I turned 28 this year and I wouldn’t have minded if I slept the day away as I did last year but plans change so I went to Japan for the very first time this year to spend my birthday.
Wanted something special so I booked a luxury resort to spend my birthday in (it has an in-room onsen do I need to say more??) and of course some exciting activities to do during the trip.
We mainly went to Tokyo > Mt Fuji > Kyoto > Osaka which was one of the more usual routes that most people go for when they go to Japan. So, here goes:
Day 1 Tokyo
Our flight to Tokyo was on a Friday night so I actually went to work and went home to grab my luggage for the red-eye flight. We got the seats right in from of the emergency exit and the seat that I was in did not come with a visible screen for me to watch movies but little did I know they were strategically located in a hidden spot beside my seat (New knowledge unlocked haha). Despite that knowledge, I did sleep through most of the flight due to exhaustion.
Either way, we landed in Tokyo early in the morning and had to join the queue at the airport to exchange for our JR Pass from Klook. After about 30mins, we finally got our passes and made our way to our first hotel– Prince Park Tower Tokyo Hotel. We actually got to the wrong hotel at first, there’s another hotel called Prince Tower Tokyo Hotel in the vicinity and had to make a detour to get to the correct hotel. It started drizzling and we “stole” an umbrella from the hotel’s lobby to get to our hotel (oops). The check-in timing for our booking was 3pm and we were way too early so we parked our luggage at the lobby before proceeding to explore the town area for lunch.
My colleague recommended Ichiran ramen as the “must-eat” ramen when you are in Japan so we went to give it a try. Surprisingly, they have plenty of outlets everywhere. It was also the first time I interacted with their “ordering machine” which was fully automated. You simply place your order via the machine and mini tickets of your order will be printed and then you have to bring it to your seat so the staff can verify and serve you your order. The entire process was very seamless and efficient ngl.
Whilst in the dining area, we were given our individual “cubicle” to dine in, there were even little tags in your cubicle which you can show to the staff if you wanted to raise any issues eg you wanted to order more food etc; all fully translated from English to Japanese; I found this super cute and well planned.
Oh, I absolutely forgot that it was noon when I ordered a pint of beer alongside my ramen, no wonder people looked at me weird HAHAHA Well, there’s no such thing as too early for alcohol amirite? Jokes aside, the ramen was pretty average, the broth was more on the flavourful side; personally I found it rather salty but I was starving and ngl the taste does gets to you after a few mouthful.
After which we visited once of the shrines in Tokyo – Sensoji Temple. Holy sht, the place was infested with so many tourists and I did not bother to even enter the place. In fact, the place was so packed, I immediately regretted going there because the crowd was unforgiving af.
We found a matcha café nearby to rest for a bit (I actually dozed off because I was too exhausted) before finally making a move to our hotel for the check-in.
Went to try this Yakiniku place near Shibuya crossing area for dinner and it was pretty good. We ordered plenty of meats and it was quite a filling meal. It’s like Korean bbq but in Japan LOL. After dinner, we walked around the area for a bit before turning in for day.
Day 2 Tokyo (Monkey Kart Asakusa)
As we made our way to Asakusa for our go-kart session, we walked by a quaint little toast joint “Ananas” near our hotel so we grabbed some sandwich toast for breakfast. The toast had “Bloom your day” imprinted on it which was super cute.
Took the metro to Asakusa and got ready for the go-karting session. They allocated a locker for us to keep our belongings and we had to show them our international license during registration. After which, we got to choose the onesie of our choice from the assortment they had on display. I got the Pikachu onsie and N got the Charlizard once because he couldn’t fit in the minion one tsk.
They briefed us on how to operate the go-karts which was quite straightforward; the usual brake, and accelerate and the formation to follow when the guide demonstrate certain hand signals. Chose our go-karts and we are ready to goooooo! They assigned numbered to us; there are a total of 6 go-carts following the guide and I got numbered 1 so I have to follow directly behind the guide and 2, 3, 4 will follow behind me and so on. MUCH RESPONSIBILITY HAHAHA.
We started the session at noon which was quite sunny LOL but the weather was cooling so it was not too bad. We toured Tokyo in the actual roads with actual CARS. I was hyperventilating because we were literally “exposed” compared to normal vehicles but it was pretty cool though. We stopped by plenty of traffic lights along the way and there was passerbys who took out their cameras to snap pictures of us maybe because of our ridiculous costumes and our epic mode of transport. Pikachu over here obviously posed for the photos too.
