Cruisin' the world together

We took a Shinkasen train to Odawara station which was just 2 stations from Shinagawa. We bought our Hakone pass there. We knew that there were 2 kinds of passes. One was valid for 2 days (3900 Yen) and another was valid for 3 days (5000 Yen). We planned to visit Hakone for one day so we just bought the 2-day pass. We bought our packed lunch at the station.



Odawara



Owakudani




Hakone











Lake Ashi
HAKONE PIX

For more details about Hakone pass click here.

Shinagawa Prince Hotel
4-10-30 Takanawa Minato-ku
Tokyo 108-8611
Japan
Price Per Room Per Night S$168
(Inc. Tax & fees)




View from our Hotel room




Shinagawa Station

We woke up 7am to catch an early Shinkansen train. The travel time from Nagoya to Shinagawa was around 1 hour and 44 minutes. The hotel accepts early check-in but we need to pay Y1000 per night. So we decided to go Achihabara first. We took a local JR train to Achihabara. Akihabara is a major shopping area for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods, including new and used items. The Electric town is really amazing because of the many signage and wide range of IT products. We visited 4 shops just to feel the price and look for an e-book reader and new camera for Alvin. The three shops didn’t have stock of the e-reader. I asked where to find the Sony Shop and was told that it was in Ginza.






Achihabara Street


Ginza is recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. From the Tokyo station, we walked to Takashimaya, Ginza. We went to Ginza and dropped by Takashimaya first to buy Albert’s JR Train set. After our walk to Takashimaya Alvin felt sick and decided to go back to hotel.




Ginza Street Pix

Thank God Alvin was okay after the rest last night. He had a fever that night after our first day trip in Tokyo.

We took the JR Train to Tokyo Station and went to the Imperial Palace Garden. We realized that it was closed; that’s why I scheduled our visit to that place on Thursday. So we just took pictures around the area. The palace is surrounded with gnarled pine trees and thick walls. We sat there, had some potato chips and enjoyed the scenery.



Wadakura Fountain Park





Imperial Palace Garden




Pinetree Park







Tokyo Business District


We walked to Ginza to look for the Sony Building to buy e-reader because we didn’t find it in Akihabara. In front of Sony building we saw a small landscape of carnation flowers. I took pictures of the carnations while Alvin and Albert were watching inside the showroom. We were told that the e reader was only available in Europe.





We took our lunch at Yoshinoya in Yurakucho station


We headed to Metropolitan Tokyo. It was a free observatory in Japan. We hoped to see Mt. Fuji but again it was cloudy.



TOKYO on Top view

Kyoto Station To Nara



Nara Station

The next morning, we took the Shinkansen again and headed to Kyoto. After which, we transferred to a line that went to Nara. We rode to the first train that came and we only realized that the train we took was not a rapid as it stopped at every station. It took us more than an hour to reach Nara. It was very cold that day in Nara, maybe around 10 degrees Celsius. The Nara station was of wooden type style which was kind of rustic. The Nara Park is around 30 minutes by walking from the station. Walking to Nara Park is good as you will see and enjoy all the small shops that sell souvenirs, beauty products, clothes, tea, and also parlors and restaurants. Around Nara Park you will see many deers just roaming around.














NARA PARK

Albert had lots of fun with the deers. I told him that the deers were friendly. At first, he was too excited and he wanted to chase the deers.


Deers at Nara Park






NARA WITH THE DEERS



Kasuga Shrine
This important Shinto shrine was founded in 768 and is filled with over 3,000 bronze and stone lanterns.



Kofukuji
This temple has two pagodas, one of which is the second-highest in Japan. Many Buddhist statues and artworks are on display in the Treasure House.


Nara National Museum
Opened in 1895, this museum houses many pieces of Buddhist art plus temple artifacts and archaeological finds from local tombs and sutra mounds.




Todaiji
Founded when Nara was the capital, Todaiji was the head temple of all provincial temples in Japan. It is home to the largest Buddha statue in Japan, which weighs 250 tons.








Nara Street

The scenery around Nara Park is very pleasant. We had a simple lunch at Nara Park. Then we walked back to Nara Station and took a train back to Kyoto. At Kyoto we took JR train to the nearest station to castle. We walked around 1.5 km and sad to say we, they were already closed when we reached the entrance.






Kyoto Castle

We reached our hotel early. I packed our things as we needed to check out the next day and check in another hotel and in Tokyo.