Love as long as you live: SPRING X TOKYO 10D9N / DAY 1 & 2

SPRING x TOKYO

3rd April 2015 to 12 April 2015

Planned my Japan trip during January for the 4 of us.

We specifically planned for April as we want to see the Cherry Blossoms!

Was looking at various airlines and promos, then I found ANA!

All Nippon Airways, non-budget flight and so it comes with comfy seats, blanket, "TV" for you to watch your movies thru the 7 hour flight, food and baggage check-in.

After much calculation, getting a flight at budget airlines is not worth it or not any cheaper comparing to ANA. Budget Flight = Add-on Baggage, No food, No TV, No leg space.

So we got our ANA tickets at $800SGD/person to Haneda! *cheap*

Visit ANA Website to see more fares

DAY 1

Flight to Tokyo, Haneda Airport

We also get to choose the seats before we check-in using their online portal...

Window seats ftw! I can cross my legs and have a comfy flight~

In-flight meal. Cold Soba & Rice with Tamago, Salmon, Minced Meat and Mushrooms

Safely landed & we have to take the train to our apartment. The cabs are crazy expensive!! so we didn't choose to cab.

Superman who thinks he can handle 2 luggages

After meeting our apartment guide at the Station, we took a 10mins walk to the apartment we booked. Didn't take photos of the apartment, but here's some pictures from Airbnb. https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/4840898

Would definitely book apartment from Airbnb in the future during my trips overseas. The place is exactly as it is shown in the pictures. The apartment have all the toiletries we needed (saved us some trouble), bath towels, extra blankets etc. Was pleased with the apartment we managed to book.

There are 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 toilet for small/big businesses & 1 toilet for bathing.

Total amount for this apartment for 9 days was $2551 including airbnb fee & cleaning.

Which is around $71/person a night.

Which is very worth it compared to hotels in Tokyo..

Hotels are ranging from $100-$150/person a night, and they are also small.

Airbnb Registration for $34 free for you to use when you book from Airbnb!

We placed our luggages and walked around our apartment area to look for food and found this cozy Japanese BBQ place. The meat was marinated so well we ordered a few rounds of meat! Total bill was around S$80, which is $20/person.

Rating 7.5/10!

DAY 2

Tsukiji Fish Market, Ginza Shopping & Disney Store

Since we had a long flight and rest a lot for Day 1. We decided to head to Tsukiji Fish Market to see the Famous Tuna Auction at 4am. *Note all timing stated is Tokyo Time. Tokyo is 1hr ahead of Singapore.

We left the house at 4am... Cab fare was $50 for a 15-20mins ride.

Finally found the Tuna Auction Counter at 4.30am...

but..... they only allow 120 visitors a day ): So we didn't get to see the Famous Tuna Auction. The man was saying, it was already full at 3.20am..

So if you want to go to the Tuna Auction, i suggest you arrive at 3am to book your slots.

The sky is already starting to brighten up by 5am. Took pictures by Sumida River

Saw some fresh sea urchins selling by the stall, and went for it!

It was my virgin try at sea urchins.. it was super sweet, super fresh and melts with every bite.

If i did not remember wrongly, it was 1300yen for this plate.

Conversion rate is 1300/87 = $15 *cheap!*

Rating 9.5/10!

I did read online about this raved sushi stall named Sushi Dai at Tsukiji. It mentioned a 2-3hours queue to eat the fresh sushi. We decided to queue for it since it was 5am in the morning and there is nothing else we can do until 10am when shops open.

& We took turns taking a break at the nearby shops to hide from the cold wind and drizzling rain.

After .... 6.5 LONG HOURS... (god i don't think i'll queue for anything that long again)

We got into the shop at 11.30am.

We kept wondering why do the people inside eat so slowly etc.. what's taking them so long. We found out that they serve the sushi/dishes 1 by 1, kinda like a course meal.

Never tasted any miso soup like this one.

Unfortunately, I can't recall all the names of the sushi.
But i can guarantee you that every single one of them was so damn good.

There were only 3 chefs attending to 12 people.

The shop is really small, only can fit 12 customers at 1 time.

We were able to choose 1 last sushi of our own choice. And I chose Sea Eel. Apparently, they don't call them Unagi in Japan. And best part was that it melted in my mouth. *best sushi eva*

Rating for Sushi Dai 10/10!

It was so worth it, 11 freshest sushi with a miso soup & sushi rolls.

Price was $4000yen/person, S$46. Super cheap considering it's super good sushi!

Left the place quickly so that we would not make the other patrons waiting outside in the cold for too long.

Trained to Ginza, the place where all the mega/flagship stores are. All the shops here do not take up 1 outlet in a mall, but they take up the entire building which consist of 5 to 9 levels.

Uniqlo has 9 levels of shopping, and we spent $200+ at Uniqlo. (Tax Free)

After shopping, we trained back to Shinjuku to get our Disney Tickets at their Disney Store. Thank god for their chinese speaking staff. If not we'll be so confused with the ticketing.

We couldn't buy our disney tickets online from disney website as they require credit cards by JCB only or Japan Credit/Debit Cards. We wanted to buy from Singapore Travel Agency, but we see no point paying extra ><

Disney 2-Day Passports(cheaper) are only sold in advance. I think you have to buy them either 2 weeks before, or go disneyland during their non-peak period.

We chose to go on a Monday & Tuesday, but what we didn't know is that Japan is having their school holidays as well. So that kinda clashed.