Day 3: Shibuya (渋谷) - Sushi no Midori (美登利壽司)

Sesame Mill

Shibuya was filled with tons of people on a Friday afternoon.  When we arrived at Shibuya station, we kind of got lost as to where the exits are and just followed the crowd.  Eventually, I found out we were somewhere near Mark City.  I found an escalator which brings us back to street level where I could spot some popular shopping buildings like Shibuya 109 and Q-Front.   There are lots to shop in Shibuya but we choose only a few stores to visit since we were planning to have an early dinner around 5:00 p.m. at Sushi no Midori, which was recommend by many people. 

We made a quick stroll through Shibuya 109 (partly because my sister was in great need of the washroom). This shopping complex has lots of small shops selling mostly fashion items for people in their teens to early twenties.  Then, we went to Loft, a multi-story department store selling personal, home, health and kitchen gadgets.  I bought a sesame mill from there which I once saw used in a Ramen store.  It’s a simple plastic see-through container which you fill with toasted sesame seeds.  It has a red cranking wheel and an open mouth at the top. With a turn of the wheel by its handle, sprinkles of golden sesame flecks come drifting out.

Later, we also did some window shopping at Parco—home to many brand name fashions.  Opposite to Parco is Uniqlo, one of our targeted shops.  I’ve only learned about Uniqlo while I was reading travel blogs.  Actually Uniqlo has stores opened in many countries but Canada.  Many said you can have lots of good buys from Uniqlo as its clothing has nice designs and uses good quality materials but tagged with a reasonable price.  We spent over an hour in this 2-floor fashion store and couldn’t get enough.  However, it was approaching 5:00 p.m., so we had to quickly pay for bags of clothing and discharged from this danger zone. 

Chef's Special Sushi Assortment

The reason to have an early dinner is to avoid the long line-up at Sushi no Midori (美登利壽司).    Sushi no Midori is located on the 4th floor of Mark City and it opens for dinner at 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.  We arrived at 5:00 p.m. and there were already around 30+ people in front of us.  We did not make it for the 1st round.  However, we only had to wait for another 20 minutes until we got our table.  We ordered 2 Chef’s Special Sushi Assortment, 1 Broiled fish Sushi Assortment and 1 Broiled Conger Eel.  Originally I wanted to order a huge size Midori Original Roll but the waiter warned us, “No! Too Much! TOO MUCH!!”, so we said “fine...” skipped this order.  Both Chef’s Special sets come with a miso soup and chawan-mushi, a crab liver salad and dessert.  The murky greenish-coloured crab liver paste looks a bit scary but it actually tastes very good.  Overall, I thought that the Broiled Conger Eel was excellent (not as surprise as it is the specialty of Sushi no Midori), but the crab liver salad is surprisingly good.  I’m not kidding, never judge an appetizer by its colour. However, I was a bit disappointed at the general environment and the sushi tasted average.  It wasn’t as good as I though it would be.  May be I have already eaten sushi in the Tsukiji Fish Market and there weren’t going to be many places which can have better sushi / sashimi.  Also, the restaurant was very crowded and noisy, so we were kind of rushing to finish the food. As well, due to the lack of air conditioning and the humidity of the place, I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I normally would’ve.  Nevertheless, the sushi assortment does look very attractive and appetizing.

Chawan-mushi and Crab Liver Salad

Broiled Conger Eel (There is a little piece of sushi rice under the Eel)

Since it was our 2nd day in Tokyo, our jet lag still bothered us.  We decided to go back to our hotel after dinner instead of returning to the shopping area in Shibuya.  I should spend more time in Shibuya the next time I visit Tokyo.

Reference Links:


Loft (Shibuya)
Uniqlo
Sushi no Midori (美登利壽司)

Day 3: Harajuku (原宿)

To get to Harajuku (原宿) from Shinjuku, we took the JR Train Yamanote Line (JR山手線 渋谷行) going towards the Shibuya direction.  Harajuku is only 2 stations apart from Shinjuku.  The JR Yamanote line is one of the most popular JR train lines taken by foreign visitors as its stations are close to many attraction areas in Tokyo.  Years ago, I even bought a travel book which it’s Chinese title is translated as “Visit Tokyo by Riding the JR Yamanote Line”.  One thing visitors should remember is to avoid riding the subway or train during heavy traffic hours.  I am not kidding; we were on a train around 5:00 p.m. on our last day in Tokyo and it was packed like a can of sardines.

