Japan Part 7 - Tokyo again!!

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi,

As usual

-this is meant for sharing only

-I am not a pro-traveler, just an amateur who love Japan so much

-I know that many out there have a dream of going to Japan especially Arashist so I share my experience, hoping that it may benefit you to plan a trip to Japan, budget-wisely

-I am losing my memory, and carving here is a solution, so bear with all the stories

-All useful links and summary of the cost will be at the end of each entry. You may skip everything and scroll down. No hard feeling at all ^_^

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Our 7th day started in Anne Hostel. We woke up and went out immediately after getting prepared. The nice staff greeted us at the lounge but we decided to have some breakfasts on our way to the station (Anne Hostel provides free breakfast in the morning, eggs, breads and jam and hot drinks).

As I already told you before, our hostel located only few minutes walk from Asakusabashi station. From there, we took the train to the Shinbashi station, then bought our Yurikamome One Day Pass (this was found by my sis during her pre-study for Japan). It's a pass that you can use on and off Yurikamome line around Odaiba no matter how many times you want in ode day, at 800 yen. Very worth your money especially if you want to truly enjoy Odaiba for the whole day. Then after that, we went to Daiba station, walk few minutes in that beautiful weather and arrived at Fuji TV!!! Yeah, our first location in Odaiba was Fuji TV. Why? You will know why ^_^ (Arashists may already know why hehehehe)

Our Yurikamome Pass

Tadaaa.. We just knew that blue kawaii dog is the mascott for Fuji TV hoho 

The admission fee is free except if you want to go up to the Spherical Observation Room from the Roof Garden at 550 yen, where you can enjoy Odaiba view from the spherical thing that you see in that picture. It is situated in the 25th floor. 

Above left: Rainbow bridge and Tokyo Tower seen at the back

Below left:  the replica of Statue of Liberty

Below right: Man-made beach in the city. Beautiful!!

Then we went back to the Roof Garden, bought some souvenirs and took some pictures (got Lucky 7, Chocolatier and Nazodi posters) at the shops located there. They have many manga and movie-related merchandise such as One Piece, Chuggington and many others.

Then we went further down to the 5th floor to enjoy the Wonder Street. It is where *collection of valuable items from popular programs, a fun photo spot and more are available for you to enjoy here at Fuji TV’s Wonder Street. When you enter, the first thing that comes into sight are the 5 monitors airing Fuji TV and its related channels. Next to the monitors stands a giant timetable that encompasses all of Fuji TV’s programs. Moving forward, you will encounter an area dedicated to Mezamashi TV, a perfect spot to take photos with your favorite anime character.

Follow the hallway lined with familiar faces of Fuji TV’s newscasters and announcers, and you’ll find a life-sized panel of hosts from noon-time variety show “High Noon TV Viking!”

The “Variety Show Corner” is the main area of Wonder Street where you can find a part of the set used in “SMAPxSMAP,” when Lady GAGA performed. Further down there is a display for “Terrace House,” a reality show where 6 male and female members share the same flat. Here you can check out their rooms and past members’ romantic interests. “Mecha Ike” and “VS ARASHI” displays can also be found here as well.

Other areas of interest include an area of Fuji TV’s popular dramas and movies, events, and more. Come and see, feel, and take photos at Wonder Street to experience Fuji TV in a whole new light!*

p/s: phrases in *...* were taken from the web. Hoho. I'm not that good in explaining without missing anything hahhahah.. So enjoy the picture!!

Gachapin, Run for Money, SMAPxSMAP  

Yeah, VS Arashi!!!! But we didn't come on the recording day :(

and Ogura-san!! 

 Some more pictures

After everybody was satisfied enough, we went down to the Theater Mall, having our onigiri and drinks. Then we spent some more time looking around before we moved to our next location, Aquacity Odaiba. Actually it's not in our plan to go there, but on the way to the Fuji TV, we saw the Disney Store sign, and we really wanted to find a birthday gift to our niece, Marissa (we missed her birthday party because it was held on our arrival day in Japan). So to make us less guilty, we tried to find her anything related to her favourite Princess Sophia the First in Disneyland  but failed so we tried our luck in the Disney Store. For a Disney fan, Disney store is like 2nd heaven after Disneyland hahahha. And we managed to find what we wanted, thankfully!!

Then, our next location was Venus Fort.

We walked from there to Daiba Station, took the train to Aomi Station and from there walk only few minutes to Venus Fort. 

