#FOLLOWCHANWONTO: Showa Kinen Park 国営昭和記念公園, Picnic around Tokyo Tower

03 January 2019

Flower Trip in Japan- [Oita: Part 12] + [Fukuoka: Part 12 , 3 4 , 5] + Tokyo [1] + Summary Post (to-do/ how plan / expenses)

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Hello Sweetie ✨ Happy 2019 and here's the last post to sum up the remaining 3 days I spent in Tokyo during my Oita> Fukuoka> Tokyo trip in May. I'm so glad now we have direct flight from KL to Fukuoka. Which mean you no longer need to wait or take transit flight to Fukuoka prefecture. OMG This is now my happy tears. If in that case, more people can explore places other than Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.

I'm surprise that my blog get featured because this isn't a work trip at all. I went to both Oita & Fukuoka just because I want to explore the other prefecture but who knows now my blog get featured on some of the news during the launch of direct flight from KL to Fukuoka.

So back to the topic, if you read my Oita and Fukuoka post you must be really excited about my last blog post about Tokyo. Why? Because I found some hidden spot that suitable for both friends and family, especially during the golden week period in Japan. To recap, it's actually the spring season after the hot sakura season. I went there for almost two week to create content and explore new / nice places so that I can have something to write on my blog.

On this blog post, I listed what I did and visit during my 3D2N spent in Tokyo before I'm leaving back to KL. Since this is a flower trip, my main visit back to Tokyo is still visiting and exploring something new. The first day we take flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo via Ana. Landed in the early morning, checked in at our Homeaway Homestay, then we take some rest and head over to nearby nearby Tokyo Tower and enjoy our picnic time. Second day we spent the whole day at the largest park in the Tokyo and third day we just rest for few hour then head back to the airport and say bye bye to Japan.

#Throwback At first I thought Nokonoshima Island Park, Fukuoka has the yellow flower field (like the photo above) but end up I realise it's too late to visit there because the whole Nanohana field just being so empty. We checked on the flower calendar, it said until the middle of April only @Nokonoshima Island Park. We are late for that and I'm so sad actually!

But then when we back to Tokyo, we just randomly scroll around through the social media and google around, guess what we found? The same yellow field but in Tokyo. It's also at a park (because most of their spring flowers fields in Japan are located at their super huge park). It's located at Showa Kinen Park 国営昭和記念公園.

 Yellow Nanohana Field @Showa Kinen Park 国営昭和記念公園, Tokyo


Tango no Sekku event @ Tokyo Tower, Tokyo


So yea, if you taking direct flight to Fukuoka it's not a necessary to go back to Tokyo. But if you have a chance or happen to drop by Tokyo + wish to experience something fun other than shopping, then you can pay a visit to this largest park ever in Tokyo and go to see the Tango no Sekku event decoration at Tokyo Tower. 

Will elaborate more on this blog post and telling you what's so special about both of the places I went! So are you ready for this? Let's get started!




- TAKING FLIGHT FROM FUKUOKA TO TOKYO-

By Flight, it takes around 1 hour 30 mins to go from Fukuoka to Tokyo. It's all depend on your budget, if you have more time you can take bullet train Shinkansen or other transportation method. I have only few day left in Tokyo and since I bought the multiple city ticket through Japanese airline I thought why not just take flight because we all have big luggage to carry with and just faster.

Taking flight might be faster but it also means that you need to arrive at the airport few hour earlier, check in, wait for your luggage and so on. Each transportation method might be diff and mostly I make decision based on budget, preference and depending on the time. It's all depending on the person you are traveling with and how you plan your trip.






- CHECK IN OUR HOMEAWAY HOMESTAY IN TOKYO-

Right after our flight landed in Tokyo, we head over to check in our Homeaway stay in Tokyo. If you read my Tokyo Homestay Recommendation (click here) you know I normally stay somewhere nearby Shinjuku/ Harajuku or Ikebukuro. Which is nearby all the place I stated and mentioned on my Tokyo Itinerary. Since this time I'm going to plan my to-visit place out of those Shinjuku and Harajuku area, I decided to explore Roppongi as the place I wish to stay.

It you really take time to do on some research you can find really good deal through Homeaway website or app. I wrote quite a number of blog post about their homestay before. If you are interested on it can just google 'chanwon.com homeaway' if you are interested on the Tokyo Homestay Recommendation (just click here).

