We made a very short trip to Japan at the end of February to cross off one of Kosta’s bucket list which was to snowboard in “japow”. Unfortunately, due to climate change, it was the worst snow season on record for Japan and on top of that was the outbreak and rise of Corona Virus. We contemplated on forfeiting our trip (would have received no refunds nor covered by travel insurance). But, the week before we were due to leave, we made the decision to go, having looked at the risks involved which, despite all the fears were low at the time.
Our short trip consisted of 2 nights in Shinjuku, a day in Asakusa, 5 nights in Hakuba ( with a day trip to see the snow monkeys) and 1 night in Shibuya with a day spent in Harajuku.
SHINJUKU
We stayed in Shinjuku for 2 nights.
Our first night we didn’t arrive until late. We flew into Narita Airport and then took the Narita Express to Shinjuku which took about 50mins. We checked into our hotel ( APA Shinjuku Kabukicho Chuo), the room was TINY, literally a box with just enough room for a bed… which we were told is normal in Japan. We didn’t know at the time but our hotel was literally in the heart of the red light district… the name of the hotel even says that “kabukicho” but we had no idea. But we loved the area, it was so lively at night. We walked down Tokyo’s Memory Lane ( Omoide Yokocho) and was lured in by delicious smelling Yakitori. We met a lovely Japanese couple sitting next to us and we started drinking Sake with them. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 2am… which is totally not something we’ve done for a long time. And a my favourite Japanese word from that night was “Yopparai”.
The second night in Shinjuku was another unexpected night where Kostas happened to meet a work colleague he has spoken to for years but never met in person who happened to be in Shinjuku on the same day. We explored Golden Gai which were all these alleyways of tiny small unique bars that only fit 5 or so people. Then we went for dinner… unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the place… but it was absolutely delicious!
ASAKUSA
We spent one of the days exploring Asakusa. We absolutely loved exploring this traditional side of Tokyo. We started off with walking down the Nakamise Shopping Street towards Sensoji Temple. Kostas kept getting side tracked, trying all the little food stalls and getting lost in the side alleyways. He would line up even though he had no idea what he was lining up for and it was so much fun trying out all these new treats we’ve never tried before. Oh and the sushi was so fresh!
HAKUBA
The main purpose of our Japan trip was to go snowboarding, so the bulk of our trip was in Hakuba. We took the Shinkansen ( bullet train) to Nagano and then a shuttle bus to Hakuba. When we arrived it started snowing! We were so excited especially knowing that they had been having such a poor snow season. Also because we never get to see snow falling so it was just so fascinating. It was the perfect weather for Ramen and we ate lots of it and it was soooooo goooooood!
We went snowboarding at Hakuba 47, Happo One and Tsugaike Kogen. And yes… we finally did get to experience the famous “japow” on the last 2 days of our snow trip.
On one of our rest days, we took a day trip to see the Snow Monkeys. Super cute and well worth the day trip.
SHIBUYA
Similar to our stay in Shinjuku, we happened to book another hotel right in the heart of where all the “love hotels” were. We had booked it based on proximity to the train station and to the Shibuya Scramble… not knowing that it’s in the part of Shibuya considered the “darker” side of Shibuya. What we found though were such funky little bars near our hotel and we met a group of Japanese who made the night very entertaining.
We made a stop at Ichiran Ramen, delicious ramen and the concept of how the ramen is served was quite a novelty. You get to choose what ramen you want at the vending machine, you get to choose exactly how you like it made, then you are shown to a booth which you then hand over your customised ticket to someone you can’t see. Suddenly they hand you this amazing bowl of yummy ramen.
HARAJUKU
On our very last day in Tokyo, we had a few hours to spare before our flight. So we made a stop by Harajuku, in particular Takeshita Street. We ate a lot that day!
And lastly… a note regarding our time during the Corona Virus outbreak. We found almost all the Japanese were wearing face masks. We are also aware that February is also cold and flu season in Japan, and most Japanese would generally wear a mask if they had a cold or flu anyway so I don’t think they were any strangers to constantly wearing masks. There were hand sanitisers nearly every restaurant or public place we went to. The hotels were even checking people’s temperature at check in. We wore masks when we were in confined spaces that people could cough or sneeze on us like the train, the plane and the airport. We also had hand sanitisers with us everywhere. We had the best time in Japan ( although very short)… and can’t wait to go back to explore more of this fascinating country.