Venus Fort is a shopping mall in the style of a 18th century South European town. The mall features over a hundred shops, fashion boutiques, cafes and restaurants on three floors including a few outlets shops on the upper floor. What's more interesting about Venus Fort is the ceiling of the building is painted with cloud and sky, and it will become day and night through times. A very beautiful shopping experience ^_^

Left above: The Fountain Plaza

Left below: The Church Plaza

 We even went to the History Garage where you can find Historic Car Collection.

Interesting!

I really want to share you this story. As we walked around, shopped around, we had to stop for prayer. We tried to search a suitable place where we will not disturb anyone or make anyone uncomfortable, and finally we decided to pray at an emergency exit, the door to the stairs. The space was big enough for us to take turns to pray and not disturbing the path to the stairs. I was the one standing beside my sister when she was praying, and many times people came in to use the stairs. Some seemed so surprise at 1st then nod and just walked by. But, suddenly, one of the passer-by, a man in a suite, came to me and said "I can take you to a clean room", I did not hear very well and asked him again and he repeated "I can take you to a clean room. Here not so clean, people walk here". I was so touched, but said "It's ok, my sister almost finish already", he smiled and left. I held my tears, too touched of that stranger's kindness and understanding, as you know that muslims are still minority in Japan, yet they still appreciate and value us. Thank you stranger-san. My prayers are always with you. Funny to tell you, after she finished her prayer, my sis told me she lost her 'khusyu' at that time because she said that she thought that man wanted to take us to the 'security room' hahahhaha...

We love the Yurikamome Pass, with it we can go round and round.

This picture was taken in front of Aquacity Odaiba, again!

Then we walked around (or you can take the train) and went again into the Aquacity to enjoy Sony Explorascience (don't ask us why we decided to go there haha, it's not that we regret the decision, no, we had so much fun there, just maybe we should suggest you other places to go, unless you really can spend days in Odaiba). Oh, there was an omiyage shop where you can buy souvenirs at a cheaper price. But I forgot the shop's name. huhu..

We enjoyed the place too much till we forgot to take pictures there. The only pictures that we have are the ones with the Best 11 Smiles hahhahaha

There are many more attractions that you can find in Odaiba, including Madam Tussauds Wax Museum, Legoland, and even a giant Gundam (we passed this regretfully). You can find all the info HERE. We did not go to all the attractions, time and budget-wisely huhu. After we were already in Malaysia, we watched Return of Superman that has Cho Sunghoon and his daughter Cho Sarang who live in Odaiba in an episode where they enjoy the night view of Odaiba and it was veeeery beautiful. Rainbow bridge and Fuji TV building were lighten up with colourful lights. And a friend also shared his experience watching the Gundam at night, and it was so much fun. We may revisit Odaiba for that experience in Japan 2.0.

picture courtesy from Google Image

We left Odaiba with wonderful feelings. We headed back to the Shinbashi station (still using the Yurikamome pass) then from there we went to the Oshiage station for Tokyo Skytree. Few minutes walk only from the Oshiage station to the Tokyo Skytree.

Another story here. When we arrived in Shinbashi station, it was already the time for people to get home from their office. So it was a little bit busy at the station. We were aware of a very old uncle walking slowly with his cane. Very slow. We passed him, and we stumbled upon a poster of Ninomiya Kazunari drama (picture below, left). So we took some pictures. While we were doing that for few minutes, suddenly I heard something fell, and to our surprise, that old uncle fell backward veeeeeery hard. He's a very tall man, and I can say that his head fell hard to the floor. We were so surprised, my sister and cousin froze and I with another passerby tried to alert the station staff, while some more passerby tried to help the uncle. I saw a young man tried to apologize (not sure if he collided with the old man or he thought that he was the one to blame) but we got more shaken when blood started to drip from that uncle's head and formed a pool of blood. We were blank for a while and decided to leave after few minutes(because I know that my sis was afraid of blood), at the same time hoping that the uncle will be okay and alright. Till now, we hope he's okay and healthy again :(

We arrived at the Tokyo Skytree, still shaken. Luckily we have to queue to buy the ticket, so we had time to calm ourselves

We managed to see the transition from daylight to night. The picture at the left are the observation window where you can see through the highest floor 

You can also see Sumida river in the pictures

We spent about 1 to 2 hour there including at the souvenir shop. We even had the chance to take pictures with promotional poster and cap for Ninomiya's drama (picture below, right)

A sakura theme Tokyo Skytree!!

Then we departed to the Sensoji Temple/Nakamise street by taking the train to Asakusa station and walk towards the Sensoji Temple to get to the Nakamise street. You can buy cheap souvenirs here, among the cheapest price you can get for key-chains and fridge-magnet. But, unluckily, we arrived in Nakamise street around 8 pm and as you can see in the picture below, many shops were already closed. Still, we managed to catch few shops that were still opened. 

