Sept. 25th - The way home and my summary

As I already said in my last post I had mixed up times and had to wait a while in Narita airport. I wrote it in the JAL lounge but I was curious and also sampled the Cathay lounge. It was better than the reviews suggested in my opinion.

But getting there...

The hotel had the nice feature that you could use a shuttle bus going every 30 minutes directly from the hotel to all terminals. My flight went from T2 which is much farther away from the hotel than T1 so that was good. I took the bus at 11.00h and was at T2 at 11.15h.

Arrived in the airport I had to wait a while again, since the luggage reception for Cathay only opened at 11.50h. I wanted to get rid of the big suitcase, so I waited and read a bit before asking at the information where I can pay my taxes for the wrongly "tax free" in Sapporo. She didn't know and sent me to the check in. Ok. A few minutes later the check in opened and I went there, got rid of my luggage, took my lounge invitations and boarding cards and managed to ask about the taxes. She first wanted to send me to information, but after telling her that they sent me to her she called her superior and told me, quote "He said: Just skip it nobody will care:"

Actually I thought as much by now, but I wanted to know! But before I went to security I first tried to get rid of my surplus money by buying souvenirs for friends and family. I didn't manage but could re-exchange the rest at a passable rate.

Just wanted to show the selection of sandwiches in a combini. I missed the strawberry and cream sandwiches I had in 2019 though.

Now it was around 13.00h and I wanted to go to the lounge. So through security, which in both Tokyo and Hongkong works with face recognition. You scan your passport and after that most gates have cameras and check your countenance. I had mixed feelings about that, but it was convenient once you understood  it.

Then the JAL Sakura lounge. A large open space with convenient seats and generous space on the desks. They served pretty refined stuff and were very friendly. If you never had a business class flight: All food and drinks in the lounges are "free" (you paid them with the higher price for the ticket).

I had this Japanese mix:

It was excellent, but a bit... small. So I had another dish:

Fish (3 kinds) and chips. Neat presentation.

And on top this Jellyfish salad. 

I had Jellyfish many years ago in a chinese restaurant in Prague and it was godawful. But I gave it a shot and it was very pleasant. Unique texture and tested fresh and aromatic. The chicken in there was also good.

With one and a half hours to go until takeoff I perused the Cathay lounge also. Entering both is possible because the both belong to the OneWorld alliance.

The music in the JAL loungs was jazzy piano and in the Cathay lounge they had classic big band elevator style music. Both were nice in the background. The styling of the Cathay lounge was indeed not as nice as the JAL one but also not bad.

They had buffet style food instead of a counter and I got me these:

Pork with ginger and some Sushi roll and meat-filled fried Tofu (some pieces are missing already). The spicy red bean sauce was really tasty.

In both lounges they had interesting beer vending machines. You take a cooled glass from the fridge, put in on the machine and then this happens:

All good things end eventually and I left the lounge to line up for boarding. On my way there was this autonomous robot thingy which I didn't understood the function of, because it talked Japanese only. But it was good at avoiding to collide with people. Maybe a luggage carrier?

The first part from Tokyo to Osaka takes around 4.5 hours and was on a Boeing 777-300. There you don't have the convenient single suites in business class but just bigger and more convenient seats.

The drinks are the same as on the long distance flight though. This is the "Cloud 9" Their trademark cocktail made of Vodka, Cointreau, Sprite (yeah, really) and lemon juice. It was not awful bad, but I wouldn't order it again, a tad too citrusy for my taste.

Osaka at night looks astounding.

We were chasing the sun. That is a city on the Chinese mainland coast. I have no idea which one.

Approaching Hongkong

And there it is. It was still 29°C at 23.00h.

There is really not much to tell. There was no time in HKG to check the home lounge of Cathay. Sad. The 13 hours 13 minutes flight from HKG to FRA was in an Airbus 350-1000 and this time I even could connect to the internet on board.

The planes have cameras you can also watch on takeoff and inflight. More fun than the movies.

Since I am an idiot I preordered a Hamburger. Bad decision. Of course they have no deepfrier on board and the chips were meh. And the onions on the burger had severe side-effects. I'll spare you the details. Never eat pickled onions on a long distance flight. You were warned. All in all this was the worst inflight menu. The beer is good though.

Near Ararat, but too dark to see anything.

This time I flattened the seat to a bed which was very comfy, the blanket was awesome and I slept around 7 of the 13 hours of the flight. 

Before landing in FRA we had another breakfast. I took the Chinese option again and this time there were Abalone instead of scallops in the congee.

Combined with the fresh fruit and the dim sum that was a very good start of the day.

