Japan Part 4 - From Mt Fuji to Tokyo!

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi!

Sorry for the long delay. It's Ramadhan, and I was a little bit busy at night grabbing once-a-year chances of multiplying all the good deeds' rewards.

So, as usual, before I continue with my experience, here are some notes:

1. this is only meant for sharing, I'm not a pro, just an amateur traveller, but I love Japan sooooo much, so I really want to help others who love Japan as much as me to have some ideas about travelling to Japan.

2. Feel free to skip all those stories, and scrolled to the end of this entry if you're only interested in costs and links of places. I always make a summary in the end of my entry. ^_^

3. If you have extra budget, you also have the option to hire a tour guide. And if you are a muslim, there are also some muslim tour guides, that will not only guide you to attraction places, but may also help to provide you halal foods, and places to pray. ^_^ Mine are more for backpackers ^_^

So, let's continue!!!

As you can see from the above picture, the morning was soooooooooo cold! 0 degree celcius.. Brrrrrrr...
And it's already bright at 6:44am haha..

Oh. Forgot to tell you in the previous entry. Before going to sleep, we asked the guesthouse owner on how to go to the Fuji Station from that house early in the morning. He asked us what was that for, and we told him that we booked our Highway Bus to Tokyo from the Fuji Station at 8.59am, so we have to be much earlier than that. He said that it's a little bit hard to get a public transport to the Fuji Station early in the morning (he did not recommend us to get a taxi because it's expensive as stated in the previous entry), instead he suggested us to wait at the Yamanakako Lake station, just few minutes walking from the guest house. He said that the station is in the bus route and the price would be the same. But, he also didn't forget to remind us that the only thing that we have to worry about is how to explain to the driver that we have booked the bus but we change the departing station. He said that most of the Fuji Highway bus driver can't speak nor understand things in English. I said that I will try my very best to explain, and he smiled. A meaningful smile hahhaha...

This is the guesthouse owner, Mr Hada

This pic taken by his camera in front of the guest house

So, after saying goodbye and thank you, we walked to the station to wait for our bus. Then, the bus came. And another story took place ^_^

We tried to explain to the bus driver that we actually booked the bus, but we just changed the station, and gave him the reservation number, but he did not recognize it, it was an exhausting 5 minutes, and finally a passenger came, asked us if we have make a booking, and I showed her the reservation number (given by the staff when I booked the tickets through international call), and she said that was not needed and I was like.......... then she spoke with the driver, then she told us that the bus was already full with booking. I seriously can't find a way to explain further, and finally, the driver asked us to step out. And, at that moment, I understood the meaningful smile of the guesthouse owner..huhuhu.. Actually, if we were clever enough, we should ask the guest owner to write in Japanese that "these girls already booked the seat but they changed the station" or I should have just tell the driver MY NAME! Remember guys, most reservations there, you should mention your name.. 

So, the bus left us there, blank and blur........

Seriously, my mind kept thinking, how should I book again the bus? I only save the international number, not the local one (as I was already in Japan). While thinking, my legs kept walking, leaving the station, and my sister and my cousin were just following and thinking together. I even thought about the option of taking the taxi to the Fuji station and buy a new ticket there, no matter how expensive the taxi fare would be. But, the Fuji Highway Bus to Tokyo was also always fully booked, it's a fact that made me worry more. We even looked at every bus that passed the road, and kept thinking what to do next. Seriously, it was one of the most blank moment in my life hahhaha when SUDDENLY.... "Highway Bus??" an uncle asked us.

And we answered quickly "Yes!!", then he asked us to follow him back to the station. He showed us the schedule shown at the station, and asked us if that's the bus that we need. After telling him few things, in my poor Japanese mixed with English as usual, he understood. We were so touched when he decided to help us made a new reservation (I should tell you that for this Fuji Highway Bus, payment was done when you already departing, so no money-loss here). He tried to search for the Bus Company number through internet on his phone, but couldn't find it so he called his friend (and my sis said she heard him said "Hada", so we deduce taht maybe he's a friend of our guesthouse owner, maybe). Then his friend told him that he could find the number on the bus schedule at the station, and yes, it was there. huhu. So the uncle asked us which time that we want to take, and we told him the next bus if he can, and then he called the Bus Company.

Seriously I tell you, my cousin,my sister and I, we held our tears back so much. We were touched by how willing this stranger uncle trying to help us. He spoke with the staff, then he told us that the next bus was also full but another bus still got some seats but we have to wait a little much longer, and I told him we didn't mind at all. He asked for my name, for reservation of course, and gave me his phone to speak with the staff, so that I can confirm the details by myself (hoho, I'm typing with tears in my eyes). How can I to not falling in love with Japan if we keep finding kindhearted people like this???

