I’ve been contemplating on whether to write a blog post about my visit to aokigahara (aka suicide forest) when there are already so many blogs and videos about it but I kind of need to pen down my experiences in order to get them out of my head. Even as I type (2 months on), I can still recall the feeling of “deafening silence” and my anxiety level as I walked the simplest 20 minutes walking path (which in all honesty, was far from what most braver people have otherwise done). Well, each and every person’s experience is different and I’m here to share my somewhat scaredy-cat experience.

I kind of knew that such a place called Suicide Forest exists somewhere in Japan near Mt Fuji but my interest in Aokigahara was sparked off after watching this youtube video by Vice Japan. Then, I realised that I actually had a friend who made a visit to the forest alone and said that beyond all the creepiness that you read online, it is a beautiful and mysterious place.

Just to share a bit more about my personality and fear level so you can understand more of my thoughts during my experience. I am not a thrill-seeker – In daily life, if I had a choice, I will not watch horror and ghost movies as I do not like scaring myself. As much as I think that I am adventurous, I have yet to explore any known haunted places before. The scariest thing that I have ever done (as far as my memory takes) was a confidence walk without lights at Matrichie in my younger days. It was part of a camp activity and I didn’t exactly have a choice. The next scariest was my visit to the Haunted House in Universal Studios Hollywood. That place scared the hell out of me with all that creepy sound effects. Would I dare to enter Aokigahara alone or at night with friends? Nope, I don’t think so.

So.. with my somewhat weak fear factor, why will I want to put myself into the situation of entering a forest well-known for suicides? To be honest, I don’t really know but I grew curious about this forest overtime. I started reading blogs about people’s adventure and watching videos of those who made it out alive (duh) and it kind of over-sensationalized my curiosity and there I was.. visiting Aokigahara on a random Sunday afternoon. The next amazing that that happened was that my traveling friend was willing to make the adventure with me. I kind of convinced her that it was gonna be an interesting nature hike. Well, I think she was pretty scared too (wouldn’t have done it without me). To be honest, it is not easy to find a friend who is willing to explore such places with you. After I returned from the trip and shared my experience about the forest, more than half of my friends/colleagues said I was crazy or “there are better things to do in Japan” and that they would not have accompanied me. Oh wells, I was lucky this trip.

Here we go.

By the way, I followed the walking course from here.

We boarded the Retro bus Green Line (30 mins frequency) from Kawaguchiko Station.

Alight at Saiko Bat Cave after a 36 minute bus ride. There’s a huge carpark area and since it was a Sunday, the carpark was half-filled.

I went over to the information counter to ask whether there were tours but the message couldn’t get across to the counter staff. We ended up telling him that we want to visit the forest (didn’t bat an eyelid; maybe I wasn’t alone) and he gave us a map and directed us to walk to the end of the carpark. Right. As we were reaching the end of the carpark, we spotted a group of Japanese with a supposed guide at the entrance. We thought that the group would be joining us in the forest after they were done with the explanation but nope – they didn’t enter the forest (or at least we didn’t hear them).

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I visited Disneysea on a 100% forecast rainy day; thinking that the rainwater would make the Disneysea experience more authentic. yea right. Well, the truth was that we couldn’t change any of the planned itinerary; but on a hindsight, every cloud has a silver lining!

Advantages of a Rainy Day

• The queues are shorter for rides
• The queues are shorter for the cafes/restaurants
• You can take really cool photos with an umbrella (just kidding)

The weather forecast in Japan is scarily accurate. It was predicted to rain from like 5am till 4pm as according to the weather app on my iPhone. And the weird thing was that it was the only rainy day in our entire trip. The day before, the day after and the other days of the week – there was no rain. I guess my visit to disneysea had to be that special. It’s like that there’s this one single huge rain cloud hovering Tokyo on that one day, raining for close to 12 hours.

So.. if the weather forecast was gonna be that terrible, we were hoping that there would be lesser visitors to Disneysea that morning.

Just to describe the rain situation that morning – the rain was light (showers) but it was non-stop with strong winds.

Rain attire (May 2016)

• Timberland Boots + Leggings + Shorts + Shirt + Jacket + Umbrella

Although we bought raincoats the night before, I eventually relied on my umbrella as it was simply too troublesome to wear and take off the raincoats whenever you reach the sheltered locations. Umbrella on the other hand was a lot simpler to open and close. In fact, majority of the Japanese (maybe 70%) preferred used long umbrellas. Even if they had their raincoats on, they still carried an umbrella to shelter their had as the strong winds can force the rainhoods off your head.

