This is the last of my blog mini-series about my Japan trip to Tokyo and Saitama in January, 2013. Click this link for the rest of the posts categorized in Japan Travel.

This is actually my third FULL day in Japan, but also my final fourth day which was supposed to be just a travel day but turned into a bit more with the snow, read below to see how that turned out =). After FINALLY meeting up with Tomomi and her family the night before, we set off to compress everything that we had planned to do the previous day into just one day in Japan, which meant a bit of travel and scheduling craziness… which we somehow survived! The day started with an awesome breakfast cooked by Tomomi’s Mom.

And this is the view from Tomomi’s backyard – so pretty! Those are tea plants all around her neighborhood, and you can see Mt. Fuji from here!

It was good that we fueled up when we did, because we were immediately off to Mt. Fuji and the Yamanashi Prefecture which was about an hour and a half drive away through the Japanese countryside. Along the way we attempted to secure our plans for the rest of the day, which included seeing the newly opened Tokyo SkyTree. We ran into a slight problem that they only sell tickets in person, aaaaaand we’re hours away from Tokyo. Luckily Tomomi’s awesome cousin Kozue was able to head into Tokyo early to get us tickets in person, and it just so happens that when she got to the SkyTree office around 2pm, those were the last tickets of the day for the 8pm final entrance into the observation deck! We definitely lucked out big time. This of course all happened while we were in Yamanashi so I’m getting ahead of myself a bit…

Yamanashi Area Guide – Mt. Fuji Sengen Shrine, Lake Kawaguchiko, Oshino Hakkai

After a relaxing drive through the Japanese countryside, we ended up in the area around Lake Kawaguchiko at the base of Mt. Fuji. Our first stop was the Sengen Shrine, or more formally known as Kitaguchi Hongu Sengen Jinja. We were there so that Tomomi and her Mom could pay their first respects of the year for Hatsumōde (初詣). The temple itself is rather interesting, with two large cedar trees at either side (a male and female one, each supposedly over 1,000 years old). The Sengen shrine is also the start of a hiking trail leading up the Fujiyoshida side of Mt. Fuji, but this being January we didn’t have the time (nor the stamina probably hehe) to brave the hike in the Winter =)

It was definitely an interesting place to visit, and a much more peaceful ambiance compared to the busy Sensoji temple in the middle of Tokyo. Of course it probably helped that I had my two tour guides, Tomomi and her Mom, with me to help explain exactly what I was looking at =)

Oshino Hakkai Guide

After heading back from the temple, we stopped at a small mountain village called Oshino Hakkai! While definitely a tourist destination, being way out here in the countryside is a bit of a different type of tourist than your typical stops in Tokyo. We enjoyed some street food and seeing the sights of the small village including the fresh water from Mt. Fuji and looking for the fish that live in the crystal clear ponds.

After leaving the village, we went to the open air museum down the street from the main village (and also where we parked), Hannoki Bayashi Shiryokan. Hard to really tell that it’s a museum, it’s more of a park, and I’m sure it’s more beautiful in Spring or Summer when the leaves and grass are green. Tomomi and I posed for some jumping photos in front of the park =)

Tomomi and I also walked one of the walking trails behind the museum which lead us to this odd run-down tennis court. It was a bit creepy and a bit cool at the same time to see an old abandoned place in the Japanese countryside.

After the village and a quick stop at Lake Kawaguchiko, it was time for lunch and the traditional local favorite, Hoto.

Basically, Hoto is thick noodle soup similar to the more popular and well-known Udon. The local soup we had was filled with a variety of meats and pumpkin, which was amazingly delicious and nothing like “American pumpkin” – so good!! The three of us stuffed ourselves full as Tomomi and I were whisked off to a nearby train station to catch a ride into Tokyo for the rest of the day’s events!