After that quick shopping, we walked along another street named Shin Nakamise (New Nakamise) and bought kebabs for our dinner. We decided to end our day there and went back to our hostel.

One of the unique characteristics of Anne Hostel is you can only eat at the lounge and not in the room. This is because they want to make sure all guests are comfortable especially in a shared room. So we ate our kebabs (mine was kebab bento) while watching some shows on the TV and socializing with other guests. Yeah, it was Arashi ni Shiyagare then Gantz. Lucky right? :p

So summary!!!!!

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

Yurikamome pass = 800 yen

Fuji TV Spherical Observation Room = 550 yen

Sony Explorascience = 500 yen

Tokyo Skytree = 2060 yen 

Train fare except for Yurikamome Line included in the 4500 Suica so none

Food and drinks = ~1000 yen

Total for day 7 = 8010 yen

TOTAL up to Day 7 = 81 020 yen

Souvenirs are not included 

Some useful links

Odaiba : http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html

Fuji TV : http://www.fujitv.co.jp/en/visit_fujitv.html

Venus fort: https://www.venusfort.co.jp/multi/index_e.html

Sony Explorascience: http://www.sonyexplorascience.jp/english/

So that's all for this time. See you in the next entry!! Thanks for reading!! xoxo!!

P/S: I wrote most of the route that we scheduled to take (planned with Hyperdia). We actually took some shortcuts recommended by the locals or through the map that we had there, but we forgot to jot down the changes. All the stations and route here may had changed at the actual trip, not because it was wrong, but because we had a shorter alternative routes ^_^

P/S NO 2: Pardon me for my broken grammar. Huhu.. I'm trying to improve huhuhu... Lack of practice I can say..Sorry!! Hope the messages that I want to deliver, reach you hehe.

“Traveling- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller"

~Ibn Battuta~

Japan Part 6 - DisneySea!! Yattaaaaaaaa!!!

Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi!

As usual, I have to tell this ^_^

All the Japan entries are only meant for sharing. I'm carving my memories here and at the same time sharing the information that may help others planning for their budget-trip to Japan.I'm not a pro, just an amateur traveller who love Japan as much as I love my country. If you are only interested in the cost and useful links, you may scroll down and skip the stories, because I'll summarize all the costs at every end of my Japan entries. ^_^

And if you want to keep reading, let's go to the Disneysea!!!!!!!!!!!! 

View from our hotel room and from the train station

We woke up early that day, continuing the yesterday's excitement, but today to the Disneysea. The only DisneySea in the world. We ate our own breakfast, packed everything, and checked out from the hotel. Disney Resort can keep your luggage and bags after checking out up to 11 pm if I'm not mistaken, so we left ours there.

We took the Disney line to go from our hotel to DisneySea. We met a group of Indonesian tourists in there. It's funny when we were heading into the monorail, we heard them said saying to each other "From Malaysia".. And when we greet each other, they said that from our face and clothes, they knew that we're from Malaysia. It's funny because, most people (other than Indonesian and Malaysian) will confuse us for Indonesians, but only Indonesians know the true Indonesians, and Malaysians haha.. 

We did not waste our time taking pictures once we entered the park

Among the 1st things we saw.. Mount Prometheus welcomed us!

You see, we went to Disneyland and Disneysea not on weekend, but there were still many people here haha

We spent our 1st 10-15 minutes looking around, whoaaaaaaing, wowing (ok both my made up words).. then while trying to search for rides that we planned to go, we met Mr and Mrs Incredibles. Mr Incredibles was a little bit more popular so more fans were surrounding him, compared to Mrs Incerdibles so we took this chance to take pictures with Mrs Incredibles, twice! haha..she even ran back to us and hugged us again before saying something like "Enjoy your rides" (I think, she said nothing, just cute body language haha).

Beautiful, isn't she?

(ignore that map :p )

We took many thrill rides, I did not even remember which and which we took first. I can only remember what rides that we had. See? My memories are fading, and that's why I think I should finish writing allllllll the memories here before things got lost huhuh..I listed here the rides that we took, and share some related events regarding the rides, but it may not be in order on which event occured first. Huhu..