The entire journey was 10/10 exhilarating and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In fact, I could have drifted but being the professional driver which I am, I got it all under control HAHAHA As we made our way back to the shop, we parked our go-karts alongside the road and at one point my guide was asking me to stay away from the curb (as it was dangerous) of which he said, “Pikachu, stay away from the curb” LOL
They sent us a couple of photographs they took and we bade goodbye to the rest before we made our way to do some shopping at one of the infamous shopping malls specialising in yes, sex related merchandise – Pop Life Department.
There are 5 floors in this unique department store and ngl the pathway within the store itself is cramped af. I wanted to film the things they sold there but was asked to not do so by one of the store staff so too bad. Sex dolls, toys, costumes, anything you could think of, it’s there. The toys selection was….damn and the costumes…damnnn. I got a couple of souvenirs back for sure wink
Dropped by Ginza to check out the 12-storey Uniqlo and discovered they had a sister brand called GU which is pretty good I must say. I got a couple of bottoms from them and they are very very comfy, I forsee getting more the next time I go to Japan. Then it was time for dinner so we went to this famous alley Omoide Yokocho and got some overpriced Yakitori which was not very filling so we got ramen after that. In fact, we were so hungry still that we cooked instant noodles in our hotel once we got back HAHAHA
Day 3 Tokyo>Mt Fuji
We checked out and chucked our luggage at the metro station before going to Tsukji Outer Market to get some food. One thing I really love about Japan is that they have coin lockers of varying sizes at all their train stations which makes travelling from one place to another very very very easy. Want to shop around the area first? Just chuck your luggage at the lockers and you are good to go. Love it. The market was super crowded and there were almost queues in every stall so we ended up going for the onese with the least queue. Ate 1 oyster, 6 slices of salmon sashimi and 2 Tamago eggs before we called it a day and stepped out of that place. Now, off we go to the special resort dedicated to celebrating my birthday – Kaneyamaen Bessho yada
The train ride there took almost two hours with a couple of transits but once we reached Mt Fuji Station, we were greeted with a shuttle bus dedicated to taking the hotel guests to the resort so we didn’t have to lug our luggage around too much.
Checked in and was wowed by the room for sure, the in-room onsen, the spaciousness of the room and of course, the view of Mt Fuji is chef’s kiss. Everything was great, the in-room dining 9-course-omakase, the free-flow wine at their lounge and even their Japanese buffet breakfast was stellar. Simply amazing. The price was amazing too but I think it was worth it though.
Day 4 Mt. Fuji (D-DAY)
It’s my actual birthday! Was greeted with clear skies the next morning and decided to take a chill day trip to the nearby Lake Yamankako for some sightseeing. We ventured to get there on our own using Google maps and their public bus and managed to get there in 40mins or so. Along the way we saw plenty of wheat fields and flower fields which was nice. Wanted to see some swans at the lake but the only swan we saw was the swan-looking cruise ship that was doing its tours around the lake. Mt. Fuji was very shy too, it was hiding behind the clouds so we only got to see half of it tsk.
Snapped a couple of photos and made our way to the nearby supermarket to do some grocery shopping for our lunch.
Can I just say the prices of the food in Japan is on par with Singapore? I took a glance at the Kyoto grapes and it cost 10 bucks (?!) Bought it to try and it’s not very sweet I guess. We bought some sushi and snacks back and rested before dinner arrived.
As usual, we had dinner in our rooms, the lady served each course one after another only after we have finished it which I thought was rather interesting. N thinks they take too long and the food portions are too small but it’s Japanese fine-dining so that’s the norm.
Was pleasantly surprised when they served a birthday cake after dessert with squiggles in Japanese texts that says, “Happy Birthday Denis”. I was totally not expecting that, they even gave me small gift pouch as a present. So apparently, N went to tell the staff to make a birthday cake request behind my back the night before and they agreed to do it during dinner. So yup, 28 eh. One year older, not any wiser 😊
Day 5 Mt Fuji>Osaka
Had our last breakfast at 7AM (IKR wts their breakfast starts at 7 and ends at 10) before we packed up and made our way to Osaka via Shinkansen.
The entire journey took about 2 hours ish and thankfully the metro was near our hotel – Hotel Resol Trinity Osaka so by the time we arrived we can already check-in and rest up a bit before getting dinner. Tbh we are not super fussy about food so decided to try this small ramen join right outside the metro and we were pleasantly surprised. The noodles were pretty good and the pork was pretty good too. Shopped around Shinsaibashi-Suji before calling it a day.
Day 6 Osaka>Kyoto
N was craving for some Taiwanese food so we checked out this Taiwanese breakfast joint at Tamabashi to get our breakfast.
