After all the cross country traveling and late night yesterday, we planned to sleep in later today to restore our energy. Nothing worse than falling sick during a trip due to fatigue. We had the privilege not to be in a hurry to start the day as we have explored most of Tokyo in our trip in April.
But I didn't expect how later we slept until. Think we got up at around noon! We felt so refreshed haha.
It was time for lunch when we got out of the hotel and we looked for a famous ramen shop that was near our hotel. Along the way we stopped by the local pharmacies to buy plenty of 100yen snacks and of course, lost a bit of our way. But like the ever prepared soldier, I had a map which helped to put us on the right track quickly.
Queuing outside the ramen shop. So it must be not too bad right? As we enter the restaurant, we saw a ticket vending machine that we have to use to order our food. Everything was in Jap :(
Luckily we had just completed our basic Japanese course and can recognize one character or two. Plus we were smart enough to guess what the people in front of us was pressing and we just followed. Hehe.
We ordered a soup one. I found it all right while Dear said it is good. He is the ramen guru between us.
We also ordered a dipping ramen, called a tsukumen. It was my first time trying this style of ramen and I quite like it. The cold noodles is great for warm weather.
The exploration of Tokyo starts after we finished lunch and offload our snacks at the hotel. In the research to find new spots to visit in Tokyo, I came across the quaint town of Yanaka.
It is a roughly five min walk from Nippori station and is the only town in Tokyo city that retains the look of pre-war Japan. The town was not affected much by the bombings in the world wars and provides a good escape from the bustling city.
Election posters
The central street in the town is a narrow street of about 70 little shops that come alive on weekday evenings with housewives and the elderly shopping for food to grace the dinner table and on weekends with visitors from all over.
The town is also famous for their cats. Many cats reside in the town and you can also find lots of cats related merchandise in the town.
Busking in the sun
Grocery shopping: see how different are the vegetables grown by small scale farmers who place emphasis on the quality of their produce.
Cute zakka outside the small shops along the streets. Aww...
I think besides the food, Tokyo equates to toys in Akihabara for Dear. No time shall be wasted in the hint for toys so we headed to Akihabara next for Dear to unleash his inner otaku.
The loud displays at Akihabara
Dear's favourite toy shop where he would spend the most time at while I...wait.
Finally Dear is done and we had dinner at this Gorilla place which sells curry. The place is full of otakus and I was the only girl in the shop. :p
Since our last visit to Tokyo, the latest landmark of Tokyo- the Tokyo skytree- completed its construction.
The mall at the food of the skytree is designed for consumerism with many shops selling both edible and inedible souvenirs of Japan and the skytree. Seems like a fun place to visit.
So off we went to the skytree as
our night activity.
As with everything new in Japan, the skytree was a hot topic in Japan and packed with visitors. Lucky the craze had cooled when we were there and the crowd was managable.
The skytree with Christmas lighting.
Last stop of the day: back to the hotel for some well deserved rest after a day of exploration!
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