We had StormRider, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones Adventure : Temple of the Crystal skull, Raging spirits, Caravan Carousel (my sis requested for this haha), Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, Toy story Mania, Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

I think, I start to remember things while writing this haha. Once we went into the park, we looked around, and saw something that surprised us. We saw a sea of people, queuing at the Toy Story Mania. At 1st we did not even know what was they were queuing for. There were soooooooo many people, it's like queuing for Arashi concert hahah.. Then we saw what it was, they were actually queuing for the Toy Story Mania Fast Pass. We decided to have a go once the people were gone, so we searched for other rides first.

We took our Fast Pass (FP) for Tower of Terror, then headed to StormRider. StormRider is a simulation experience where you can experience the wild turbulence of powerful winds. The effects there may surprise you. 

taking pictures while queuing

Our faces started to show how much they 'enjoyed' our sunbathing in Yamanakako (see in PART 3)

After StormRider, our turn for Tower of Terror also came. I should explain about this Fast Pass thing in my Disneyland entry but I forgot, so here it is. FP is a pass that you take to shorten your waiting time at attractions that have the FP mark. You will use your own ticket, scan the 2D code at the Fast Pass counter (don't worry, there's always a staff to show you how it's done). Then you can enjoy other rides, and come back when the time stated in your fast pass arrived. But, you can't take 2 fast passes for 2 rides at the same time. You can only take another fast pass once your  return time is reached.

Tower of Terror is something that you shouldn't miss if you love thrill rides. I can give 5 stars for this one. Surely had our spine tingled!

See how terrified everybody was hahahahha

Oh, you can actually buy this picture at the counter on the exit of this ride, but

as this was a budget trip, so we just used our phones. :p

While we were walking to Lost River Delta where Indiana Jones located, we stumbled upon some Disney characters. But the queue was long with kids, so we did not take any picture together. We only chose characters that did not has any long queue with them hahah.. time-wisely I guess..

Goofy and Chip if not mistaken

We took FP for Indiana Jones and then queued for the Raging Spirits. Raging Spirits is a ride that has 360-degree loops, but I should tell you, you maybe a little bit surprise on how short the time you are actually on it hahhaah. A foreign-man (i mean not Japanese) that rode it with us (It's a two-seat car, so we were three, and the staff put him with us) also kind of surprised. But, we glad that we queued for the ride *smile* just looked at the 2nd picture below hoho..

Yeah hahahahahha.. these 2 cool and cute guys were in front of us for the whole time and my sis said that they kept glancing at us whenever they had the chance. No, no, I did not say that they were attracted to us, it just that maybe because we were foreigners to them, plus our faces were actually had pretty bad sunburn, so maybe that's why hahahahhaha...so, after the ride, we met again, and did not miss the chance for a picture together (2 actually :p ) --I had the intention for looking a 'jodoh' in Japan, doesn't matter whether he's a Japanese, or a Bristish, or even a Malaysian, but couldn't find the destined one, especially when that sunburn made my self-confidence low hahhahahah.. so that was the only objective that did not succeed *LOL*

We had a little more time while waiting for our return time for Indiana Jones, so we bought some refreshments and sat for a  while..watching people, and enjoying the sceneries. There was one thing that made us salivate, but we could only see. Turkey shank!! Oh My, they looked sooooo yummy, but as we're muslims and only can eat things that were slaughtered in the name of Allah, so we couldn't. (I ate Secret Recipe Turkey shank few days after arriving in Malaysia, couldn't help it *LOL*)

yummehhhh!! 

And then it's time for Indiana Jones!! Also amazing!

See, already an expert in timing to smile hahah

Then we walked to the Arabian Coast. The sceneries there were so beautiful. Here we had The Sinbad's Storybook Voyage and my sister requested to go on the Caravan Carousel.

You can find little princess here in DisneySea, and more in Disneyland, (that kid was Princess Jasmine), the Resort even have boutiques where they can buy the princess dress and do the make up for your kids

Sinbad's Storybook Voyage

Caravan Carousel, please ignore that childish side on the left ahhahaha

Then we moved to the Mermaid Lagoon. We did not take any rides here, even though at 1st we thought that we should try at least one ride in Mermaid Lagoon no matter how childish it was, but then cancelled the plan and just looking around the place. Plus it was already prayer time and we had to search for a place to pray.

The rides were actually more suitable for kids, but I think adults can also have some fun here!

We were trying hard to find a place to pray, because this time we did not have our hotel room anymore. Alhamdulillah, all praises for Allah, He eased our problems when suddenly, when we were in a souvenir shop, we found that the changing room was quite large, 2 persons can pray at the same time, so, we took some shirts meant for trying, and also took some time to pray in there too. Alhamdulillah.

There was Donald Duck on the above picture, he had more fans than Daisy, so we chose Daisy!

