Hello /k/!!

🐔👜 with another travel photo/videolog. Just before CNY went to Japan for a 5-day ski trip, and since already flying over, might as well also spend a few more days in Tokyo.

Rough Itinerary:
Day 1: Tokyo Sumo Grand Tournament
Day 2: Checking out the 'new' Toyosu Fish Market & the 'new' Gundam Unicorn at Odaiba
Day 3: Day trip to Yokohama
Day 4: Tsuta Soba/Ramen and Rikugien Garden
Day 5: Myoko Kogen (Akakura Onsen) Ski'ing
Day 6: Myoko Kogen (Akakura Onsen) Ski'ing
Day 7: Myoko Kogen (Akakura Onsen) Ski'ing
Day 8: Myoko Kogen (Akakura Onsen) Ski'ing
Day 9: Asakusa, Ameyoko, Cup Ice Museum, Ueno Park.

I did a ski video covering days 4-8 (but all other days photos only cos super lazy to edit video).



To be continued on next post!!

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 26 2019, 07:53 PM

Ski so many days not boring?

すごい

1. How did you go back to the hotel after skiing? Was transportation provided or you had to arrange on your own?
2. Did you rent ski gear from the hotel? How much?

Day 0: Overnight Flight to Tokyo.

Wife and I took Singapore Airlines Regional Business Class from Singapore to Narita. It was the SQ638 red-eye/overnight flight.

More complete write-up of the flight is on blog, but in a nutshell this new regional biz class seat is narrower than SQ's normal super wide seats (but still more than wide enough for my 86kg fatass body), but it has (in my opinion) a way better sleeping position. Food and service was - as expected from SQ - pretty good. The flight itself is only 6hrs though, so minus ~2hrs for take-off and food and you only get 4hrs of sleep before committing to a full day of vacation immediately after landing ...



Changi is the best airport in the world! This time we had to pack REALLY heavy (40kg in our 2 check-in suitcases even before shopping) cos of all our ski gear and winter jackets.



Check in, immigration clearance naturally super quick, then we headed straight for the SilverKris lounge, which was really packed (we had to like walk around the whole place before finally finding a small unoccupied table in the corner). So not so good for relaxing, but very good for eating cos the food was pretty nice (compared to all those "free" Priority Pass lounges).



After eating a little we rested, then eventually headed to the gate for boarding. The new business class feels very nice and classy!



What I really like about this seat (compared to SQ's international business class seats) is the huge amount of space in the footwell. It's also straight ahead of your seating position so that you never need to like, bend your lower body sideways when lounging or sleeping.



One drawback if you're travelling with kids or with your loved ones: The privacy shell means that normally even if you're seated "together" you can't really see what your partner is doing. You have to really bend forward to peek in.

go open instagram la

all the comments for toyosu market in tripadvisor are negative

i am expecting a lot of photos mcm xtylish punya japan trip

Different people different likes I guess. For this trip my wife and I took lessons, and the ski school recommended 4x 1/2 days, so that's sort of why we spent so much time ski'ing.


We rented ski gear from the ski school. The ski's they allowed us to store at the foot of the base ski lift, so we only had to carry our ski boots to-and-from the hotel (change at the base of the ski lift).
Our hotel was around 10mins walk from the slopes, so we just walked.
In Japan, there are (generally) 2 kinds of ski places. The purpose-built resorts have a HUGE hotel right at the base of the mountain, so at the end of the day you ski down to the hotel doorstep and just go inside. The 2nd kind is a village that so happened to be at the base of the ski mountain. These ones there is normally very little ski-in/ski-out accommodation, so you normally need to do quite a bit of walking, but on the flip side it feels more "authentic" Japan, I guess ...


Haha I guess eventually I'll update the thread with Toyosu market but yes. As a market it's probably a much better place, but as a tourist attraction it really really sucks ass now. I'd go so far as to say it's not worth visiting anymore.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 17 2019, 03:53 PM

enjoy your trip bro

/k/ banyak jelly people one

that biz class seat, how much it costs usually ?

inb4 poorfag here

The power of SGD

nice trip there ts...9 days there..must be really good....but how much money spend for accommodation there???

what train to reach myoko kogen from tokyo?

I exchange credit card miles/points, cannot afford to pay cash lol.
Some more only one way, coming back from Tokyo I flew AirAsiaX

Day 1: Tokyo Sumo Grand Tournament

OK so we landed quite uneventfully in Narita. Immigration and baggage pick up was really fast, and we were out and at the JR Pass exchange area by 6.50am.

However, the main JR shop with all the many counters was only scheduled to open at 8.15am! So we had no choice but to join this super long queue opposite with only one counter open doing JR pass exchanges. Ended up we only collected our JR East Passes at around 8.00am i.e. more than an hour in line.



I don't know if it's new or not, but you can now apparently get your name printed on your Suica cards ...



