Tokyo.Sapporo.Obihiro. 11D10N Free & Easy. Budget breakdown & foreword

自从在2011年S&B去了一趟日本旅行后，就一直对日本念念不忘。。美食，风景，天气，虽然是和这次一样是4月底去的，但很幸运有看到美丽的樱花。。 话说当年我们俩还是一对新恋人。。也算是“蜜月旅行”吧（不是结婚那种啦！）．所以这一次能旧地重游也算是非常有意义啦！ 

虽然上一次我们俩都不是第一次游日本，但是还是觉得一切都好新奇！对我们来说，都是第一次自己排行程　（之前我都是跟家人，所以没骨气的都是跟团），所以就玩得特别开心啦．．撇掉那些 tourist traps, 寻找自己的隐藏版美食和attractions！ 

对那些不懂日语的人，自助旅游其实并不难。好多地方都会有中英日文，我们还碰到了到日本打工的台南，马来西亚的朋友等等，大家都非常亲切，帮了我们很多忙。多谢各位！其实很多日本朋友都会说中英文啦。。所以真的很简单。。 虽然小妹我学过基本的日语而已，其实也真的很好用，尤其是看菜单的时候，不过通常都是比手画脚和点指兵兵就混过去了。。^.^ 

而事隔两年，终于在去年底，SCOOT promo to Tokyo　的引诱下，买了东京的来回机票。也因为之前去过了京都和大阪，我就决定这次带Ｂ去北海道～　（第一次去北海道也是跟团，不过那地方真的太美了！像童话故事一样！）　起初花了好久去　convince Ｂ说要去北海道。。对那个 city kid 来说，北海道好像是个鸟不生　蛋的地方，好像只有山有水，没有ＷｉＦｉ！　（你看，知错了吧）所以唯一能骗到他的方法就是show他旅游节目啊，部落格的介绍之类的。。当然是以“美食”为主！

 之后，他也就半信半疑的答应了。。 那就是我们苦等５个月的东京北海道１１日之旅的开始！ 只要一有空就就和坐在我后面的日本达人兼同事聊一聊，不然，就会search一下　”Ｈｏｋｋａｉｄｏ“　的资料。却发现　“呃。。资料好少噢！＂　除了TripAdvisor，　就几乎没有什么有用的。　结果就开始ｓｅａｒｃｈ　”北海道”试试看，咦。。真的有好多有用的东西啊！大多数都是台湾的朋友写的游记之类的，写得非常详细，又有趣！比价，心得，统统有！ 所以我也决定了，要用尽量用中文来写，好像比较容易形容＼（︿＿︿）（︿＿︿）／　

虽然会花多一点的时间啦，因为比较习惯打英文。写中文的话，好像也没什么新加坡人会看呃。。＊烦恼＊　随便啦，写了这篇再说吧！ 接下来会写一下这次旅行的预算哦。每次出国都会烦恼到底要带多少钱才够，尤其日本那么好买的地方，又怕回来要吃草，所以希望把预算写下来可以给大家做参考。 

首先，先大概说一下我们的行程以及交通方式。 我们从新加坡搭凌晨 0050 的 Scoot 班级飞往台北让后转接到日本羽田机场（Narita Airport），３个小时后从羽田乘搭　１小时４５分钟国内航班（Jetstar）至札幌千代机场。 搭地铁到薄野　（Susukino），大约４５分钟。　在札幌住在 Watermark Hotel ，第４天租 Mazda 的车到带广（Obihiro），住了一晚豪华的温泉旅馆　－关月苑。隔日乘搭国内航班　（Airdo）到东京成田机场。Airport Limousine 送我们到 Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku 的门口，非常方便。住了个４晚后，乘Airport Limousine 到羽田机场搭Scoot 1230 回国的班机。

Air Ticket (per pax) 

Singapore --> Tokyo Narita ---> Singapore (Scoot) - SGD 550
Tokyo Narita --> Sapporo Chitose Airport (Jetstar) - SGD 90/JPY 6,240*
Obihiro Airport -->  Haneda Airport (Air Do) - SGD 140/JPY 10,970*

 * For domestic flight, u can only book up to 2 months in advance. Book as early as possible, i booked on the 1st day of the 2 months frame, and i got really good discounted ticket. However, if you are taking ANA/JAL/SQ or other major airlines, they have promotion for domestic flight ticket under the same airline. 