MaiDreamin’ Maid Cafe Akihabara

After much begging and pleading, and more begging… and a bit more begging – Tomomi agreed to go to a Maid Cafe with me =). We took the train from somewhere in the suburbs on the way back to Akihabara station to meet up with Kozue finally, and the three of us braved the mean streets of Akihabara to find an infamous Maid Cafe to go to! We ran into numerous maids along the streets of Akihabara and after checking out a couple flyers we ended up at MaiDreamin’ Maid Cafe. I left my iPhone in Tomomi’s Mom’s van (oops!) at the station, and the Maid Cafe has huge no photography signs everywhere – ugh. But it was definitely an experience, and I think the girls got more entertainment out of the trip than I did, haha! We each ordered something from the menu, I had a parfait and coffee, Tomomi had some tea, and Kozue got the pancakes. Each order was accompanied by a short song from our maid server, which we were invited to participate with and sing along complete with hand gestures and cute sounds. Our “combo” included a picture with two of our favorite maids, so the three of us voted on who had sung the best during the meal (all of the maids rotate through a mini karaoke song session every couple of minutes). This sadly is the only proof that I was at MaiDreamin’ =)

After our snack, it was almost 8:00 PM and time for our scheduled SkyTree tickets. We had about 20 minutes to get to the other side of Tokyo and while the train would have probably gotten us there on time, we grabbed a quick cab to Ueno/Asakusa.

Tokyo SkyTree

On my previous trip to Tokyo in college the tour took us to Tokyo Tower, at the time the best place to get a view of the city. With the recently opened Tokyo SkyTree, this has become the new hot destination! Admission tickets are given out as a placeholder which you have to pick up earlier in the day, and when Tomomi called the office they said that they run out in the afternoon every day so far with it’s current popularity. Also, they only accept Japan-issued credit cards, which luckily Tomomi still had, but since it was a holiday weekend they were reservation-only on the day of. So for anyone wishing to visit SkyTree, swing by early in person that day to secure you spot in line, enjoy Tokyo, and come back at your designated time. Once inside, the view is quite good, especially at night. Clouds were rolling in so we didn’t have a crystal clear view, but it was pretty darn good nonetheless =).

Their are two observation decks, and your entrance ticket just secures your entrance into the lower Tembo Deck which is 350 meters above Tokyo. The view is still really good from here, but you might as well go all of the way to the top, right? For a few more yen you can purchase a ticket to the Tembo Galleria (450 meters), and luckily their is no reservation needed for this – once you’re inside you’re in =).

Inside the Tembo Galleria, the floor slowly spirals up a slight incline, with the highest point being technically 451.2 meters inside Sorakora Point. The mirrored room is supposed to give you a weightless feeling, but their was a small exhibit inside. We decided another jumping photo was in order to get that much higher – did we make 451.3 meters?

On the way back down from Tembo Galleria we also stopped at the glass bottom lookout point, where you can see straight down to the ground level. Luckily, their are a lot of safety bars installed so their is no way you could actually fall down, but if you looked closely you could see the ground.

As we were kicked out of Tokyo SkyTree for closing time, we wandered over to a 7-eleven for coffee before parting ways with Kozue who had to catch her train back home. Tomomi and I were originally going to try to see Odaiba as well, but with the compressed time schedule today that didn’t happen. We did walk over to the Asahi Beer Hall whose restaurant was serving last call, and relaxed with a cold Asahi Super Dry at the end of a busy day.

We caught our train as well back to Saitama, which is a decently long ride from out there in Asakusa, Tokyo. Upon our arrival back home we realized that we hadn’t really eaten anything all day besides lunch and then a light snack at the maid cafe so Tomomi’s mom, always amazing, cooked up a hot pot style meal for Tomomi and I. A great way to warm up on a cold Winter’s night in Japan.

Japan Day 4 – Snowing on Coming of Age Day

Okay, so this blog post is technically my last TWO days in Japan. Monday was supposed to be a relatively quiet day by design, we would sleep in a bit finally, grab some lunch, and I would take a shuttle from the train station to Narita airport at 2:00 PM with plenty of time for my 6:30 PM flight to LAX. That sounded like a good plan, until we opened the window to see this sight in the backyard:

Yep, same view as the first photo in this blog post, but now covered in snow! While I was taking a shower I heard it raining, but with the windows boarded up to save heat I didn’t realize it was snowing until Tomomi and her Mom came downstairs! It was super exciting to see, though a bit scary to drive in =). After I packed up all of my stuff, we headed off to lunch for Unagi (eel)! Tomomi’s Mom insisted on getting me the largest portion ever, and I definitely couldn’t complain or say no, it was really really good =)

As we drove around Saitama, Tomomi’s Mom was nice enough to stop for me to take a few quick photos of the snow, which was actually the first snow they received in the Winter of 2012/2013! Coming from Atlanta, where snow is a rarity in downtown, it was definitely neat to see the snow really coming down pretty hard and covering everything in a magical white.

