7D6N Tokyo - Oct 2010

Day 1: Tokyo

I was lucky to get a good promotional price for JAL to Tokyo. The timing was great as well. I took off at 10.50pm on Saturday night and arrived at Narita airport on Sunday 7am. JAL was very punctual.


As usual, I couldn't sleep without a bed and had to endure the 6 hours flight to Tokyo, entertaining myself with shows or just resting my eyes when I was tired.


Immigration was smooth and there was not much of a crowd as it was still early.


After collecting my luggage, I proceeded to the respective counters to buy all the necessary tickets and pass. I will be using a lot of Tokyo Metro lines initially so my plan was to buy the 2 days tourist Metro Open Ticket and another SUICA card for my transportation.


The 2 days tourist Metro Open Ticket for 980 yen can only be purchased at the airport. It allows you to use unlimited Tokyo Metro rides for 2 consecutive days. I bought 2 for use on the first 4 days. You can find the counter at the arrival hall. Just go to the information counter to ask for direction as the counter is not very visible. It is near the information counter on your left as you exit the arrival hall.


Next is to get my airport transfer ticket at the JR counter. There are several ways to get to Tokyo city, ranging from the most inexpensive Kensei Limited Express for 1000 yen (75mins) to the most expensive Kensei Skyliner for 2400 yen (40mins). After some consideration, I decided to get the SUICA+NEX package.


The Narita Express (NEX) ticket alone is 2940yen for one way but if you buy the SUICA+NEX return package, it cost 5500yen. 3500yen is for the NEX return ticket and works out to be 1750yen per way for a 59mins ride to Tokyo station and 2000yen for the SUICA card.


NEX is a reserved seat ticket so for the return ticket, you need to make your seat reservation a day or two before your departure and confirmyour time of departure at any JR office in the stations.


The SUICA card is a prepard card for travelling convenience. You just need to top up when the balance is low. The 2000yen consist of 500 refundable deposit when you return your card uon departure. You can also use SUICA at certain convenience stores and restaurant as long as you see the sign in the shop.

Looking for the NEX station is fairly easy. Just follow the signboard direction or ask the staff. The train was quite empty and it was a comfortable ride. I was in time for the 7.46am train.

The name of each stop is displayed in English so no worries. You won't get lost. Just hear the announcement or read the display board.

I stayed at Khaosan Tokyo Original Hostel at Asakusa area and the nearest subway station is Asakusa Station. For my feedbacks on the hostel, do read the Hostel section. I can reach Asakusa Station via the Toei Line or Tokyo Metro line but because I wanted to maximise my Metro Open Ticket, I chose to take Metro lines all the way.

From Tokyo station, I changed to the JR Chuo line to Kanda Station and at Kanda Station, I took Tokyo Metro Ginza line to Asakusa Station. It may sound like a little hassle with all the transfers but believe me, it was not inconvenient at all. It does take a day or two for me to get used to the transportation system in Tokyo. After that I was fine and know my way around. Anyway, there are station masters and information counter at almost all the stations so just ask if unsure. They do understand limited English. Don't use bombastic words though, just use simple English or use specific words.

I found this quite amusing. At a glance, I thought they were encouraging people to jump queue!

Most of the subway trains have maps or directions displayed in Japanese and English. They also have announcement in English. However, there are some local trains to places further from town that only have Japanese announcement. For that, just glance at the station name each time the train stops and check against your map to ensure you are on the right track. So simple right?

The hostel check in time was 3pm and I arrived around 9am so I left my luggage there and went for my sightseeing. My first stop was the Rikuguen Garden.


Rikuguen Garden is supposed to be one of Tokyo's most beautiful Japanese style landscaped garden. Entrance fee is 300yen and is a short walk from Komagome Station on the JR Yamanote line. It took me a while to find the garden as the direction given in the website did not specifically mention which exit so I just followed the exit direction in the station. However, there are no signboards leading to this garden from the station and I think I was directed and redirected to a few roads from the different people that I asked along the way. At one time it was really so frustrating as they keep pointing me to a different direction and just when I was about to give up, I realized that I should be asking directions from the old folks instead. Which young people would hang around in a garden in Tokyo city???? Well, I was right. The old folks did direct me to the right place and they were consistently correct in their direction! Finally I saw the signboard and another Komagome station exit. It was exit 2!! Goodness me, I must have walked the whole Komagome district to reach here.

Finally ... I paid for my entrance fees and went in excitedly with my big camera and tripod. I can't wait to capture pictures of one of the most beautiful gardens in Tokyo.

Err, you mean that's all? Yeah, that's all. The place is quite quiet. Once in a while you will see some joggers or a couple walking by. Or some seniors strolling the park. That's it. You see a pond, a teahouse, some trees and garden. Hmm, what do I expect? Didn't it says garden?? Oh well, I sat there for a quick lunch with company of some Japanese mosquitoes then I took some photos to remind myself that I came and left.

Next on the itinerary is shopping!! I went to Ameyoko to shop. It's at JR Okachimachi Station North Exit. There is signboard direction from the station and is easy to follow and find the place. On the way there were some restaurants and price of food looks reasonable.

This is Ameyoko or Ueno. Yes, there are lots of shops and lots of people too. It was hard to shop here because of the crowd and it reminds me of the Namdaemun shopping in Seoul. I didn't spend a long time here because I find it hard to shop with my camera bag, tripod and the crowd. I left shortly for Ningyocho.

I hopped onto the Metro Hibiya line to Ningyocho next. I found this place from a blog when I was looking for Tokyo old streets. Ningyocho is supposed to be a place that retained much of the mood and tradition of Edo or old Tokyo. It is supposed to have narrow streets with old fashioned houses and shops and the famous street, Amazake Yokocho is famous for Ninyoyaki, baked sweets made of thin skins of eggs and sugar with filling of rich bean paste. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed as it was a Sunday and the street was very very empty and quiet. I couldn't see much of the atmosphere described in the blog and was bored with all the closed doors and quiet street so I decided to go back to the hostel for an early rest.

On the way, I passed by a Family Mart and decided to hop in to look at some of the meals. I heard that they sell inexpensive and delicious Japanese food. Wow looks delicious isn't it? All for about 395 yen. That's worth it if you are on a budget.

The next day I visited Yokohama for a day trip. I shall update again when I'm free :-).