Day 4 In Japan : From Nowhere Back To Akita

We were back to KL since last Saturday already and yet, my trip report is only up to Day 4. Haven't been posting anything new since last Friday due to a sucky broadband connection at my home so I apologise for the almost non-activity.

This is a continuation from our previous post about taking the Resort Shirakami Buna train from Akita to Aomori.

Taking the Resort Shirakami train from Akita to Aomori earlier, we then decided not to continue on to Aomori  but instead alighted at Hirosaki station and catch the Akebono sleeper train instead, which according to schedule would be leaving a few minutes after the train we were on arrives at the same station. Only in Japan do we dare to do this, based on train's schedules because they are sooooo punctual.

 Taking the Akebono train from Hirosaki back to Akita

Akebono sleeper/night trains travel from Ueno Station in Tokyo all the way to Aomori and the whole journey takes about 13 hours,  with stops along the way.

Equipped with couchettes, private rooms and  this so called "Goron to Shito" seats, which are basically couchettes without blankets, but are categorized as seats and can be used for free with the Japan Rail Pass or JR East Pass; which was the one we bought. There is one "Goron to Shito" women only car.

Private rooms and couchettes on the train cost 20,000yen and if you have Japan Rail Pass/JR East Pass the room cost 9,500yen.

For us, we opted to reserve our seats on the  "Goron to Shito" seats because we won't be paying anything extra (read: free for us) as holders of JR East Passes. The seats were perfectly comfortable for us;

each seats were provided with a pair of yukata, a pillow and a hanger. Not too shabby, right?

and a pair of slippers to walk around in

Mom! I need my privacy!!!

Raimie in his seat. The curtains can be drawn together to provide passengers some degree of privacy. It was fun for us taking this night train. We walked up and down the train's corridor, checking out the private berths and watching yukata wearing passengers walking past us, some were brushing their teeth and preparing for a good night's sleep.

Day 4 In Japan - A 5 Hour Trip To Nowhere

After the fruit farm visit, we decided to hop on the Resort Shirakami train; Buna that was leaving just a few minutes prior to our reservation. Talk about doing things last minute!

The trip from Akita to Aomori  is 5 hours and 10 minutes; along scenic routes. Debuting in 1997 at the same time as the Akita Shinkansen, the Resort Shirakami is a train operating with three configurations, named the Aoike, the Buna and the Kumagera. The Resort Shirakami runs from Akita along the Gono Line to Hirosaki, then turns around before continuing northward along the Ou Line to Aomori. Most of the Resort Shirakami route is along the Gono Line, which is 147.2 kilometers of coastline track.

We got these seats and the seats can be pulled down for a more comfortable ride while enjoying the scenery outside. Feel free to make yourself at home!

The train conductor, a jovial man mistook us as tourists from Taiwan. When I said no and told him we were from Malaysia, he mentioned that plenty of Singaporean tourists rode this scenic train. 

Photo of the view outside :

The train slowed down at a particularly scenic spot to allow passengers to view the beauty of the coastline better and take photos. And taking photos was easy in this train because of the huge window! On one side you can view Japan's coastline and on the other side, you have mountainous scenery.

More lovely views from the train will up later, once this trip report until Day 13 is over. Stay tuned!

Day 4 In Japan - Fruit Picking In Akita

Day 4 saw us traipsing the countryside and made a journey to a fruit farm. It was  just a 25 minutes train ride from Akita Station and another 20-25 minutes walk from Detohama station to the fruit farm.

Detohama Station is a small, unmanned station and no taxis or bus in sight nearby it!  We bought our ticket for our journey back to Akita Station using the machine. Despite being unmanned, the station and the public toilet nearby were well kept.

Another unmanned place - fruits for sale by the roadside. Just put 200yen in the slot in the centre of the table and bag the fruits yourself. Plastic bags were even provided.

Kagaya Farm which was our stop for the day. 

There were pears, grapes, apples and kiwis at the farm. The farm were doing pretty brisk business when we got there, and there was a kindergarten outing and the children get to pick one fruit for themselves.

Our bounty

Day 3 In Japan - Part II Loitering Around Tazawako

One of the reason we go up to Akita was to make a stop at Tazawako and meet up with someone there. For those who has been reading this blog long, you might remember we've been to Tazawako last year and stayed at Taenoyu Onsen in Nyuto Onsen.

Our initial plan to stay at Tsurunyu Onsen this year didn't pan out and we've arranged to stay and enjoy some onsens elsewhere later this week.

Going up to Akita, you get on the Komachi Shinkansen and some of the bullet trains came with Pokemon motifs on the trains' body.

Arriving Tazawako station, we went to the tourism office there to pass something to a friend. We tried to arrange to meet but as luck would have it, she had to go on a business trip the day we were there. I guess, we just have to make a return visit someday.

One thing you can see in this area is how the promotion of a Korean drama IRIS can be seen everywhere even at the hotel we were staying in. Some scenes in the drama were shot there, and it was now being used to promote the area.

Waiting for our bus that will be stopping at the nearby bus stop, we walked around and check out the exhibitions there.

If you plan to make a day trip to this area, do come early. The place went dead early. By 5.30pm,  the nearby lake area is  already deserted.

But we get to enjoy a beautiful sunset there and only left when it was already dark;on the last bus from the area at 6.45pm.

Day 3 In Japan -Akita : Bullet Train And Food Display

Day 3 saw us waking up early for our trip to Akita. 

