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March 31, 2018March 30, 2018

2017 Japan Trip – Day 11

On day 11, we would be travelling out from Takayama to Tokyo. We used the free shuttle bus facility by Takayama Kanko Hotel that morning and waited only about 20 minutes or so for our train. The journey consisted of a train ride to Nagoya and another train to Tokyo station. Note: when reserving a shinkansen train from Kyoto or Nagoya towards Tokyo, remember to request seat on the left side. That is because Mount Fuji will be on the left side, and vice versa get seats on the right side when travelling out from Tokyo to Kyoto. This time we actually forgot to ask that when made the reservation, but thankfully the kind officer gave us seats on the left side 🙂

Day 11

Again, do not fall asleep on the train from Takayama to Nagoya. I only managed to take some footage from about half way through the ride. We were so grateful for able to see Mount Fuji with its snowy cap clearly on the ride to Tokyo. Before our trip, I have read many people say that often it’d be too cloudy to see that snowy cap. So, I kind of not letting myself too hopeful about seeing it, but there it was! 🙂 When we first got a glimpse of a mountain with white tip from far distance amongst many other mountains, hubby commented: “Are you sure that one is Mount Fuji? “. And, I had to admit he was correct, I wouldn’t know for sure. But as we got closer and it came to full view, everyone started to take pictures then you know it is indeed the majestic Mount Fuji. We also got another glimpse of it on our way to Haneda Airport before departing the country, truly grateful for these chances.

Mount Fuji viewed from the train to Tokyo

Anyway, our plan today was to get to Tokyo around 1 pm then went straight to Disney check in counter at Maihama Bay. The first things we noticed as we got to Tokyo were it was noticeably warmer and huge crowds in the station. Because it would be too early to check in to the hotel, but we could leave our luggage there and have them delivered to our hotel later. We were super excited to spend the night at Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta that night. We had left it until too late to book accommodation here and I had to literally monitor the web everyday to finally be able to get a room. So, we had our expectation up high on this – but anyway, I’ll do another post just for the accommodation next.

Once we left our luggage, we went back to Tokyo Station then to Asakusa. Our mistake was we used the JR to get to Asakusa-bashi instead of taking the subway to Asakusa which is closer to Sensoji Temple. Oh boy, that was a long walk from Asakusa-bashi to the temple, in which half way through I almost wanted to walk back and gave up. But, in the end we persistently walked to Sensoji Temple. And to make thing worse, we did not have pocket WiFi to access Google Maps. A really big thank you to all the convenience store chains in Japan where they provide free WiFi connection. We stopped at couple of convenience stores to get drink, access to Google Maps, and screen shot our walking journey 😀

asakusa tokyo skytree — Spotted Tokyo Skytree on the way to Sensoji Temple

Some streets in Asakusa near Sensoji Temple

What a relief to finally get to Sensoji Temple, but we actually did not spend long time here. Took a few pictures, walked around the market stalls then headed back towards subway station. On the way to the subway station, we stopped by a ramen shop for quick dinner. Then we made a quick stop at Akihabara, where hubby browsed some shops quickly before headed back to theDisneySea MiraCosta Hotel.

What we ate on Day 11

We had our big breakfast at Takayama Kanko Hotel, as can been on the previous post. When we got to Nagoya, we bought these ekiben for lunch – total ¥2,474. Hubby said his unagi bento was the least delicious unagi he had in Japan. My karaage chicken was delicious and generous portion as well. We also bought a pack of chocolate Pocky for ¥162 for dessert 🙂

ekiben unagi bowl — Unagi rice bowl with (what we think as) shredded fried eggs topping

ekiben special karaage set — Special karaage chicken set

While exploring the market outside of Sensoji Temple, we bought one rice cracker with seaweed ¥120 – but totally forgot to take picture of it 😅

And, these were our delicious warming dinner. The broth was such a delight and the owner was very friendly. The gyoza were delicious with crispy skin. The restaurant detail can be found below and we recommend this ramen place if you are nearby.

