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Japan 2017: The beginning
posted : Sunday, April 30, 2017
So, the trip that was two years in the making.
Chose to fly to Osaka from KL coz it was cheaper. To be frank flying to Tokyo wasn't exactly too expensive either but the Osaka pricetag was just more enticing hahah. And we missed the cheapest ticket available while getting confirmation from everybody but still pretty decent. About 300+ for a return ticket for a full airline i.e not budget airline. Which I compared it to my usual flight tickets to Brunei and it's cheaper. No reason to not buy seriously. So plan was to fly to Osaka and figure out internal travels later.
Oh and it does not coincide with Sakura season. Decided that we don't really mind because tickets are more expensive and there are probably a million tourists which is kind of a turn off.
Oh and it's a group of 6, not the usual 5. Mr Susan a.k.a Kevin joining us this time round. So definitely a new experience.
Won't talk much about the lead up coz it has been covered in the earlier post so just skip to 2nd March 2017.
Flight to KL from SG was at 6.30pm, only got off work at 3.30pm which led to a mad rush to get ready urgh. Squeezed out time to take a bath knowing that I probably won't get to do so for the next 30 hours o.O Had this cab driver who was one of those "everything is wrong with this government" kind, thank god he didn't know I am not a Singaporean. Somehow still had time to chill out a bit in the airport and also collecting the all important Wifi router which turned out to be worth every cent (also helps that it was kinda cheap to begin with, at $5 a day). And it's off to KL, first leg of the three staged journey.
Official first photo of the trip
Brunei gang i.e Stel and KH flew in the night before. San and Kev arrived in the afternoon, lepak-ed at KLIA2 to the point that when I found them at about 8pm, they are kinda rotting alr lol. Sat down and killed time a bit, then headed off to KLIA to meet up with the rest. There was this episode of security personnel rushing us to check in even though we kept telling him we were still waiting for other friends (and that we have checked in online) but apparently, based on his experience, we should still check in early in case of overbooking. Hmm.
But anyway the rest arrived soon and we proceeded to check in without incidents. And off we go!
Reunited with the rest!
Overnight flights are kinda hit or miss for me. Either I slept ok (e.g. Taipei 2014, Europe 2016) or it was hell (Australia 2013, NZ 2015). The comfort level didn't matter much (we flew MH, by the way) though maybe I tend to do better with window seats. This time round was stuck between a lady and KH in the middle section and managed a grand total of 10 MINUTES of sleep. Jeez. Think the rest didn't fare too well either so 6 zombies landed in Osaka on 3 March. 
Landed at Kansai.
SIM card vending machine hahah. But KH trusted counter staff more.
Had another 2-3 hours to kill while waiting for our flight to Tokyo. So KH got his SIM card, and we headed over to Terminal 2 a.k.a their budget terminal, while grabbing breakfast along the way from the first Lawson we saw. And backed up with items from the first Family Mart we see. Good first impressions of Japanese convenience stores. 
Walking over to Terminal 2
Ooh the variety of drinks.
In love with convenience store already.
Pink Peach Air livery.
Landed in Tokyo at about 1pm and as it turns out, Narita is kinda far from city center and the most straight forward route to city isn't very cost effective so Stel and KH spent quite a bit of time researching on the most cost effective route. Quick lunch at McDonald's and off we go for an express train to Nippori (I think), got off and had to exchange tickets, then JR to Shinjuku. The instructions given to us by the AirBnB host was actually pretty clear but it still took us some time to really find our way to the place, but once we are there we checked in with ease. Finally the end of the 24 hour journey to get here! 
Landed at Narita. Photo taken via glass panels which I remembered being wow-ed by the cleanliness
Trying to figure out transport options to town
Teriyaki pork burger for lunch! Ok, this was actually Kevin and San's but I had the same thing so borrow pic la.
Heading into the train station!
Train tickets
Setting off!
On the way, think that's Tokyo Skytree...
Arriving at Shinjuku!
Tour guides for this segment of trip busy navigating while the rest act tourist.
Bit of a struggle but found the place!
First impressions: place is kinda small. Pictures looked a lot bigger haih. We had to take turns to pack because of the limited space. Unceremoniously left the coffee table in the toilet to make space for two futons which KH and I occupied, while the rest took the two queen mattresses. And it is a 10-15 minute walk to Shinjuku. So it's definitely a bit pricey but I suppose places in Shinjuku don't come cheap. Plus point, there's projector which we used - watched one single movie which stretched across all three nights and we still didn't finish it hahahaha. 
Living area which we converted into KH and my futon space
The rest had this
Rested a bit and decided to head out for dinner. Was looking for this place called Fuunji Ramen and it also took us some time (had to pop in a rival restaurant to ask for directions some more, though, thankfully, they were quite helpful). Only bar seats available and how it works is first you buy food coupons from the vending machine, hand over the coupons indicating your choice of food item to the staff behind the counter, and they will serve you. While people line up behind you waiting for you to finish and they can snoop in to take over. Pressure much ahaha though we ignored the people behind us. Also arrived at a pretty good timing in which we manage to get seats without queuing though we had to split up - something that eventually happen frequently in the trip. Solo or small group dining concept here is strong so large groups like us are unlikely to get seats together.
Exterior
Vending machine at the entrance, buy your food tickets here
Interior. Bar seatings only and people literally queuing behind you
Verdict: really flavorful. So flavorful. Probably too flavorful hahaha. According to Stel who found this place, this place is famous for the fact that they use fish-based stock for their broth rather than the typical pork bones and it really showed. I think the bonito powder killed it hahaha.
Had dipping noodles.
This was stolen from Kevin's camera again hahah so it's the ramen which they had.
Gathered after everybody finished and headed over to a bigger Family Mart across the street (Stel the vegetarian had dinner at one of the smaller ones nearby coz she was saving her 破戒 quota for other more eventful days). Shopping for breakfast items and snacks for road trip the next day. Literally walking with eyes almost closed at this point. And called it a day.
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