Ghibli Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

Cost:

Adult - ¥1000

Discounted tickets are available for students, children etc. The way to purchase the ticket is the same as Fujiko F Fuijio Museum aka Doraemon Museum, you have to purchase the ticket from any Lawson Store's Loppi machine. Tickets are not sold directly at the museum. AND, the tickets for Ghibli Museum were really hard to get when I was there, as I think, there was a new exhibition at the museum, thus, it is better for you to get the tickets at least a week earlier in order to get the tickets for your preferred timing and date.

Directions:

From Shinjuku, take the JR Chuo Line to Mitaka station and take the museum's shuttle bus. I actually walked from Kichijoji station. It was a long walk but it was rather enjoyable as I pass through a shopping street and walked through a park. There are also public buses from Kichijoji station to the museum and back, I took bus 吉62-1 from the museum back to the Kichijoji station. The bus fare was a flat rate of ¥200.

Official Website:

http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/

This is the robot from Castle in the Sky. It was located at the roof top, and you have to climb a pretty spiral staircase to go up.

Only children are allowed to enter this little playland. :(

This picture was secretly taken as no photography was allowed in the museum.

In my opinion, the museum looks great but lacks in content. It is recommended to try to watch all the Studio Ghibli's movies before visiting the museum so that you can relate better to the exhibitions.

The admission ticket includes the 'movie ticket' to a 15-minute short film at the museum. The film was my favorite part the visit, it was a 'silent' movie where there was only background music as the characters did not speak.

The content of the museum was entirely in Japanese so we really couldn't understand the words and there wasn't an audio guide, unlike the Doraemon museum. Thus, it was quite disappointing. The museum shop was CROWDED with people so it was really hard to look at all the merchandise on sale, so be prepared for that.

However, I really love the animations produced by Studio Ghibli so it was a must-visit museum for me. So you really want to go, do watch the movies before doing so!

Fujiko F Fuijio Museum aka Doraemon Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

Cost:
Adult ¥1000
-- check out the official website for an extensive price list --
The purchase of the ticket CANNOT be done from the museum, instead, tickets have to be purchased from Lawson Stores' Loppi Machine. You can approach Lawson's staff for help when making purchase. It is important to buy the tickets a few days early as tickets might be sold out. In addition, there are designated timings for admission, so do make sure you have sufficient time to travel to the museum.

Directions:

From Shinjuku, take the Odakyu Odawara Line to Noborito Station and take the shuttle bus from the front of the station. The shuttle bus ticket costs ¥200.

Official Website:
http://fujiko-museum.com/english/welcome/

The museum was great! Just that the location is really far from central Tokyo :( and I've decided to save money by walking to the museum from the Mukogaokayuen Station. The distance was quite far and we kept getting lost, luckily some kind soul led us the right way but eventually we had to jog to the museum. (Because the tickets for admission have specific timing and we have to abide by the designated timing.)

These merchandise were sold in the museum shop, there were lots of kawaii items you would wanna bring home!

The food items are superrrr cute too! I bought the red bean pancake, it tasted fairly good!

So this is our hero, the genius 'inventor' of Doraemon! In this museum, we learned about his life, as both an animator, and a father, his aspirations and his road to success.

Wall painting :)

Haha, you have to keep pulling the lever for Gian to appear!

 It's a really cute museum, isn't it? The 'pocket' is for you to drop your 3D glasses, which are needed to watch the movie.

There is a reading area for you to browse through the collection of Doraemon comics. Trust me, you can spend HOURS there, just that the words are all in Japanese. Haha.

Aw, kachapon!

The visit to the museum was pretty inspiring and entertaining! The admission ticket includes the ticket for a short movie in the museum which was great even though we couldn't understand fully what the characters were talking about. There are two exhibition rooms which display Fujiko's original art pieces and some of his personal items and his work room. There's a themed-cafe which sells nice food albeit being a little overpriced. 

So, it is really a must-go museum for me! It was well constructed and decorated, the staff were all friendly and you could feel their love for the museum from the way they greet you and introduce you to the museum.

Mt. Takao (Tokyo, Japan)

Cost:
Mt. Takao Discount Ticket (Takao-san Waribiki Joshaken)
Discount ticket includes round trip train and cable car/chair lift tickets
Weekend ¥1480
Weekday ¥1320

Directions:
Take Keio Line from Shinjuku, alight at Takaosanguchi station. Exit the station, walk along the shopping trip to the cable car/chair lift station. The cable car has a longer waiting time than the chair lift. I would recommend the chair lift as it is more exciting, haha.

