Japan Autumn Trip 2017 Part 4

Day 8 - Shirakawago

I woke up pretty early, wishing for the snow to fill up a in Shirakawago. I checked the live cam as well and it was all snowing. The snow is quite thick as well but we cannot predict the weather. Based on jnto weather prediction, it was predicted that all day will be sunny in Shirakawago. 

I finished doing the makeup at 7.45am and rushed to prepared myself and we are ready at 8.35am. In the meantime, I checked again for the live cam and it’s snowing and a bit cloudy. I panicked but what can we do? In whatever case, we should still go there. So, we rushed to the Takayama Nohi Bus Centre and booked the bus to Shirakawago. The round trip bus costs about 4.420 yen/person. The bus was there and we are really lucky as we only have 5 minutes before the bus departed. Thanks God. 

The weather turned out to be really fine. It was sunny and the snow is quite thick. I thought, maybe the live cam hasn’t been updated since I checked quite early. 

You can check the live cam here
http://ml.shirakawa-go.org/en/livecam/

And please check the weather condition 7 days from here https://www.jnto.go.jp/weather/eng/area_detail.php?sight_id=12

Both is very accurate. 

The journey took about 50 minutes, across the mountain with long tunnel ride. But it felt like going to Winterfell to meet Jon Snow. The weather was really good. The sky was so blue. The view was really magnificent. 

When we arrived at the bus station, I was told to just walk about 2-3 minutes and there will be bus stop for local bus to go to Shirakawago Observation Deck. We just need to queue up there, and pay when you get off the bus. The ride is about 10 minutes and cost 200 yen, it’s quite far by foot anyway, though you can just walk there. 

Up there, it was sooo beautiful. I thought we would freeze because of the cold weather, but thanks God for the perfectly fine weather and snowww!! I was prepared for the cold weather but what can we do? It was so hot till I took off my winter coat. I didn’t expect the snow would be so thick and never imagine myself entering the snow field, but here comes my most amazing experience ever. 

We are really happy to see snow and enjoying the beauty of Shirakawago. Afterwards, I felt my shoes started to get wet. 

We then took the same bus back after we are satisfied with the view then we went to gassho zukuri (a traditional house in Shirakawago) to see some of the beautiful view as well. Before continuing our photoshoot session, we grabbed some lunch near the Shirakawago food court and I ordered BBQ Pork on rice which turned out really good. Then we continued our photoshoot session. 

Shirakawago was really beautiful and you should really come here. We thought it’s possible to just enjoy Shirakawago for few hours, but we ended up using the whole day and it’s worth it. 

We then took 3.15pm bus to go back to Takayama Station. The uncle is a very nice guy. He would willingly take out all the luggages for us. I wish him the best. The journey back took about 50 minutes, the same way, but not it’s different because I am sleepy and my foot felt even colder. Once we reached Takayama Station, we went back to hotel to change our shoes and rushed to another photo session near Takayama Old Town. 

Afterwards, we went for dinner just few blocks from our hotel and decided to have Yakiniku and Sukiyaki. I ordered Salmon Sashimi as well. The restaurant name is called Shoya (日本海庄や 高山駅前店) which only opens from 4pm – 12am and you have a limited time to eat. We only get an hour for the table. Maybe because the restaurant is quite small but they served many customers. 

Afterwards, we played gashapon near one of the store around there. Soon afterwards, the four of us, Felix, Ce Lenny, Ko Indra & I were up for a challenge = to eat ice cream outside the Family Mart, on 0 degree celcius weather condition. I ate 2, but it was too cold so we moved to hotel lobby LOL.

The prewedding session wrapped up and tomorrow we are leaving Takayama. See you again Takayama. This is my fave city so far. 

Day 9 - Tokyo

The next morning, the first train from Takayama Station is at 6.46am to Nagoya. So, we woke up pretty early, bought some snacks for our breakfast and reserved seat to Shinagawa Station. It takes 4.5 hours to go back to Tokyo. And so, the journey began again. There were not many people take the limited express train to Nagoya. So most of seat are empty. We reached Nagoya Station at 9.13am exactly and only has 13 minutes to transfer to Shinkansen to Shinagawa Station. 

Super crazy. We build some teamwork, spilted up by four in each of the entrance, so that no one has to wait, asked the train staff where to get to the shinkansen station. We ran with our hearts and everyone is panicked when a shinkansen arrived. I told them it’s not ours because it’s Nozomi. JR Pass Holder is not allowed for Nozomi Shinkansen. So, we reached on time and everything is settled. 

I was so surprised on how their system is calculated that meticulously, even they would consider your transfer time, so that you could transfer train efficiently and your trip would not be affected much by the waiting time. Big respect, Japan. 

The shinkansen towards Tokyo from Nagoya is quite packed, there isn’t much space to put on your luggages. But whatever, just put there first, otherwise we cannot sit. The trip took about 1 hour 50 minutes to Shinagawa. So, I used this time to sleep. Once we reached Shinagawa Station, we move to JR Yamanote Line towards Osaki and ride 2 stops for Gotanda Station. We took the wrong exits, so it takes more walk to go to Hotel Mystays Gotanda Station. 

After we checked in, we went to Shinjuku Station for lunch and dropped Ce Lenny for her train to Narita Airport. It’s so sad that we have to part ways. Before that, we went to Kabukicho Area by walking (Shinjuku Station East Exit – the station was so big) and tried to find Gyukatsu Motomura 牛かつもと村, the famous Gyukatsu that everyone talks about. You even have to wait around 80 minutes to get in. At first, we don’t even know that the restaurant was there, because there is no signage in English. Eventually, we found the restaurant, which is located at B1 floor. It was located near Ichiran Ramen Shinjuku and Hotel Gracery Shinjuku. 

The surprising thing is that, no one was queuing and the eight of us just entered the restaurant. I bet they just opened? But it’s 12 pm in the afternoon. Or….maybe it’s not that famous anymore? Haha I dunno. We were forced to eat, otherwise you cannot sit down there and there’s no sharing. The food is quite nice. The meat feels like chicken meat, very tender and taste nice. 

After that, we strolled around Shinjuku first then move to Harajuku by JR Lines. It’s still autumn in Tokyo. The trees around Harajuku Station were still yellow. Then we stroll around Takeshita Street and Omotesando. I bought Hakuhodo there and tried the street snack around Takeshita Street. The only thing I didn’t try is Dominique Ansel Bakery and Luke Lobster. Even I dunno where they are located.

Afterwards, as there aren’t much we could buy there, we move to Shibuya from Omotesando subway station and shopped for another round of cosmetics and then went back to our hotel. The room was super huge and it fits for 3 people perfectly. It was raining hard in Tokyo, so we didn’t plan to go anywhere. I didn’t have the chance to try Steamer Coffee Company or Blue Bottle Coffee, but anyway, the coffee in Japan mostly taste amazing.