I hadn’t been to Japan since 2018 (see Japan 2018 retrospective) and I knew alot had changed in the interim.
Rather than get up way too early in the morning and get a taxi to the airport to get on my flight I decided to stay at one of the airport hotels the night before so I could sleep a little longer.
The Novotel Melbourne Airport was a good hotel and you can score some good views of the planes if you get the right room. The restaurant Boccata, shared with the ibis styles hotel next door, while decent was overpriced.
The Qantas flight to Tokyo was uneventful and landed on time, and immigration and customs was fast so I was quickly queueing up for a Keisei Skyliner ticket to drop me in Ueno.
Tokyo
The APA Hotel Ueno Ekimae is about a 7 or 8 minute walk from the Keisei station. The laneways that you take to get there can get very busy in the evening, so be prepared!
The hotel itself uses machines to checkin and checkout, best to ask for assistance if needed.
The room was ok, but lacked natural sunlight as the window had an opaque film on it.
The food in Tokyo is mostly always top notch. The google ratings are a good indication of what to expect.
Ueno JR station was under redevelopment when I was there so it took a couple of false starts to find where to get my JR Pass exchanged, but once I’d found the right office it was fairly quick and painless. Gone are the old passport sized booklets snd now you get what looks like a normal JR ticket that you can use at the automated gates rather than needing to show your physical JR Pass to the station staff, which is a plus, but guard this ticket well as if you lose it there’s no replacements.
The shinkansen ride to Hakodate was a long journey, but true to Japanese train efficiency the train left on time, and arrived right when it was supposed to. The local train that would take me on the final portion of the trip to Hakodate city was waiting at the adjoining platform and took about 20 minutes.
Hakodate
Hakodate has a nice, small town feel to it. Quite flat in the centre of the city but with nice hills not too far away.
The weather during my stay was either a) stiflingly hot, or b) torrentially wet. There was no middle ground.
The waterfront area is very nice with a good selection of restaurants and bars including Hakodate BeerHall and Hakodate Beer.
The food scene around the JR Hakodate station was also quite good with Hokkaido Bar Ashitaya and Yakitori & Choinomi Hakodate Bar being 2 of my favorites. Lucky Pierrot, on the other hand, was very disappointing in my view.
The Premier Hotel – Cabin President was very convenient. Close to the JR station, and just a 1 minute walk from both the wet market and the trams.
Sapporo
The trip from Hakodate to Sapporo was several hours but very picturesque as the train hugged the coastline on its circuitous travels across Hokkaido.
I was staying near the station this time as the Susukino area looked like a better option.
The Mercure Sapporo was a great hotel in an excellent area. Close to a plethora of restaurants, and right next to both the subway and the trams.
The highlight of Sapporo for me was SHO-RIN Susukino. I still reckon that the soup curry that I had here is one of the best five dishes I have ever had. I could eat this dish everyday.
Sendai
The trip from Sapporo to Sendai was around 5 hours or so firstly taking the slower train from Sapporo to Hakodate and then the shinkansen from Hakodate to Sendai.
For this stop I stayed at Hotel Metropolitan Sendai which is attached to the east of the JR Sendai station. This is a very nicely appointed hotel and is more old style with large spaces and corridors which are missing in many newer hotels that look to maximise room numbers.
Sendai station is the hub for transport services where you can grab a train, bus, taxi or uber.
Foodwise my pick was the set menu curry dish I ate at Craft Beer Market Sendai Station. It was a dish of 3 curries with the keema curry one of the best I’ve had.
Tokyo
I was finishing my trip with a couple of days in Tokyo before heading home.
Hotel Resol Ueno is a good hotel is a convenient location if you need to catch trains at either the JR or Keisei Ueno train stations.
Excellent selection of restaurants in the area of which my choice for this last part of my trip was My Curry Shokudo Ueno, cheap, cheerful and delicious Japanese curry.
The Keisei Skyliner got me to Narita on time and my Qantas flight back to Melbourne was uneventful.
Conclusion
I do like Japan and will visit again but going in mid August was a mistake as it was too hot on many of the days, and too wet on the others. I think late September would be a better time.