Ramen Asakusatai

2 Chome-19-12 Kaminarimon, Taitō-ku, Tōkyō-to 111-0034, Japan

I could not find their website, but this page have a great reference on the restaurant. They even have details on how to put your order through the vending machine. I wished we had learned about this before we came to Japan 🙂

Lastly, we bought this from a vending machine at Maihama Station before proceeding to the monorail to our hotel. I thought this was melon juice, turned out it’s soft drink with melon flavor 😅 Actually we also bought some bread in the convenience store at the station for breakfast the next day, but forgot to take pictures also.

March 22, 2018March 21, 2018

Hagi Takayama Kanko Hotel

Hagi Takayama Kanko Hotel was actually the first ryokan we booked mainly because they have few family onsen aka reserve-able onsen. Besides the good reviews on TripAdvisor, they also have shuttle services to/from Takayama station. That’s why we thought this would be a great ryokan style accommodation experience. For the first night at Takayama, we originally planned for a hotel stay, but as it turned out we ended up at Ryokan Tanabe, which was superb!

Anyway, back to Hagi Takayama Kanko Hotel – it is much bigger in size compared to Ryokan Tanabe. There are five reserve-able private onsen, one of them is outdoor; and three gender separated public ones (both also have outdoors). That itself was already a big attractive point to us; then they also have manga corner with massage chairs, table tennis room, and even ladies spa. Another big drawing point is its location, being in highland provides a great view of the city at night time which was lovely.

We called the hotel a day earlier about the shuttle pick up and was told they would come around 3 pm. The shuttle van came on time on the day and the ride took around 8 minutes from Takayama station to the hotel. As we approached the hotel, there were several reception staffs stood outside, bowed and welcome us! It felt a bit too much, but perhaps that’s just how it is there? Check in process was swift and smooth, the reception staff offered us available slots for private onsen and the shuttle back to station for the next day. Then a lady ushered us to our room, and showing us where the public onsen and restaurants are. It is basically made up of two buildings, the restaurant for dinner along with public onsen and four private ones are in the back building. The breakfast hall and the other public onsen are on the front building where the reception and main lobby are.

takayama kanko hotel view — View from parking area – isn’t that beautiful?

We got room number 1202. It is even bigger than one we had in Ryokan Tanabe, consists of two sections with a sliding door that can be closed off. Highlight of our room would be the view, it faces the backyard that gives a pretty view at night times. The bathroom also has a bathtub with a window facing to that same view – but we did not even use this bath tub at all having learnt about onsen. The overall feeling of the room was a little old but everything worked just fine, so it was not a big deal.

We went to try the private onsen at our reserved time, loved the view from the window facing the streets of Takayama. Then, the kaiseki dinner followed – I felt we had way more food here than at Tanabe Ryokan and whilst they were all delicious, I just could not finish everything. The highlight of our dinner was of course that Hida beef, fish and tempura. The dessert jelly was also lovely to finish off the meal with just enough sweetness.

The kaiseki dinner at Takayama Kanko Hotel

After the kaiseki dinner, we walked around to peek at the top floor onsen which was really nice. We also had relaxing time at the massage chairs. Eventually we went to the public onsen, oh my God the outdoor onsen was so beautiful. The water temperature was just perfect, the onsen was made from rocks, super relaxing bath! We even made the effort to wake up early and come back again the next morning before breakfast.

By the time we went back to our room, the futon mattress have already been laid out. It felt a little warm in room after a while, so we left the window slightly opened at night. It worked really well and we definitely had great sleep!

They serve breakfast in a different hall to where we had dinner last night. We had the Japanese set breakfast again, but there were also buffet selections should you want extra something. Oh, and we finally tried natto aka fermented soy beans! It doesn’t taste much if you can get past that sticky texture and strong smell 🙂 There are also selections of cereals, bread, coffee, and juices as well.

The Japanese breakfast set with Grilled Fish and Beef Croquette from buffet table

We had booked the 08.00 shuttle bus back to Takayama Station and it left exactly on time. Check out process again was swift with friendly face. Overall, we had a very pleasant stay here especially the onsen experience. Food wise, I’d probably prefer the ones we had at Ryokan Tanabe. In saying that. there really was nothing wrong or not delicious about the food we had here by all means. And for the onsen, Takayama Kanko Hotel is definitely the winner. Plus due to its size and location, it gives a feeling of ryokan as you see on many Japanese dramas: with massage chairs, table tennis and fire works.

Sayonara, Takayama – we most definitely had great time here and will be back again!

