After Sapporo we headed to Tokyo. In Tokyo we had booked an apartment in Koto City through Sakura. The price was acceptable by Tokyo standards. The cost was 150 000 yen for one month. The apartment was by the Monzen-nakacho station, there we had access to both Oedo and Tozai lines. The station to Hanzonmon line was also only across the Sumida River. The Etchūjima station for Keiyo line was also only about a 15 minute walk from the apartment, and it was our main reason for selecting this apartment as it was only four stops from Tokyo Disneyland on the Keiyo line! Mjau, oh how we wish they still had annual passes for Tokyo Disneyland! Now we had to settle for one visit per park per season. We had timed our stay in Tokyo so that we would be able to celebrate both the Halloween and Christmas seasons in the parks.
To get the key to our apartment we had to first head over to Sakura head office in Shinjuku. Mjau! So confusing as the station is currently under some construction. On top of that we had to drag our big suitcase. Mjau! We of course ordered our butler to do all the heavy lifting! At the office we had to sign some papers and got a small cake/cookie and a glass of water. The ride from Shinjuku to our apartment went smoothly as it was a direct ride with the Oedo line.
The apartment was not anything to write home about and when we opened the door we were met with two cockroaches in the kitchen sink. Mjau! Get out squatters! This is not Joe's Apartment. We immediately headed to the grocery store nearby and bought some traps for cockroaches. The next morning we made our butler clean the apartment as it was a bit dusty and to give us a peace of mind to get rid of cockroaches and other possible unwanted guests. The apartment was quite small but had everything one would need for a month long stay. Except for a modern Japanese toilet! The apartment was still an upgrade from a hostel but we would rather have stayed at a luxury hotel!
Our butler started to complain that they need new sneakers as they had qlready walked too much and their shoes had started to fall apart. Mjau, we do not see the big issue. Just put some plastic bags over your feet! We first went to Tokyo Skytree mall to see if we could find any affordable shoes. No such luck and it was so much more busy than when we were there in May a couple of years ago. We were happy we cancelled the hostel near Tokyo Skytree we had booked before deciding on staying in an apartment instead. The area we are staying at is much more relaxed and we rarely see other tourists. Since shoe shopping was a bust we decided to walk to Sensō-ji shrine and surrounding areas. Mjau here we were met with the same issue of overcrowding.
To escape the crowd we decided to mostly explore the areas around our apartment. Across the bridge was Tsukishima known for its Monjayaki street. It smelled nice but did not look too appealing so we got a Cinnamon Melon Pan instead. Across the bridge from Tsukishima was the Lalaport shopping center, much nicer than shopping at Ginza or the other overcrowded malls. We did most of our grocery shopping at the Aeon Mall nearby. There we also found affordable shoes from Ashbees for our butler.
We did however still visit the famous tourists spots as well. We saw the Godzilla statues and the 3D cat billboard. We also visited Harajuku but it was so much more crowded than our previous visit.
In Shibuya we had souffle pancakes at a Hawaiian cafe. They had seasonal sweet potato and black sesame ice cream pancakes that were scrumptious.
We also visited Tsukiji market as it was relatively close to our apartment. It was also extremely crowded. We had sushi at Sushizanmai so that we could sit down and relax for a bit. We got the medium fatty tuna, broiled tuna, octopus sashimi and horse mackarel.
One day we took a trip to Shimokitazawa mostly to check out the second hand stores. We did not find anything interesting and the clothes are too expensive for what we are willing to spend on our butler. They need to save money for Disney merchandise for us cuties! We had lunch at Sunday Brunch and tried the delicious Apple Crumble French Toast.
