2019 NIPPON

Ryokan Takemine

A Japanese-style breakfast was delivered to our room at 8:30am and it was an awesome way to start the day. It was interesting to see what was considered to be a traditional Japanese breakfast versus what we usually have in the US. In general, it seemed like my typical breakfast in the US is a lot more sweet and in general is just more carbohydrates and dairy. The little bento box with pickled veggies and egg was delicious and cute. I wish I could have my breakfast in a bento box every day.

Then we packed all our stuff and first stopped at Akihabara station to drop off all our luggage in a coin locker for the day before heading to Tokyo station.

Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station Character Street

For whatever reason, this took us a while to find because we were following Google Maps which didn’t really show that this is on B1F so we wandered around like very confused people on 1F for a good 15 minutes.

Eventually we found the character goods street which is basically a long stretch at Tokyo Station (outside the gates to the trains) where all the stores sell character goods! Our first shop was the shonen jump store and I couldn’t resist the My Hero Academia stuff because, in general, we hadn’t seen a lot of their merchandise at Don Quijote or in gashapon.

I also spent forever looking for Otona Joshi Biyori, which is supposed to be a anime cosmetics store with a lot of Sailor Moon merchandise but it literally closed just a couple of months ago, boo. We also went to the Pokemon store which had a ton of cute stuff that was pretty affordable. We went a little crazy a bought a bunch of charms as well as a really cute Pikachu carbiner. After a while, we head to the Pokemon Cafe for our lunch reservation.

Pokemon Cafe

Before we left for Japan, we made reservations at the Pokemon Cafe. The website was entirely in Japanese but turning Google Translate on and off really got us through the whole online process and we were pumped to be here. This cafe is also next to one of many Pokemon Centers so this was a good two-in-one visit.

There was an iPad we were able to use and order items, and an English instruction guide that let us know that there’s a free random coaster for every drink you order. After we put in our orders, we walked around and took pictures of all the cute toys and plushies they had in the cafe.

When our food arrived, we just marveled at how cute and well-done they looked. I would say that the taste was average but the looks were fantastic. Meanwhile, both our drinks were pretty legit. I think if we went again, we’d skip the food and just order drinks! We got an articuno drink and a ditto drink which came with a color-changing light that illuminated the drink from below.

Just as we finished taking pictures of our food, we got surprised by a visit from Chef Pikachu. Are you prepared for the cuteness overload? We did regret that we couldn’t understand what the narrator was saying since it was all in Japanese. But the cuteness was easy to appreciate and we got to shake Chef Pikachu’s hand!

After Pikachu went to the other side of the store, we finally started eating and the food got cold by then, haha. Well, it was worth because the gifs we got are so freaking cute.

The reservation is for a 90min time block and you can’t order during the last thirty minutes. It wasn’t a problem for us but probably a good consideration if you want dessert. At some point towards the end of our reservation, a worked came by to let us roll for our random coasters and we got Pikachu and Zapdos! Pretty much the best outcome and we couldn’t believe that Magnemite was a possibility because that would’ve been disappointing.

On out way back, we did walk through the Tokyo Station Character Street again as well as the little street/hallway of gashapon where I got a couple of sweet Sailor Moon gashapon trinkets that are like tiny standing mirrors. Then we made our way back to Akihabara Station.

Akihabara

Toshio Suzuki and Studio Ghibli Exhibit

I found out about the exhibit via a friend who messaged me earlier during our trip in Japan. Day of, we bought tickets at a Lawson with a Loppi machine. That was some major trial and error, haha. It took Henry and me a while to figure it out since we had to use Google Translate to get through the menus because the English pages didn’t include a way to look up the tickets for this exhibit. This exhibit wasn’t too far from Akihabara station and was at the Kanda Myojin Shrine.

Overall, the exhibit was surprisingly crowded since we were hoping our luck with Golden Week ending would continue in terms of crowds. And as we made our way through the exhibit it was pretty cramped and clearly not catered toward non-Japanese speakers. We couldn’t really appreciate a lot of the exhibit because everything was in Japanese.

I did look up information about the exhibit beforehand so that helped me a bit. But I was mostly there just to pull a fortune out of Zeniba’s mouth and that was cute. The model of the bathhouse was also really cool. The detail that really stood out to me was the side of it where you can see the stairs Chihiro took when she left the bathhouse to the trains.

After quickly going through the exhibit, we headed back to Akihabara and proceeded to buy all the things.