Please see here for more information: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2365.html

Car Rental (2D1N) Mazda (Basic) - SGD 220/JPY 16,380 

The reason why its so expensive its because we chose to return the car at another city/location. Thus there is a surcharge of JPY 5,000. Do note that not all car rental companies accept return at another location. 

Mazda Car Rental: www.timescar-rental.com/  (Pick up at Susukino Times Station, Return at Obihiro Airport)
Toyota Car Rental: rent.toyota.co.jp/en/
Tocoo: www2.tocoo.jp/

Before driving in Japan, please make sure you obtain a International Driving License from AAS. Charge is SGD 22 and valid for one year. If you fail to produce your IDP, the rental company may refuse to rent the car on the spot.

Toll for highway was about JPY 3,900.

Transport (Basic Day to Day transport by JR or Subway - 5 days in Tokyo) - JPY 5,000

Assuming per day make 3 to 4 trips on subway or JR. One typical trip would cost about JPY 210. For ease of travelling, purchase a PASMO or SUICA, works like our EZlink and can be topped up (min. JPY 1,000 per top up).

To better plan your trip, you may use hyperdia. It will calculate the timing, fare amount & no. of transfers.

A day pass would not make much sense because most of the passes only work on certain subway lines and there will be times u will have to make changes across a few lines.

Transport (Airport Transfer )

Airport Limousine

JPY 1,200 from Haneda Airport to/fro Shinjuku area (Sunroute Shinjuku Entrance)
JPY 3,000 from Narita Airport to/fro Shinjuku (Sunroute Shinjuku Entrance)

Meal 

Very subjective. If you want to eat cheap, your choices range from chain fast food restaurant like Yoshinoya,     our new found Chikarameshi & Sukiya to Sushi Go Round shops found everywhere on the streets. Sushi from these places ranges from JPY80 to JPY 250 for the premium ones.

Do note that cheap does not mean bad food. B is in love w the JPY 330 beef bowl from Chikarameshi（東京チカラめし)

Go to basements of shopping malls to get cheap deals on Bento lunch boxes and sashimi! There are lotsa of sampling too!

Medium budget travellers can go for yummy Ramen shops & Japanese curry. Our favourite being Ichiran （一蘭）ramen & C&C curry house. Pricing about JPY800 - JPY 1000 for a comforting meal.

If you like to indulge, the sky is the limit. I would say a JPY2,500 - JPY 5,000 for a sushi set at Tsukiji Market　（筑地市场）. Its worth the money, as long as you are willing to queue up to hours for it, especially the famous ones like Sushi Dai (寿司大).

Accomodation (per night)

Watermark Hotel - JPY 7,245 (www.japantravelleronline.com)

Very well located in Tanuki Koji　（狸小路６）, famous shopping district in Susukino. 5 mins to underground linkway to Susukino subway. 5 mins to 24 hours Donki. Famous ramen Ippudo （一风堂）is just downstairs, along with alot of souvenirs shops．Good value for money. A good alternative will be Richmond Hotel.

Kangetsuen (観月苑) - JPY 20,250 (www.japantravelleronline.com)

This was a last minute decision. I have originally booked a western hotel in Obihiro town for SGD 90, however, 2 weeks before departure i have decided to splurge on this hotspring (Onsen) resort for almost 3 times the original hotel since we are going all the way to Obihiro, whats more the price is including a Kaiseki set dinner & buffet breakfast. The meal was extravagant and the buffet breakfast even comes with an awesome view. Its just too amazing and its worth every penny. Room is huge for 2 - 5 pax.

Its a once in a life time experience, and its cheaper than Daiichi Resort (1st on trip advisor), therefore less touristy. You feel like a distinguished guest there.

Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku - JPY 10,650 (Weekday), JPY 12,650 (weekends)

#1 Shinjuku Hotel on TA. Value for money. 1 min to Shinjuku Subway Station (one of the exits) and 5 mins to main JR station and other lines. 5 mins walk to Takashimaya. Room is not too small, clean and the entire feel is like a 4 star hotel. Best part about staying here is, airport limousine can pick up and drop you off at entrance of the hotel. Very convenient as you dont need to drag your heavy luggage to the bus stop at Shinjuku station.

Will definitely,without a doubt, stay there again.

Overall, i am very happy with the places we stayed during this trip.