Entrance of Takeshita Dori (竹下口)

Getting off from Harajuku station, we got out from the exit closest to the entrance of Takeshita Dori (竹下口).  Takeshita Dori (竹下通り) is a small street full of fashion boutiques, stores selling shoes, accessories and many interesting shops.  If you happen to visit on a Sunday, there are a bunch of cosplayers showing off their costumes around this area.  Along Takeshita Dori, we went into a 100 Yen shop called Daiso; it is a store similar to our local “Dollarama” except it has many floors.  It is kind of interesting to see all different types of Japanese merchandise available in this price range.

After walking to the end of the Takeshita Dori, we turned to Meiji Dori where we took a break in a café called Hanabatake Bokujo (花畑牧場カフェ).  This café originated from Hokkaido and is famous for its caramel products.  We had their cameral soft ice-cream made with Hokkaido milk as well as some bakery items.  After the break, we continued walking to our next 2 destinations on Omotesando Avenue—Kiddy Land and Omotesando Hills.  

Some bakery item from Hanabatake Bokujo: 生キャラメル半熟かすてら

 

Rilakkuma and the walking Korilakkuma

Kiddy Land is a heart-warming place to visit as I have met up with many of my favorite Japanese cartoon characters and recalled lots of my childhood memories there.  My sister also bought a walking Korilakkuma (it’s the little white bear that accompanies Rilakkuma).  However, for those who wish to visit the Harajuku Kiddy Land store after end of August 2010, you will be disappointed because this location is now undergoing a renovation and is currently closed.  I was just able to make it there before it closed for renovation. A substitution store may be in business though, do check the website for details.

Omotesando Hills (表参道ヒルズ) is high-end shopping mall.  This six floor shopping mall has sophisticated architecture and some leading-edge technological equipment to create a very comfortable shopping environment.  The spiral arrangement of the different floors is certainly one of a kind.  The walkways of the mall follow a gradual slope, rising by half a story from one end to another.  So as you walk from one end of the mall to another, you have descended (or climbed) one story.  This also means if you start at the top of the mall, you can wander around the entire place without using any stairs or escalators. 

Omotesando Hills (表参道ヒルズ)

After about half hour of window shopping in Omotesando Hills, we decided to move on to Shibuya.  Instead of going back to the JR train station where we came from, we just continued walking on Omotesando Avenue toward the closest Metro Subway Station, Omotesando station (表参道駅).  This station connects to 2 subway lines, Ginza Line (銀座線) and Hanzomon Line (半蔵門線), which both goes to Shibuya  Station (渋谷駅).  When we reached the entrance of the station, we found that there was a chain-operated restaurant called Soup Stock Tokyo.  This is a restaurant targeted mostly for female customers.  It serves various types of soups and combo meals.  We ordered a hot Atlantic Lobster soup and a cold Potato soup, along with some refreshing drinks.  It was a very decent, light meal on a super hot afternoon.

Reference Links:

Daiso (100 Yen Store)
Hanabatake Bokujo (花畑牧場カフェ)
Kiddy Land
Omotesando Hills (表参道ヒルズ)
Soup Stock Tokyo

Day 2: Ginza 銀座 - Nenrinya and Genkatsu

We left Tsukiji Outer Market and moved on to Ginza.  The closest Tokyo Metro subway station from the Outer Market is on Shin-Ohashi Dori.  On the way there, I also passed by the Tsukiji Hongan-ji (築地本願寺).   It only took about 4 minutes to ride the Tokyo Metro Subway Hibiya Line (東京メトロ日比谷線 - 菊名行 / 中目黒行) from Tsukiji station (H10) to Ginza station (H08).  We exited on the intersection between Harumi Dori and Chuo Dori.  All department stores were still closed since it was only around 8:15 a.m.  We walked on Chuo Dori and turned into a side street near Matsuzakaya where we found a Starbucks café.  That was the perfect place for us to have our morning coffee and sit around to wait until the department stores open.  I noticed that Starbucks is fairly popular in Tokyo; I can always find a Starbucks around the areas I have visited.

