Hello there!
I finally posted part 1 of my trip to Japan! This is my first time using Adobe Premier Pro, so it took me a while to get a hang of it. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out, but I do have a lot of room to improve on using this advanced program. This vlog covers most of my first week in Japan.
Akasaka and Roppongi
Places I visited in these areas:
ANA Intercontinental Tokyo
Biking/Running around the Imperial Palace
Mori Arts Museum in Roppongi Hills
Tokyo Midtown
Harry Potter Café & Store
Aoyama Flower Market Café
**Disclaimer, you will not find a night life guide in Roppongi in this post :(
I spent 1 night and 2 days with my mother in Akasaka and Roppongi, Tokyo. We mainly went to Tokyo for the hotel experience at the ANA Intercontinental Tokyo Hotel’s Club Lounge. They offered afternoon tea, as well as dinner and breakfast with a gorgeous view of the city. The food was amazing here. For afternoon tea, you can expect a 3 tiered plate with delicious snacks, along with the tea of your choice. For dinner, they had a 'cold' tapas buffet and a 'hot' tapas plate. Breakfast was also set up as the same as dinner. They had Western and Japanese style breakfast that you can choose from. All three meals were included in the price of our stay.
The Club Lounge also offers free bike rentals. We biked around the perimeter of the beautiful Imperial Palace (~5 km long). You can find a lot of people running around here as well, which I have done in the past. There are gyms nearby, such as JOGLIS, where you can store your belongings, run, and shower here for a reasonable price.
We also visited the Mori Arts Museum (MAM) located in Roppongi Hills. There are three attractions in the museum itself: the main museum (MAM), Mori Center Arts Gallery and Tokyo City View. Hence, there are three separate tickets you must purchase. We chose to see the main museum (MAM), which cost ¥1800 online. Ticket sales vary by days of the week and online/on-site.
In the evening, we headed to Tokyo Midtown, a shopping mall area. They had a Christmas Illumination show in the park during the Christmas season. It’s free of charge.
The Harry Potter Café and Store are located in Akasaka Biz Tower. However, I was not able to make reservations online for the café even a full month out before I flew to Japan. So if you want to visit, be sure to make those reservations wayyy in advance. Make the reservations here online: https://www.tablecheck.com/ja/shops/harrypotter-tokyo/reserve . There is also a store that has a reservation system. But you must go to the store in person, scan the QR code, and select a time slot for you to enter the store.
Be sure to also visit Aoyama Flower Market Café, which is right across from the HP Store! This is a beautiful café with well decorated floral interior. As you wait for your entry into the HP Store, you can enjoy sipping floral tea and eating a flower parfait.
Mt. Jinmu-ji and Mt. Takatori Hike
Once my boyfriend arrived in Japan, we went on a small hike on Mount Jinmu-ji and Mount Takatori. From what I have read on the internet, they are not necessarily the most popular spots to hike and often glossed over. You can access these trails in the Zushi and Yokosuka areas. I accessed the trail in Zushi. I followed this trail map from Alltrails: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/jinmuji-temple-mount-takatori-4-chome-numama-loop-cc6ef8c .
Along this trail, you will find a quiet temple called Jinmu-ji, rock climbing courses (Mount Takatori side), great views, a small observation tower, and a hidden buddha statue carved into a wall called Takatori Buddha (at least according to Google). This trail map that I followed did not include the buddha… We accidentally made a wrong turn and found it. So follow my path here: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/afternoon-hike-at-jinmuji-temple-mount-takatori-4-chome-numama-loop-4c9d1fb?u=i
These mountains are not tall, ~134m for Jinmu-ji and ~139m for Takatori. I cannot tell you when I hit the summits of these mountains but you will definitely catch great views of the city and the sea. This 3 mile trail ended up becoming closer to 4 miles. A lot of stairs, but plenty of flat points to relax. Moderate level. It can get muddy in the rain so please be cautious. Be sure to pick up some snacks and drinks at the Higashi Zushi station before starting your hike!
With that being said, I hope you find the information above helpful for when you visit Japan and decide to travel in these areas. Enjoy the Vlog! (And subscribe to my channel as well :)
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