A Taste of Ramen: Fukuoka and Tokyo on SIA and ANA (SIN-FUK-HND-SIN in Y)

[yflyer]

My flight was NH260 Fukuoka to Haneda. Flight time for this sector was usually around 1 hour and 25 minutes.

My flight today was operated by Boeing 777-200 registration JA743A, in Star Wars C-3PO livery.



I was glad to be able to fly on this plane before the ANA Stars Wars Project ends in early January 2026.



Boarding for our 4.15pm departure commenced at 3.55pm.



This was a domestic configured aircraft, with 2-3-2 business class...



...and 10-abreast 3-4-3 economy class (By comparison, SQ, and many other airlines, configure their 777's in 9-abreast 3-3-3).



The headrests were Star Wars themed, and yellow in colour.



The seats were quite narrow, and did not recline much, but as this was a short 1 hour 25 min sector, I thought this was tolerable.



There was a sharp and clear HD widescreen for IFE, with a USB charging port available below the screen.



A/C power was also available.



Blue sinks and grey counter tops in the bathroom...

[yflyer]

I browsed the IFE. There was a comprehensive flight map.



A lot of the movie and TV content was in Japanese, but there were English selections available as well.



There were instructions for connecting to wifi, but on this flight I was not able to connect to wifi despite trying several times.

[yflyer]

We were soon on our way.



Take-off into cloudy skies...



A choice of beverages was offered on this flight, including beef consomme...



The Star Wars theme extended to paper cups and even the aprons that the cabin crew wore during beverage service.



I checked out the flight map views...



I was surprised to see that this aircraft climbed all the way up to FL41 i.e. flight level of 41,000 feet for this short flight.

[yflyer]

On this flight, the map indicated that we would be passing Mount Fuji on the left side of the aircraft as we approached Tokyo.



I was in an aisle seat on the right side. It was pretty cloudy outside, and at this time of year, Mount Fuji would not have its white cap of snow. But I thought I would still try to locate this great landmark out of the window, and try to see what I could see.

Just around when I expected Mt Fuji to come into view, I headed to the bathrooms in the rear of the plane, and peered out the left side door window.



At first there was nothing visible, just lots of cloud cover.

But a few minutes later, peeking out above the clouds was the unmistakeable peak of Mount Fuji.



It was possible to capture much more stunning pictures of Mount Fuji inflight, for example, look at this amazing picture taken by fellow SQTalker SQ218, but I was still glad to sight the mountain on this occasion.

[yflyer]

Cabin ambience on this flight was fine...



It was dusk as we made our final approach into Haneda.



It was nice to be back in Tokyo again, if only for one night.

[yflyer]

My hotel in Tokyo was the Sakura Fleur Aoyama Hotel, located close to Shibuya.


This hotel had a very good location, just 500m from Shibuya station and the famous Shibuya Scramble Walk, with many shops and eateries in the vicinity.


I checked into the hotel late in the evening, after catching the JR train from Haneda. (Pics above from the next morning).



I had picked this hotel solely based on price and location, and had no idea what to expect in terms of rooms or decor. Suffice to say, this was unlike almost every other hotel I had stayed in.



The hotel theme was one that Mrs yflyer and my daughters would have appreciated. It was all wrought iron and dark wood, and floral themes, and lots of cat-related merch and decor.

My room was a single...


If I thought my hotel room in Fukuoka was small, this one was tinier still.


There was just enough space for me to sit in my chair and use the desk.

The hotel internet was fast, which was great , however by the time my late evening Teams video calls had ended, I could feel every curve of the wrought iron seat frame in my back.

This was the bathroom.



I sent pics of the hotel via WhatsApp to Mrs yflyer and the girls.


"Looks cute" wrote Miss yflyer no.2.

"Yes, very cutesy and girly", I replied.

"Embrace it", wrote Miss yflyer no.1.

There was a great selection of cat-themed merch for sale in the lobby.



I slept well that night, probably because I was quite exhausted from the day's activities.

The room was clean, and staff were friendly, and as I mentioned earlier, the location and price were great.

Verdict: Fine for a one night stay. Any longer than that, I would have found challenging...

[yflyer]

The previous evening, after checking into the hotel, I headed out for dinner.

My first stop was to head to the famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing to soak in the vibe there.



As usual, the atmosphere in Shibuya was incredible. What an amazing spot. When you stood there, you felt like you were in the centre of the universe, or at least one of its centres.

I walked around looking for a place for a quick dinner. This place serving duck ramen caught my eye.



The sign said that there was nothing in the soup except carefully chosen duck, green onions and water...



A selection of 3 appetisers to start...



...then the ramen itself, in a clear but deeply flavoured stock, topped with perfectly cooked slices of duck.



This was very tasty. It was worlds apart from Hakata-style ramen in pork broth I had eaten in Fukuoka the day before, but that only showed how vast the world of ramen was. This was a delicious version in its own right, with an admirably pure and clean taste.



A very satisfying bowl of ramen!

[yflyer]

I had a couple of other excellent meals in Tokyo before flying home.

I had lunch at the counter of Sushi No Midori on the 4th floor of Mark City East in Shibuya.



