May – June 2023 Japan Trip (Day 10-13)

Day 10 - Nikko Nikko Ni

5 June, 三河島 -> 日光 -> 三河島

I’m not sorry for the title.

As mentioned before, we would be visiting other prefectures for these three days (Day 10-12). We would be leaving on the morning of Day 13, so we wouldn’t go anywhere on that day (in fact, we would be staying in the airport).

As the title suggested, we would be visiting Nikko / Nikkō (日光) on Day 10.

For the mode of transport, we would be taking the Shinkansen to visit other prefectures. The Shinkansen was pretty expensive. However, that was when the JR TOKYO Wide Pass came in handy: it included 3 days of unlimited travel on trains and Shinkansen (for the areas covered), for around 10000 yen. It saved a considerable amount of money (for reference, a one-way trip to Nikko would cost around 5000 yen). The places we wanted to visit were all covered, so we didn’t have to worry about the pass not covering the locations.

We arrived at Ueno, the closest Shinkansen station, and from there we took the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya (宇都宮), located at Tochigi (栃木県).

We had a very brief tour of Utsunomiya, and we also looked around the shops inside the station. Tochigi is known for its strawberries, so there are a lot of strawberry-related foods. There’s even a big model of strawberry located in the station. I considered buying some of the strawberry-related food as souvenirs but didn’t do so - I could do that later in the trip. Instead, I bought a chocolate banana cake as I was feeling hungry.

We took the Nikko line. Even though Nikko was also in Tochigi, it was still very far away, being around 40 km away from Utsunomiya. The entire journey from Utsunomiya to Nikko took a whole hour, but we finally reached Nikko.

After arriving at Nikko, we had our first problem. The locations in Nikko are far apart, so they are primarily connected by Tobu Bus. Similar to the one-day pass for Tokyo metro or JR, two-day passes are available for Tobu Bus (we have only reserved a single day for Nikko though). There were three different tiers of two-day passes. Some would only take you near the lower area of Nikko, but others would take you deeper into Nikko.

Some locations we wanted to visit were only covered by the most expensive tier, but the rest was covered by the middle-tier pass. However, the prices weren’t cheap: the most expensive one would cost 3500 yen, but the middle one would only cost 2300 yen.

We left the problem aside and headed off for lunch instead. I found an udon restaurant named Yamaroku. It wasn’t far away, and it had good ratings on Google Maps (4.3, which is pretty high), so we visited there.

The restaurant was traditional and seemed to be run by a family. When we entered the restaurant, we needed to take our shoes off and put them on the shelf. There were shoe horns, but we didn’t use them. The interior of the restaurant was traditionally styled as well. Handwritten tablets with menu items were hung on the wall. We were also brought to a horigotatsu, a sunken table on a recessed floor (and it was the only table that was big enough for a group of five).

The menu was written entirely in Japanese - not a problem, we understood some of the words there. A great thing was that there were oyakodon (親子丼), something I wanted to have in Japan for both of the trips, but never had the chance to.

While we were ordering food, something funny happened. I told the staff what we wanted: two yakiniku don sets, two oyakodon sets, and an oyakodon, and I raised my fingers to show the amount. It worked fine for the sets, but when I reached the oyakodon, I said に (two) while raising 1 finger only. Confusion arose, and I corrected it immediately.

I couldn’t count, but thankfully, only one oyakodon (and four sets) showed up.

I went with a oyakodon set, which also came with a bowl of tanuki udon (this was an udon shop after all). I was very surprised by the large size of the oyakodon and the udon, for its incredibly low price of 750 yen. Moreover, both the udon and the oyakodon tasted great. For the udon, the soup was nice, the noodles were tasty. The oyakodon was also delicious. It’s a brilliant meal for such a low price.

After finishing the meal, we headed back to the ticket vendor machine. We decided to buy the middle-tier pass, and we would work out the details for the inaccessible locations later in the trip.

There were a couple of possible solutions: the most straightforward was to walk a couple of kilometres to reach there, and then walk back.

For our return trip, we could also take a bus until we reached a stop that was included in our two-day pass, and we pay the cost for the segment. Then, we could:

• Tell the bus driver about the pass and hope that the driver lets us stay on the bus
• Alight and board the same bus again
• Wait for the next bus.

We started with the shrines in Nikko, which are a World Heritage Site. There were numerous shrines in Nikko, but we only had enough time to visit a couple of the biggest ones.

We arrived at Shinkyo Bridge (神橋), which was at the very front of the shrines in Nikko. It was also when I realised that virtually every attraction in Nikko was paid: to cross the Shinkyo Bridge, you need to pay a fee. However, if you want to take a picture of the bridge, you should do the exact opposite: you would want to take the picture on a different bridge, and this was what we did.

Along the way, we visited Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺). To visit the inside of the shrine, we had to pay a fee, so we didn’t go inside. We also saw a lot of students from primary schools, and they were having an organised tour around Nikko as well.

We walked further in and visited Toshogu (東照宮). It was also the resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu. and we took some more pictures of the area surrounding the shrine.

Finally, we reached Futarasan Jinja (二荒山神社). We had a tour around the shrine. The Futarasan Jinja was a dead end, so we turned back and exited the shrines from a different path.

Even though we did not visit the insides of the shrines, the view along the path to the shrines was great.

