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Tokyo Fuji Shibazakura by MH Economy and SQ Business

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  • #16
    5th May is Japan's Children's Day, which is one of the public holidays of Japan's Golden Week. On this day, some streets in Shinjuku were closed to vehicular traffic!




    Chanced upon a stand-up sushi bar in Ikebukuro, offering very fresh and affordable sushi!








    And Yakiniku grill on the last night in Tokyo.








    Did some supermarket shopping prior to departure on the last day. It is strawberries season!




    My flight back would be departing from Haneda, which is much nearer to the city centre and only entails a 30min Airport Limousine Bus ride to reach.

    Some sort of arty structure while approaching Haneda.




    The bus made stops at Terminals 1 and 2 first.




    On the way to the International Terminal from Terminal 1. International terminal was not too busy at this time of the day.





    FIDS in the International Terminal. Much less international departures/arrivals than Narita.

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    • #17
      We reached Haneda rather early, about 3hrs prior to departure. The Departure Hall is rather big, but not too busy at this time of the day. I figure it will be busier in the late evenings when the late-night bank of flights depart.




      SQ check-in counters are located at row A, right at the end of the terminal. Total of 6 counters opened to handle check-in for the flight.




      Business Class counter.




      Check-in agents giving the obligatory Japanese bow before opening counters. There was also a First counter, though unmanned as First is only offered on the red-eye flight.




      Check-in was swift and headed to security and immigration. See the carp kites "koinobori" decorations to celebrate Japan's Children's Day!




      Departure waiting lounge was rather quiet as well. It is a long corridor with shops aligned long it.




      Some last minute shopping for Japanese goodies!




      Proceeded to the lounge after finishing with the shopping. SQ J Class pax are invited to use the ANA Lounge.




      ANA model planes display




      As expected with the few departure flights and being a public holiday with few business travellers, the lounge was pretty empty, offering a conducive and serene environment to relax prior to the flight.





      Last edited by ycp81; 16 May 2015, 11:04 PM.
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      • #18
        There were 2 buffet areas in the lounge, with a smaller one offering only soup, cold selections and beverages at this hour.




        The larger buffet offers a wider selection of dishes.




        Including a Noodle Bar, whipping up a selection of hot udon or soba noodles.




        Filling up my stomach with simple but delicious dishes! I especially loved the warm soba noodles from the Noodle Bar.




        Rounding up with a fruit punch dessert and cold green tea.




        Our SQ plane arrived on schedule from Singapore.




        ANA B77W arriving from a long-haul destination.






        06 May 2015
        Singapore Airlines
        SQ 633
        Tokyo Haneda (HND) - Singapore (SIN)
        B777-200
        9V-SRQ
        Business Class



        About 25min before STD, we headed to the gate where boarding has just commenced. Premium passengers (ie. Business Class and PPS Club) had the use of a premium boarding gate/lane 108A, which is separated from the Economy boarding gate/lanes.




        9V-SRQ, retrofitted with the New Regional Business Class, would be operating the flight.




        Boarding.




        Was warmly welcomed at the door and directed to my seat at 17K, which is the bulkhead row of the smaller Business cabin after Door 2. This row offers heaps of legroom!!




        I can stretch all I want and still won't touch the bulkhead.

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        • #19
          Seated just beside the Rolls-Royce Trents.




          As usual with the famed SQ service, welcome drinks were offered. I chose the welcome cocktail, Tropical Fizz. Newspapers, magazines and hot towels were also offered.




          Boarding was completed very swiftly and no wonders, as the load was very light on this flight. Load was 14/38 in Business and less than 1/3 full in Economy!! With the very light load, we had 5 cabin crew dedicated to Business Class, making it a First Class crew to pax ratio!

          Pushed back on schedule, with flight time estimated to be 6h40m. Safety video played.




          Taxi




          Short taxi later, we departed from Rwy16R towards Tokyo Bay and into the sunset.












          Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance!! Glorious Fuji in the sunset.








          Watch the taxi and takeoff below!

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZD7xbWaLsE
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          • #20
            Shortly after takeoff, socks and eyeshades are distributed.




            The month's inflight magazines.




            Surprisingly, the headphones offered on this flight was of the older model and not the newer Phitek ones that I have used on my last couple of flights in J.




            Even though this retrofitted aircraft does not offer the latest IFE system, the selections are still sufficient for this regional flight. I chose to watch The Wedding Ringer.




            Satay was served! 2 chicken and a mutton stick each. With the very low loads, no carts were used and our satay orders were taken and served directly from the galley. My post-takeoff drink of Choya (only available on Japan flights) was also promptly delivered.




