Tokyo Travel guide || Tokyo travel tips || Solo Female travel to Tokyo|| To do things in Tokyo|| Tokyo Travel: Food, Culture, People, Sightseeing, Shopping and lot more || Experience Tokyo: Must-Do Activities for Travelers
Hey folks.. whats up? How have you been? If you are following my blogs till now.. I want to thank you with all my heart and I also want to apologise for being so late with my posts.. there’s way too many things going on in the personal space and ‘balancing’ is something I was never taught!! There I go.. cribbing yet again!!
So this is the last post from my very first visit to Tokyo, Japan. There’s no suspense to create as to what will be my final review.. so far you have already understood that I loved everything about my trip, every wrong was actually in my favour, it was just a perfect trip for me. But you know.. you talk to anyone who have been to Japan, and they have something very beautiful to share with you. And that’s Japan for you. For tourists, Japan is visitors’ paradise. You will love everything about it. Should I start with my travel tips first? Let’s do it like this:
- First and foremost.. Japan is just plain and simple #Safe for anyone. Yes, you do hear instances here and there, some specific places may have some question mark (I am honestly not aware of the exact places); I won’t say you should not be careful, of course you should.. but your security is well assured in majority and in general. I didn’t face a single problem. It’s just a safe country. Unlike in most European countries (with all due respect and I loved Europe, but still), where you have to be so careful about your belongings, your money, your own safety as a whole, as in you can’t just take any random lane or can’t roam around the streets aimlessly.. in Japan you don’t have to worry at all. i used to get tired, my legs would hurt but I couldn’t stop taking my long walks that too late at night.. my return flight was early in the morning, I had to take a 4:40 am train to come to Shinjuku, I had to walk down to the station from my accommodation which was roughly 10 minutes and that too at 4 in the morning.. trust me it was more than fine. All 7/11, family marts were open, there were early morning workers doing their job and it was quiet and sooo so safe. I LOVED travelling solo in Japan.
- Suica pass: please use it.. either Suica pass or welcome Suica (this is for short stays and when your next visit isn’t very soon) pass.. they are allowed in most of the places along with public transport.
- Shopping: where do I Start??
- So if you go through various vlogs, you will find: don’t buy there, go there if you want better price and blah blah..
- I agree to all of them, but I also understood that when you are on tour and you have limited time, you can’t explore so much to do affordable shopping or do some cost saving with a calculator in hand all the time!!
- Mine was, whatever was coming at front, I didn’t mind exploring those options
- I shopped at Don Quijote Shinjuku and Kawagoe, then some shops at the stations (there are malls/shops inside stations), Kawagoe and Senso ji Temple area had great Souvenir optionsI also got to know later that there is a Kitkat shop at Akihabara, but I wouldn’t have had the time
- Point is, keep yourself open while shopping in Tokyo
- If you love to walk.. then Japan has magic for you. I found each of my walks or repetitive walks to be more precise, magical every time. The streets are the beauty of the country..
- Google map works to the T in Japan.. hence don’t miss it, keep your phone charged, carry power bank and you are good to go.
- There’s a great mantra, you should get it by heart when in Tokyo.. explore, eat, shop and repeat.
- Food has variety in Japan even for budget travellers.. hence don’t panic. And you have combinis (those 7/11, lawson, family mart and there are so many local stores).. you will get something or the other for your taste. Yes being an Indian I had to find my kind of food.. but I managed. It’s not a hue and cry that you will starve.. no way..
- Train Travel in Tokyo: a chapter by itself by I will keep it crisp and short..
- GO FOT IT.. that was my only mode of transport and I kind of mastered it.. & it took me almost the entire stay to understand the basics but it will be the charm of your trip if you don’t experience it!!
- Noo.. I am not trying to scare you, I am telling fact and trust me, if I could ‘manage’, you will do wonders
- So, here’s the thing. I got the train running system by day 2 when I was looking for a platform on JR line. I could find the platform but I wasn’t getting the exact train I had to get into.. then I went to the information centre and they asked me to go the same platform number but under JR line and I got the scenario. LET ME NOW EXPLAIN..
- There are many train lines running all across the country. Every train lines have their dedicated platforms. Under every train line there can be sub divisions as well. For example: keio line has Keio line and Keio New line, so first you have to look for keio line, then closer to the platform, you will find the divisions between Keio and keio new line. Same with JR line. Under JR there are sub lines like JB/JY/JA/JC etc.. all these lines have their dedicated platforms. For if you see platform 4/5/8.. there are many 4/5/7/8 platforms. First you have to look for the train line and then the platform.
- Question is how do you do that? That is even easier. Once you know the train line.. you look for signs in the station, and trust me, the direction signs are very very clear in the stations. You will find it any way
- If not, because I know you are bound to get stuck, like I did, take help of information centre, there are staffs all the time and they love to help or you may also find uniformed staffs on the platforms or inside station giving rounds, they are more than happy to help you
- My first day was tough. I won’t lie, at Shinjuku I couldn’t find the line I was supposed to take. Of course I was tried after a long flight, and I wasn’t able to understand, it was getting late.. I actually asked a local lady who was standing at the station busy with her phone and she didn’t understand English. Trust me, she walked me to the platform, helped me buying the ticket and dropped me to the last point at the platform she could. It took about 7-8 minutes and I didn’t know how to thank her better so she could understand. That was my day 1 experience. Tell me, should I complain!!