This was a casual and very popular sushi restaurant with very warm and friendly sushi chefs. I ordered one of their signature sushi sets, which came presented on a jawdroppingly pretty platter : generous slices of fish practically overflowing over beautifully textured and seasoned sushi rice.



This was a busy restaurant with a line of chairs outside for guests to wait for their queue number to be called, but the queue for single diners at the counter moved quickly, and I didn't have to wait too long for my sushi treat.

[yflyer]

Before heading to Haneda Airport, I had a dinner with business associates at a famous and popular tempura restaurant, Tsunahachi, at their main branch in Shinjuku.



This was a busy restaurant with both counter and table seating.



Tempura sets were the order of the day, although there was also extensive menu of a la carte dishes which you could order to supplement the sets.



We began with beers, then sake...



A small appetiser of fish...



...and then a succession of amazingly tasty tempura courses, all fried a la minute, and brought to your table still piping hot...



We also had superb sashimi...



But the star of the show was the tempura, I had never tasted tempura with such a delicate and crisp batter...



More sake, a different bottle this time...and all the while I was getting a good natured tutorial in Japanese drinking etiquette: never pour your own glass, and hold your glass when sake is being poured for you. Hope I eventually got it right!



A small portion of uni, intensely flavoured, with the taste of the sea...



...and then uni tempura...



Tempura clams, still in the shell!



A small palate cleanser of chilled corn soup...



By then we were on sake bottle number 3...



A final tendon, or tempura over rice...



What an incredible meal!

[yflyer]

After dinner, I headed back to the Sakura Fleur Aoyama hotel to pick up my luggage, then took the train to Haneda Airport for my flight home.

ANA flight NH843 HND-SIN was one of a handful of international flights which departed from Haneda T2.



My first stop after checking in at Haneda was to head to the ANA T2 International Lounge. I had flown this sector, NH843, and visited this lounge not long ago, after a vacation to Hokkaido (TR here!), so I knew what to expect.



This was a very impressive lounge -- very spacious, with great facilities and F&B. As a bonus, at this hour of the night, before departure of NH843 at 12.40am, the lounge was quite empty.



There was excellent catering at the lounge, including live cooking stations manned by chefs in toques...



...and a decent buffet spread...



...as well as a noodle station.



I was already stuffed after my tempura dinner at Tsunahachi, so I skipped the food and headed straight to the lounge bar.



This was a very pleasant bar to spend time at, with friendly bartenders...



...and a very interesting cocktail selection...



I began with their signature "Sparkling" Blue...



...and after that, a Setouchi lime G&T, which was absolutely top notch (Yes, even for a drink as simple as a Gin & Tonic, not all G&T's are created equal).



Elsewhere in the lounge the self service liquor selection was pretty decent too.

[yflyer]

I decided to try for a shower before my flight.



I say try, because the last time I was here and tried to book the shower, I was 26th in the queue, with estimated wait time of 60-100 minutes! That was insane.

Something probably wasn't quite right with the old queuing system, so ANA had now implemented a new system, which I was game to try. I scanned the QR code to launch the new reservation website.

Wow what was this? I had to apply for a contract to have a shower? Even if this was free, this wasn't exactly a very customer-friendly experience...



I ploughed on regardless...I really needed a shower...



...suffice to say, it was a lengthy, multistep process...



3 steps in, I was still frantically keying data into the app...

A staff member came up. Did you want a shower, she asked?

She could give me a slot for 11.15pm, which was about 40 minutes from now. There was nothing available sooner.

She handed me a handwritten slip.



Low tech, but infinitely preferable to that nighmarish app signup.

And I still hadn't yet reached the last screen of the app.

"Thank you so much!" I told her.

To say I was grateful would be a huge understatement. Someone give that lady a raise.

[yflyer]

At the appointed time, I headed to the shower rooms.



The shower room itself was very nice...



There was a top-of-the-range Toto Washlet...



...and very comfortable rain shower.



And if I wanted to, I could stay have stayed in there for a whole 30 minutes, which was the alloted reservation time...

That shower felt really blissful.

[yflyer]

I left the lounge and headed to the gate.



The boarding process was very quick and orderly, with clear queues for each boarding group. I also appreciated that the exact boarding time was listed on the signage, and adhered to.



Operating today's flight was ANA Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner registration JA882A. This was a 9 year old plane, but it had evidently been very well maintained, with interiors that looked very new.



The J cabin was laid out in staggered 1-2-1...



...with the window seats ideal for solo travellers.

'

Premium Economy in 2-3-2...



9-abreast Economy...



Bathrooms were equipped with a feature unique to ANA's 787's...



...a washlet!



The bathroom doors also had large handles for ease of opening from the inside.

[yflyer]

My seat was an aisle seat towards the rear of the plane.



Seat recline was pretty decent.



On this aircraft, Y seats came with footrests, an increasingly rare commodity!



Note that in this aircraft, the last 2 rows in the middle bank had no view out of the plane at all.

[yflyer]

Full widescreen AVOD IFE...



Seats had USB power under the IFE screen as well as an A/C socket below the seat...



6 hours 15 minutes to Singapore today...



Some of the movie selections. The IFE user interface looked a little basic, and less attractive than SQ's.



TV selections...



TV news...



Headband style headphones, which probably sounded better than most complimentary earbuds.



Onboard wifi was available. I signed up for the complimentary texting plan.