Day 1: Sat, 28th May
We arrived at Narita Airport, Tokyo, Saturday morning. After which, we proceeded to get our JR Passes from the ticket booth. This JR pass lasts for 7 days and it allowed us to ride any train/Shinkansen (bullet train) as long as it was on the JR line, and not on the subway lines. If it was a subway line, then we would have to buy single trip tickets from machines in the station.
Once we got our JR Passes, we took a Narita Express train to Tokyo station, from which we took a Shinkansen to Kyoto.
Inside a Narita Express train. We were heading to Tokyo station from Narita Airport.
We had breakfast at Tokyo station while waiting for the departure time of our Shinkansen to Kyoto. These pictures are of Tokyo station itself.
Look at the number of people in Tokyo station! It was much more crowded the first time we saw it. This picture was taken after we had breakfast.
Mini escalators in Tokyo station. So cute, right?
As for these 2 pictures, they were the dishes we had for breakfast.
Do you know that the egg was cold? It seems like all restaurants serve this dish with a cold hard boiled egg.
These were the other 3 dishes we ordered along with the bread-with-egg dish.
If I am not wrong, the train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto was about 2 hours long. This is a picture of my dad, brother and sister sitting in Shinkansen. I was sitting across the aisle, next to a Japanese lady.
Can you see my reflection in the window behind my sister? ;)
After we had dumped our bags in our hotel rooms in New Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, we explored some sections of Kyoto Station, which is REALLY big. We located the Tourist Information centre and took some photos of the modern-looking section of the Kyoto Station. Here's two:
The Kyoto Station ceiling.
Another shot of Kyoto Station. Doesn't it look so zen-ish?
Then, it was a super late lunch (almost like high tea actually) at this small Japanese restaurant which had a sushi belt, like Genki Sushi. The sushi in Japan is really different from the sushi we get in Singapore. Also, salmon sashimi is rarely seen in Japan. What salmon sashimi is to us Singaporeans is what tuna is to the Japanese. Not only is their raw fish so much tastier and fresh, their RICE is more delicious as well!
The Sushi restaurant. I can't remember its name though.
When we were all stuffed with delicious sushi, we returned to the hotel to take a nap.
For dinner, only my parents, brother and I ate at this small restaurant also at the station opposite our hotel. My sister was too tired so we left her sleeping in the hotel room. It was at dinner that we realized how the Japanese liked Italian food quite alot. In many dishes, we saw fusions between Japanese and Italian cuisine. So, in one dish, they would include spaghetti to Japanese ingredients. As for my sister's dinner, we bought back sandwiches for her.
My sister's dinner.
The rest of the night was basically CNN. Whenever we watched TV in Japan, it would have to be CNN because it was the only channel we understood. :)
Day 1: Fri, 27th May
I shall count Friday night, 28th May, as our first day as well. So here goes...
For me, our family trip officially began when we left the house for the airport. Uncle Andrew drove the whole family and 5 luggages there in our car. He would then help us drive the car back to our house.
Well, before we got into the car, everybody was running about the house, trying to settle last minute stuff. As usual. Oh! I must also say that although I think the official beginning was when we got into the car and left for the airport, I must acknowledge everybody else's preparatory efforts for this monumental family holiday.
My sister: She did all the planning. She collaborated with our ticket agent to book the plane tickets, came up with our itenerary (i.e. where we will be on which day), located good hotels (after which the agent helped in booking the hotels), and the list goes on. She became (started out as) the Organizer.
My dad: He began quite some time before the actual day of our trip to change money and to settle bills resulting from the holiday trip before it even began. By this, one example I can mention is the payment of airplane tickets to and fro Japan. He became the Financial source on this trip, which is normal.
My mum: She unpacked the luggages, made sure they were clean before passing it on to us for the packing in of clothes and other barang-barang. She also went shopping with my sister to get new luggages in place of the old, worn-out ones, as well as other stuff we may need on the trip. She became the Worrier, always thinking of possible problems that may lie ahead, which is good, and also quite normal.
My brother: He assisted my sister in locating hotels that were more accessible i.e. My sister would pass him a map and he would point out which MRT/bus stations and landmarks the hotel would be near to. He became the Navigator on this trip, which is nothing surprising.
Me: I'm ashamed to say I didn't help much in the preparations. On the trip, I just followed, contributed whenever I could, and endured backache. I became the One who Endured. But I still had the time of my life!
Day 1: Start of a monumental family holiday
I say this whole trip to Japan was monumental because:-
1) It is the first time in a very looong time that we managed to get the whole family free for a NINE-day holiday.
2) We took sooooooo many photos, definitely over a hundred. Maybe it is due to the reason that my sister and I have become bloggers, always on the lookout for interesting things to talk about on our respective blogs. You might say more than a hundred photos should be normal for a family holiday, but not for this family. We rarely take photos, probably because we are lazy to take out the camera and pose. :)
3) It is our second trip back to Japan. Our groundbreaking trip was in December one and a half years ago. On our first trip, we only stayed in and explored Tokyo. This time around, we were moving about much more, which was VERY exciting.
4) This trip would be the last one in, at most, 2 years. My brother is serving NS September onwards. So even if we did have holidays, it would be missing one family member.
Itenerary
I figured that I should post the general intenerary of this entire trip spanning across something like 9 days there about. I also posted this on my personal blog.
Day 1 (Sat) - Travel to Kyoto from Tokyo
Day 2 (Sun) - "Visit landmark day (mostly temples)" in Kyoto
Day 3 (Mon) - Day trip to Osaka
Day 4 (Tues) - Travel to Hakone from Kyoto
Day 5 (Wed) - Exploration of Hakone
Day 6 (Thurs) - Travel to Tokyo from Hakone. Shopping at Harajuku.
Day 7 (Fri) - Day trip to Yokohama
Day 8 (Sat) - In Tokyo (Tsukiji fish market, Ginza and Shinjuku Takashimaya)
Day 9 (Sun=Today) - Travel to Singapore from Tokyo
Intro
This blog has been set up to commemorate and remember our family trip to Japan in May/June 2005. It was a fantastic time and I think we took the most photos on this trip compared to other family holidays. It lasted about 9 days, the longest holiday trip in a very long time. So, be prepared for stories and LOADS of photos! :)
