The Mysterious Case Of The Satsumas At The Security Checkpoint

I’m finally here, sorry that took so long. Mom was down visiting for a month and I don’t think I opened the Dis once while she was here.

Great intro.

Oh my about the travel delays with de-icing the plane and Graham’s missing suitcase!

I’m so glad it worked out for you to go to the Great Wall of China. Your pictures are fabulous. Molly seemed like a great tour guide.

Fabulous news about the tea and helping your bowel issues.

I’m not sure about these squat toilets. I had no idea they had different toilets over there.

The Forbidden City is staggering, wow! All the details are just amazing and gorgeous.

Glad you found The Temple of Heaven. Sorry your feet were hurting but no wonder after all the walking you had done.
 
I am here! Your pictures are amazing. I am really happy that you had such a great time there!

And I think your ability to use your shoulders in a sea of Chinese is due to your German heritage. ;-) I realised that I was much better suited to deal with crowds in China than Michael. It sometimes reminded me of getting on the school bus as a teenager...
 
Wow, I did not realize that area was so large!

Everything in China seems to be huge.

I'm glad you figured out the subway system.

We use public transportation extensively at home and when traveling and fortunately the subway in Beijing is one of the easier ones to navigate.

The Chinese architecture is stunning.

I really loved seeing all the different kinds of architecture. I was completely spoiled in Shanghai in that respect.

I’m finally here

Welcome on board.

Mom was down visiting for a month and I don’t think I opened the Dis once while she was here.

How great that she was able to visit for an extended period of time.

Oh my about the travel delays with de-icing the plane and Graham’s missing suitcase!

It was definitely irritating at the time, but kind of faded into insignificance considering what amazing experiences we had.

I’m so glad it worked out for you to go to the Great Wall of China.

So was I. The trip would not have been the same without this experience.

Your pictures are fabulous.

Thanks

Molly seemed like a great tour guide.

She was absolutely amazing. I still have her business card. I want to return to Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven with a tour guide at some stage and if we are going with the same tour operator, I will definitely request her.

I’m not sure about these squat toilets. I had no idea they had different toilets over there.

I have come across them before in the Middle East, but not to this extend.

The Forbidden City is staggering, wow! All the details are just amazing and gorgeous.

I was so happy that I got to see this in person.

Sorry your feet were hurting but no wonder after all the walking you had done.

This became their natural state during this trip. I have to add up at some stage just how much distance we covered.

I am here!

Welcome on board.

Your pictures are amazing.

Thanks.

I am really happy that you had such a great time there!

It was just absolutely amazing and I can't wait to go back.

And I think your ability to use your shoulders in a sea of Chinese is due to your German heritage. ;-)

You may be on to something there. I have to admit, I came to just see it as a sport. Graham definitely struggled more with this.

It sometimes reminded me of getting on the school bus as a teenager...

I never had that pleasure as I always lived within walking distance to school.

Corinna
 
Looks like you checked off quite a few destinations on Day 4! Your pictures are beautiful!

I love pork buns and i would have been all over those! You dinner looked tasty as well!
 


Day 5

It was time to say goodbye to Beijing. We had set the alarm for 4:45 just in case as we were due to be picked up at 5:30. We woke up before the alarm was due to go off. We got up and ready, packed the last odds and ends and then went downstairs. Checkout was a quick and easy progress. We then waited in the lobby for our driver. During the night I had received a text with the pick-up details, so I knew that we would have the same driver that had dropped us off when we arrived. I saw the car pull up shortly afterwards and we headed out. When I had booked the transfer, I had to fill out all the flight details, but somehow this had not got transmitted across to our driver. He had no idea which terminal we needed to go to. Fortunately, he had a handy app on his phone that translated Mandarin to English and we were able to communicate via this. Soon we were on our way and we had a smooth run back to the airport.

They are definitely a lot more security conscious in the Far East. As soon as we entered the terminal, there was a security checkpoint. We were swapped for chemicals, our luggage went through an x-ray machine and we went through a metal detector. Even though it was already quite busy considering how early it was, the whole process was quick and painless. Once we were through security, I checked the boards to see where we had to go to check in. The check in desks for ANA were not far away. About two weeks before the trip, I was prompted to update passport details and they then checked us in automatically about 24 hours before the flight. This meant that we could proceed straight to the baggage drop. There was nobody waiting. We dropped off our luggage, were given our boarding passes and then headed towards the departure gates. We had to take the little train to the satellite terminal again and cleared all the formalities there. The lines looked pretty long, but everything worked like clockwork. We went through a customs checkpoint, but they were not interested in us in the slightest. Then it was through immigration where they took our departure card off us and put the exit stamp in the passport. The last element was security. I was quite surprised that apart from the standard laptops, tablets and liquids, they also screened power banks separately. They also scanned the passports and the boarding passes at security. Despite long lines and added checks, we were through very quickly and then we were in the departure lounge.

I had a quick look around some of the shops, but did not find anything I wanted. We figured that there would be probably more paperwork to fill out and neither of us had a pen. I then spotted a Swarovski shop. This may not be the most obvious place to get a pen, but I had an ulterior motive. When I flew to California for my solo trip in 2015, I bought myself a beautiful rose gold Swarovski pen from the duty-free catalogue on the plane. I loved this pen and it was one of the few ballpoint pens that I ever had that I found easy to write with. One day in my old job, it disappeared from my desk. I was always hoping to replace this, but although we have multiple Swarovski shops in the town I live in, I could not find it in store or online. It did occur to me that this may be a duty free exclusive and with a bit of luck, they would have it Beijing. I was not far wrong. The style had slightly changed and the pen now has a clip, but I ended up loving this as much as the original. I bought this and our pen issue was solved. Now that I have a replacement, the original style has turned up at one of the local shops. I may still get this.

We then went to look for some breakfast and found a Costa Coffee kiosk. This did nicely. They had an English Trifle Latte on the menu and we were both intrigued by this, but they did not have the ingredients to make this. I had a normal Latte and Graham had an Americano. Graham had a slice of walnut carrot cake and I had some green tea mousse cake. We both enjoyed our breakfast.



