805Andrew's 2015 Japan Trip

[Condor]

Fun fact. Don't know if you realized this, but these two pictures are of the same location. Godzilla destroyed that very train in 1984. So nice job!

[Nrthwnd]

I totally forgot about time travel in Japan. You can do it, there!

[805Andrew]

I had one more day to see Tokyo on my own before I met up with the group of TPR members. While I spent the previous two days exploring modern Tokyo, today was a culture day checking out the Imperial Palace and Gardens, along with temples and shrines. There's no escaping modern Tokyo though, as I ended up in Akihabara. Anyways, on to the pictures. You may even see a coaster in this update.

I'm not sure why I took this picture - I probably thought it was funny, so here you go.

Okay I lied, this is the closest I got to the Imperial Palace.

A nice grassy area on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. Notice that when a sign says to keep off the grass, people listen here.

Although the Imperial Palace itself is closed off, the East Gardens of it are open to the public, so we're heading that way.

Another look at the Palace area in the distance.

Around the corner from here is the entrance to the only part that is open to the public.

A moat surrounds all of the Imperial Palace grounds.

Time to enter the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.

I was expecting a modest admission for entering the Imperial Gardens, but it was totally free.

There were several traditional Japanese buildings like this inside, which some were used as gift shops, vending areas, or restrooms.

This was the closest I was able to get to one of the Pagodas of the Imperial Palace by the Eastern Gardens.

There's a grove of bamboo trees here.

There's a nice grassy area in the center of the Imperial Gardens where you are in a tranquil spot surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city.

A nice view of my surroundings at the top.

I went up this structure to the highest accessible point of the Imperial Gardens.

Starting the day from the Kurumi Weekly Mansion where I was staying.

Here is a gas station where gasoline is ¥141 a liter. The exchange rate was about ¥120 to $1 when I was in Japan, and there are 3.78541 liters to a gallon, so gas here was about $4.45 a gallon in case anyone was wondering.

Crossing the Sumida River looking south, I got this great view.

I stopped into the first convience store I saw, which was a Natural Lawson (part of the Lawson convenience chain). This was my convenience store breakfast, which would be terribly unhealthy in the US. This is not the case for convenience stores in Japan though, where prepared grab-and-go meals are brought in fresh every day, and looks more like some thing you would get at Trader Joe's.

I hopped onto a Metro to get to the Imperial Palace. At the Metro station where I arrived they had this smoothie stand (as did other metro stations in Tokyo). I got a melon juice to go.

The grounds of the Imperial Palace are in a large park surrounded by modern buildings in the Chiyoda part of Tokyo.

The actual Imperial Palace is closed to the public except for a couple of days a year, so this is the closest I would get to it.

A view of the other side beyond the Imperial Palace.

Old school lantern at the gardens.

Can you tell I'm in the middle of a city with over 13 million people?

Here's a Japanese pine tree.

Japanese trees look like works of art.

No Japanese garden is complete without a koi pond.

Walking around the pond at the Imperial Gardens.

Lets see if there are actually koi in this pond.

Yep, lots of colorful koi.

Lots of colorful flowers surrounding the pond too.

For some reason this fountain looked like it belonged in one of the Legend of Zelda games.

The Imperial Gardens is a nice tranquil space in the middle of Tokyo.

Here's an old shrine (I think) within the Imperial Gardens.

Time to head out of the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and check out some other sites.

They had these really pretty flowers that looked like they had butterflies on them.

There were lots of blue flowers...

Time to go down this thing and check out the rest of the gardens.

...and lots of purple flowers.

Within the gardens, there was another moat and wall.

Great views of Chiyoda looking out from the top of this wall.

Just outside the East Gardens is this building that looks like a giant wooden peg you can pull out.

Here's the alternate entrance to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.

The peg really stands out among the other buildings.

Walking around the east side of the Imperial Palace grounds now.

This giant moat and wall surrounds the whole Imperial Palace grounds.