Nenrinya Products

My first targeted destination in Ginza was Matsuzakaya (松坂屋) because it has a Nenrinya (ねんりん家) store which sells a type of layered cake called Baumkuchen.  It is a traditional dessert in many countries throughout Europe and is also very popular snack and dessert in Japan.  When sliced into pieces, you will see the distinctive golden rings on the side of the cake.  That is probably why it is also translated as the “Tree Cake”.  There are various flavours available, but I loved the original flavour which has a very strong and rich egg taste.   One thing to take note of is that you can buy a slightly cheaper version of the cake which needs to be consumed within the same day.  Another nicely packaged version is a little more expensive but you can save it for about 1 week.  We have bought both versions so we can eat it again a few days later as breakfast.

After more shopping around Ginza, we headed to Genkatsu (ゲンカツ), a restaurant specialized in fried pork chops.  This is no ordinary pork chop, but is a pork chop filled with 25 thin, juicy layers of meat.  The picture will better explain itself and this is definitely not something you can find everywhere.  The pork chops are crispy on the outside, juicy and tasty inside; again another recommended item to try in Japan.

Genkatsu (ゲンカツ) 25 Layers Pork Chop

The lunch set also comes with appetizer, salad, rice and miso soup

Unfortunately, we started our day too early and after few more hours of activity in Ginza, we were already exhausted and decided to go back to the hotel.  I had to cut out my next destination, Tokyo Station.  Well, may be next time.

As for dinner, we decided to try some local instant Japanese food…instant bowl noodles.  We got few flavours of the Nissan brand from the convenient store located in our hotel.  They ended up tasting pretty good, especially the noodles which are very chewy.

Cute Instant Noodle Package

Reference Links:
Store Locator of Nenrinya (ねんりん家)
Genkatsu (ゲンカツ) - 銀座アクトビル3/F, 東京都中央区銀座4－6－18

Day 2: Tsukiji Fish Market 築地市場

Toei Oedo Subway Line - Tsukijishijo Station

I initially planed to spend my first full day of shopping around the Shinjuku area but things didn't really go as planned.  I didn't expect my jet lag to be this bad.  On our first night arriving at Tokyo, we returned to our hotel and slept early around 10:30 p.m...  I was shocked when I woke up in the middle of the night and looked at the clock...”What! 12:30 a.m.?” Did I only sleep for 2 hours?  How come it felt like I have slept the whole night through?  O.K. May be this is just one of those mid-night wake up calls.  So I tried to go back to sleep.  After what felt like another long night sleep, I was awake again.  This time it was 1:30 a.m.  No!!! I kept waking up almost every 1 to 2 hours.  The rest of my family also experienced the exact same problem. 

After several of these periodic naps, I finally decided to wake up at 4:00 a.m...most shops in Shinjuku don't open until 10:00 a.m., what am I going to do between 4:00 to 10:00?  This was way too early.  Finally I decided to change my itinerary.  Originally I had planned to visit the Tsukiji Fish Market on the 4th day, which opens very early in the morning.  This may be a good place to go instead. I had all the time to re-check my train schedule, confirm that Tsukiji Fish Market is open on their web Calendar and take our time to wash-up and get dressed.  We finally left the hotel around 6:00 a.m.  That was also when I had the chance to take some nice pictures on the Southern Terrance when no one was around. 

To get to the Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場) from Shinjuku, we took the Toei Oedo Subway Line (都営大江戸線 大門方面) from Shinjuku station (E-27) to Tsukijishijo Station (E-18).  The direction of the train is heading to Daimon Station.  It takes about 20 minutes to arrive.  The closest exit to Tsukiji Fish Marketing is Exit A1.  Once we walked up to the ground level of Exit A1, the Tsukiji Fish Market (Outer Market) is just behind us.  There are lots of delivery tracks around; we have to walk through the parking area to get inside the fish market.  I didn't come for the Tuna auctions since I have already saw it on TV, but just wanted to walk around and see if there was anything interesting.  Of course, my main purpose was to taste the very, very fresh Sashimi.

Tsukiji Fish Market basically has 2 sections, the "Inner Market" (築地場內市場) and the "Outer Market" (築地場外市場).  The Inner Market is where the auctions and most of the fish processing takes place, it also has some famous Sushi restaurants. I actually saw a big line-up in front of one restaurant even when it was only 6:30 a.m...I wasn't planning to join the line, but instead to eat my breakfast at the Outer Market.  The Outer Market is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell seafood, kitchen tools, groceries and also a bunch of sushi restaurants as well.  It takes about a few minutes to walk from the Inner market to the Outer market.  Both markets are basically located and connected on the street called Shin-Ohashi Dori (新大橋通).  The Tsukiji Fish Markets usually closed on Sunday and various day of the week.  Visitors should always checks the calendar on Tsukiji Fish Market's web site to ensure you will be visiting on a day that it opens. 