Landing a FRA was sobering as always. The airport just sucks. No tunnel, but having to go to a bus in streaming rain. This time they managed to drive us to the correct arrival zone at least. I bought a small bottle of water and paid a whopping 4.50€ for it. What the fuck? In both Japan and Hongkong the prices in the shops and restaurants in the aiport are about the same as everywhere else. In Narita you could eat a complete set meal with a cutlet and side dishes for 1100 yen, about 7 € and even the vending machines are only 10 yen more expensive than in town. So 180 instead of 170 yen or 1,10€ instead of 1,04€ for the most expensive drinks. Water is 120 to 130 yen. Not even talking about cleanliness or quality of products and service.

So what's my summary of the trip?

Japan is still awesome, though some things are slightly worse than 2019. Probably due to Corona measures and olympic games. It's mostly small things like being able to pay by card or phone in most places. I liked that Japan was still a bastion of cash in 2019. Taxis lost their flair. In the tourist hotspots Japan got more touristy and less Japanese. Like in some of the Shotengai which were normal markets in 2019 still and 2024 they were conquered by tourist stuff.

In Japan almost everything is about food. You have so many restaurants even in small cities without many tourists that you can't walk 50 meters without stumbling over one essentially. And almost all of them are good and many are excellent. Competition drives quality here. In this regard nothing changed since 2019. Japanese souvenirs are also almost exclusively edible local specialties and on festivals you have a ratio of 90% food stalls and 10% other stuff like mask vendors, shooting galleries or stuff for kids. And food in Japan means almost exclusively meat, poultry and fish. In big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe or Kyoto you might find some vegetarian or even vegan places, but in the countryside be prepared for heaps of meat, chicken and fish. I like that very much, but be warned if you think Asia=Vegetarian.

But off the main attractions like Tokyo and Kyoto Japan was still an awesomely sensible country. I liked the north very much. It felt distinctively different than the far south (Kyushu), but had its own charm. I think the "westernization" which partly happened in Tokyo and Kyoto will need a lot more time to reach the countryside. So I really want to go to Japan a third time. And then probably to Okinawa, Tottori and Shikoku. And I will get an accepted translation of my drivers license (ca. 60€), so I can rent a car in Japan and drive along the Tottori coast at my own pace.

The JR rail pass probably wasn't worth it this time. Since I stayed 3 nights in most places I think I would have been cheaper by buying single tickets. If they raise the price again you need to ride a LOT of trips by train to make it pay off. Also domestic flights are pretty cheap and you can go to the tropical paradise of Okinawa.

September was not the best travel time. 2019 I was there in March and April and it was 24-25°C and overall much nicer weather. September is still summer in most of Japan and the Japanese summer is HOT. The swing to autumn is accompanied by tropical storms and torrential rainfalls. So either go in spring and experience the cherry blossoms or go in autumn for the "indian summer" like coloring of the leaves. If you like winter sports, Japan is a paradise. They have ALWAYS good conditions for skiing and snowboarding in winter. 

Flying business class is worth it if you can get a good price and book early. East China Air would have been even cheaper than Cathay but with very long stopovers in Peking or Shanghai. If you can do some sightseeing there and experience the respective city it might even be nice, but afaik you need a Visum and staying 24-40 hours in the airport is probably no fun. Direct flights with JAL, ANA or Lufthansa were prohibitively expensive at the time I booked the flight, though.

It gets late. So I will stop here. Until the next trip maybe?

Sept. 23rd and 24th. Last day in Kyoto and trip to Narita

 I was quite busy these days, so I didn't manage to catch up with the writing. But now I have 5 hours in the (awesome) JAL Sakura lounge in Narita Airport. Would have used the Cathay one, but they have their main Lounge in Tokyo at Haneda and the one in Narita seems to be kind of a stepchild. Too bad. But JAL lounge is great. Good food, good drinks, comfortable computer working places. I guess I will manage. 😎

The last day in Kyoto was almost nice. Good weather, sunny and not too hot. I had booked the scenic train for noontime in the fain hope, that it MIGHT not be overcrowded. My naivete is obviously beyond redemption.  I went early to Saga Arashiyama since I read that you have to walk around 20 minutes to the scenic train station and also wanted to have a look around. Well that with the station was a lie. The scenic train goes from the building directly beside the JR station. 

(Side note: Just got me a cappuccino. They seem to have a good machine and good coffee here. It's the best I had in Japan so far.)

Since I had ample time, I wanted to see the famous Arashiyama bamboo grove.

Saga Arashiyama station plaza

A small shrine on the way to the grove.

The entrance to the grove. Yep. crowded...

This is a private path used by the Rickshaw guys as a shortcut and for a short break for the customers without being in a throng of people. I really didn't envy them. It was hot, the rickshaws were sometimes loaded with 3 people and they had to shout most of the time so people would move aside. Some didn't even then and had to be reminded by a guy in uniform.

One of the rickshaws from behind.