I'm a bit thirsty now, so time for a drink.

You can do the Dew in Japan and I just did.

Here's the Nippon Budokan, which is a large sumo wrestling and martial arts arena.

I'm walking through a nice park just outside the Imperial Palace grounds.

I love the mix of modern and historic buildings here. Time to find out what these are.

I walked through this building which had an open area. It looks like there was a school field trip going on here.

I think this was some type of government building or residential complex, but wasn't sure.

This modern building is called Showakan and is a national museum ran by the Ministry of Health. Thanks for the info Google Maps!

They had a bottled version of Lemon Coke here in Japan which I tried. It is simple yet refreshing, as it tastes like Coke with a squeeze of lemon. If they had a canned/bottled version of this in the US I would buy it (Lemon Coke only exists in Freestyle machines in the US).

I went by this building which looked like a lighthouse.

There were several statues on the grounds of the shrine including this one.

Time to head up to the Yasukuni Shrine.

There were statues of animals and creatures as well.

Here is the Yasukuni Shrine.

Getting close up to this Imperial shrine.

The Yasukine Shine built in the 1800s honors those who have died serving Japan.

There was a war museum on the shrine grounds with planes, trains, and cannons from WWII. The rest of the museum was paid, but this lobby area was free.

There was this nice little garden on the shrine grounds as well.

A Japanese garden means there's a pond full of koi.

Time to head to another area of Tokyo. Some stations have these wacky melodies that play right before the train doors close. At the station I was arriving at they were playing an instrumental version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame".

Getting off at the Korakuen station, I didn't realize I was so close to Tokyo Dome City and LaQua.

I was going to check out the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden to continue on with my culture tour of the day, but since it had already closed for the day...

...I might as well walk around Tokyo Dome City, which is home of the mighty Thunder Dolphin.

Tokyo Dome is home to the Yomiuri Giants, which use the same color scheme as another Giants team back home which I casually root for.

Was Thunder Dolphin running? At first I wasn't sure, but about every 15 minutes I heard or saw a train getting dispatched. Finally, as I was leaving Tokyo Dome City I was able to get a shot of Thunder Dolphin with a train running on it.

The Tokyo Dome baseball stadium is a major part of the Tokyo Dome City entertainment complex.

The Tokyo Dome is also called the Big Egg and opened in 1988.

I went across the street to get a better view of Thunder Dolphin. This thing is massive and looks so fun and cool in the middle of the city.

Right by the Tokyo Dome is the LaQua shopping mall and spa and the Tokyo Dome City attractions. I resisted going on any rides since I was planning on coming here with TPR members in a few days.

Since I'm coming back to Tokyo Dome City later on in the trip, time to head to another part of Tokyo.

I'm getting off the train at Ochanomizu Station near Akihabara.

Across the river from my train station is another train station and line.

Many different train lines intersect along the river here.

If you want to go trainspotting in Tokyo (and hopefully don't shoot yourself up) this is a good spot.

This is a bus stop for one of the transportation companies of Tokyo which has its own mascot.

Walking down towards Akihabara now.

I love watching all the elevated train lines that cross over each other here.

Akihabara is an electronics district with many arcades, shops, and Pachinko casinos.

I went inside this 8 level Sega arcade and played some games including my first experience with Taiko Drum Master. (Sorry, I didn't take any pictures inside.)

All these crazy colorful signs and lights were present here.

Another elevated train line is running through the heart of Akihabara.

Within Akihabara there's this old Shinto shrine.

Here's the Kanda Myojin shrine.

The small Kanda Myojin grounds are completely surrounded by urban development.

There's a Shinto statue (I think) at the Kanda Myojin.

There's also this modern neon heart that changes colors.

And there's this statue of a massive tsunami wave.

After Akihabara, it was time to head back to my hotel for the night, connecting through Tokyo Station.

At Tokyo Station I saw the shortest escalator I've ever seen!

