My last day in Tokyo started with a visit to Nezu Shrine and some quiet time. It’s amazing how so much tranquility can be found in the middle of a crazy city.
It seemed like I wasn’t the only person seeking quiet time, with many families wandering the grounds.
The shrine, with the red torii gates, reminded me of a much smaller version of Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari Shrine.
Next was onto Akihabara to meet up with a friend who was in Tokyo. We tried an all you can eat Shabu Shabu restaurant in the Atre building.
And that brought me to an end of another great trip to Japan. Thanks to a night flight with a screaming baby, two days on I’m still getting over the lack of sleep. Little sleep = boring blog!
Before I start today’s ramblings, I would like to warn you that today’s blog is going to be full of animal spam. I’m not referring to the disgusting tinned ham Spam (still debatable if it is actually animal), but rather copious amounts of animal photos.
Still on a mission to find things I hadn’t previously done in Tokyo, I stumbled across the Ginza Art Aquarium. Located in a department store in Ginza, the subway exit lead straight into the building. Luckily it was well sign posted and I managed to find it with relative ease.
Deciding I would wing it, rather than prebook tickets, I thought I might be hanging around waiting for entry. Luck was on my side and I was able to enter straight away. What can I say about the Art Aquarium? If you have a fish phobia (Ichthyophobia for those trivia nerds), this definitely isn’t the place for you. If you like to take photos, then be prepared to snap away.
The exhibits are a mix of lights and sounds with an array of different types of goldfish. I was worried that the tanks might be overcrowded and it be cruel, but they all seemed to have a lot of room for their inhabitants. I spent about 45 minutes wandering the displays taking photos, deleting photos and retaking photos. There were some really inconsiderate fish who wouldn’t keep still to pose.
After finishing off my aquarium visit, I had intended to spend some time looking around Ginza. My late start to the day meant it was lunch time and I was actually hungry. Back on the subway, I headed to Harajuku to try out the Kura Sushi Flagship Store. I actually don’t eat a lot of sushi when I visit Japan, so this was also going to be something different. This conveyer belt sushi restaurant was a quick walk from the subway exit and I just so happened to enter prior to the mad rush that came five minutes later. More good luck for me. Perhaps that Buddha rubbing has paid off.
If you are an introvert, this place is definitely for you. You can basically enter, eat and leave without having to speak to a single person. That is if you can figure out the self check in machine. Unfortunately, there was no English button on the check in (unlike the ordering system). With a little help from google translate, I was able to check in, get my table ‘21’ ticket and wait for my number to be displayed on the screen.
From there you walk yourself to you designated table, order from an iPad, wait for your sushi to pull up in front of you on the conveyer belt (your iPad speaks to you when the sushi was there), dispose of your plates in the slot at the front of the table, then pay at the self service payment desk. Just my type of place!
After lunch I decided to head over to the Samsung Galaxy store for their free teamLabs collaboration exhibit ‘Catching and Collecting in the Dinosaur Forest’. What can go wrong with something that is free. My first mistake was checking if I was in the right place by showing the website on my phone to the man on the door. Note to self: flashing an iPhone in a Samsung store is like dressing up as Lucifer in church.
Slightly embarrassed, I headed up to the third floor entrance. There’s an old saying ‘if it’s too good to be true, it’s too good to be true’. I hate to say it, but I feel this is the case with this exhibit. Basically, they give you a Galaxy Flip to take through the exhibit to ‘catch dinosaurs’ and take photos. If you are five years old then this is the place to be. If you are an old woman who imagined a repeat of yesterday’s teamLab experience, prepare to be disappointed.
Taking photos on their loan Samsung phone would have been great and dandy if one knows how to use a non-iPhone. There’s another saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. Let’s just say, I’m an old dog and I’m not learning any new phone tricks.
Taking photos on my iPhone, I felt like I was being a real rule breaker. If the exhibit was a ploy to sell Galaxy phones, it was lost on me. Employees walked past me as the loan Galaxy phone hung around my neck and I attempted to inconspicuously snap away on my trusty iPhone. Phone issues aside, the exhibit was pretty lame. It was a 10 minute visit with 5 minutes of that being instructions and being handed a loan phone.