We made reservation on the Komachi Shinkansen at 9.02am but due to my carelessness, we missed the booked train. I was busy taking photos of the arriving shinkansens, I was unable to locate Zaini and Raimie. But worry not - we made another reservation (luckily it was free-of-charge because we were using JR East Pass) for another train at 10.00am. But of course, there was a meltdown and an argument and me being annoyed with Zaini although it was all my fault. LOL

The trip from Ueno Station to Akita Station was about 4 hours. 4 hours on the bullet train is nothing to us. We've spent much longer time on trains from Shin-Osaka all the way to Nagasaki previously! 

Raimie also was pretty much at home in the train because every year, we spent a lot of times in them. He has a seat reserved but sometimes, he likes to sit on the floor and goof around there. 

For me, I like to view the scenery outside. And looking at passing trains zooming by at stations we stopped by was fun too!

Two hungry  "oni"s in Akita Station

Arriving Akita Station, the first order of business was looking for somewhere to eat. We were famished!

 But what do you do if you get a menu you don't understand or don't know how to pronounce? 

Easy! Just drag the staff out and point at the food display and order what you fancy.

I did just that and got our order. Have absolutely no idea what my set name was but it had ebi-furai with tamago, gobo and negi, all bubbling on a clay plate. It was delicious!

A detailed post about the "makan" experience later.

Day 2 - A Magical Day At Tokyo DisneySea

We were up bright and early on the second day in Japan because we were going to DisneySea.

We've already been to Disneyland three times and DisneySea only once previously, so this time it's DisneySea's turn.

You'll see this big globe once you enter the gate to DisneySea.

We spent almost 10 hours at the park, trying almost all the attractions/rides. Raimie was pretty happy that he is now tall enough to get on the roller coasters and even on the Tower of Terror ride which is now his favourite ride.

We managed to curb our spending at the souvenir shops but we did get something; both for ourselves and family. Do you know that DisneySea's anniversary on Sep 4th is also our wedding anniversary? We just had to get DisneySea's items commemorating the anniversary.

On the Disney Resort Line.

If you look at this photo, who do you think the woman Zaini focused on? The "aunty" in blue t-shirt or the hot mama in black shorts? :P

 Us, with Stitch.

The last firework for us that night.

Day 1 in Japan - Tokyo

Oh my aching feet!

Let's see.... When I wrote this post, we just returned from a 13-hour "play time" at DisneySea! For two days in a row, my feet got their serious workout. LOL

We arrived Narita airport safely on Sep 13th, without any delay at 7.00am, after a 7-hour flight. If any of you remember, we were delayed for 3 hours last year!

We took the Keisei Limited Express train from Narita Airport straight to Asakusa Station and it only cost us 1,060yen! Psst... the reason I took this photo of the Keisei train's interior was I want to photograph that guy wearing glasses. He's cute. ^-^

It's super hot here in Tokyo and because of that, I wasn't in the mood to take much photos. After checking-in and leaving our luggages at the hotel, we first head to ROX for some air-conditioning and also to check out the Uniqlo they got there.

Then, off we went to Ueno, walking around Ameyoko for a bit and spent some time looking at toys in Yamashiroya. Raimie was already making noise wanting to go to Yodobashi-Akiba, so off we went to Akihabara next. There, I got myself a camera bag for just 4,480yen to put my new NEX-5 camera and Raimie bought 3 new toys. I would've spent more time looking at camera accessories, and Raimie would've spent more time at the toys section and Zaini would love to camp at the games section, but with the heat and lack of sleep during our flight, we conceded defeat at 3.00pm.

We head back to our hotel and rested until it was time for dinner. Zaini didn't rest much because  he went out to buy our Disneysea tickets because we were going the day after.

Our dinner on our first day was at Yayoi-ken, an affordable place where you can refill your rice for free!

Raimie enjoying the tsukemono

My dinner - grilled saba for 590yen. It came with rice, miso soup and tofu.

Zaini's dinner - shima hokke at just 690yen.

Checklist For Our Trip

We don't need to pack much - we'll just bring maybe two t-shirts and an extra pair of jeans for each of us. We can alwaysdo the laundry there or go shopping for new clothes in Japan.

A few more days before our trip so better make sure important stuff are all in order.

Passports and visa :check

e-tickets printed out : check
 
yen exchanged : check

JAL coupons : check

Hotel reservations : check

Omiyage for friends - Raya cookies : check

Luggage : check

Essential medicine : check

What else that I need to do? Call limo service a day or two before our flight to pick us up to go to the airport.

Can't wait for our vacation! Wohoooo!

Redeeming Our Pooled Mileage

For the past few years, we've been choosing Japan Airlines (JAL) over any other airlines for our trips to Japan. The promotional airfares from JAL are always more enticing and we do like the service we get on JAL flights. JAL is also quite generous with their mileage accumulation. No mileage for you on SQ with SQ's promotional airfares, you know.

I've written about the JAL Mileage Bank and JAL Family Club (JALFC) membership and you can check it here.

Although we need to pay a yearly renewal fee of 3,150yen for the JALFC, it is worth it. Accumulating mileage with JAL is easy. Apart from flying with JAL, there are other options to accumulate mileage as mentioned in JAL's website.

With JALFC membership comes the advantage of being able to pool our mileage with family members, as per the diagram below:

I just renewed my membership and a couple of weeks ago, I redeemed the miles we've accrued from our flights the previous year. 10,000 miles is worth 15,000yen in JAL coupon which is around RM550.00 at the current exchange rate. Sweet.

It took JAL only a week to process my request and have the coupons delivered to me!

We will either use coupon to pay for one of our hotel stay or dining at a JAL Hotel or use it for a spot of inflight shopping.