It’s the end of march and we’re ending our first quarter of 2018 soon.
I have been wanting to share my travel experience in Japan but unlike so many wonderful reviews that my friends had, my experience was different. I contemplated a lot.
I visited touristy places, tried real ramen but at the end of the day, perhaps because it was a very short trip and it was our first time in Japan, I did not take a liking to it. That being our first trip, we had some expectations – crowded city, confusing metros and subways, no trash bins in sight etc. And definitely, in our five days there, all our expectations were met – crowded city, confusing metros, no trash bins.
I said my experience was different because I was hoping there would be areas of tranquility and peace. I don’t take crowded cities very well. Especially when there are a lot of people everywhere – every. where. And that’s what I got in Tokyo. People. Everywhere. Very. Dense. Fast paced. A little intimidated I would say. Some of my friends love it but I don’t love it as much as they do I suppose.
Every single day, while we were outside exploring, all I wanted to do was to go back to the comfort of our Airbnb. I felt a little suffocated being around so many people. The train lines don’t connect to each other sometimes and I was upset when my Suica card got charged because I didn’t know the stations don’t connect to each other. Definitely, it was very poor planning on my part I admit.
Honestly, the only reason why I chose to visit Japan was 1. for my mum who wanted to just get out of the country and visit a cold one and 2. i want to visit a Disneyland. It was a very last minute decision and our flight itself was e.x.p.e.n.s.i.v.e (anything for my mum you know). My mum and I had argued several times about whether to go on holiday or not in December of 2017. I didn’t want to because I already had 2.5 weeks in Korea that year and then I also now, have two cats that we adopted. Who’s gonna care for them right? Regardless, we went anyway.
Perhaps if I had planned it well as I did for Korea the first time round, we would have enjoyed it better.
Nonetheless!
We were able to visit quite a number of places in five days so I think that’s an achievement for us knowing that none of it was planned ahead of time. We only paid for Disneyland tickets before we arrived in Japan. The rest were decided the day before or on the day itself. Very…spontaneous of us.
The first day was pretty much gone. Our flight was at 6am and we arrived in Japan at about 2pm. By the time we arrived at our Airbnb apartment, it was 4pm. The sun was setting. We were hungry. So we decided to head to Shibuya to look for food.
There is a famous halal wagyu beef “restaurant” in Shibuya that so many people recommended and so, that was our destination. When we arrived, we were taken aback by the “warm welcome”. I typed “restaurant” because it’s not an actual restaurant. It’s just a small shop tucked away at a side street. And “warm welcome” meant we weren’t welcomed at all. We asked if they had seats available to which the owner kept repeating we needed to make reservation. There were no customers in the shop at that time.
I told them we didn’t make any reservation but can we dine in because we are famished and it took us 20 minutes from the train station to find this place. He kept saying no and insisted to make a reservation by calling in advance. Apparently, nobody on the internet had warned us beforehand that reservation is needed for this “restaurant”. Nobody. Ok. It would have been easier for us if we had known earlier.
My mum and I were upset. But as upset as we were, we still needed to find food. Thankfully, there was a malaysian restaurant about 10 minutes away from where we were. Thankfully, for that restaurant, no reservations were needed. We had our dinner and headed back to the apartment hoping that the following day will be a better one.
Day 2 we visited the shopping mecca of Tokyo, Ginza.
It was a much better day than we had before and I think since it was a Sunday, the streets of Ginza were closed to motorvehicles and pedestrians were allowed to roam freely.
It was like a calm chaos. It was crowded definitely but it was a beautiful kind of crowd? People were strolling, there were random chairs and stools placed in the middle of the street for people to sit back relax and enjoy the view.
We did some shopping in Ginza (aka Uniqlo because when in Japan – Uniqlo you know?). And we also had lunch at a nearby Middle Eastern/Indian restaurant. The food was unbelievably expensive but it was really delicious too so we didn’t mind.
In the evening, we headed to Shinjuku to bask in some beautiful pink lights and visit Tokyu Hands.
Day 3 was Disneyland Day!
When I told my colleagues I would be heading to Disneyland, the first response I get from them is:
“Wow. Good luck! It’s gonna be really crowded.”
“Crowded but … walkable?”
“Crowded as in .. people everywhere, long waiting times for rides and for food, and people photobombing you everywhere you go kind of crowded.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“See for yourself then.”
See for myself, I did!
It was mission impossible! People.. everywhere.. But who am I kidding right? I visited the park on Christmas Day! Of course there’s going to be a lot of visitors! What I am more surprised about is the fact that even students are there in their school uniforms and dolled up with pretty Disney-themed head gears and accessories! Do they have school on Christmas Day but are not attending school or is it a public holiday and they just decide to wear school uniforms for whatever reasons? I wondered.
We walked around the park for a bit before settling in for a queue to meet Mickey Mouse at his “house”. That queue took us about an hour and a half. By the time we met Mickey, we were exhausted. There are no halal food options in Tokyo Disneyland and we only had snacks with us. So we decided on a waffle place to fill ourselves up before continuing on with our walk and photo taking. We didn’t take the other rides or attractions because of the long waiting times.
At about 3pm, we saw a queue forming outside Cinderella’s castle. It seems like a parade was going to start soon. There were already so many people seated so we decided to join them.
Slightly after 4pm, a short Christmas parade took place on the outskirts of where we were seated at along the pavements. I thought they were gonna pass through our route but they didn’t. I was a little disappointed. After the parade ended, people were still seated. I was confused. I thought the parade was over. I assumed there was going to be more parades coming soon.
5pm came and there was still no sound no news no parade.
All we had was a view of the castle against the lavender sky.
When a theme park staff came around to get everybody settled in, I decided to ask her what’s happening and what time the next parade would start. Thankfully she spoke English and answered that the Special Christmas light show will begin in an hours time. AN HOURS TIME. That’s 6pm. That is THREE hours away from when we first queued at the waiting area. My jaws dropped.
6pm?!
My mum and sister and I were frozen in that weather and I was contemplating to leave the area because we were really tired and cold and hungry. When the staff said that it would be the last Christmas show this year, my mum persuaded me to stay because .. what is another 1 hour of wait right when we’ve already been there for 2 hours.
I suppose that 3 hours of wait was worth it because the light show was spectacular!
After the show ended, we decided to make our way back home.
Would I visit Disneyland again?
I think I will but definitely not on a day like Christmas!
Travel & Come Back 