Rather disappointed, I headed off to Harry’s Hedgehog Cafe. Luck was back on my side as the first question they asked was if I had a reservation. This was a no and I feared that I would be either waiting or missing out. Lucky for me, they sent me straight through with a lanyard around my next that told me I had to be gone by 1.32pm. In their best, broken English, they explained that I had to manage my own time and make sure I was gone on time. Another Japanese first for me, I paid for 30 minutes playing with the hedgehogs. Although you got a tub of your own hedgehogs, you were free to roam around and visit as many as you pleased.
This was such a great experience. They were so cute! That is, except when one of mine was hissing and sticking out his spikes. He really didn’t like to be touched. Note to self: as a non-hugger, try adding hissing to repel those who invade my space. One of the staff members explained that Mr Hisser was shy. I left Mr Shy to himself.
The photo spam pretty much sums up the experience. The rules were
1. Use two hands to pick them up
2. Keep your hands over the holding barrel
3. Keep on your gloves.
These three rules made it very difficult to photograph the experience when you are by yourself. I was obviously going to have to break some rules (shock horror) if I wanted photos.
My first problem was the inability to take a photo if both hands were holding the hedgehog. I attempted taking a photo with my nose while gripping the phone with my chin. I kid you not! Deciding that this was a) stupid and b) impossible, I took a glove off to use my phone.
The next step was picking up the hedgehog whilst pretending I was using two hands. My theory was that the side of the barrel could act as one hand and if the hedgehog fell asleep on my hand then a one hand balancing act would work. Evidence of my rule breaking can be found in my photos. I did manage to stick to the rule of keeping my hands over the barrel though!
Other than the hedgehogs, they had hamsters and a meerkat. I got to have a pat of the meerkat but avoided a cuddle in fear that he might pee on me.
On a hedgehog high and my 30 minutes gone before I knew it, I went for a walk around Harajuku and checked out the bizarre in Takeashita Street. If coming to Tokyo, visiting this area is a must. There are so many odd and wonderful things to see as well as a beautiful shrine area.
Feeling like a hot drink, I came across a shop called ‘I’m donut?’. I’m not quite sure if this place was having an identity crisis as the question mark would indicate that this was a question. Not sure if this was a donut shop or not, the line up to be served went for ages so I opted for the trusty Starbucks on the 6th floor of a shopping mall.
Believe it or not but the mall had a beautiful outdoor garden where I sat, enjoyed my hot drink and listened to an audio book. What a great way to relax!
It’s amazing how fast my five days in Tokyo is flying by. Trying to make the most of what’s left, I jam packed today with trekking all over the place. Heading out around 9am, my first destination was the Tsukiji. Unlike the good old days (gee I sound old don’t I), you can no longer go into the inner fish market, but the area around there is bustling with food venders and lots to see.
Having been to Tsukiji a few times before, my purpose of visiting was to enjoy a morning snack of some delicious type of seafood. Unfortunately, (insert eye rolling) so did about a few thousand others. As I walked through the alleyways, I had a sense I was morphing into a sardine and was about to undertake some cannibal type of behaviour by eating my own. Coming into such close proximity made me hope that my Buddha rubbing yesterday would aid me in not catching a dreaded ‘C’ disease. As delicious as the food looked and smelled, claustrophobia set in and I decided to retreat. Delicious seafood – nil. Paranoid Tanya – one.
My next stop was teamLab Planets. Being a teamLab virgin, I was super excited for the experience. As you would expect, planner Tanya had purchased her tickets ahead of time (lucky as they were now sold out) and I ended up arriving a little earlier than anticipated. As I sat waiting for my timed entry, I had a bit of a laugh at a young American couple who were complaining that their pants wouldn’t roll up and that they would get wet. Yes I know, I am going to hell for my evil thoughts. But what the? I was biting my tongue from asking “do you know what this place is?”
I would really like to know if I am the only person who anally retentively plans for a holiday. Any basic google would have told you that a visit would involve knee high water and multiple mirrored floors. Mrs Anal Retentive (that’s me if you hadn’t guessed it) was clever enough to have a knee high dress with bike pants in my handbag. I was neither getting wet clothing or flashing my no-no zone for the world to see.
