Ninjacat123 and family travel to Tokyo and Kyoto - LIVE land trip June 28 to July 7, 2024!!​🗾​

[ninjacat123]

44 minutes ago, odie1024 said:

Thanks for sharing your amazing trip with us. Welcome back to the USA.

Thanks odie1024!! I was just telling my mom that the house here seems surreal, like a dream. I think I’m a bit tuckered out🥱

[ninjacat123]

I will do an overview tomorrow with links to hotels, tours, restaurants, etc as best I can. Time for Ninjacat to chill!!

[frantic36]

14 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I will do an overview tomorrow with links to hotels, tours, restaurants, etc as best I can. Time for Ninjacat to chill!!

 

Thank you for your wonderful blog and taking us along. Enjoy chilling and being in your own home. 

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, frantic36 said:

 

Thank you for your wonderful blog and taking us along. Enjoy chilling and being in your own home. 

Thank you frantic36! Got my jammies on and happy kitties!

[frantic36]

1 minute ago, ninjacat123 said:

Thank you frantic36! Got my jammies on and happy kitties!

 

Enjoy. Why does poor little kitty have a collar on?

[ninjacat123]

3 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

 

Enjoy. Why does poor little kitty have a collar on?

Gray boy with the white belly was licking his belly till it was very pink. Vet gave him an antibiotic shot and steroids. His belly is much better but still a bit pink waaaay down below. I’m cleaning it with saline and gauze.

[AKR2011]

Happy Belated Anniversary! Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with us. Looks like it was the trip of a lifetime ❤️⚓️

[ninjacat123]

10 minutes ago, AKR2011 said:

Happy Belated Anniversary! Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with us. Looks like it was the trip of a lifetime ❤️⚓️

Thank you AKR2011! We all had a great trip❣️I hope we can see Japan again👍👍

[Webecruzen]

Thank you for taking us along on your amazing journey!

[SenatorsFan]

Welcome home! What an amazing trip you took. I really appreciate you sharing it with us. 🐱😻

[ninjacat123]

6 hours ago, Webecruzen said:

Thank you for taking us along on your amazing journey!

Thank you Webcruzen for following along!! My family had a wonderful time and I’m so glad I was able to share it! The time change coming back is hard (I’m typing this at 3:30am) but I’d do it again and again to visit Japan❣️

[ninjacat123]

6 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

Welcome home! What an amazing trip you took. I really appreciate you sharing it with us. 🐱😻

Thanks SenatorsFan!! It’s hard to believe that it’s over. I know I’ll enjoy rereading this thread just to remember that it all really did happen ❣️😸

[ninjacat123]

An overview of our trip to Japan:

 

We loved visiting Japan!  Super clean, super polite, just plain super! We would love to go back and maybe combined with a trip to Australia, we just might do that.  I'm so glad that Sky picked Japan as her college graduation trip!

We didn't know how great 7-11 could be, especially in Japan! So many unique (to us) choices for breakfast and snacks.

Almost everything in Tokyo and Kyoto is cheaper than the US. The one restaurant in Kyoto, Sushiiwa was pricey but so delicious.  Vending machines everywhere with water, tea, coffee drinks made staying hydrated easy.  Which was so important because...

IT WAS SOOOOOO HOT AND HUMID!! I would advise to not visit Japan in July because of the weather. Having said that, we still had a wonderful albeit sweaty time.

The area we stayed in Tokyo, Asakusa was  great. Not too crowded and we were about a 15 minute walk away from the Asakusa Station for the subway.  Cabs were available everywhere and we were able to get one in less than five minutes.  We would find our destination in Google Maps then show the driver.

I can't say enough about Aki from Tokyo Free Guide.  The man is a walking machine and was determined to show us as much of Tokyo and Kyoto as he could.  Aki is a great representative for Japan and was a big part of our trip's success. He is definitely on our Christmas card list!

Having a Suica card on our IPhones made paying for many purchases (7-11, subways, other small stores) easy and quick.  We were able to get plenty of yen at our 7-11. Bring a coin purse for all the yen change. Credit cards were usually accepted most everywhere.

You all know how much we love kitties and from all their displays and ads, kitties are popular in Japan but we only saw one live kitty the whole time! Maybe they were inside enjoying A/C.

Tokyo and Kyoto are both very clean with no graffiti or garbage.  Hard to find places to dispose of garbage.

Japanese people, especially the women, dress up.  I saw plenty of dressy outfits and business casual outfits and on younger (under 30?) women, some funky outfits.  Hardly any casual wear.

Here are some links:

Shibuya Sky https://www.shibuya-scramble-square.com.e.apy.hp.transer.com/sky/

Tsujiki Fish Market Tour (Klook) https://www.klook.com/activity/9077-tsukiji-fish-market-food-drink-half-day-tour/?spm=BookingDetail.ActivityCard&clickId=5151f585ce

TeamLab Borderless https://www.teamlab.art/e/tokyo/

Tokyo Bar Hopping Night in Shinjuku https://www.viator.com/tours/Tokyo/Tokyo-Bar-Hopping-Tour-in-Shinjuku-Explore-the-hidden-bars-in-food-alleys/d334-63670P1

Official Street Go-Kart in Shibuya https://www.viator.com/tours/Tokyo/Official-Street-Go-Kart-Tour-Shibuya/d334-57331P9

Kimono Tea Ceremony in Kyoto https://www.viator.com/tours/Kyoto/Experience-Tea-Ceremony-wearing-a-Kimono-in-Kyoto/d332-51440P61

 

Where we stayed:

