Disney was great - took literally two seconds to get our ticket and get into the Park (Universal could learn from these guys), however the queues here were unreal. I think we queued for an hour and a half to get into the Haunted House, our fastpass ticket to Splash Mountain told us to come back at 9.30pm, and we were lucky to get into thunder mountain, it had been closed all day and we just happened to be walking past it when it opened so we didnt have to queue at all! I would recommend staying for the night lights parade, it is excellent.
I think what I enjoyed most about Tokyo Disney though was people watching. Droves of japanese girls flock to the park, seemingly just to wear disney headgear and pose. Not too sure if they are that interested in the rides as quite a lot of them were taking around wheely suitcases, probably to store the enormous amount of disney merchandise they were buying! Understandably Disney is huge over here, as is anything that is kawaii.
Day Four. TOKYO SHOPPING - I am Godzilla. Day four was a failure. It was POURING all day, we panned any sightseeing or going to DisneySea and spent the day in shopping malls in Shibuya for warmth. The problem was we got drenched on our way to the malls so it didn't help too much! Shibuya malls are amazing - the Tokyo youth are so fashionable and Shibuya is one of the 'it' places to shop at the moment. The clothes are beautiful, but the price tags can be unbelievable. We also went to Tokyu Hands and had a look around. This store was great for finding any little nik naks that you need - and also pointless cute things (my favourite kind of things!).
Adding to the failure of this rainy day, was the fact I was completely humiliated by something in the morning. It all started back on the plane trip which as you all know, will dry you out something fierce. My lips were the victim and started to crack and dry out from the plane and also the cold in Japan. Not thinking before acting, I decided to scrub all the dry skin from my lips... now, this wasn't really the best idea because I had forgot that I sometimes suffer from cold sores. So, are these things common everywhere? Because in Australia about 80% of the population have them. I assumed these figures carried over worldwide and when my lip broke out, I decided to head to the friendly japanese corner drug-store to get some ointment. I walk in with my bf, and try to explain I want some cold sore cream using a japanese phrasebook. This wasn't working at all, so I decided to try another route, by this time a few assistants were surrounding me with confused looks on their faces. I tried to demonstrate a tube of cream, and then pointed to my lip. Their eyes grew wide, their faces reeled in horror and they all shrank back from me, 'HERPE! HERPE!' they screamed, and I just stood there in shock. Ok, yes I realise that cold sores are in fact caused by a herpes virus (although not the same as the dreaded down below), but usually people will avoid SCREAMING that word because of its associations.... To cut a long and horrifying story short, I stood red-faced, they looked in horror at me and my bf (I can just imagine them thinking 'poor man!') and although they told us I would have to see a doctor to get any ointment (it is prescription here) I think they eventually felt sorry for me and gave me some without a prescription. Moral of story - Japanese are VERY sensitive about any illness/sickness, and obviously need doctors appointments for everything. If you do have a disfigurement on your face for the day, probably avoid going to Shibuya which is the epitome of everything cool and hip in Japan - you, girl with cold sore on her face, you are ruining the hipness! Humiliation is so much more intense in a foreign country of perfect people.
I'll let you find out how much these babies cost... certainly not an everyday food!
Day Five. TOKYO SIGHTSEEING. Today we planned for a volunteer guide to show us the sights in Tokyo. Our guide was a lovely guy (Yoshi) with great english who showed people around quite often. All you need to do is offer to pay for their travel while they show you around, and offer to pay for lunch (make sure you offer, the japanese would be too polite and embarrassed to ask!) We went to Edo-Tokyo Museum, Asakusa, Tokyo Metropolitan Tower and Yoshi helped us organise our JR passes and with some of our itinerary. It is very handy to ask the guide any questions you may have about travelling, customs, where to find food etc.
Asakusa was lovely, there are quite a few shop stalls on the walk to the temple, but a LOT of tourists. I think even on the quiet days it is very crowded. We had lunch opposite the entry to Sensoji, upstairs in a Tempura restaurant which was very popular and full of old japanese ladies constantly taking off their slippers as they went in and out of each room to serve the customers :P
Not too sure if I would recommend Edo-Tokyo? We spent an hour and a half there with an english guide who talked us through the exhibits. It was interesting but I probably would have preferred to skip it.
Tokyo Metropolitan Tower is great for a view of the city, especially at night (just make sure its not a weekend as most of the office lights will be off around the city) It is free and located at the west exit of Shinjuku Station. There is an underground walkway that goes directly to it.
Day Six. TAKAYAMA. We activated our JR Rail pass and reserved a seat on the train to Nagoya, then the Hida Wideview to Takayama. Our first Shinkansen trip was excellent - so fast! so efficient! so clean! so polite! Nothing like our rail network in australia. I especially liked the way the snack ladies would bow before leaving each car. It took about 4 hours to get to Takayama and I will admit I wasn't very impressed when I stepped off the train. My mind had conjured up images of a quaint little village, isolated from Japan and filled with cute buildings. It was actually fairly built up (It is a city..) and there were the usual ugly concrete hotels everywhere. We stayed the night in Tanabe Ryokan. Hmm - not the nicest ryokan I stayed at. The owner was lovely, location the best and a lot of the food was excellent, but the building itself & the cleanliness weren't up to the standard of the rest of the places I stayed at. It was however, the first place that served us hida beef in hoba miso, and it is probably now up there in my favourite dishes.
Scenery on the way to Takayama
My first taste of Hida Beef in Hoba Miso - delicious!
Day Seven. TAKAYAMA. We kept our bags at the ryokan and left to check out the morning market across the river. My attitude towards Takayama immediately changed. The morning market is a MUST. We only managed to see one market near Kaji-Bashi bridge because it was impossible to leave! As soon as we started to walk past the stalls it was like we put on 10 kgs. We just constantly bought food, tried samples, bought more food, tried more samples..... The hida beef buns at a stall here are to die for. The nuts covered in candy are great, the hida beef in miso is great - everything is great! These markets & also the stores lining the river are a great place to buy souviners, gifts and trinkets. I found my favourite purchases here. Leaving the market you walk down streets full of Old Private Houses, museums, more shops and of course, more food. You could spend the whole day exploring this area but we didn't have enough time so we made our way up to Shiroyama Park. It was quite an upward trek for my lazy legs, but we made it to the top where the site of Takayama castle once was. There are incredible views from here. We then went back to the train station to catch a bus to the Hida Folk Village. The village is a must, and a step back into time - the history of the museum is quite sad though - a lot of the houses there were saved from entire villages being sinked by Dams. After this we went back into town, got our bags and caught the train to Kanazawa.
The strangest looking goats I have ever seen
Hida Folk Village
Great Takayama snacks for the train ride - the sesame and peanut brittle stuff is delicious
This day was really packed, and Takayama is REALLY worth more than one day of looking around - there is so much to do here, we only scraped the surface. In hindsight I would have scrapped Kanazawa altogether to have spent another day in Takayama. But I might be biased because of my love of the Hida Beef Buns!
Hotel: Tanabe Ryokan
Price: 27,300Y for two incl kaseki dinner & breakfast
Web: http://www.tanabe-ryokan.jp/english/index.html
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