Who does not know Japan? Japan is well-known for its industrial products like vehicles, electronics, and many more advanced technology products. Besides the technology, Japan also has many tourist destinations from the ancient to modern one. That’s why Japan become the first place I want to visit.

It was late April 2018 from 22nd to 28th, when I went to Japan for holidays with my husband and my friends. We planned to visit Tokyo and Mt. Fuji during our trip, we googling a lot about the destinations, and changed our itinerary so many times. If you want to go abroad without any travel agency, you should plan your trip about 2 months prior. Trust me, that will be very useful.

For information, Japan has quite a lot international Airport, but usually Narita and Osaka are the main airport destination for tourists because it’s not too far from the attractions. And you don’t have to worry about the transportation in Japan, they have so many public transport like MRT, busses, and local train.

I took the flight from Soekarno Hatta International Airport to Narita International Airport, at that time it was the cheap one. Landed in Narita, you can take the airport train, Keisei Skyliner heading to nearest Metro Line or Local Line in Tokyo.

I suggest you to purchase SUICA card at the train station, it will be very useful if you will go a lot with public transportation. You can use this card in MRT, local bus, the card is very flexible, you just need to top up the card in the station.

Day 1, 23rd April 2018 : Sugamo – Sensō-ji Temple – Sumida River

SUGAMO

Sugamo is part of Toshima, Japan. This was the place where I stayed, in APA Hotel Sugamo. APA Hotel is a new urban style hotel in Japan, they have about 400 branch all over Japan. I recommend this hotel because they have good quality of rooms and facilities, and they also have ‘onsen’ in APA Sugamo. The hotel also located near Sugamo Station, it is only 5 minutes walk from hotel. And you don’t need to worry if you are hungry, because along the street, you will find various types of restaurants, like ramen, western food, McD, or sushi.

Main Lobby APA Hotel Sugamo

SENSŌ-JI TEMPLE

Sensō-ji Temple also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple it is located near Asakusa Station. Once you arrived at Asakusa Station, take the entrance heading to Sensō-ji Temple and you will be guided directly to Sensō-ji Temple complex. The first entrance is named the Kaminarimon or Thunder Gate. Along this alley, you will see shopping street, and most of them are restaurants. There is also another alley next to this gate called the Nakamise Dori Alley, most of those shopping street sell souvenirs, and accessories.

The Kannon Dori Street

For your information, most of the shops and restaurants are closed at 8.00 pm.

Restaurant near Sensō-ji Temple

Sensō-ji Temple is a Buddhist Temple and one of the most popular Temple in Tokyo. The main hall opens at 06.00 am to 05.00 pm, but the temple grounds always open all day. And this place is free to visit.

The Hozomon Gate

Behind the Hozomon Gate is the main hall, consists of the five stories Pagoda.

Five Stories Pagoda captured from outside Main Hall

If you go inside, you will see the hall straight from the gate.

Main Hall captured from Hozomon Gate

When you enter the Hozomon Gate you will see three building, one straight from the gate is the Main Hall, and the two other buildings is in left and right side of the gate. The right building is used for o-mikuji stalls.

O-mikuji are Japanese fortune-telling using paper strips. The fortune can be in various range from the very great to the very bad one.

In order to get the O-mikuji, you must put in 100yen coin as donation inside the hole on the table. Then you can take the metal containers and shake it until one of the sticks pop out. The stick will reveal some letters, the letters represent the drawer you need to open.

And don’t worry about reading this paper, because they also written in English.

As I told you before, the paper strips have different kind of fortune from the bad to the good ones. And if you got the bad fortune, you have to tie up the paper strips in the place they’ve already prepare (like the one I did above). Why? In order to avoid the bad to follow you around, so you must leave all the bad there. But if you got the good fortune, you can bring the paper strips back home.

Unfortunately, this time I’ve got the bad fortune, so I have to tie them up there.

Hozomon Gate captured from Main Hall

This is the shopping street near Sensō-ji Temple, as I said it was at 8.00 pm, most of the shopping street are closed.

Tokyo Skytree from Sensō-ji Alley

And if the weather is clear, you can see the Tokyo Skytree Tower from this alley.

SUMIDA RIVER

Sumida River located near the Sensō-ji Temple, it is only 10 minutes walk from the Temple.

Cross section near Sumida River

Sumida River flows through Tokyo and it is quite a big river, there are some bridges in Sumida River, the nearest bridge to Asakusa Station is the Azuma Bridge.

Azuma Bridge

And that’s it my first day in Tokyo, I hope my stories inspire and useful for you, thanks for reading my blog. And don’t forget to follow me to get updates for the next stories of my trip in Japan. And if you want to know me more, you can follow my IG @riesti.wd

Thanks, and keep loving.. 😊