Japanese traditional house. Ryokan in Asakusa https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/japanese-traditional-house-ryokan-in-asakusa-with-2bedr-dong-jing-du-tai-dong-qu.html?aid=304142&label=omniboxbookmark-us&sid=3e863d612280ff352609e7bb71db054b&dist=0&sb_price_type=total&type=total&

Apartment in Tokyo (first on list) https://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?aid=304142&label=omniboxbookmark-us&sid=ca316b8211f0378e0e86d993c33dc6ff&closed_msg=9535238&dest_id=-246227&dest_type=city&hlrd=14&srpvid=4c3d83ebf5e901d8&#hotelTmpl

Onyado Nono Kyotoshichijo Natural Hot Springs https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/onyado-nono-kyoto-shichijo.html?aid=2276390&label=msn-AcZBCSrLSExlr0_7xxpD*g-80195767671522%3Atikwd-80195994359678%3Aloc-190%3Aneo%3Amte%3Alp81593%3Adec%3Aqsonyado nono kyotoshichijo natural hot springs&sid=312d28382c57e35f3fdab27e6133adbf&dest_id=-235402;dest_type=city;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=0;hapos=1;hpos=1;no_rooms=1;req_adults=2;req_children=0;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;srepoch=1720464849;srpvid=443b84e34dc300b6;type=total;ucfs=1&#hotelTmpl

TokyoFreeGuide http://www.tokyofreeguide.org/

Ghibli Park https://ghibli-park.jp/en/ticket/domestic.html

Ichiran Ramen ichiran.com

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you for following this special land trip!  Next LIVE review will be me and Craig on a cruise to Bermuda beginning of September!  I will post a link here and on my other LIVE reviews when I start it.  Hope to see you there!!😻

 

 

 

 

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Edited July 8 by ninjacat123

[frantic36]

@ninjacat123 thank you so much for all this great information. I will definitely look into trying to fit some of these into our land portion pre and post cruise in October. 

 

I'm doing a 5 day trip with a girlfriend next week to Singapore and it should be fun showing her all the places I love to visit. It will also be hot and humid but thankfully I know where to go to escape the heat and still explore.

 

Enjoy your cruise with your husband in September. 

 

Julie

[ninjacat123]

8 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

@ninjacat123 thank you so much for all this great information. I will definitely look into trying to fit some of these into our land portion pre and post cruise in October. 

 

I'm doing a 5 day trip with a girlfriend next week to Singapore and it should be fun showing her all the places I love to visit. It will also be hot and humid but thankfully I know where to go to escape the heat and still explore.

 

Enjoy your cruise with your husband in September. 

 

Julie

Thank you frantic36! I’m glad this gives you some good ideas, and I’ve heard Singapore is awesome!! Now I have to plan another trip and fit Singapore in👍🤣

[frantic36]

12 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Thank you frantic36! I’m glad this gives you some good ideas, and I’ve heard Singapore is awesome!! Now I have to plan another trip and fit Singapore in👍🤣

 

Feel free to ask. I have been there a few times and done the usual tourist spots and try the less unusual.

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, frantic36 said:

 

Feel free to ask. I have been there a few times and done the usual tourist spots and try the less unusual.

And I will ask you about Australia!  That is on my must go to list as well!😊

[frantic36]

13 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

And I will ask you about Australia!  That is on my must go to list as well!😊

 

Feel free to do so 😁. I live on the West coast not the East but I have visited various places on the East and middle. On the Australia & New Zealand ports of call and the general discussion board the people are very helpful.

[ninjacat123]

8 hours ago, frantic36 said:

 

Feel free to do so 😁. I live on the West coast not the East but I have visited various places on the East and middle. On the Australia & New Zealand ports of call and the general discussion board the people are very helpful.

You are correct!! I have found great information and advice from the POC boards for all my trips. 👍😁😸

[ninjacat123]

On 7/3/2024 at 7:46 AM, ninjacat123 said:

The owner came by our table, which was a nice touch!

@IntrepidFromDC you would appreciate this restaurant!

[IntrepidFromDC]

On 6/25/2024 at 1:11 AM, cruiseaholic78 said:

Not sure if you have time but if you want something (else) completely different you could try this.

https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/

If they are full keep checking as they sometimes become available, on our last day precruise in Tokyo I looked and there were suddenly 8 available. While discussing with DH it went down to three so we were lucky.

We absolutely loved this.

Happy planning 

 

That looks amazing!

[IntrepidFromDC]

10 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

@IntrepidFromDC you would appreciate this restaurant!

Late to the party because I somehow missed the invitation on the Carnival page.  Hope you guys didn't finish the rum before I got here.  😁 🏴‍☠️

[ninjacat123]

2 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Late to the party because I somehow missed the invitation on the Carnival page.  Hope you guys didn't finish the rum before I got here.  😁 🏴‍☠️

We left you some rum since Craig was drinking mostly Asahi and I was cooling off (it was so hot!!) with cold sake.  Glad you could join the party!😉

[ninjacat123]

9 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

That looks amazing!

Awesome experience! TeamLab Borderless was beautiful, immersive, overwhelming at times and I would do it again.  There is TeamLab Planets which has participants walking through water which sounds interesting but I'm glad we went to Borderless.  Definitely check it out! 

[IntrepidFromDC]

On 6/30/2024 at 3:00 PM, ninjacat123 said:

We were lucky that the weather held out. The roof closed due to rain and wind 30 minutes after we were left it. We were sprinkled on and it was a bit chilly as we admired the 360 degree view.

Interesting building sponsor name.  I wonder how it's pronounced.