Blueskygirl Does Tokyo

Since this is our anniversary trip, my husband acquiesced by agreeing to go to Disney Sea. Of course, we had both been to Disneyland in Anaheim as kids. So this was our first time doing a Disney trip as adults. My husband admitted that he was expected to be pretty underwhelmed. But guess what… we were totally wow-ed and had the best time!

The best part was doing a bit of research before out trip to find out how to work the FastPass system. It is the civilized way of "cutting in line". I can’t believe how much better using the FastPass made our day; we basically did in one day what it would take us two days to see and do.

So what’s the FastPass and how does it work?

At the most popular and biggest rides including, "Indiana Jones", " Storm Rider", "Raging Spirits", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", and the "Tower of Terror", it’s quite possible to wait up to 130 minutes to get on the ride. But with the FastPass, you are essentially waiting in line without actually having to physically stand in line.

So first go to the FastPass machine of the ride (usually right beside the line-ups), insert your Park Passport which you get when you buy a ticket for the park and get a "Return Time" (this will vary depending on how long the lines are… at the beginning of the day it was usually 30 minutes but later in the afternoon, the return times were longer, up to 90 minutes). But whatever, it sure beats standing in line. So we’d get our FastPass for a particular ride and then go to another part of the park, come back during the allotted time and breeze right in! I cannot believe how easy it was and yet how few people seemed to take advantage of this service. It’s pure genius! So by working the FastPass system, not only did we get to ride EVERY single ride we wanted to, we never had to stand in line bored out of our minds.

The only thing is that you cannot just run around the park, getting Fastpasses for everything at the beginning of the day. Depending on what time your current Fastpass is valid for, you cannot get the next Fastpass until that time has passed.

Here’s my suggestion for getting the most from your day. Instead of waiting 90 minutes (average wait time weekday, much longer on weekends and holidays) for "Journey" (definitely one of the best rides) we got FastPasses and in the meantime, we went to Aladdin’s Theatre (a 3D show) where there were no lineups. Then on our way back to "Journey" to catch our ride during our time slot, we also got Fastpasses for "20,000 Leagues" which is in the same section of the park.

After "20,000 Leagues" go to the Mermaid Lagoon (based on Little Mermaid) and watch the "Ariel" musical in the stunning Lagoon Theatre. The gift shop in the Mermaid Lagoon was one of my favorites. Then, we walked over to the "Lost River Delta" to get Fastpasses for the Indiana Jones ride. While waiting for our time slot for Indiana Jones, we went to the El Dorado Cantina for some surprisingly decent Mexican food and a cold beer (not every restaurant serves alcohol so check the map/directory). As we finished lunch, it was time to go on the Indiana Jones ride but before we did, we went and got Fastpasses at Raging Spirits which is right beside it.

Before the Raging Spirits, we will had about 20 minutes so we went to the Arabian Coast section and went to "Sinbad’s Voyage" which is Disney Sea’s equivalent to Disneyland’s "It’s a Small World". After Raging Spirits (one of the THE scariest roller-coasters I have ever been on, without a doubt), we took the "DisneySea Electric Railway" to the American Waterfront and got our Fastpasses for the Storm Rider. While waiting, we walked around the Mediterranean Harbour and checked out "The Leonardo Challenge".

After Storm Rider, we had a nice greasy Reuben sandwiches and fries with hot drinks at the New York Deli while deciding whether to check out the House of Terror of the nighttime BraviSEAmo show (Disney Sea’s equivalent to Disneyland’s parade). At this point, it was getting cold and we were pretty tired, so we decided to catch the BraviSEAmo show and call it a day.

In addition to Disney Sea and the Vermeer exhibit at the Tokyo Met of Art, these are a few highlights in no particular order:

1. People watching on Omotesando Hills.

As an added bonus, one of the best toystores I have ever been to is here as well. Lots of cute accessories, games, Lego that I had never seen before.
Kiddyland
6-1-9 Jinjumae
TEL: 3409-3431

A great place to buy a couple of cool unusal toys for my adorable little nephew.

2. Our meal at Kaikaya in Shibuya. This restaurant was recommended to us by a serious food-lover who boldly proclaimed that it might be the "best restaurant in Tokyo". What makes the meal even more thrilling is that the restaurant happens to be very difficult to find. But have no fear, I have noted very specific directions below.

