Blog - Page 15 of 37 - Renae Lucas-Hall

Forget Awkward Selfies! Capture Beautiful Memories of Your Time in Tokyo with Nathalie April

Renae Lucas-Hall | 18th December 2017

It took me two years to plan our 2017 trip to Japan in September. I wanted it to be perfect and in the end, we did have a fantastic time but it was over all too soon. I realised before we left for Japan that it was really important for me to take lots of photos and capture my time in Tokyo because we probably wouldn’t be returning to my favourite city for five or six years. The problem is I’m not a confident photographer and my husband Roy would rather not take any photos at all. He likes to completely immerse himself in the experience when we travel so that left us with a conundrum – how could we capture those great memories in Japan and return home with photos we’d be proud to use for work, on social media, or to frame and hang on the wall in our living room?

The answer was quite simple, really! I’ve been a big fan of Nathalie April Photography for a long time and I love the way she uses electric light so I contacted Nathalie in September 2016, a year before our trip, and I was so pleased when Nathalie (pictured below) replied almost straight away and agreed to meet us for a photo shoot in Tokyo.

I have to admit I’m really pleased with all the photos and I was so impressed with Nathalie’s professionalism and easy-going nature which made the whole experience really enjoyable.

I explained to Nathalie my husband Roy only wanted to be in a few photos taken with me as a couple and the rest of the photos would be of me for our home and for my social media pages. I also needed photos for publications that require a high-res photo of me when they publish my Japan-related articles. Nathalie was more than happy to do this and she kept her word when she met us in Shibuya at dusk on 22 September in front of Starbucks with a warm smile and several cameras ready to start shooting.

It was a balmy evening so we all enjoyed a quick iced coffee at Starbucks before Nathalie led us to five different locations in Shibuya where she took reams of photos for the next hour and a half; giving me advice at the same time on how to stand, smile and look comfortable in front of the camera in a way that made me feel totally at ease.

If you’re visiting as a tourist or celebrating a special occasion like an engagement or wedding or if you live in Tokyo and you want some wonderful photos to capture your time in this amazing city you have to get in touch with Nathalie. You can choose one or two locations for the photo shoot and I promise you it’s well worth the time and the investment because you’ll have some incredible photographs to take home with you.

You can see in the photos above how relaxed I felt during the photo shoot in Shibuya. Below are some more stunning photos from Nathalie April’s portfolio for you to enjoy. I think you’ll agree with me, Nathalie is an extremely talented photographer and I can assure you she’s one of the nicest people you’ll meet in Japan.

Gold Salon Tokyo Opens in Omotesando with a 50% off Discount Promotion!

Renae Lucas-Hall | 8th December 2017

If you live in Tokyo it’s more than likely you’ve heard of the English-speaking hair salon Gold Salon Tokyo in Azabu Juban. It’s considered to be one of the best hair salons for Westerners in Japan. All the staff are highly trained, their hairdressing skills are exceptional and the service you’ll receive is fantastic so, if you’ll excuse the pun, Gold Salon Tokyo really is a cut above the rest.

You’ll be pleased to know Gold Salon Tokyo has just opened another salon in Omotesando and if you make a booking at this new salon before 30 December 2017 for more than one single service, your second service will be discounted by 50% (discount applies to the most expensive service).

When I was in Tokyo in September I dropped into Gold Salon Tokyo in Azabu Juban and I had my hair styled by Lana. This sweet young lady was not only really nice, she was also an absolutely fantastic stylist and I was so pleased with the result as you can see in the photo below. Lana speaks both English and Japanese fluently and her blow drying skills are out of this world so I highly recommend this lovely lady.

Appointments for December are filling up quickly and the above promo will only make things busier so if you need to come in before year’s end please call Gold Salon Tokyo in Omotesando as soon as possible on 03-6438-9722 or their Azabu Juban hair salon on 03-6436-0228.

Gold Salon Tokyo in Omotesando has been a pet project for the owner Howard and his team for a long time. It has been the culmination of an 18-month search for the right premises that would meet their criteria for somewhere the clients would find:
: private and relaxing
: conveniently accessed (1 min from exit A2 Omotesando station)
: A part of town that people enjoy visiting.

So, if you’re in the neighbourhood and you’d like to check out the new salon in Omotesando, drop by, say hi and have a coffee or a little hot wine and Christmas fruit cake with the Gold Salon Tokyo team. I can assure you, they’ll welcome you with big, friendly smiles and the warmest hearts.

