It’s confirmed, we’re staying in Tokyo for another full day. A few minutes before we actually went out of our lodging in Asakusa, Enaka Central Hostel, we checked our phone for our flight schedule and found that it has been rescheduled. Instead of a midmorning flight, we’re having our flight from Tokyo to Manila via Cebu Pacific at midnight due to the typhoon that just passed Japan. We cannot be more happy with this news!

A JAPANESE FAMILY ENJOYING A VISIT TO MEIJI SHRINE

Quickly gathering our wits, we immediately formulated a plan. After visiting nearby prefectures like Nikko in Tochigi and Hakone in Kanagawa, a quick day tour of Tokyo was indeed in order. We consulted the Klook app for cheap Tokyo tours, but it was way too late to book one then. So, we did what we usually do best, do a Tokyo walk, DIY style.

It was on our last day in Japan when the rains stopped. We woke early, needing to catch our flight back to Manila via Cebu Pacific. With backpacks hoisted, we checked our flight on our mobile phone for the last time before heading out the door and, tadaaah, it was cancelled due to the recent storm and rescheduled for later that evening! You can just imagine our joy with that news; it means we suddenly have an extra full day to explore Tokyo on our own! Hurrah for cancelled flights! C went back to our dorm room, while I checked out the roof deck of our hostel—it was fully dry, at last!

ASAKUSA AT NIGHT

The previous night, we transferred to a second lodging. Coming from Wired Hotel Asakusa, our next accommodation was just a few minutes walk away, ENAKA Asakusa Central Hostel (now, Samurai Hostel Asakusa). We found this via Agoda, and it was the cheapest hostel we could find that’s within striking distance from where we were.

We mostly spent the light of days outside Tokyo. On our first day, we rested, tired from the flight from our unbelievably cheap flight from Manila to Tokyo via Cebu Pacific. But on our second day in the city, we woke early to catch a train to visit Hakone, hoping to have a glimpse of Mount Fuji amidst dreary weather. On the third, we scrambled across Asakusa for a day trip to Nikko. It’s all well and good, but how about Tokyo? Don’t we want to see Tokyo?

Of course, we did. We saw Tokyo after dark.

Without umbrellas, we braved the incessant rains and visited the olden temples of Nikko. It was pouring harder than the previous days and it was incredibly hard to go from one place to the next. The scenery, century-old temples on backdrops of pre-autumn foliage was nothing short of poetic. But taking photographs was out of the question as our lenses quickly filled with droplets the moment we train them on anything. One thing was for sure, we needed umbrellas!

USING THE NIKKO TRAVEL PASS

As with our one day Hakone Free Pass Tour, we booked our Nikko Travel Pass from Klook right after booking our cheap flight from Manila to Tokyo via Cebu Pacific. We got it the same day we booked our previous tour via the easy-to-use app on our phone—easy breezy. The pass can be used for two to four days in Nikko and Kinugawa—including transfers from Tokyo and back—and it is unlimited. As a bonus, you can also utilize it for discounts on selected tourism facilities and souvenirs shops in Nikko, Kinugawa, and even Asakusa!

We were standing on the deck of a pirate ship, cruising across the serene waters of Lake Ashi when it started to drizzle. It’s been raining on and off, but as this particular shower ended, a full rainbow suddenly radiated on the horizon. I was reminded of the tale of going to a rainbow’s end to find a pot of gold.

AUTUMN IN HAKONE

After scoring cheap flights via Cebu Pacific to Tokyo, it was decided that on our second day in Tokyo, we would go straight to Hakone to have a look see of Mount Fuji. It was still raining in the city and the forecast for Hakone, which was two hours away by train, was more of the same. Still, we persisted, hoping against hope that the weather would favor us.

We really didn’t have much of a choice but to stay indoors, it was raining cats and dogs outside Tokyo. It was our first day in Japan and the weather wasn’t really cooperating. Good thing, we actually have something to do indoors a few hours after our arrival. Eat.

TAKING THE TRAIN FROM ASAKUSA

Walking from Wired Hotel Asakusa, then taking the subway from Asakusa to Roppongi Hills—thank you Klook for the very affordable unlimited subway pass—we took shelter at Grand Hyatt Tokyo’s expansive and warm lobby. A few minutes later and we were led to the sixth floor.

Raining, it was always raining. It was almost midnight as we splashed through the wet sidewalks of Asakusa, avoiding puddles and hugging ourselves against the one-digit coldness of the evening. We arrived at Senso-ji Temple, surprised to see the oldest Buddhist temple this side of Tokyo sans the usual throng of picture-takers. It was almost more than four years since I went here alone one rainy morning; it’s still raining now, but this time, I have friends to share the downpour with.

WE BOOKED OUR VARIOUS TRAIN TICKETS VIA KLOOK

Scoring an unbelievably cheap flight to Tokyo via Cebu Pacific, we arrived in Narita Airport all excited and pumped up. We were rarin’ to go but we still have to redeem our Klook vouchers for 4G Simcards (PHP882.00, 3GB good for eight days) we would use to surf the net while in Japan, Tokyo Skyliner train tickets (PHP990.00, one way) which we would use for the ride from the airport to the city, and most importantly our Unlimited Tokyo Subway Pass (starts at PHP382.00 for a one day pass)—this one is heaven sent, traveling around Tokyo is expensive, but with this, it became a lot cheaper. Like really, a whole lot. It was a breeze booking all these prior to our trip, we just fired up our Klook app on our phone, and it was easy as saying arigato gozaimasu.