My visit lasted around 80 minutes and was a complete sensory experience, light, sound, smell and touch. For a moment I thought I might not be leaving as one of the exhibits required you to lay on the floor. It was hard enough getting down to sit onto the floor, let alone laying. As I awkwardly sat, a lovely old Japanese lady suggested I lay down for the best view. I shared that I had a bad ankle and I may struggle to get up. She promised to help me if I needed it. As visions of an old Japanese lady dragging me across the floor crossed my mind, I gave in an got into position. I wonder if the Americans were now laughing at me? They might have wet pants, but I would be stuck on the floor. Karma perhaps.
The old lady was spot on with how amazing it looked laying down. I’m pretty sure that everyone else in there thought they were back in the water exhibit when I tried to roll myself back up to stand. Cue: beached whale impersonation! In true stubborn style, I declined help from the little old lady and managed to stand…..just.
Having missed a morning snack, next stop was lunch. I did consider having the vegan ramen at teamLab (which was highly recommended), but I wanted to try jiggly pancakes. Even though I have visited the country of jiggly pancakes many a time, I had never tried them. Thanks to a little YouTubing (still not cool enough for TikTokking), Bills pancakes came highly recommended. It was also conveniently located a short train ride away. What my YouTubing hadn’t told me, was that there was only one pancake on the menu and Bills was actually a flashy Australian owned restaurant. It would appear that I have come all of the way from Australia to eat Australia’s version of Japanese jiggly pancakes.
The banana and honeycomb-butter ricotta pancakes were delicious and worth hunting for. I’m not quite sure what was Australian about them but they were tasty. Unable to finish them all, I decided to walk off my fullness along the Odaiba waterfront. For a moment you might have been convinced I had returned to NY!
My day ended with a trip out to the Tokyo Christmas Markets. Who can pass up a traditional German Christmas market? Mulled wine, bratwurst and sauerkraut, pretzels, a choir singing all of the Christmas favourites. We’ve been to a few Japanese Christmas markets in the past and enjoyed them all. Who can forget the Sapporo markets with their Satan Santa and bilingual choir singing with a mix up of Ls and Rs.
Heading out for the 45 minute trip, I was full of excitement. Arriving at the markets’ entrance, my excitement dropped. Entering the markets, my excited vanished. Mulled wine, yes. Delicious bratwurst on a crusty bun, topped with sauerkraut, no. Christmas music mustering up atmosphere, nup! As I wandered the stalls (insert Tanya singing to herself as the deafening silence was painful), I realised that my 90 minute return journey may have been an overpriced dud. Not only did I have to sing to myself, I had to combat stares from others who thought I was crazy.
Settling on a plate of German sausages (as close as I was getting to what I had hyped myself up for), I nestled between the locals to eat. How anyone thinks you can eat eight sausages has got me beat. And for the record, three was all I managed. Disappointedly fed, I continued on my way to discover Santa had been replaced by a robot man. Yep that’s the Christmas spirit, a man pretending to be a robot. But hey, he was holding a Christmas hat. And yes, I was still singing and yes, people were still looking at me. I’m not the one who was weird in this situation!
Unlike yesterday’s start to the day, blue skies and sunshine greeted me when I pulled back the hotel curtains this morning. Holding off on my day trip to Kawagoe yesterday was definitely the right decision. Having done my mandatory ‘tight arse Tanya’ research, I knew that a Kawagoe Discount Pass would save me a few dollars on my round trip from Tokyo. All I had to do was make my way to Ikebukuro Station and buy the pass.
As I sat on the train trip to Ikebukuro, another round of delays was announced on the information screen. Today’s reasons were as intriguing as yesterday’s. 1. Passenger rescue. 2. Door inspection. 3. Personal injury accident. My contemplation of what these descriptions meant was side tracked by my observation of people napping around me. It always astounds me how the Japanese manage to sleep on trains and still know when to get off. If I shut my eyes, I’d likely end up in Hokkaido.
