Guangzhou to Tokyo, Japan - Day 32

May 27, 2015

The day my sister and I set off on our journey to explore Japan. The airline we took was "Southern China," and our departure to Tokyo was at 9AM-10AM? thus we had to be there at ~7:30am. We woke up around 6:30am and met up with the complimentary airport bus provided by the hotel at 7AM? While me and my sister's flight to Japan was at 9am, my mother's flight back to Vancouver was at 1 pm, so she had to spend 7-8 hours at the airport... 

Once we got to the airport, we checked in our luggage but my mother can't check in hers cause they told her her luggage can only be checked in 3 hours before departure. Well, it just that she has 2 gigantic luggage that stuffed till it met the maximum weight allowance combined with one smaller luggage to bring on board and her purse. She would have to guard all those luggage by herself once we leave.

My sister and I waited at the airport with my mother for as long as we could so that she doesn't have to be alone for 5+ hours. During our time at the airport I got another stomachache, lucky me, and I had diarrhea twice at the airport. Why lucky? Well, the airport had a clean modern toilet and I did not get on the plane yet. The toilet at the outside waiting area seems to be more modern than the one's at boarding area.

Once it was time to go through security, we waved good-bye to my mother and headed to the security check area. My heart was definitely pumping as I was so excited to go to the anime land, Japan!

The flight from Guangzhou airport to Narita International airport wasn't that long, perhaps ~5 hours? And we had lunch provided too! My sister and I was so tired that we both fell asleep and when we woke up we found tissues and a utensil package on our lap??? The attendant must've threw it over to us cause it was a three person-seater and me and my sister was sitting on the inside. For lunch, you get to choose between 2 options, either beef or fish with rice. The fruits tasted very bland- very dry and the noodle is bland too.

 Too bad I didn't choose this one, it looks pretty good. It's mixed with egg too!!

Almost landing time in Japan.- even the sky looks different in Japan vs. China.

Arrival time 2:40PM. Once we got off the plane, we followed the crowd and arrived at the baggage claim area. Before heading towards customs, apparently you are supposed to fill out an arrival form. Yup, and there is a very nice Japanese woman who is on standby to help you, if you need help filling it. 

Once that is done, you need to go through customs and the custom guy who I interacted with was pretty cute-  perhaps young mid-twenty year old man. He asked me what I was doing in Japan and I thought about it and told him shopping and sight-seeing. I was a bit nervous so I stuttered a bit, but he was nice about it and let me through. On the other hand, my sister got her luggage checked and looked through... 

Once we went through customs, we were officially in Japan and first thing to do was to get the free-wifi card,  a map and some tourist information. There are many hotspots in Tokyo that you can use the login ID and password that you were given at the airport and this is only provided to travelers outside of Japan. We had to look for the "NTT" booth in the airport in order to get cards. Once we got the card we had to buy a IC card -either a "pasmo" or "suica" card to take the train so we opted for pasmo. So basically you insert some money into the pasmo card and then you can just scan it in at train station or bus and it'll automatically deduct money from your card based on your distance.

After we got everything ready we headed down to the train station and took the cheapest and longest route out of the airport towards the Tokyo. The Tokyo train system/map needs some getting used to. At first you will be all confused but once you get used to it, it's fairly easy to navigate. We took the Keisei Main line to get to Nippori station (¥1025) and then transferred to the JR Yamanote Line to Ikebukuro Station (¥170), so that trip took almost 2 hours to get to the hotel. I wore short shorts and a t-shirt that day and I realized it wasn't as hot as in China when I was in Japan, and people on the train was in jeans, pants, long sleeves...awkward... and nobody talked while riding the train. Also, it was neat seeing all the businessmen wearing suits (a whole lot) and the students in their Japanese uniforms which I've only seen on TV or manga.

