It's never too early to plan!

[JR 500系]

 

We did managed to get the Hikari Green seats though. Finally, our first Green seats! Time to grab some rest.

 

 

Nice Osabon (Towels) for Green seats commuters. I love the design.

 

 

Checked in straight to hotel and dump our luggage. Dinner time. Nice Ramen store where you need to buy coupons on the machine for your order.

 

 

Really nice Ramen! I'm still missing this now...

 

That's the end of Day 1. Nothing much, just travelling to hotel and grabbing the much needed rest for tomorrow. Also, very happy and grateful for MTP owner Nariichi san to come visit me at the hotel and pass me the much needed SL Hitoyoshi tickets and my MTP order. Thank you so much for your assistance!

 

 

The journey begins!

[JR 500系]

Let's carry on sharing photos to Day 2.

 

Day 2 - Tokyo, Skytree, Oshiai-Minami-Nagasaki (Kato hobby shop), around Tokyo, Akihabara, Shin-Okubo Korea town etc

 

 

Our Hotel's nearest station, JR Tamachi. Good base, 1 station from Shinagawa Shinkansen station for Tokaido lines, 3 stops from Tokyo main and 5 stops to Akihabara, both served by Yamanote and Keihin Tohoku lines without being too confusing  

 

 

Street view from our hotel to the Tamachi station in front.

 

 

The dying sakuras....

 

 

Tokyo Metro tickets from Kinsicho to Oshiage station for the Tokyo Sky Tree

 

 

Sky tree tickets (Kinda expensive actually). You can buy another ticket for 1200 yen to visit the higher observation deck with has a spiral walkway, but we didn't go up there...

 

 

On our way back, this is really interesting! A Tobu train serving the Tokyo Metro Line???

[JR 500系]

 

The tall sky tree structure from the outside

 

 

View from the top of Skytree overlooking Tokyo... Weather was bad, but supposingly if weather is clear and nice you can see Fuji san in a distance..

 

 

Another view, I think this overlooks the Asakusa Area

 

 

Next caught the Sobu to Higashi-Nakano for the Kato hobby shop. It's a rare 209 series??

 

 

Toei Odeo line to Ochiai-Minami-Nagasaki station for Kato Hobby centre... But we actually couldn't find it after walking around in the rain for around 15 mins and the Mrs. isn't looking too cheerful now... Hence missed the Kato Hobby Centre... Oh well...

 

There was nothing much at Shin-Okubo station so-called 'Korean town' too... hence we headed next to Shinjuku. Miss Akihabara and intend to visit later...

 

 

Popondetta shop located at Keio Plaza in Shinjuku! Didn't get anything though cause they were closed at 8pm...

 

 

Gotta love these bright and colourful Pachinko parlors everywhere!

 

 

And yes it IS cold...

 

That wraps up Day 2. Not too productive and didn't cover much due to the rain and perhaps fatigue from yesterday's flight... Tomorrow will be better since we can take the MAX to Gala-Yuzawa!

[katoftw]

Shame you missed the Kato shop.  Keep those photos coming.

[railsquid]

On our way back, this is really interesting! A Tobu train serving the Tokyo Metro Line???

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of through-running (直通).

[railsquid]

Toei Odeo line to Ochiai-Minami-Nagasaki station for Kato Hobby centre... But we actually couldn't find it after walking around in the rain for around 15 mins and the Mrs. isn't looking too cheerful now... Hence missed the Kato Hobby Centre... Oh well...

 

 

Someone really needs to produce a PDF or something with a map and Streetview photos of the route...

 

 

There was nothing much at Shin-Okubo station so-called 'Korean town' too... hence we headed next to Shinjuku. Miss Akihabara and intend to visit later...

 

The Korea boom has died down apparently... Unless there's something really specific you want to see or buy or eat, it's not worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

 

Popondetta shop located at Keio Plaza in Shinjuku! Didn't get anything though cause they were closed at 8pm...

 

Blame evil Keio... Yodobashi Camera a couple of minutes away is open until 10pm. I like this Popondetta store mainly for their baskets of obscure 2nd hand accessories (the other week they had a bunch of British Peco stuff, which fair warmed the cockles of my heart), and for some reason their new Tomytec buildings are often cheaper than Yodobashi.

[JR 500系]

Welcome to the wonderful world of through-running (直通).