We took a bus, and coincidentally, it was the same bus driver we saw earlier. The bus must have made a lap around Nikko while we were touring the shrines.

We arrived at our next destination: Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park. We were supposed to visit it, but we didn’t do that: it was priced, there were only a few tourists, and we didn’t have enough time. We ended up making a quick tour of its entrance, and we headed elsewhere.

Next, we reached Kegon Falls (華厳の滝), a famous waterfall in Japan. However, before visiting the waterfall, we had a tour of the shop nearby. We bought some souvenirs: I bought some food, and Bosco bought a postcard of the waterfall. and we also found a mascot (?) of the waterfall, named Yubakoro-kun (ゆばコロくん).

The waterfall was very tall, and we could admire it from the top. However, we could also view it near a platform at the bottom, with an entrance fee of 570 yen. While it wasn’t a small fee (especially compared to Miraikan), I still felt that it was worth the price to see the waterfall at a better angle, and to also take some photos. Most of us decided to take the elevator to the platform. Ming Hin, on the other hand, decided to stay behind and wait for us at the top.

The elevator led to a cold, moist tunnel, and the tunnel led to the waterfall. As mentioned in Day 1, I didn’t bring a jacket. Thomas had an extra jacket, so he lent one of his jackets to me. The waterfall was certainly more impressive when viewed from the platform, and there were occasional splashes as well. I took some photos of the waterfall, and we asked someone to take a group photo for us.

There were a couple of shops located at the platform. I was a bit hungry, so I bought a Tochigi strawberry bouchee from the shop, and a milk tea from a vending machine at the platform. We also saw the kids previously encountered at the shrines, and I guess we had a similar schedule. Our schedule was about to take a different turn, however.

We met up with Ming Hin at the top of the waterfall. Thomas bought an ice cream and I had a bite of it. We also had a conversation with foreign tourists who understood our language (I believe that they were from Singapore/Malaysia, but I could be wrong), and it was pretty cool. After that, we worked on the final part of our trip.

Kegon Falls was the furthest we could reach using the two-day pass*. For the other locations, such as Ryuzu Falls (竜頭の滝) and Senjugahama (千手ヶ浜), we would either need to pay for the bus, or we could get there on foot. Ming Hin wanted to hike, and Ryuzu Falls was the only one that we could feasibly walk to and from. So, we decided to hike all the way to Ryuzu Falls.

*Technically, Chuzenji Onsen Bus Terminal was the furthest stop we could ride to, but it was pretty close to Kegon Falls anyway.

Ryuzu Falls was around 5.5 km away. We followed a trail next to National Route 120, which went around Lake Chuzenji (中禅寺湖). Even though I was a bit reluctant to walk, I still enjoyed hiking, and it’s been a pretty enjoyable experience.

We played some music during the hike. There were a couple of tourists along the way, but we passed them relatively quickly. The paths were mostly wood and gravel, but there were also undeveloped sections. I really liked this feeling of stepping on the barely-formed dirt path: paths are made by walking, and we were helping with making the paths. There were also a lot of mosquitos, and Ming Hin was completely defeated by them. Tommy and I were wearing shorts: maybe that wasn’t a good idea.

We also saw a lot of things while surrounding the lake: fishermen, some wooden houses in the middle of nowhere, large drain pipes, and of course, the beautiful view that the hike offered to us.

After about an hour of hiking, we finally reached Ryuzu Falls. The waterfall stretched into the horizontal direction (instead of vertically), so it may not look as stunning as the Kegon Falls. It’s still a pretty cool twin-waterfall though. The waterfall would look more beautiful in the autumn, with all the coloured leaves. It would also be great if we could walk along the Ryuzu Falls. However, it was 6pm, and we didn’t have much time, so we took some pictures and got ready to leave.

We were walking towards the bus stop when a bus passed us: we managed to miss the second-to-last bus. The final bus would only arrive at 19:43, around an hour and a half later. It would be dumb to wait at the bus stop for 1.5 hours straight, so we decided to walk back to the Chuzenji Onsen Bus Terminal. We weren’t worried about being too slow, as the bus also had to travel between the waterfall and the bus terminal, giving us some extra time.

We started walking downhill. I was in the lead, so I sat on a fence while waiting for others to come. But then my balance was off, I fell off the fence and fell in a ditch. Thankfully, I didn’t fall head-first. I also landed on my backpack, which helped absorb the impact.

I got some scratches near my wrist, my arm, and my back. Thomas said that he had a first aid kit - in the apartment, which wouldn’t help for the current scenario. We ended up using the mineral water I bought earlier for some basic cleaning, and then I used some tissue to help with blood clotting. It isn’t great, but that’s what you have to live with if you get hurt in the middle of nowhere, without a first aid kit.

We walked along the road for National Route 120 - not taking the dirt path this time. It was getting dark, but we got to enjoy some more beautiful night views.

We reached the Chuzenji Onsen Bus Terminal somewhat early. There was a waiting room with long benches, and we sat there to wait for the bus. I was a bit hungry, so I had some almonds (I carried a bag of almonds throughout the entire trip). The bus arrived at around 8pm, and we did not miss it (we even made sure to come out of the waiting room in advance).