Note that for some hotels, it is more worth it to book through 3rd party websites rather than direct from hotel website as they may offer early bird discounts. After comparing i find that japantraveller.com offers good discounts. Only down side is that your credit card will be charged first, however, during cancellation or amendments, the refund was processed rather quickly back into my CC account ( 2 - 3 days). No cancellation charge until travel dates.

不好意思，写review好像还是英文比较顺呀。>,<

再次谢谢以下的日本达人，给了我许多灵感来编排行程　（和必买的药妆，把钱都丢在哪儿了我．．T_T, 不过还是谢啦）：

http://uniquevera.pixnet.net/blog　（日本药妆失心疯）
http://kimi-tourguide.blogspot.sg/ (日本导游的介绍）
http://www.best-of-sapporo-japan.com/　（美食介绍）
http://choyce.pixnet.net/blog　
http://dajy0713.pixnet.net/blog　（游记）

当然还有， 食尚玩家＆Woman 爱旅行（让我决定去带广）。

好啦！接下来会有药妆篇，美食篇，行程表，自驾心得哦！希望对大家有帮助．

Day 6: Tokyo, Asakusa, Ikebukuro, Kabukicho

Of cos, i couldnt trust B to have the patience to complete the rest of the trip blogs, since it took him one month to complete one post. lol.

It has been 4 mths! I tot i had better finish it up before i forget the details. ^^

Our lunch place was at this famous Tempura place in Shinjuku, call Tsunahachi. There are other branches in Japan, but i heard this is the most famous one.

To get there:

from Shinjuku-dori, go down the small street to the left of Mitsukoshi - bento.com

We had a hard time looking for it. It better be good, we thought.

To be honest, i have never thought a Tempura set can be sold at this pricing? (One Tempura Zen is about SGD 31!) I was really skeptical but since we are already there, we have to try it.

The menu was quite limited. It was about lunch time at 1pm, first level of the restaurant was full so we were led to the second floor, which was pretty empty.

Level 2

I think we ordered a Hiru Zen and a Tempura Zen set. The tip is to go during lunch time for their lunch set, i m pretty sure the dinner pricing will be even more amazing.

Different flavour salts for your tempuras. Pepper, Wasabi and normal salt. Interesting.

The concept is that, they will first serve you soup and rice. And you will have this empty plate in front of you. They will start frying your tempuras, tong them to you when done, and after you finsih those pieces, they will send you another batch.

This way, the tempuras will all be very crispy instead of soggy as we go along. well done.

The food was really really awesome. But its still beyond me to pay so much for tempuras. =X Prob wont be gg back again. But if its your first time, i highly recommend this place for experience. :)

This is the remains of the bowl of miso soup. Look at the amount of clams they put in the soup, its no wonder its so sweet.

Some fancy tonic thingy, the obasan say its only for men. i am not sure how true. initially we tot its some kind dip. =X

**

Our first destination for today is my favourite place in Japan - Asakusa!

I have no idea why i am so excited about this place, prob because this is the only place i remember from my first trip to japan 12 yrs ago.

Subway to Asakusabashi & change to Asakusa line.

Directions for train changing

Asakusa rox!

Exit the station at A5 exit & 5 mins walk we arrived at the destination!

A must-take picture when we are there. The Japanese are very helpful when it comes to taking picture for us tourist. thumbs up!

The shopping street leading to Sensoji, the place i have been thinking about. I remembered there were loads of local snacks and it didnt disappoint :)

Our first snack - Red bean mochi w peanut powder. ~150Yen. Q and not too sweet. very yums.

oops.

My favourite Senbai aka roasted rice crackers! You know the wang wang crackers? These are the fresh ones. Gotta buy one of those when u are there. Theres a few shops there, pricing may differ, so better to compare first.

I bought one pc individually pack at 80Yen.

Handmade ones are slightly more expensive. 100Yen per piece.

Sakura still can be seen in Tokyo.

smthing tt caught my eye

Got the blueberry cream flavour. Nothing to shout about, just a nice icecream with waffle biscuit. 300Yen.

As we approach Sensoji, we were drawn by this sweet aroma. smell of freshly baked bread. so we followed the smell and found this really neat bakery tuck at the corner of the street, its called 花月堂

And so, i was researching on this place right now, apparently it is a really old traditional bakery that existed way back in the 1940s and the melon bun we had was the 名物， aka their most famous dish.

