quick getaway to Tokyo

shrine in Kamakura, Japan

Let me start by saying we get it now.  Everyone loves Japan.  Here in Singapore it's a popular vacation destination for locals and expats alike, and nobody has a bad thing to say, except maybe that it can be pricey.  So we finally got our act together and booked a trip. The kids had a week off in October and after much talk and dilly-dallying, I saw a great deal on flights with Delta - US$340 round trip Singapore-Tokyo-Singapore. The catch?  It was only Monday-Friday.  Hmmmm.  It's a 7 hour flight but only one hour time difference, so after some thought we decided to go for it.  Cannot resist a deal.  Originally we had figured we would do the typical Tokyo-bullet train to Kyoto-fly back from Kyoto trip, about 9 days, but that would have been much more expensive so we prepared for our Tokyo-only trip.

Second issue - hotel.  Hotels are expensive in Tokyo, and our family of 5 would likely need 2 rooms.  We decided to use airbnb and it was a lifesaver.  We booked a studio apartment in the Shibuya area of Tokyo for around $200/night.  It was terrific.  Small but in a great location, it reminded me of a nice doorman building in NYC.

Here are the basics of the trip:

Day one - fly Singapore-Tokyo, arrive and walk around Shibuya, have ramen for dinner
Day two - Tokyo tower, sushi lunch, park, Harujuku shrine and walk around
Day three - National garden in Shinjuku, Joypolis indoor amusement park in Odaiben, sushi dinner
Day four - day trip to Kamakura, pop culture shopping in Nakano
Day five - morning walk around including Shibuya and yoyongi park, Harujuku, curry udon lunch then depart for Singapore

TOTALLY WORTH IT!!


Practicalities:

getting to Tokyo:
There are 2 options - limo bus and train.  Since we have a carsick-prone child it was a no-brainer for us.  Upon arriving in Narita airport, which is over an hour from Tokyo, we bought round trip tickets on the Narita express train for 4,000 yen per person (about $40).  Sounds like a lot - about $100 per trip for the five of us, but a taxi would have been more than double that.  So away we went on the train which was comfy, had a bathroom, etc.

The train should have gone straight to our station - Shibuya - but there was an issue so we had to change at Shinagawa to another train line.  This was not what we had planned and was crowded and schleppy but we survived and got to Shibuya easily.  By not it was almost 5:30 and in Tokyo that means dusk.  Shame to get there with no daylight left but that's life.

We settled in to our apartment.  By now everyone was tired and starving - we had been up since 4.  We were trying to get in touch with a friend of ours from Singapore who was in Tokyo and had lived in Japan.  Walking around our neighborhood we, no joke, ran into him.  whaaaat?  I know - crazy - so there we were and he gave us a great walking tour of Shibuya.  We had dinner at a ramen noodle place where you order from the machine outside and give the guy inside your ticket.  It was great.

Day 2 we were lucky to meet up with a family I know that has been living in Tokyo for a few years.  We saw the Tokyo tower - an imitation of the eiffel tower but bigger - and went all the way up.  Then went to their fave sushi place where the kids proceeded to order plates and plates of sushi.  Walked around the Roppongi neighborhood, and saw a typical park where the kids played in a playground for a while (essential for happy kids on vacation - ok not essential but highly recommended to factor in run around time each day).

viewing window at Tokyo tower

Next we took the train to the Harajuku area.  This is an area known for Japanese pop culture ,and happens to be also next to a gorgeous shrine so two birds with one stone.  After checking out the shrine until it closed we walked down the crowded main drag, a pedestrian street with tons of shops reminiscent of the east village in New York.  We ended up walking back to our apartment, about a 20 minute walk.

Harajuku pedestrian street

sushi - Shibuya, Tokyo

Day 3 - National Garden & Joypolis indoor amusement park

on Wednesday we had planned to meet up with a Japanese friend of ours and her daughter (who live in Singapore but were also in Tokyo) and visit Kamakura, ancient capital of Japan. She asked if we could switch it to Thursday so we had Wednesday to ourselves.  What to do what to do.... we decided to visit a garden in the morning and dedicate the afternoon to the kids.  After much research we decided to take the kids to Joypolis, an indoor amusement park by Sega.  We took the train there to the area of town called Odaiben, basically an uninteresting island that seems to be one big mall, and the kids were in heaven playing virtual games and going on rides for 4+ hours.  We will be receiving 

our parents of the year award any day now.

