We were thinking of a family trip during the Hari Raya season and after much discussion, we agreed on Tokyo.

Thursday, 11 April 2024

Since it was all of us travelling, we split the group into 2 flights. My brother and sister took the day time flight, and my parents, together with me, took the evening flight.

I paid RM14,188 for 4 economy seats on Japan Airlines (JAL). It was RM4,320 per adult and RM3,240 per child for us. The rest of the amount was taxes.

We arrived early at KLIA and had dinner at Jamie Oliver. The food was good but it was a bit pricey.

There was some nice Hari Raya decorations at KLIA which the kids had fun playing.

Our flight was at 11:15PM and it took roughly 6 hours 30 minutes to arrive. It was my first time flying with JAL and I thought the in-flight service and food was good.

Friday, 12 April 2024

We landed in Narita at around 6:30AM local time. The disembarkation, immigration and customs were relatively smooth. I did the QR code for customs before arrival hence that saved a lot of time.

After we exited customs and entered the arrivals of Narita, I went to pickup the wifi rental. I rented 2 unites via Klook for RM330 per device for 7 days.

After that, we headed to our pre-arranged airport transfer. I booked a 10 seater car for RM785. The journey from the airport to the hotel was around 1 hour 30 minutes.

We arrived at our hotel around 10AM. Mitsui Garden Hotel Shiodome Italia-gai is located near the Little Italy section of Minato Ward (kinda like a district) in Tokyo.

After checking in, we walked out to explore the area. We headed to the nearest train station.

Turns out the train station, Shiodome, was near a small garden with sakura flowers. Imagine our delight at discovering the area.

It was also near the Giant Ghibli Clock at Nittele Tower (headquarters of Nippon Television). It comes into action at certain time slots of the day.

At Shiodome station we tested our old ICOCA from Osaka (last year’s trip) and it still works.

We boarded the train to Borderless Planets. We planned the visit to Borderless with my siblings a few weeks ago as they were keen to see the place.

We arrived just slightly before our booked slot at 3PM. Borderless is a type of immersive digital art.

After the tour at Borderless, we were quite hungry. Just outside the exhibition, there was a vegan ramen stall. All of us ordered a bowl and it turned out to be amazing. Especially given the slight chilly weather, a hot ramen is exactly what we needed.

From Shin-Toyosu Station, all of us took the train and headed to Ginza. For some us, it’s their first time in Tokyo. The experience of riding a Tokyo metro is a novelty.

We took our time to explore the convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and the cool vending machines along the way.

We exited the Ginza Station right in the middle of Ginza itself. We headed to Itomo.

As they entered Itomo, I headed back to the hotel as my parents were ready to go out for dinner. I took the train from Yurakucho Station and exited at Hamamatsucho.

I took my parents for a short visit to Ginza. We couldn’t find a place for dinner as it was full everywhere, so we headed to Shandiz Persian Restaurant near our hotel. The food was good and it was a pleasant walk back to the hotel.

Related posts: Tokyo 2024 part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7