Tokyo to Kyoto by Bullet-train

Upon the end of our 15 night Bering Sea and Japan cruise (read about it here), we disembarked the Celebrity Millennium in Yokohama. We had planned a trip exploring Kyoto, Osaka and the surrounding cities for 5 days after the cruise ended.

Day 1: Nara
On our first day post-cruise, we walked about 10 minutes from Osanbashi Pier in Yokohama to Yokohama Station. We caught the train to Shin-Yokohama Station where we were able to transfer to a shinkansen (bullet-train) to get to Kyoto. It was, without a doubt, the smoothest and most comfortable train ride I had ever taken.
The hotel was a mere 5 minute walk from Kyoto Station which made it a really convenient location to stay at for day-trips to Osaka, Nara and beyond! Upon dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we walked back to Kyoto Station to take a train to Nara.
After exiting Nara Station we headed towards Sanjo Dori which is a really popular street for it's variety of restaurants and souvenir shops lining both sides of the road. There were also many side streets jutting from Sanjo Dori which we didn't have time to explore but looked interesting nevertheless.
Within 20 minutes of walking from Nara Station we reached Kofukuji Temple where we saw wild deers all around. Walking a bit further, towards Todaiji Temple, and passing by Nara Park we continued seeing many deers milling about. Near Todaiji Temple it was fun to watch people feeding senbei (crackers) they bought from the vendors nearby to feed to the deers. Many of the deers have gotten used to humans and can get quite aggressive when they see you holding senbei in your hand.


Day 2: Arashiyama; Kyoto
The highlight of my 5 day post-cruise trip was on the second day.
We started the day by taking the train from Kyoto Station to Arashiyama Station. We made our way to the Bamboo Grove and walked through the beautiful trail surrounded by massively high bamboo trees.

The beautiful Bamboo Grove

It was so different from any trails I have ever experienced with regards to sight, sound and smell. At the end of the trail we reached Kameyama Koen Park. We followed the signs pointing towards Togetsukyo Bridge and when we got to the bottom of the park we saw the picturesque Katsura River. We walked on the sidewalk next to the Katsura River until we reached Togetsukyo Bridge and then crossed the bridge to get to the entrance of the Monkey Park.
The 550 yen entrance fee for the Monkey Park was worth every cent (or more appropriately, yen) for the price of admission. There was a bit of a hike to actually reach the park from the entrance (about 20 minutes of walking on an uphill trail) but it was a nice hike where you could both see and hear the gushing water from the river down below. At the top of the hill is the actual Monkey Park where the macaques (Japanese "snow" monkeys) wander around freely.

The adorable baby monkey

Monkeys roaming around freely

The view looking down on most of Kyoto from the top of the hill was something special. We bought a bag of peanuts for 100 yen to feed to the macaques. Interestingly, humans were inside the "cage" when feeding the macaques.

Humans inside the "cage" to feed the monkeys in the open park

After spending way too long and taking too many photos at the Monkey Park we made our way back to JR Arashiyama Station. The walk back was leisurely to enjoy the abundant souvenir shops and restaurants along the way. We took the train to Inari Station to get to Fushimi Inari Shrine which is right at the exit of the station. It was very crowded there but that's to be expected because: (a) it is convenient to get to by train, (b) it has free admission and (c) it was featured in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha (as was the Bamboo Grove).

Crowds plus rushing to get a photo of the Torii Gates equals blurry photo

Day 3: Kyoto
We had planned out our day to be a bus only day to take advantage of the Kyoto City Bus One-Day Pass for 500 yen. We bought the pass at JR Kyoto Station Central Entrance Bus Information Center. We took bus 205 to Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion; entrance fee: 400 yen) from Kyoto Station. It was easy to figure out when to get off the bus (at Kinkakuji-michi bus stop) because the buses have announcements and messages on the TV in both English and Japanese mentioning which bus stop was next. After spending some time soaking in the beauty of the Golden Temple we took a bus back to Kyoto Station.

The majestic looking Golden Pavilion

A closer look at the Golden Pavilion

Our original plan was to go to Kiyomizu-dera Temple but the wind and rain was too heavy to continue spending the day outdoors. We decided to take bus 207 all the way to the Shijo Takakura bus stop instead. From there we walked a few minutes to Nishiki Market (a covered shopping arcade with lots of not only food shops but also souvenir shops). Nishiki Market had many side streets branching off from it with even more shops and restaurants to browse through.
After winding around the different alleys around Nishiki Market, and stopping to buy food to eat while we walked, we headed to Shijo Dori. As soon as you pass the Kamo River, Shijo Dori becomes Shijo Avenue.