築地どんぶり市場 - Market Don

I have seen some good reviews on this small restaurant called 築地どんぶり市場 in the Outer Market located on the Shin-Ohashi Dori(新大橋通).  It is actually a stall which has about 6 seats and when sitting there, your back is actually facing the street.  It is definitely not those formal restaurants but the food was "GOOD!".  We ordered 2 Market Dons (市場丼), 1 Barbeque Tuna Cheek Don (まぐろホホ肉ステーキ丼) and 1 miso soup.   I don't know how to speak Japanese, but most restaurants in Japan have menus with pictures; you just need to point and order.  The Market Don is actually a Chirashi Don, a.k.a Sashimi on top of a bowl of warm, seasoned rice.  The fish were one of the freshest I had ever tasted.  The Barbeque Tuna Cheek Don is a good choice for those who don’t eat raw fish.  The Miso soup is also a must try, it has lots of small clams in there (not sure what they are actually called), but it tastes so yummy.  It should be really be described as a tasty seafood broth with a hint of miso. We were very satisfied with the food. 

築地どんぶり市場 - Barbeque Tuna Cheek Don

MUST-buy-again Nerimono from Kibun (紀文食品)

After breakfast, we went around the Outer market, got a pack of Tamagoyaki (玉子焼) and a mix pack of Nerimono (ねりもの) with fried Octopus legs.  “Nerimono” refers to any food that is made of cooked, ground fish and seasoning.  I usually describe them as fancy fish cakes.  I think the Tamagoyaki tasted ok, but a bit sweet compared to the local versions in North America, I wasn't very impressed.  However, the pack of Nerimono with fried Octopus legs has now been classified as a MUST-buy-again item on my next Japan trip.  When we got the store, they have a large variety of Nerimono, the lady even cut out some freshly fried Octopus legs for us to try.  They are extremely tasty, chewy enough to play a game of ping pong with and have a hint of spiciness to them.  Since it was so good, we had picked a variety pack with like 10 different types of Nerimono and also some Octopus legs too. By the way, the pack was still hot when we bought it. Unfortunately, we just finished breakfast and didn't have room in our stomach to try it immediate.  Otherwise, I am sure we would’ve gotten another pack right on the spot.  I actually started eating this Nerimono pack at night when we returned to the hotel. Surprisingly, they still taste so good when served cold. I thought I should point out that we forgot to take pictures of them until we were almost finished.

Both the Inner and Outer market is outdoors, so it gets pretty hot after a while and we decided to move on to Ginza even though it was still too early in the morning...8:00 a.m. 

Reference Links:

Tsukiji Inner Market (築地場內市場)

Tsukiji Outer Market (築地場外市場)

築地どんぶり市場 - 東京都中央区築地４丁目９−５ 築地商事市場
Nerimono 紀文食品 - 東京都中央区築地4丁目13番18号

Day 1: Hello Tokyo!

Our flight takes about 13 hours and we arrived at Narita Airport Terminal 1 around mid afternoon.  Local temperature is above 32 degrees with high humidity. I felt the heat the first second stepped out of the aircraft.  After we picked up our luggage and went through customs, we went to the JR East Travel Service Center located in B1/F to purchase the Ne'x Package.  We boarded the next Narita Express train and headed to Shinjuku. 

At around 6:00 p.m., we arrived at Shinjuku and checked-in to the hotel.  After taking a short break, we walked over to Takashimaya (高島屋) around 7:00 p.m. to take a look at the food department.  We entered from the Tokyu Hands’ entrance and saw tons of people shopping there.  The volume of shoppers was abnormal at that time of the day since the closing hour was supposed to be 8:00 p.m.. This was explained later when I saw a sign that stated Tokyu Hands was having some sort of a big "Thank you Sale" and extended its hours of operation to 9:00 p.m. between Aug 25 to Aug 31.  We didn't bother squeezing ourselves inside but instead went straight down the escalators to get to the basement floor.