This is the uncle who helped us. At this exact moment the picture

was taken, was the moment when we held our tears, touched by his kindness..

 hountouni arigatou gozaimasu ojisan!!!

May ALLAH bless you always!

And so, we waited there ^_^

Activities while waiting ^_^

In this picture, there were me and my sis

but you can't see my sis because err..errr

she was there, look closely, that choco shawl hahah

We wanted to buy mineral waters, but the vending machine (in the pic above) was out of stock for mineral water, so we discussed (beria discuss ok!) what should we buy instead, and while we were discussing, an auntie with a small lorry stopped by (you can see a very small bit of her lorry just at the left of above pic). She asked us "Daijobou???", and we answered "Daijobou, arigatou gozaimasu!!" and smiled, then she smiled back and left. Whoaaa.. she must had thought that we had problems with the vending machine because we were discussing seriously hahahah.. but, how kind she was. Thank you auntie!!!!

After waiting, and selfieing (i made up that word haha), our bus came. Yatta! Alhamdulillah. And I can see that the driver, a different driver, not from the earlier one, eagerly welcomed us (i think maybe he or the company already knew the real situation that we have booked but were not allowed to ride before), and after I told my name to confirm the reservation, paid the fee, then, we were going to Tokyooooo!!!!!! Goodbye the beautful and magnificient Fuji-san! Goodbye all those nice and kind people of Yamanakako..  Hontouni arigatou gozaimasu for all those sweet memories we had there..

We were wayyyyy behind from our schedule, around 2 to 3 hours late, plus we even gone through traffic jam on our way, so we changed a little bit here and there from our schedule, so that we can fully maximise the time left (you can see the example of our schedule from Part 1).

First place that we went after arriving in Shinjuku station (we left our bags in coin locker there) was Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. We wanted to enjoy Sakura to our utmost, thatt's why this was among the places we visited. And, it was sooooooooooooooo beautiful! Subhanallah. And there were more hanami there (refer Part 2 if you want to know what hanami is). The admission price was 200 yen and you can get an English Map from the staff at the counter.

Beautiful isn't it? Subhanallah

From Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, we chose to go to the Tokyo Tower. The Tokyo Tower is situated not far away from the Zojoji Temple (more info: Zojoji Temple) We did not go up the the observatory tower, because we planned to do that for the Sky Tree Tower. We can't go for both, money-wisely haha. I planned at 1st to take picture with Tokyo tower, with the same posing like Matsumoto Jun did after he finished his Lucky Seven drama, but as we came from different side, I could not find the spot, and just be satisfied with what we had here..

We decided to eat our earlier-bought-tuna-onigiri here while discussing for our next places to visit. As we planned, we chose Tokyo Camii Mosque for us to perform our Jama' Takhir prayer (at 1st we planned for Zuhr-Asr, but we were late because of the bus hehe). It was not so far from Yoyogiuehara station. Just asked around, and most people there can tell you the direction.

The mosque was very beautiful, and we even fulfilled some of our family and friends' requests there

alhamdulillah..

Then, we went to the Shibuya crossing by Hachiko bus!! I think, we just got lucky that night, because when we were trying to ask around on how to get to the Shibuya crossing, a policeman told us about the bus, and luckily that bus was also waiting for passengers to fill in. 

And we used our Suica card for the fee that was only 100yen! and the bus is kawaiiii ne!

I was a little bit worry because when we started to depart, the bus screen showed that we were actually at the 1st stop, and there were many stops before the Shibuya station as the last stop. I was worried that it will be so late for us, but, alhamdulillah, the trip only took around 10-20 minutes before we arrived at Shibuya station. 

Well, you know what's waiting at Shibuya station right??? Hachiko!! A statue of course. You're very left out, if you don't know about Hachiko hahah.. It's a very insightful story. Here you may have some info about him: Hachiko Wikipedia and HERE.

Thanks Hachiko for waiting for us!!

haha, this pic did not really show the real situation there..don't be deceived..

It was veeery crowded there because people were waiting to cross the infamous

Shibuya crossing, but I think maybe because this is a favourite spot to take pictures

so people make space for it ^_^

We were so so sooo exhausted actually at this point, you can see how much we walked for the day, but, we got energized once we rode that kawaii Hachiko bus, and much much more energized when we stood together with the other Shibuya-crossing-cant-wait-crossers hahahaha... Yes, everybody got hyped up and excited whenever you stand on the side, waiting for the light to be green including us. And I don't know why hahah.