After breakfast, I went to the bathroom and took some photos of the area around us. There was a children’s play area with pandas and a Chinese garden with a traditional pavilion. As airports go, Beijing airport is definitely one of the prettier ones. We then headed towards our gate and I got my first look at a Dreamliner up close. I was surprised how empty the gate area was. I caught up with things online and soon it was time to board the plane. At that stage, I realized just how empty our flight was. Graham and I had two seats together in the very last row of the plane. The Dreamliner is divided into various cabin sections that are almost like smaller cabins. Well, in our cabin section there was us and another couple at the opposite end. We had a pleasant flight. Once we were at cruising altitude, we were served drinks and a very early lunch. Lunch consisted of duck breast with potato salad, pork and onion with rice and vegetables, rice crackers and vanilla ice cream. We both had some white wine and I also had some tea. As airline tea goes, this was lovely. The rest of the flight was taken up by filling out the latest round of landing cards, reading and studying the map. The Dreamliner is a nice aircraft for a short flight like this, but I don’t think I would want to fly long-haul in one. I still think that you cannot beat the Airbus A380 for this.













Time kind of flew and soon we were descending into Tokyo Haneda. Now, this is an airport that is an adventure as the runways have been reclaimed from the sea. There is sea all around you as you approach the airport. Fortunately, our captain did a good job and we were soon taxiing towards the terminal. It did not take long for us to realize that things are different in Japan. Our first stop once we got off the plane was the bathroom. There was no hunt for a throne here, but I nearly jumped out of my skin when I encountered a jet of warm water washing my nether regions. That was definitely a first. I had not quite recovered from that surprise when I kept hearing an electronic chime playing Rudolf The Red-nosed Reindeer. I could not figure out where it was coming from and Graham was as bewildered by this as I was. He worked it in the end. The golf carts that are used to ferry people with reduced mobility around the airport were lit up and played Rudolf The Red-nosed Reindeer. I wonder what tune they may play the rest of the year.

Soon we arrived at immigration. Like at Beijing, we entered the immigration hall through a quarantine area with infrared cameras. Here they were supplemented by radiation detectors. We must have passed muster on both accounts as we were allowed to proceed to immigration unhindered. There we encountered an enormous line. A number of flights from China arrived at the same time and most people in the immigration line seemed to be from China. The line for Japanese citizens was nearly empty. I figured that we would be here for a while, but immigration in Japan is frightfully efficient. From us entering the quarantine area to us being let loose on Tokyo, it took less than 20 minutes. I had forgotten to fill in how long I was intending to stay in Japan, but the immigration official just pointed it out with a smile and asked me to fill it out there and then. I was a little disappointed that I did not get a stamp in my passport. In Japan, they have stickers instead.

We then proceeded to the baggage hall and were more than a little relieved when we left with the same number of suitcases that we had checked in. Then it was time to make our way into Tokyo proper. I had done a lot of research, but we still hit some snags. I knew that there are a number of different companies operating different subway lines in Tokyo and that they have no integrated ticketing. The monorail is owned by a separated company yet again. However, all of them accept the Suica smart cards. That just seemed the easiest way to go about this rather than having to buy multiple tickets for one journey. For all Japan's love for modern technology, I knew that only cash is accepted to recharge the Suica card. As all the sources put so much emphasis on only being able to use cash for recharging, I had deducted that the initial purchase could be done by credit card. We followed the signs for the monorail and found an office for Japan Rail right by the entrance. I knew that they would sell Suica cards. We got in the very short line only to be told that they only accepted cash. We were directed to the closest ATM which was just a matter of feet away. At that stage I started to sweat a little as my research had also taught me that there are only two kinds of ATMs that accept international cards: Japan Post and Seven Eleven. Fortunately, the ATM there was a Japan Post one and we both got some cash. We then went back to the Japan Rail office and got our Suica cards. With those in hand, we proceeded to the monorail.

We had no issue finding the right platform. I knew that we needed to head towards Hamamatsucho and that the one we wanted, Tennozu Isle, would be the third stop. There we would change onto the subway for one further stop to get us to the hotel. Seemed easy enough. Just as we were getting to the platform, so did the monorail. A quick look confirmed that this was indeed going to Hamamatsucho. We got on. I started to get a little concerned when we breezed through a station that I had expected to stop at. Then there was an announcement that the next stop would be Hamamatsucho, where the train would terminate. What I had not realized is that some monorails go non-stop from Haneda International Terminal to Hamamatsucho and we had ended up on one of those. Oh well, this turned out to be not a big deal and actually probably ended us saving some time. We just crossed over to the other platform and took a stopping service for one stop to Tennozu Isle. There we hit another slight obstacle, I had expected that there was an interchange between the monorail and the Rinkai line in the same building, but we actually had to go down two flights of stairs, cross a road and then head down some escalators. Without luggage, this would be a non-event, but with luggage, it was a bit more of a challenge. Still, we soon were inside the right station. The Tokyo subway is a bit more confusing than the one in Beijing and I was fresh out of a sense of adventure. So rather than ending up somewhere I did not want to go again, I decided to ask for help. I got my first impression that it was even harder to get by with English in Tokyo than it was in Beijing. However, we found the Japanese people to be very helpful and very polite. The saving grace was that unlike Mandarin, Japanese is pronounced exactly the way it is written so that made communication easier. I provided the person at the information desk with the name of the station we wanted to go, and he pointed us in one direction and gave us the platform number in English. The train arrived shortly after we got to the platform and this time it was stopping where we wanted to go.



 
The hotel that Graham had picked out was on the top 10 floors of an office building. The subway station was underneath this building and we never had to go up to street level. The hotel was also very well signposted and soon we were in the reception. This was a beautiful tranquil space. We had a short wait as there was a small group in front of us, but they were assisted very swiftly and efficiently. The front desk staff spoke very good English, and this was something I really came to appreciate. We were checked in and were given our key cards and directions on where to find our room. We headed up there to drop off our luggage. The room as clean and comfortable, but very compact. Even though the double bed was the smallest one I had ever seen, there was not a great deal of space in the room. I think the bathroom may actually have been bigger than the rest of the room. Still we were not planning to spend a great deal of time in the room, so this would do very nicely.