Shopping in Karuizawa – The Resort Area Loved by the Japanese Imperial Family

Renae Lucas-Hall | 12th November 2017

This year in September, we spent three days/two nights in Karuizawa, a beautiful part of Japan nestled in the mountains north/west of Tokyo, not far from Nagano. If you’re planning to visit Tokyo but you’d like to escape this bustling metropolis for a few days then Karuizawa is well-worth a visit. If you’ve never been to Japan you’d be better off visiting Kyoto, Japan’s cultural epicentre, but I’ve been to Japan seven times so I was looking forward to exploring somewhere different, a place that didn’t have hordes of tourists. In fact, I only saw two other Westerners the whole time we were in Karuizawa! An added bonus is it’s now easier than ever before for tourists to visit Karuizawa thanks to the Tokyo Wide Pass which allows you to travel to and from Karuizawa on the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train for just ¥10,000.<

Karuizawa has always been an upmarket resort area favoured by wealthy Japanese people and foreigners but the Imperial Family also love to take time out and relax in this area. In fact, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko actually met each other on a tennis court in Karuizawa in 1957 so this area will always have a special place in their hearts.

Many famous people have villas in Karuizawa. The Japanese actress Sayuri Yoshinaga and the actor Ken Watanabe have houses in Karuizawa and there’s a rumour Bill Gates had an enormous house built here in 2013 on a 22,000-square metre plot, about half the size of Tokyo Dome, at a cost of eight billion yen. Many years ago, John Lennon and Yoko Ono enjoyed staying regularly at the Mampei Hotel in Karuizawa and famous Japanese writers such as Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata have reportedly stayed at this hotel as well.

There are many scenic areas in Karuizawa such as Kumoba Pond and Shiraito Falls but it’s lovely just to drive through or walk along the tree-lined streets in and around Karuizawa. This picturesque town sits at the foot of Mount Asama, one of the most active volcanos in Japan. There have been regular eruptions for hundreds of years. Below is a photo of Mount Asama erupting many years ago with some Japanese locals looking on.

Karuizawa is a great place in summer to play golf, take long bike rides and shop. In winter, the hot springs are very popular and people come from overseas and from all over Japan to ski at one of the 14 ski resorts near Karuizawa. If you plan to go skiing here take advantage of the “Karuizawa Basecamp Passport”, a multi-mountain pass for 12 resorts in the area.

I visited two shopping areas in Karuizawa: The Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza and the Kyu-Karuizawa Ginza shopping strip.

The Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza is a very fashionable outlet shopping mall with lots of famous high-end brands. It’s located just outside the South Exit of Karuizawa Station. We were staying at the Hotel Cypress Karuizawa which is only a 15-minute walk from this shopping mall so it was a very convenient place for us to shop and my husband and I picked up a few bargains here. Roy bought some loafers from the Timberland store for just over ¥5,000 and I bought a Coach business card holder for about the same price, reduced from ¥17,000! I didn’t take many photos here because there really wasn’t anything unique to photograph.

My favourite place to shop was Kyu-Karuizawa Ginza-dori. I really liked the fact it was such an eclectic shopping experience. As we wandered up and down this quaint street, it was nice to see most of the shops in this area have been unaffected by the modern fads and tacky consumerism you see in areas like Harajuku in Tokyo.

Below are the photos I took of some of the shops along Ginza-dori and a few of the items you could buy inside. Some of the shops are very upmarket and expensive but there were also several boutiques in Kyu-Karuizawa that are more tourist orientated and reasonably priced.

There are several shops, such as Osakaya and ICCHODO in Karuizawa, selling exquisitely crafted and very beautiful handmade wood carvings.

Tsuchiya Shashinten has a huge selection of stunning recent and historical professional photographs of the Karuizawa area, Mount Asama and the Imperial Family that you can buy for just a few hundred yen.

Gallery Miyagi displays and sells beautiful kimonos, kimono accessories and genuine diamond Art Deco jewellery from London.

Chieko Kanda (pictured next to me below) loves to welcome new customers to her shop Gallery Yōji in a side street off Ginza-dori. I was really impressed by the watercolours painted by Chieko and her husband Yōji Kanda and I bought a couple of pictures for just ¥1,000.

Doggy House Karuizawa has a variety of very cute clothing for dogs as well as accessories and toys to keep your four-legged friend warm and entertained for hours on end.