            Cruising




            A look at the cabin and seats. Even though the seat model is similar to the ones on the A330, I do feel that the ones on the B777s are definitely wider and offers more legroom, after having flown on the A330 just a few months back.










            Amenities in the lavatory.




            Enjoying my movie.

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            • #21
              Cool trip report. Thanks for the many pictures!

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              • #22
                Sun is setting.




                About an hour after the satay service, dinner commenced. The timing was just right as I was still a bit full from the snacking in the lounge earlier.

                The "normal" selection:




                And the "Hanakoireki" selection.




                Of course I went for the Hanakoireki option, which came in 2 sets. The first set was a cold set, consisting of soba noodles and cold starters. For most part, I did not know what I was eating and had to refer to the menu to find out haha.






                Second set was the warm set, which came with a miso soup. A really unique dining experience I must say. I was totally stuffed!








                As for the normal menu, the starter is Prawn with citrus salad.




                My travel partner's Book-the-cook dish of Unagi Kabayaki.




                After being totally stuffed, the Inflight Supervisor appeared with a selection of desserts on a smoking tray with dry ice! Wow! Seeing that we could not make up our minds on the dessert choices, she offered us both each, assuring us that there were more than enough to go around. Both desserts were yummy!




                Next up, the crew coerce us to have some cheeses and fruits. I did not partake in the cheese platter though.

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                • #23
                  I had some strawberries and a mango. Strawberries were very sweet! Pralines were also offered.




                  Seeing that I had finished the fruits, the crew offered even more! Had more strawberries and a really sweet melon slice. Ok, no more food for me please! (Well, if they had offered me more dessert, I might accept it....)




                  After the meal service was completed, lights were dimmed to allow pax to rest. We still had about 4hrs to go and I continued with my movie.

                  After finishing the movie, we were nearing Philippines.






                  Reclined my seat to the max to an inclined lie-flat bed.




                  And started on a second movie, a Chinese comedy.




                  Still almost 2hrs to go after the second movie, and took a short 30min nap.




                  Soon we were approaching Changi, with arrival information shown on the screen. We will be arriving at Terminal 2.




                  Nearing Singapore and cabin was prepared for landing. The inflight supervisor came around and thanks all passengers for flying with SQ.




                  Overflying Batam on the approach to Changi.






                  Video of landing into Changi on Rwy02C and taxi to the Gate F41 at Terminal 2. We only had a very short taxi to the gate and as expected, the Japanese crew could not finish making her Japanese arrival announcement. She continued after the engines were shut down and doors were unarmed.

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWWvJwyixgc


                  My comfortable seat for the last 7hrs.




                  It was a fantastic flight on Singapore Airlines! With the very light load, the crew provided very attentive, warm and surprisingly more casual service to us, frequently checking on us on our needs, offering food and drinks till we are bursting at the seams, and even other minor details like folding blankets and setting pillows while I was away from my seat to visit the lavatory. In my opinion, the service was not Business Class, it was First Class!

                  Thanks for reading this very long report! Your comments are very welcomed.
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                  • #24
                    Nice TR ycp81! Spectacular pictures too, especially the ones with Fuji. I concur that Golden Week is not really the best time to travel to Japan.

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                    • #25
                      Thanks for posting, ycp81!

                      Beautiful pictures of Mt Fuji!

                      The SQ J meal looks very good too!

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                      • #26
                        Interesting when I flew out of Narita in Feb, we were almost on top of Mt Fuji, viewable from the right sight of the aircraft.

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                        • #27
                          Thanks for the pics!! I have redeemed my seats on SQ633 for my dec hols - now i gotta go change my seat to one in the K row so i can see Mt Fuji on the way back to SG!

                          any idea what seats to take on the A380 flying in to NRT to see Mt Fuji (if that is at all possible)? my inbound is via NRT. Thanks!

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                          • #28
                            awesome TR - makes me want to go to Japan badly (never visited rhe place yet) . more over seems like a decent flight to use SQ's business class

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by banoffi View Post
                              Thanks for the pics!! I have redeemed my seats on SQ633 for my dec hols - now i gotta go change my seat to one in the K row so i can see Mt Fuji on the way back to SG!

                              any idea what seats to take on the A380 flying in to NRT to see Mt Fuji (if that is at all possible)? my inbound is via NRT. Thanks!

                              Take the A seats (left side) if you wanna see Mt Fuji, but it is not a guarantee as the inbound route normally is further out from the coast of Japan.
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                              • #30
                                Thanks! I just remembered I am only touching down to Narita at 5 pm! not sure if it'll be dark by then in Dec.

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