We passed the Irohazaka Slope on our way downhill, which had 48 sharp bends (one for each phoneme in Japanese). As a result, the bus was really shaky while passing the hairpins. It was also subjected to pilgrimage: the road was popular for Buddhist pilgrims on their way to Lake Chuzenji, and the road also made its appearance in Initial D.

We reached Nikko station. We still had around 20 minutes before the train would arrive. We rushed our way to a 7-Eleven nearby: we decided to get our dinner from there, and we couldn’t afford to miss the train either - the service was hourly.

Most of us picked our choice for dinner quickly: I bought spaghetti (and so did a couple of others), and the staff microwaved them for us. Thomas didn’t seem to be worried about missing the train though: he was really slow.

We ran back to the station, and we didn’t miss the train. That’s great news.

Others were having their dinner on the train (there were only a couple of passengers nearby so I think it’s okay, though I wouldn’t eat on a commuter train). On the other hand, Ming Hin and I chose to have our dinner at the Shinkansen. I was a bit hungry, but I wanted a better dining environment, and I didn’t really want to disturb other passengers.

We arrived at Utsunomiya after an hour (yeah, Nikko was really far away), where we took the Shinkansen to Ueno. I had my spaghetti on my way there. The spaghetti was still lukewarm after an hour, which was good. There were some ingredients, and the noodles weren’t bad for a meal below 400 yen.

We took the train back to our apartment, and I disinfected my wounds. It was also at that point we discovered that the iodine solution had expired by 1.5 years. I ended up using boiled water for disinfection instead.

Anyways, as per usual, we sat around the table and talked a bit. Thomas helped me disinfect the wounds, and I cleaned it again after the bath. Even though there was a wound at my back, it wasn’t too uncomfortable, and I was still able to have a nice sleep for the night.

Day 11 - Chasing the Train

6 June: 三河島 -> 高崎 -> 桐生 -> 足利 -> 小山 -> 新宿 -> 三河島

Before our visit to Japan, we discovered something funny: there was a mountain called Fujiyama, or 富士山 when written in Kanji. In fact, the name in kanji is exactly the same as Mount Fuji. However, the mountain was much shorter than Mount Fuji, and much easier to climb to the top. We joked about visiting the mountain and marked it on our map.

Fujiyama happened to be close to the locations we would be visiting today, so that was another joke that had become a reality. Of course, Fujiyama wasn’t our only focus of the day. There were also a number of locations around Gunma (群馬県) and Tochigi for us to visit.

There was a slight problem: earlier on Day 5, Thomas pre-ordered a pair of wireless earphones, and he had to visit Akihabara to pick them up in the morning. The solution was simple: since Akihabara wasn’t too far away from Ueno, Thomas could visit Akihabara early in the morning, while we would head to Takasaki (高崎) directly via Shinkansen. After he collected the earphones, he would head to Takasaki on his own, and we would meet up with him at the station.

If you have been following the blog, you should have realised this by now that Thomas is a procrastinator. He has the habit of acting at the latest possible moment, and today was no exception. He left the apartment 3 minutes before the train arrived, and he almost missed the train.

While Thomas was picking his earphones in Akihabara, we left the apartment and boarded the train to Ueno. He collected the earphones, and also boarded a train shortly after. Both of us were heading towards Ueno station at the same time, but we were slightly faster. As a result, while the rest of us managed to get on the Shinkanesen, Thomas barely missed the bullet train. Fortunately for him, there was another Shinkansen heading to Takasaki. The train was only 8 minutes behind, so he could still get to Takasaki relatively fast. If Thomas also missed the second train, however, he would have to wait for 40 minutes.

Peter reminded us to buy two CDs for him (we almost entirely forgot about that). I checked if there were any Tower Records along the way, and there happened to be one for Takasaki, which we were heading towards. Thus, we decided to visit the record store along the way and buy them there. Thomas and I were also interested in buying CDs, and we could get some along the way.

After about 40 minutes, we arrived at Takasaki.

While we were on the train, I checked for arcades nearby. There was an arcade near the Takasaki station, with some CHUNITHM cabinets inside. Thomas still hadn’t arrived at Takasaki, so we decided to head to the arcade and wait for him there. Along the way, Ming Hin, who couldn’t live without breakfast, bought food in a convenience store nearby.

I got the title for visiting Gunma, and an additional title for visiting 5 prefectures. Not a bad start.

Thomas finally arrived at Takasaki, and he met up with us in the arcade. He seemed to be quite interested in the collaboration event between CHUNITHM and Bocchi the Rock!, but since he did not own an Aime card, he had made no progress at all.

It could be due to his recent interest in rhythm games (he started playing Arcaea - another rhythm game - in Japan), or it could be due to his love of Bocchi the Rock! and the wish to collect all the main characters. Somehow, he was convinced to buy an Aime card to save his progress. He could finally make progress in the collaboration event.

I walked him through the process of setting up a new Aime card, and I taught him some of the basic features in CHUNITHM. After that, he played a couple rounds of CHUNITHM and collected Hitori, the easiest character to collect. Three to go.

After that, we headed off for lunch. We found a restaurant called Royal Curry, which sold Japanese curry (not to be confused with the other shop which sold Indian curry).

I ordered an extra-large beef curry set. The serving was very large, and there was a lot of curry. I liked the texture of the curry, which was somewhat thick and mushy. A lot of beef was added to the curry, and the curry was pretty delicious. The salad was dressed with a homemade-sauce and it was decent. The drink was also okay. Overall, it was a great meal.