The 20 something beside me had nodded off, was quietly snoring, and still managed to suddenly wake when the train pulled up at her stop. Even more impressive was an old fella who somehow managed to have a nap whilst standing up. Not only did he manage to not fall over (always wondered how horses managed that), he also managed to not drop his phone that dangled in his hand. For a moment I wondered if he would be delay reason 4. Passenger falls out of train door while asleep.
After navigating Ikebukuro station and locating where to purchase my discount ticket (wasn’t as simple as planned), I headed off on the next leg of the journey to Kawagoe. Note to those who want to purchase the discount pass, forget trying to do it at the ticket machines. Even with the English button pushed, the discount ticket was eluding me and I considered shelling out the whole ¥300 extra to just buy a normal ticket.
It would appear that I wasn’t a complete imbecile (this time) or incapable of reading English. The discount ticket needed to be purchased from the information desk and not at the ticket machines. The lady at the desk , who spoke wonderful English, asked if I wanted the more expensive ‘Premium’ discount ticket as it also included buses. I think she might have been worried about my ability to walk as she very kindly shared that the walk from the station to the Edo area would take 30 minutes. I declined her offer and told her I needed the exercise.
After arriving at Kawagoe I headed off on the 30 minute walk. As it turns out, the 30 minute walk ended up taking me 45 minutes. I am known to dawdle, but I’m going to blame my window shopping. There’s a lot of really cute shops along the way!
Kawagoe is a very picturesque town, with many temples and an old Edo warehouse area. It reminded me a little of Kyoto. My first stop was Kumano Shrine, a prayer site for bringing luck in matchmaking. I desperately wanted to ask the young girls praying at the shrine if they had given Tinder a go. Perhaps swiping whilst standing at the shrine could bring extra good luck.
Given I am very happily taken, I avoided making any donations at the shrine as I didn’t want to tempt fate and walk out and meet George Clooney. Imagine explaining that one to hubby.
Apparently, on entering the shrine area, you are meant to take off your shoes and walk barefoot along the pebbled entry. Deciding that I didn’t need the acupuncture points on my soles jabbed, I did what any normal person would do and left my nice warm shoes on. Funnily enough, I didn’t see any other idiot trying it.
A short walk from Kumano Shrine is Renkeiji Temple. The Buddha at the entrance is meant to have healing properties when touched. Given the grief my ankle gives me, I considered straddling the thing and rubbing my ankle on him. As this would likely lead to a trouble (insert, Aussie arrested for perverted act at temple), I very calmly rubbed Buddha up and down (with my hand) and asked for him to send his healing to my feet. Note to self: bloody Buddha didn’t listen.
What would one of my blogs be without food? There’s definitely no shortage of places to eat in Kawagoe. I was amazed how reasonably priced the majority of places were in such a popular tourist area. While planning this trip, I had come across Mrs Hamburger. I’m not a big burger fan, but the miniature burgers offered a cute photo op and got the better of me.
In all honesty, in Japanese standards, it cost double what I would have paid for lunch elsewhere. In Australian standards, the meal was the same price as a McDonalds burger, fries and drink. The burgers were teeny with a finger nail size of meat. Needless to say, they were eaten in one bite. Would I eat there again, probably not. Was it worth the novelty factor for a one off, probably.
Next was off to Toki no Kane, the infamous bell tower in the warehouse area. Apparently, the tower was built 400 years ago but has been rebuilt several times after burning down. The tower seemed to be the highlight of the town as many a visitor stood there looking at it. It took me a while to figure out that they were watching it to chime. Note to self: listening to music may be entertaining but prevents one from hearing what is going on around you…..including bell tower chimes.
Next was on to Kashiya Yokocho, aka candy alley. The small but very cute street was lined with candy stores and a multitude of different ‘sweet potato’ treats.
Other than the bell tower, Kawagoe’s claim to fame is their love of sweet potato. If they can make it sweet potato flavour, they will do it. Chips, ice cream, cheesecake, latte, beer, bread, fudge, lollies. The list goes on. There was even a roasted sweet potato with brûlée on top and a scoop of ice cream. I braved some of the sweet potato chips, only to realise that they were caked in something sweet and sugary.