 

Apologizes, but does this mean the trains get to run through lines that are otherwise not their companies? A little confused on this...

 

 

Someone really needs to produce a PDF or something with a map and Streetview photos of the route...

 

 

Actually, there is already a map produced on Kato hobby shop website:

 

 

Thing is, my otherwise poor navigation and orientation skills, coupled with the rainy weather and the low interest of the Mrs led to a non-productive nor fruitful venture in the rain which was quickly called off... It also teaches us to always bring along an umbrella in my bag always. A street view map would be nice though, we have problems when we came out into the street through the correct exit (A1) but because it is in somewhat of a cross junction and a curve road it was kinda confusing which way to head towards...

 

 

 

The Korea boom has died down apparently... Unless there's something really specific you want to see or buy or eat, it's not worth the effort.

 

We saw a couple of videos on youtube before going so I thought it would be something like this:

 

 

But ended up we really couldn't find anything Korean at all... Bought some cheap strawberries and apples though ~  :)  

 

 

 

Blame evil Keio... Yodobashi Camera a couple of minutes away is open until 10pm. I like this Popondetta store mainly for their baskets of obscure 2nd hand accessories (the other week they had a bunch of British Peco stuff, which fair warmed the cockles of my heart), and for some reason their new Tomytec buildings are often cheaper than Yodobashi.

 

I didn't know that! I miss Yodobashi completely... As it was raining, we tried to go to places where we could always be covered and not be caught by the rain, hence we could walk through the station to Keio Plaza... I did return again 2 days later when they were open, and will be posting some photos on them as we progress on.

[katoftw]

you could have got a 500 yen umbrella from the Lawsons 5 meters from the subway exit.

 

kato do have a google map for directions also:- http://www.katomodels.com/hobbycenter/tokyo.php

 

we all have little fails on trips.  the kato shop isn't "wow" so you didn't miss much.  i'm sure you found other exciting stuff throughout your trip.

Edited May 1, 2015 by katoftw

[JR 500系]

By the way, as I tried posting photos and linking them to my photobucket account, I encountered this:

 

 

Is this normal? What is the maximum amount of photos that we can hyper-link post? I know we can maximum upload 10 photos at a time using the forum's own upload photos function, but I think hyper-linking from external accounts should be more?

[JR 500系]

you could have got a 500 yen umbrella from the Lawsons 5 meters from the subway exit.

 

Yap I know, but you know after that bad turnout searching for Kato Hobby centre, the Mrs. really wasn't happy going around in the rain searching for yet more hobby shops even if with an umbrella. We stopped short that day ad went back to the hotel early for a good rest and a nice hot bowl of spicy noodle soup. 

[kvp]

By the way, as I tried posting photos and linking them to my photobucket account, I encountered this:

Is this normal? What is the maximum amount of photos that we can hyper-link post?

 

Actually your embedded pictures are not visible at all. Instead of embedding the pictures, you could try posting links to the html pages containing them, so we could see the photos.

[katoftw]

Actually your embedded pictures are not visible at all. Instead of embedding the pictures, you could try posting links to the html pages containing them, so we could see the photos.

yes they are.  must be the device you are using.

[railsquid]

Apologizes, but does this mean the trains get to run through lines that are otherwise not their companies? A little confused on this...

 

Yes - I presume the line you were on was the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line, which links to the Tobu network at one end and Tokyo at the other, meaning you get trains from all three companies running on each other's lines. (Not sure off the top of my head if Tobu run through to Tokyu and vice versa here; they certainly do on the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line, which is connected to the Seibu Ikebukuro Line for added variety). All the Cape gauge metro Lines (Tokyo Metro and Toei's Mita line) have through-running, as well as the Toei Shinjuku and Asakusa Lines.

[JR 500系]

you could have got a 500 yen umbrella from the Lawsons 5 meters from the subway exit.

 

kato do have a google map for directions also:- http://www.katomodels.com/hobbycenter/tokyo.php

 

we all have little fails on trips.  the kato shop isn't "wow" so you didn't miss much.  i'm sure you found other exciting stuff throughout your trip.

 

Ahah!

 

After I saw the goggle street map and the various places I was SURE we were in the correct direction, just didn't get that left/ right turn from McDonalds, and going straight down leads you there. Now I can say something to the Mrs! Haha

 

 

yes they are.  must be the device you are using.