You’ll be in Ghibli heaven at Donguri Kyowakoku – the Ghibli store in Karuizawa. This shop has really high-quality Ghibli-themed items ranging from towels and facecloths to flowerpots, pens and stuffed toys.

Bridal House TUTU Karuizawa, located between Ginza-dori and the Karuizawa New Art Museum, is the perfect place to buy contemporary and traditional kimonos for that special day.

Foundry patisserie/cake shop is the best place to buy an omiyage (souvenir) for your foodie friends with a sweet tooth for gourmet delicacies. The store itself is a sight to behold. It looks very grand from the outside and the inside of the cafe is always beautifully decorated to match the seasons. You just know you’re going to be paying high prices as soon as you walk in but I can assure you, you’re going to be walking out with something very special. Foundry has such a good reputation you can also buy their cakes and other specialty foodstuffs at Mitsukoshi Ginza, Sogo Yokohama and Takashimaya Shinjuku as well as other prestigious department stores in Japan. Foundry is especially well-known for their seasonal fruits, deliciously baked confectionaries, and their Mont Blanc chestnut tarts.

Enjoy the taste of sweet caramels at Karuizawa Caramel Cream & Sweets. You can try before you buy at their enticing taste corner!

At the Honey Shop Karuizawa, you get an actual Giant Sparrow Bee (also known as an Asian Giant Hornet) in a squeeze bottle of honey! This shop also sells Proherb creams and lip balms made with honey, of course!

Atelier Kabiriya is a great little shop to find kawaii, fun, and cheap souvenirs, socks, magnets, novelty snacks, keyrings and pens, Doraemon toys, cheap but pretty umbrellas, Hello Kitty merchandise, soft toys and so much more!

We stopped to have lunch at Boulangerie Asanoya. The outside of the bakery looked really inviting and we were spoilt for choice when we went inside. This bakery is obviously a firm favourite with the locals. There were tables inside but they were all taken so we had to eat our lunch standing up against the counter because this place is so popular, even mid-week at 11 a.m. This bakery has been using European-style baking methods since 1933 and everything inside looks and tastes absolutely delicious. I had a bacon and potato focaccia and an apple pie made from Nagano Mori apples. My husband had a cheese stick and a club sandwich made with rustic bread. The food was so good it was difficult not to order more yummy pastries on our way out.

If you’re visiting Karuizawa and you’d like to find out more about the attractions in the area and skiing in Karuizawa drop in for a drink at Kevin’s Bar and say hello to the owner Kevin Meyerson, an expat who has been living in Karuizawa for many years.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Karuizawa and looking at all the photos. Please feel free to leave a comment if you’ve been to Karuizawa or if you’re thinking of visiting Karuizawa in the future. I look forward to reading your comments and hearing about your experiences.

Where to Stay in Tokyo, Karuizawa and Narita

Renae Lucas-Hall | 18th October 2017

This year we stayed at three hotels in Japan in September: Hotel Villa Fontaine Kudanshita in Tokyo, Hotel Cypress Karuizawa and the Radisson Hotel Narita which is located about 30 minutes from Narita Airport. All three hotels surpassed our expectations so if you’re planning a trip to Tokyo or Karuizawa and you’re not sure where to stay I can highly recommend these hotels.

HOTEL VILLA FONTAINE KUDANSHITA, TOKYO

This hotel has a 4-star rating on TripAdvisor because it has everything you need for a comfortable stay in Tokyo and you couldn’t ask for a better location. The rooms are compact but modern and extremely clean and quiet and the hotel has all the amenities you need for an enjoyable stay.

After checking in to the hotel, we were very pleased to see the room was very nice and exceptionally clean and there were pyjamas in sealed plastic bags on the bed. They were more like night shirts but I thought they were very comfortable and compatible with the temperature of the room. If you use these pyjamas the cleaners will give you a fresh pair every day. There was no wardrobe but there was a rack for you to hang up your clothes and this was absolutely fine for us. The Mikimoto toiletries in the good-sized bathroom were lovely and I was very happy with the Mikimoto shampoo I used to wash my hair every second day. They provide a kettle as well as space to make a cup of tea and there was a fridge in the hallway with plenty of room to store drinks and snacks, or even a carton of milk or juice.