We were able to visit the Disney Parks on the last week of their Halloween celebrations. We first visited Tokyo Disneyland. Mjau! It has been so long since our last visit to a Disney Park. Over a year as we did not get any park tickets to Walt Disney World last Christmas, we only walked around the hotels and tried Holiday snacks. They still had the free 40th Anniversary Priority Passes so we got one for Haunted Mansion and one for Big Thunder Mountain. Mjau it is fun to ride the Haunted Mansion as Jack Skellington has taken over the mansion! Hopefully someone will rescue Santa Claus so we can still get our Christmas Presents. We have been exceptionally good this year so we expect our stockings to be filled to the brim as well as several gifts under our tree!
They have even more small Minnie Ears for plushies than previously. We want them all! Mjau, our butler made us pick only one each! Si got Pirates of the Caribbean Minnie Ears. Matching her Captain Hook costume! Au got Marie ears, as she also is a cute kitten with attitude. Mjau!
As the lines were really long we focused mostly on tasting all the snacks instead and taking in the Christmas cheer! We had the sweet potato Tipo Torta and pumpkin churro. We always find the churros a bit underwhelming at the Disney parks. Mjau they are not as delicious as the ones we had in San Diego. While we were waiting for the electrical parade to start we also had the seasonal black pepper popcorn. From Sweetheart Cafe we got the beef patty puff pastry and pumpkin "cupcake". They were both fun to eat as they were Mickey shaped! Everything tastes more delightful when Mickey shaped! The tastiest treat we had were the Chip n Dale Buns from Toontown! One is chicken and tomato and the other is sweet potato. Perfect, as you get a savoury snack and a sweet dessert at the same time.
The Halloween parade was not as spectacular as the one in Magic Kingdom with the headless horseman and gravedigger dancers. The Electrical Parade was however wonderful as always.
Two days later we went to Tokyo Disney Sea to see how they celebrate Halloween over there. Mjau, the lines were so long we were not able to ride Tower of Terror, the standby line was 120 minutes! We managed to grab a free priority pass for Raging Spirits. Mjau, unfortunately the better Indiana Jones ride was closed. At least Raging Spirits at Tokyo Disney Sea is miles above the one in Disneyland. No risk for scrambled eggs for brains! Mjau, the ride in Paris does not have proper cushioning and the tracks are rough so our butlers usually bang their heads against the seat.
First thing in the morning we rushed over to Fantasy Springs to line up for Rapunzel's Lantern Festival. It was a relaxing and cozy, but short, boat ride. We were lucky to get the front row and an unobstructed view. We escpecially enjoyed the lantern part of the ride, very romantic.
After the ride the lines had started to get well over 60 minutes for all the rides so we decided to start exploring and eating snacks instead and ride more rides when the lines are shorter during the nighttime show. We had Oaken's Yoo-Hoo Bread which was positively scrumptious! It was a warm bun with cardamom with meat and lingonberry filling. Very pleasant for Nordic taste buds! We also had a sweet treat from The Snuggly Duckling. Mjau, we were slightly disaointed by this dessert. We expected something similar to a Finnish Pannukakku. We do not know how to describe this disappointment of a treat. Dough was bland and not crispy nor fluffy... nor dense. The lemon cream was too thick and sweet and too overpowering. It needed more berries or jam.
After having our snacks we walked around Fantasy Springs and took some photos. Mjau we really like this area. The stone sculptures of classic Disney movies are wonderful! Relaxing and it has Wi-Fi so we do not need to walk all the way to the main entrance of the park. Unfortunately only hotel guests may visit the hotel and its restaurants. We could however visit the shop connected to the park. Mjau, there Au tried on some Minnie Ears and Lost Boys hats.
We then walked around the park some more to observe the Halloween decorations. The decorations were mostly by the American Waterfront and Mediterranean Harbour. The best decorated area was Cape Cod.
After walking around taking pictures it was time for more snacks. We got a Gyoza Sausage Bun from one of the carts. We also got a seasonal hot latte with hazelnut liquor from Golonier Snacks. We also got a Tiramisu Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich as it was quite sunny and warm that day. In the evening we got garlic shrimp popcorn and sat by the riverfront and enjoyed the view.