 

Thanks for the confirmation! Got a little surprised if the photos didn't show up. I used my cpu and smart phone to try and view them and they come up fine.

 

 

Yes - I presume the line you were on was the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line, which links to the Tobu network at one end and Tokyo at the other, meaning you get trains from all three companies running on each other's lines. (Not sure off the top of my head if Tobu run through to Tokyu and vice versa here; they certainly do on the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line, which is connected to the Seibu Ikebukuro Line for added variety). All the Cape gauge metro Lines (Tokyo Metro and Toei's Mita line) have through-running, as well as the Toei Shinjuku and Asakusa Lines.

 

Interesting, I didn't know that! It would be interesting to find out how the revenues would be split up and which party and how much to bear from the various companies for the track maintenance cost.  

[railsquid]

Interesting, I didn't know that! It would be interesting to find out how the revenues would be split up and which party and how much to bear from the various companies for the track maintenance cost.  

 

Each line collects its own revenue and is responsible for its own section of track. I think there's some kind of formula by which they calculate the route mileage of their trains to ensure equitable distribution of running effort. Not sure if it still happens but that apparently can lead to odd stock moves, like Keisei "borrowing" Keikyu trains as Keikyu "owes" Keisei some mileage, and the Keikyu train ending up at Keisei Ueno station (which is not normally part of through-running operations).

[lurkingknight]

I also decided not to go to the kato store, in fact I ended up not doing any model train stores despite adding them to my personal google map. I think 70% of the stuff I wanted to do I didn't get to do. In that regard I'm a bit disappointed in my trip. We were in tokyo from the 4th to the 8th, and the weather was indeed really bad. It was probably one of the contributors to not being able to do most of what I wanted this time around, in addition to worrying about 2 travel companions who were pretty lost, despite it being the 3rd time in japan for one of them.

[JR 500系]

Day 3 - Gala Yuzawa, Asahikawa Flower Park

 

Let's share on to Day 3, one of the Mrs. MOST anticipated day! (Mine was more for the ride on the E4 MAX)

 

We start at Tokyo Shinkansen station, the Hub for E-series train sets!

 

 

E3 Nasuno + E5 Nasuno? This is kinda a weird set, I recall fully I see Nasuno on both destination boards.

 

 

Beautiful E5 Kagayaki bound for Kanazawa

 

 

E5 Hayabusa + E6 Super Komachi  

 

 

Our lovely coupled E4 Max! Front is E4 Max Toki bound for Niigata, the rear is our E4 Max Tanigawa bound for Gala Yuzawa

 

 

Love these destination boards. Obento anyone?

 

 

Our train

 

 

Seating diagrams inside the Max E4

 

 

We are in car number 7 Green class, wished we were in car 8  though as there were lesser seats meaning the whole cabin is almost ours! 

 

 

Green Class cabin of Car 8, upper deck. It's empty!

 

 

We've arrived!

 

to be continued...

Edited May 1, 2015 by JR500 のぞみ

[JR 500系]

 

Bye bye E4! And thanks for the ride!

 

 

Here we go into Gala Yuzawa! The ride up in the Gondola was impressive!

 

 

 

 

The view from the gondola was amazing!

 

 

We arrived at the top! As we ain't exactly adventurous, we didn't try the skiing, but there were lots of people skiing!

 

 

Looks really fun!

 

As we had enough fun there and it's really cold, I think it's time we go to our next destination. As it was early, we made a quick decision to visit the Asahikawa flower park by aligning at Takasaki station and changing to the Ryomo line...

 

to be continued..

[JR 500系]

 

Nice, a 115 series! We rode this on the Ryomo line to Tomita station from Takasaki. It was a one hour plus ride, and the rocking seats up and down made it rally nice to sleep in ~~

 

 

Arrived at Tomita station. It is a really RURAL place with almost no other commuters, except one or two locals. They must find us foreigners really weird doing at this part of their town...

 

 

After like a 15 mins walk from Tomita station, we arrived at the park!

 

The park wasn't really in full bloom yet, and the famous and beautiful wisterias are not blooming yet. It's kinda disappointing, but nonetheless the flowers there are pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a photo of the Wisterias when we visited....

 

 

Kinda sad right?