Tip: In Japan, if you see the 名物 in the signboard, it would means that it will be worth a try. But of cos, there will be lots of replicates of the most famous one around. so, go with your sense of smell and it will never go wrong!

And so back to the melon bun, altho we were quite full from all the snacks, baby is a big fan of melon bread, so we cant possibly miss it.

As we didnt know that the melon bread is the famous amos, we had to struggle between the apple pie (on top) or the melon bread (below). instinct told us to go w the bread. haha. and i m glad we did.

The eating area inside the bakery. Theres Q outside for takeout, inside is surpringly empty.

200 Yen for apple pie. gotta admit it looks great too. definitely gg back for tt.

baby say a good food pic must always be taken against a background of the place. oh there, the website is printed on the package.

Anticipating face.

Its awesome. really. like the inside is warm and fluffy while the outside is crispy and not too sweet. and e aroma of the melon makes it so irresistable!

Main hall of Sensoji. A stone throw away from the bakery.
Decided to draw a omikuji (written fortune) for myself.

Lot 62!
And it says a good fortune for work!

These pple are using the smoke from incense to "cleanse" for better fortune.

You may drink from this spring.

Looks like plastic but its real
Female carrying rickshaw, gotta be kidding.

After sensoji, B and i went seperate ways. i went to get my keychain omiyages while he continue food hunting.

Beef croquette.

supposedly famous.
When i got to eat this, it was already cold. but i remember it was quite tough.

Next destination, Ikebukuro
Got distracted by the sweets market in the train underpass towards Tokyu Hands.

Main street of Ikebukuro

People giving away free tissue packs.
For hello kitty fans

Not hard to locate the place.

Giant Takopachi stall. We passed for the last day at Harajuku which B said is nice.
Went to visit this cat's playland located at the top level of Tokyu Hands - Nekobukuro Cat's Playhouse

Basically, its a playhouse whereby you pay a fee of (1000Yen per person, or 1600 Yen for a couple) and u can play w all the cats in there.

All i can say is, the cats are all quite 'old' and unlike kittens they are not curious when u take toys to play w them. so basically they just keep hiding and refused to let us carry them :((( So its actually quite a waste of time.

After a disappointing one hour at the playhouse, i find myself being a bit giddy, tot i got tired from chasing all the cats then B reminded me tt we didnt have a proper lunch tt day~

Sweet him decided to buy me a terriyaki chicken burger at BK! haha.
Its quite yumz :) but tasted especially good when i m feeling hungry.

Then we headed to Namja town in Sunshine Plaza! Theres a link from Tokyu hands tt leads to SP.

Namco Namja Town is an indoor theme park that consists of theme dining, haunted house & other adventures.

Think we paid 2,500Yen each for the night passport since we went in after 5 PM. Usual price for adult is 3,900 Yen. This will cover all the attractions and rides within the theme park.

Gyoza street. You can find all kind of gyozas in here.
This is from the stall thats supposed to be No. 1! but nothing fantastic.

We ordered the meitaiko one (u cant go wrong w mentaiko) and it was yummy!

Would you eat those buns?

Can 4 pax really finish those?
Thirsty? Some old school ice sticks for u? :)

Bumped into one of the mascots on our way up to the ice cream museum! And they have really funky flavours..

from all these exotic flavours, we chose the Wasabi flavour & its nice! i m amazed. haha

We had a lot of fun at Namja town! But cos we went late, everything seem a bit rush =/

Dinner after Namja town was at this place where we tried looking for it the day before at shinjuku station, we heard theres alot of outlet, but we just couldnt find it.

His fav C&C curry (Shinjuku)
How nice can curry be right? i tot to myself. and i was so so wrong. this was rated as one of my most fav dish during e trip.

The pickles are yummy! i nv eat anything of those in sg. taste so diff The katsu is so crispy but not oily. curry is flavourful! YUM! 590 Yen

initally he will have this tot that two of us shouldnt share a meal, cos u know like everywhere is so crowded? But there are just too many things to eat, and if i were to eat a portion by myself, i prob will stuff myself to death.

so there are a few times, i suggested sharing, and i realise the waiters wouldnt give you a weird look, in fact, when they see that we only ordered one, he/she will pass us another set of utensils. so nice rite. i bet u cant do it in sg.

A leisure stroll to Kabukicho & Don quijote before heading back to hotel.
this drugstore sells really cheap SKII.
More on this Gindaco on the next entry. :)