Wednesday, November 15, 2017; Heading Home to Seattle

Wednesday, November 15, 2017; Headed home to Seattle

We managed to get in some last minute tourism after breakfast and checking out of the hotel, but leaving our luggage in the cloakroom.  We took a train to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Towers in Shibuya, and got to take advantage of the 45th floor free observatory.  The elevators make the trip in just 45 seconds.  There was enough haze in the air to obscure Mt Fuji, although we could see some of the foothills. We could also see the Tokyo Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower from there, as well as Roppongi Hills, where we had been last night.  At the base of the towers was a park where preschoolers were being run around.  There must be a daycare in the towers, because we saw the toddlers and preschoolers loaded up into carts, which were then pushed into the park, and unloaded of colorful contents in the play areas.  It was just too cute.

Our next stop was the Hachiko monument in Shinjuku, which is also supposedly one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world.  There was a line in front of the Hachiko statue- people from all over the world just had to have their picture taken with Hachiko.  We made our way through the pedestrian scramble and observed it from an overlooking Starbucks, and also toured the Tokyo Market below the intersection.  We had lunch in a small shop just outside the Shimbashi Station, within walking distance to our hotel.  You had to use the vending machine to place your order, and then wind your way through the tiny shop to pick up your order, find a spot to sit, and eat your lunch, elbow to elbow with Japanese “salarymen” in their suits.  

We took a minivan shared airport transfer to Narita from the hotel.  The weather had improved, making this a nice scenic ride back across the Rainbow bridge and out of Tokyo to Narita.  The minivan driver was extremely attentive, and even retrieved a baggage trolley for our luggage to get unloaded onto.  We breezed through luggage check in and security.  

The flight home was uneventful except for one incident. Janet has her Princess Cruises Captain’s circle pins (Gold, Ruby and our newly awarded Platinum pins) mounted on the back of her backpack. As she was pushing this under the airline seat in front of her, the Gold pin got snagged on the edge of the seat and popped off.  We did an extensive search using our iPhone cameras to find it, but it had vanished into thin air.  Janet was hoping that Princess would give her a replacement pin, when after arriving in Seattle, walking from the bathroom to our shuttle pick up area, she noticed a clicking on the floor as she walked.  We looked under her shoe, and sure enough, the gold pin had stuck to the underside of the heel of her shoe.  Boy, it’s a good thing she had her shoes on when she stepped on it. This concluded our Japanese vacation. 

We would like to return and do a cruise around the actual islands of Japan with our kids and maybe see Osaka and Kyoto next time.  The partial credit we were issued by Princess will most likely go towards another trip on the Diamond or Sapphire Princess.  While it was disappointing to have missed half of our ports of call due to typhoons, we did have an enjoyable time on the Diamond Princess and racked up a pretty impressive record of trivial wins.  Princess has several interesting itineraries around Japan including the main island, outlying islands, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and even Russia, so the hard thing will be picking our next itinerary.

We had a great trip. Despite our worries about the language barrier and getting around, having Google Maps on one of our phones using AT&T’s international day pass ended up being a cost effective solution to having data during our trip without hassling with SIM cards or Wifi Hotspot rentals. Tokyo has an amazing public transit system, and the PASMO contactless payment card made using it relatively anxiety free and easy.  It was also nice that some vending machines, convenience stores and restaurants could accept the PASMO for payment.  While there are still many cash only venues, including the machines that store value on the PASMO cards, We were able to get through our trip with only two ATM stops at 7-Eleven stores to get cash. We tried to get cash at an ATM at a Family Mart, but that ATM insisted on charging a $2.50 ATM access fee, which the 7-Eleven ATM’s did not.  We had no idea 7-Eleven was such an important international banking entitiy.  

While the Rose Hotel in Yokohama was in an awesome location and had a fantastic breakfast, its lack of in room air conditioning would have been a problem if we had visited during the warmer months.  

The Yokohama Bay Hotel was awesome for service and location, although the western items on its breakfast were subpar for an international hotel.  But compared with the Villa Fontaine Hotel Shiodome’s breakfast, the Yokohama Bay Hotel did have a much better selection and variety, and with a superior presentation.  

The Villa Fontaine Hotel Shiodome was in a convenient central location within walking distance of Ginza and Tsukiji districts, but it is more of a business hotel with a dark and impersonal feel, and surprisingly minimal staff services.  Porters showed us our rooms and delivered our bags at both Yokohama hotels, but we had to find our own room and haul our own bags up at the Villa Fontaine Hotel Shiodome.

For someone visiting Yokohama prior to or following a cruise from the Osanbashi Pier, We would recommend the Yokohama Bay Hotel.  While the Villa Fontaine Hotel Shiodome was in a convenient location, and was suitable for our needs (aside from the terrible pillows), there may be better places to stay in Tokyo.