My husband and I arrived in Tokyo, Japan on 10/28 in the evening and were just exhausted. It was a long flight and I barely slept, so we just checked into our hotel in Shinjuku, walked around a bit, ate dinner at an udon place, and then went to bed.
The next day (10/29), we woke up nice and early and headed to the Fuji Five Lakes area, which is about 2 hours away from Tokyo by bus or train. Most people come to this area to get a good view of Mt. Fuji. We were there for an amusement park called Fuji Q Highland 🙂
View during the train ride
The park is near the base of Mt. Fuji and actually had a great view of it. We saw Mt. Fuji clearly the entire time we were at the park. The best view was at the top of a roller coaster, where you could see it totally unobstructed… before being launched down a steep slope at fast speeds.
I thought it was a great idea that the park charges a low admission fee (1400 yen, ~$12) and then charges per ride. You could also get the “free pass” for 5200 yen (~$45) which lets you ride everything for free. It’s only worth it for roller coasters, so people who don’t like them can save money by paying for the smaller rides as they go.
I’m usually a big roller coaster fan and have no issues riding every one in the park back-to-back. However, the ones at Fuji Q were intense. They had 4 major ones, and we only got through 2 (we did other rides and attractions as well).
We didn’t ride eejanaika, which spun your chair vertically.
We also didn’t ride Takabisha, which had a slope that was beyond vertical.
The first one we went on was the Dodonpa, which is a ride that starts at full speed immediately. I usually love these because you don’t have to wait for the slow ride up the slope. However, this one goes from 0 to 172 km/h (111 mph) in a mere 1.8 seconds. It’s insanity. I had never felt such a rush before.
The other one we rode was Fujiyama, which we thought was the most normal looking roller coaster. However, every slope on it was steep, high, and very fast. Plus, the ride was longer than usual for a roller coaster. It was just a non-stop thrill the entire time.
Fuji Q does have other fun rides and attractions, like the Evangelion World, but I think its main attractions are for roller coaster lovers, and the lines for them were really long. It was a fun day though, and I recommend it for thrill seekers 🙂
The next morning (10/30), we started by fulfilling one of my cosplay dreams. The reason I’ve been making a Rhyme costume from The World Ends With You was to wear it in Japan. The game takes place in Shibuya, which is one of the districts in Tokyo, and features many real locations.
Both my husband and I began replaying the game on the plane ride to Japan, so the locations were fresh in our minds. We found several of them, and it was really cool seeing them in person after seeing them in the game 🙂 We picked just a few to take photos of: Scramble with 109 building, Hachiko statue, Moyai statue, and Tower Records. Cosplay dream come trueeeee.
After that, we packed up our suitcases and used the delivery service through our hotel. Our luggage would arrive the next day at our 2nd Kyoto hotel. (I had to book 2 hotels in Kyoto – 2 nights in one, 4 nights in the other.) Since we were luggage-less for 2 days, we packed a smaller bag, which was soooo much easier to carry around as we were using the train stations.
Then we had lunch at a katsu place (pork cutlet) before heading to Kyoto. We both ordered katsudons, and they were so good. Katsudon is one of my favorite dishes 😀
I love that Japan has bullet trains (shinkansen), and I also love that they run frequently. We didn’t have to buy tickets ahead of time. We showed up at the station, saw that one was leaving in 10 minutes, and got the tickets with our JR pass.
It took 2.5 hours to get to Kyoto, and then we took it easy by walking around the shops and restaurants. We chose an okonomiyaki place (Japanese pancakes) for dinner, where each table had a flat top grill. We were afraid we had to cook our own okonomiyakis because I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t end up as well. Fortunately, that’s not what the grill is for. They cook them for us, then transfer them to our grills where they stayed hot the entire time we ate them. This was delicious as well 😀
That’s it for the first part 🙂 The next entry will cover the next 2 days in Kyoto!
Niiiice! I think it’s awesome you cosplayed at Shibuya as a TWEWY character! That’s totally epic. Did a lot of people want to take a photo with you??? And I love Shibuya, but I hated how there was no directions in English there . . . I was looking for a sign that’d say in English “HACHIKO EXIT”, and I couldn’t find out, so I went up to a random Japanese lady and said, “Er, Hachiko Exit doko desu ka?” And she led me there XD;;
But man, the photos. I am really missing Japan!
Gorgeous photos! I wish my travel shots looked as nice as yours XD Those roller-coaster rides look horrifying, I’ll probably be screaming my head off if I rode one of them lol.
Congrats on completing a cosplay dream! 😀 I think one of mine would be to rent one of those studios they have and take photos. They always have nice backdrops *u*
Those rides look insane! Mt. Fuji is so photogenic, haha!
We have a few theme parks in the UK that let you pay for just the rides you want to go on, with the largest roller coasters being more expensive. It would save me a fortune because I’m such a coward when it comes to big rides.
It looks like you had fun cosplaying. 🙂
OKONOMIYAKI!!! YUMMM!! FAVORITE! Katsudons are also really good, but I’m now more partial to oyakodon because um egg + protein over rice = how do you go wrong?!
Those roller coasters……look like they were quite a feat of physics. SCIENCE, Y’ALL! Insane. I think I’d probably be too much of a coward to even try one of those even though I love roller coasters. Dang, Japan, you done one up yoself in dat roller coaster department!
Those photos you got of Mt. Fuji are GORGEOUS. Turned out so beautiful!
Wow, you are so brave. I am NOT a fan of roller-coasters so I probably would not like that amusement park. But good for you! Your pictures are gorgeous, as usual.
Mt. Fuji looks beautiful from a distance! The theme park sounds a lot cheaper than Disneyland, XD. Theme parks are the best with wild/fast/high rides! But a couple of those rides from the picture looks scary! You’re just facing down to the ground!
You look adorable with your outfit! Especially with wearing it like how the character does in Japan ;). The Katsudon looks delicious! I must try that one day.
It looks like you’ve been having fun in Japan! (I should’ve commented on your posts chronologically D’:).
I did not forget about your Japan coverage – just really behind, sorry!
When my friend went to Japan the one place she did NOT send me a photo of was Mt. Fuji! The village there with the mountain in the background just looks stunning! All it really needs is a few traditional houses, ha! That’s really nice the admissions fee is “considerate”, because if somebody me were to go, it would be unfair to charge me a fee that includes all the rollercoasters. EEK. When I was a teenager I loved them but just spare me now!
That is so cool you made the costume just to wear it in Japan and take photos. I bet nobody there thought it was out of the ordinary!
I think bullet trains puts our commuter trains for shame.
Also, I think I should have had lunch before reading these posts ……..