We sat for a bit more. Then, we moved on to the Takasaki City Hall. There was an observatory at the top of the buildings, and it provided a good view of Takasaki and its surrounding landscape.

The ruins of Takasaki castle could also be found nearby. Most of the castle was destroyed, and only a tiny portion of Takasaki castle remained. As a result, there wasn’t much to explore, and we finished touring the remains quickly.

We walked towards the Takasaki station. Tower Records was located in a building directly opposite to the station, so it was pretty close to the station. Meanwhile, Bosco wanted to buy some souvenirs near the station.

However, there was a problem. After visiting Takasaki, we would be taking the Ryōmō Line (両毛線), and the train would be leaving in 15 minutes. The next train would only arrive after an hour, so we could not afford to miss the train. Fifteen minutes wasn’t a lot of time, and we had to be fast with our moves. Therefore, we decided to split up: Bosco and Tommy headed for souvenirs, and the rest of us visited Tower Records.

The shop was much smaller than that in Ikebukuro. We still managed to find the CDs in the shop though - they were literally placed right next to the cashier. Right next to the discs, there was a standee of the lead guitarist. There were also a bunch of cable ties placed right next to the CDs, representing the members in the band, which was pretty cool.

Actually, only two of the three albums from Kessoku Band could be found in the shop. We asked Peter if he wanted the remaining one, and he wasn’t interested in it.

However, there was another problem: I couldn’t find the tax-free logo anywhere in the store. I asked the cashier, and they told me that it wasn’t a tax-free shop. Not all Tower Records stores have tax refunds. Tax-free Tower Records can only be found in tourist attractions, like Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro, and this is also true for a lot of stores. Besides, not every record store chain provides tax refunds. For example, animate isn’t a tax-free store.

Even though Peter didn’t mind not having tax refunds, we had spent too much time back-and-forth with Peter, and we didn’t have enough time to select and buy the CDs. As a result, we decided to buy the discs in Shinjuku (which was a tax-free shop) later in the trip, and we won’t be procrastinating this time.

After deciding to buy the discs later, we needed to catch the train in Takasaki. I confirmed with Bosco that we would be taking the Ryōmō Line (両毛線), and we sprinted to the station. We managed to board the train right before it left the station.

We needed to add Shinjuku to our schedule. There were two choices: visiting it at night or in the morning. The store in Shinjuku opens at 11:00 and closes at 22:00. The store opens way too late in the morning, and we would waste a lot of time. So, we would have to visit the shop at night. However, that meant that we needed to be careful with our time management, in order to arrive at Shinjuku before it closed. I was still planning the trip when I realised that I made a wrong assumption: we would be taking Shinkansen in Oyama station (小山駅), not Takasaki. This didn’t bring much change to the schedule, though.

We reached Kiryū (桐生). There wasn’t much to see in Kiryū, and the only reason we came here was for Fujiyama. We probably won’t be visiting Fujiyama if it wasn’t along the Ryōmō Line. However, I didn’t expect this visit to Fujiyama to be one of the more interesting parts of the trip.

To reach Fujiyama, we need to take the Jōmō Line (上毛線) at Kiryū. Jōmō Line was a local train, and we couldn’t use our JR Pass or Suica here. Instead, there is an alternative system for transportation payment that does not involve IC cards. While we had no knowledge of the fare system, we saw a ticket machine nearby, and we guessed that we needed to buy a ticket there. We got a ticket to Fujiyama, and we boarded the train. While we were on the train, I looked up on the Internet to figure out how the system works.

A lot of the transportation in Japan used a ticket-based system for payment. When you board a vehicle, you should get a numbered ticket from a box. At the end of your journey, you need to use the numbered ticket to determine the fare, which is shown in a display. After that, you throw the fare and the ticket inside the fare box. If you don’t have enough coins, there’s also a changing machine for you to get some change. For the Jōmō Line, some stations are also serviced by ticket machines, and you can buy tickets there instead. At the end of the trip, you throw the ticket into the fare box instead.

This system may not seem to be intuitive at first glance: I saw on the news that some tourists didn’t understand the system. They didn’t take the numbered ticket, and it caused a lot of nuances when alighting. However, after having an understanding of the system, it wasn’t too complex to use, and this knowledge had proved to be useful again later in the trip.

We successfully took a train to Fujiyama without being yelled at. There wasn’t much to see in Fujiyama. It’s a grass knoll with a funny name, and that’s it. We did a short hike up the hill, we took some photos, and we took the train back to Kiryū.

For the return trip, we stood around the fare box, but we were told by the driver to pay the fare to the people servicing the station, which was something only exclusive to stations being serviced by staff (Fujiyamashita-eki, on the other hand, was entirely empty).

Even if the hill was a cheap one-off joke, the journey was full of surprises, and I learnt something new as well.

Next, we visited Ashikaga, which was actually located in Tochigi: we went from Gunma to Tochigi. There was a water fountain right outside the Ashikaga station, and a sign introducing the underground water in Ashikaga. I gave it a try, and it certainly tasted fresher than the water fountain in Odaiba.

