Chasing falls in Honshu, Japan

Day 1 - 2/11/2018

Klia - Narita MAS
Flught was almost full.. Our entourage ada 9 orang with 3 guys.. Dr Nash was our leader as he made this trip happened!
From Narita we took the subway line to Oshiage, suburb Tokyo. We bought the Pasmo card for our use in Tokyo trains. Kept our luggages at station lockers since it’s still early for checkup in our rented house.(Airbnb)
From Oshiage we took their mrt to Ueno, Ameyoko Market. This market was given this name as American market as they were selling mostly imported goods... still there are some local products you can find there.
Then we board mrt to Asukasa to see their famous temple and head for muslim ramen restaurant nearby for our jamak prayers and ramen...

Day 2 -3/11/2018
Breakfast in house with our bekal yg banyak tu...
From Oshiage we took mrt to Shibuya to see the famos zebra crossings and nad the lagendry Hachiko dog.
Then hop on to Shinjuku as Nash said we can only find tall buildings here. Japan were exposed to rampant earthquakes so the govt were very strict with their laws.. and only in Shinjuku were allowed with tall buildings as the were many goverments offices were here. Off course the buildings were with all the safety measures.
As we approached the park we saw banners that they were having Malaysian Fair there... we had photos with Amy search and some malay delicacies...
Then we head on to Akihabara fot the gadgets town@ electronics. Stops for solat at mussola in one departmental store and to Indian muslim restaurant for naan n biryani dinner.
Then we off to Nippori known as textile town. Borong banyak cotton materials.... murah la jugak.. then back to Oshiage.

Airbnb Oshiage house - 2 nights stay.
It’s a 3 storey narrow house with 5 rooms, 3 baths and 3 separate toilets. The spiral stairs make it more difficult to move. 2 rooms with double bed, one with single bed and another 2 rooms with futons on tatami. The house equiped with microwave and washing machine. Sincerely i do not recommend this house for the elderly or anyone with knee problems....

Day 3- 4/11/2018
Selepas breakfast kita checkout our Oshiage house to Ueno. Check-in bags kat lockers  and we head to Kawaizumi. Ada outlets on branded items and very near to Nagano yg famous for Winter Olympics. Boleh nampak ski slopes dari Kawaizumi...
Balik stopped at Tokyo station for solat jamak and moved to Yoyoji. Kami solat maghrib/isya kat famous Tokyo Camii Mosque. Dinner sekali lagi kat muslim pakistani restaurant - naan  , biryani n butter chicken.
Back to Ueno check-in @Mystays hotel.

Mystays hotel Ueno - one night
The hotel was surprisingly equiped with microwave though it was not very spacious. Furnished to modern taste and clean. It was about 20 min walk from the station.

Day 4 - 5/11/2018
As early 8 am we were moving to our next destination. We took super express shikansen to Sendai on the north of Honshu island. The ride took us 1 hour 30 minutes with top speed of 350km/hr.
By 9.30 am we arrived at Sendai station. From station we walked to our next hotel - Dormy Inn. After checked in we took another local train to Aomori. From Aomori station we have to take another old local train to Aomori Port (Port to Hokkaido) where we were hunting for fresh sushi and other seafood dishes for our lunch at the local fish market. They had sushi shashimi tempura and etc. Aomori town is famous for their apples and pears. We tasted local apple pies at the train station, it was delished!


Hotel Dormy Inn  - One night
This hotel was about 30 minutes walked across the town. With bigger spaces and modern deco. Right in the middle of Sendai town, the hotel offered hotbath in their common area as well as paid laundry machines.

Day 5 - 6/11/2018
By 7 am we moved back to Sendai station for our next journey to Kawaguchiko. Since it was still early we went for a short detour to Aoba Castle. From Aoba station it was a real walk up the hill for the castle and Aoba city view. The sceneries was sooo nice.
Back in Sendai we took another shikansen Express to Tokyo as there were no direct train to Kawaguchiko. From Tokyo station we transfer mrt to Shinjuku for another express shikansen to Otsuki Station. Then we took Thomas land train from Otsuki to Kawaguchi station. Thomas land train was painted and decorated with all Thomas and friends characters. Beautiful and fun..
From the train station we had another shuttle arranged by the hotel to our destination Yamagishi Hotel. After checked in we heading for boat ride around the lake. It took us around 45 minutes .Santai...

Yamagishi Ryokan Hotel - 2 nights
This hotel served the japanese traditional accomodation with full course of breakfast and dinner... hahaha this is luxury! Also this ryokan has a divided hotbaths rooms. We slept on futons with tatami. It’s a five
stars.

On the first night, after dinner we walked across the Kawaguchi lake to the musical forest.  Only the singlets and Nash walked together. The married couples tood a taxi ride as they said it was too far for them. After 3 hours walking we filled ourselves with family mart’s foods next door!
The musical forest was not in the forest but it was a village decorated with lights on all their trees... it was very colorful and from far it looked bright and beautiful.

