Japan Winter 2019 - Part 1 The Famous Fushimi Inari Shrine

Our Winter 2019 trip was a memorable one for us. It was the very first time we travelled in a large group as a family, complete with Oma, Opa, my sister, and the (now fiancee) boyfriend! I am proud to say we survived!

I bought the ANA tickets for 7 of us far in advance, at the Japan Travel Fair in March 2019. At some point I got a little upset because a few months later Traveloka Epic Sale had the exact same tickets for sale at around 30% less. But well, what had been done was done.

We had a mid-morning flight, so we went to Soekarno-Hatta T3 early and relaxed at the Saphire Lounge who finally gives free access to a lot more variety of credit card holders before we finally boarded the Boeing Dreamliner for our 7-hour flight to Haneda.

Upon arrival at Haneda Airport, we did all the formalities and then I went to get our JR Passes and Pasmo cards. Pasmo cards are very convenient for riding trains and subways as well as for shopping at the small shops. We don't have to worry about pulling money out or keeping a lot of coins. We kept our Pasmo cards inside the hanging pouches we got with our JR passes for easy access.

Our first night stay was actually in Kyoto, so as soon as we got our JR Pass we took the Monorail towards Shinagawa Station where we needed to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto Station. Tokyo wasn't too cold so I was okay with just my normal quarter-sleeve cotton shirt and a backpack.

At Shinagawa Station, we stopped at an Ekiben shop to buy dinner. Eki means Station and Bento is a 'lunch box' not necessarily for lunch. On other words, Ekiben is a bento that you buy at the station, and is usually eaten on the Shinkansen. We used our Pasmos to pay for the bento.

It took 3 hours to get to Kyoto Station on the Shinkansen, and hoooooly macaroni it was cold! I knew Kyoto would be colder than Tokyo but I didn't realize that it would be so different! I quickly opened my suitcase and got my winter jacket out and put it on.

From Kyoto Station, we crossed the street and entered our hotel, the Hokke Club Kyoto. They have Ogawa Coffee on the ground floor and it was perfect for breakfast. We checked in without a glitch and retired for the evening. Sitting all day on the plane was tiring after all...

In the morning, after having some breakfast at Ogawa Coffee, we set up a meeting time and place at Kyoto Station and used our JR passes to get to Inari Station. Of course, when you are in Kyoto you just have to visit Fushimi Inari Shrine, the shrine famous for its line of red torii gates pictured in many travel magazines. I've been there before once with DH and Miss Kiki in 2013, and one more time with Oma and Miss Kiki in 2016.

It was a very busy day at the shrine, there were a lot of school groups as well as tourists. We looked around and got separated fairly quickly, though DH and Kiki did say that they were going ahead to try to reach the top of the hill by following the torii gates. In 2013, Miss Kiki was only 5 years old and they didn't get too far up. This time they were going to give it another try. In the end, they got distracted with other things and still didn't manage to reach the top because they ran out of time. Lol

At around lunch time, we contacted everyone and gathered up. We walked towards the exit where the food stalls were. We bought some grilled meat to share just to carry us over until our actual lunch. As we were walking, I tried looking for the ojii-san that liked Kiki so much he gave her some free tofu and a couple of toys a few years back. Unfortunately we didn't see him. I hope that he is well!

From the shrine we walked to the nearest Keihan Station to go towards Gion area. This ride is not on the JR line so we had to use our Pasmo for this ride. The Shrine hasn't changed much if at all since our previous visits. I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't changed for hundreds of years! We saw some of the gates being worked on when we were there. I'm pretty sure they maintain them properly that it has lasted for so long.