Takashimaya is a big department store; I first visited the supermarket located on one side of the floor, and then went to the other side which has all the cooked food counters. I saw the bakery, the ice cream counter, tempura bento stalls, beef bento stalls, Eel Bento stalls, various type of Sushi counters, Japanese dessert counters, French style dessert pastries, Japanese tea leaf counters, coffee beans counters, seafood crackers stalls and more. There are so many varieties that I can't remember them all.  I recall they all look so pretty and I suddenly had decision-making difficulties.  We finally brought a pack of fresh Daifuku-Mochi (大福餅) with lots of whole beans over the Mochi and a box of deep fried fresh scallops.  These are actually reserved later for snacks.  After saying the famous phrase: "I will be back!” we left Takashimaya.

We walked back to the Southern Terrance, which has a bridge connected to the 2nd floor of My Lord (小田急新宿ミロード), a 9-story building containing all types of small shops and restaurants.  We had dinner there at Ramen Santoka (山頭火) which is located on the 7th floor.  This restaurant’s specialty is Asahikawa Ramen from Hokkaido (北海道旭川拉麵).  This time, instead of ordering a soup ramen, I ordered the dipping style noodle (つけ麺).  Unlike ramen in soup, it used a thicker type of noodle served separately from a bowl of concentrated soup.  You need to dip the noodles into the soup as you eat them.  In general, the noodle are very chewy and the dipping soup has a very full and rich taste (may be a bit salty to some people).  However, it does get quite filling after eating half of the noodles and my desire to continue eating the rest disappeared.  Compared to another ramen restaurant, Ichiran (一蘭拉麵), when I visited Roppongi, I preferred Ichiran's soup ramen much more than Santoka.

つけ麺 from Ramen Santoka ((山頭火)

After dinner, we walked around My Lord and visited few shops there.  Originally I had planned to visit Lumine 1 which is located besides My Lord, but we really needed a good night sleep after a long flight, so we decided to head back to the hotel.  On our way back, we picked up few bottles of iced tea and egg custard dessert cups from Family Mart.  The taller bottle is a seasonal / limited edition and I loved it's strong taste.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it in my local supermarket. The egg custard cup with a transparent cover tastes the best among other ones I brought.

 

Reference Link:
Takashimaya Shinjuku (高島屋)
Tokyu Hands Shinjuku
My Lord Shinjuku (小田急新宿ミロード)
Ramen Santoka (山頭火)

Century Southern Tower Hotel

Elevator to Hotel Lobby

The first time I heard of the Century Southern Tower Hotel was when I was watching a Tokyo travel show called Tokyo Walker (流行東京) from Hong Kong.  I have watched a total of 40 episodes in season 1 and 14 episodes in season 2.   My interests for traveling to Tokyo are actually inspired by this show.  According to my experience, I can confirm this hotel really does have one of the best locations in the area but also a high price tag on it.  A major reason which drives my decision to stay in this hotel is its location and room size. Because I am traveling in a party of 3, lots of the Shinjuku hotels do not have rooms to accommodate parties of 3.  Room sizes for a typical Japan Hotel in the city region are generally small, some rooms only offer half a bath tub.  Century Southern Tower is a 4-star hotel owned by the Odakyu Group targeting international business travelers. Hotel staffs I have talked to while confirming my booking and checking in to the hotel all speak pretty good English.  I have booked the hotel through Expedia where there are discounted rates and still averaged out to around $200 CAD (tax included) per night (total of 6 nights) for a Twin Room with an additional bed.  Hotel rooms in Japan mostly accommodate 2 people per room and there are always extra charges for an additional person.  This hotel is highly rated in Trip Advisor and I did not regret paying a little extra to stay there because of the following reasons:

1) Excellent Location to Railway and subway lines

• It takes about 3 minutes walking from the Hotel's 2/F exit to the closest JR Railway entrance. (Of course you still need to walk from the entrance to whatever platform to board the train). 
• It only takes 1 to 2 minutes to walk from the Hotel's 1/F exit to one of the Toei Subway line entrance.

