Not-so-known Japan: Tobu World Square

Replica of Tokyo Sky Tree
at Tobu World Square

More than two years in Japan and I thought I pretty much know all the tourist spots from Nikko down to Himeji. Of course, I know some stuff about Hokkaido and Kyushu and Okinawa, but those are rather far away from where I am, I'd rather just spend on a trip home to family. Anyways, I said I thought I knew all tourist spots from Nikko down to Himeji, but this is something new I discovered just recently. And this one is in Nikko. So if you're coming to visit Japan, and more particularly have some time to spend in Nikko other than the UNESCO World Heritage Site there and Edo Wonderland, you might want to consider this:

Tobu World Square.

If you're from the Philippines and old enough, you've probably been to the Nayong Pilipino Park near Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, where they recreated almost all of the Philippines' natural wonders. If Nayong Pilipino was to the Philippines, Tobu World Square is to the world. Almost.

There are 1/25 scale replicas of different wonders from around the world, old and new, like Ankor Wat, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Parthenon, the Statue of Liberty, the Tokyo Tower, the Eiffel Tower, the White House, even the (old) World Trade Center's twin towers, La Sagrada Familia, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and much more.

The full list of replicas is here: http://adf.ly/8V4fc

Check out the photos in this interactive webpage: http://adf.ly/8V4Zs

The home page in English is here: http://adf.ly/8V4UK

Admission is only JPY 2,500 for junior high school students (12-year-olds?) and older, JPY 1,200 for ages 4 to 12. There are discounts for groups and persons with disabilities.

Odawara-Hakone-Gotemba-Fuji

I had a couple of friends visit over from Singapore and the original plan was to visit Hakone to get a good view of Mt. Fuji. We bought the Hakone Free Pass so that we can go around the Hakone area freely.

We first made a pitstop though at the Odawara Castle. And then we went on the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise on Lake Ashi (also known as Hakone Lake), the Hakone Ropeway (i.e. cable car / cable-suspended gondolas similar to the one connecting mainland Singapore and Sentosa), and Hakone Tozan Cable Car (i.e. train being pulled by cables, like San Francisco's cable cars or the Peak Tram going to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong).

Finally, we went out of our way to the Gotemba Premium Outlets in Gotemba, only to find the best views of Fuji-san for this day trip. From Gotemba Premium Outlets, it took us 3.5 hours to get home inclusive of all the waiting for the infrequent night time trains. Had I known earlier, we could've gotten home an hour and a half earlier if only we had spent around 500 yen more each and used a different route. But anyway, we had a blast.