We walked to Ashikaga Gakko (足利学校), the oldest standing school in Japan. The school practised Confucianism, so a temple of Confucius could also be found in the school. It would be great if we could visit the interior of the school, but by the time we arrived at the school, it had already closed. We could only take pictures of its exterior and a statue of Confucius located right outside the front door.

Next, we headed off to Ashikaga Orihime-jinja (足利織姫神社), a shrine where couples would go and pray for good fortune. The shrine was also located on a hill, and it provided a good view over Ashikaga. We took a couple of pictures there.

A train would be arriving at Ashikaga station, and we were 1.5 km from Ashikaga. Once again, we hurried back to Ashikaga station (as you can see, there is a trend of us catching trains). This time we had adequate time: we were much earlier than the train, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. It served as a good exercise too, but it made me tired and covered in sweat.

We boarded the train and headed directly to Oyama station. Ashikaga was far away from Oyama, so we could have a rest during the ride. In the meantime, we also discussed where we should have dinner. As we needed to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo, we didn’t have much time for dinner. Someone suggested having Lotteria, a fast food restaurant, and we settled on it.

After arriving at Oyama, we headed to Lotteria. I wanted a cheeseburger, and it was possible to order a set instead. However, I found the set section of the menu too confusing: I couldn’t figure out what was included in a set, and there were prices written everywhere. I ended up only ordering a cheeseburger. The cheeseburger was okay, but I forgot to take a picture of it, and it certainly wasn’t filling. Maybe I should spend more time understanding the menu.

We finished the meal, and we boarded the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. There were two reasons why we decided to ride all the way to Tokyo instead of Ueno: Tokyo was closer to Shinjuku, and Bosco wanted to walk around in Tokyo to buy some stuff.

After arriving in Tokyo, we split up: Thomas and I headed to Shinjuku, while others walked around in Tokyo.

Thomas and I took the Chūō Line (中央線) and finally reached Shinjuku. Tower Records was located at the southeast exit, but we exited at the south exit.. Therefore, we had to enter the station and exit it from the correct side. We had the JR Pass though, so that’s an extra 150 yen saved.

It was raining outside. Fortunately, Tower Records was right next to the exit, and we reached the store without getting wet. Tower Records in Shinjuku has only two floors, compared to nine floors in Shibuya. However, sometimes discs that could not be found in Shibuya could be found in Shinjuku, which also makes it a good place for buying discs. This wasn’t a concern for the discs that Peter intended to buy though: it could be found in literally every store.

We finally got the discs for Peter. Thomas and I also picked a disc as well, making it a total of four discs. However, the discs that Thomas and I picked were the same as one of Peter’s, so three of the discs were actually the same. I ended up taking three copies of the same disc and Peter’s other disc to the cashier (the cashier must’ve been confused). As Tower Records in Shinjuku was a tax-free store, I asked for a tax refund. The staff scanned my passport, and then I got my refund. It was a smooth process.

Thomas wanted to play more CHUNITHM: he wanted to collect all four characters, so we headed to an arcade nearby. It was also at that point when I decided to finish the entire collaboration event with Bocchi the Rock!, and I started making progress in the in-game map again.

We played until the arcade was about to close: you can’t insert more credits 15 minutes before the arcade closes. Both of us had made a lot of progress: Thomas was about 80% to collecting Ryo, and I only needed one more game to collect the first nameplate (there were two in total).

We left the arcade and went back to the apartment. According to Bosco, most shops in Tokyo had closed when we reached Tokyo, so they had already returned to the apartment.

A few days prior, Thomas and Bosco discovered an AEON and a 7-Eleven near Mikawashima station. My mum asked me to buy some food, so we decided to visit them and see if we could find any of the food (we didn’t). The dinner we had earlier wasn’t enough, so I bought an ice cream and a pack of sushi. After that, we went back to the apartment and I had the midnight snacks. Finally, I was no longer hungry.

This was also our last night of staying in the apartment. After this night, we would have to carry the luggage with us until the end of the trip. Honestly, it has been a very fun experience to live with everyone together. There were a lot more wiggle room when compared to a hotel, and we could even all sit around a table in the second apartment. It was also easier to have a discussion as everyone was living in the same place. We also had more equipment compared to a hotel room, and in the case of the second apartment, a kitchen and a laundry. The price was also pretty low as we could split the bill. Overall, it was a cool experience.

Day 12 - Set in Stone

7 June, 三河島 -> 宇都宮 -> 大谷 -> 宇都宮 -> 上野 -> 羽田空港

This was our last complete day in Japan. After that, we would leave Japan on the morning of Day 13.

For our last day, our main focus was Utsunomiya (宇都宮), a place we passed on Day 10. However, there were also a couple of things we wanted to do before leaving Japan: Bosco wanted to visit a location in Oyama which appeared in a music video, Thomas and I wanted to finish up the Bocchi the Rock! collaboration event in CHUNITHM. Thus, on the night before, we made some tweaks to the schedule:

• Bosco, Thomas and I would be leaving the apartment earlier than Tommy and Ming Hin.
• We would be taking the Shinkansen at 8:30, which passed through both Oyama and Utsunomiya. Bosco would alight at Oyama for sightseeing, while Thomas and I would visit Utsunomiya to play CHUNITHM.
• Ming Hin and Tommy would take the Shinkansen at 10:42.
• When all of us had finished our tasks, everyone would meet up in Utsunomiya, and then we would tour the area.