Thanks Daisy Duck!! Love you!! *LOL*

After the commemorative picture with Daisy, we headed to the Mysterious Island. We wanted to ride Journey to the Center of the Earth, but we were told that it was close for a while, and will be open after few hours, I did not remember why. So we planned to come back once it's opened again.

Picture on the left was a show from the Disney staff. He used a mop to draw Minnie Mouse on the floor. Sugoii ne!

So, we walked to the Mediterranean Harbour and managed to catch the Legend of Mythica parade. We actually did not really plan to watch parades in DisneySea (eventhough Disneysea had more shows and parades than Disneyland), because we were already satisfied with parades in Disneyland and want to spend more time taking as many rides as possible there. 

A cute couple spotted!! See that bear? That is Daffy. It's quite popular in Japan I think.

Almost everybody will buy one, no matter you're a boy or a girl (even adults and teenagers)

Then we walked back to the Mysterious Island, and went for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was a smooth ride discovering a fantastic undersea world. And to our luck, when we finish it, the Journey to the Center of the Earth was opened again, and we queued for it, for quite a longgg time huhuhu (FP finished already for this ride by the time we were there). And, again, though the ride was interesting, but, it's kind of too short hahah.. we were just starting to scream when suddenly, tadaaaaaaa...the end! Just like the movie itself *LOL*

After that short-thrill ride, we went back to the American Waterfront for the Toy Story Mania. I know that I told you not to get influenced by long-queue-ride but Toy Story Mania was different. So we queued (fast pass finish already as I told you earlier haha),and glad that we chose it eventhough we had to queue around 40-50 minutes (while hoping that it won't be like Monster Inc ride). We even ate our 'nasi impit' that we cooked in Anne Hostel night before going to Disneyland while we were queuing. And it was fun, so much fun, we forgot that we were starting to feel exhausted before.

Oh, I want to share this. I saw something that was really good. In Disneyland and DisneySea, guests with disabilities were very well taken care of. Staffs will help with all their might, and some rides even have special car for disable people (I saw this in Toy Story Mania). Japan actually is one of the countries that are very good and well-designed for disabilities people to move around. And the staffs were all smiling and helping even when I can see that they were tired already.

By the time we finish Toy Story, the day was getting dark already. And it looked like it was going to rain, with very strong wind. We heard some thunder-like sound but realized after all that it was actually the eruption of Mount Prometheus. I wanted to record the moment but by the time my camera was ready to record, the eruption ended hahahhaah..

We had a little more time before some night shows so we went to take some more pictures and having fun strolling around.

 A nice staff offered to take our picture. Thank you very-nice staff!

Then we went to the Waterfront Park, waiting for a show (I don't remember what show it was) with the other guests. It was cold, and strong windy, when suddenly an announcement was made. The show was cancelled due to the unfavorable weather. Uwaaaa... we moved to the Mediterranean Harbour to wait for the Fantasmic show, and again was told that the show was also cancelled. We actually did not really surprise because we already knew that all parades, shows and fireworks depend on the weather. And we were soooooooooooooo grateful that on our day in Disneyland, the weather was so good till night, so we did not really feel disappointed in DisneySea. 

Picture while waiting for the show to began, but it was cancelled.

You can see Tower of Terror there.. hoho..

So, after buying some more souvenirs, we decided to get out of the park, took the Disney line monorail to the hotel, took our luggage and headed to Asakusabashi (we stayed again in Anne Hostel).

Last pictures in the monorail.. *sad*

Above: Disneyland hotel

below: Tokyo Disneyland station

After bidding farewell to the wonderful place and people, we left. 

We arrived in Asakusabashi around 9~10pm, and the night was so cold and the wind kept getting stronger. We were so exhausted, and fell asleep after everything was settled. And that's how our 6th day was ended.

And cost summary for day 6

2-day passport = already calculated in Part 5 = none

Disneyland monorail = refer Part 5 = none

Food (ice bar/frozen mango) = I forgot to put this in Part 5, so I calculated for both days ~500yen

(I actually forgot the actual price, if the price is more than this, I'll update again)

Fee from Maihama station to Asakusabashi = included in 4500 Suica = none

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

Total for Day 6 = 3600 yen

Total cost up to day 6 = 73 010 yen

As usual, souvenirs were not included in the cost. 

Info for DisneySea: HERE

Thanks for reading!! xoxoxo.. see you in Part 7!

p.s: keep praying for people in Palestine, in Syria, in Egypt, in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and wherever killings, attackings and bombings occur. Keep praying and contributing, even when the media doesn't cover about them anymore. The world needs more humanity and peace. Not war.

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~~