On Christmas eve, we took the shinkasen to from Hakodate to Tokyo. Japan has an amazing rail system. So well-connected, and really makes traveling very easy. But that's probably why their taxis are really expensive.
So when we got to Tokyo, we decided to take the JR (Japan Rail) to our Airbnb apartment. It was apparently only a 10-min walk from the station. But turned out we went to the wrong place. Uncle Mel assumed the address listed on Airbnb was the actual address of the apartment. Actually Airbnb hosts never list the real addresses of their apartments because short-term rental is illegal in many countries. So the hosts usually will only provide the actual address upon confirmation of the rental, and the actual address is only given through private messages.
So we spent half an hour looking for the place before finally getting hold of the host, and told the actual address. We then waited for close to an hour outside a nursing home for our uber rides to the apartment. The kids were cold and hungry during the wait. It was a good thing they could entertain each other, and we'd remaining snacks from the shinkansen ride!
But the apartment was worth all that adventure.
It was a huge penthouse that was very well furnished - 3 bedrooms, and a living area that can be converted into a bedroom, and 2 big bathrooms. Didn't think there're apartments this big in Tokyo!
After settling down, we went out to Shinjuku, wanting to soak in the Christmas atmosphere. And we'd promised the kids that we'd to to KFC for dinner - since we smelled KFC on our way to the (wrong) apartment, and also heard that the Japanese have a tradition of eating at KFC on Christmas eve. We thought maybe it's their way of replacing the turkey.
Shinjuku was unbelievably packed - with lots of tourists, and even more locals. I was so worried that I'd lose the kids there! Hung on to them with my dear life, and therefore no us-at-Shinjuku photos. And we saw an unbelievably long queue at KFC. So the Japs really do eat KFC on Christmas eve!
We ended up eating at a fusion beef noodles restaurant. Must say the food was not very Japanese. Was not bad, but something more traditional would probably had made us happier.
On our way back to the apartment, we bought a Christmas cake, to make up for the lack of a nice Christmas eve dinner.
Christmas Day - we went to Disney Sea, thinking that it'll probably have some nice Christmas special. It did, along with a huge Christmas crowd!
The train handles were Christmas hats!
Group photo at the entrance, like most of the other visitors
A family photo while waiting for the show at the Mediterranean Habour to start.
Us and the crowd, waiting for the show to start. And there are people who'd sit there for more than an hour to chope the place, so that they'd have a good view!
While the men and kids waited, Aunty Wendy, Gong Gong KK, Gerald and I went to buy food. Every restaurant and food kiosk had enormously long queues! We all queued for more than 30 min to get our burgers and pizzas! By the time we got back, the show had finished.
The interesting thing about Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea is that the Japanese are really into dressing up. Some come dressed like Disney characters, and the majority would buy the Disney hats, caps, headbands, jackets, etc, and happily wear them throughout their day at the park.
Interestingly, this time we also saw some people (not young people) caring their stuffed toys around, and placing them at different locations around the park to take photos - of the stuffed toys only, like this one!
It was weird, but cute.
We caught Mickey and his friends driving past (not the parade - no parade at Disney Sea).
At theme parks, we always had to do what Aaron likes the most - taking train rides.
After her last experience at Hong Kong Disneyland of getting Tinkerbell's autograph, Nadine went to Tokyo DisneySea with the hope of getting more autographs! And she did get Daisy Duck's!
Gong Gong KK was so happy to take a photo with his favourite Disney character - Donald Duck
The only ride we did was the Scuttle's Scooters at Mermaid Lagoon. All other rides had such long queues.
So we ended up just walking around mostly.
We left thinking, we should have known better - Disneyland would be super-crowded on Christmas Day. Nonetheless, it was still a nice experience. A different Christmas.
At the train station, we took a photo at the exact same spot where we had taken our Disneyland departure shot 3 years ago. How the kids have grown!
Next day was shopping day! We went to Gotemba Premier Outlets, which not only had an impressive range of shops, but also a very good view of Mt Fuji!
View of Mt Fuji on our way to Gotemba
Magnificent view of Mt Fuji the moment we alighted from the bus at Gotemba
And we can see Mt Fuji at so many different spots!
Scenery aside, the shopping at Gotemba was superb! Kids and adults all got something and went home happy.
Our last day in Tokyo, we went to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market. But it was a rainy day, and the market experience was quite a wash-out, save for the fabulous lunch at one of the super-popular seafood restaurants.
Kids waiting for their food the traditional way - drawing, instead of ipading or iphoning.
As usual, we always get super excited when the food comes, and tuck in too quickly, before we could take nice photos of the food. We've got our priorities right!
After lunch, we went to a 12-storey Uniqlo, and then Ueno. Perhaps it was the rain, or perhaps we were tired out by the trip, we didn't walk too much and returned to our apartment early to rest up and pack for the journey back home the next day.
Although we had quite a few washed out experiences during this trip, we still enjoyed Japan enormously. The friendly and helpful people, the clean and nice environment, the yummilicious food, all make Japan a great place to travel in. We certainly will be back!
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