Takayama Kanko Hotel

506-0852 Gifu Takayama Hachiman-cho 280 Japan

Telephone: +81 577-32-4100

Email: admin@takayama-kh.co.jp

www.takayama-kh.com

March 20, 2018March 19, 2018

2017 Japan Trip – Day 10

On day 10, we would be checking out of Ryokan Tanabe and went to Shirakawa-go, then came back to Takayama for another night at Takayama Kanko Hotel. I had hoped that we would be able to see some snow falls at Shirakawa-go, unfortunately that has not been the case. Having seen pictures of traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses, I already made up my mind that we had to go there. And that being one of the reasons why we had not spent a night at Miyajima 🙂

Day 10

Takayama, as it’s location in the mountain, was freezing cold in the morning – but wait until we got to Shirakawa-go, it was even more so! During our short time at Shirakawa-go, it was mostly cloudy and heavy snow fall was forcasted for the night and next few days. What a shame, had we come here one day later, I would have experienced the snow fall. But that’s ok, at least we got to walk around the town easily without having to worry about slippery road, right?

The bus ride from Takayama to Shirakawa-go took about 50 minutes passing through highways with mountains view. When you get to Shirakawa-go, make sure to book a return bus ticket right away. We did not know about this and we went to explore the town right away. By the time we came back to the bus station, we were told the next bus was already full and we should wait for the next one. Not that it made much difference because buses run regularly approximately about every 30 minutes. But, it was freezing standing outside waiting for the bus and 30 minutes felt much longer!

Shirakawa-go was declared as UNESCO world heritage site in 1995 and famous for its traditional gassho-zukuei farmhouses. The steep thatched roofs of those farmhouses resemble the hands of Buddhist monks pressed together in praying, and hence the name gassho-zukuri. But, the practical reason of this construction was to withstand heavy snow fall especially during the winter season. Another highlight of the roof was that it was made without nails, and with such construction it provides an attic space to cultivate silkworms.

Here is the short clip of our time exploring Ogimachi, the main attraction and largest village of Shirakawa-go.

We arrived back at Takayama around 2 pm and were starving. Because the shuttle pick up from Takayama Kanko hotel would come around 3, we had one hour or so for lunch. And of course while in Takayama, we just had to have Hida beef for lunch 🙂 We finished lunch, walked back to the station and waited few minutes then the shuttle came. And off we went to Takayama Kanko hotel, detailed review will be on the next post again.

shirakawago4 — Spotted this crystal clear creek on the way back to the bus station

What we ate on Day 10

Obviously you had seen our breakfast from Ryokan Tanabe in the previous post, but in case you have not then here it is:

ryokan tanabe breakfast — The traditional breakfast, love the fish and toasted miso, delish! (っ˘ڡ˘ς)

Then we bought these at Shirakawa-go:

shirakawago beef croquette — Beef croquette @ ¥250 – warm and fluffy delicious croquette

hida bottled milk — Tried the local Hida bottled milk, love it! @ ¥200 This warm milk helped to keep us warm while waiting for the bus

shirakawago beef croquette2 — The shop where we got the croquette and milk from

For lunch, we went to Hidagyu Maruaki not far from Takayama Station and opted for beef yakiniku. Ah the best beef meal we had in Japan or possibly so far in my life. The meat was so fresh and tender and literally melt in your mouth. It really was that good and I am not exaggerating. We ordered the Hida Premium Beef Plate, Grade A5 Beef Cubes, and sake to share. Those Grade A5 beef cubes were really worth paying extra for if you could set some budget for it. Total spent here was ¥10,140.

maruaki takayama Premium Hida Beef Plate & A5 Beef Cubes — Hida Premium Beef Plate & A5 Beef Cubes

maruaki takayama Cashier and waiting area — Cashier and waiting area

This bottled pudding stole my attention while waiting for bus to Shirakawa-go, but we only bought it when we came back. This pudding was made from Sukune Kabocha, a type pumpkin produced in the Hida Takayama area. The texture was smooth and rich without being too sweet. Perfect treat for afternoon tea 🙂

Le Midi - Sukune Kabocha Pudding — Le Midi – Sukune Kabocha Pudding ¥350

For dinner, again it was a kaiseki meal from Takayama Kanko – stay tuned for full review in the next post 🙂

