April Adventures Across Japan Phase 2: Train Tracks to The North

The JR pass is a glorious things for visitors to Japan. Any time you ride on the JR line, albeit regular train or bullet train, you are covered. It is not available for residents of Japan... even temporary ones such as myself. So I picked up a smaller version of it, which would cover 5 days worth of rides on JR lines, but not the shinkansen, only regular trains. So, we slow train-ed it up north, and since we couldn't make it all the way up to Aomori in one day this way, we stopped in Sendai for the night.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 1 Continued

Day 5, Ueno Zoo

We took it easy, and got up at our own pace. I relaxed in the lounge-y area of the capsule inn and we set out to Ueno Park, and more specifically, the Zoo. It was a lovely day for it and we seem to have grown accustomed to long days of walking around. I found some of the... exhibits... to be lacking in space, while others seemed to be just fine... but I don't know much about how much room certain creatures need and since the park is fairly limited on it's ability to expand the area it takes up, I suppose they're doing the best with what they have. Still, cool creatures and a lovely day outside enjoying some spring weather before we head back up north.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Disneyland.

Day 5: Tokyo Disneyland

Twas an early morning that we got a move on, breaking our fast (guess whose been reading a Song of Ice and Fire...) with eggs and apples purchased at the near by grocery store. Bidding a fond farewell to Asakusa, we rode subway and trains to Komagome to check into our new accommodations  I figgered that Ashley should try out the capsule-life, and so off we went to Capsule Inn Komagome (which is actually called Rosuko Sauna, thankfully I found a review the night before and so we didn't get lost). As it turns out, we weren't allowed to actually check into the Inn until we were going to stay for the night, so we dropped our luggage off in a locker and were on our way. We picked up a mixed bag of baked goods from a bakery we passed on our way back to the Komagome JR to help keep down the day's cost (one thing my co-workers warned me about was that everything at TD is expensive, so we took a few previsions).

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Fish, Animation and Japanese Pancakes.

Tokyo, Day 4.

Sadly, the day started off pretty rainy and blah... I went out for a walk when I woke up in the hopes that it would clear up... Ah well. While preparing for this trip, I had created a fairly easy going itinerary, mostly to make sure that I had accomodations all figured out (which was good because I almost forgot to book myself a place to stay April 1st haha), and bought some tickets ahead of time for a couple of attractions that we wanted to partake in. The first of such things was the Ghibli museum. However, it being Ashely's first day in Japan and the time difference being so great from Canada, that wasn't until the afternoon. So I started my day with a leisurely breakfast at the hostel and went out to grab a coffee and give Ashley time to wake up and stuff.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Ashley's Arrival

Tokyo Day 3

Super-secret entryway to the Hostel

It was a cloudy day in Tokyo, so I spent the morning exploring the Asakusa subway station and the shops in the Ekimise. You can get a view of the Tokyo Skytree from there... when it's not cloudy and raining... so I didn't get a very good look. Haha.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Asakusa, LPs and Beer!

Tokyo Day 2

Cozy capsule life

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Punkspring, Breakfast & a giant spider!

The Departure Point.