Reference Website:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/location/routes/g_route/golden_tokyo04.html

As seen from the picture, there was no safety belt/bar on the chair lift, thus it is a pretty exciting ride up the mountain, though I think descending would be an even more exciting experience!

So, Mt. Takao or Takao-San is about an hour train ride away from central Tokyo. It is definitely worth a visit if there's ample time to explore around Tokyo. (Especially for us Singaporeans, mountains are a rare sight!)

It was really lucky for us to be in Tokyo in late May - early June because the temperature in the day was between 18-22 degrees celsius, so it felt as if we were hiking in an air-conditioned room, and when the sun light falls upon us, the feeling was just great because it felt warm and there were cool breezes... Oooh…

Anyway, we took the easy way out by taking the chair-lift up to mid-height of the mountain and continued hiking from there. We took the smooth path (hiking track 1) up, the one meant for tourists, and took the more challenging path down (hiking track 4). I have really enjoyed the view from the mountain, and being a tourist-attraction meant that there are clean toilets and sufficient resting points.

The view on the mountain was GREAT! Though we couldn't see the Mt. Fuji which was supposed to be seen from the top of Mt. Takao, the scenery at the top of takao-san was still breathtaking. :) There was an exhibition at the mountain top which was supposed to educate the hikers about plants and conservation projects on Mt. Takao, sadly, everything was in Japanese. Oh, you have to take off your footwear and change into the slippers provided if you want to take a look at the exhibition.

It was tiring but fun, as there were many hikers together with us, and they were all pretty friendly. We went to the observatory site but failed to locate Mt. Fuji so we went to ask a lady which direction is Mt. Fuji at. She said she doesn't know as well and started chatting with us when she found out that we are Singaporeans as she was coming to Singapore the following week! Haha! So we chatted with her for awhile before we descend.

It took us about 4 hours to ascend and descend Mt. Takao but it's not a full hiking trek though. A nice getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city!

There was a Hello Kitty popcorn vending machine at the cable car station (from Mt. Takao), we bought the caramel flavored popcorn and it tasted pretty good! :)

Tokyo DisneySea (Tokyo, Japan)

Ticket Price:
(Adult) 1-Day Passport ¥6,200
(Adult) 2-Day Passport ¥10,700
-- check out the official website for an extensive price list :) --

Directions:
Take JR line to Maihama, from Maihama, transfer to the Disney Resort Railway, take the loop train to DisneySea.

Official Website: http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/en/index.html

This is my all-time favorite themepark so far! I'd really love to re-visit it again if possible. There were many more attractions than USJ, and the place is simply beautiful! However, a downside to it is that being a popular themepark in the bustling city, it is super crowded! And for the popular rides, we had to wait on an average, an hour, for each ride! Luckily when we went, the weather was great, so it wasn't an uncomfortable wait, but our legs were soooo tired.

 Firstly, all the thrilling rides are indeed quite thrilling and we managed to ride on all of them :) Great fun we had! The most terrifying one was supposed to be the 360 deg high speed roller coaster but it was not scary at all, just plain fun! Though the queue was pretty long, we took it twice!

  

In my opinion, the most thrilling one was actually the Tower of Terror which is like the typical drop shot but it's indoor. I don't know why it freaked me out a little though I had been on higher outdoor ones, I guess it's because of the eerie atmosphere it created. Anyway it rises, stops and rises and drops and stops and rises and drops completely. Lol, you get me. Pretty fun, but a little freakish, it was my sis's favorite ride and she wanted to ride it again but we had no time :(

The Journey to the centre of the Earth surprised me as it started out with just high speed turns and shaking but then comes the fast and long descend. I didn't expect it to be so long and I shouted in mid-way lol. It was a nice surprise but too boring in the beginning. Perhaps the slow start was for us to drop our guards. Haha. Nonetheless it was still fun.

Indiana Jones was another ride labelled as 'thrilling' but it was kinda disappointing really. We waited for about an hour for it but the ride gave us little excitement. Oh well.

Other mild rides were fun and enjoyable too, especially toy story mania where we had to put on 3D glasses and play different carnival games (we waited 70 minutes for this!) We didn't have time to go for all the shows, but luckily we managed to catch the Under the Sea musical, it was quite a performance!

I'm so glad we've decided to go DisneySea, as the rides were novel and exciting :) I guess one-day isn't enough if we want to try each and every one of the ride and visit all attractions :( So, perhaps getting a two-day pass is a better option!