It was also our last night in the apartment, so we needed to carry our belongings with us until the end of the trip. We decided to lock our suitcases in Ueno, and we would retrieve them after the visit to Utsunomiya.

Since we would be leaving very early in the morning, we wouldn’t have much time to pack our stuff. Thus, I decided to pack my belongings in advance, and I put most of my personal items inside my suitcase. I also moved my discs from the living room to my personal table, as I didn’t want to accidentally leave them in the apartment.

When we woke up, I packed all my remaining items inside my suitcase. I don’t trust the group crew in the airport, so I put all my foodstuff and souvenirs in a shopping bag, and I put my CDs and laptop inside my backpack. I also double-checked to make sure that I didn’t leave anything in the apartment. Despite my best effort, I still left my white towel in the hotel, and didn’t realise it until I left Japan.

Everything went according to my plan: I finished packing all my stuff quickly, and we should’ve had adequate time to board the train.

However, I forgot about Thomas.

We left the apartment 3 minutes before the train arrived, carrying our suitcases and rushing towards the train station. We didn’t make it.

It could be attributed to two reasons. Firstly, Bosco took the elevator, and the elevator was incredibly slow. It was so slow that Bosco arrived at the platform after the train had left the station. Secondly, there were also a lot of people who went to work or school at that time. Our suitcases were big, and we failed to board the train even though Thomas and I arrived a bit earlier than the train.

However, the real reason was probably because we left the apartment way too late. I’m an advocate of being early: while I was planning our schedule for Tower Records in Shinjuku, I planned to arrive 45 minutes before the store closes, even though we knew what we would be purchasing. And then there’s Thomas, who suggested that 15 minutes was enough.

Anyways, we took the next train to Ueno. We were running at this point: we sprinted to the lockers located at the station, we locked our luggage quickly, and we rushed to the platform. However, while we were still running towards the platform, the train had already left. This wasn’t a problem for Thomas and me, as there was another train to Utsunomiya that would arrive very soon. On the other hand, Bosco would have to wait for about 50 minutes for the next train that stops at Oyama. As a result, while Thomas and I were heading to Utsunomiya, Bosco decided to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo (which wasn’t much faster than taking a normal train) and had breakfast, and then waited for the train there.

Thomas and I arrived at Utsunomiya. We decided to have some breakfast before playing CHUNITHM, so we headed to a udon shop inside the station. I ordered a udon without any toppings (I wasn’t too hungry at that point, I just wanted something to eat), and the udon was decent. Thomas ordered a cold soba, which actually came separately with the sauce. However, Thomas did something shocking: he poured the sauce on the noodles directly (you were supposed to dip the noodles in the sauce).

After the meal, we headed to the arcade nearby to play CHUNITHM. Thomas and I wanted to finish the event as quickly as possible (as we didn’t know how long we could stay in the arcade), so we used “x2 progress ticket”, which allows you to progress faster by inserting more credits. In the end, both of us completed our goals: Thomas managed to collect all four characters, and I collected all nameplates and completed the entire collaboration event. Since we were playing in a new prefecture, we also got the title for visiting Tochigi. While playing the game, I also got all perfect (or “All Justice”) on the two Bocchi the Rock! songs as well, which gave me two more titles.

*Requirements for titles from top to bottom:

• Seishun Complex Master difficulty All Justice
• Playing CHUNITHM in Tochigi
• FIRE BIRD Master difficulty Rank SS
• Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet Master difficulty All Justice

There was an ice cream vending machine, and I bought a cookie-and-cream ice cream.

Tommy and Ming Hin were still having lunch when we finished the collaboration event. Meanwhile, Bosco missed yet another Shinkansen in Oyama due to some complicated reasons, and he would have lunch on his way to Utsunomiya. So, I played some more CHUNITHM and collected the characters from In/Spectre as well (as there was also an ongoing collaboration event with In/Spectre). I also played a round of “battle mode” and managed to get first place.

Oh, and we saw this on our way out the arcade.

We left the arcade and met up with others at the bus stop, and we headed to Ōya (大谷).

Firstly, we visited the Ōya Temple (大谷寺), which was embedded inside a cliff. The carvings of Ōya Kannon could also be found along the side of a cliff. However, we needed to pay an entrance fee to visit the temple, and so we didn’t visit it. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t be so conservative on not paying to visit temples.

Instead, we visited the park opposite the temple. The Heiwa Kannon, a 27-metre high stone statue, can be found inside the park. It was magnificent.

Next, we walked to Oya History Museum, where the history is set in stone.

On our way to the Oya History Museum, there was a lunch menu for a restaurant nearby. Thomas and I still had not had lunch, so I was hungry. I looked at the menu, and to my surprise, I found omurice on the menu, which was something I wanted to have on our trip to Japan. While I had a great desire to have lunch there, my plan was half-serious and wasn’t set in stone. Besides, the museum would be closing soon, so the museum had priority over my lunch.

When we first entered the area, we were greeted with a giant cliff. The surface of the cliff was very flat, as if it had been cut in half, and it reminded me of a chunk error in Minecraft: a few years ago, we were all playing in a Minecraft survival world. One day, the world got corrupted, and we were greeted with chunk errors that looked exactly like that. It seemed that everyone else also felt the same, as we made the same chunk error joke three times in a row.

