An excerpt from my Trip to Japan

We took a flight going to Japan – Narita airport from Philippines – NAIA terminal 1 via Jetstar. When we arrived at Terminal 3 am, the breeze was strong and much colder than I expected, and my poncho was not enough to help me. Good thing the airport had switched on their heaters for everyone’s convenience (thank goodness for the heater!)

After standing in line for almost an hour for immigration and customs procedures, we proceeded to  breakfast. I settled for a cup of warm green tea latte from Cafe Bene since I needed a tea boost. After a few minutes, I decided to purchase Udon with 2 pieces of fried chicken as a side dish (i think it’s karage in japanese?) from a stall in the far right side of the cafe.

 

Their food is affordable and the taste is great, perfect for those who are on a tight budget. The food ranges from 350 yen and above plus tax. The Udon is firm and can fill your stomach easily (Tip: My mother ordered Soba instead of Udon and was wondering why the soup is cold. Better ask the food attendant for more info). They have other food variations to choose from.

My older brother (who works here in Japan and acted as our tour guide) arrived in a few minutes and took us to his place. We our began our journey to his home with a bus ride going to Terminal 2 and from there we boarded a train ride to Yokohama.

Here in Japan, train transportation is pretty complex and more expensive if you are on a single journey ticket. My brother taught us how to buy our own IC card (quite similar to the Beep card in the Philippines). The IC card can be refunded and can be used as payment for some establishments, including selected vending machines. There are different types of IC Cards, and the design depends on the train line that you have bought the ticket from.

My brother informed us that the airport was actually far away from the main city, something that I didn’t expect. I took a short video of the view that I had seen while we were in the train.

After almost a 2-hour long train ride (I fell asleep during the trip by the way) my brother asked us to go down in the Ueno station and said that we had taken a wrong turn.
We tried to find an empty coin locker so we can visit Ueno Park but failed due to the large number of visitors that time.

I also bought a Tokyo Banana original flavor when we were still walking (and waiting) for the train ride. It is a little pricey at around 550 yen and above (including tax) for a pack of 4.

After a few train transfers we finally reached Idogaya Station (Keikyu line), which was the nearest station from my brother’s apartment. After we unpacked our things and took a quick break, my brother guided us to a restaurant near Idogaya station.

This restaurant served fast meals at affordable prices. Their meals came with a free miso soup and hot tea (ocha in japanese) for dine-in orders only. There was a machine where you could choose your orders (there are other languages to choose from – English included). I chose their Regular gyudon, which cost me 380 yen. You could also pay using cash or a Pasmo Card in the machine. After that, the machine would issue a stub that the food attendant would tear to process your order.

I loved their gyudon! It was tastier than the gyudon in Yoshinoya in the Philippines (sorry not sorry XD). Their miso soup was also tasty and their tea helped a lot when we were out on the cold streets for hours.

For those who are not yet aware, there are lots of vending machine here in japan. You’ll see a vending machine after a few walks in almost every street and train station. The drinks are random (it can be hot or cold) and the prices range from 100 yen up to 300 yen. Since my hands were freezing, I hurriedly bought a hot cocoa from the nearest vending machine.

Since my brother’s apartment was near the supermarket, he gave us a tour inside the supermarket. Every night (up to closing hours), most of the products that were perishables or packed foods that were near their expiration date, would be on discount in order to sell them. The discount rates usually ranged from 10% to 50%, while others had fixed prices. I bought a pack of dango and dorayaki because they both had a 10% discount on them.

For my second day in Japan, we decided to visit a river near our place. Why the river, you ask? Because the river had a line of fully bloomed Sakura tree (cherry blossoms tree)! We were pretty lucky since most of the trees were in full bloom that day and the weather was fine (despite the slight rain in the morning).

After a 10 minute walk, we finally reached the river with cherry blossoms in full bloom. It was time to take some pictures!

The Ooka river stretches to around 14 km long. The first bridge that we saw had rows of cherry blossom trees! There was also a Middle school building in front and I could hear their school bell like how I heard it in anime and Japanese drama shows.

After we passed another bridge while admiring the sakura trees, we had reached their mini park. There was a big playground there which I really wanted to try since I hadn’t seen that kind of a playground in the Philippines yet but stomped the idea since there were lots of kids playing (and it would look awkward if a 20 + person like me played there – they could’ve called the police >_<). There were also teenagers holding group discussions and some dogs too lying close (sadly no shiba inu or akita inu in sight).

There were also vending machines for Ice creams by the bridge.

We returned to the bridge where we came from and started to roam around the walkway where we saw some stalls for shooting range games, masks, and food.

My Mom requested me to accompany her to the supermarket (maruetsu is the name) to buy some food for dinner.  As I started looking for Yakisoba bread, I accidentally found one of the famous, great tasting breads in Japan: Melon Pan!!! (Pan is bread in Japanese). I bought the remaining two pieces, hoping I could taste it later. However, I wasn’t able to eat it sooner, since I had to consume the dango from the previous day.

A few minutes before the boat to dreamland arrived, I wondered if the cold weather would stay the same for our day 3 adventures and if I would see more of those beautiful sakura trees.

 

Author: Shoujo Chan