In the evening we managed to ride Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure twice and we also had another go at the Rapunzel ride as the lines were so short. We also rode Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies. There are many fun details along the queue. The ride itself was not anything spectacular. A cozy ride in the evening and the swervy winter area was quite fun. The last ride we went on for the day was Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey. Mjau the line would have been short but there were technical difficulties so we had to stand still inside the castle for almost 20 minutes. The ride itself was fun. However we prefer the one in Hong Kong Disneyland. Of all the Fantasy Springs attractions we think the Peter Pan ride is the best.
Mjau it would be almost two weeks until our next visit to Disneyland for the Christmas season so we decided to explore Tokyo as much as we could. We were hoping to find some holiday themed desserts and drinks in cozy cafes. That turned out to be more difficult than we expected. Several places had strawberry holiday themed lattes. Mjau, strawberries reminds us more of summer. We wanted gingerbread or pumpkin spice lattes! We finally found a hidden cafe in the laundromat next to the まいばすけっと (My Basket) Supermarket close to our apartment. The cafe was called tangled. They had a pumpkin spice latte and a delicious espresso basque cheesecake. We wish the interior would have been nicer, but at least it smelled like fresh laundry and they had Wi-Fi.
We walked around Meiji Jingu Gaien to view the fall foliage. We had lunch at The City Bakery. We had the seasonal buttered rum espresso latte, pumpkin pie and a tuna salad pretzel croissant. Delicious! We then walked to the Tokyo Midtown shopping mall. Mjau, they had a nice garden outside.
We saw on Google Maps that they had a Trader Vic's in Hotel New Otani Tokyo Garden Tower nearby so we decided to head over there in time for Happy Hour. On the way there we stumbeled on a lovely Harry Potter themed area by the Akasaka station. We also visited the Hie-jinja Shrine.
Trader Vic's was empty when we got there so we got a nice table by the window. We started with the Mai Tai Flight as well as pulled pork sliders from the happy hour menu. We got to try the guava, mango and maui (pineapple) mai tais in the mai tai flight. After finishing everything we decided to get one more drink from the happy hour menu. Mjau, it was quite strong so our butler started acting strangely. Mjau! Have some common decency! Thankfully the hotel was right by the Hanzomon Line so we did not have to try and navigate new metro routes with a tipsy butler and no internet. After getting off at the Suitengumae station we quickly went to a McDonalds nearby to get take away food. We then walked across the bridge and had dinner at our apartment. We got the Teriyaki Chicken Burger and a tiramisu "pie" and a chocolate "pie". In Japan McDonald still feels quite cheap. In Finland it is really expensive.
We started missing Disney so we decided to go to Ikspiari and to walk around the hotels to get our dose of Disney. We had lunch at Tick Tock Diner at the Ambassador Hotel. Mjau we got a delicious Mickey shaped mushroom stew and garlic bread and a 3D Mickey head banana bread. Very tiny but tasty. We also hot a seasonal white chocolate matcha drink. The drink was slightly too sweet. After finishing the drink we washed and kept the plastic cup as we liked the holiday print on it. The Christmas decorations in the hotels were not as spectacular as we had hoped for. No large gingerbread houses nor christmas trees.
While exploring our neighbourhood we visited the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine and Yokozuna Sumo Wrestler Memorial. Mjau, on sunny days we walked the Kiba Park or along the Sumida river to take in the fall foliage. It was also very nice to take a walk along the river in the evenings. It was near the Kiba Park that we finally found the holiday cafe we had been searching for. The 3rd Street Cafe had decorations and even Christmas music playing outside so we were immediately drawn to it as we walked past. Inside it was even more cozy and jolly. On the menu we saw that they had a holiday latte. The sweets offered were not as appealing. We decided on the banana cake. Now we wished we would have gotten the chocolate orange muffin instead, mjau. We forgot for a moment that we prefer banana bread over banana cake.