Hidagyu Maruaki – Takayama Branch

Takayama-cho, Takayama-shi, Gifu Prefecture 6-8

Phone: 0577-35-5858

hidagyu-maruaki.co.jp

March 16, 2018March 15, 2018

Ryokan Tanabe, Takayama

Most people we talked to before came to Japan have similar tips regarding accommodation in the country, which is to try one or two nights at a ryokan. Yes, staying at a ryokan can be more expensive than hotel or AirBnb, but it will be worth the experience. So, we knew all along we would spend at least one night at a ryokan in this trip. And when we finalised our itinerary, we decided to try two ryokan during our stay in Takayama. The first ryokan we tried was Ryokan Tanabe.

We chose Ryokan Tanabe for its location, high ratings on TripAdvisor, the kaiseki dinner, and the private onsen. Its location is close to Takayama station as well as the Old Town shopping streets, proved to be a great advantage. And as we experienced the stay, meals, and overall hospitality, we really have to agree with everyone that gave them a 5 stars on TA. The private onsen, we thought we’d be using ended up a waste. We ended up going to the shared onsen and had really great time there. Before went to Japan, I would flinch at the idea of public onsen, even gender separated ones. However, I learned that it was not awkward or uncomfortable in any ways at all. And at the end of two nights in Takayama, we both got addicted to onsen, especially the outdoor ones where eater temperature was right!

As we arrived at Ryokan Tanabe before their official check in time, we were told the room was not ready yet and that we could wait in the sitting area or left the luggage to explore the city and came back later. We, of course, chose the latter option! Check out here for our time exploring Takayama Old Town 🙂

When came back around 4 pm, we proceed with the check in process and the lady asked me to pick which color of yutaka I’d like then walked us to our room. On the way, she showed us where the public toilet, onsen, and the opening hours of them. We got room number 10 and it was a huge room with view to small private garden! The bathroom has a massive wooden bathtub, which sadly we used only once. We agree to get a room without bathtub next time and just enjoy the shared onsen. She also asked us what time we would like to have our dinner and breakfast the next morning. Then we were left to enjoy the hot matcha with some traditional cakes.

We eventually ventured out to have a peek at the public onsen. Turned out there was no one in the ladies onsen, so I happily enjoyed the whole place for myself. But soon enough another lady came in and we just enjoyed the hot spring bath in quiet and surprisingly it did not bother me. Anyway, the general rule for enjoying onsen is rinse yourself in the shower area first (use soap/shampoo if you feel you need them), then you can dip yourself in the hot bath making sure your hair is tied up and not soaking in the bath. And lastly, rinse again before drying your body and move inside the powder room. I love how they provide all sorts of skin care and hair care products, hair dryer, comb, even shaver. I actually prefer their indoor onsen than outdoor ones mainly due to the water temperature on the outdoor onsen was not hot enough in that weather.

Earlier, we had asked the dinner to be served at 7 pm and about 15 minutes before then, the lady came back to tidy up the room to prepare for dinner. It was a kaiseki dinner which is multiple intricate dishes served in smaller portions. We knew it would be several dishes but didn’t know it would be that many. Super filling dinner, but everything was so tasty and delicious! And the highlight was that piece of Hida beef, so tender and soft – totally changed my idea of Hida beef from experience earlier. Oh and they also served a small glass of wine, it was sweet and so good – but we forgot to ask them what sort of wine was that.

ryokan tanabe kaiseki dinner — The kaiseki dinner ლ(´ڡ`ლ)

After everything was laid out on the table, the lady left us to enjoy our dinner. She came back around 90 minutes later to clear the table, gave it a good wipe then move it to the side. Then the ladies would take out the futon from the closet and lay them in the middle of the room, put some fresh cover on them and said their good night and left. Some of the older ladies here could not really speak English but they were so friendly and warm and try their best to explain things. Yes, we resorted to using body languages a lot but, hey whatever works! 🙂

ryokan tanabe beddings — The fluffy and soft bedding – the pillows were filled with beans and they took a while to get used to, but everything else was very comfortable.

We wake up around 6 in the morning and went to public onsen again before breakfast. A couple of staff came to the room to put away the bedding back to closet. They took away the teapots from yesterday then prepared the table again for breakfast. We had the traditional Japanese breakfast and again, very delicious and truly nice meal.