Gashapon Hall

This was our first stop simply because we kept wanting to go but missed it twice because either we ran out of time or realized too late that it closes at 8:30pm. There sure were some bizzare finds here and I honestly find it funny that there were so many gashapon that gave really weird items. Unfortunately, I think we didn’t find too much that interested us and I was sad to see that there weren’t too many Sailor Moon gashapon. I feel like I found the better ones just randomly around.

At the Yamashiroya in Ueno, they had the victorian-style Sailor Moon portrait charms. At the mall, Zepp DiverCity Tokyo, behind the life-size gundam statue, I found the cool mini-mirror stands. And at the Tokyo station gashapon street, I got the big locket compact. The Sailor Moon store in Harajuku had little metal charms in the shape of the transformation wands.

Sofmap

We then headed to Sofmap to get Henry his gundam! I didn’t end up buying anything this time but walked around for a bit trying to see if they had any Sailor Moon themed electronic accessories but no luck.

Akiba Culture Zone

We then headed to Akiba Culture Zone that is filled with little shops on multiple floors. I ended up finding some really soft, fuzzy Sailor Moon socks and Henry actually found another Gundam he wanted to buy, haha. We were going to have to do some serious magic with our packing later.

There also a few small shops that seemed to specialize in selling everything you might find in gashapon at slightly higher price. I found basically everything you could get in any Sailor Moon gashapon but decided I didn’t want anything because of the price. And honestly, I like the gambling aspect of gashapon–so when you do get something cool at the lower price point, it’s more exciting.

Animate & Animate Girl’s Station

I then wanted to check these places out but forgot we had already been to the Animate. Once I walked in, I remembered that I honestly didn’t know any of the current anime or manga that was mostly at Animate. And then the Animate Girls’ Station was actually pretty disappointing overall. There wasn’t a lot of merchandise and it felt pretty empty and sparse.

mini Pablo

Luckily, we ended the night on a high point when I spotted the mini Pablo on our way back to Akihabara station! I cannot stress enough how good the uji matcha and red bean flavor was. The match filling just oozed into your mouth and the red bean topping was delicious. It was just so good.

Kinshicho

Lotte City Hotel

After we picked up our stuff from the coin locker, we headed to our themed hotel for the night at Lotte City Hotel! We booked this room before going to Japan and it was a struggle to get through the reservation process again as the English website for the hotel didn’t display the Koala rooms. I stayed on the Japanese version and just used Google Translate to go through the confusing process of room reservation.

But it was worth it because the room was adorable and came with a Koala cookie pillow! Pretty much everything had a Koala design from the toilet paper to the rugs. There was even this privacy type sheet that rolled down with a Koala on it (you can see it in the middle picture above). And of course the room came with Koala cookies.

Since we didn’t have dinner yet, we showered and then headed out to look around for food. On our way out, we did drop by the 7eleven at the bottom of the hotel building and I think we saw sumo wrestlers! There were huge, tall men walking around in yukata with the iconic hairstyle. Also at that 7eleven, we finally spotted the Tsuta-branded instant ramen and bought one to take home! We didn’t go crazy and bring back a bunch, plus the restaurant does do more legit souvenir ramen that isn’t dehydrated noodles

As we walked around near our hotel, we just looked at all the open izakaya restaurants and picked one that looked interested.

It was a pretty good find and had sashimi, yakisoba, thick-cut bacon, and some drinks. I honestly don’t remember what kind of liquor we had in our mixed drink, but it was delicious and refreshing! There was also a cute grill that we cooked the bacon on right at our table. After eating our fill, we headed back to our hotel to sleep with the Koalas.

Odaiba

Originally, Sushi Dai was recommended to us by our friends but according to them and the internets, you normally have to get there by 3am to wait for the 5am opening if you don’t want to wait for four hours, which is the normal wait time if you don’t make the first or second seating. We said screw that because we were tired. I had even wanted to try getting to the market around 5am, when it opened, but we woke up around 7am and had to pack because we were going to a different hotel later that night. We stashed our stuff at a coin locker in Akihabara station, planning on being back in the afternoon to hit up more shops, and then we headed to Toyosu Fish Market.

Our JR rail pass actually ended yesterday so we just used Google Maps and our Suica cards, and that worked out pretty well. While we were on the rails, there were so many more people in suits. We had noticed last night that yesterday had been the last day of their Golden Week and I guess this meant everybody was back at work.

Sushi Dai

We actually walked to Daiwa Sushi first since it was closer to the bus stop we got off at. There was no line outside so we were about to go in, but we didn’t have enough cash on us at that moment so we kept walking and ended up finding an ATM machine on the way to Sushi Dai. We decided that if Daiwa Sushi had zero line, may there was a chance that there would be a less intense wait at Sushi Dai. When we got to Sushi Dai, we almost thought it was closed because there was no one sitting in any of the chairs they had out in front!