You will be surprise – some rides even had a space or slot for you to fit your umbrella with you in your seat!

How to get to Disneysea

It was about an hour journey from our Shinjuku airbnb to Maihama Station (390Y), followed by a 260Y train ticket to Disneysea Station. Alternatively, you can save 260Y and take the free Disney Resort Cruiser (bus) which will bring you to Disneysea too.

There was no queue at the ticketing area when we arrived at 8:40am. I guess it was because of the rain and that we were late for its 8:00am opening.

After buying the tickets, there’s a simple bag check which we got through despite packing food. I guess they are not too strict on bringing outside food and drinks into theme parks.

How to strategize and plan your rides at Disneysea

Alright I did a little map below which showed my itinerary for that day. The one with numbers are the rides/attractions I went while the rest without numbers are things that you should visit if there’s sufficient time.

Another thing to note is that the majority of the rides are actually indoor & sheltered. Apart from Raging Spirits (outdoor roller coaster) and maybe the Venetian Gondolas, I don’t think any of the rides will be canceled due to bad weather.

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I was really thankful to have the chance to attend a Tokyo Dome concert again (in the span 2 years). Having visited the same Dome last year, I was a lot less panicky and excited as I kind of knew what to expect. There were several surprises and disappointments which I will share in the points below and I hope to be as objective as possible (I’ll try). I don’t have much photos of this concert as I know I can depend on the DVDs and fancams so if you’re planning to read this, be prepared that it is gonna be like 90% text.

1.Buying Tickets to Tokyo Dome Concerts

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Since last year, I’ve heard many people talking about the closure shifting of Tsukiji Market. Before I did my research, I thought that the entire Tsukiji was going to close and I was somewhat bidding farewell to Tsukiji during my trip. I was feeling pretty sian as I thought that all my favourite food will be gone (or relocated to a distant place) by next year.

However, I am glad to announce (in case you don’t already know) that only the inner Tsukiji Market (not the outer market) will be affected by the relocation.

The tuna auction, famed Sushi Dai & Sushi Daiwa will be affected by this relocation but my favourite 100Y Tamago shop, the 1000Y seafood bowl & the restaurant were I ate my Omakase Meal will not be affected. As much as I love sushi, spending 4 to 6 hours in a  queue line is too much effort and I guess I’ll have to catch the Tuna auction in Osaka instead.

Anyway, here are my must-eats for Tsukiji Outer Market

100Y Tamago Shop

Rough Address: 〒104-0045 Tōkyō-to, Chūō-ku, Tsukiji, 4 Chome−10−10 築地センタービル, Japan

How to identify it?

• It is a corner shop
• It usually has a super long queue
• There are queue poles at the shop
• It has a yellow banner

There are other tamago (egg) shops within this area but there’s only one with a queue. Haven’t tried the other ones to give a fair comparison but.. just queue for this one. the wait ain’t too long and it is definitely worth it!

 

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Believe it or not – this was my first Omakase Menu that I’ve eaten my whole life.

Usually, I would prefer to choose my own food as I have favourites but this Omakase meal happened by chance. Can’t recall how and why I got to know about this restaurant but it has been “Starred” in my Google Maps.

秀徳 2号店 (Shutoku)

This shop is located in Tsukiji Outer Market and it will not be affected by the move in Nov 2016 which only affects the Tsukiji Inner Market (which contains the infamously 4-hour-long-queue Sushi Dai).

Edomae-style sushi: traditional style preparation (in Edo-period where there was no refrigeration) or something along that line. Tried to read up about it but it is too complicated for me to summarise.

Tabelog link (Japanese)

Official Website (Japanese)

Opening hours: Daily, 11:00 ~ 15:00 & 17:00 ~ 23:00

Lunch prices from 4000Y (There is a 2700Y option in their website but I don’t think it is available)
Dinner prices from 5000Y.

As we ate some snacks (including the delicious 100Y egg) along the way, we were not particularly hungry when we walked past this shop. However, when we walked past, we saw 1 middle-aged Japanese man standing outside the shop. Feeling confused, I knocked and opened the door and asked if they were open. Despite the limited english, I could understand that they were opening at 11am. We decide to join the queue since it was only gonna be a 15-minutes wait. While we were queuing, there were many other passer-bys (mainly tourists) who stopped and hesitated if they want to join the queue.

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