We also found Cacaotail, a chocolate cocktail bar, near our apartment. They played christmas music as well so that was nice. The cocktails were delicious but a bit expensive. We tried the Xocolatl Japon and Columbian Rouge. The Columbian Rouge was scrumptious. The mix of raspberry, coffee and chocolate was perfect. It was like biting into a delicious chocolate confection.
We decided to first visit Tokyo Disney Sea. Mjau the American Waterfront is so festive! We wish the rest of the park, primarily Fantasy Springs, would have been as nicely decorated for the holiday season. This time we decided to ride Tower of Terror first thing in the morning as we knew the lines would get progressively longer. After the ride we saw Aristocats with their holiday ribbons playing so we stayed to watch them. Afterwards it was time for some snacks! We started by getting the seasonal Hot Cocktail (Caffe Latte with Hazelnut Liqueur) from Gondolier Snacks. The one for Halloween was an iced latte. Perfect as it was a bit chilly this time at Disney Sea. We then got some milk chocolate popcorn from Cape Cod that we munched on while we sat by the lighthouse.
We had lunch at the Snuggly Duckling once again. This time we got the fried shrimp burger and caramel cupcake. The burger was just fine but the cupcake was delicious. It had a caramel filling and was moist and the frosting not overwhelmingly sweet. We would definitely have the cupcake again. We really like all the details in Snuggly Duckling. The wall paintings are wonderful too.
We knew that we would not ride any more attractions until the evening when the lines are shorter so we decided to just walk around and take photos by the American Waterfront as it was the most festive area! Even more so as the sun was starting to set and the christmas lights shone brighter! We also got the Hot Red Wine Cocktail. Mjau it was delicious and had actual apple slices in them. So we got some extra snacks! As we had predicted the lines were much shorter in the evening so we got to ride the Peter Pan ride twice and a final ride on Tower of Terror.
When we went to Tokyo Disneyland it was even more crowded. Fortunately we managed to score free priority passes for Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion. We rode Splash Mountain first while the lines were still manageable. By the exit of the Splash Mountain ride we saw Meeko. But no giant bird Flit, to our Butler's disappointment, mjauhihi. We also found an adventure course for plushies and a nice chair with lake view in the caves nearby. So much fun! We rarely get to move our itty bitty paws as we prefer to be carried everywhere. Mjau! The world is a scary place for tiny creatures like us!
We decided to watch the Christmas parade. We managed to squeeze in between two benches. Around 5 minutes before the parade was starting the women on the bench asked if we wanted to sit on the bench as one of them was leaving. Mjau many people eyed the bench when she got up, but it was ours! Santa, Aristocats and Mickey and the usual suspects were there.
As an early lunch we had the foccacia sandwich from Cafe Orleans. It had honey mustard chicken and cajun shrimp filling. Delicious but we would have preferred the bread to have been warm. It was cold mjau! Later we also got a seasonal hot apple ginger cocktail from a stall nearby. It came with pieces of apple and ginger! Mjau, we really enjoyed hanging out in the New Orleans area! The music was wonderful! We really like Louis Armstrongs christmas songs! Mjau! Our butler seems to have forgotten to take photos of the foccacia sandwich or accidentally deleted them again! Useless hideous beast!
As the lines for other attractions were so long we decided to go to the Country Bear Jamboree Christmas show. Mjau, we have never seen the theatre be this crowded before! It is similar to when one New Years Eve it is pouring down in Disneyland Anaheim and people suddenly flocked to the Abraham Lincoln show. Except people were excited to see the christmas Country Bear Jamboree and not just to use it as a raincover or napping place. We ended up going to the show three times, seated at a different spot each time.
In the evening we had dinner at the Tomorrowland Terrace. We got the Baymax burger and seasonal christmas chocolate cake with nuts. Mjau the cake was a disappointment. We could barely taste any nuts in the cake. And the chocolate mousselike texture tasted too artificial. Mjau, the burger however was nice. It had a meat patty (that we could do without) and deliciously moist teriyaki chicken.