Good thing my North Face jacket was water proof! We also pulled over to a small Shinto shrine which was magical in the snow…

Tomomi’s Mom dropped us off at the train station where I was to wait for the bus. Thankfully Tomomi waited with me as we had about an hour to kill, so we shopped a bit in the stores and grabbed a Starbucks to warm ourselves up. Oh, and of course we took photos of ourselves in the snow =)

Tomomi was obviously the better dressed one so I couldn’t help but take a few portraits of her in the snow hehe. While waiting for the bus, it was Coming of Age day, when Japanese girls turning 20 become official adults in Japanese society. The girls dress up in kimonos and attend ceremonies with community leaders welcoming them to adult life and their new responsibilities to society. I wish I was a better street photographer, or more specifically I wish I had a smaller camera than my giant 5D Mark III with huge lenses so I could take a few photos of the girls in kimonos in the snow as we waited for the bus.

2:30 PM when the bus was supposed to arrive came and went… and us and a couple of other travelers waiting for the same bus were still sitting outside the terminal. Tomomi was able to get in touch with the bus company and due to the snow and icy roads, they had cancelled the current route! As we sort of went into panic mode, because trains were shutting down left and right as well with the snow, we banded together with two amazing older ladies and navigated our way on the working lines to catch the SkyLiner express train to Narita… somehow. Looking back I don’t even know how we made it, and on time, waiting in the longest lines imaginable for SkyLiner tickets as everyone was stranded in Tokyo today due to the unexpected snow hitting Tokyo.

Thanks to Tomomi’s hard work, and staying with me all of the way to Narita, I just barely caught my flight back to LAX aboard Singapore Air. I finally reached the gate after sprinting through the airport and through security at 6:20 PM, but they were delaying take-off anyways due to the weather so I didn’t have to board the plane immediately dripping with sweat from lugging my camera equipment and luggage all over Tokyo. I wish I took my photos to document the craziness of this experience but my hands were totally full with luggage and I was completely caught up in the moment of experiencing everything. Sometimes it’s good to put the camera down, though I wish my GoPro Hero 3 (which died in Sydney) was still working or that I brought my Olympus with me. While aboard the SkyLiner, during some downtime, I did manage to grab a quick portrait of Tomomi’s reflection in the window. Doesn’t exactly convey how stressed and tired we both were from the craziness of that final day, but it’s my personal reminder nonetheless of the relief we both felt once we snuck onto an earlier SkyLiner than our tickets were for. We technically were on a later train because this one was sold out, but with the extreme weather situation, the staff was fine with us being standing room only in between cars to catch out flight.

A few random iPhone 5 photos from the final leg of the trip. Japanese fashion in the waiting area of Narita…

Grabbing one last Asahi in Japan, I’ll miss you Japan!

Dinner on Singapore Airlines, not too bad at all! Also, the in-flight movies were quite good. I’ve watched way too many movies with all of these international flights and not enough power outlets to run my MacBook. I watched the new live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie and a Japanese rom-com “Girls for Keeps” which was like Sex and the City for Japan hehe.

Breakfast before landing in Los Angeles.

As my final tribute to my travels in Japan, I put together all of my time-lapses and videos from Tokyo, Akihabara, Shibuya, Mt. Fuji, etc. into a short movie, well 4 minutes is pretty long in internet terms, but here it is anyways. I intend to do the same video/time-lapse for my trip to Sydney, Australia which was actually BEFORE Japan, in addition to blogging all of the photos I took there. Look for that soon-ish, though weddings are starting back up here at home =).

“Japanese Tradition” | Japan 2013 | Time-Lapse & Travel Video from Zachary Long | FengLongPhoto.com on Vimeo.