Our First Day on Our Japan Deluxe Tour Package

Our first full day in Japan with our tour group took us to a variety of well known historical landmarks. We got to see the oldest Bonsai Tree, the Imperial Palace, and the Asakusa temple . In this video we also recap about our flight on Korean Air. It was comfortable and the food was very good for those of you that like Korean Cuisine. The cost savings of flying on Korean Air versus Japan Airline was well worth it, $400 savings for each of us.

The video diary turned out to be 20 minutes, so I had to break it into 2 parts. This is the first part of the video and continues on the next posting.

All in all, you’ll find that the tour starts off well. We had a GREAT guide who spoke english very well. We later found out that she speaks 3 languages fluently! It makes all the difference when you have a guide that speaks clearly and you don’t have to battle with understanding an accent.

Our hotel stay had an awesome view of the Tokyo Tower. We walked to the Tokyo Tower shops and had dinner there after getting to our hotel in the late afternoon. Typically most groups stay near the Narita airport on their first night then go to a hotel near the tower, but our group was changed to stay near the Tokyo Tower for the first 2 nights which was a lot more convenient that we didn’t have to unpack and repack right away.

When landing at the Narita airport, I was told not to take any video or pictures at all. I guess they also have security concerns like we do in the US.

TIP: Use the restroom if there might be traffic. Japan rush hour can be brutal and took us 2 hours to get to the hotel from the airport due to traffic (normally only takes an hour). The rooms at the Tokyo Prince Hotel were nice, but small. They also gave us a $10 voucher to the hotel convenience store for opting not to have our room straightened during the first night.

Tokyo Prince Hotel breakfast buffet had 2 options for guests. A western style food bar and a japanese food bar (for local guests). Excellent breakfast options that were very tasty.

The first stop at the Imperial Palace is brief and you can only walk on the outside of the palace. Next, driving through the Ginza district was strictly a drive through while heading to Asakusa.

(Continues on the next post)