Roppongi is quite a luxury place in Tokyo. There are lots of night life there and some good fine dining restaurant around here. It gives me a feeling of LUX around Roppongi. It reminds me of Gangnam in Korea as well. It's also nearby Tokyo Tower, I quite enjoy my time in Roppongi hehe!

Our homestay nearby a market as well. So the remaining day in Tokyo, we decided to cook with all the things / food we bought from the market. Travel level up 100% HAHAHAAHHA 

Once we enter our entrance, we spot a modern interior in our house. With an open kitchen, dining table with TV, Two beds, working table, dry and wet toilet, another sofa bed, washing machine, fridge, oven and so on.


 Our girl's bed! HAHAHA

Another bed here

Open kitchen

 Dry and wet toilet

Washing machine


Every corner is so photo worthy!

I prefer open space house so that at night we can do our discussion together. Also, it's more fun and as I mentioned earlier, just all about our bonding time. When traveling with my dad & bro two months ago to Osaka, I stay at their homestay as well. When we visit to Taiwan, I stay at their beautiful homeaway homestay too. I'm so glad that I have been sticking with them for years. I really like each home I stay.

 At night, we spent time shopping at the nearby grocery / market. So here's our dinner!

 豐富的晚餐!

Some photo taken while I'm working with the laptop lol

麻雀雖小,五臟俱全!It's all that I can conclude on our Tokyo stay!


Right after we checked in our homestay, I decided to get a hot bath before we go to explore the neighbourhood. We took few hours rest in our homestay, just lying on our bed and do nothing. Next, we go to the nearer convenience store to get our favourite snacks and decided to picnic with the Tokyo Tower. If you follow my instagram, you probably know I actually come here once and picnic at night. It was really funny because we thought of visit in the afternoon but who knows 5pm in winter season, the sky already turn sooooo dark lol.

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| #Picnic with perfect viewing point - Tokyo Tower 

So once again, we came here but this time without Smelly :p 


No joke, it's quite hot HAHAHAHAAHHA But still bearable! At least spring in Japan is better than Summer lol. It's why I never picnic in Malaysia. It's so hot lol

When I'm lack of sleep, I will laugh like a crazy women lol Actually I laugh so hard because I thought we can sit on my canmake picnic mat but when I'm using it for the first time, I realise people just put their food on the map and sit on the grass. So the first thing I open the map, I just anyhow just sit on it and I look at the snacks I bought like 😳 

Then Limzy sit next to me be like 😳 

Next, I just laugh and move my butt back and sit on the grass! I saw one Korean couple who picnic beside us also sit on the grass and place only the food on the picnic map lol. Then I was like ' Oh yes, maybe I shouldn't sit on the picnic mat' 

Few seconds later, I laughed so hard because how silly I am lol The grass in Japan really clean and soft. Last time I got phobia sitting on the grass because I'm afraid of ant and all sort of dirt but who cares, I sit on it anyway lol.

My Canmake Picnic Mat, it's sooooo cute!

After we finished our snacks and clean up everything, we decided to take some photo around the park. 

Outer from @Monki | Top from @Bershka | Skirt from @Shoploooh | 3 ways bag from @Fossil


Perfect viewing spot!


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| #Tango no Sekku @ Tokyo Tower 

So right after that, we went to Tokyo Tower. Can you believe I'm here in Japan for so many times but it's really my first time visit to Tokyo Tower. Funfact is I dont really like crowded or too tourist spot. That's why I never come here except I search on google and knowing there is a traditional event held in Japan and there is a special decoration all around Tokyo Tower.

I check on the instagram check-in location and I was like WOW!! We must go! So you must be wondering what is Tango no Sekku event~

「Tango no Sekku」is a traditional event held every year on May 5 to celebrate the healthy growth of boys. Also known as Japan’s Children’s Day 🎏 

I knew this traditional event from 蠟筆小新 (Crayon Shin-Chan) lol. There is a variety of decorations for Tango no Sekku. Like the one we went here is located at Tokyo tower! The Koi-nobori (koi banners) is probably the most famous outdoor decoration and is based on koi (carp) which, in Chinese legend, is said to turn into a dragon and ascend into the heavens. 



Koi are considered not only to be full of life, but also to be brave because they do not move when placed on a cutting board. As such, they were chosen as an apt symbol to wish for a boy's success in life. There are many koi-nobori swimming in the sky in people's gardens and tourist spots in May. 