We visited the Oya History Museum. The Subterranean Cave had an entrance fee of 800 yen, but we still paid for it. Since the cave was underground, it was cold inside and I borrowed a jacket from Thomas. The view was magnificent: There was some soft background music and lighting inside which helped build the mystic mood inside the cave. There were all kinds of displays inside: mining tools, machines, rocks and photographs. One of the exhibits was stones of different sizes, and the stones were gigantic. However, the best part was the natural landscape of the cave itself: there were weird looking pillars inside a puddle of water, strange looking rocks, and of course, massive empty areas with very high ceilings inside the cave.

The giant cave also, once again, reminded me of playing Minecraft: whenever I finish mining a massive underground area, I always leave behind a giant empty space, and the view was magnificent. Now, I got to experience it in real life as well, with all the gloomy moods, calm background music, and the actual rocks. It was a magical journey, something that one must experience not through the screen, but in person.

We finished touring the caves, and there was still some time left before the bus arrived. Both Thomas and I still hadn’t had lunch. Thus, both of us headed towards ROCKSIDE MARKET, the restaurant I mentioned earlier on. The restaurant was still open, which was great. However, the lunch menu was available until 15:00, and it was 15:03. Well, that sucked. Despite this, I saw that people were still visiting the restaurant, and they still had not replaced the lunch menu. I was only three minutes late, and they were probably still willing to make lunch sets for customers. Even though I was a bit worried, my desire for omurice was far too great, and I asked the cashier for an omurice lunch set. They still sold lunch sets.

Ordering food was mostly smooth, but the entire drink menu was written in Japanese, and I didn’t read it beforehand. When the cashier asked me for the drink, I had to translate the menu on the fly. Fortunately, everything was written in katakana, which I knew a bit about. Orange juice was the first thing I translated, which was preferable, and I went with it.

The lunch set was the most expensive meal I had in Japan (besides Sushizanmai), but it’s also one of the best. The lunch set came with salad, soup and drink. The onion soup was delicious and seasoned well. The salad was fresh, and so was the orange juice.

Traditionally, omurice was flavoured using ketchups. This version of omurice used two different kinds of sauce instead, and the two sauces worked well with the ingredients to give it a great flavour. The colour of the omelette looked great and the omelette itself was appetising. The rice portion was also good. Overall, it was a brilliant meal.

After finishing the lunch, we headed to a bus stop nearby, and we took a bus to Futaarayama Shrine (二荒山神社, not to be confused with the one in Nikko). The bus accepted IC card payment, but Thomas, Bosco and I ran out of money in our IC cards, and we had to stick with the traditional, ticket-based system.

We had used a similar system on our visit to Fujiyama, and back then, I looked up how the system worked, so we had a basic understanding of the system. The knowledge of the system had proved to be useful again: we knew what we needed to do, and the three of us took the numbered-ticket upon boarding. I prepared the fare beforehand, so when it was time to alight, I got some change, paid the fare and alighted pretty quickly. On the other hand, Bosco and Thomas spent a lot of time paying the fare, which made the driver really annoyed.

We exited the bus and visited the shrine. There were a couple of vending machines in the shrine, but all of them were down. The water basin was also empty.

Gyoza St was nearby, and we visited it next. Utsunomiya is known for its dumplings, and a lot of the dumpling shops, including representative ones, can be found in Gyoza St. A “Gyoza” monument can also be found in Gyoza St. While it would be a good idea to have some dumplings here, it was only 4pm, and Thomas and I just had our lunch. Thus, we decided to head to a park nearby.

As a side note, we also found an Italian shop in Gyoza St, which used band/idol groups to name their pizza. It was pretty cool, except there’s neither chilli nor pepper in the “red hot chili peppers” pizza.

The park we headed to had a small zoo inside, and there were some ducks. I took a couple of photos.

While we were walking along the street, we spotted a MEGA Don Quijote, and we decided to have a tour inside.

There was a bookstore located inside the building, and we decided to explore a bit. We found a book for learning English, created by NHK. There were also a lot of programming books, and unlike most other stores, there were dedicated sections for each language.

There was also a Surugaya in the building, so we gave it a visit. There were a lot of things: figures, plushies, books and CDs. We spent some time scouring the shelves to look for interesting things. Most of us found things to buy (I found two more CDs that I’m interested in), but Tommy was probably the biggest winner out of all: he found a box of CDs that was worth 19800 yen, but had a marked price of 1200 yen. I even found something that Peter might be interested in and I sent him a message, but he hadn’t replied by the time we were ready for checkout. The store was also tax-free, so we paid together and got the tax refunds.

I needed to buy some souvenirs, so I headed to the supermarket. Meanwhile, they visited some stores nearby to look for a lock for Thomas’s luggage.

After that, it was time for dinner, so we headed to a dumplings restaurant in the basement. There were dinner sets, but it was also possible to order dumplings and other food separately. After a bunch of calculations, we determined that ordering food separately was less expensive than ordering a dinner set for each (2 extra dumplings per person), so we ordered one plate of each type of dumplings (there were ten in total), and each of us ordered a bowl of rice or noodle. For each kind of dumpling, there were six in total, but there were five of us. Each of us could have one of each type of dumpling, but we would have to determine how to split up the remaining one. In the end, we use the fairest method: randomise. There were ten plates of dumplings, so there was only one left on each plate. I used a randomiser to give two dumplings for each person.