 

 

Here's a picture of what they would look like in full bloom, end April to beginning of May

 

 

The garden is lined with flowers that would look even more pretty when in full bloom, but I guess it's good for now...

 

Please stay tuned as we progress onwards! Cheers!

[Jensen]

Nice photos, keep up with the good work. My photos is still stuck in the SD card in the camera and my phone too! Got a long weekend, may give it some time.

Looks like you had a wonderful time especially the birthday cake on the plane.

Raining doesn't help when you looking for stuff. Looking for specific store is hard. That is why in Japan I always get data sim and use my own device. Help me save lots of time looking for places and train time. Most important I won't get lost with a map! 

 

The flower park look nice, will add to my list to visit. I always find it hard to go those places the right time to see those things. However my last 2 trips were in 2013 Nov/Dec(really late red / orange foliage)  and 2014 Dec / 2015 Jan (snow). In January I was disappointed in Okayama garden, but I give it another chance if in the region at the right time.     

 

How was skytree? I wanted to go 2 years ago by the 4-5 hour queuing put me off.

How long was the queue?

How much better is Green class? worth the premium?

I want one for Grand Class, if it price sensibly to other rail pass. 10k yen more?

 

I also decided not to go to the kato store, in fact I ended up not doing any model train stores despite adding them to my personal google map. I think 70% of the stuff I wanted to do I didn't get to do. In that regard I'm a bit disappointed in my trip. We were in tokyo from the 4th to the 8th, and the weather was indeed really bad. It was probably one of the contributors to not being able to do most of what I wanted this time around, in addition to worrying about 2 travel companions who were pretty lost, despite it being the 3rd time in japan for one of them.

 

We all have those moments, weather is something we can't control. Being flexible is the only not to ruin your plan too much. Earlier this year I end up missing half a day cause there were snow blocking part of the route between Himeji and Kinosaki onsen. I departed from Osaka, the problem didn't arise until we got to Himeji, so we have to catch train all the way to Osaka travel via Fukuchiyama. Luckily the staff were really helpful, personally direct us to correct platform and tell the train to open the door for us after the door were shut. By the time we got Tooyoka, last train to Kinosaki onsen have left. I then notice that we can catch a free taxi ride to the hotel we were staying at. I was so amazed, the taxi journey would have cost 7000yen. That is why I love Japan and its trains. 

Edited May 2, 2015 by Jensen

[spacecadet]

In that regard I'm a bit disappointed in my trip. We were in tokyo from the 4th to the 8th, and the weather was indeed really bad. It was probably one of the contributors to not being able to do most of what I wanted this time around,

If you go to Tokyo enough times, it's gonna happen. Tokyo weather's just like that; it's somewhat predictable in certain ways (the rainy season will be wet; summer will be hot and humid) but it's not like San Diego or something where you pretty much know the weather's just always going to be perfect. Over 4 days, you can experience any kind of weather in Tokyo.

 

Three separate times in 15 years of going there, I have gotten caught up in typhoons. The first time it happened was the trip my avatar's from - I took that train to Yokohama and then they shut the system down. Basically ruined our Yokohama plans and forced us to take a local train back once they started running. We had to sit at McDonald's waiting for like 4 hours. One trip I had was like yours; it just rained for 10 days straight, and this was not even during the rainy season. (On the other hand, the one time I did go during the rainy season, it only rained on one day!) Other trips have been more mixed. There are always a few days when the weather's bad enough in some way that I don't want to be outside. On my trip before last, I got stuck in a weather-related train delay so bad that it made the national news. Kinda screwed up my whole day. It happens.

 

It helps to have a few backup plans for indoor stuff. I feel like Tokyo's actually more of an indoor city anyway. Of course, if you get stuck on a train, there's not much you can do.

Edited May 2, 2015 by spacecadet

[katoftw]

I must have been very lucky on my last and only trip.  Had a little rain on two mornings, but cleared by lunch.  Although a week earlier, a typhoon came through that I missed.  I guess it all depends on when you travel.  Travel in winter, expect no so good weather.

[JR 500系]

Nice to hear from you guys about your experiences in Japan with regards to weather. Luckily for me, there wasn't anything too major, just rain that spoils everything including the view from Hakone. That was kinda sad since we were unable to view Fuji san from the gondola and the Mrs was really looking forward to this....

