When Green Day (American punk band) announced their Japanese tour dates Jane and I looked at each other and knew we were thinking the same thing. We must see God’s Favourite Band in Japan! We visited Japan in 2018 and loved it so much we’d always said we’ll go back. What better excuse to visit this weird and wonderful land again 7 years later?
Green Day were only performing four concerts in Japan. Two shows in Yokohama, one in Nagoya and one in Osaka. We quickly scanned airfares and saw Singapore airlines had quite reasonable fares to Tokyo (around $800 return). I managed to secure tickets to Green Day’s Osaka concert and we booked the Travel to Tokyo, knowing that we can easily travel by train to Osaka.
We had been to Osaka on the last trip, but only as a day excursion from Kyoto.
Soon after, Green Day announced their Australian tour dates. We were dismayed to see they omitted Perth from the tour. Jane and I looked at each other and said do we dare see them again in Syndey? Yes, we shall. We bought tickets for the Engie Stadium show and booked flights to Sydney immediately arriving home from Japan. I know what you’re thinking – madness. But as an aging band, it might be the last time Green Day embarks on a world tour.
Our fight on Singapore Airlines, via Singapore left at 1am and arrived Singapore 6.20am. We tried to get some sleep on the plane. The flight to Narita (Tokyo) left Singapore 9.20am and arrives 5.00pm. There’s one hour difference between Perth and Japan. Quite a long journey.
Narita airport is quite a way from Tokyo City and the best and fastest way to get into town is riding the Narita Express (NEx) train. This arrives at Tokyo Station which is perfect for our hotel. The Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi.
Tokyo Station is massive, and it took ages to find the right exit for the hotel. We eventually found the Nihonbashi Exit and the hotel was right outside. It took a little while to learn the reception was on the 27th floor of the Sapia Building. Our room was on the 28th floor affording spectacular views east over the Shinkansen rail lines.
The room was small, but that’s expected of Japanese hotels. It was very clean (again expected) and modern. It was a challenge to find a resting spots for out two large suitcases. One the bed lay two sets of pyjamas – so civilised!
As it was only around 8pm, so we ventured outside to find somewhere to eat. It was bitterly cold (around 2 deg C) and we found ourselves back in the train station where there was plenty of eating options and much warmer! We had our first beer and Ramen for the trip. After a long and tiring day we were able to relax – it was good to be back in Japan.
The priority of the next day was to validate our JR Pass. I had bought this online via Klook. Buying the pass before you travel was a strong recommendation from all sources. As the previous night navigating our way around Tokyo Station proved frustrating. Even with the many information maps posted around the station it was still hard to get your bearings. We eventually found the JR Pass office and a nice attendant talked us through the process. She also booked our Shinkansen tickets for Osaka and Hiroshima trips – easy!
We settled in and had lunch at a nearby restaurant still in the station.
We decided that we can’t spend all our trip inside the Tokyo station, so we ventured out to visit some touristy spots. First stop was Harajuku. We walked down Takeshita Street which was much less crowded than when we visited in 2018. We ended up in the usually shaped building which seems to have no name, where Jane was on the hunt for Matcha ice cream. We found it in the food court on the 5th floor. I ordered a black sesame ice cream, and we ate it on the terrace outside in the freezing cold like proper tourists.
We strolled around Harajuku and into the Yoyogi Park until our feet started to hurt. We decided head to Shinjuku for a rest (drink). We had a walking food tour booked, so we thought we’d better find the meeting place, then have a drink somewhere near and rest of feet. There were plenty of bars in the vicinity, but they all opened later in the evening. We settled for a restaurant that was promoting their “happy hour”. We ordered a couple of drinks and noticed the menu says we still had to order at least one food dish. With our food tour coming up we didn’t need full stomachs. We ordered some Sashimi, nonetheless. Jane struck up a conversation (in broken English) with a group of four Japanese gentlemen eating and drinking next to us. Jane was asking them about their food and the next thing they plonked one of their croquettes on Jane’s plate. We clinked our glasses and shouted Kanpai!
The walking food tour kicked off at 5.30 outside a Starbucks close to Shinjuku station. We were promised 13 dishes from four different restaurants in the area. We walked through the famous Izakaya alleyway Omoide Yokocho. This looked great and I was looking forward to sampling something from one of the tiny restaurants. But we emerged out the other side with empty stomachs. We proceeded onwards to four different restaurants with the guide, Shingo explained the dishes and their origins. There were quite a few drinks included too, which I didn’t expect. Sake tasters were the go for the first venue. The last venue was dessert, Taiyaki, which is like a custard filled waffle in the shape of a fish.
