Day 5:
Roppongi, Ueno, Sumo Museum, Akihabara, Ginza, Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Tokyo Rush
Roppongi
First stop at Roppongi just to see it in the daylight, and to use it as a transfer point towards Ueno. Surprisingly there was a train fault, so we had about half an hour to kill at Roppongi. It was a rather quiet morning; a huge contrast between the day and night.
Ueno
Got a map from a friendly volunteer guide at Ueno station and headed towards the famous shopping street!
Ueno Ameyoko
Minatoya
We were hungry and stopped by this affordable sashimi rice bowl shop along the shopping street. I ordered the eel and scallops rice bowl while the bro had the mixed tuna rice bowl. Cold green tea is free flow so do help yourselves to that while waiting.
The seafood is not as fresh as that of Tsukiji, and the sitting area is cramp and no frills, but with such a price, we were super satisfied! There are Japanese and English under each photo, so diners can easily understand what they will be getting. We first placed out order at the entrance, pay for our food, then found ourselves a spot right in the middle of the small restaurant.
Sumo Museum
It's sumo tournament season now and we had wanted to purchase a ticket to catch the action. Too bad we're too late so we couldn't get access to either tournament or museum. Lesson learnt: Purchase tickets much earlier in advance! Nevertheless, the streets were lined with lots of tournament flags and packed with spectators.
We took a short walk across the Kyū Yasuda Garden and visited the Kanto Earthquake Museum on the other side. The Kyū Yasuda Garden is small and quiet, which provided a serene environment for leisure strolling. We saw a couple taking wedding photos there too!
The Kanto Earthquake Museum is a simple one filled with artifacts recovered from the area after the massive quake in the early 20th century. It made our hearts heavy to see so many people suffer during and after the quake.
Akihabara
Akihabara is famous for their electronics and anime/ video game cultures. We had a walk around the area just to check it off our Tokyo list.
Stopping for taiyaki.
Freshly made taiyaki!
Ginza
Jiro Sushi
A short stop at Ginza just for the sake of crossing it off our list. Ginza is one of the more upscale shopping spots in Tokyo, with several large department stores located along the busy streets. Of course, we had to take a peek at Jiro's, which is connected to the metro through some underground shopping streets. But then it was not meal time so it was not opened.
Meiji Shrine
Totally unplanned visit to the Meiji Shrine. It's more like we arrived in Harajuku and see the crowd heading towards this direction, so we followed them. ┐(´∀｀)┌ The Shrine felt magical because the shroud of trees made the passage way felt a few degrees cooler than the outside temperature. So serene and cooling!
Harajuku
There are 4 more popular crepe shops in Harajuku, and we just chose one which looks less crowded. So many choices to choose from! Scared of the crepe from being too sweet? Choose a savory one then! Each is made upon order, so it is fresh off the pan!
We also visited one of the largest Daiso in Tokyo, which is few levels high?! So many products to buy, especially the pokeball I got for the boyfriend. Of course, there are also many eateries and shops filled with assorted merchandise which will make visitors dizzy.
Afuri
So we tried Ichiran the other day, and we were not super duper impressed by the ramen. But for Afuri? IT IS A MUST TRY!!! ヾ(✪‿✪)ｼ While Ichiran serves Tonkotsu ramen (pork bone stock noodles), Afuri has chicken and dashi stock based, then with additional shio/ shoyu/ yuzu flavoured stock. There is also a choice of vegetable broth for vegans!
Here, I had the cold Yuzu-tsuyu Tsukemen (cold dipping ramen with yuzu flavoured sauce). And trying to act local, I also asked for the water from boiling the noodles to be added into the leftover dipping sauce, so that I can finish even the dipping sauce! The water came in a pretty blue bottle!
1. We first walk into the shop to purchase our order using the ticket machine, which is all written in Japanese, but with photographs above each option. But since you can't see the soup flavours just through the photos, you better try to recognise some of the Japanese characters. Of course, you can always choose to risk it and order one random choice, which you will not regret anyways!
2. It is counter seats, so just find a spot to sit and pass the tickets to the staff.
3. If you ordered ramen in soup, the staff will ask you how much chi-yu (chicken oil) you want in your broth. We don't speak Jap so we used the English leaflets on the counter top to express ourselves lol.
4. If you order dipping ramen, the staff will ask you whether you want hot or cold noodles. We got our point across using body gestures lol lol
& then we got into the Tokyo Rush by running around Shinjuku area to locate a cheap pair of sneakers for the bro. Too bad it was quite pricey so we didn't get anything after checking several stores.
Ending the night with more food from the kombini to replesh our strength from the Tokyo Rush