Walking by the Kamo River in the evening

We turned right on Hanamikoji Dori to explore one of the Gion areas (where geishas are known to frequent). Although we didn't see any geishas it was still worth it to visit Gion for the experience of being transported back in time with the streets reminiscent of traditional Japanese villages back in the day.

Day 4: Osaka
We took a train from Kyoto Station to Ikeda Station in Osaka. We walked 5 minutes from the station to The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum (free admission). Inside the museum they had packaging from all the cup/bowl/instant noodles ever produced by the Nissin brand.

So many interesting flavours of cup/bowl noodles!

The museum also had a "tasting room" which was basically a cafeteria with vending machines that sell cup/bowl noodles found in different regions of Japan. Of course, we had to buy some cup noodles from the vending machine to eat in the "tasting room" (it's part of the Japanese experience!).
When we finished eating our noodles we walked about 25 minutes to the Satsukiyama Zoo (free admission). We saw Australian animals like wombats and wallabies, as well as alpacas found in the Andes. After a brief time spent walking around the small zoo, we walked back to Ikeda Station and took a train to Tenjimbashisujirokuchome Station. We left through exit 8 to get to the Tenjimbashisujirokuchome Shopping Arcade and walked through the undercover shopping arcade from 6-chome to 2-chome.

A view of 3-chome from the street

The nice part about this particular shopping arcade is that it is not so much a tourist destination but rather a place where locals shop, so prices were cheaper for things here than in other parts of Japan. Also, it was nice to mingle among the locals while they went about their day.


Day 5: Osaka
On our fifth and final day post-cruise, we went back to Osaka. From Kyoto Station we took a train to Osakajokoen Station to get to Osaka Castle. As we exited the station we headed towards Osaka-Jo Hall and saw a lot of signs directing the way to Osaka Castle (about 20 minutes walk).

Approaching Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle Park by itself was already enough to admire Osaka Castle from a distance, but we wanted to go inside the castle as well (600 yen admission fee). The inside of Osaka Castle has been transformed into a museum and was full of artifacts and information.
Not far from Osaka Castle Park is the Osaka NHK Broadcasting Center. We went up to the 9th floor to see the TV studio set and observe them filming a show.
A 5 minute walk from the Broadcasting Center is Tanimachi-4-chome Station where we took a train to Namba Station. We found our way to exit 14 and made a left as we left exit 14, and another left again at the "intersection" to head in the direction of Dontonbori (as confusing as that may sound it was only a 5 minute walk). Dontonbori is famous for it's street food and it's huge neon and moving plastic signs.

Giant crab sign in Dontonbori

Dontonbori is full of giant plastic signs

This is where we bought gyoza to eat

We bought gyoza and takoyaki to eat from some of the vendors along Dontonbori.
When we were full from eating in Dontonbori we took the subway to Umeda Station. We wanted to see a view of Osaka atop the Umeda Sky Building. We got out at exit 5 and headed towards Grand Front Osaka to find the underground passageway. As we exited the passageway the Umeda Sky Building was right across the street (it took about 10 minutes to walk there from Umeda Station). Once inside the building we went up to the 3rd floor by escalator at which point we had to take the elevator 140 meters up to the 35th floor. Then we took the escalators to the 38th floor where there was a shop and also floor-to-ceiling windows to look down onto Osaka below. You can pay 1000 yen to go the the 39th floor Observation Garden but we chose to forego that option.

View of Osaka from the 38th floor of Umeda Sky Building

To end the day, and our last night in Japan, we ate at Machiya in the Porta underground mall near Kyoto Station. Machiya is a teppenyaki restaurant and it was fun to sit at the counter and watch the chefs cook our yakisoba noodles right in front of us.

A quintessential dining experience to try in Japan

For dessert we found an ice-cream shop inside Kyoto Station. I ordered a matcha-hojicha tea swirl ice-cream on a waffle cone. The Japanese are known for their green tea ice-creams and this was no exception. It was delicious and the perfect way to mark the end of our time in Japan.

