Tokyo, Japan - Ride with Enoden

The Enoshima Electric Railway, popularly known as "Enoden", is a single track railway that runs between Fujisawa Station and Kamakura. Most of its stations are situated near tourist attractions such as the Hase Great Buddha and the Enoshima island. Despite it being a slow alternative to newer railway, it has thus remained as the most popular mode of transportation for tourists visiting the area.

There are a few recommended stops along the Enoden Line. Personally, I have stopped over at Enoshima,  Kamakura-koko-mae Station, Gokurakuji Station and Kamakura. Both Kamakura-koko-mae Station and Gokurakuji Station were previously selected as one of the "100 Top Stations in the Kantō Region". 

Kamakura Koko Mae Station, in particular, is a must visit site for Slam Dunk Fans. Not only does the school served as the model for the fictitious Ryonan High School, where Akira Sendoh attends, the junction right in front of the station is also depicted in the Slam dunk starting credits. For non-fans, take a break from your packed travel schedule to breathe in the amazing view of the Sagami Bay and the rustic feel of the station.

 

For more details on the Enoden, please visit the Odakyu website below:

http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/enoshima_kamakura/

Tokyo, Japan - Day Trip to Enoshima

Kamakura and Enoshima will always be on my list of must-visit places. There are historical sights to see, delicious food to sample, hiking, train rides, beaches, all packed in a 1-day trip just 40 min outside of Tokyo.

To get to Kamakura, we will have to take the Odakyu line again. Starting from Shinjuku station, purchase the Enoshima-kamakura Freepass ticket easily from one of the counters or the automatic ticket vending machine. Each ticket, which cost 1,400 JPY covers the round trip fare from Shinjuku to Enoshima, as well as an unlimited number of rides on the Enoden which runs between Enoshima and Kamakura.

We arrived at the Enoshima Odakyu train station shortly before 9 am. I had wanted to try the Hawaiian pancake shop, Egg's n Things earlier while we were in Harajuku, but the queue was simply crazy. Even though I had heard that the Enoshima branch does draw a large crowd as well, it was rather decent that day.

(omelet, which i had a bad reaction
to later on due to the mozarella)

( Must try pancakes. Use the
coconut syrup for a
Hawaiian Taste) 

After breakfast, we crossed the bridge heading towards Enoshima. On our way, we finally caught a clear view of Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji, in my opinon, is rather "shy" and is easily hidden by clouds. One needs to be really lucky to even catch a glimpse of it.

   

We soon began on what I called the "go easy, return difficult" (pardon the Singlish) tour of Enoshima. There are 3 Shinto shrines on the island known collectively as the Enoshima Shrines. To reach the first shrine, visitors can either pay to use the escalators, or climb the steps which is what we did. Upon reaching the entrance, we were greeted by a huge ring. Passing through the ring is said to cleanse any bad Karma accumulated. 

The Shrines are dedicated to Benzaiten, goddess of everything that flows including: water, words, speech, eloquence, music and knowledge. Benzaiten is also one of the seven Gods of Fortune, and there is this interesting activity where people can wash their dollar bills in the nearby fountain if they wish to multiply your savings.

The second shrine is located near to the first shrine, but the third shrine is a lot further and has lesser visitors.

Past the last shrine is the Tori Gate, beyond which is a steep spiral of stairs leading down towards the Iwaya Caves. We walked a short distance just to see the Chigogafuchi Shore, before turning back to take the Enoden to Kamakura.

Enoshima-Kamakura 1-day freepass
Ticket price: 1,470 Yen for Adults, 700 Yen for Children.
Details: http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/enoshima_kamakura/

Egg's n Things, Shonan Enoshima Branch
Opening hours: 9:30 to 22:30, last order 21:30
Access: Exit Enoshima Station exit turn right and walk straight till you see the main road. Turn right again and walk straight, the restaurant will be on the right hand side.

Enoshima Further readings
http://en.japantravel.com/view/enoshima-jinja-shrine

Tokyo, Japan - Hakone - Le Petite Prince Museum

“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” 

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Before we head back to Tokyo, we dropped by the Little Prince Museum which is a short distance from where we were staying. This is the only museum in the world dedicated to The Little Prince. Even Lyon, the birthplace of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, does not have such a museum. 

(a statue of Antoine de Saint Exupery on Place Bellecour, Lyon)  

The high admission fee (19 SGD per pax) was discouraging, but since we had nothing else scheduled for the day, we just paid. 

Although the museum was supposedly fashioned after the streets of Lyon or France, it is still a tourist attraction. This meaning that the museum is actually much cleaner and more appealing that the actual Lyon. Trust me, I have been to Lyon. While it is a great city, there is no denying the amount of vandalism that happens in there. 