I loved my visit to Kawagoe. There was so much more to see but my ankle wasn’t playing nicely. If only Buddha had helped. Perhaps I should have straddled him.
Kawagoe was a lovely place to just wander, look in the little stores and take in the atmosphere. It is amazing how a 40 minute trip out of Tokyo can offer such a polar opposite to the bustling city.
Arriving back in Ueno, I thought I would find a backstreet yakitori place for dinner. As I was on the hunt, I passed a place selling half loaves of bread topped with cream and sweets. As tempting as that was (insert sarcasm), I passed and found a sign that offered a range of meat skewers for the low price of ¥150. Yes the lure of a bargain sucked me in. Note to self: pay more attention prior to entering.
With enthusiasm, I ordered my food, confirmed I would have a glass of water and waited in anticipation. That was until I looked on the table to discover an ashtray. Too late to retreat, I considered how long I could hold my breath and if it was possible to eat and not breathe at the same time. As I realised my breath holding skills were rubbish, the large table of boisterous 20 somethings beside me lit up. It was just like being back in an 80s nightclub. Full of smoke and noisy, drunk fellas.
Needless to say, I consumed my food like I hadn’t eaten in a year and prepared for indigestion. Smoke aside, the food was good. That was until I went to pay. Calculating it would be around ¥900 (who can pass on fresh gyoza?), I was a surprised when the screen showed ¥1300. I’m not sure if I was charged extra for not smoking, consuming other’s smoke or for my glass of water. Given the bill was about AUD$14 and I wanted to escape the smoke, I didn’t bother questioning it. ¥400 wasn’t worth additional lung damage.
It’s hard to believe it has been four long years since I have been in Japan. Thanks to that dreaded ‘C’ word, my two to three visits a year suddenly stopped and Japan was Sayonara baby.
With much excitement, I am back in the land of matchy matchy dress sense, vending machine convenience and the downright bizarre. Unfortunately, the other half wasn’t able to get time off work, so my 5 night stay in Tokyo is being done solo. I will try my hardest to have enough fun for the both of us. It’s a tough ask but I’m willing to do it for the one I love.
After a delayed departure, sporadic turbulence, a few movies, a nana nap and a bumpy landing, I arrive at the hotel just before 10pm. Being super prepared (who would have thought), I made a quick pitstop at the local convenience store to pick up some yoghurt for breakfast.
Visiting a ‘Family Mart’, ‘Lawsons’ or ‘7Eleven’ is a must do if in Japan. It’s a bit like playing Russian Roulette. You just never know what you might end up with. Yes, there are some pictures to help you, but the outcome might just be an eye squinting ‘what the heck is that’. With that in mind, my hunt for breakfast yoghurt (when tired might I add) resulted in a very quick eeny-meeny-miney-mo. Who said I wasn’t a risk taker?
That brings me to this morning. I open up my yoghurt to discover a strange flavour that I just can’t describe. Not quite an eye squinting ‘yuck’, but definitely a ‘mmm that’s interesting, not sure I’ll buy that again’. Believing the package looked like natural yoghurt, I appear to have been proved wrong when googletranslate told me it was Bulgaria. I think there’s been something lost in translation. I’m still not sure what it is, but at least it is low sugar!
This morning I had grand plans of heading out on a day trip to Kawagoe, an Edo town about 45 minutes out of Tokyo. Having never been there before, I was excited to do something I hadn’t done in my previous 27 trips to Japan. My plans were swiftly put on hold by the rain. I made it three steps out my door before I came up with plan B and was back at the convenience store buying an umbrella.
Putting Kawagoe off until tomorrow, I decided to head to Shinjuku for a bit of retail therapy. Boarding my train and settling comfortably into my seat for the 30 minute ride, my attention was drawn to the information screen sharing current delays. This was quite interesting as Japanese trains tend to run like clockwork. As each delay popped up, a reason was given. 1. Person on track. 2. Unidentified noise. 3. Removal of object. 4. Safety check. Let’s just hope someone didn’t jump, scream ‘oh crap what have I done?’ and require removal.