Before heading back my hotel, I had a ramen meal at Tokyo Station where you place your order using this vending machine. After paying and ordering, you get a printed ticket, take a seat at the restaurant, and give your ticket to your server.

Here's a map to give you a general sense of where major sites and attractions are in Tokyo. Notice that most of the major attractions are in the western, central, and northeastern parts of the city. While my previous two days were spent exploring Cool Tokyo and Metropolitan Luxury, today was spent exploring Cultural Fusion.

My ramen dish had cold noodles and an egg on the side, which you add little by little to the hot bowl of broth, pork, and veggies as you eat it. It was pretty good. Good night from Tokyo!

[Superbatboy]

Awesome pictures! Japan always looks so clean every time I see pictures. Must visit one day!

[cparkes92]

The Budokan: Most famous for making Cheap Trick famous in America!

[Kyle Coleman]

Is it standard in Japanese drink vending machines to have such a wide selection? I counted 36 in that one.

[Nrthwnd]

Yes.

 

Everywhere.

 

They do.

 

Its' awesome!

[Kyle Coleman]

Sigh. Guess I better check Tokyo flight prices again.

[PKI Jizzman]

Excellent report. You really put us in your shoes! I just got my passport renewed and my interest in visiting Japan has never been higher. Hope take a trip soon and I'll definitely put a star on this thread for advice.

 

Thanks!

[805Andrew]

Is it standard in Japanese drink vending machines to have such a wide selection? I counted 36 in that one.

Yes, usually each machine has about 30 different choices with only a few repeat options. I counted 31 different choices out of the 36 available slots in my last vending machine picture. Notice how only 6 of the choices are carbonated soft drinks though, showing the popularity of tea and iced coffee in Japan. Also only one slot was for bottled water, which means Japanese are getting their water elsewhere and are comfortable drinking their tap water (which is clean).

 

The Budokan: Most famous for making Cheap Trick famous in America!

I thought Guitar Hero made Cheap Trick famous in America.

 

Excellent report. You really put us in your shoes! I just got my passport renewed and my interest in visiting Japan has never been higher. Hope take a trip soon and I'll definitely put a star on this thread for advice.

 

Thanks!

That's my goal with this TR, to try to get you in my shoes. Stay tuned, as I'm just getting started on this thread and have plenty more to post. Also, thanks for the kind words.

[805Andrew]

Okay, finally time to continue with my Japan TR from 2015 after seeing another 2015 TR on here. On my fifth day of my trip and my fourth full day in Japan I would finally meet up with a good chunk of the TPR group for a pre trip day trip to Tobu Zoo. The main reason for going to Tobu Zoo as most of you probably know was to ride one of four Intamin Megalites in the World, which were recently collectively ranked as #6 steel coaster in the World and #1 in Japan, although I would later ride three coasters in Japan that I liked even better.

 

I woke up and left the Kurumi Weekly Mansion where I was staying before 6AM to walk to the nearest metro station and take a few different train lines to meet up with the TPR group by the Shinagawa Prince Hotel where we would all go together to Tobu Zoo. Tobu Zoo is about 60 km north of Tokyo in the small city of Miyashiro which is in a rural area. Once we got off the train it was a 10-15 minute walk to the park. We had early entry into the park for an ERT and filming session on Kawasemi before the park opened to the general public. Everyone in our group had Japan Rail Passes and instructions on how to get back to Tokyo so we were free to stay as short or as long as we wanted too. I stayed for about half a day seeing the zoo as well and doing the rides part of the park. Tobu Zoo is about half amusement park and half zoo with the animals being separate from most of the rides. After Tobu Zoo I went to another park around Tokyo for the evening/night which I'll get to later on. Anyways on to the pictures.

Crossing the Sumida River just before 6AM to get to the nearest metro station.

On the other side of the Sumida facing north you can actually see the Tokyo Skytree a bit better this day.

Taking the local and regional trains with TPR to Tobu Zoo.

Made it to Tobu Zoo! First park of the trip!

