Monday, 5 April to Monday, 12 April
So we arrived back at Tokyo. What a familiar feeling. So many people, all busy, noise everywhere. I was home. And felt more at home when we finally got back to our ryokan. After re-checking in, we went to dinner and rested.
Next day, Shinjuku. Yep, back to the busiest station in Tokyo. It was so big that when we got separated, even if we knew where we needed to meet up, we couldn’t find the right exit.
Went through Takashimaya and around 3 or 4PM, I went back to Asakusa. Went to Daiso/Hyakuen shop (100yen shop) and back to Senso-ji. Took photos of it and I learned my lesson that day. And boy I was glad my camera handles high ISO photos better than my previous one.
Japanese temples are much better photographed at dusk. They are OK if you photograph them during daytime but at dusk, that’s when they really shine. Or maybe it’s because my daytimes in Japan are mostly filled with clouds, not the nice ones, the gloomy ones.
After dinner, it was just the routines, fully packed train ride, Sunkus konbini opposite Minowa station and bought breakfast the next day and headed back to the ryokan.
The next two days were Disney themed with Odaiba in between.
First day we went to Disneysea. Took the Disney themed monorail from Maihama station. Even the station attendants kept on waving at people to look nice and happy.
I didn’t have that much fun in Disneysea. It’s not the place, it was the cold and drizzly weather and my stomach. My stomach hurt the whole time and I had to do my business a couple of times. Can you believe that? Finally at around 3PM I decided to bail. I went to Odaiba then back to Ueno to grab myself a quick dinner at Gyuu no Chikara then back to the ryokan.
The next day at Disneyland, it was much better. The weather was nicer, although still cold and my stomach wasn’t acting up anymore. Had lots of caramel popcorn. We stayed until late and left after the fireworks. Saw lots of parade there. Dinner, again, at Ueno. Had a karage set in a nice small diner at the corner of an alley in the market. It was so good Then back to ryokan.
And Friday came. Went to Mitaka to Ghibli Museum. After that we just went straight to Shibuya, just to take photos of the crossing, then back to Akihabara. Tried going into one of those maid cafés. I felt weird. I won’t explain what it is. If you don’t know and you want to know, click here.
Later that night we had some yakiniku at, yes, Ueno then headed home..
Two days before we left, we went to Ueno station quite early and bought ourselves the Skyliner tickets for us to go back to Narita airport on Monday. I didn’t bother bringing my camera out today. My shoulder was sore. Then off to Shinjuku to have lunch, then off to Shibuya and just explore the alleys. Later that night we were taken by my friend’s friend, a local, to have dinner at an izakaya in Shibuya (if I’m not mistaken, sorry Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro is now a blur to me heheh) and she promised to take us to this spicy ramen place the next day in Ikebukuro. Woohoo! Spent the night, yet again, in Ueno. Got myself a Crayon Shinchan plushie after the machine ate probably 2000yen of our money. Never again.
Last day in Tokyo, we went to Ikebukuro and as promised we were taken to this spicy ramen place called Nakamoto ramen. People were queueing outside and I didn’t dare try the spiciest ramen (10/10 fires) since tomorrow I had to hop on a plane and I don’t want my stomach acting up again, just a precaution. If I were still there for a couple of days, then I would.
The verdict, it was spicy.
Then spent the afternoon around Ikebukuro and Harajuku and that night, yep, you guessed it, Ueno again. I’ve become so attached to Ueno because of their small alleyway markets. The food was awesome and it was close to our ryokan, only two train stops away. I tried to go back to the place where I had Hambagu rice on our first week in Tokyo but I was too late. When I got to the alley where it was located, I saw a sign on the door and straight away I had a bad feeling. And I was right, the sign said ‘closed’. Argh! Next time I’m in Tokyo I have to go back there again. I hope I still remember where it is.
And on the day of the flight, we woke up quite early, took a taxi to Nippori station where we then took the Skyliner to Narita airport. There I returned my rental simcard, had breakfast at McDonald’s (yup, they had a muffin with pork, how cool was that?), bought some snacks and was on my way home.
Would I come back? Definitely, but I’d like to travel around to other countries before I go back to Japan if possible.
Things I’m gonna miss: definitely the food and the snacks. They’re fast, they’re easy on the stomach and they look good too. And the toilets. I love Japan’s toilets.
Things I definitely don't miss: getting lost, the noise, the packed trains, the packed trams, the packed buses, the continuous ‘irashaimaseeeeeee’ (welcome) in high pitch voices whenever you enter a store (it was cute at first but after a while it becomes quite annoying), the maid cafés and the scarceness of rubbish bins
Photos as usual, are up on my Flickr.
And I will post again soon, hopefully, just about anything.
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