I don’t really like dumplings for dinner, but the dumplings themselves were good. Different kinds of ingredients were also used for different ones (but I couldn’t quite distinguish them). The rice was also decent. Overall, a good, albeit chaotic dining experience.

However, when we were leaving, I was so fixated on my shopping bag that I accidentally left my backpack in the restaurant. I didn’t realise it until I went to the bathroom and came back, and Thomas was holding my backpack. All my important items were inside, and it would’ve been devastating if I lost it. Thanks, Thomas! (even though you were procrastinating a lot)

Peter finally replied: he wanted one of the CDs. So, I headed back to Surugaya and bought it for him (but without tax refunds). After that, we headed to Utsunomiya Castle Ruins Park, where the remains of Utsunomiya Castle could be found. Most of the castles were destroyed, but two castle walls and the Yagura could still be found inside the ruins. There was also a moat surrounding the area, and we could walk inside the park through a bridge.

We had a brief tour around the park, then we headed back to Utsunomiya station, where we took a train to Ueno. We also did a speed test on our way there (fun fact: the speed of the Shinkansen between Omiya and Ueno was limited to 110 km/hr due to the request of Saitama district, but raised to 130 km/hr later).

If we want to play safe, the next thing we should do is to unlock our luggage and take a train to the airport. However, there was still an hour left before the last train heading to the airport would depart. This gave us some time to tour the area between Ueno and Okachimachi (御徒町), which we didn’t visit on Day 5 (31 May).

Well, we did walk around Ueno, but we spent even more time in the toilet and 7-Eleven. It ended up being a trip to feed ourselves and buy midnight snacks. I actually saw quite a number of restaurants while walking around, and it would be a great place for having a meal. However, we had already had dinner, and it was our last day.

Maybe we had spent too much time buying food. As the time for the last train was getting closer, our pace hastened, and we were basically running when we returned to Ueno station. We quickly unlocked our luggage, and we ran towards the platform (I couldn’t believe that we were still catching the train at the end of the trip). Luckily, we were a couple of minutes ahead, and we managed to board on the Yamanote line (which actually wasn’t the last train) and we switched to Tokyo Monorail in Hamamatsucho. The train would take us to Haneda Airport, where we would spend our remaining time at.

By the way, we also found a lost iPhone while we were heading to the airport.

Day 13 - Goodbye, Japan

8 June, 羽田空港

We finally arrived at Haneda Airport, 6 hours before departure time. We found some chairs in the departure level, and we put all our luggage there.

There was a Lawson nearby, so we headed there to check out its selection of food. While I would like to buy some food there for the night (especially for its pudding), I had already bought a sandwich back in Ueno, and I’m not buying extra food before I finish my current one. There were also some drinks, but my 1L of water is enough hydration for me (and I had to finish it before going through security checks).

I finished my sandwich in the airport. Originally, my plan was to stay overnight in the airport, and if I got hungry, I would buy some food at Lawson. However, I fell asleep at around 2, and by the time I woke up, it was 4, and we could check in at the counter. Guess I didn’t get to have midnight snacks, after all.

Most of us passed the security check. However, Bosco got stuck at the security check: he, alongside Thomas, decided to carry the cosmetics they bought. While most of them were small enough to pass the security, one of them was too large, and it had to be checked in. However, all our suitcases were already checked, and Bosco couldn’t put the cosmetics in his luggage. He ended up buying a cardboard box from Lawson and putting the cosmetics inside. The box was then checked in at the counter.

We made it through security checks and waited at the boarding gate. I saw a vending machine along the way, so after we found a place to sit down, Bosco and I headed back to the vending machines. Along the way, we also talked a bit about the interior of Haneda Airport, which was beautiful.

There was a worker refilling the food, so we waited for him to finish his job.

I bought an onigiri. We also found coke in a vending machine. As I never had one in Japan, I decided to buy one (Bosco also got one as well).

After that, we headed back to the boarding gate, and we waited until it was open. We boarded the plane, and finally, our trip to Japan was brought to an end.

Conclusion

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

This entire trip was a rollercoaster ride. There were lots of mishaps on the trip: starting off at the most chaotic location in Tokyo, encountering a storm in the middle of the trip, and of course, catching every train at the end of our trip. On the other hand, this trip was also filled with excitement: visiting Saitama, sightseeing in Akihabara, exploring Miraikan, wandering in Shimokitazawa, hiking in Nikko, all of them are valuable memories from the trip.

The agreement I had with Thomas made me look at Japan in a new perspective. I wasn’t interested in anime, and anime pilgrimage was something I never thought I would do. But the trip has an effect on both of us: I become more interested in anime, and Thomas starts playing rhythm games.

As I mentioned in the very beginning, this is my second time visiting Japan. However, I was exploring new locations, with new people, and trying new things. These are new experiences that make the trip fascinating and memorable.

I hope that for my future trips, I can retain the spirits I had in this trip: someone who is enjoying himself, pursuing things he is interested in, and trying new things.

Finally, here are the CDs that I have bought in Japan.

And here’s all the CDs Thomas, Peter and I have bought.