 

 

Nice photos, keep up with the good work. My photos is still stuck in the SD card in the camera and my phone too! Got a long weekend, may give it some time.

Looks like you had a wonderful time especially the birthday cake on the plane.

 

Thanks! I actually contacted the Airline regarding this, of course, without my Mrs knowledge. I asked them how I can smuggle a birthday cake up into the plane, so they offered us a free birthday cake instead~ Sweet! The cake was so large, it became our supper in Tokyo on day 3...

 

 

 

The flower park look nice, will add to my list to visit. I always find it hard to go those places the right time to see those things. However my last 2 trips were in 2013 Nov/Dec(really late red / orange foliage)  and 2014 Dec / 2015 Jan (snow). In January I was disappointed in Okayama garden, but I give it another chance if in the region at the right time.     

 

 

If you are intending to visit the Ashikaga flower park, plan for end April to early May where the beautiful wisterias bloom, it's a sight to behold!

 

 

 

 

How was skytree? I wanted to go 2 years ago by the 4-5 hour queuing put me off.

How long was the queue?

How much better is Green class? worth the premium?

I want one for Grand Class, if it price sensibly to other rail pass. 10k yen more?

 

Skytree was, well, ok. It's definitely better than Tokyo tower as it's much higher, but still it's just fine. I find it a little pricy for the tickets just to get up there, and needing to pay again to go up to the higher observatory deck. There wasn't any queue at all when we visited, probably because it's a Friday. I heard it tends to get busy during weekends.

 

Green Class was definitely great! I loved every aspect of it! But I would say only use Green glass if you are planning something like 14 days and above. For 7 days, it's kinda not being able to take advantage of it fully. Green class cabins are usually empty, or rarely filled up, unless of course you are riding it at morning or evening peaks. Even so, it's usually filled up with business people with their laptops and tends to be a whole lot quieter than normal class. It tends to be easier to book for trains you will want to take on Green class too, and also many trains have their Green Class carriage in car number 1 which means you can actually view the train when it's running through the window behind the driver! I loved watching the Shinano run!

 

Was there a Grand Class Rail pass? I think the JR Pass cannot be used for Grand Class: Quote from JR Pass website: In addition, if you use the GranClass car of the Tohoku Shinkansen and Hokuriku Shinkansen, you must pay the limited express charge and the GranClass car surcharge.
 

[cteno4]

Jr500,

 

Thanks for doing this, great virtual trip for those that are stuck at home!

 

Did you get to stand next to the e4 coming and leaving? It's really amazing in person as it grows and grows so gracefully. What folks think is the ugly nose is actually really nicely done curves at the human level and scale. These were the last of the duckbills that had a human designer smoothing curves nicely, later it's all computer designed for the optimal aerodynamics for tunnel portals and the lines are not quite as graceful.

 

I love the classicness of Tokyo tower, it just screams the modern post ww2 japan. The beam work, rivets and color are just wonderful along with the side curves again really graceful transitions. Sky tree is massive and ultra modern, but the interlocking pattern while nice makes it a bit uniform and not the classy gal Tokyo tower is! And hey tokyo tower has an aquarium under it!

 

More Picts please!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[spacecadet]

I love the classicness of Tokyo tower, it just screams the modern post ww2 japan. The beam work, rivets and color are just wonderful along with the side curves again really graceful transitions. Sky tree is massive and ultra modern, but the interlocking pattern while nice makes it a bit uniform and not the classy gal Tokyo tower is!

I've been up in both, and honestly I found SkyTree more memorable. I mean that literally; I can't really remember the view from Tokyo Tower or what the observation deck looked like inside, although I remember the lobby and the trip up the elevator.

 

SkyTree is just so big, and so much bigger than everything else around it, that it just makes a really immediate impression. And the view is more like the view from an airplane. If you go all the way to the top level, you're in this tube that's just bolted to the side of the tower, and it twists upward, so you can see one end of it from the other. (And you can get your picture taken from the other end, so it looks like someone taking a picture of you from outside the tower, and you have the tower and skyline in the shot.) It's really wild and actually a little scary.

 

Tokyo Tower is more scenic from the outside, though. I stayed in the Prince Park Tower hotel a couple years ago, which is literally right next to the tower, with just a garden in between. That was probably the best view I've ever had from a hotel.