We're entering Tobu Zoo before everyone else. Regina is on the left and you can see a tiny bit of Kawasemi on the right.

Tobu Zoo's totally cute entrance statue.

There is Regina. We'll get to you later.

There is Kawasemi. We're heading towards you now.

Tobu Zoo's mascot with one of the park's ferris wheels behind it.

Time for our ERT and filming session on Kawasemi. My first Intamin Megalite!

Kawasemi goes quickly up its lift hill like Skyrush. Notice this picture is from when I rode Kawasemi again later in the afternoon as I didn't take any pictures during morning ERT - I was too busy riding it!

This was the best shot I got of Kawasemi later in the afternoon. I rode it 10 times during morning ERT I think and I rode it a couple more times again later in the day.

Kawasemi was the first rollercoaster I rode in Japan and ended up being one of my top four favorite rollercoasters I rode that trip. Lots of ejector air on those hills like a mini Sky Rush but smooth and not painful. Actually the closest thing I've ridden to this in the US is the Chance designed Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom.

Here's Regina coming out its station.

After Kawasemi we headed to Regina to ride it before it started raining. It rained a little bit while we were in line but it stopped long enough for us to ride.

Here's instructions on how to ride. The seats and retraints were a bit of a tight fit and uncomfortable for a taller western rider. The lap bar went up higher then my waist which pervented this ride from being truly enjoyable. Also it was a tight fit for my long legs in the train. These trains were designed for short and skinny Japanese people.

Regina was a decent length and had a pretty good layout but was rough around the edges.

Regina definitely has potential and if it had comfortable trains and restraints I would have liked it a lot better. If this wasn't an Intamin I could see this being a candidate for an RMC treatment.

It started raining after we rode Regina and everyone split off in different directions. I rode the suspended monorail with a couple of others I think.

Here's a view from the suspended monorail while staying dry.

Here's the new powered kiddie credit which I may or may not have ridden later on.

Here's a nice view of Kawasemi from the monorail.

Here's one of the park's two large ferris wheels with Regina in the background.

The suspended monorail runs on a complete loop with two stops in the rides area of Tobu Zoo with some parallel sections in opposite directions.

Here's the park's other ferris wheel called Emma's Cheese Wheel and it is the larger of the two wheels and it is themed to cheese making. Each ferris wheel unit is climate controled with its own AC unit. This one is right in between the rides and zoo parts of Tobu Zoo. I'll get to it later.

Time to go through the zoo area of the park now. Here's a Mayalan Tapir with some giant tortoises.

Camel feeding here. Notice that the wooden railing is censoring the camel toe.

A zookeeper feeding the monkeys here, not spanking them.

Tobu Zoo had a great collection of many different monkey species, most of them from Asia.

The guy in the back corner looks red and sore - maybe they do get spanked after all.

A Big Thunder Mountain of monkeys. Foreshadowing what's to come later on.

Punk rock birds!

They have cat nursery here. So Japan!

The rural area surrounding the back side of Tobu Zoo where there's another entrance. We entered through the rides side of the park.

Nice flower garden here.

You can get really close to kangaroos here.

Everything is cuter in Japan, even the deer.

This elephant is getting fed something on the side - campaign donations maybe? I'm not joining his party though.

The zoo was nice - not the greatest zoo ever but a nice mid sized zoo and pretty decent for a zoo/theme park combo. More to the animals side of a theme park then Discovery Kingdom (though they have more high profile animals) and bigger then Hersheypark's ZooAmerica. Anyways I'm hungry and thirsty now and went by this stand cooking up meat and serving it on a stick that smelled so good.

I got pork on a stick (a different type of yakitori) and a whiskey highball which is Japanese whiskey with ginger ale. They made the drink pretty strong and both things were great and also reasonably priced for 1000 yen. Emma's Cheese wheel is in the distance which means time to ride that next.