We had some time until we had to be somewhere. Graham had picked up a tourist map while I checked in and was studying this. I activated my Japanese SIM card and then went back to the front desk to see if they could print something out for me. Graham had kindly printed our holiday documents, but overlooked a couple of documents, one of which was my e-ticket for Tokyo Disney Resort. I was given an email address to send this to. Unfortunately, I had left my phone in the room when I went down so I had to go back to the room to send the email. Luckily, I had the foresight to bring some money as the charged me the princely sum of 20 Yen (around 12 Pence) to print off the two pages. I took my tickets back up to the room and we decided we may as well head out. Graham checked where we needed to go and discovered that the monorail station was within walking distance. So, we headed out.

There was not a great deal of interest on the way. I was utterly bewildered by the tsunami signs. I knew that Japan in general and Tokyo specially is at risk of tsunamis, but I had not realized just how close to sea-level a lot of Tokyo is. Often it is only 3 or 4 feet above sea-level. We also stopped near one of the countless canals and were amused by the diving ducks. It did not take us long to walk to the Tennozu Isle monorail station. We noticed that coming the other way would have been more of a challenge. Where we had exited in the morning was an exit only. The entrance was a couple of blocks further along and through a combined office building and shopping centre. That would not have been fun with luggage. The shopping centre part was quite pretty and we had a wander around before we got on the monorail.









We had an evening tour booked. I would spend most of my time in Tokyo at Tokyo Disney Resort, but I wanted to see at last a little of Tokyo. This seemed to work well. We took the monorail to Hamamatsucho. Our meeting point was the bus station which was supposed be near the monorail. We exited the monorail and could not figure out where we needed to go. The signs were in both English and Japanese, but there was no sign for the bus station. A passing policeman noticed that we were lost and motioned over somebody from a mobile tourist information desk, which was essentially just a folding table. The person who came over spoke fluent English. She gave us directions and then equipped us with all kinds of leaflets, maps and booklets. We thanked her and were on our way.

It turned out that the bus station was right underneath where we were. There was a small indoor market on the way, but there was nothing there that grabbed my attention. We found where we had to check in later and then decided to get a snack and a drink. Just above the bus station was an Italian coffee shop. We went in. Graham had an Americano and a slice of peach and raspberry mousse cake. I had a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of chocolate and berry cake. When we got there, it was relatively empty. We just relaxed and went through the various brochures and leaflets we had been given. However, as people finished work it got busier and to my immense surprise, people were allowed to smoke in the cafe. As it got busier, the smoke became an issue. So we left. I was really surprised by this. I has been a long time since I have been somewhere where smoking in an indoor public space was allowed. I expected smoking to be an issue in China considering how many Chinese people smoke, but it was not an issue at all. In Beijing, smoking is banned in all shared indoor spaces.

We decided to check out what else there was around. We found an exit out to street level and went to check it out. By then the sun had gone down and it was quite chilly. There was not anything nearby that seemed to be interesting, so we headed back inside. We then explored the various levels of the building and the Christmas decorations there. This was a real surprise. Christmas is not celebrated in either Japan or China, but a lot of public spaces had Christmas decorations up. At some stage, we both needed the bathroom. We found one near the entrance to the bus station. I was a little reluctant as my track record with bathrooms at stations and other public transport hubs is not great. This bathroom however was spotless and I had my second bathroom related surprise that day. The toilet seat was actually heated.

We then went to the counter of the tour operator we were booked with and checked in. We were given our tickets and were advised our meeting time and the gate where we needed to be. We had nowhere else to go so we went over to the gate and sat down. I made use of my Japanese SIM card and caught up with things online. At some stage, our tour guide came over to introduce herself. She advised that we were the only customers that evening, but we still had to wait until the allotted time. She did check with us if we eat everything and went into a bit of a tailspin when I told her that that I do not eat fish or seafood. She went off to make some phone calls and came back a few times to clarify if there was any kind of seafood I eat. I told her I was OK with shrimp, but vetoed squid. In the end she came back and said it was all sorted. She then walked us over the bus. Yes, you read this right. We actually had a whole bus to ourselves. That was a bit much. A car or even a minibus would have done nicely.

We were introduced to the driver and then we set off. She pointed out various things to us as we drove and explained a bit about Tokyo and its history. We crossed Rainbow Bridge, which was lit up in all the colours of the rainbow. Our tour guide explained that although it is called Rainbow Bridge, it is not always lit up like this. For most of the year, it is just illuminated in white with a warmer tone of white used during the summer months and a cooler tone of white during the winter months. During the month of December, Rainbow Bridge is lit up in rainbow colours in honor of Christmas. Other times of the year when there is special lighting is for Valentine’s Day and cherry blossom season. I was very glad that we were at the right time of the year to see this.



Shortly after driving across rainbow bridge, we made our first stop at the waterfront in Obaida. We headed straight for the waterfront to see the Statue of Liberty. I have to admit that this has confused me in the past in picture trivia as I instantly associate the Statue of Liberty with New York. This version is much smaller. She is only about 1/7 of the size of her counterpart in New York. However, as you can get really close, she looks impressive. We were really spoiled as the rainbow bridge is right behind her. The history of her is fascinating. There are actually multiple Statues of Liberty in Paris. One of them is on the Île aux Cygnes in the river Seine, which was given to the people of Paris in 1889 by US residents of Paris to celebrate the French Revolution. This Statue of Liberty went on a long trip to Tokyo in 1998 to commemorate the “French Year in Japan”. For just over a year, she stood proudly by the waterfront in Obaida before being returned to Paris. However, she was so popular that a replica of the Statue of Liberty from the Île aux Cygnes was erected in the same spot in 2000 and has been there ever since. We took plenty of photos and our tour guide offered to take some photos of us with the Statue of Liberty and rainbow bridge in the background.















We had one last brief stop to make before we got back on the bus. Just around the corner from the Statue of Liberty is a shopping centre called Aqua City Obaida. This shopping centre’s claim to fame is that it has an android receptionist called ChihiraJunco. Our tour guide made a comment that she does not do a great deal and she most certainly did not while we were there. If she is actually working, she speaks Japanese, English and Chinese and apparently you can ask her certain preset questions via a tablet. When we were there, she was on strike. The experience may be different if she is actually working, but I just found her creepy.