Cruising the Celebrity Millennium across the Bering Sea to Japan

In 2014 my family went on the Celebrity Millennium sailing from Yokohama to Vancouver (read about it here). This year we decided to go back to Japan by taking the Celebrity Millennium again but doing the reverse route (from Vancouver to Yokohama).
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and the re-introduction of arts and crafts activities as part of the Celebrity Life activities. There were only four ports on this 15 night cruise but the many sea days were easily passed with participation in different lectures, fitness classes, Celebrity Life activities and enjoying the food on-board the ship.
The ports were Dutch Harbor (Alaska), Otaru, Hakodate and Tokyo with the cruise docking in Yokohama on the last day.

Sailing away from Vancouver

Dutch Harbor, Alaska
This town of about 4000 people did their best to provide cruise ship passengers (and crew) with the best possible experience in their small town.
Complimentary school buses were provided to shuttle passengers to/from the port to the Safeway parking lot. The Safeway is located within a so-called downtown area with the Grand Aleutian Hotel, shops and museums within walking distance. The school bus takes approximately 10 minutes to shuttle between the port and Safeway, but you could also walk along the shoulder of the road for 45 minutes if you didn't feel like waiting for the school bus.
The landscape and scenery reminded me of New Zealand and the Maritime provinces of Canada, it was really quite beautiful!

Photo taken on our walk back to the ship

Otaru, Japan
The ship docked at Katsunai Wharf. An information booth manned with volunteers and helpful maps provided assistance to those with questions. A few souvenir booths and a free WiFi area were set up right outside the ship as well.
Using the map we got at the information booth it took us about 15 minutes of walking from the port to get to the Sakaimachidori Shopping Street. There were plenty of souvenir shops, restaurants and also the Music Box Museum situated on this popular street. We spent hours going inside the different shops selling specialty Hokaido snacks (like dried squid and confectionary like biscuits or ice-cream). There were so many samples provided inside these shops that I can honestly say Otaru is the city to go to if you want to sample the food before making a purchase.
We went inside the Music Box Museum (free admission) which was 3 levels high. There were hundreds of varieties of music boxes ranging in style from stuffed animals to plastic sushi that you could buy. 
A 5 minute walk from the end of Sakaimachidori Street is Otaru Canal; it is Otaru's most visited tourist destination and also a very popular photo spot. We went up the "lighthouse-style" building on Denuki-koji where we were able to get a good birds' eye view of Otaru Canal from the platform balcony.

View of the canal from the "lighthouse-style" building

 

Photo of the canal from the street

Hakodate, Japan
The ship docked at Minato-cho Wharf and complimentary shuttles were provided to/from the downtown area. It takes approximately 20 minutes to get from the pier to JR Hakodate Station.
We explored the Motomachi/Ekimae area just like we did two years ago when the Celebrity Millennium docked in Hakodate. This included the Hakodate Morning Market, the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse, Hachiman-zaka slope and Motomachi Park. All the places we visited are walk-able from the shuttle drop-off location at JR Hakodate Station.

Top of the Hachiman-zaka slope

Tokyo, Japan
The ship docked at Oi Pier and complimentary shuttles were provided to/from Shinagawa Metro Station. Shuttles would depart every 15 minutes and the ride was about 10 minutes long.
From Shinagawa Metro Station we took a train to Asakusa Station. We walked to Kamimarimon Gate, explored the sights/sounds of Nakamise Dori and saw Sensoji Temple. On Nakamise Dori we bought a mixed fruit flavoured shaved ice and it was the softest/flakiest shaved ice I had ever eaten (very delicious!).
When we were done exploring Asakusa we took the train to Odaiba (an artificial, man-made island in Tokyo). We took pictures of the Rainbow Bridge from the wooden deck in front of Aquacity Odaiba and Decks. We also took pictures of the imitation Statue of Liberty. 

The imitation Statue of Liberty (foreground) and Rainbow Bridge (background)

We ate lunch at the Ramen Food Theme Park on the 5th floor of Aquacity Odaiba. After lunch, we discovered a Mexican festival happening just outside the mall. I was able to experience my first live Lucha Libre wrestling match which was very funny and entertaining.

Who would have thought my first Lucha Libre experience would be in Japan?

We finished off our day by visiting the Fuji TV Building (the headquarters of Fuji Television). They had a souvenir shop filled with items from popular shows in Japan, among other attractions like a restaurant and more.


Disembarking the ship
After disembarking the ship we had planned a 5 night stay in Kyoto where we would explore the surrounding cities of Osaka and Nara as well (read about it here).