Almost every theme park in Japan has an oversized ferris wheel which are great to ride for the views alone - Tobu Zoo has two! I'm not sure if the other one was running this day or not, but this one had the centralized location with the probable better view anyways. Here's the view towards the front rides side of the park.

The best views of Kawasemi are from this wheel and it did cycle a couple of trains while I was riding this.

Here's a view of the suspended monorail and Regina in the background.

Here's a view of the back zoo side of the park.

We can see the city of Miyashiro in the distance surrounded by the rural areas near the park.

Back on the ground I rode a few more rides and rode Kawasemi again before leaving the park.

I tried these bears which came recommended but I wasn't crazy about them. They weren't bad - just boring in my opinion and like bread that's barely sweetened. The first miss of the trip for me.

I rode this pedaled track ride which is at many of the independent theme parks in Japan. Being seated in a car by myself I had to pedal extra hard and it was quite a workout! Regina says hi by the way.

This track ride had great views of Regina and the front end of the rides part of Tobu Zoo. US parks should have this type of ride to keep more of its guests in shape.

I did a couple of walkthroughs and mazes like this one before leaving Tobu Zoo.

I had to do the swan paddle boats by the front entrance before leaving.

I'm having a great day at Tobu Zoo and in great time in Japan so far.

Nice view of Kawasemi from the paddle boat lake.

I stayed a little longer then expected at Tobu Zoo and it was time to go now being almost 3PM I think. I ended up leaving on my own.

On my way to the train station I grabbed an avocado flavored soymilk from this machine. It was actually pretty good and kind of like avocado smoothies at boba drink places but in soymilk form.

I took two trains back to Tokyo including this local one going to my next destination which was different than where I started for the day.

Here's a little hint of where I was headed next. Stay tuned for the next part of my day.

[The Great Zo]

Who wouldn't ride the cheese wheel? Great theme and great views despite the weather!

[bert425]

great pics!

 

can't wait to go back and really take another look at these when I'm not so busy w/ work!

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report and I'm really looking forward to visiting next month. I'm interested to see how Kawasemi compares to Lightning Run.

 

And that suspended monorail looks like the child of a monorail and a sky ride with those individual cars.

[805Andrew]

Who wouldn't ride the cheese wheel? Great theme and great views despite the weather!

I actually hate cheese lol, but the theming in the queue and loading station was cool. The weather was overcast but it only rained for a short time and it was still pretty warm so by that standard it was a pretty good weather day overall.

 

Great report and I'm really looking forward to visiting next month. I'm interested to see how Kawasemi compares to Lightning Run.

You're going to have an amazing time, especially being your first visit there. I'll be interested in seeing your perpective in TR form when you get back. I almost pulled the trigger on that trip but I should be back to Japan in 2020.

 

And that suspended monorail looks like the child of a monorail and a sky ride with those individual cars.

I was going to say it kinda looks like a sky ride. If it was expanded I think it would be a cool transportation system for parks to have.

[805Andrew]

If you guessed I was going to Tokyo Disneyland next as I was passing by Tokyo DisneySea then you guessed correct. If you guessed I was going to DisneySea you guessed incorrect. Anyways, after I left Tobu Zoo I took a train going back to Tokyo with the intention of going to Tokyo Disneyland for the evening/night. I was going to spend four full days at the Tokyo Disney Resort with TPR at the end of the trip but Space Mountain was going to be closed by then for its annual refurbishment so I used it as an excuse to go to Disneyland for an evening at the begining of the trip. Tokyo Disneyland has a Starlight Passport ticket option which is good for admission after 3PM on Saturday or Sunday and an After 6 Passport which is good for admission after 6PM on weekdays. Both of these options were perfect for me as I wanted to visit in the evening and was going to do full days at the end of the trip. Since it was a Sunday, I went with the Starlight option which is a little bit more than the After 6 Passport. I don't recall how much the price was then, but it wasn't much more then these prices listed today. Anyways on to the pictures.

It was the final days of the Easter Celebration and all of these decorations would be gone by our group visit at the end of the month.

Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto Easter eggs. I think the other ones are Daisy and Donald.

The Easter Celebration was mainly decorations by the park entrance.

Easter in June isn't more out of place then Kings Island's Christmas in July.

I arrived at Tokyo Disneyland around 5:30PM I think. With the park open until 10PM, I had just over four hours to get on Space Mountain and whatever else didn't have a long line.

Looking back at the turnstiles and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.

Entering Disneyland through the World Bazaar. I've never had this view of a Disney castle before.

Let's not forget why I'm here.

I'm going to get the Space Mountain credit before it closes down for the rest of the trip. Let's check out how long the wait time is on this Sunday evening.

F%@$ me! I'm going to have to bite the bullet on this one.

If I'm waiting in a line that long then I'm grabbing a snack nearby. This will do.

Here they go all the way with Disneyfying their snacks. The strawberry churro was really good!

With a snack in hand and the park brochure to read I was ready to wait in line.

Day turned into night in the outdoor queue of Space Mountain.

This Space Mountain still has a working escalator.

After Big Thunder Mountain Railroad I went back towards Space Mountain as I wouldn't be able to ride it the rest of the trip and got in line around 9:55PM. The posted wait time was 70 minutes I think but I only waited about 35-40 minutes. Four rides in about four hours, not bad for Tokyo Disneyland on a Sunday.

Inside the boarding station of Space Mountain. I only waited about 75 minutes as opposed to the 100 minute posted wait time. Yay for Japanese efficiency!

Time to board! This Space Mountain is very similar to the California version with the exception of no onboard soundtrack and just space sounds from the building as you ride.

It was mid June and Tokyo Disney still had its Easter decorations up.

The Electrical Parade was going on when I got out of Space Mountain.

This was the only float I got a picture of as I was going to watch the parade when I visited again at the end of the trip.

This was the second Disney castle park I've been to, so this castle was huge to me.

Another angle of the castle in dimmed light as the parade was giong by.

Zooming in towards the top of the castle which is something I wouldn't have to do with my home Disney castle.

Splash Mountain is the only ride at Tokyo Disneyland to have a single rider line so I went to it with my limited time left in the park. I bypassed the 60 minute standby line and got on in 5 minutes. The single rider line worked great here!

After Splash Mountain I was hungry as a bear, so I went to the Hungry Bear Restaurant in nearby Westernland.

I got my first taste of Katsu Curry (Pork Cutlet Curry) in Japan with a Mets Grapefruit soda. It was so good and 1280 Yen (under $11) for everything. I recommend a quick serve meal here when visiting Tokyo Disneyland.

Big Thunder Mountain was nearby the Hungry Bear Restaurant and was about to reopen from a breakdown when I was done with dinner so I got in line. A few minutes later the ride reopened and the line started moving and I got on in 15 minutes. I liked this version of BTMR a bit more than the CA version.

Time to say bye to Walt Disney, Mickey, and the castle for now.

Time to go to the outside World again, but at least its still Japan.

Easter in June!

Tokyo Disneyland Hotel looks great at night.

Here are the ticket prices for 2015. With the exchange rate of about 120 Yen to the USD, admission is substantially cheaper than the US Disney parks. The Starlight Passport isn't listed here but its slightly more than the After 6 Passport.

Daisy holding up a basket full of eggs.

Checking out the hotel really quick.

A few of the Easter eggs wound up here.

The Tokyo Disneyland Monorail Station right in front of the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. A short walk to the right is the JR station where I'm headed to get back to my room for the night.

Since I couldn't have a beer at Tokyo Disneyland, I'm having one in my room at the Kurumi Weekly Mansion to end off the night.

Exiting through a covered World Bazaar instead of a Main Street.

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report! It'll be different experiencing the California style Space Mountain minus the on-board audio, but fortunately for us it will be open for the entirety of the trip. The only coaster we miss at Disney is Gadget's Go Coaster.