National garden - yes that looks like the empire state building

Day 4 - Kamakura

Kamakura is a day trip from Tokyo - about an hour away, it was the capital of Japan long ago.  Today it has a high concentration of temples and shrines.  Some people rent bicycles to get around - we tried that but they have no kid bikes and no bikes with a child seat so that was a no-go.  Luckily for us, we had our Japanese friend with us so she helped navigate and since we had her language skills we were able to get an all day bus pass for about $5 each to get around from temple to temple.  

The day in Kamakura was amazing and a perfect contrast to the modern feel of Tokyo.  The highlight was the bamboo forest behind one of the temples:

40+ foot high bronze buddha from the 13th century - has survived 2 major earthquakes!!

women in traditional dress; Kamakura

Bamboo forest - Kamakura, Japan.  just beautiful.

women in traditional dress at shrine in Kamakura

Before we knew it it was our last day in Tokyo - or rather our last half day.  We had until just after lunch before heading to the airport.  We spent the day walking around and ended up at the Yoyogi park bordering Shibuya and Harajuku.  Then we saw Harajuku again - this time by day - and took the train back to Shibuya.  Had some curry udon on our street and then off we went.

One experience I will share that was stressful the last day had to do with the train back to the airport.  Upon arrival we had bought round trip tickets to and from Tokyo.  The thing is you are supposed to go back to the ticket office for Japan Rail and get assigned seats for the train before boarding - at least this is recommended.  We got the the station with time but not enough time and of course there was a long line at the ticket counter.  We quickly realized we were not going to make the train we hoped to catch and maybe not the next one either.  While my husband waited I went to the information counter and the girl said that we can get on the train and take seats but if somebody came with that seat assigned to them we had to move.  We ended up pretty much sprinting through the station, arriving at the platform with about a minute to spare and getting seats.  Unnecessary stress; had we known that we can just sit we would never have waited in the line.

All in all our family of five enjoyed every second of our trip to Tokyo.  We can't wait to go back to Japan!

the planning of a trip.... Tokyo

Two concepts that usually do not go together - "Tokyo" and "good deal".  We are attempting to combine the two.

Here's the thing.... for me, living in Singapore presents conflicting opportunities.  On the one hand we are here, as are many foreigners I suppose, to work and save some money.  And we do work and we are able to save probably more than we would in the U.S.  So that's great.  And all while having a pretty good quality of life - live-in help, lots of going out to eat, etc.  Now comes the conflicting part... living here so far from home we want to take advantage and see Asia.  Of course even though we get to see such amazing places for such a low cost from Singapore, at the end of the day trips cost money, and with a family of five usually more than you think.  And that's not even counting the trips we take home to see our families.

Therein lies the conundrum.... spend on travel vs. save for tomorrow

Where does that leave me?  Oh yes - Tokyo - the children have a week off from school in October.  We have been discussing going to Japan during this week for the past few months but, being the slackers that we are, we did not actually buy tickets.  I researched Tokyo, Kyoto, the bullet train, what to see, etc.  The original plan was to see both Tokyo and Kyoto, taking the famous bullet train one or both ways.  This trip would be around 7-8 days total.  We did not buy tickets, and as time went on the tickets got a little pricier and we realized that we were looking at an expensive trip.  Lodging in Japan is extremely expensive.

So we started looking at other destinations, still not booking of course.  Then we see a sick deal - round trip Singapore-Tokyo on Delta for US$340 per person.  Usually it's almost double that.   The flight is 7 hours.  The catch? It's leaving on a Monday and returning on a Friday.  Is it too crazy?  Is it worth it?  My husband and I discussed, consulted with some people who know Japan and decided to go for it.  We figured (a) since there is no jet lag really - only a 2 hour time difference - although it's a long flight it's not so difficult and (b) it's way fewer nights of hotel to pay for - only 4 instead of 7.

Now we are in the anticipation/planning phase of the trip - tickets booked and looking for where to stay. We are likely going to stay with airbnb since hotels are so off-the-charts pricey.

I'll post about how the trip went.  Really looking forward to it, and the kids are superexcited.