So fun to experience diff things and get to know more about Japan’s culture this time! 





Everyone was finding their perfect photo spot! HAHAHAA I found mine after waited for 15 mins lol. Just a quick one and we decided to walk around and see what else available nearby.

There is also some corner decorated for the purpose of taking photo. But I'm too tired for that lol.


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| #Showa Kinen Park 国営昭和記念公園 

The next morning, we didn't wakeup super early because we just wanna to chill and take our lunch first. Then, we decided to visit the Showa Kinen Park for the first time! Showa Kinen Park is actually a national government park in Tokyo. Can you believe it's actually 1,653,000 square meters and known as the largest park in the Tokyo area.

For adult, it's 450 yen per entry and you can check on the official's site for more info: http://www.showakinen-koen.jp/guide-english/schedule-english/

Personally I think it's quite cheap for the entrance fees. It's around RM16 only. Then you can check on their flower calendar to see what kind of flower it's available every month. Just like the park that I visit in Fukuoka, this is huge, can rent the bike and cycling around the bike trails and few cafes located inside the park.



Just key in the destination on google map app, it will show you the shortest and best subway route for you. From our place, we take ChuoLine!

There is a museum located beside the park, you can buy the entrance ticket as well. Since we are mainly here for the park and just chilling around, we decided just to get the entrance ticker for the park only. The park is huge, so the first thing I did is just get the map and run over to the yellow Nanohana field lol.

Spot this after we pass by the entrance gate!


Missing my short hair! HAHAAHAH


Exploring the park
 Cafe & restaurant! Photo taken by my phone lol


Not really hot that day! So we continue look at the map and search for our yellow flowers! AHHAAHAHA 

Then we saw lots of people picnic around here and couples playing ball lol. Just throwing the ball to each other. I guess this is the place that suitable for dating and family gathering lol. It's so cute lol

Just right beside the park, I saw a huge yellow field!! YES HERE YOU GO!! The yellow NANOHANA! It's also known as Canola Flower.

 Canola Flower aka 'Nanohana' 

So beautiful! 

Now, you can take all my photo as your future reference on [HOW TO POSE WITH FLOWER] haahahha! I almost crying when I saw this. The best part is...still. not crowded at all and no photo bomb! I'm so happy because it was after 1pm when we arrived at the park but the weather is wonderful. If you visit to the one located at Nokonoshima Island Park, it's quite diff because the one in Fukuoka is facing the Sea. So it's with the blue sky view but this one also look soooo pretty! At least my dream came true!

- CHANWON X NANOHANA -

 so pretty can die T.T

Happy Chanwon running around the yellow field!

 Spot me!

 Are you ready?! Let's photo do the talking. 





HAHAHAHA OMG Why I look so pretty here :p jkjk*





 Feel~

 One second later 🤪

Dancing~







Okay I guess you are enough with the Canola flowers photo! HAHAHAHA I really really love all the photo taken in the park. There is sunflower field too but it's not during end of April - May. It's around summer season. You can always google and read it yourself.



- BOAT EXPERIENCE -

Next, we decided to continue our super chill day by going on the boat. We paid and get the ticket at the counter. No joke, the lake is quite big and I think if I come here with my girl's friend we are not going to take this lol. So tired! Luckily we have one man here during this trip :p 

We put all our belongings in the locker. No worries, it's so safe in Japan and the thing I love about Japan is I always feel so secure and safe. I don't know how to describe this but thinking back to my previous Italy trip, I won't even dare to put my belongings in the locker and I feel so insecure if my bag just place beside me, I must be holding it tight and make sure its safe.



Since we brought only our phone, here's the 3 x photo I took during our experience. Other than that we just enjoy our chill time and the rest of the day we just back to our homestay, packing for our luggage and prepare for our flight on the next day. I didn't really pack my luggage on the last day because I always pack it everyday lol. So yes, that's all about my two highlights in Tokyo during my Flower trip few months back!

This series of #FollowChanwonTo is come to an end but I will summarise everything including the expenses, itinerary plan and everything on the summary post next to basically sum up everything! I hope all these travel journey can brighten your day. Through my blog, I'm going to tag you along, to see, to feel everything that I experience. Thank you for your reading!

That's all for today. Love, xoxo.


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