It was not easy finding spots and angles which gave the illusion of serenity and loneliness.

But the grove is really beautiful. In some places you could even hear some birds above the noise of the visitors.

Some shrine with an added fast food outlet.

There were a lot of people in Yukata, both tourists and Japanese people. This was a young Japanese couple. They looked really good in the outfit,

Fox masks.

This was a private home on the way. Beautiful building and beautiful manicured trees. A lot of the homes in this street had these bonsai style trees and well tended gardens.

A small creek running through the village.

Back at the station I had still time left and so I visited the SL Roman Cafe.

A chocolate ice cream with tea. The mint on the whipped cream was nice and strong.

The hall this cafe was in was gigantic. Here you see a special Bösendorfer piano with extra keys in the low range.

The Habsburg sigil mentioned in the text.

There were also a couple of steam locomotives.

And finally a real organ behind a digital one. The digital one (the brand, forgot the name) is regarded the best in the world, since it sounds very natural and is used in many productions. 

Now it was time to go for the scenic train. The station hall was really really full, but since I had a seat reserved it was not much of a problem.

The train had wooden benches and was jam packed. It was extremely uncomfortable for me, since the sized were not made with tall and big people in mind. Unfortunately I had other tall tourists sitting with me in a 4 seat group which didn't make it easier for any of us.

These photos sum the whole trip up quite nicely. You have seen it all. I did the trip so you don't have to. Totally not worth it. You have a few views on the gorge and the water and that's it. Nothing compared to the trip in Kyushu. The gorge is nice though and if you preplan better than me you can do the trip only to go back ba boath to Saga Arashiyama. That trip takes around 2 hours or so and I am pretty sure it is much better than the train ride. We saw the large boat floating by and the people seemed to have a lot of fun.

The end station is very nice though. It feels really rural when you turn your back to the town.

Nice clouds.

The cute rice harvester again.

So that was that. I walked a lot and was pretty tired. Back in the hotel I decided to give it a last try to find some top Wagyu Beef. But I had no luck. In the end I landed in a higher class tempura place. It was very pleasant and the food was great. So all is good. The places at the counter were taken, so I had to take a set menu. I took the medium one, since the large one would have been too much.

These are only the preparations. Left is the Sake. Behind it with a red dot is curry powder, the other one is some natural brown salt. To the right of that is the soy sauce and a bowl with grated radish and a spoon. In the middle is a quid salad in the foreground salt and lemon, an empty bowl for garbage and mixed radish and soy sauce as dip.

Shrimp, mushroom and shrimp legs (which are astonishingly flavorful and crunchy when deep fried.

A small fish. The aubergines were great and gone before I remembered to take a picture.

Roastbeef with sauce, ginger and wasabi.

Gingko nuts and scallops. The latter were so perfect I ordered an extra helping.

A whole eel. Very juicy.

Some pickled condiments and a miso soup with tiny mussels (was a challenge picking out the meat with chopsticks) In the foreground is rice and kind of a deep fried "cake" of greens and white shrimp. Awesomely delicious.

Fruit as a dessert. Simple and good.

Next morning was the trip to Narita. There was not that much out of the ordinary, so i won't bore you with a bunch of landscape pictures and just show a few:

A mountain with a pimple.

A bit of ocean.

The following few are of the Fuji. He had a clouds in the middle, but you could see the top.

In Tokyo station I had 20 minutes to change trains. My train (Narita Express) was going at 14.03h. With running and carrying both suitcases down a few stairs (on the longest one a friendly young Japanese man helped me and took one) I made it wheezing, huffing and sweating in streams 3 minutes before it went off. Japanese stations are HUMUNGOUS and I am too old for that shit.,

Between Tokyo/Chiba and Narita is only serene and beautiful countryside. Maybe next time I stay just there?

The hotel I checked in "Narita Airport Rest House" was unremarkable,  The decor was 80ies, maybe 90ies, but the rooms were large, had a proper desk, the bed was good and the bathroom functional. Good enough for me. On the plus side it is like a 10 minute walk from Terminal 1 and they have a shuttle service by bus from the hotel to Terminals 2/3 and 1. Also it is very well insulated against the flight noise. I didn't hear a single plane in the evening or morning. The only real bad side are the room doors. They are of metal and not sound proof at all. You hear everything happening in the hall and there happened quite a lot...

The dinner was not overwhelming but solid. Nothing to complain about,

Rice, marinated salmon, fried mackerel, pork with ginger and onions, Japanese omelette filled with mackerel and a miso soup. Everything was solid but not outstanding.

I didn't use the breakfast buffet and instead saved up my hunger for the airport lounges. And I must say it was the correct decision. But this will be its own entry together with my summary of the trip I will probably be too tired tomorrow when I reach home and Friday I have appointments, but maybe in the evening or on the weekend.