- Also, buying tickets at the machines or recharging SUICA pass at the stations are so easy. Just be calm
- Now the fun part.. it took me 2-3 days to understand that underneath the ground there are 4-5 floors existing and, on each floor, there are different train lines are running!! What a country!!
- Then there are bus stations at the 4th or 6th floor of the stations
- There are malls/ uncountable restaurants/cafes at every stations & many stations have hotels at some of the floors
- Japan is Japan.. don’t judge.. just experience..
- So recap is, find your train at google or there are local train apps available (I was more comfortable with google honestly), then look for the train lines you are to use, once you are at the line, you will see neon boards signifying of which train at which platform and you are good to go.
- Also follow rules.. don’t jab others to enter or exit first.. stand in the queue, trains stop for a descent amount of time to let everyone get in and out.
- If you need any local help and they don’t understand English, take help of Translator.. you will get some answer, Japanese people also use translator to communicate and they are so kind to help you.
So my 6 nights Travel plan was as below:
day 1: arrival day. Had to sort exchanging YEN/ SUICA card/ took NEX to Shinjuku, took 15-20 minutes to find the train line to go to my accommodation/ took local help and reached Hatsudai, I reached my place exactly as described by the host. There were quite a few options available close to my place along with so many combinis.. I had food, took long walks here there and I knew I would do the same, every night after my sightseeing. I was already, madly in love with Tokyo.
day 2: Kasukabe- Kawagoe (late evening)
Being second day and highly jetlagged.. I started little late. I went to Kasukabe first, spent till afternoon and then came to Kawagoe in the evening. Of course you will get all the stories in the links. Now, you still can do both in one day if you want to, first start with Kawagoe, by 2-3 wrap up in Kawagoe and then come to kasukabe. In that way you get to spend more time in Kasukabe. Because Lala Mall is open till 8 pm. You may miss the other kasukabe points for sinchan visit, but I think that’s ok. You will know more on this here..
read on Kasukabe post Here..
day 3: Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi park.. warner brother the making of Harry Potter studio
I was all ready for an early morning start. From my accommodation, Meiji shrine was about 30 minutes walk (train was also an option, but I wanted to have my frosty, cloudy morning walk), I visited the place, it took about 40 minutes.. for the tour.
So I went through Yoyogi park, the park is huge, quiet, and serene. The shrine is somewhere in the middle of the park. After covering a part of the park I reached the shrine. You are free to take pictures. No entrance fees here. Yoyogi train station is close by.. and this station is highly instagrammable (which I got to know later), there are again many shops, many small food joints (they are so cute), some shopping places as well.. filling myself up I got a direct train to Toshmaen.. Bingo!! And the rest of the day was for harry Potter.. though I arrived Shinjuku by evening, after my early dinner, I spent so much time at Don Quijote for shopping.. my hands were aching dragging all those to my accommodation which was one station away from shinjuku.. but I shouldn’t complain.. I loved shopping in Japan overall.. this is the first time in my life I spent so much on shopping while travelling.. usually I am a miser!!
More on harry Potter Studio tour is here..
day 4: Disneyland
Once again.. I was up early in the morning.. but I reached Disneyland by 10-10:30 ish.. and the whole day was there.. all about Disneyland is here..
day 5: Mt Fuji: I started in the morning.. walked 10km in Kawaguchiko, came back little late in the evening. But could I have stared even earlier like 4 in the morning, it would have been better.. read the full post here..
day 6: Kawagoe, Sensoji temple, Ueno park (Shrine/ zoo/ park/ evening food festival)
I started with Kawagoe. I couldn’t resist a coffee at a café inside the station before starting my magical tour of Kawagoe. By 3 I was in Sensoji temple. The place closes by 5, hence I was bang on time. You should keep time for Sensoji. The area is full of shops especially for souvenirs and at a good price. I managed temple visit, some shopping, some snacks and its beautiful. Asakusa area is quite happening, you should spend time here. Wish I could have had more time, I wanted to cover Ueno park, hence I walked there.. you can go by train as well, it’s just one station. Ueno park is right in front of the station.
** Kawagoe post
Again it’s a huge park, you should love a late afternoon walk, there’s a shrine. There is a zoo as well, which was of course closed by the time I went there. But Ueno park was quite good. There’s always people around. Then some food fest was going on etc.
So that was my short and crisp Tokyo tour. It was mind pleasing, every bit perfect and so thankful I am to my stars that I could do it. And of course I have to come back to Japan for more, so much more.. so till another solo trip I come back with.. Don’t forget to keep your dreams on, and keep travelling.. see you soon..
TurtleGotWings 