Once we had visited ChihiraJunco, we headed back to the bus. Our next stop was dinner. On the way, we crossed Dinosaur Bridge. Dinosaur bridge resembles two dinosaurs facing each other. This time we just drove across and did not stop for photos. We both tried to take photos, but because of the movement of the bus and the lights, they did not come out. Our tour guide told us a bit more about Tokyo and then we were chatting about our plans while we were in Tokyo. It did not take long until we got to the restaurant. This was in a food court area of an office building. There was hardly anybody there. We were taken to our table where a whole feast was waiting for us. Our dinner consisted of shrimp and vegetable Tempura, miso soup, a curry soup, vegetable salad, marinated beef and onions for me, sashimi for Graham and rice. We were also served some plum wine and tea. Our tour guide advised that we could order wine, beer or sake, but that there would be an extra charge for this. We ordered some sake to share. She took some photos of us and then she left us to it. There was just so much food and I would have been perfectly fine without the beef and onions, which I was given instead of the sashimi. It was utterly delicious though. I had my share of the Tempura, all the miso soup and beef, but did manage to finish anything else. The only thing I did not like was the curry soup. The soup base was actually quite tasty, but I have no idea what was swimming in it. There was no discernible taste to any of it, but the texture put me off. It was kind of slimy.





Our tour guide came back just as we were finishing our meal to check if we were ready to move on. We were. We made a quick bathroom stop and then we went back to the bus for our final destination. We were headed to Roppongi, which is a commercial and entertainment district. Roppongi is Japanese for six trees and there are various backstories to this name. One of them is that there used to be six very old and large zelkova trees used to mark the area; the first three were cleared, and the last were destroyed during World War II. The one our tour guide thought to be the more likely explanation is that the area was once populated by 6 families that either had the Japanese character for tree or a type of tree as part of their family name. Whatever the real reason for the name is, it made me smile. In the UK, we have a town called Sevenoaks. I have never been to this place, but yet it has influenced my life quite significantly. When I met Graham many moons ago while volunteering, he was planning to cycle across Europe in the middle of winter. He did promise to come and see me in Germany on the way back, but I have no illusions that if everything had gone according to plan, both of our lives would have moved on. Instead he collided with one of the oaks in Sevenoaks. Fortunately, he only had some very minor injuries, but they were enough to stop him taking his trip. Instead we got to spend some time together before I had to return to Germany and by the end of it, we had decided that we could not imagine life without each other. As you read this, we will have recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary so that oak has a lot to answer for. You can probably understand why the name made me smile.

The reason why we were in Roppongi was to visit an observation area that would give us a panoramic view over Tokyo. Out tour guide explained that our ticket would allow us admission to the observation level as well as the modern art museum that was above it. Neither of us had an interest in the museum. When we got to the observation level, we found that there was an exhibition on that level, too. Bulgari currently sponsors an exhibition called Serpentiform that is all about snakes in jewelry, fashion and art. This exhibition is traveling around the world and was in Tokyo from the end of November to the end of December. I have to admit that I was ever so slightly irritated by this. Not only are snakes not exactly my favourite creatures, but the exhibition lighting made it hard to enjoy the view as this was reflected in the floor to ceiling windows. I may have felt a little bit more charitable if I had realized at the time that there was a lithograph by Marc Chagall that was part of the exhibit. Some areas where more affected than others by the light pollution and we found some quiet corners away from the exhibition that allowed us unobscured views. Our tour guide came around with us pointing out landmarks every now and again. Despite the less than optimal viewing conditions, it was still enjoyable. We very slowly made our way round and once we had come full circle, we were ready to leave. Me made our way back to the bus.









On the way to Tokyo Station, where our tour would end, we came past some more landmarks including the Tokyo Tower. The Tokyo Tower is an observation and communication tower and is the second highest building in Japan. The highest building is the Tokyo Skytree, which is the new communication tower. Our tour guide explained that unlike many other major cities in world, Tokyo does not have any really high buildings due to frequent earthquakes. At night, when it is all lit up, Tokyo Tower looks like a small Eiffel Tower. In daylight, that effect is kind of destroyed by the fact that it is painted with red and white stripes. Although Tokyo Tower was not officially opened until 23rd December 1958, construction was completed with the erection of the antenna on 14th October 1958, only 8 days after Graham was born.

We had nearly reached Tokyo Station when my phone went off. This was my main phone with the UK SIM card, which I had brought because it has a better camera. I did not recognize the number. I Googled the country code, and this came back as Hong Kong. Now I was completely confused. I did not answer as I did not pay the roaming charges. I figured that if it was something important, they would text me or find another way to contact me. Shortly afterwards we arrived at Tokyo Station and it was time to say goodbye to our tour guide and our driver. Graham had been less than thrilled when he realized that we would be dropped off at Tokyo station as he had read that this is a bit of a nightmare. It may well be that during rush hour, but it was really straightforward. We took the Keiyō Line for four stations and then changed onto the Rinkai Line. Those lines would become a bit of a commuting route for me. It did not take us long to get back to Shinagawa Seaside station. I decided to top up my Suica card as I was not sure if I had enough credit to get me to Tokyo Disney Resort and I did not have to negotiate the machines during morning rush hour. The process was straightforward enough. We then headed back to the hotel.

I decided that I did not fancy another early morning nor the morning rush hour. I checked if there was anything going on a Tokyo Disney Sea that I needed to be there for at a specific time. The first one was at 17:00. As the park would be open until 22:00, I figured that as long as I was there by noon, it would be all good. Graham had nothing specific planned for that day either. We agreed that I would set the alarm for 9:00 and we would have breakfast before heading out. With this sorted, we got ready for bed, I read a chapter in my book and then we settled down for the night.
 
Our first stop once we got off the plane was the bathroom. There was no hunt for a throne here, but I nearly jumped out of my skin when I encountered a jet of warm water washing my nether regions. That was definitely a first.

I just burst laughing out loud reading this...my dad had a similarly surprising experience the first night in our hotel. I am on the bed writing notes and I suddenly hear my dad giggling, silence, giggling, etc. repeat for a good two minutes. Apparently he'd found the bidet on button but couldn't find the off one....
 


Your travel day sounds quite smooth. Wild that you had your part of the plane almost to yourselves. How long was the flight?

The strange toilets of the trip continue!

Neat about the Christmas decorations, they were pretty.

The tour sounds interesting. Glad they were accommodating with dinner, that was thoughtful. Bizarre only cash was accepted for the train tickets. The rainbow bridge was very pretty. I’ll have to look up the dinosaur bridge, that sounds neat.
 
Looks like you checked off quite a few destinations on Day 4!

