Lost in Japan: Tokyo - Part 1

Moshi moshi !!!!!

I'll be telling you more about my Japan trip throughout this post.

Well... After the long flight, I finally arrived in Japan around 6 P.M Tokyo Time (GMT +9). After the long immigration line, I finally manage to get my luggage and walk out the airport. First thing I did was looking for the Japan Rail (JR) Office to exchange my JR Pass voucher to the JR Pass. The line was soooo long it took about 20 minutes to reach the end of the line. When exchanging the voucher, we asked the officer to reserve a seat in the next Narita Express (the fastest train to Tokyo from Narita Express, covered by JR Pass). This is very important since we were already very tired from the long flight and queueing to reserve a seat on the ticket vending machine seems very tiring.

With the JR Pass, all you have to do is wave the JR Pass and the reserved seat ticket to the officers at the gate. To take the Narita Express, just walk straight across the JR Office to the JR tracks. Take escalator down and wait at the platform. Make sure that you are queueing at the correct line for the correct car (check the ticket).

The Narita Express was so cool. I think it's on par with a plane's business class. It took around an hour to reach Tokyo Station from Narita Airport. To reach Hotel Yanagibashi (Check my previous post) We have to go to the Asakusabashi Station. At the Tokyo Station, take the Yamanote Line (Green) or Keihin Tohoku Line (Blue) and go to Akihabara Station. Then take the Sobu Line (Yellow) and get off at Asakusabashi Station. It's not far, I think it only takes 15 minutes for all the train rides. What's hard is having to carry luggages up and down the stations...

From Asakusabashi Station, turn right and walk straight for approx 200 m, go across the street. Turn left at an alley between a sushi restaurant and a mini market, the hotel is located on the right side. The hotel is small but clean and quite comfy. The bed could be better though...

We were very hungry and that time so we decided to hop on the train to find food at Shinjuku. We took the subway (subway entrance is very close, around 50 m from the alley) and use hyperdia app and get off at Shinjuku Sanchome Subway Station. Ah it was goodd, seeing japan for the first time is very excited. We just walk around and around the area till we find an interestin ramen place called Kibou Ken. Entered Kibou Ken...

IMO, japanese shop/restaurant owners is very tourist friendly. They will help u to understand as much as they can. Ended up ordering 2 bowls of ramen and a gyoza, yummmmm

I think this is Angel Wing Gyoza (based on massive japanese cooking manga reading) It's a regular gyoza but in the process of frying it, the cook put some flour on the pan, producing a thin crispy layer like above.

The ramen was gooooddd. I prefer the darker soup ramen which taste a bit salty. The fresh (i dunno how but the scallions in Japan tastes so fresh) scallion gives extra crunch and a hint of spiciness to the monotone salty ramen. LOVE

The white colored soup is rather boring IMO. Yes it's good, better than most ramen I've tried in Jakarta but it lacks the kick and stay boring with hints of bamboo shoots smell. 

After the super late dinner, I went back to the hotel Well, stay tune for more of my Japan trip stories! See yaaaa

Check out my tips on how to survive in Japan, HERE!