Tokyo

Today was the last day of the trip and we would spend most of it travelling back to Tokyo. I had a couple of options in mind. One option was to take a break at Himeji and see Himeji castle. The second was to take a break at Shin-Fuji and go and see Mt. Fuji. Getting to see Mt. Fuji trumped visiting the Himeji Castle. But based on the reading of travel blogs and websites, it seemed that being able to get a good view of Mt. Fuji was subject to local weather conditions and/or the time of day. The last thing we wanted was to get there and not be able to see Mt. Fuji. The third option was to break the journey in Okayama and do a side trip to Takamatsu in Shikoku, effectively visiting all the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago. We choose this one and used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for seat reservations for the trains till Tokyo. ...

We got up early, got ready and went down to have breakfast. Breakfast the next morning was basic but adequate. We walked to the Hakodate Morning Market which was only a couple of minutes away. The market area spanned a few city blocks and was open from early morning till about noon. There was a lot of local Hakodate produce on display, vegetables and fruits. But the main attraction was the large variety of fresh and preserved seafood, including crabs and salmon roe. A few stores had freshly-caught squids swimming in tanks, you could fish them and then have the chef prepare it for you to eat. There were many restaurants in the market area that offered Seafood Rice Bowl. Having eaten (a more western) breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee already we were not sure if we would fancy seafood so early in the morning we decide to give it a miss. Overall it was a nice experience to walk around. ...

After a comfortable flight 🔗, we landed on time at Tokyo Narita Airport; fresh and ready for our week in Japan. Immigration and baggage claim was fairly quick. We headed to the JR East Travel Service center and exchanged our vouchers for the actual Japan Rail Pass 🔗 after showing them our passport and visa. We used it right away and booked tickets on the Narita Express 10 at 9:45 AM reaching Tokyo at 10:44 AM. ...

Since I had decided the destination of our last trip to South Africa 🔗, this time it was my wife’s turn to decide, and Japan was the destination of choice. My job now was to figure out a way to get us there. There was a transfer promotion going on, so I transferred points from my Citibank Rewards credit card to the Jet Airways JetPrivilege program, and I did the same for my mother’s credit card. We eventually didn’t get the transfer bonus as per the promotion, but nonetheless, we had just enough miles for two round-trip tickets to Japan. ...