Then we went to Kyoto to redeem our Kimono rental before proceeding to Fushini Inari Shrine for a hike LOL I chose a black kimono which was quite “formal” according to the store staff and boy it was the worst decision ever because black absorbs heat and the weather in Kyoto was HOT. Nevertheless, I loved how the helped me to style my hair up and did some curls on my fringe which looks quite cute tbh.
We took the metro in our costumes (yup, got some weird stares but we’re tourists so it’s fInE). Arrived at the shrine and was not surprised at the huge crowd there as well. We started our hike up the trail and after donkey years ie. 12000 steps later, we arrived at the peak of the shrine…which was slightly underwhelming but hey at least we made it.
I was sweating from head to toe by then and we slowly made our way back down. Met a couple of locals and even though we didn’t speak Japanese, they cheered up on along the way which was very kind and friendly of them. Note to self, don’t wear a kimono to hike. Ever. I wore sneakers in my kimono instead of the clogs they gave so it wasn’t that bad. N wore the clogs and at some point he gave up and walked in his socks HAHAHA I’m deceased.
Overall, albeit tiring, it was pretty fun. We had to return the kimonos and I was soaked in my sweat once I took the kimono off. Grabbed our dinner along the way back and immediately fell asleep from the exhaustion. PS I clocked 15K steps that day RIP
Day 7 Osaka>Nara
We got some Omurice for brunch and went to Nara Park to visit some deers. There is no entrance fee required for this and…there’s so many deers??!! And they are all roaming freely with no barricades at all like whutttt. I did not succumb to peer pressure to get the biscuits for the deers. Instead, I just strolled around the area for a bit and snapped some photos. These deers were chilling everywhere and I’m pretty sure they had ate their fill for the day since most of them were just chilling.
Decided to just go do some shopping so we went back to the shopping street and got Yakiniku for dinner as well.
Day 8 Osaka
Visited a maid café in Osaka and I had a whale of a time there. The girls were quite cute tbh and N was so awkward HAHAHA Had our lunch at the café and they performed a song and dance for us on their “stage” and even had a lucky draw of which I wont a headband and N won the top prize which is a GROUP PHOTO WITH ALL THE MAIDS HAHAHAHA He didn’t want to take the photo with them so I took the photo on his behalf weeeeee :p It was so quirky, the maid came to us and asked us to follow her chant before we can eat our meal i.e “Moi Moi Chuuuu” with the hand sign onto the food as though you are casting a spell on the food. Super funny and interesting experience indeed~
Did some last minute shopping at Dontonburi and came back with 4 baskets full of snacks and whatnot. In fact, I had to buy another luggage to pack all the goodies, it’s that insane. It’s just Japan ya, normally I don’t buy souvenirs but the packaging for the snacks were very sharing friendly so yup. Grabbed ramen for dinner and headed home~
Day 9 Osaka (Last Day)
Our flight back was a red-eye flight too so we had one entire day to spend before we could board the plane. After checking out, we parked our luggage at the train station and wanted to find somewhere to pass time before it was time to fly. Well, this idea was not very feasible because we got tired and I just booked a boutique hotel – Kamon Hotel Namba nearby for a night to rest in for a few hours. Washed up and wanted to take nap but changed my mind and went shopping at the department store instead.
Had Chinese for dinner before we collected our luggage and took the express train to Kansai Airport for departure. We landed in Singapore at 5am and I cabbed home, unpacked and went straight to work at 7am HAHAHA In fact, I was so efficient, I packed all the snacks I bought into little ziplocks for my colleagues and carried it all to work. Almost dozed off in the morning at work LOL Decided to ask my boss to let work from home the next day so I can get more rest so it’s all good.
Conclusion
This trip has been surprisingly quite fun and even though I got slightly sunburnt, I had a lot of fun go-karting, trekking and exploring Japan. Japan is like the upgrade of Singapore but with more quirky and cool people I guess. As complicated as their metro system is, I actually loved it; an organized mess which I think is really eye-opening. The people are very nice too. Most importantly, I loved the heated toilet bowls HAHAHA
I didn’t love the extensive stairs and walking though. Some might even say that is how Japanese people stay slim and healthy eh? I never really had a bad meal there and ngl the food prices are comparable to Singapore’s. Weather wise, I would say Tokyo, Mt Fuji was much cooler than Osaka in September. I can understand why most Singaporeans enjoy going to Japan perhaps of how similar it is to Singapore. Anywho, I’ll be going to Hokkaido next year and I’m sure it wouldn’t disappoint as well(:
That’s all for now, as usual travel safe kids,
D
theniecextn. 
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