I was thinking to upload some videos we recorded there, but my broadband line did not want to cooperate. sorry guys! One day maybe ^_^

So, after all that, we went to the station to take our bags and luggage, and headed to our hostel for that night, Anne Hostel (booked with Booking.com) you can also search for it in Facebook. While searching for our hostel, 2 skind strangers helped. One, a young man, look through his phone, by google map to search for the hostel, and almost got it right. Then, a kind uncle walked us  to the hostel after he found us asking a foreigner man who owns a restaurant there about the hostel. That's why I love Japan!! 

And now it's time for costing!!

Highway bus from Fuji to Shinjuku = 1750 yen per person

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden = 200 yen

Train fee (all included in Suica 5000 Yen) = none

Hachiko bus fee (also used the Suica) = none

Anne hostel = 3100 yen / night (4 dorm beds)

Food and beverages = ~500 yen

TOTAL Day 4 =  5550 yen

TOTAL UP TO DAY 4 = 46 210 YEN

Link for Highway bus (Fuji to Tokyo) : http://highway-buses.jp/

Anne hostel Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anne-Hostel-Tokyo-Asakusabashi/120101838046054

So, that's all for day 4. Hope that day 5 will come soon!!! Thanks for reading!! xoxo

Oh, please please please keep praying for Gaza. It's not about religion anymore. It's about humanity.. :'(

“Humanity is ONE.

The moment you separate yourself from it, you are at odds with the propagation of world unity and peace.

The moment you become a racist, anti-Muslim and other negative and divisive stance, you are a breaker, NOT A HEALER.

IF you select and choose who you want to be with, CREATE a divide and talk ill of other faiths, race and culture, then you are a war-monger.

War mongers are PEACE OUTCASTS.

Constructive criticisms do not INTENTIONALLY DIVIDE. It constructs.

But if you sow hatred, you are DESTRUCTIVE. You destroy humanity by your passion for disunity, intrigues, and collective hatred."

~~Princess Maleiha Bajunaid Candao~~ 

Japan Part 3 - The Magnificient Mt Fuji.. Subhanallah

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi..

1st of all, all that I share here are only meant for sharing tips and to give some ideas for people who want to have a budget trip to Japan, and don't mind backpacking without a tour guide. If you have extra money, or you want a trip that's fully guided with full-course of food, you can hire some good and reasonable tour guides. There are many options nowadays.

2nd, I write my experiences here not only for you people who read my blog, but also for my own self, because eventhough the memories last forever, but the brain isn't ^_^ so the only way to carved it out is by blogging about it. I hope you can bear with me haha.

So, let's continue!!!

As in the end of Part 2, I told you that we took the overnight bus to Kofu (If you choose Willer express, choose Yamanashi as your destination then choose Kofu Station). We arrived in Kofu around 6am, and seriously it was sooooooooooooooooooo cold there. Huahh, we didn't really expect for this extreme weather because we should be in spring season there, and we thought that the lowest it can be was around 10 degree celcius (it was raining in Osaka when we had our 6 degree celcius night). From Kofu station we need to go to Otsuki station by JR Chuo line, but we didn't know which way to go for the Kofu station so we just followed other bus passengers and turned out they also didn't know which way to go. We stop at a convenience store to ask for direction and luckily, the kind staff told us the detailed directions with some limited English.

some flower pictures taken while walking to Kofu station

We planned to buy our Suica card in Kofu station, so 1st thing that we did was trying to buy the Suica from the machine. But, after struggling for few minutes, we asked help from the station staff. It was a struggle at 1st to explain to him what we actually wanted to buy, but finally he understood and helped us. He was so kind, at 1st I thought he would show us how to buy once, and he would let us buy the others on our own. But, he was so kind, he helped us to complete all the procedures and after we succeed to buy 3 cards then he went back to his office (plus, it was not a pack time yet).

this is how the Suica card looks like 

yeah..we did not study about this machine beforehand :p

(source: google image)

we may be tooo surprised if this man suddenly came out from the machine ahhaha 

(thiswas taken from google image, you can find the video in youtube 

how the staff came out and helped this guy)

Some pics taken while on our way to Otsuki Station,

you can see there are some holes under the seat, they have heater there,

helped us a lot in that cold weather hehe

After arriving in Otsuki Station, we took the Fujikyuko Line towards Kawaguchiko to get to the Fujisan station. It was another good experience. Students were going to school and salarymen were going to works. I even felt like watching a japanese drama where many school students chit chatting and doing homeworks in the train coach.