(Lyon Streets)

(Museum Streets)

There is an exhibition on Antoine de Saint Exupery, a cafe, a giftshop as well as a restaurant. Interestingly, there is also a very small chapel in the museum which host actual wedding ceremonies. As it was early Spring, the garden was rather bare. Still there were some nice flowers being planted. 

""Where are the people?" resumed the little prince at last. "It's a little lonely in the desert..."
"It is lonely when you're among people, too," said the snake."

The museum was much smaller than we anticipated and did not offer much activities. Yet we had a lot of fun taking pictures, and for a fleeting moment felt that we have been displaced from Japan and transported to some European country. 

"Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The Little Prince Museum, Hakone

Ticket prices: 1,500 Yen for adults, 700 Yen for children aged 6 to 15

Opening hour: 09:00 to 18:00, last entrance at 17:00

Access: Bus T, stop at Kawamukai Museum of the Little Prince bus stop

Tokyo, Japan - Hakone - 1 day tour

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Hakone Free pass covered 8 forms of transportation in Hakone. If you purchased the ticket at the Shinjuku Odakyu Tourist Centre, it will come with a timetable for all transportation.

For 1-day trips, visitors are encouraged to start from the Hakone Yumoto Station （箱根汤本站). If you have the Hakone free pass and follow the map below, you can tour most sightseeing spots with no additional transportation cost! 

(map from http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/freepass/)

As we stayed over at Ichinoya Shinanoki the previous night, we decided to start off from Togendai instead of Yumoto station. From the Highland Hotel station, we took the T Tozen bus bound for Togendai followed by the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise, designed as a Pirate Ship.

(Oresama Teacher's Usa- chan- man mask)

We were lucky enough to board the red and gold ship, which looked similar to the One Piece‘s Thousand Sunny. The ride across lake Ashi took 40 minutes and we dropped off at Moto Hakoneto visit the Hakone Shrine.

After Hakone Shrine, we went back to the port and took the Hakone Tozan K bus to Yumoto Station. The bus route follows the old Tokaido hiking trail and there are many Chaya's (tea houses) along the road. We initially wanted to visit the Amazake- Jaya, but the mountains was extremely foggy due to the rain. I doubted we could even see our fingers, much less anything else.  

Hence, we continued on to Yumoto Station for the Tozan Train. Surprisingly the Tozen train is much slower than the Tozen bus, and there wasn't much to see in early April. I did sight a wild boar, but other than that, the trip was a big yawn fest.

At Gora we had our lunch at Tamura Ginkatutei, which is highly raved among tourists. We arrived shortly after 2pm and the queue was shorter than expected. I found the pork cutlet salty, but liked the gourd pickles so much that I bought a pack at the counter for 680 JPY. We then headed on to Owakudani for the legendary black eggs.

(Tofu set meal 1,300 JPY, comes with  rice, pickles as well as the Tofu/minced meat Katsu)

To reach Owakudani, take the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani Station. There is a long walk to Owakudani from the station, with lots of steps in between. It was really tiring even for me, and we turned around after reaching the shop selling the black eggs. 

Overall Owakudani and the Hakone Ropeway were big disappointments as we did not have a good view among all that rain and fog. Well ending on a bright thought, this experience might just be the right excuse for us to come again next time. 

Tamura Ginkatsutei: 

opening hours: 11 to 14:30; 17:30 to 19:30

closed on Tuesday evening and Wednesday

Access: Turn left at station exit and cross the rail way track. Walk straight and turn left again after the pharmacy. Walk straight for a short distance, the restaurant is on the right hand side.

Tokyo, Japan - Boarding in Hakone Shinanoki Ichinoyu

No trip to Hakone is complete without a soak in its renowned onsen. But ryokans in Hakone are crazily expensive during spring, and a small room for 2 could easily cost up to 400 SGD per night.

After much research, we found the Ichinoyu hotel chain, which offers affordable lodgings along with free breakfast and optional dinner services. More importantly, the ryokan has a kotatsu (foot warmer) table!! I have always wanted to try one after reading how comfortable it is in Nodame no Cantabile.

(Kotatsu from Nodame no Cantabile)

Ichinoyu has a total of 8 branches in different parts of Hakone. I chose Shinanoki Ichinoyu as it offers private onsen (for body-conscious Singaporeans); and is situated along the bus routes to most major sights.

Our first night is in the standard room (155 SGD) with no dinner plan since we intended to have our dinner at the Gotemba Outlet. We switched room on the next night to a type 2 room (300 SGD) with private open-air bath and dinner. This was the most expensive night during our 9 day trip, but I regretted nothing!