Local area around Century Southern Tower Hotel

2) Convenient Facilities

• There are lots of 24 hours convenient stores all over Shinjuku, there are 2 closest to this hotel.  One located in the lobby of the hotel (open until 11:00 p.m.).
  Food and drink prices there are similar to any of the convenient stores on the street.  Cool! No need to walk out to the heat to get some iced coffee.  If you need more varieties, Family Mart, a 24-hour chain-operated convenient store is also just 1 minute walk from the 1/F exit. 
• For those who are in need of our North America sweets and coffee, Krispy Kreme is just across the Hotel 2/F exit and Starbucks is steps away from Krispy Kreme.  I am not a big fan of Krispy Kreme, but almost all times when I passed by Krispy Kreme, I see a lineups outside the store even in extreme heat!!! I guess the Japanese really love Krispy Kreme. 
•  If you ever need more cash (who doesn’t?),  there is an ATM machine inside a Post Office located beside the Hotel.  Not all ATM machines in Japan take international debit cards, but this one does.



You probably wonder why there is nobody in the pictures. That is because the picture was taken at 6:00 a.m. in the morning while I am suffering from jet lag

Walkway to Takashimaya and Tokyu Hands

3)Food Shopping

In Shinjuku, shopping is everywhere but if you need to get some real good food within 5 minutes from the hotel, you will find them across from Takashimaya.  When stepped out of the hotel, there is a walkway which leads to Takashimaya (高島屋 タカシマヤ ) and Tokyu Hands. The whole basement floor of Takashimaya is FOOD.  It also has a supermarket there.  The are a ridiculous variety of food choices and they are so delicious that I have to repeat them as necessary.   Takashimaya also has a restaurant parks on the 13th floor.  There are lots of restaurants to choose if you wanted to stay away from dining in your hotel.  Takashimaya closes at 8:00 p.m., there are plenty of time even if I run over there around 7:30 to grab some late night snacks.  By the way, lots of cooked food items starts to go on sale around 7:00 to 7:30, deals are everywhere.  Get them while they last.

4) Spectacular View

Century Southern Tower Hotel is high above Shinjuku. The hotel lobby is located on the 20th floor, below are Microsoft offices.  The views from the hotel lobby are spectacular.  It gets better when I get to my room on the 30th floor.  Our view faces Takashimaya, when looking to the far right, I can see Tokyo Tower and looking to the far left is the busy Shinjuku shopping areas.  Looking down is the JR Railway.  Since we stayed there during the Firework festival, there are few nights where I can actually see Firework from my room.  I think there are also other room views which can see Mount Fuji, but I am happy with the view I got in my room.

Hotel Lobby

Shinjuku Shopping Areas

Night view with Tokyo Tower

Room sizes are decent and amenities are above average.  The cleaning staff did a great job.  I find the room  very clean everyday when I return to the hotel.  By the way, the toilet with washing/bidet function is great!

My room on the 30th floor

Room is equipped with a mini fridge (very usefully)

Japanese style hot water kettle, you can have hot water all the time to make tea and instant cup noodles

Full size bath tub

All sort of toiletries including tooth brush, tooth paste, head bands, combs, razors... etc

Toilet with bidet function

What is not available in this hotel are room services and luggage services.  However, with all the other convenient facilities around the hotel, that is not important for me.  Overall, I am very satisfied with this hotel and probably will stay here again the next time I visit Tokyo.  I highly recommended this hotel to those who are looking for an above average hotel with a convenient location in the Shinjuku area.

Reference Link:


Hotel Century Southern Tower
Takashimaya (Shinjuku)

Getting Around with the N'ex Package

Getting From / To Narita Airport:

Starting from July 1, 2010, JR-East Japan Railway offered the round-trip Suica & N’EX package for 5500 yen (Ordinary Car).  Previously, only the 1 way trip package is available.  Many frequent Tokyo travelers probably already know about this Suica & N'ex package.  It includes 2-way tickets from Narita Airport to a major Tokyo city train station (i.e. Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, etc...) and a 1500 Yen + 500 Yen deposit Suica card which can be used with various trains, subway lines, and bus rides around the city.  The 500 Yen deposit can be refunded in the JR Ticket Office when you finish your trip.  This card  is valid for 10 years without transactions, so it can be kept for future trips to Japan.  Some just keep it as souvenir.  If you decide to get the deposit back, make sure you've used up all the remain balance in your card, otherwise the reminding balance will be deducted by 210 Yen as a service fee. 