There was a large window in the room which provided a lot of natural light as well as a phone to make external or internal calls and an alarm. You can rent a PC to use in your room for a full day or you can use the PC in the reception free of charge. There’s a laundry service that we used and everything came back very clean and nicely folded but this service was quite expensive so I’d recommend the washing machines and dryers that guests can use on site. I did notice there was no iron in the room when we arrived and I also thought the pillows were too hard but I called reception and they sent up an iron and an ironing board straight away that we could keep for the remainder of our stay. They also gave us memory foam pillows that were so nice to sleep on I’ve decided I’d like a memory foam pillow for Christmas!

The hotel provides a complimentary breakfast every morning and although you could help yourself to eggs, sausages or meatballs, soup, salad and bread, we only had a few small croissants and/or pastries every morning because we wanted to try different restaurants for lunch and dinner when we were in Tokyo, but these bread items were always very fresh and delicious.

The hotel only has 13 floors so it’s perfect if you’re afraid of being in a tall building during an earthquake (although there were no earthquakes during our entire stay in Japan). Another big bonus for this hotel is its location. It’s a 5-minute walk from Jimbōchō station, an area I like because it has lots of second hand bookstores. There are also lots of restaurants and three convenience stores surrounding the hotel and three train lines that stop at Jimbōchō Station – the Subway Hanzomon Line, the Subway Mita Line and the Subway Shinjuku Line, making this hotel convenient for just about anywhere you want to go to in central Tokyo. By the way, don’t forget to avoid the expensive JR Lines as much as possible and buy a 3-day subway pass for just ¥1,500 yen when you’re in Tokyo to save you lots of money on train travel.

HOTEL CYPRESS KARUIZAWA

This was a fantastic hotel and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. The staff were extremely kind and courteous and there were always several staff members standing at the doors next to the reception waiting to greet us whenever we came back to the hotel which was really lovely.

We received a complimentary upgrade to a luxurious and spacious room that was bigger than most Tokyo apartments. The room was so big there was an entrance for you to take off your shoes and then a separate entrance to the bedroom, kitchenette, lounge areas and balcony once you were inside. We stayed in a “relaxation” room so the bathroom had a deep soaking tub, there was a foot and leg massage machine, a kitchenette with a breakfast bar, and two spacious sitting areas as well as a balcony.

This hotel is probably the best hotel in Karuizawa because of its location. Karuizawa train station and the designer outlet stores are just a 10-minute walk away. There’s a convenience store on the way to the hotel when you’re coming from the train station and there’s also a huge Delicia supermarket around the corner from the hotel. It also only takes five minutes by taxi to get from this hotel to the Ginza Street shopping area in Kyu-Karuizawa.

RADISSON HOTEL NARITA

This is a great hotel if you’re jetting off from Narita Airport and you can expect first-class customer service. We were very lucky to be upgraded at this hotel as well and we’d definitely stay here again. The Business Class room they gave us was very comfortable and quiet and the bed was absolutely perfect for a good night’s sleep. We also really liked the lovely extras that came with the room. It was so nice to have an espresso machine, luxury bathrobes, a control panel for the room next to the bed, a lounger to stretch out on with a foot stool, a spacious desk, and an extra-large bathroom with plenty of room for your toiletries.

The staff all spoke excellent English, the concierge was quick to take care of our luggage and roll it on a trolley up to our room, the receptionists and concierge staff were always smiling and very happy to help and we really appreciated the free welcome drink. You could choose from a glass of wine, beer or soft drink.

The breakfast was absolutely amazing. I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels and I would say the breakfast at the Radisson Hotel Narita was the best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had. There was a huge selection that catered for Western, Japanese and Chinese guests. I had the waffles and pancakes with maple syrup and they were very light and fluffy and much nicer than the expensive Hoshino pancakes in Tokyo. I also had a slice of sourdough bread and it was so delicious you could tell it was brought in from a gourmet bakery. My husband had eggs and half a plate of bacon and he loved the bacon so much he went back for another serving to make a bacon sandwich. Overall, their breakfast was really special so if you’re planning to stay at the Radisson Hotel Narita make sure the breakfast is included in your package.

If you’re hungry in the evening but you don’t want to eat dinner in the restaurant there are several convenience stores just a few minutes’ walk away and there’s a fridge in the room for you to keep your snacks cold. There’s also a swimming pool at the hotel if you fancy a dip but we didn’t have time for a swim. When it’s time to go to Narita Airport there’s a free shuttle bus which leaves on a regular basis from the hotel and we were pleased to see it was on time and very comfortable.