It is check out day today and we decided to use the luggage lockers next to the train station. We would be heading to Shirakawa-go today and try out another ryokan tonight. Oh, also at check out, the reception lady gave us pairs of chopsticks as souvenir – how nice 🙂

We definitely had a great stay here and would love to come back again. Needless to say, the hospitality was outstanding and the meal was all super delicious. The ryokan is fairly small in size, but you have everything you would need in here. We can’t recommend Ryokan Tanabe enough and please book the full board package when staying here 🙂

Ryokan Tanabe

58 Aioimachi, Takayama, Gifu Prefecture 506-0014, Japan

Phone: (+81) 577-32-0529

www.tanabe-ryokan.jp

March 14, 2018March 20, 2018

2017 Japan Trip – Day 9

On day 9, we are checking out of our AirBnb in Osaka today and going to Takayama. We left around 8 am and dragged our luggage through Dotonbori to JR Namba, it was so weird passing by the quiet Dotonbori with no food stalls nor crowd. As if it is a completely different place to what it is at night time. We would take a shinkansen ride to Nagoya for about 55 minutes via Kyoto, then another 140 minutes on JR Hida to Takayama station.

Day 9

The first half of the day would be mainly spent on trains until we arrived at Takayama. I must highlight the train ride from Nagoya to Takayama; the view was out of this world! Truly, when the train passed through mountains and all you can see were trees, rivers and creeks with crystal clear flow and mountains – I was totally spoiled with the view. It was so mesmerizing and at that state I totally forgot to record it on video. For anyone going to Takayama, please do not fall asleep in the train from Nagoya to Takayama or vice versa.

Takayama sarubobo doll. These faceless dolls are mascot of Hida area, they were traditionally made by mothers for their daughters for happy marriage and smooth delivery of babies

First thing we did on arriving at Takayama Station was to book bus tickets to Shirakawa-go tomorrow. Also to visit the JR office to reserve seats for train ride to Tokyo in two days time. Once these all sorted, we walked to our first ryokan, Ryokan Tanabe. It is located not far from station, about 8 minutes walk through the main street leading to Takayama Old Town.

We left our luggage at the ryokan and went out again to explore the Old Town. Takayama Old Town is beautiful, with many older styles Japanese buildings as the name suggests. The market attracts many tourists with shops offering local souvenirs, Hida beef, local brewed rice wine, and many others. We even spotted one shop that sells local brewed soy sauce which was attractive to me, but I regretfully did not end up get a bottle back to Sydney.

Also we really appreciate the free WiFi provided throughout the main city centre, what a nice and considerate gesture to tourists 🙂 Another thing that is Takayama famous for is their festivals, which said to be one of the best in the country. There is a morning market at Takayama that opens daily, but we did not make time for this since we went to Shirakawa-go the next morning.

What we ate on Day 9

japan potato chips — Potato chips for snack in the train – ¥299

Milk from vending machine at 7-11 ¥100 (if not mistaken), the milk is tasty! 🙂

Then we bought these bento boxes at Kyoto station, there were much less options at Kyoto than at Shin Osaka. But hubby was really happy with his eel ekiben. The chicken one tasted alright, it packed heaps of food.

Arriving at Takayama station, we needed a little of pick me up and decided to get coffee from the nearby vending machine:

Black coffee from vending machine near Takayama station ¥130 – super strong coffee with big punch!

As we exploring the streets at Takayama Old Town, we tried several food/drink:

sesame soy dango — Sesame soy dango ¥120 – finally get to try this and can’t say this is our favorite but it’s really not bad either 🙂

hida beef nigiri — Hida beef nigiri that seemed to attract really long queues ¥600. The beef were a bit tough and chewy, not a fan of this considering the waiting time to get it. They use senbei cracker as plate – no trash, environmental friendly and yummy too.

takayama amazake — Cup of hot amazake aka non alcoholic sake ¥300. It’s sweet and warm, such a perfect drink for the weather!

hida beef skewer — Hida beef skewer ¥400 – again the beef were tough and chewy.

We had booked the ryokan package with dinner and breakfast. The dinner was a Kaiseki dinner and will go on details about this on the next post of Ryokan Tanabe, so stay tuned \ (•◡•) /