Our next day in Tokyo started off interestingly. While we were sleeping, we were woken up at about 5:45am by mild shaking, and the wooden window screens in our hotel moving around. Turns out there was a 5.1 magnitude off the coast of Ichinomiya, not too far from Tokyo. In Tokyo the intensity level was "most of the people indoors feel the shaking. Suspended objects such as electric lights swing slightly." Luckily, the earthquake didn't cause any damage, but it was a reminder that Japan is one of the most seismically active areas on earth.
After going back to sleep, we woke up and had a coffee and a snack at 7-11 and took the train to Asakusa. The last time we were in Japan, we stayed in this neighborhood. It's centered around a large temple complex with a long tourist shopping street leading up to it. On this morning it was incredibly crowded, so much so that we didn't even walk down the main path to the temple. We noticed the Tokyo Marathon was in town, with 38,000 runners, which may have added to the amount of tourists. We approached the temple down the side street, checking out the gate and pagoda along the way. We walked over to the nearby Hanayashiki amusement park, where Paul went in and took a spin on Japan's oldest roller coaster, which he had ridden back in 2011 as well. We then took a quick iced coffee/matcha break at Sukemasa coffee.
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| So crowded! |
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| Senso-ji temple is one of the most impressive in Tokyo. |
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| So crowded... |
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| ...like unpleasant, 'why are we even here' levels of crowds! |
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| Roller coaster time! |
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| A creme-brulee iced coffee. |
We had a reservation at the Tokyo Skytree in the afternoon, so we began walking east. It was a pleasant walk on a sunny day. We crossed the river and stopped by a small Shinto temple, the Ushijima Shrine, along the way. It was very quiet and peaceful, and had torii entrances from three sides.
We arrived at the Skytree a bit early, and had lunch in the bustling food court of the shopping center that surrounds the base of the Skytree. It's a big tourist area, and was quite busy. We then proceeded to the top of the Skytree, which had amazing views across the city. We could also see mountains in the distance, but unfortunately Mt. Fuji was hidden behind some clouds. There was also a "Genshin Impact" special exhibit at the top. Descending from the top, we walked around the shopping area a bit, passing by the Kirby Café. We couldn't go in, because reservations are nearly impossible to get and are snapped up for the entire month within minutes of being posted. 😓
It was a delightfully sunny and warm day for March 1 in Tokyo, so we took a little unplanned stroll to the south along a path we saw from the top of the Skytree. Called Oyokogawa Park, it was a stream that was redone into a walking and recreation area, with a fishing pond, playgrounds, a bike route, and dog parks. It's a fantastic neighborhood amenity. Along the way we walked passed the Museum of Tobacco and Salt, and couldn't resist visiting. It's a weirdly great museum, with high-tech exhibits. One half focuses on tobacco, and you guessed it, the other half focuses on salt.
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| Walking across the river. |
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| Ushijima Shrine. |
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| Ushijima Shrine from the inside. |
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| Some more early-budding cherry trees. |
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| The Skytree is absolutely massive - 2,080 feet, to be exact! |
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| David got some takoyaki for lunch in the food court. |
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| Paul went more in the bento box direction. |
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| Everything in Asia has a mascot, if you haven't noticed already. |
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| Skytree looming above. |
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| Views toward Shinjuku and Shibuya, with the Tokyo Dome visible. |
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| The huge shadow of the Skytree. |
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| David at the top. |
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| They had a small glass floor section. |
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| Skytree through the cherry blossoms. |
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| They wouldn't let us eat here, but no one stopped us from taking a picture and pretending! |
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| Nothing to see here! Just a Pikachu riding a Rayquaza. Duh. |
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| A very nice walk on a lovely day. |
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| These urban amenities make cities like Tokyo pretty special. |
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| Tobacco and Mt. Fuji. |
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| Paul trying to peddle his wares! |
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| The entrance to the salt exhibit. |
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| Fact. |
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| A cute mosaic in the park. |
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| Looking back at the Skytree. |
We walked a bit further down the path to a train station, and took the train back to Akihabara. Since this was our last evening of the entire trip, we decided to do some shopping. We started at Super Potato, which we had visited back in 2011. It's a cool little store that covers a couple of cramped floors and is packed with vintage video game items. We also stopped by Don Quijote again and picked up a backpack and some more souvenirs, before heading back to the hotel. Confession: the backpack was necessary to hold all the stuff we've bought this trip and would double as a gift for our nephew as well.
One thing we noticed in Tokyo is there are an incredible amount of capsule machines and claw games, way more than our visit back in 2011. It seems many of the Pachinko parlors are being replaced. Capsule machines are pretty much everywhere, including in stores, museum gift shops, in train stations, and even just on the street. Tokyo remains a very clean and organized city.
