Day 1 - Japan Blog - 7 February 2024
Day One:
Adelaide to Tokyo
Virgin Airlines via Melbourne and Cairns
Let's begin our departure to Japan. My sixth time visiting Nippon, and this time I hope to see and experience new things I havent been able to before.
My previous trips have been more to the cities to shop and to Disneyland but as I become more infatuated with this country, I am drawn to more meaningful experiences. It used to be about the video games, the collectables, the cute accessories and conveniences I couldnt get at home -- but now I am intrigued with the history, culture and nature of Japan. Hopefully I can manage to do everything I want to do and all the things, I wasnt expecting. (Because, theyre always the best!)
Leaving our house at 4am this morning was always a challenge; especially when I finished packing at 2am. So, we jumped in the uber which was driven by a super eccentric female driver who made me want to drop everying and start uber driving -- how is this even a thing I would want to do? She was so funny and chirpy and smart. It made the ride memorable and we made it to the airport with the rest of our holiday to look forward to.
Second up, checking in at Virgin Airlines in Adelaide Airport was also a huge highlight. The person helped us with our check in -- not that we needed it, but she upgraded our domestic flights to extra legroom which made my travel partner very happy.
I'm travelling with my partner of 4 years; Ben. He is 6"3 and loves an extra legroom seat! You'll probably learn a lot about him through my posts. He likes good food and music!
Well, after discovering that our VA fare is NOT a full service fare (I am NOT happy about this, shook, stricken, SLANDER!) as I would NEVER... but apparently; flying trans-tasman with VA doesn't mean you get a meal or a blanket or a pillow or a nice piece of metal. We are on a Boeing 737-800 Max for 9 hours with NO SNACKS. I think, because I booked this hastily, on their website (opposed to through a GDS with the option to see ancillaries) without the complete details -- I assumed it was a short haul international flight, and compared it with Qantas' service. I was wrong. The inflight entertainment is BYO device (which I didnt...) and the 737800 isnt fitted with Wifi onboard so I couldnt even download anything to watch. Their WiFi was working, so you could use their Free Entertainment, however I found it lagged and I couldn't even watch it through the buffering. So I just stuck to my knitting -- without music though because my Spotify decided I didnt need my downloaded music either.
It was a very long and semi-uncomfortable flight.
After the gruelling hours of trying to sleep, trying to finish my knitting and also doing some work... we landed in Haneda! HOORAY! Now time to do customs, and head to our hotel. Almost there.
For those playing at home; here is a quick breakdown of how to enter Japan.
-Grab an entry card and declaration card from your air host/ess. They will provide the physical card for you to fill in to give when you go through customs.
-Alternatively; visit Japanweb.gov.jp (I dont have a photo of it, because you cant use cameras in customs, and I used the physical card option -- I love filling out these things!!) and you can do it all online and scan your QR at the gate.
The entry card tells the Japanese Government what your intentions on visiting Japan. IE: Tourism, visiting a relative, Business, etc -- and how long you intend to stay, where you're going to be staying -- all that jazz.
The declarations card is about what you are BRINGING in to JAPAN. So please dont bring things like fruit, meat, dangerous goods, illegal substances (this can be some medications like Codeine and Pseudoephedrine so please check with your doctor -- and get a note if you take medication regularly that might not be "legal" in Japan). If you dont bring any of this with you; you dont need to declare anything and you can walk straight through once you've shown your passport.
-Line up and have your passport at the ready. Keep your entry cards with your passport.
-They will scan your finger prints and take your photo first. (We had to do this twice...)
-Line up again to go through the gates.
-This is where they will stamp your passport and grant your access.
Once youve gone through this part; you're almost there!!
-Find the carosel with the flight you just arrived on. (IE: VA77 is on carosel 6) Your bags will come out here.
-Collect your bags and take them to the gates on the other side.
-Show your passport and declaration card and you *should* be good to enter.
Here we go! We are in JAPAN -- the first port of call is to get our mascot for the trip. This is something Ive done since my 2018 trip and it's fun and cute and it makes me happy to share my experience through a silly icon's eyes. Walk towards the "Keihan" Train Line which will get you to Tokyo. This is a trainline that goes direct from Haneda airport to Tokyo and connects to any of the main train networks in Tokyo. It really doesn't matter what neighbourhood you are staying in; 90% of the time this will be the train you need to get you to where you want to go. On the LEFT there is a 7/11 (get money from the ATM in the left corner, and then grab some snacks and a drink so you've got some coins..) because on the RIGHT there are a bunch of Gacha Machines where I like to find my mascot.
This time; NOTHING. No lil dudes. So, we will keep looking.
Take the Escalators down to the train platform and board the train to TOKYO/SHINAGAWA and you're on your way.
Back to my blog; Ben and I had our heart set on this ramen place we found by accident last time we were in Akihabara. We call it "Midnight Ramen" because he wanted ramen at midnight and it came through with the GOODS... alas. We dropped our bags at our hotel in Shinagawa and did a quick change into something warm. (It was 36degrees when we left Adelaide and now we are facing 2degrees and SNOW!) Slammed on a beanie and caught the Yamanote to Akiba; to find that our ramen place was closed for renovations. The SADDEST TIME! Akiba isn't known for its ramen so we had to find something else... how devastating.
We found a Hakata style ramen place. It was a 6/10. It got a point for being open. Also, it was okay. The Nori (seaweed) had cute printed sayings on it which I thought was cute (gross, but cute). Then I found out that another branch of the other ramen place was open in Shinagawa, only a 6 minute walk from our hotel. Let's pretend like that didnt happen.
After we ate, we became acquainted with our new local Kombini (7/11, convenience store) attached to our hotel, and purchased some necessities.
