LATE spring, which would be from March to May, is generally the best time to visit Japan (especially for the April cherry blossoms) but I decided to visit the Japanese capital with my family in late autumn, the next best time to visit, when there is little rainfall, the skies are clear and temperatures are mild. Our early-morning Cebu Pacific flight brought us to Narita International Airport just before lunchtime and, from there, an airport limousine bus brought us to Akasaka Centurion Hotel by late afternoon.
It was too late in the day to visit any shrine or museum, but we still made time to visit the iconic Shibuya Crossing, the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Here, five roads meet in one of the busiest parts of the most populous city in the world. For first-time visitors to Japan like ourselves, it’s an excellent place for travelers who want an introduction to Tokyo’s more energetic side. Between the train station and the intersection is the bronze memorial statue of the loyal dog Hachiko, held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity.
The second day brought us, via a series of Metro train rides (made easier by a 24-hour Tokyo Subway ticket), to Tokyo DisneySea, the fifth most-visited theme park in the world. Living up to its name, it had an overall nautical exploration theme with seven themed areas or “ports of call”: Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast and Mysterious Island.
The third day really brought us outside Tokyo as we pre-booked, online, a Mount Fuji-Hakone bus tour. The trip to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station, 2,300 meters up the 3,776-meters high Mount Fuji, took more than four hours as we got to experience Tokyo’s legendary traffic along the way. The best developed and easiest to access by public transportation from Tokyo, this 5th Station is a popular sightseeing spot, with parking lots, rest areas, souvenir shops, coin lockers and a few restaurants and shops.
After a late Japanese lunch at Gotemba, we again boarded our bus for the short 30-minute drive to the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture where we caught the last 4:30 pm ferry tour of Lake Ashinoko at Hakonemachi-ko Harbor, the sightseeing boat pier at the lake’s southern shores, where we all boarded the Victory, one of three ships inspired by the design of sailing warships.
Also referred to as Hakone Lake, or Lake Ashi, this crater lake, 720-meters above sea level, lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Mount Hakone. The scenic boat cruise from one end of the lake to the other takes roughly 30 minutes.
Our last two days in Tokyo were more leisurely. Any tour of Tokyo is never complete without visiting it numerous shrines and temples and, on our fourth day, we first visited the San’en-zan Zojo-ji, a Jodo-shu Buddhist temple built around the 65-hectare Shiba Park, Japan’s oldest public park, with the Tokyo Tower beside it. After photo-ops at the Kabukiza Theater, the fashionable Ginza District and East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, we visited the Meiji Shrine, the largest and one of Japan’s most popular Shinto shrines, while passing through the densely forested Yoyogi Park.
Come evening, we visited the Shinjuku District and toured the Samurai Museum which exhibits more than 70 examples of samurai armor, samurai helmet (kabuto) and weapons gathered from Japanese and foreign collections. The piece de resistance of the tour was trying our hands in Samurai cosplay. Women can have their pictures taken wearing a kimono while the men wore a kabuto and a battle coat (jinbaori) while wielding a sword.
On our fifth and last day, we visited Senso-ji Kannon Temple, an ancient Buddhist temple dedicated to Kannon Bosatsu whose entrance is dominated by the vermilion Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”). Here, an atmosphere of the Tokyo of past decades is said to survive. Beside it is the Asakusa Shrine, one of the most famous Shinto shrines in the city. Just outside is Nakamise-dori, the best place in Tokyo to buy souvenirs which range from outrageously cheesy items to authentic and useful. We capped our visit with lunch at a Japanese restaurant, seated in a traditional Japanese setting—no shoes and on low tables with mats.