I was very happy with what we managed to see that day, but my poor feet did feel it.

Your pictures are beautiful!

Thanks.

I love pork buns and i would have been all over those!

Pork buns are one of my absolutely favourite foods in the world.

I just burst laughing out loud reading this...my dad had a similarly surprising experience the first night in our hotel. I am on the bed writing notes and I suddenly hear my dad giggling, silence, giggling, etc. repeat for a good two minutes. Apparently he'd found the bidet on button but couldn't find the off one....

I do feel for him. i think I must have knocked the button with my elbow when I reaching for the tissue.

How long was the flight?

The flight was 3.5 hours, but it seemed much quicker than that.

The strange toilets of the trip continue!

After this, there were no more surprises.

Neat about the Christmas decorations, they were pretty.

I was really surprised just how big a deal Christmas was in both China and Japan considering that it is not celebrated in either country.

The tour sounds interesting. Glad they were accommodating with dinner, that was thoughtful.

I really enjoyed this - so much so that we are actually booking our customers that are going to Tokyo on the same tour.

Bizarre only cash was accepted for the train tickets.

I thought so, too. In many ways, people in China and Japan are a lot more reliant on modern technology, but cash is still king.

I love your trip reports. You and Graham are so adventurous!

I am glad that you are enjoying them. Travel is a big passion of ours and the more exotic the better as far as I am concerned.

Corinna
 
Sounds like you had a great arrival day in Tokyo!

I think that Christmas is a big thing in Asia because their culture always put a lot of emphasis in seasons and how live changes with them. We heard a lot about the importance of seasons when visiting castles in Kyoto. You can also see this in how TDR celebrates seasons with decorations and food and such. So, adopting Christmas as a modern winter seasonal event fits right in for them.
 
I think that Christmas is a big thing in Asia because their culture always put a lot of emphasis in seasons and how live changes with them. We heard a lot about the importance of seasons when visiting castles in Kyoto. You can also see this in how TDR celebrates seasons with decorations and food and such. So, adopting Christmas as a modern winter seasonal event fits right in for them.

That makes perfect sense. I was very impressed with just how many Christmas offerings there were in the parks. Speaking of the parks at Christmas, I have various maps and leaflets for you. I really need to get them in the post.

Corinna
 
I have been woefully neglecting this thread. I have been suffering from a little bit of writer's block and did not want to post an update until I had finished the installment I was stuck on. I have about three paragraphs to do on this, which will be done before dinner. I was also lacking the motivation as I had no concrete plans for our next trip and therefore no incentive to get this finished anytime soon. This has now changed and the trip is less than 3 months away :eek:. So now I definitely have an incentive to get on with it. I need to firm up a couple of things first, but then I will share our plans on my pre-trip report.

Corinna
 
Day 6

I was awake before the alarm went off. Graham was still asleep so I used the downtime to catch up online. I caught up with Facebook and checked my emails. I found a whole bunch of emails from the company that I had bought my Tokyo Disney tickets from. Now the call from Hong Kong made sense as this was where their head office is. Apparently there was some ticketing issues. The original email stated that there were some ticketing issues and if I had any issues to just buy a new ticket and submit the receipt. The final email contained new etickets. I originally had a two day ticket and they now had reissued this as two one day tickets. This meant that I had to use the services of the front desk again. Graham woke up not long afterwards and we took turns to get showered and ready.

When we were ready to go down to breakfast, I emailed the attachment to the front desk and asked them to print them out for me. Then we headed to the restaurant. In the hotel description when we booked this, it stated that there was a Japanese restaurant, but the restaurant was actually Vietnamese. We went to the podium and paid for breakfast. Breakfast was served buffet-style and did not look particularly big, but we were spoiled for choice. Graham had coffee and orange juice. I tried some of unusual soda flavours. They were not sodas in the western sense of the word, but were cordials with sparkling water. I absolutely adored the acerola soda. I also tried the apple soda, which was nice, but the acerola soda was my favourite. We both started with a scrambled egg, sausage, bacon and fried chicken. Graham also added some grilled fish and broccoli to his plate. He then had some macadamia cream with fruit and some croissants. I was a bit more adventurous. I finally got to satisfy my craving for noodles. One of the options was a build your own Vietnamese Pho station. There were bowls of noodles. There were wire baskets to put the noodles in, which you then dipped into boiling water for a few seconds. There was a big pot with a gorgeous lemongrass and chicken broth and then various bits and pieces to add. I kept it simple that morning and just added some crispy onions. Other options were chicken, fish, bean sprouts, fresh chilli, eggs, various vegetables and various herbs. This was so good. If I could have this every morning, I would actually volunteer to have breakfast and I normally struggle with breakfast. I also tried a little bit of Vietnamese curry with rice, which was quite spicy, but absolutely delicious. I finished off my breakfast with a piece of coconut cake with fruit cocktail. I was absolutely stuffed.







Once we both were finished, we went back to the room to get what we needed for the day. Graham then walked me down to the subway station. I realized very soon that I had made a very wise decision to head out a little later. When I got down to the platform, it seemed that half of humankind was getting off the subway. When I got on the train, it was still quite busy for a couple of stops, but then the subway emptied out. The interchange to the line that goes to Tokyo Disney Resort was easy and the connecting train was not too busy either. I got off at Mahaima station. I was welcomed with Disney music and this was the first time of many that I found myself with a lump in my throat. Thanks to the directions that our tour guide had given me the evening before, I had no issues finding where I needed to go. Once I was on street level, I walked the short distance to the resort gateway station. Cue lump in the throat number two. I could not believe I was really there. Sure, I had been wanting to come here for years, but I never thought that I actually would get to visit. There is one thing at Tokyo Disney Resort that I am hoping that the parks in the USA will not look to closely at. At Tokyo Disney Resort, they charge you for the privilege to use the monorail. There were ticket machines at the entrance of the resort gateway station. I figured out that you could buy single journey tickets, return tickets, day tickets and multi day tickets. I knew that I wanted a two day ticket, but the machines were defeating me. One of the cast members at the station realized I was struggling and came over to help me. Thankfully she spoke excellent English. I was to find out shortly afterwards that this was something that was very rare at Tokyo Disney Resort. She asked what ticket I wanted, took my money off me and got me the required ticket. They had special commemorative tickets for the Christmas season. She then directed me to the ticket gates and I was on my way.