Day 6 - 7/11/2018
Breakfast was served with japanese foods too. Then we took the hotel shuttle to Kawaguchi station before we took another bus ride to 5th station on Fuji foothill. The day was cloudy so we were very sad to say we cannot have a proper view of snowcap Fuji mountain! After shopped for souvenirs and ice creams we came down back to Kawaguchi station to a sumptious udon meal at an old udon restaurant right infront of the station. As Nash asked the owner they said that they can prepare us the no meat meals The dishes were really good as we were also very hungry... again the couples didn’t want to join us.
After solat at the ryokan we went out again to Roperail Cablecar at a nearby station.the 15 minutes cable car ride brought us to the top hill whereby we were supposed to have a great view of Fuji Mountain. But with the cloudy weather again we were hampered. Down from cable car we stopped at the local bakery for hot tea and cheese cake. Again we the singlets have a walk-a-round the lake for another 2 hours.
Back in the ryokan for dinner and resting..

Day7 - 8/11/2018
It was a pack that we woke up as early as 3.30 am to feel the hotbath....end up we only celup kaki...
By 7 am after breakfast we checked out and head to station for our next destination Nagoya. From Kawaguchi to Otsuki we took an electric steam rail. From Otsuki to Shiojiri we took Azusa shikansen for one hour ride. From Shiojiri to Nagoya anither express train for 2 hours.
In Nagoya we sent luggages and checked in Hotel Via about 10 minutes walk from the station.After solat we made our next tour on the hop-on-hop-off city tour. We had brief stop at Toyota Planet, Noritake factory outlet and old castle. Dinner we had maguro, japanese meals at the mall near the main station.

Day 8 - 9/11/2018
After checked out we took Hikari Express shikansen from Nagoya to Hiroshima. According to Nash Hikari is the second fastest shikansen in Japan after Nozomi700.
Upon arrival Hiroshima station after 10 am we deposited our luggages into paid lockers and took another local train to Miyajima station. From there we had to board ferry to Miyajima Island. It’s a small island in the south east of Honshu.This island is famous for state of the art red color shrine off the shore. We had lunch with their famous oyster dishes. From Miyajima guchi jetty we back to Miyajima station for another local train ride to Kokuru Station in Kyushu Island.
From Kokuru we took another local train to Moji-ko, a retro town of Moji Port. The town was rebuilt beautifully and very windy. We spent about 2 hours wrapping the whole town.Back from Kokuru station to Hiroshima we rode Sakura express shikansen.
We had to take local tram to our next stay airbnb apartment. The apartment was very comfortable and roomy compared the one in Tokyo city.

Day 9 - 10/11/2018
After breakfast we walked to the nearby Hiroshima Atomic Monument site we spent about 3 hrs moving around the historical site garden, famous Hiroshima Dome and the museum. Some parts of the site were closed for restoration in progress.
By noon we took the super express Sakura to Shin Osaka. From Shin Osaka we took another train to Kujo station. In Kujo, Osaka we took another airbnb but this time only for the singlet ladies. The couples stayed at hotel near the station and Nash opted to stay near airport as the next day is his flight back to KL.
The airbnb house with 4 rooms and narrowly 3 floors built. Dinner was back with Nash as we were looking for wagyu dish. We had Yakiniku and wagyu at one halal restaurant in Osaka.

Day10 - 11/11/2018
First day without Nash we hired Nizam as our local guide.From Kujo st- Osaka st- Kyoto st. Kyoto is an old town. We took a bus ride from main station to Kita-ku, the famous picturesque golden temple from there we took another bus to Bamboo forest, where we had aur lunch and prayers at one halal restaurant. Ada tempat ambil wudhu siap.
After that we took local train to Gion, town famous for geisha...walked on streets in Gion and climbed the steep hill to the pagoda and view off Kyoto. After starbuck break we headback to Kujo for home cooked dinner. We passed the leftovers of jajan n noodles to Nizam.

Day 11 - 12/11/2018
From Kujo we had a direct local train to Kobe- Hanshin line. In Kobe we bought loop bus ticket. Hop-in/off .most of the time we were on busses and stopped by the city hall observation deck on 24th floor, kobe tower and. Ferry tour.
From Kobe st we walked to Kobe mosque and had our dinner nearby muslim biryani restaurant. From Kobe we went back to Osaka city for Namba and Dotonburi. We were looking for glico-man and bigcamera store.

Day 12 - 13/11/2018
After checkout Kujo we head to Osaka Namba station and to Izumi station. We checked in for the last  time. From Izumi we went to Rinku brand outlet near Kansai. Jumpa la coach and kipling and chocolates.... We had dinner at pizza outlet. Sampai 2 round ke outlet sehari.

Day 13 - 14/11/2018
By 5 am we took a shuttle from hotel to Kansai airport as our flight will be around 8 am