We arrived in Fujisan station around 8am if not mistaken, and we took a Taxi to bring us to our guest house. the taxi driver ojisan didn't really know the address that I showed him, but he called his headquarters and after waiting for few minutes the headquarters gave him the direction. Sugoi ne!! Butttttttttttttttt, honestly, that will be the 1st and last time we took a taxi in Japan ^_^ because it was so expensive. The trip was only around 10-15 minutes (we even enjoyed Fuji-san on our way), and that costed us around 3500yen, that was around RM100++  hohohooo.. even our guest house owner said that we were tooooo 'pemurah' and rich to take the taxi hahhahaha...but the service was good. No doubt! Just, if you want to save your money, try to avoid taking the taxi. Bus was much more affordable and cost-saving.

Our guest house was ZERO-Project Japan Guesthouse. It was situated just few minutes walking from Lake Yamanaka, which is the largest lake among Fuji 5 Lakes.

When we arrived, we were welcomed by an obasan who is the mother of our guest house owner. She invited us in while waiting for his son to come back from his morning-walk. It was so cold, and the house temperature showed -3 degree celsius. No wonder we felt soooooo cold. The guest house owner arrived few minutes later. We introduced each other and chatted for a while.

He's a kind and good looking man, and once stayed in Indonesia, so he can speak Malay/Indonesian a little, and that was interesting for us. He told us that we were so lucky because it was actually snowing that night(yeah, that's why it's soo cold) but that morning the weather was so nice and good for us to enjoy the Mt Fuji view. But one thing he did not tell us was the spring has not arrived there yet, or maybe he thought that we knew about it when he told us about the snow, which meant that it's still late winter there huhu.

So, after washing our faces, brushes our teeth, had some breakfast, we decided to walk to the lake and enjoy the good weather, or should I say, enjoy the sun because it was sooo cold. Yeah, too cold till we forgot about something important...we walked out in that sunny but cold day without any cream or sunblock! worse, we wore our shades, so we did not really realize how sunny the day was :p clever huh!

So here we were, strolling on the walkway beside the Yamanaka Lake..

Alhamdulillah, Fuji-san was not 'shy' that day.. clearly seen alhamdulillah

pic at the right was Exile Tribe (not so sure but they wore the 24 karats brand jumper)

we met two groups actually, 1st wore 'Exile tribe' jumper and this one wore the '24 karats' jumper.

We did not actually know EXILE or anyone in EXILE tribe, so we can't really identify who were they, but they were jogging with cameras recording them from a van. We just took this picture in case they're actually popular haha

Can't imagine if it was Arashi. Pengsan kottt!! hahaha

Yeah, the 2 last 2 pictures were proofs that we actually touched the snow hahaha *Jakun* 

Alhamdulillah, we only hope for Sakura, and Allah gave us the chance to feel the snow too..

But no sakura and other flowers around Mt Fuji..

We enjoyed the lake and the view of Mt Fuji as much as we can (not realizing that our faces 'enjoyed' it too). Then we innocently searched for the Flower Park. While we're on our way, we stopped at a big mart for my cousin to search for gloves. I told you the weather was so cold, even there's sun, but the wind was sooooo cold. My sister and I even bought muffler to cover our face from that cold wind. Unfortunately, there were no knitted gloves sold there, so my cousin bought a box of strawberries that were so sweet and yummy!!! (no pic, too delicious so quickly 'disappear' from the box hahahaha)

We managed to find the flower park, but of course, no flower at all huhuhu. So we changed our plan. We thought that we wanted to try the Tour bus, so we searched for the nearest bus stop. 

walk in line!!!

here was where something interesting happened. We stopped at a place where they had this one pole with the tour bus schedule. While we were trying to decide which place should we go, and what time the bus will come, a lady stopped her car few metres from us. She came to us and ask "Daijobou??" ("Is everything Okay??" and other questions in Japanese that we could summarized that she was trying to ask us what she could help. So I explained to her (with my minimal Japanese mixed with some English) that we wanted to go to the Teddy Bear Museum. She looked at the bus schedule and told us that we have to wait for a while (Chotto matte) around 30-40 minutes more. We said that we would wait, and thanked her for her help. When she was already at her car, we decided to walk (konon2 dekat laaa muzium tu), cause we did not want to waste our time waiting, when suddenly that lady before, stopped her car again, came to us and ask us to ride with her. I asked her again and again is it ok for her, and she really insisted for us to come with her, so we did, gratefully!!