The monorails at Tokyo Disney Resort have Mickey head windows andthe straps that you can hang on to if you have to stand also had Mickey heads attached to them. The monorail has 4 stations. Resort gateway is the connection to the Tokyo subway. It also serves the Ambassador Hotel, Bon Voyage, which is a huge gift shop, and Ikspiari, which is Tokyo Disney Resort’s answer to Disney Springs. The next station is the Tokyo Disneyland station, which serves Tokyo Disneyland and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. Bayside Station serves the Tokyo Disney Resort Official Hotels. This is essentially like Hotel Plaza at Walt Disney World. The final station was for Tokyo Disney Sea, which was where I was heading that day. I let the crowds disperse and then took some photos of the park through the picture windows at the station. Then I went downstairs and made my way to the park. Considering that I had stood right above the entrance area to the park, it took a little while to walk to the walk. I went through security, which was quick and painless and then I was at the turnstiles. Thankfully I had no issue with my new ticket and soon I was inside.



To start off with I was walking around like I was in a dream and with the biggest grin imaginable on my face. I wandered around the entrance plaza for a bit to take everything in. In the process, I spotted Shellie May. I am not sure how many people here have ever heard of Shellie Maey. She is the companion of Duffy the Disney Bear. I had never heard of her until I visited Aulani in 2014 and a friend asked me if I could bring a Shellie May plush back for her. Aulani sells them for the Japanese visitors. I know Duffy has never taken off in either the US parks or Disneyland Paris. I have to say that although I am utterly bewildered why Disney saw the need to create a character that has no tie in with a movie or attraction, I have always had a soft spot for Duffy. It was the Oriental Land Company, the owners of Tokyo Disney Resort, that adopted Duffy, gave him a back story and aggressively marketed him at Tokyo Disney Sea. The people in Japan went absolutely wild about Duffy and from there, his popularity spread to the other Asian parks. I have heard that Duffy and his friends are even more popular at Hong Kong Disneyland. In Asia, there is a whole franchise built around Duffy. There is Shelly May, who is a female bear, Gelatoni, who is a cat and an artist and StellaLou, who is a bunny and a dancer. I have to say they are very cute, but Gelatoni and StellaLou don’t really do anything for me. Shellie May however is a different matter. She is just as cute as a button and I may have developed a slight Shellie May obsession.

As I had never met Shellie May before, this was high on my list. She was wearing her Christmas finery. I followed the line along to see where the end of the line was and found a cast member there. This was where I got my first indication that I had been a little optimistic when I assumed that the cast members would speak at least some English. The one in charge of the line did not. She did however have a handy book with phrases in Japanese on one side and the English translation at the other. So she proceeded to point on phrases and I pointed on the answers and that worked pretty well up to the point that I had a question as the book did not cater for that. Still, it all worked out. After she established that I was by myself and did not mind waiting, she wrote me out a ticket and directed me to the end of the line. The line did not look that long and seemed to be moving swiftly. So I wondered if the estimate of one hour was totally over the top. Still there was a low wall next to the line that people used to sit on, the sun was shining and it was actually warm enough for me to take my jacket off. This was also the perfect spot for people watching. Watching the people at Tokyo Disney resort made me look like a complete Disney lightweight. Sure, I was wearing Disney leggings, a sweatshirt with a Minnie head and a jacket with a Mickey head that I had custom-made for the and my Disney Cruise Line Dooney and Bourke backpack, but looking at the other people, I felt somewhat underdressed. Everybody was wearing mouse ears or character hats, novelty character buckets and most people were carrying multiple Disney plushes. I found this utterly fascinating, but I did wonder what they would do with the plushes when getting on rides.

Not long afterwards, I realized why the estimated waiting time was so high. Shellie May went in when there were only a couple of people ahead of me and unlike at Disneyland Paris or the US parks, she did not reappear for a good 40 minutes. The first sign that she was due to come back was that photographers appeared and boxes for bags were put down. I thought that this was a really nice touch. At the organized character lines, they put boxes at the end of the line where people can put their bags, coats and anything else they do not want to have in the photo. Once Shellie May had reappeared, a photographer was making his way down the line offering photo packages. Tokyo Disney Resort has something like Photopass, but they still send out CDs and you need a Japanese address for this. At certain character interactions, they offer prints packages and they are available to everybody. I liked the package, but I was not so keen on the idea of carrying this around with me all day so I declined. Shortly afterwards, it was my turn and I had a fantastic interaction with Shellie May. One of her escorts was only too happy to take photos with my iPhone so I did not actually miss out.



Once I had said goodbye to Shellie May, I headed into the park. I decided to cut through the shops as the sun had gone in and the temperature had dropped. I was also curious about the kind of merchandise that was available. I was not overly impressed by the selection. There were a lot of plushes and a lot of snacks in special packaging. Other than that, there was not a great deal. In a way, this was actually a blessing as I had been worried that I would be very tempted by the merchandise and I had little luggage space to play with.

I excited the shops onto Mediterranean Harbour and the first thing I saw was the lagoon that they use for Fantasmic! They view across the lagoon was stunning. I quickly realized that Tokyo Disney Sea is the visually most stunning park out of all the Disney parks I have been to. The attention to detail there is out of this world. I wandered around Mediterranean Harbour for a while to take everything in. I came across the Venetian Gondolas, but they had gone down at the time and I was not that bothered about them anyway. I continued wandering and ended up crossing over into American Waterfront. This area is huge. I thought at this may be representing San Francisco, but have since learned it is meant to be New York. Whatever it is, the attention to detail was again amazing and I took my time. I then ended up at a mini land called Toyville Trolley Park, which is carnival themed and home to Toy Story Mania. I decided that I may as well do this ride while I was there. Most of the line for the ride is outside, which kind of surprised me considering that Tokyo has a fairly damp climate and it can get very cold, once I was inside the building, which is similarly themed to the version at Hollywood Studios, I did not have to wait long at all. I am pretty familiar with the ride and this is identical at all three parks that have it, but it still threw me that everything was in Japanese. I did however manage to finally graduate from a bunny to a beaver.