23-7 Maruyama-cho, Shibuyaku, Tokyo
tel: (03) 3770-0878
http://www.kaikaya.com/

It's not far from the teenage girls-haven, Shibuya 109. It’s tucked into a small street about a ten minute walk from the Shibuya station. They have excellent fish and beef dishes, especially, sashimi tuna spareribs and the wagyu beef sushi.

They have awesome ginger beer and a very large selection of unusual sake and beers. The menu is very seasonal as the chef makes things that are at its best and at its freshest. Just take a look at what some of the other customers are having and nicely point. That’s how we discovered some of our favorite items here. The owners and staff are very friendly and the menu is translated into English, so don’t be intimidated.

From Shibuya Station (the Hachiko Crossing), take the left fork at the 109 Building and walk up Dogenzaka to the large crossing by the entrance to Mark City. Take the next side street to the right (after the koban) and follow it down the hill. You will see Kaikaya's red awning on your right after about 300 meters.

3. Window shopping in Ginza
Do not miss:
Ito-ya, Ginza 2-17-15 T
The most fabulous stationary store you will ever encounter. Floors and floors of Japanese pens, papers, notebooks, office furniture and other great gift ideas.

Sony Building Ginza 5-3-1
Of course it was almost difficult to drag my husband away from here. But we both had a great time seeing the newest and latest Sony products and even having a chance to try them out. Very crowded on weekends though.

A total HO-HUM:
Tsukiji Market - The tuna auction which, once upon a time, was open to tourists is no longer open to the public. Also, it's not the only place to eat good sushi in Tokyo, not to it's mention extremely touristy and who wants to stand in line for 30 minutes to eat a very rushed sushi meal first thing in the morning. But if the idea of dodging carts of squid and watching enormous frozen tuna being sliced by a ban-saw appeals to you, this is your place!

Vermeer in Tokyo

Another reason we wanted to visit Tokyo for our anniversary trip was to visit the Vermeer exhibit at the Tokyo Metropolitan of Art in Ueno Park (showing August 2 – December 14, 2008).
8-36 Ueno-Koen, Taito-ku
TEL: 03-3823-6921

Johannes Vermeer a Dutch painter only produced 36 canvases (as opposed to say, Picasso who has over 1,000 pieces). Of course, Vermeer’s most famous work is probably "Girl with Pearl Earring" or the "The Astronomer" so this was a chance to see some of his lesser-known works.

Anyways, the exhibit in Tokyo was showing six of Vermeer’s pieces including, "The Little Street", "Diana and her Companions", "The Girl with the Wineglass", "Woman with a Lute", "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" and the rarely shown, "A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals" which had until recently been owned by Steve Wynn (he purchased it in 2004 for US$30million) but he recently sold it a private buyer.

The exhibit was called, "Vermeer and the Delft Style" which spanned three floors with the Vermeer pieces being saved for last in order for viewers to learn a bit about Delft artists (Vermeer's contemporaries during the Golden Age of Dutch Art) first.

We waited in line for about 20 minutes before entering the museum. It was quite crowded unfortunately but of course that didn’t take away from the pleasure of enjoying Vermeer’s style of light and proportions.

Originally, "The Art of Painting" was supposed to be one of the six paintings but at the last moment, "Lady Writing a Letter with her Maidservant" replaced it. I was actually really looking forward to viewing "The Art of Painting" because it is one of Vermeer’s pieces that makes beautiful use of lapis lazuli (natural ultramarine). Apparently for security reasons, that painting is staying right where it is (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Oh well. I guess it’s a good excuse to go to Austria.

After an enjoyable hour or so, we exited out into Ueno Park and took the subway to Shinjuku for lunch and some window shopping. After a hot lunch of udon noodles and tempura in the middle of crazy busy Shinjuku station, we enjoyed the solitude of the West Side (being mostly offices, it was pretty dead on this particular Sunday afternoon).

Tokyo’s largest camera stores, Yodobashi and Bic Camera are located near Shinjuku station. I was particularly interested in purchasing the new Lumix LX3 but found that if I wanted the non-Japanese camera (i.e. functions in English and an international warranty), it would actually be cheaper for me to buy from amazon.com. So if you are thinking of buying electronics in Japan, be aware that it might not necessarily be cheaper (especially now with the yen being so high).

Oakwood Residence Shinjuku
7-5-9 Nishishinjuku
Tel: 03-5338-3131

This serviced apartment is consistently #1 on Tripadvisor for the Shinjuku district and we could not agree more. We scored a rate of 11,000 Yen/night which we thought was an amazing price after comparing a bunch of other hotels in that price range.