We wanted to watch the electrical parade again as it was a holiday version. We got some caramel popcorn and sat near Big Thunder Mountain so we could head over there once the parade finished for our priority pass. There were bits and pieces that were holiday themed in the parade but it was mostly the same electrical parade. Mjau we do not mind as we love the electrical parade! After Big Thunder Mountain we wanted to ride Splash Mountain. To our surprise they had closed that area due to the fireworks and would open it again after the fireworks show. Mjau! We decided to go to Country Bear Jamboree and line up when we were closer to the reopening time. We got in line after the show with other people and had a nice view of the fireworks. Debris from the firework fell all over us though, but no one got blinded. Splash Mountain was our last ride for the day so we just took in the close to empty park and christmas decorations for one last time.
We were planning on visiting Moomin Valley Park in Saitama as well. However as our butler saw that the ticket cost over 4000 yen they convinced us to visit Tove Jansson Akebono Children's Forest Park, which is free, instead. Mjau! What a Scrooge! However we must say we really enjoyed the park. We had a delicious chocolate fondant cake and a chai coffee latte from Cafe Puisto. Mjau, they served the food and drink on a Moomin plate and Moomin mug. The interior was also decorated with posters from Finland. We then walked around the park and took some pictures. They have a fun mushroom house with Moomin details and miniature Moomin bedrooms. It was the perfect size for us siamese! We would have loved to lay down for a nap but our butler pointed out there were signs that we were not allowed to touch the displays. Always raining on our parade! There was also a house with a Tove Jansson exhibit and library upstairs.
We visited Ueno park twice. The first time we went on a whim and could see covered up stalls and a sign that there would be a christmas market in a couple of days, so we knew we had to come back and explore later. Fortunately we found some food stalls by the lake so we got to at least have some takoyaki. During the christmas market we happened to walk past a coffee shop selling Kit Kat hot cocoa so we could not resist going inside for a drink. Good thing we did as the christmas market did not have any special hot cocoa drinks. We got eggnog instead. Warm and tasty but we were disappointed that we did not get any cinnamon sticks as pictured, or at least powdered cinnamon on top.
We also walked around Ginza and the Marunochi Buildings were we saw that they had Disney Christmas Displays. We tried to find them all, but boy was it dufficult! They are in several different buildings on different floors. Finally we found the main one which was a big giant christmas tree and also had a Disney pop up shop. They also played Disney music so we stayed walking around for a bit. Unfortunately we did not find any nice eateries nearby.
On days where we did not want to take the subway anywhere we walked to the nearby Ito Yokado shopping mall as it was properly decked out for Christmas. Decorations, nighttime light displays and christmas music! We also visited La La Port shopping mall several times. Not as nice Christmas decor but there were nice shops and a Sesame Street Cafe!
When it was time for us to leave Tokyo for our next destination, we decided to forego the hassle of dragging a suitcase on the different subways and trains, and took the Narita Limousine Bus instead. The T-CAT station was right across the river from our apartment so we only had to walk across the bridge. It was easy to buy the ticket from the machine and the bus was ready for boarding five minutes after we got there. We got to the airport fairly early so we had breakfast at Starbucks. We finally got the gingerbread latte we had been eyeing earlier during our trip. We had scoot plus so we got to board first and were seated in the business class. So much legroom and we did not have anyone next to us. We had prebooked the teriyaki chicken and got some cookies and a slice of pound cake as dessert.
Mjau! We made the mistake of not writing the blog post similar to a diary so we are not sure we got the correct order of events. We are writing most of this blog post from our apartment in Taipei!
We will conclude this post by showing some of the delicious treats we had in Tokyo. That is, the ones we managed to take pictures of before our gluttonous butler devoured them all!
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