 
When I came off the ride, I was quite thirsty, but I could not find anywhere that sold something to drink. So I went for the next best thing - a Minnie bar. The Mickey bar in Tokyo is very different from the Mickey bars in the US parks. Here it is made from tropical flavoured fruit ice. There is also a Minnie bar, which is a raspberry and peach flavoured fruit ice. I decided to go with this. It was very delicious and it definitely quenched my thirst.

I continued to wander around American Waterfront taking in all the clever detail. I walked past Tower of Terror and I was absolutely blown away how beautiful this building is. I have read that the theming of the ride is quite different here, too, but I was not tempted to go and check it out. Opposite Tower of Terror is. the Waterfront Park. This is a very pretty space and was featuring a huge Christmas tree. I then admired the S.S. Columbia, which is a huge ship that is “docked” at American Waterfront and houses a restaurant that offers character meals, a lounge and Turtle Talk with Crush. I did not go inside, but it looked very impressive from the outside.













Opposite the S.S. Columbia and just before the bridge leading to the second half of American Waterfront, was a little cart selling the famous Little Green Dumplings. I kept reading about those and had to try them. They are essentially mochi that have been dyed green and decorated. You get three and they are filled with strawberry custard, vanilla custard and chocolate custard. Mochi is a traditional Japanese rice cake, which can be filled with all kinds of sweet fillings from custard, sweet beans and ice cream. Before this trip, I had read warnings to be careful when eating mochi as every year there are on average 100 admissions a year to hospital in Tokyo alone due to people choking on mochi and there are a few death as well. I just shook my head when I read this. I have had mochi on a number of occasions and could not understand how people would choke on that. So I picked up my first Little Green Dumpling, bit into it and nearly ended up choking myself. They were a lot firmer than any mochi I had previously and I had bitten off too large a piece. I think this may be a variation that is specific to Tokyo as I had mochi at one of the Japanese ports we visited later in the holiday and that was much softer and of the same consistency as the mochi I had tasted previously. After the initial shock, I made sure that I took smaller bites and I really enjoyed them. My favourite was the one with the chocolate custard.



I wandered around Cape Cod and took some photos. There is not a great deal there, but is very picturesque and I spent a good while wandering around and taking photos. There are a couple of counter service restaurants and a shop selling Duffy merchandise. I did not check this out at this point, but ended up doing so later. One of the counter service restaurants has a show called My Friend Duffy. I wondered if I should check this out, but I was not hungry at the time and gave this a pass. The meet and greet spot for Duffy is also in that area, I would have loved to see him in his Christmas finery, but the waiting time up indicated a waiting time of 100 minutes and I did not want to see him that badly. I still got some character interaction though. I walked past quite a crowd and could not really figure out what this was all about so I moved on. I had nearly passed the area when something familiar caught my eye. It turned out that Thumper and Mrs Bunny were mingling with the masses. So I backtracked and I was able to get photos with both of them.















 
After meeting with my two old friends, it was time to explore another port of call. Port Discovery has a distinct Steampunk feel to it and kind of reminded me of Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris. It has a very different feel from the other ports of call, but I rather liked it. Before I went on this trip, I made a list of 4 must do attractions for each park and one of them was right here. The waiting time was only about 15 minutes so I got in line. Nemo & Friends SeaRider only opened in May. Based on what little information was available, I thought this was an actual ride, but it turned out to be a cross between a simulator and a 4D movie based around the characters from Finding Dory. I did really enjoy it, but I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had been able to understand the soundtrack.











By then the day was not quite so young as I had thought anymore. I had somewhere to be before 16:00 so I hotfooted it through Lost River Delta. This port of call was of limited appeal to me. It has two rides: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, which is pretty much identical to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland and Raging Spirits. Raging Spirits is a roller coaster is based on the Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril attraction at Disneyland Paris. I won’t ride it there and I was most certainly not going to ride it here. Other than that, there are various character meet and greets in that area. I thought I may come back for those, but in the end I decided against it.

Where I was heading in such a rush was Arabian Coast. There were a couple of things that drew me there, but this was stunningly beautiful as well. I stopped on the path opposite to take some photos before entering Arabian Coast. This is a complete maze and on multiple levels. It took me a little while to find where I needed to be. At the far end of Arabian Coast, Stitch meets and greets. He was in an Arabic costume and too cute for words. I got there at 15:45 and there were only about half a dozen people waiting. Unfortunately the line was already closed. He ended up going in 10 minutes ahead of the official finishing time. I was gutted. I stayed around to see if I could at least get a photo of him if I could not get a photo with him. I must have looked at him rather longingly as just as I was about to leave, a cast member in the area came over and beckoned me to follow her. She spoke a little English and told me “Stitch goes home this way”. I thanked her and was waiting for him to appear. Just as he came towards me, my iPhone decided it would not cooperate. By the time I managed to fix the issue, he was too far away for a decent photo, but I appreciated the opportunity anyway.







The area that Stitch disappeared to was right next door to another of my must do rides: Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This is a boat ride and it is really rather cute. Again, I wished that I could understand the story that was being told, but I was still able to enjoy the ride despite the language barrier. When I came off the ride, it was time to get something to eat and drink. Nearby is a quick service restaurant called Sultan’s Oasis. They sell another unique snack: Chandu Tail. Chandu is a cute little tiger that features prominently in Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This snack has been named in his honour and looks like a tiger’s tail. It is actually a steamed bun with a creamy chicken filling and is both adorable and delicious. Unfortunately my second choice was not a hit. I saw Jasmine tea on the menu and decided to get some. Not only did it come from a tea bag, but it was also really bitter. Still, it quenched my thirst.



I wandered around the area for a bit and had a look at one of the shops. I found a couple of pins that I wanted. One is a generic Tokyo Disney Sea pin and the other is a dated Christmas pin. While looking around the shop, I found a Duffy bag charm. They call them plush badges. When I bought him, there was a pin attached to his back, which I removed quite quickly. He also has a chain that will attach to a bag. Duffy was dressed in his Christmas outfit. What I really wanted was Shellie May, but she was not to be found. The cast member at the till understood a little English and when I asked if there was a Shelly May version of this, she got a map out and pointed out two shops. One was in Cape Cod and the other in Mediterranean Harbour. I thanked her and was on my way.

