Bobby Dioriza

Itineraries

Tokyo 2018

06 Oct 2018

tokyo

This trip was done with several friends I first knew from the Backpacker Indonesia forum, which made the experience feel both adventurous and unexpectedly familiar. Because we booked our own flights and accommodations separately, we stayed in different places around Tokyo and decided on meeting points each day before exploring the city together.

Tokyo Trip

Dates: 21 to 25 September 2018
Return flight: 2.7 M IDR (AirAsia Jakarta-Tokyo direct flight, promo fare for a newly launched route)
Accommodation: 2.0 M IDR (4 nights at Nine Hours Shinjuku)

Day 1: Arrival and Central Tokyo

21 September

  • Narita to Tokyo Station (Expressway Bus)
  • Tokyo Skytree
  • Sensō-ji, Asakusa
  • Shibuya
  • FamilyMart, Moto-Azabu
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Shinjuku
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku

Day 2: West Tokyo and City Highlights

22 September

  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Meiji Jingū
  • Yoyogi Park
  • Harajuku
  • Tokyo Tower
  • Akihabara
  • Tsukiji
  • Harajuku
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Akihabara
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku

Day 3: Hakone Day Trip

23 September

  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Fujiwara Station (Lost)
  • Odawara Station
  • Hakone-Yumoto
  • Lake Ashi
  • Hakone-Yumoto
  • Odawara Station
  • Yanaka Ginza
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku

Day 4: Odaiba and Shinjuku

24 September

  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Odaiba
  • Shinjuku
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Shinjuku
  • Nine Hours Shinjuku

Day 5: Departure

25 September

  • Nine Hours Shinjuku
  • Nippori to Narita (Keisei Line)

Notes

  • Suica or Pasmo is useful for transport, convenience stores, and vending machines. I used Suica. If you top up Suica at a ticket vending machine or withdraw cash from an ATM, switch the language to English first. I once lost 1000 yen because I picked the wrong menu in Japanese.
  • Transparent umbrellas are often available to borrow at hotels, so check first before buying one. I ended up buying a black folding umbrella at FamilyMart instead. The price was around 1000 yen, so it is worth checking the hotel option first.
  • On escalators in Tokyo, stand on the left if you are staying still, and walk on the right if you are in a hurry.
  • McDonald’s and KFC do not commonly offer rice-based meals like in Indonesia.
  • A coin wallet is very useful. Tokyo still felt very cash-minded to me, but cash transactions were also very convenient because cash and ticket machines were everywhere. In many restaurants, for example, you choose your order from a vending-style menu machine, insert your cash, get your change, and then bring the ticket to the staff.
  • Wear your most comfortable walking shoes. On average, I walked around 20,000 steps per day during this trip.
  • Finding halal-friendly menu options was manageable. At the time, I used Google Translate with the Instant Camera Translation feature to translate Japanese text so I could avoid ordering pork or alcohol. It was not the perfect way to confirm whether something was fully halal, but in practice it was one of the ways I tried to stay careful during the trip.
  • Be extra careful when taking trains out of Tokyo. Inside Tokyo, one platform often feels straightforward, but for out-of-town routes the same platform can serve different branches. When I was heading to Hakone, we should have taken a train toward Odawara. We followed Google Maps to the platform and boarded the first train that came, only to realize it was heading toward Kamakura after the line split. Luckily, we were only one station too far and could return to the branching station before taking the correct train to Odawara.
  • Public trash bins are rare. If you buy street food, most stalls provide a trash bin for food bought there, so it is best to finish it on the spot and throw it away there. Convenience stores also usually have trash bins.

Budget Tips

  • Narita to Tokyo or the other way around is cheapest by Expressway Bus at around 1000 yen. After that, Keisei Line is still affordable at around 1030 yen. Taxi can cost more than 1 million Rupiah.
  • Convenience stores are everywhere, especially 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson. Save money by buying food there at least once a day. Other budget-friendly options include Yoshinoya, Nakau, Matsuya, and Sukiya.
  • You usually do not need to order drinks with meals. Many restaurants, food courts, and casual dining places offer free refillable water or ocha.
  • Always carry a tumbler.
  • Use Google Maps for transport planning because it helps compare routes and prices, and train and subway schedules are very accurate.