Suica Card with the Ne'x package

 
There are also other transit choices such as the Airport Limousine and other train lines.  The choice of transportation will depend on the number of luggage you have, if you are traveling with kids and your arrival and departure time of your flight.  If you are carrying lots of luggage, you should check ahead and look for escalators or elevators on platform where you get off or board the train.  Otherwise, prepare to carry your luggage to walk up or down the stairs.

Since the hotel I stayed in is very close to the Shinjuku JR train station entrance, the Narita Express seems like a great choice for me so I don't have to worry about traffic congestion or transferring from one train to another.  The Narita Express is available every 30 minutes to 1 hour on prime times, check the schedule based on your destination city.  It  takes about 90 minutes to ride from Narita Airport to Shinjuku. All seats in the Narita express are reserved seats.  When purchasing the Ne'x package, your train tickets will indicate exactly which cart and seat to board.   When boarding the train,  wait at the indicated position of the platform which corresponds to the cart number printed on your ticket.  Take only the seat you are reserved in, then just sit back and enjoy your ride.  There is information displayed monitors in each cart  indicating your current location through out the route, the next upcoming station, transfer information as well as some local news and weather.

This package is only available to foreign passport holders and can only be purchased in the airport (in the JR East Travel Service Center during regular hours or JR Ticket Office during off hours) by showing your passport.  The return ticket to Narita Airport is good for 2 weeks, you can either reserve seat of your return ticket when you purchase the package or reserve it later in a JR ticket office in most of the JR train stations.

Information displayed inside the Narita Express Train

Getting Around Tokyo Cities: 

Tokyo has a very complex but indeed easily accessible transit system.  I was overwhelmed when I first looked at the public transportation maps that contains various trains and subway lines through out the cities.  But in the end, I discovered it actually takes only 1 or 2 trains or subways lines to get around most of the destinations.  However, this does require some studying to understand how to transfer between trains and subway lines and involved some planning to group visiting attractions that are close together on the same day.

There are several web sites which provide searches on suggested train or subway lines routines.  All you need to do is key in the the station names.  The search result provides your with the fastest and the most convenient train or subways lines to take, the platform which the train departs from, as well as maps which indicate all the exits for the stations.  I suggested putting in the exact date and time when you will be taking the train (if you know ahead), the search result will be more accurate.  The Japanese version requires you to key in the station name in Kanji or Japanese but there is also an English version.  However, the search results may not be as detailed compared to the Japanese version.

Depending on where your hotel is located, it may take few to 20 minutes of walking from your hotel to one of the stations. For my case, I stayed in Hotel Century Southern Tower and I think is an excellent hotel with an extremely convenient location.  It takes about 3 minutes to get to the JR Train station and about 2 minutes to one of the Toei subway lines (都営大江戸線).  Therefore, I highly recommend selecting a hotel close to a train or subway station to save walking time and energy.

Reference Links


Suica & N'ex
Train Route Finder (Japanese Version)
Train Route Finder (English Version)

Tokyo Trip Itinerary

 Tokyo  is one of the places I always wanted to visit.  I have been there when I was in elementary school and can't remember most of the things except images of those colourful Japanese cuisines.  Unfortunately I was afraid to try when I was a kid, but I definitely will not miss them again this time. This Tokyo trip takes lots of planning but it was fun.

My Itinerary


Day 1:  Arrived at Narita Airport -- Narita Express -- Shinjuku -- Hotel Century Southern Tower

Day 2:  Shinjuku -- Tsukiji Fish Market -- Ginza -- Shinjuku

Day 3:  Shinjuku -- Harajuku -- Shibuya -- Shinjuku

Day 4:  Shinjuku

Day 5:  Shinjuku -- Mitaka -- Ghibli Museum -- Shinjuku -- Roppongi -- Shinjuku

Day 6:  Shinjuku -- Asakusa -- Ueno -- Shinjuku

Day 7:  Shinjuku -- Narita Express -- Narita Airport -- Home

I expected to walk a lot, eat a lot  and shop a lot but I didn't expect the amount of sweating and reduction of appetite while walking on the streets while it is 33+ degree Celsius with high humidity.  I originally planned to visit Tokyo Station and Ikebukuro on Day 2 and Day 6 respectively but both destinations have to be cut due to our burn out of energy under the heat.  The good thing is that there was no rain for all 7 days during my stay in Japan so at least I don't have to carry my umbrella around. (Or, maybe it would've been better if it did...while we were sleeping so it wouldn't be so damn hot the next day.)