While on the train, perhaps 15 minutes into the ride, every time the train announces the next stop, me and my sister would check where we are on the map, BUT almost all of the stop they announced wasn't there. It gave us a fright, so for the next half hour+ we just sat there not knowing if we were on the right train. Well, it ended up we were on the right train, perhaps they didn't want to list all the stops because Narita is so far away from Tokyo and it's a waste of space?

Once we got off at Nippori and transferred line, it was hectic cause it was during rush hour. We had to stand with our luggage to the side and we had to move our luggage every time somebody needs to get off. So once we got to Ikebukuro station, we got off and followed the people to the outside world. Once outside the station, whoa,  so exited, everything looks so pretty- people, buildings, ads, everything! We followed our map and GPS to the hotel, but we actually went past the hotel cause it was hidden, so we walked back and forth dragging our luggage and then a nice office lady (I assume, cause her attire was very business like) asked us where we are going and we showed her the map and she guided us to the hotel. Everybody in Japan seemed so helpful and they will try to converse with you in English too.

We chose to stay at "Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro" cause it was close to the station and it was one of the most affordable option to stay in Tokyo. 

The hotel has a 24 hour breakfast/dinning area downstairs so you actually see a lot of businessmen and students eating here morning and night. It is also quite lively at night. The check-in process was relatively simple, they go through the rules with you, gives you a slip of paper with the WiFi I.d. and password and they also gave us "two paper room card" which is actually very cool cause it's paper yet you can slip it inside the lock to unlock it- plus the cards are yours to keep as a suvienor. Our room was at one of the upper levels, perhaps on the 8th level.

Pros and Cons
Positive:
- has a window
- AC, fridge, private washroom, table, TV
- close to Ikebukuro station (5-10 minutes walk)
- free toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo and soap
- free wifi
- slippers and yukatas provided
- can get breakfast for 350 yen (though it is only soup, bread and tea - unlimited)
- room key card as souvenir

Cons:
- small room
- one twin bed 
- cramped washroom with low ceiling
- no complimentary water or tea
- cannot get wifi signal in our room so had to go to the lobby
- computers at the lobby but have to pay for every 15 minutes of use
- no daily maintenance of room

The room cost $77.76 CND per day x 5 days and we pre-booked and pre-paid this 2 months before arrival.

An idea of the amount of space you have in the room - my sister and I had to share this tiny bed and we have to fight and tug for the covers at night

Bathroom - super low ceiling and super cramped toilet/changing area (it's like HK)

After unpacking our stuff walked back to Ikebukuro station because near there was Sunshine city, a major shopping area. By the time we reached there it was almost closing time for the mall. It was around 6-6:30PM already and they closes at 7PM? A lot of clothing there are very cute but can't buy due to my low budget. Luckily we stumbled upon a shop that were selling some cute clothing and there was a sale going on. As I was spinning through the rack, I spotted some cute cardigans and I thought the price was wrong cause it said ¥380 and my sister clarified it with the store keeper and it was indeed ¥380. We thought it was perhaps ¥38000 or something. LOL.The sales girl was so nice and cute, like a model, once we paid she carried our shopping bag and then handled it to us directly and proceeded bow. I wanted to look some more but the shop was closing. 

And here are the ¥380 cardigans:

I feel a bit regretful that I didn't take any pictures of how "Sunshine City" looks like cause it's so pretty at night. There's neon lights everywhere! There's lots of arcade, malls, shops, brands everywhere, anime stores, bookstores, just about everything!

And then for dinner we went back to Ikebukuro station to grab something to eat. The onigiri not to good..

And the loot for the day at the mall and nearby convenience stores....

The Calbee fries sticks didn't taste good at all, so I don't know what the rave about this was. The fettuccine gummi - grape taste quite good, not too sweet and it doesn't stick to your teeth too (I must buy this again, if I go back!). The Meji Apollo chocolate taste okay, taste like regular chocolate with a strawberry smell.
And the Meji Macadamia chocolate taste pretty good, but I would say Hawaiian Sun macadamia chocolate taste better.

First day in Japan over.