That night we had dinner reservations at 7:30 at Tsukada Nojo Akihabara. We had stopped by here the first night of our trip and found out reservations were needed, so we had made them for this night. David thought it would be more of an izakaya, but it was actually a restaurant the focuses on chicken. We had the chicken set meal (with chicken five different ways, including a delicious and smoky charcoal chicken), a broccoli cheese pancake, brussels sprout tempura, veggies with a delicious miso paste, and high balls and beer to drink. It was a nice atmosphere and very busy with people seemingly getting off work and stopping in with coworkers. Overall, we'd recommend it if you're in the neighborhood, but make sure to make a reservation.
On the way home Paul got an ice cream from Azabu Sabo next to the train station, and we wandered around the mall for a bit, went to six story arcade, and played Mario Kart and some claw games (which certainly seemed to be rigged!). Finally, David got a custard fish from his corner fish place (right by our hotel).
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| A game at Super Potato - that's over $1,100 - even with the good exchange rate. |
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| David playing Street Fighter in Super Potato. |
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| Charcoal chicken at dinner. |
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| The miso paste in the middle was soooo delicious! |
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| Tsukada Nojo was a good experience. |
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| David with a broccoli pancake. |
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| Cherry blossom ice cream! |
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| Tile artwork at a sushi place. |
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| Paul got first place in Mario Kart! |
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| Go David! |
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| Who even knows what's down this alley, but it screams Japan. |
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| Getting a taiyaki fish. |
Our final day of the trip was a partial day in Tokyo. We started early and walked to the Kanda shrine just three minutes from the hotel. It had multiple small buildings clustered around a big central building, and for some reason had a miniature horse. There was also an indoor tourist shop with Edo-era themed gifts. It was quite lively by the time we left. We then walked across the street to Yushima Seido. This was a 17th century Confucian temple. It was really quiet, and didn't seem to be fully in operation. There were some art exhibit statues in the main courtyard.
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| Colorful buildings at the Kanda shrine. |
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| Always look for the foxes! |
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| We all love a good torii shot! |
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| David is a ninja coin. |
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| Overview of the shrine. |
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| The gift shop was cute. |
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| Yushima Seido, which was much quieter and darker. |
Next we wandered around Akihabara a bit before our 11am reservation at the Eorzea Cafe. This is a Final Fantasy XIV themed café that was high on David's list of things to see in Tokyo. The food tasted... fine but was super cute. The drinks were really impressive (but came with a bit too much ice). We also got a themed coaster with each item ordered.
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| Views of the river in Akhabara. |
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| David is ready! |
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| Atmospheric. |
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| That moogle is drunk. |
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| It's giving...Gridania. |
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| Coasters and interesting drinks. |
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| David with the Red Mage drink (his favorite character class in Final Fantasy). |
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| Adorable! |
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| A cute little curry guy. |
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| We almost felt bad eating this cute little chocobo. |
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| Chocolate toast in the form of a mini-game in Final Fantasy. |
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| There was also a Dragon Quest (AKA "Dragon Warrior") bar in the same building. |
We then took the train just two stops to the Tokyo Dome area, where Paul rode "Panic Coaster: back!? daaan!!" (yes, that's the official name in English). This is a bizarre indoor family coaster that features a sizeable backwards section. The are around the Tokyo Dome was quite busy (maybe a baseball game or some other event was happening?) so we took the train back to Akihabara and went to Kielo Coffee. It was a cute little shop, and luckily we snagged a table and were able to relax for a bit.
Our final stop was some shopping. We went to an area called "2k540 aki-oka artisan," which was a couple dozen small shops with nice crafts and goods tucked away under a railroad overpass. We also stopped at a small retro video game store.
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| What a weird little coaster. |
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| This escalator went down, flattened out, then went down some more. I don't think we've ever seen that. |
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| A matcha heart at Kielo Coffee. |
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| Cute sign for a video game store. |
With the day half over, and our time in Japan coming to a close, it was time to head to the airport. We were flying out of Haneda this time (every other time it had been Narita). Haneda is much easier to reach with public transit in Tokyo - no express train required. Our flight was slightly delayed and we had also built in some extra time, so we got to our gate almost 3 hours early. Just gave us some more time for last minute airport shopping! 😏
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| Taking the monorail to the airport. |
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| Goodbye Tokyo! |
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| Uhh...where is all this stuff going in our condo? To be fair, we did visit four countries over two weeks...and most of this is for other people! |
And that wrapped up our 2024 four-city Asia trip. We had a fantastic time, visiting new cities and returning to Seoul and Tokyo. We hope to return to Asia again soon!