The food did all taste great and was plentiful. The other people on the tour were friendly and interesting, including a couple from Uruguay. I would describe the tour as “good”, as the food was nothing new to Jane and I. Shingo was nice and seemed knowledgeable about the food and its origins. I suspect the tour was aimed at first-time Japan tourists with little exposure to Japanese cuisine. I guess Jane and I are blessed with so many good Japanese restaurants in Perth.
Off to Osaka tomorrow!
We checked out early and made our way back into Tokyo Station to find our Shinkansen line and have breakfast. The JR Pass agent recommended a place to buy a bento box for the journey, but we couldn’t find it despite having a station map with her directions. We settled for some snacks from a convenience store. The train left on time (of course) and we were zooming through the Japanese countryside in no time. The JR Pass agent booked us seats on the right side of the train, so we’d have a great view passing Mt Fuji. The mountain really is spectacular.
We arrived at Shin-Osaka station three hours later and made our way to Osaka Station via a short train ride. We were shocked to find that Osaka station was even more complicated than Tokyo station. First there’s two “terminals” one for JR lines and the other for private lines. Our JR Pass allowed us free travel on the JR lines only. Knowing which was which was challenging. Secondly the station has two names – Osaka station and Umeda Station. If you didn’t know that it made it difficult to navigate as Osaka station sometimes didn’t appear on the map.
Getting to our hotel, however, proved easier than first thought. The Rihga Royal Hotel has a free shuttle bus from the station to the hotel. Once we found that, things became a lot easier.
The Rihga Royal is not located in a tourist area and not close to any train stations. I guess that’s the reason they run the shuttle buses. We checked in and found that the hotel is much grander than we expected. The room was very nice – again quite small.
We ventured back out to Osaka station via the shuttle and made our way to Dotonbori area. We’d been there before and knew there was plenty to see and eat and drink.
We woke late and decided to walk around the area around the hotel and find somewhere for breakfast. We found a lovely little restaurant called Yorozuan opposite the Nakanoshima Museum of Art. The staff didn’t speak much English but were very friendly and we somehow ended up with a delicious meal.
We decided to pay a visit to the museum too. There were two exhibitions. We decide on the “Space In-Between: Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann”. Shizoku specialised in painting colourful crosses and Josef, her husband designed advertising posters. Perhaps the other exhibition might have been more interesting.
Back to the Hotel to freshen up and get ready for the big concert. As we’d bought the tickets “internationally” we had to exchange a voucher at the venue – 30 minutes before the gates opened. We decided to get there quite early and scope the place out. Osaka-Jo Hall is right next to Osaka Castle so we could also catch a glimpse of it. We had an early dinner at a restaurant near the hall that specialised in Katsu Curry. The box office opened, and we procured our tickets easing my anxiety. We joined (pushed in) the massive line for merchandise and bought a couple of sweatshirts. We wore them straight away and it was a very cold day.
The concert was fantastic as expected. A Japanese punk bank, “Aburina Town” opened. A trio of girls gave a high energy and fun performance. Lyrics all in Japanese, but very enjoyable. Green Day came on stage at 7.30 on the dot and opened with “The American Dream is Killing Me”. They went on to play all of the Dookie album with a few later hits thrown in. They then went into American Idiot, playing most of the album. They finished at 9.30 on the dot and we couldn’t help thinking that they were strictly confined to that window. The last song was “Good Riddance”. The highlight for me was “Jesus of Suburbia”. There was less chit chat than previous concerts we’ve been to and very little swearing from Billie Joe. It will be interesting to compare this with the Sydney show next week. I suspect it will be longer and much more swearing. We got the train home with Jane constantly singing “… I am one of those melodramatic fools…”.
We had nothing planned for the next day, so we decided to go shopping downtown. It was Sunday and most of Osaka had the same idea. The place was packed. We found some respite in the basement of Daimaru, where we found a little bar. Jane had their Sake taster set and I had a couple of Japanese beers and a Okinawa Gin and tonic. We headed back to Dotonbori and had the famous Takoyaki on the street. That certainly hit the spot on a cold night. On the way home we found a nice-looking pub and topped up with a very amateurish pizza. You can’t win them all.
Tomorrow we’re off to Hiroshima.
JellyfishKing Travel 