The rooms are equipped with a small kitchen including a fridge, stove, microwave, plates, cutlery, corkscrew, wine glasses, tumblers, pots/pans and even a rice cooker. Of course we didn’t do any cooking but it was great to have a stock of cold drinks in the fridge and also some real-size (read: big) wine glasses for our breaks back at the apartment.

Housekeeping comes every other day to change the sheets, towels and do a good clean. The rooms were cleaned immaculately and to be honest, having them come every day was totally fine with us. They did not however, replenish the soaps, shampoo and conditioner but that wasn’t a problem.

In the B1 level, there are two computer terminals with internet access which was awesome because on this trip we didn’t bring our laptop. There are also some small meeting rooms that you can rent out for the day. On the same level, there are some vending machines with cold drinks if you are too lazy to cross the street and go to the corner store.

The public areas are nicely decorated and brightly lit. As an added bonus, guests have access to the top floor lounge with its stunning views of the city. You cannot bring your own drinks and food to the lounge but you can purchase wine, sparkling wine and soda drinks from the mini bar menu.

We have to say that the front desk staff are some of the kindest, more helpful we have ever encountered. It’s a very long story but we ended up buying something and having it delivered to the Oakwood. But when we received it, it had a small scratch on it which we decided we could not live with (considering how much we were paying for it). So the front desk were ever so helpful in couriering the package back to the company (at our own cost) and were so apologetic about the scratch (which of course wasn’t their fault at all) that they insisted on paying of the courier charges themselves.

As a tip for those staying here, it's not advertised as one of their services but the hotel will help you arrange to have your luggage couriered to the airport for you if you give them enough time. This is especially nice if you are planning to take the train back into Narita. Sadly, we asked the morning we were leaving and of course it was too late but it might be something to look into.

The Narita Airport Quandry - How Do I Get Into Tokyo?

Arrival at Narita airport was pretty hectic. The lines at Customs were long and it seemed to take forever for our luggage to come onto the carousel. It didn't help that we had our bags searched as we were exiting (it might have had to do with the husband being Mr Scruffy). It might be a good time to note that perhaps in Japan looking clean-cut and hiding any visible tatoos might be the way to go, just to avoid hassles at Customs.

There are four main options for getting into Tokyo from Narita (figure two hours on the safe side):

1. The local train called Limited Express (¥1,000 to Ueno or Nippori). This train makes a lot of stops between the airport and Ueno but it is only 11 minutes more than the Skyliner. Do note that if you ride it during rush hour, it will be extremely cramped as locals use this service as a commuter train. From Nippori you can transfer onto the Yamanote Line which is easy.

2. The Skyliner train (¥1,920 to Ueno or Nippori) which takes one hour. Seats are reserved and more comfortable. There are also little vending machines selling cans of coffee and soda.

3. The N’EX (Narita Express) trains are even more comfortable and go straight to Tokyo Station (¥2,940) or to Shinjuku Station (¥3,110). The only downside to riding the N’EX is that upon first arriving at either Tokyo Station or Shinjuku Station, you could have something akin to a meltdown as it is one of the most overwhelming places in the city. Think a flurry of activity; massive crowds, confusing signs and plus… do you really want to be lugging your suitcases up and down those stairs?

4. The Airport Limousine (fancy name but ordinary buses). The tickets cost around ¥3,000 depending on where you are going. The best thing about the Airport Limo is that they service many of the larger hotels in the city so this way you are getting a direct ride to your hotel. So do check to see if the hotel where you are staying is on one of their routes. Or ask your hotel.

We immediately ruled out the Narita Express because we just didn’t have the energy or the courage to deal with either Tokyo or Shinjuku station while fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation and the beginnings of jet-lag. The Airport Limo did not go to our hotel so we decided to try the ultra-budget way and go with one of the trains. But which one? In this case, we took the Limited Express because there was a train leaving in 5 minutes, whereas we had just missed the Skyliner and we would have to wait another 20 minutes or so for the next one.

At the train station we also managed to purchase the "PASCO" at the vending machine. Note: we could not buy it at the counter but the kind attendant walked us over to the vending machine and helped us purchase two PASCO cards with ¥3,000 (including a ¥500 deposit which you get back upon return of the card) on it. These cards were awesome to have; it sure beat struggling to find change to buy the tickets or even standing in line at stations to buy tickets.