Having been to Shinjuku many a time, I thought a trawl around the second hand luxury good stores might be a good wet weather activity. Having no success finding a bargain (tight arse Tanya isn’t as easily pleased as she once was), I decided to venture into Koreatown, just north of Kabukicho.
The walk through this area in all of the backstreets, was lovely. Once past the ‘red light’ area, girly bars and love hotels, the Korean feel opened up. Booby signs were replaced with the smell of delicious Korean BBQ coming out of the many restaurants. I’m surprised I haven’t stumbled across this area before. I did consider stopping in for a BBQ lunch, but I had other plans….Cue the 2D Cafe.
I imagine this is where all the ‘influencers’ come to take their instagram shots. Funnily enough, there were several people in there ‘filming’ with Japanese narration. I’ve no idea what they were saying, but I might have been a YouTube extra.
This very unique cafe is completely made up of black and white. Colour comes in the form of the delicious treats that they make. I couldn’t help but have a Korean shaved ice for lunch. I told myself that ice is water so I was essentially eating strawberries and water for lunch. Healthy right. Who am I kidding?
As I rested my feet and enjoyed my delicious treat, I was grateful I hadn’t filled up on BBQ first. They also did a delicious looking slice of cake that looked like a 2D drawing on the plate. I contemplated buying one just to get a photo, but thought I would just end up eating it as well.
Lunch done, I contemplated jumping on the train back to central Shinjuku but decided that walking off lunch might be a better option and a good way to spend the afternoon. At least with all that water consumed, I wouldn’t get dehydrated.
Since my last visit to Tokyo, several of my favourite places are no longer open, including the beloved Pepper Lunch near my hotel. Devastation was short lived when a quick google search showed a different outlet 15 minutes away.
There’s something really delicious about thinly sliced beef, rice, corn, pepper and garlic butter sizzling away on a hot pan. It’s even better when it gets so hot that you end up with a crunchy bottom. After reenergising at the hotel, I headed out for dinner. This new Pepper Lunch was fully automated. Thank goodness for the ‘English’ button. As always it was absolutely delicious and didn’t disappoint. Anyone who says Japan is expensive is heading to the wrong places. This delicious dinner cost a total of ¥890.
My evening was spent strolling Ameyayokocho, an area that was a black market after World War 2. It is now a bustling and busy open air market area with everything from eateries to shoe shops.
Heading back to the hotel, I was drawn to a dessert/bakery that was beside my hotel’s entrance. It wasn’t the lure of decadent sweets but rather the big sign on the door with words I couldn’t read but a ¥70 in large red print. My tight arse ways got the better of me as I was intrigued by what ¥70 could buy you from a fancy store. Low and behold, ¥70 can buy you a delicious crème caramel. Talk about a bargain! Tight arse Tanya couldn’t pass that one up!
What an end to our wonderful five week holiday we have had. Travelling out of New York we were on a winning streak and everything went so smoothly. I even managed to stay awake on that red eye flight and snap a photo as we were flying into Los Angeles. Believe it or not, coming out of LAX ran smoothly and we made it to our hotel in record time. No frustration or looking for the red sign like last time.
Fast forward 24 hours and our run of good luck abruptly came to an end. Thinking we had two days to relax and prepare for our trip home, we chose to hang around the hotel rather than travel into central LA. After such a busy five weeks, the thought of doing nothing sounded like heaven.
Laying on our hotel bed resting my worn out feet, you can imagine my response when a notification popped up on my phone advising that our flight the following evening had been cancelled. Believe it or not, I managed to maintain a calmness that I didn’t realise I had. We had survived two hurricanes and an earthquake this trip, surely a cancelled flight could also be overcome.
So here I sit at LAX, another 24 hours later and the resolution of the cancelled flight wasn’t quite what I hoped for. Instead of our 13.5 hour direct flight home, we now have a 15 hour flight to Sydney, an 8.5 hour wait, then another 1.5 hour flight to Brisbane. So essentially, we now have a 25 hour trip home. We can fly to the UK in less than that time! And just to sweeten me up a little more, our business class upgrade request was unsuccessful.
What can one say or do. These are the joys of travelling!
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