I bypassed Mermaid Lagoon, chiefly as I could not work out where the access was. There was nothing really there that drew me either as this area has mainly rides for children. Instead I headed for the final port of call, Mysterious Island. This was my favourite port of call. The whole area is essentially enclosed by a giant volcano, Mount Prometheus, which is one of the two park icons. This is an absolutely amazing space. The last ride on my must do list was there, but I figured if I wanted to watch Fantasmic at 17:30, this would have to wait. Instead, I decided to do a quick detour to Cape Cod to see if they had a Christmas Shellie May plush badge. They had just about everything else, but I was out of luck. I was however treated to a great night time panorama on the way back. I stopped at a bathroom on my way back to Mediterranean Harbour and to my delight, the toilet seats were heated there, too.

 
When I got back to Mediterranean Harbour, I walked around the lagoon to find a good viewing spot. Cast members were directed traffic and I was directed to a spot right by the railing with a fantastic view of the lagoon. I watched Fantasmic! Once at Disneyland and although I did really enjoy it, this is not something that I have to watch repeatedly. I was decidedly underwhelmed with the version at Hollywood Studios so I was going to pass on this here. However, before I went on this trip, people suggested that I make time for Fantasmic! So I decided to give it a go. I did not regret that I did. This version is just amazing. It is condensed into a relatively small space and there is so much going on. The basic story is the same, but there all kinds of special effects and my favourite were the globes on rafts that had projections on it. This was absolutely amazing and if there had been a second showing of this, I would have made a point to see this.



















Once the show was over, I had a quick look at the second shop that the cast member had pointed out, but they did not have the Christmas Shellie May plush badge there either. Then I went back to Mysterious Island. Journey to the Centre of the Earth was calling me. If I could have only chosen one ride at Tokyo Disney Sea, this is the one I would have gone for. I had repeatedly read that this uses the same technology as Test Track, but having seen photos, I could not quite see how this could be. The ride vehicles are looking rather unwieldy and not at all like they were built for speed. Still, I got the message that this is something rather unique and decided to give it a go. This truly is unique. The line is almost an attraction in its own right as this leads through Captain Nemo's labs before you board "Terravators" (elevators) to the facility's base station one half mile below. There you board the one of the steam-powered mine vehicles that take you to the centre of the earth. Initially it is all very scenic with colourful crystals, but soon some rather scary creatures turn up. You then end up in the heart of the volcano that is about to erupt and you are propelled to safety by the eruption. His is where the Test Track technology comes in. This is seriously impressive. Not only can the clunky vehicles move at great speed, but the track here goes up and down as well. This is truly exhilarating and if the waiting time had been shorter, I would have gone round again.



When I came out of the ride, I was essentially done. However, there was one last thing I wanted to see. During the Christmas season, they have an evening show called Colours of Christmas. So I hung around. I did browse in some of the shops chiefly to keep warm. In the process I found some Pandora charms, but I was not overly impressed with the selection. About 20 minutes before the show was due to start, I decided to find somewhere to watch. I think I may have been a little too early as I was directed to an area where I had to sit down on the ground. I was not sure if I would be able to get up again after the show as I got pins and needles almost straight away. While we were waiting, a cast member in our area got everybody to thing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. This was somewhat surreal. Here I was, one of the very few people present who was not Japanese in a country that neither celebrates Christmas nor has a lot of people who speak English and everybody around me was singing a Christmas song in English. This was very weird, but also strangely moving.

I had high hopes for Colours of Christmas after Fantasmic! It was cute, but did not really have a wow factor. The centre piece was the mountain from Fantasmic!, which was turned into a Christmas tree with changing decorations. There were also boats with characters wearing their Christmas finest and Christmas songs. I definitely did not regret staying for this, but I would not rush to see it again. I had a decent enough view from where I was sitting, but did not manage to take any photos. Once the show was over, I struggled to my feet and made my way to the exit. The fireworks went off just as I was leaving the park.

I did not have to wait long for the monorail and I was glad to sit down. I got myself a bottle of peach Fanta from one of the vending machines at the station as I was quite thirsty. Coming back to Resort Gateway, you end up somewhere completely different from where you arrive in the morning. The exit was at the far end of Ikspiari so I got a bit of an impression of this. I had originally planned to make some time to explore, but just walking through, I figured I could save myself the trouble. This just looked like a generic shopping mall.

The journey back to the hotel went smoothly. I did not have to wait very long for either of the trains and was able to get a seat throughout. By the time I got back to the station underneath the hotel, I was hungry so I decided to check out the options at the shopping mall below the hotel. I spotted a Burger King and figured that would be easiest. They have something called a King Box, which consists of a burger, fries, chicken nuggets, a drink and something called a turnover. I went with the cheeseburger option and had some green Fanta. I have no idea what flavour it was supposed to be, but it was quite tasty. The turnover turned out to be dessert. It had a similar texture to the McDonald’s Apple Pies, but was filled with a chocolate cream. It was very enjoyable.

Once I had my dinner, I headed back to the hotel and out room. Graham was in bed, but still awake so we chatted for a bit. Graham then went to sleep, but I was still wide awake so I read until my eyes started to fall shut. I then got ready for bed making sure that all the gadgets were on charge and then I went to sleep.
 
I can’t wait to hear about the next vacation plans :)



What a fun update! I can very easily imagine the emotions going into the park for the first time. Thank you for all the pictures. I must get there one day. Glad you made a point to see Fantasmic! it looks awesome. Journey to the Centre of the Earth sounds fantastic. The Little Green Dumplings are too cute!
 
Take your time with the updates if needed; they are always worth the wait!

What a beautiful park! I've read that it is quite unique.

So glad to hear that you have new plans!
 
I can’t wait to hear about the next vacation plans :)

I will head over to the other thread just as soon as I am finished here.

I can very easily imagine the emotions going into the park for the first time.

I must get there one day.

It is definitely an interesting place to visit, but I would put Shanghai Disneyland ahead of Tokyo Disney Resort.

Glad you made a point to see Fantasmic! it looks awesome.

I really was amazing. I now have the theme from Fantasmic! as my alarm tone.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth sounds fantastic.

This ride is absolutely amazing.

The Little Green Dumplings are too cute!

They are. At Tokyo Disneyland, they had a Stitch and Star Wars version, too.

Take your time with the updates if needed; they are always worth the wait!

Thanks

What a beautiful park! I've read that it is quite unique.

It is definitely both beautiful and unique.

So glad to hear that you have new plans!

I am really excited about them.

Corinna
 

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