Blue Tamago

The last post of our Japan tour is up. Hot on the heels of hubby heading off to Japan for business purposes (I'm so jealous) but there might be an opportunity for me to head over there for business too...(fingers crossed, but what to do with our chickens?!?!) So this post focuses on the main things that people do when they come to Hakone. This is the general route that we took. Train from Hakone-Yumoto (where we were staying) > Gora, where we changed to a cable car>Souzan, where we changed to the ropeway>Owakudani for the eggs>Togendai-ko for the pirate ship>Hakone-machi then a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto.

  This Hakone post will be split into two parts as I took loads of photos and we crammed as much as we could into the two days that we were there. The photos were taken mainly on the first day as it poured with rain on the second day and we spent much of the second day indoors, which doesn't bode well for photo taking. This one will focus on the trip up to Hakone and the ryokan we stayed in and the food...oh so much food served at the ryokan... To get to Hakone, we took the shinkansen from Shinagawa station to Odawara, a trip that lasted about 30mins. At Odawara, I highly recommended that you get a Hakone Free Pass , which gives you free access on the Tozan line trains (which you need to use to actually get to Hakone), the cablecars, ropeways and selected buses in the area. We got a 2 day pass from Odawara station for 4000 yen each. It is very easy to get it at the station, it will be the area that has loads of tourists crowded around. there are also Englis...

This post will mainly be pictures, didn't really do much on this day in Tokyo. As I said in the last post, we spent quite a bit of time in fishing stores in the Shibuya area. We went to Johshuya, which is above a 100 yen store (yes I love those stores) and another, Sansui. Hubby was interested in purchasing a telescopic rod, but all the made in Japan ones were over the $400 price range. The reasonably priced ones were all made in China. Johshuya has a nice selection of items but Sansui felt to be more geared towards fly/freshwater fishing. Anyway, what do I know. Another thing in Shibuya is Tokyu Hands, a one stop shop for any home things that you want and plenty of craft items. This is a shop I recommend going to! The above pic is something you can buy from Tokyu Hands, a fish skeleton? For about $40 you can own one. Or you can buy a crab as a pet. A live one of course. I just ended up buying some cosmetics and a bento box. Have to admit though, I went to the Shinjuku T...

The famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo is one of the major tourist attractions for visitors. Apparently it is slated to be move to another location for the Tokyo Olympic games in 2020. Being lovers of seafood, we knew this was one market that we could not miss. We heard that the tuna auctions are actually quite boring to watch, plus you have to line up for tickets before 5am and it is on a first come, first serve basis as tickets are limited to 120 people. The rest of the market does not open up to the public till after 9am as visitors may interfere with the setup of the place. We took the JR line up to Shinbashi station and walked the rest of the way to the market. We arrived a bit earlier than 9am, but it was clear how people would be a hazard to the area. This was one of the main access gates and there were vehicles of various sizes whizzing around. They do not go slow and will not slow down for a tourist photo opportunity. Those little scooters below are everywhere a...