Trying Japanese Ekiben Eki Bento at Japanese train stations on Shinkansen food in Japan

Traveling in Japan can get really busy. Tokyo is expensive and your vacation is short, there just isn't much time to explore. When hungry and drained, buy a luxurious yet affordable bento at the Eki (station) and enjoy these delicious and beautiful looking treats while riding the Shinkansen. Definitely a bucket list item - things to do when visiting Japan. These are not exactly substantial and can be a bit sweet. 

Visiting the Imperial Palace and Garden in Tokyo reservation required travel in Tokyo Japan

Did you know that visiting the beautiful Imperial residence or the royal palace and garden in Tokyo Japan requires you to apply and book in advanced? In fact, it may take days to get approved. We recommend booking a tour and let them handle the logistics. In additional to being beautiful, this is centrally located in chiyoda ku (district) in central Tokyo and is the current resident of monarchs of japan.

Stand T upscale bar drink place in Shin Maru Building Travel Eat Drink in Tokyo Marunouchi

This is a fancy upscale bar with outside seating and plenty of champagne in the Shin Maru Building with a Tokyo station view. It's trendy and popular among office workers in Tokyo.

Travel in Tokyo Marunouchi downtown central 6 star business financial center and shopping district

Marunouchi is right outside of Tokyo JR station north exit towards Marunouchi line (sen). It's a modern place of many restaurants shopping centers in high rises such as the Maru Building and Shin Maru Building.

Getting organized with Japanese stationery planner and schedules

Japanese websites use circle triangle and  X to denote availability. Circle means available, X or cross means sold out or unavailable, triangle means limited availability or only a few tickets left. This annotation is a great personal organization and scheduling hack to denote availability on a given day say for an executive. #lifehack

How to find the JR Hitachi-Toshiwa train from Tokyo to Chiba transportation in Japan

When traveling from Tokyo JR station to Chiba i had trouble finding the Hitachi-Tokiwa line for Ueno. Here's the kanji sign on the platform. You can show the staff at the entrance window to ask for directions. Find out which platform it is and you are in luck!

See Mt Fuji on Shinkansen Train sightseeing in Japan

You probably have seen this picture perfect Mt Fuji view or Fujimi on Shinkansen. On a sunny day, this will be visible for 2 short minutes on Hikari train from Hakone to Osaka (on the right) and Osaka to Tokyo (on the left). The mountain is so big that it will take up the entire window view and dwarf all surrounding scenery. It's unmistakable on a sunny day. On your google map you will want to look for Fuji you will soon see it after Shizuoka (Osaka to Tokyo). 

The first picture is what we took on Jan 2 2015.