Cos we skipped breakfast on the flight we were a bit hungry, so we bought a juice and onigiri from train station platform shop just to tide us over for the morning (eaten on the NEX train, which we chose to take because of JR Pass).



No photo, but we dropped our luggage at APA Hotel Kanda-Ekimae. This is one of our default go-to hotels in Tokyo because (i) it's cheap, and (ii) it's 5mins walk from both JR Yamanote and JR Chuo lines, and the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. Very well connected!

Rooms are tiny as hell though

After dropping our luggage we headed back out for brunch, stopping by Tokyo Station before walking to the Marunouchi Brick Square (10mins walk).



This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 18 2019, 11:31 PM

I flew on ANA business class when I went to Japan last year

it also has those shell privacy seats you mentioned

yeah drawback that you can't see your partner

or maybe some say it's a bonus lol

what's bad about toyusu?

I went to tsukiji outer market last year and walked into the inner market and thought it was kinda ok. this was before they moved.

Day 1: Tokyo Sumo Grand Tournament continued ...

So for our Day 1 first brunch meal in Tokyo, we decided to revisit one of our favorite sushi places in the city: Mantenzushi Marunouchi!



It's not the best sushi in the city, of course, but it's one of the best values. Their omakase set costs ¥6,480 (vs the ¥30k+++ you'd need to fork out at top places), and you get:

Plum / asari soup
Akami / tuna
Octopus sashimi
Seaweed
Houbou
Saba
Sawara sashimi
Kinmedai
Enoki mushroom
Wasabi leaf & tofu
Abalone sashimi
Ankimo & tarakko
Oyster or aburi toro
Mini Ikura don
Baby herring (zirashi?)
Radish pickles
Aomori murasaki uni
Hokkaido bafun uni
Radish yuzu pickles
Shiroi ebi
Negitoro hand roll
Anago
Clam soup
Egg cake
Kanpyo
Strawberry



For gaijins, you have two options. Either make reservations online at https://yoyaku.toreta.in/mantensushi/#/ or turn up ~30mins or so before their 11am opening time and queue for a space.

Reservations guarantee you a seat, but you can only order their ¥6,480 full omakase. If you queue, you might need to wait longer, but you have the option of the much cheaper (and less food coma-inducing) ¥3,240 lunch set.

If you are Japanese or if you know enough to bluff your way through, the restaurant also serves ala-carte sushi and chirashi-don's (but they don't offer these options to gaijins ...)

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 18 2019, 11:42 PM

In Tokyo I stayed at APA hotel kanda ekimae, around rm300/night (but rooms very very small lah).


Shinkansen to Nagano, then local train to Myoko Kogen, then taxi to Akakura Onsen (around ¥2500)


In Tsukiji after 9am or 10am you can walk into the inner market and interact with the shopkeepers, look at the seafood up close and marvel at the octopus, tuna, etc. Last time I went I used to airbnb stay nearby tsukiji and go to inner market to buy scallops and stuff.

In Toyosu, you can't to into the inner market any more. You can only view them from a separated elevated walkway. I have no doubt that the new market is a superior market, but as a tourist experience it is so sterile and boring now.

Ah and to think they made the new market with the tourists in mind, or maybe they thought the tourists were a nuisance so they made it hard for them to be on the ground with the auctioneers.

Day 1: Tokyo Sumo Grand Tournament continued ...

After lunch, we queue'd at the nearby Echire bakery to take away some snacks and breakfast! Echire is a brand of French butter which is supposedly super famous, so ...



... we bought some Financiers and Madelines to try! Verdict: Super Delicious.



Anyway the main itinerary for today is to attend Day 13 of the Tokyo January Sumo Grand Tournament, so we hop on to the Tokyo Metro ...



... and find ourselves up in Arena B seats in Ryōgoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall).



We flirted with the idea of getting better (but of course more expensive) seats down below, but as it was our first sumo experience we decided that Arena B was "good enough." It turned out to be a decent decision cos Arena seats are actual seats, whereas on the 1st floor you sit on the floor. But of course you're really quite far from the action.

Anyway we turned up around 2pm which was just in time to watch some angmoh Juryo (2nd division) wrestler choke out an asian one (not sure if mongolian or japanese).



Didn't take too many photos, but check out a 1.5minute highlight of a couple of the fights we watched!



0:00: Juryo-division (2nd division) fights
0:46: Makuuchi-division (top division) entrance ceremony
0:57: Final match of the day: Yokozuna Hakuho vs Sekiwake Takakeisho*

* Yokozuna - Ozeki - Sekiwake are the 3 top ranks in Sumo

Our sumo tickets in Arena B cost us MYR 271 each including the service fee from buysumotickets.com. If you don't want to pay the fee, you can easily buy them yourself on Ticket Oosumo (pia) -- just need to keep track of the day and time that your intended tournament opens up ticket sales to the public.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 20 2019, 12:58 PM