorite orders, the Seared Duck w/ Pepper Mayo, and the Matcha Cream Daifuku for dessert.
- Headed to Shinjuku Station and in the maze inside the station, we emerged near a Muji store and spent a few minutes searching for things we wanted to buy. I bought my 2027 planner here.
- The famous billboard cat was replaced by a virtual aquarium for the night, not as eyecatching. So we walked straight to Kabukicho and explored the area. Nothing much for us to do here but enjoy the neon lights and the sounds of the nightlife. The rain had finally stopped at this point, so we were able to take some nice photos of the area and the Godzilla Head.
- Finally, we headed to Asakusa Station for a night stroll. Starting from the Kaminarimon, we walked through the closed stalls of Nakamise-dori towards the main grounds of Sensoji Temple. We took some photos of the Five-Storied Pagoda. There were still a lot of people despite the late hour, probably because it was only now that the rain stopped.
- On the way back to the hotel, we passed by Kappabashi Kitchen Street but it was all closed.
Day 6 – Homebound
- We had konbini food for breakfast before check out, then boarded the Keisei Skyliner to Narita International Airport Terminal 2.
- After getting my boarding pass and checking in our suitcase, we did some final shopping at the Fa-So-La Tax Free Akihabara. Bought our favorite Mentaiko Mayonnaise and some Royce Chocolate Potato Chips for Mama. Then we had lunch at one of the airport restaurants. The cheapest were a bowl of Kake Soba and Kake Udon, so that’s what we had.
- After a few minutes of waiting, it was finally our return flight to Manila.
Miscellaneous Thoughts
- Odawara might be my new favorite city. There’s just something about it that’s just right. It’s not too hectic as the major cities, but it still has everything a tourist might need. And it’s just a short train ride away from Tokyo, where all the action is. What struck me the most is the lack of skyscrapers bunched together, making the beautiful blue sky and the clean buildings look very appealing from almost anywhere we went. It’s like a small town with the right amount of industrialization. I’m deluding myself that it would be a good place to retire.
- It’s my first time in Japan to be rained on and it’s wild how long the rain lasts. My umbrella was saturated to the point that it started dripping on the inside. It never did this in Manila. But also, the locals are so unbothered by the rain. With umbrella-dryers and plastic bags in almost every building, they have adapted to this season very well.
- We ate curry rice almost every day. From breakfast buffets of hotels to the cooked dinner at Mt. Fuji’s mountain hut, it’s definitely a staple of Japanese cuisine. Each one tastes different, too! What’s consistent is how I need a generous serving of Fukujinzuke with every mouthful.
- After enduring the rainy season, I’m more inclined to choose the summer months; at least the tourist spots can be visited under the heat. Either way, an umbrella is a valuable accessory to have.
- There are fewer gachas that pique my interest nowadays. More and more gachas are just plastic figures, while I’m looking for ones that have practical use (pouches and bags). I went home with a purse full of unspent ¥100.
- I was constantly torn between wanting to go back to the places I enjoyed on my last visit AND wanting to explore and discover new places in Tokyo. There’s just so many things happening!
This was a trip I’ll remember. 5 days of walking with my socks soaked in water wasn’t how I envisioned a vacation in Japan, but it was still an experience worth having. There’s still a lot more of Tokyo to discover as well as all the surrounding prefectures and cities. I can’t wait to come back.
Thanks to Shane for accompanying me on my adventures and for the photos. To more places in Japan with you!
Thanks for reading and keep those socks dry.
-jgzn
