2 Oct. 2016 (From Osaka to Tokyo)

Early in the morning, after breakfast prepared by Mama, we strolled to the Ibaraki JR station with our luggage in order to reach Shin Osaka station for the reserved shinkansen trip to Tokyo.

 

From Shin-Osaka to Tokyo station, we spent 3 hours in the bullet train. Then we rode the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (subway) to Roppongi Station and from there, we went out thru' the stairs of Exit 5 and strolled to our AirBnB apartment within 5 min. An easier route using elevator or escalator is located at Tokyo-Midtown (Exit 8), however it would take another 2 more min. to reach our apartment.

The apartment is off the main street of Roppongi Dori - very convenient. As my family rest in air-conditioned comfort of the apartment, I went to buy the 3-day Tokyo subway pass from BIC Camera shop as most travel agencies like JTB, HIS, Kinki, etc. are closed by 6pm. Important note is for all passports to be brought along in order to buy these passes which cost ¥1,500 each.

Just go direct to the cashier located at street level.

Back at the apartment, we gathered and then took subway to Oshiage station for dinner at an udon restaurant as we were all so hungry.

1 Oct. 2016 (Dinner)

After meeting Mama at Ibaraki station, we walked through a shopping street to this Japanese restaurant - Naritaya (成田家).

   
    

Taking a group wefie while we waited for the kaiseki (懐石料理) to commence.

                          

One skill that we picked up from Mama was to remove the backbone of the grilled ayu without breaking up the body before eating the whole fish - from head to tail. Wow!

We all strolled back to "Yasuki Hotel" after a super satisfying 懐石料理 dinner.

1 Oct. 2016 (Day trip to Kyoto)

We checked out from Hotel 1-2-3 Kobe and took the train from Sannomiya to Ibaraki station and Mama was there to take over our luggage and convey back to "Yasuki Hotel". Then, we made our way to Kyoto.

Upon arrival, we went for lunch at Ukiyahonten (有喜屋 先斗町本店)

 

After lunch, we strolled along Kamogawa.

 

As we reached the bridge near Gion machi, we went to get the 抹茶 (matcha) that Aloysius wanted to buy.

 

There was something else caught my boys' attention in Gion - the traditional kimono.

These ladies in kimono (着物) or yukata (浴衣) were strolling a narrow street in Gion, so Aloysius took a quick snap as after so many days in Japan, we saw these traditional costumes for the 1st time.

The following photos of the real gems; the Maiko (舞妓) were given by Mama when we showed her the shots taken by Aloysius. The elaborate head-gears & kimono were simply beautiful.

Before travelling back to Ibaraki to have dinner with Mama, we stopped by this dango shop.

  

30 Sep. 2016 (From Hokkaido to Honshu)

*All the shinkansen trips have to be planned & reserved in advance*

We checked out early in the morning by just dropping the keys into the box at the counter and took the train from Hakodate at 6.57am to reach Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto in order to ride the 1st shinkansen, Hayabusa 12 at 7.34am in order to reach Tokyo station 12.04pm.

We grabbed Eki-bento from the Tokyo platform before boarding Shinkansen Hikari 473 at 1.03pm reaching Shin-Osaka station at 4.03pm and then connecting Shinkansen Sakura 567, arriving at Shin-Kobe at 4.33pm.

After depositing our lugguage at Hotel 1-2-3 Kobe, we went to meet Mama at JR Sanomiya Station - we planned to have Kobe beef here!

These are 2 of the awards for the quality beef.

Waiting for our Kobe beef to be served.

The teppanyaki chef seared and cut the 5 slabs.

The melt in the mouth Kobe beef.

Part of the course - prawn, scallop, mushrooms, etc.

See the contentment as we wait for the dessert.

Yummy sherbert.

The above ¥7000 per head teppanyaki meal is simply unforgettable as each of us had a 250g slab of special grade marbled Kobe beef, ox-tail consomme, etc.

Here to share the namecard of the restaurant in Kobe - Steakland Kobe which according to the details is open 365 days a year!