 

 

The food was great and the onsen was awesome. I even managed to overcome my initial  shyness and took a soak in the public onsen (gender segregated).

Breakfast was a sumptuous affair with rice, grilled Salmon, a hot pot of miso and various condiments. We tried to eat the fermented beans, called natto, which is a Japanese breakfast staple, but just a whiff of its smell, and it was 'thanks, but no thanks'. Frankly, I think it smells shockingly like the SKII facial treatment essence. Perhaps I could substitute SKII with natto to save up on the price difference?

Dinner was sukiyaki with grilled pork and local vegetable. The staff also changed our breakfast menu on the 2nd day to grilled Saba and onsen Tamogo.

While we were in lodging in Ichinoyu, the news channel kept issuing a nation-wide Tsunami warning due to the earthquake in Chile. I had to assure mom over and over again that we were in the mountains, and no, that's not the sea, that's lake Ashinoko.

Ichinoyu Shinanoki Details 
http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/shinanoki/index.html

Access:
Take bus T opposite of the Hakone Yumoto Station
Disembark at the Hakone Highland Hotel stop.
The Ryokan is right across the street.

Tokyo, Japan - Odakyu Romance Car to Hakone

Odakyu offers direct train services from Shinjuku Station to Hakone Yumoto Station, with transit between Odawara.

A 3 day Hakone free pass cost 5,500 Yen per pax and covers the round trip ticket between Shinjuku and Hakone, as well as 8 other forms of transportation in the Hakone area. In addition, there is also the option of the limited express Odakyu Romance car which offers observation decks in newer train models.

(The different types of transportation covered by the Hakone Free Pass) 

Due to the popularity of the observation decks, we only managed to reserved the rear panorama seat. Nonethless it gave us a good view of the passing sceneries along the train tracks.

The Romance Car offers on board catering services. Prices are pretty steep though, and the choices are rather limited. It might be better to buy the bentos and drinks from the supermarket before the trip

(Orange Sherbet - 500 yen, only available on the Odakyu Romance Car.
Highly recommended for a sunny day)

Odakyu Romance Car details
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/

Tokyo, Japan - April 2014 - Chidori-ga-fuchi

Having spent the morning and afternoon on our flight, we decided to make good use of our first night in Tokyo at ChidorigaFuchi.

Chidorigafuchi 千鸟渊 , which derive its name for being shaped like a chidori (plover), is one of the more famous cherry blossom viewing spots in Tokyo. It is reputed to have a spectacular view of night cherry blossoms.

We started off at Kudanshita station as opposed to Hazonmon Station. This turned out to be the better choice as the cherry blossom viewing path starts right at the entrance of the station. Even on a Thursday night, the long stretch of cherry blossoms drew huge crowds, and a queue had formed right after the station barricades.

Amazingly, there was no pushing or shoving among the crowd. Everyone was orderly and civil, as we strolled slowly along the moat that surrounds the imperial palace. While walking, I could hear chants of "mankai, mankai", meaning that the cherry blossoms were in full blooms. And they were indeed. Each and every branch in sight were covered with large clusters of cherry blossoms. They looked like snow.

For our first ever cherry blossoms encounter, we were really lucky.
Alas, we only had our handphones with us, and most of our pictures turned out to be either too dark or too blurry. None of the photos we took, managed to capture the beauty of night cherry blossoms. Guess their beauty can only exist in our memories.

Access & Directions
Metro Kudanshita Station - 5 min. from Exit 2
Toei Shinjuku Line, Metro Hanzomon Line, Metro Tozai Line
Lights between 6 to 9.30 pm

Tokyo, Japan - April 2014 Spring Cherry Blossom epilogue

Right before my 25th birthday, I went on my first trip to Japan.

I have not traveled alone since graduation, and I missed it. Being an introvert means there are always days where I badly need some peace and quiet to forget about work, forget about life, family, everything. Traveling solo allows me just that: to live out the life of a hermit (albeit for a short while) without actually becoming one.

Anyway, back to Japan... Why did I ever take so long to make my way to this amazing land of skincare, cosmetics, games and mangas?

I can confidently state that Winter 2013 in Japan will be one of those life changing trip; right up there with 2010 Summer in Italy. For one, this trip made me fall deeply, madly and truely in love with the land of the rising sun. I am an avid Manga consumer, and I thought I knew Japan, but experiencing Japan is so much better than reading about it.

Hence, a mere five months later, I made my 2nd trip to Tokyo. A different season, along with a companion (aka mum), to see the famed Cherry Blossoms that fascinates the Japanese.