asakusa – The things I've seen. The places I've been.

We returned from Nikko to Tokyo for our last night in Japan. Our 14 days holiday in Japan went quite quickly. I guess it’s true what they say that time runs fast when you are having fun! The last evening was spent hunting for a new suitcase. I came to Japan with less than 8 kilos hand carry luggage and had now ran out of space because of the many snacks and stationeries. We decided to go to Shibuya, just like we did during our last night in Tokyo in 2018. I also wanted to get one of the most important Eki stamps from Shibuya station. This one has the paw print of Hachikō! Check out the reel of the day here.

The next morning, my husband went to the airport at 9 AM as he was flying to Helsinki through Bangkok. I stayed a few more hours just passing time walking in Asakusa before it was time to leave for Haneda airport. At the airport, I saw the most beautiful sunset. I cannot believe my eyes. The sun was setting by Mt Fuji. And no, I was not on the rooftop observation deck. I was coming out of the food court after dinner. I felt blessed! Check out the last reel here.

Some take aways from this holiday:

Good walking shoes are important. We were walking more than 10 kilometres each day. So imagine wearing bad shoes!
Registering online at Visit Japan Web for the QR codes for immigration and customs made entering Japan so much faster.
Having a Welcome Pasmo or any other IC cards was really useful when using public transport (although, not in Okinawa) and also paying for convenience store purchases.
It’s good to have cash as many places only take cash, like street food vendors and small local restaurants.
Having a pocket wifi all the time was very good because we really need to be connected to check on routes and locations. I highly recommend it and we only paid around 55 EUR for the entire 14 days.
Buy flight tickets early as prices tend to spike up.
Book accommodation that has free cancellation because there might be changes along the way.

I love how Japan is a great mixture of the old and the new. I love how Japan just has lots of amazing food. Even the convenience stores sell good snacks. I love how Japan has a very efficient and clean public transport. I love that Japan is very clean with clean toilets everywhere. I love that tap water is drinkable. I love that restaurant meals include drinking water. I’m not a fan of buying bottled water. I love their top range customer service. I love that there is no tipping as we are not use to that in Europe. I love that I can enjoy simple stuff like collecting Eki stamps, watching out for pretty manholes and playing Gachapons. I felt safe in Japan. There was no single moment when I felt that I was in a dangerous situation.

I can truly say that it was an amazing holiday. And if I can make another wish, I wish to visit Japan again! Bye for now, Japan. Until next time!

You can watch a flip through of my travel journal here!

All photos from my Japan posts are by Ari Vitikainen at https://www.arivitikainen.com

I was so excited! I was back in Japan after 5 years and for the third time. I didn’t expect this to happen, especially that we already travelled to South Korea this year. But life is full of surprises and going back to Asia for the second time this year for another holiday was such a blessing.

It all started when my husband and I were having the afternoon tea to celebrate our 28th anniversary in June. After the dream talks of visiting Japan, we decided to make it a reality so I purchased air tickets and was immediately in a full planning mood. My husband was flying after a work trip in Bangkok and it was exciting to see how everything will come together. We stayed in 7 different places and dragged our luggages from Tokyo to Okinawa, from Tokyo (with a side trip to Fujiyoshida) to Takayama (with side trips to Kamikochi and Shirakawago), from Tokyo to Nikko and back to Tokyo. Many changes happened during planning – hotel changes and destination changes. But these were all part and parcel of planning for a holiday of a lifetime. One thing that I’m most thankful for this trip was remaining healthy, even though my husband just came back from a large conference in Bangkok with more than 400 attendees. The downside was really missing our kids because they were with us when we visited in 2018 and they really love Japanese food.

I arrived at Narita terminal 2 from Helsinki at 13:05 (actually some 30 minutes earlier than scheduled) and zoomed past immigration and customs, probably in less than 10 minutes. This was because I already registered online at Visit Japan Web and had the QR codes for immigration and customs. I also just had a hand carry luggage. The first thing I did after I exited the customs was to pick up the pocket wifi that I pre rented online. I really recommend this especially that my husband had a MacBook and iPad during this travel. Being able to access the internet from multiple devices was a plus and also we had internet connection while traveling. We paid 8,840 JPY (around 55 EUR) for the rental for 14 days.

At 13:30, my husband’s flight arrived from Bangkok. I was waiting for him at the same arrival area where I came in. It was a happy reunion after a week and so our holiday started. The first thing we did was to take the free shuttle bus to terminal 1 where I got a Welcome Eki stamp from the Tourist Information centre. Then we went to the Traveler’s Factory on the 4th floor to get myself a Traveler’s Notebook journal which is exclusively available at Narita airport. We also withdrew some Yen from the ATM and bought Welcome Pasmo cards which we used for transportation and convenience store purchases. We stayed for a night in Asakusa and flew out of Haneda airport to Okinawa the next day. Please watch the Day 1 reel here. The next post is about Okinawa…