Tokyo Day 6

Tokyo Day 6

Breakfast today was Parisan style at a cafe opposite our hotel which served rather decent pasty at a reasonable price. 

As we were walking to the train station after breakfast, we saw two traffic policemen issuing summons. The Singaporean in us (or rather, Dear) found the sight in law-abiding Japan rather funny.  I know, sometimes we are so mean right? Haha. 

Today's itinerary was completely off the cuff and a major re-adjustment made the last night. The first stop of the day was Akasuka Temple, which was also holding cherry blossom celebrations. See how packed the place is!

The flowers were nearing full bloom by this time of our trip.

The temple is beside a touristy street which sells lots of souvenirs and snacks. There was one stall which sold huge fried meatballs that had a particularly long queue and I decided to give it a try. 

 I'm not blown away by it but I would say it's yummy-licious. Made on the spot, it was scalding hot esp if you are not careful of the ample meat juices that ooze out when you bite into it. A very satisfying snack!

 The inside of the temple where many ask for their blessings.

 

A peek at the food stalls. 

Giant slices of octopus used to make the Takoyaki! I think I learnt during my trip is that the Japanese doesn't seem to sting on the serving of food. The food may be expensive in this city but consumers get what they paid for. 

The beautiful end product. Sadly, it looks better than it tastes. Another food fact I verified on this trip, food cooked by youngsters that look like Ah Bengs generally won't taste good. 

And you really can't expect much from street stalls in these kind of carnivals, even in Japan where they pay so much attention to their food. 

Speaking of not stinging on food portions, look at the giant slabs of meat on the sticks! They cost around S$8 each, if my memory doesn't fails me. 

I also tried their rice balls! I've always seen these rice balls being eaten in Japanese shows and have always been curious if they really taste so good. 

Verdict: It's too starchy for my liking. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I chose a more flavourful topic rather the traditional soy sauce flavour. Other flavours such as seaweed were available. 

There were assigned eating areas for people to sit down and chow down their food, which the Japanese, of course, kept very clean. 

After walking around the temple area, we went back to the famous tempura restaurant, Daikokuya Tempura, for lunch. Again, we got to queue for a seat (the Japanese really love to queue) and were in the restaurant after a 45-min wait. 

The homely atmosphere of the place which was staffed by the Japanese aunties. The tempura tendon is served with a lid over it. 

What is unique about the tempura here is that they drizzle a special sauce on the tempura, so it doesn't taste like the usual ones we eat here in Singapore. It is also not as crispy, but everything works to produce a bowl of tempura tendon with a home-cooked feel.

With our stomachs filled, we made the walk up to Ueno for some shopping. It was super cold on that day (around 9 degree C), with the wind constantly blowing into our faces. @_@ So cold that Dear decided to buy a scarf at the Ueno market.

A hole in the wall izakaya tucked away in one of the small lanes of the market.

A lot of people say that Ueno is a good place to shop as the stuff there is cheaper. But this is a place which I will probably not go back again and would say to visit only when you have spare time. There wasn't much to see as the stuff sold there were very 'pasar malam' items. And the street was super packed, making it super uncomfortable to walk around. 

So after a while, we took the train to the geeks' heaven- Akihabara. Dusk was setting in by the time we were there, although it was only evening time. The sun sets early in Tokyo.

Many young girls from the maid cafes were on the street giving out pamphlets or trying to attract customers to their cafes. They are also camera shy; most turn away when they spot someone trying to take a photo of them.

Another thing is that the people who hang out in this district are not as friendly as those we met at other places. Probably because they are all geeks. We were rejected when we tried to ask for directions from a couple of men as we tried to orientate ourselves after coming out from the subway station. 

Another sign of the geeks: Dear said he saw a man sniffing a printed T-shirt of those Japanese anime girls in a shop and smiling to himself. 

We eventually stopped for dinner at a Tonkatsu restaurant at one of the malls. Of course we did not manage to finish combing the Akihabara district and I promised Dear to return the next day for him to continue his shopping.

And yet another ice-cream bought from the convenience store opposite our hotel to round off the night.