and.....it...was......veeeeeeeeeeery far for us to walk actually! hahahah.. and we felt a little bit guilty for her, but she was so kind and seemed so willing to help us. With my very minimal japanese mixed with some english, again, I try to converse with her about Arashi ahahha.. (the only topic that I could think of at that time) and fortunately she's a fan too!! Her ichiban is Sho Sakurai, same with my sister. Our conversation actually more japanese from her side and more english from my side, but miraculously, we can understand each other haha.. Seriously, we were veryy much grateful for her help and also so touched by her kindness.

doumo arigatou gozaimasu, very-nice-stranger-san!!!!! 

I always pray that Allah grant you health, prosperity and wonderful life 

^_^

So, that's how we arrived to the Teddy Bear Museum hehe..

The admission was 900 yen, and it's more like a museum of private teddy bear collection. But it was unique as there were many teddies from the old time and also limited edition teddies. They have Winter Sonata Teddy, the old and new Pooh, the old and new Paddington Bear. We even bought some souvenirs there.

then from the museum, we thought that we wanted to visit another musem, but we could not find the route. So some no-motive-pictures were taken.

We decided to walk back and stop the tour bus if we find one, but unfortunately, because of our poor japanese skill, the driver did not understand us so he didn't allow us to ride. So we need to continue walking and walking and walking (I told you, it was not in walking distance to our guest house). We walked and stopped at a souvenir shop, bought some and kept walking until we found Taxis. Here we did not mind the money as we were exhausted from the walk haha. I think we paid around 1000~1200 yen for this time.

We arrived to the guest house and our bags were already been put in our room. This time also we booked a japanese style room with heater under the japanese table (just like in Doraemon). Everything was cleand and comfortable. 

this was how our room looked like..

and our dinner looked like :p

Sambal Tempe Jawa + Brahim's Chicken Curry + Japanese bread

+ free tea and coffee from guest house

So, after dinner, solat and some Japanese talk show, we slept soundly on our comfortable japanese futon.

It's time for cost summary!!

Suica card for the whole trip : 5000 Yen (4500 to be used, 500 for the card)

Otsuki Station - Fujisan station (Suica card can't be used for this special line) : 1020 yen

Taxi : ~3500 yen

Teddy museum : 900 yen

Taxi : ~ 1200 yen

Food : ~1000 yen

One Night at ZERO-Project Japan Guesthouse : 10, 800 yen

Total Day 3 = ~23 420 yen (yeah, it was a little costly here, but worth it! except for the taxi huhu, you can save around 3000 yen if you take the bus, ahaks!)

Total up to 3 Days cost = 40 660 yen

p/s: We bought 4500 worth of Suica card here. So after this, I will only mention train/subway/bus fares that did not included in that 5000 yen. If no fares mentioned in the cost summary, that means we used Suica card for the trip.

I forgot to tell you that this Yamanaka Lake was actually our plan B to enjoy Mt Fuji view. We actually planned to go for Kawaguchiko Lake but because at the time I want to book hotel/guesthouse, all the rooms that I wanted were already booked, so that's how we ended up in Yamanakako. But still, alhamdulillah, as long as we manged to see Fujisan, it was already enough for us.

If you want to enjoy the sakura and other flowers, you maybe have to come a little bit later, around end of April-Early June..

ZERO-Project Japan Guesthouse: http://www.lei-project.jp/home-english/stay-here/ or FB page https://www.facebook.com/ZeroProjectJapanInc?ref=br_tf

You can enjoy wonderful pictures in the FB page because the guesthouse owner is also a wonderful photographer.

link about transportation in Yamanakako or around Fuji san : HERE (updated 12.07.2014)

some more pictures!!

too grateful for the chance given, alhamdulillah. 

Mount Fuji is beautiful and magnificient!

"Now I understand why some say that Mt Fuji is a symbol of strength. By just looking at it, it gives you some kind of energy, that whenever you feel down, and remember it, the energy will come, and made u keep going..."

-Diyana Mastor-

2nd p/s: Pardon me for my limited vocabulary. Since I started working, I don't really spend time to read English newspapers (I do read English novels, but still can't really remember to use all those bombastic words without repeating 'so', haha). I will try my best to polish my English and widen my vocabularies like I used to love to do in the past.

Thanks for reading!! see ya!! xoxo ^_^