Review of Japan Airlines flight Melbourne → Tokyo in Business

Background

Today, I am flying Japan airlines for the first time ever (finally!!!) 
Was meant to fly JAL in August 2020 in First class. Bought a ton of Alaska miles for that redemption, but ALAS, we all know what happened that year. Since then, I was supposed to fly JL774 in April 2023, but JL cancelled their entry into Melbourne, so that slipped too.
Finally, this year, I got a chance to fly JAL initially booked in economy. However, I put in a bit for $10 more than the min bid and luckily got upgraded 1 day before the flight. So, here is the experience.

(Apologies for the pictures, some are screencaps from the videos and hence the lower quality. Feel free to check out the video which is in 4k :))

CHECK-IN EXPERIENCE

Japan airlines operates three times a week to Melbourne. Their flight leaves at 7:20am which means a very early start, but also a quiet airport.
This meant a rather smooth checkin process. 
There were priority checkin lines on offer, but it was so empty anyway

LOUNGE AT MEL

I was pretty sure I will be going to the Qantas lounge due to Oneworld alliance rules, but JAL was pointing us to the Marhaba. 
As JAL is part of Oneworld, you do have access to the Qantas lounge if you prefer that.
Marhaba lounge is a nice quiet space, but nothing extra ordinary. It is better than the Qantas lounge in one way however and that is that it has tarmac views.
This was a decent breakfast spread along with a self service bar
Lounge comes with shower facilities and you definitely see some similarity to the Emirates lounges here. 

I didn't have enough time to check out the QF lounge on this visit

BOARDING TIME

I headed to gate 12 where the JAL 787 was already waiting for me. With less than 10 minutes to the boarding time I was surprised by how calm the gate was, a sign of Japanese efficiency perhaps.
Boarding was done in Groups with the Group 1 for First class and JAL Diamond/OW Emerald.
Business class and OW Sapphire were in Group 2

Below is first look at the plane, a 9 year old 787-8 (JL839J). JAL has 24 of these in their fleet.

HARD PRODUCT

The international 787s are configured in 2 classes. There are 30 seats in business and 156 in economy. In business the seats are in a 2-2-2 layout, but everyone still has aisle access. Note there is no PE on the JL 787-8.

It was striking just how new this plane felt despite its age. JAL uses the Apex suites on their 787s which offer an entry path to the window seats. The seat featured plenty of legroom and privacy. As a result of this the window seats had plenty of privacy especially when the a retractable privacy divider was used.

Seat goes fully flat and is pretty comfy. A mattress topper is provided as well. 
Overall, the product is a bit dated, but still one of the best in the sky.

MEAL SERVICE

Probably the best part of the flight. This was the menu provided for the day which included the drinks list. The meal service began with a drink. I went for the JAL original which is a super refreshing peach and grape juice mix.
JAL offers both a Japanese and Western option and if you can, I recommend going for the Japanese option here. T

The lunch bento has to be one of the most beautifully presented meals on an aircraft. This is almost top restaurant style catering from JAL and all the items in the bento were really tasty. The Skytime non-alcholic drink is another highlight from the menu
For mains, it was salmon steak. Once again, this was another high quality presentation from JAL and the food was equally excellent.
The crew were attentive during the whole meal service and kept coming to check on my food. And also explained about the various items in the menu.
The tray table can be swivelled out of the way making it easy to get it an out of the seat even during the meal service.

For the pre-arrival meal, the Japanese option was the Teriyaki chicken with rice

INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Following the best with the worst part of the flight.
The touch screen was too far away, so a remote was provided. But the remote was buggy and quite unresponsive at times. The movie selection was quite basic too.

Survived by the WIFI, which was USD 18.80 for 24 hours. It covered my connecting flight too, which was nice.

AMENITIES

Upon boarding, got all the standard amenities including pillow, blanket, amenity kit and water bottle at the seat.

Unique to JAL was the cardign hire service which lets you borrow one for the flight.

JAL's amenity kit is from the brand Maison Kitsune

The TOILET

Had to have a special section for this :D. 
Nice to see Japanese style carry to all parts of the flight including the lavatory.
It is found across all classes of the JAL cabin.