It was a real treat to arrive at Sushi Dai around 10:18am and be seated with no wait time. We finally got sushi while in Japan and the omakase meal really hit the spot. For only 4500 yen each, this was amazing. And I will say, it was an experience to eat Spanish Mackerel sperm… I told myself it was just mayonnaise and my brain was mostly able to get over the gross factor. It’s a little weird that I don’t find it weird at all to eat fish eggs but there is so much gross factor with the idea of eating animal sperm.

I think what surprised us the most was that even the lean fish was super soft and not fishy at all. In the states, I think it’s fairly easy to find good fatty salmon or tuna but things like snapper and mackerel are often more fishy and rubbery. Everything we got was fresh tasting, even the lean tuna!

But yea, we think the pro tip is to go here the day after Golden Week ends if you want to go without a crazy wait and after getting a reasonable amount of sleep.

Toyosu Fish Market

After we finished at Sushi Dai, we tried to find our way to the Fish Market but couldn’t really figure out how to get to the main floor. I think it might have been finished already since we went relatively late in the morning. We were able to peak down from the observatory area but it wasn’t really busy and we weren’t able to see much. It did smell very fishy though and we saw a group of students rushing around trying to fill out worksheets, haha.

On our way out, we walked around the souvenir shop area and then briefly went up the the roof garden. Which is where I learned why you don’t walk and talk pictures at the same time. Shortly after I took this picture, I tripped and scrapped my hand up because of what I think was a gutter.

We then started to head over to the Mori Digital Art Museum that was not too far away from where we were.

Palette Town

On our way to the Mori Digital Art Museum, we walked around Palette Town and checked out the Venus Fort mall. The interior reminded us a lot of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. I realized then that I wore jeans instead of pants conducive to wushu poses so we tried to walk around find some relatively cheap sweat pants, but we quickly realized we were probably in the wrong place for the price point we were looking for.

On our way to the digital art museum, we passed some Toyota building as well as this gigantic ferris wheel. And then we waited at the Wendy’s to meet up with Henry’s family.

Mori Digital Art Museum: teamLab Borderless

This museum was the epitome of eye-candy and Henry’s cousin half-jokingly said, “I’m in Instagram hell.”

Everything here makes you want to take pictures so it was hard to put our phones down and just enjoy the exhibits. I honestly didn’t calm down until towards the end after we got all our wushu pictures done… But it was great to put the phone camera away and just interact with the exhibits! A lot of the projections are interactive and there’s even an app that tells you about each exhibit and lets you interact directly with the color schemes or etc!

Our favorite exhibits were the infinite waves, crystal room, lantern room, and flower animals!

And of course, obligatory wushu poses.

Honestly, we took so many pictures here–it was ridiculous.

Unicorn Gundam Statue

After something like three hours at the Mori Digital Art Museum, we headed nearby to the Unicorn Gundam Statue! We walked through the cafe/shop behind it as well as the mall. Checked this off our must-see list for Japan!

Ochiai

Ryokan Takemine

This hotel is sort of a fusion between a ryokan and a western hotel and it’s very well done. We got to our room and gasped at the size and set up. I just couldn’t believe we had stepping stones in gravel leading up to the tatami area and corners for bamboo plants. The huge bath and shower area was fantastic–it was such a treat to sit in a massive bath after so much walking over this trip.

We were also served a set meal in our room and this was included as well as our breakfast for the room and price we chose earlier.

I think the only disappointing thing was that we wanted the kaiseki dinner and were told that we were supposed to call a week before to get it however, their website specifically states that you need to call three days prior and we did that. I think there was some communication issues because when I called about the dinner, the receptionist said we just need to indicate our meal at check-in, and I guess the website is just wrong. In the end, we still really enjoyed our meal (although I think we were a starving a bit) and it was just such a treat to get served the meal in our room.

Harajuku pt 1

Originally, we had been planing on going to Gram cafe first to see if we could get pancake tickets for the 6pm time slot. But because we were running a little late and had gotten to Harajuku station at around 10:30am, I decided that we should get our tickets for the Mame-shiba Inu cafe first. We got to the Mame-shiba Inu Cafe around 10:45am and we were able to get tickets for the 11:15am time slot. Each ticket was 880 yen and they take cash only, with exact change preferred.

Then we checked out gram cafe and found out you have to come an hour before the serving times to get tickets. We planned to come back around 4 or 4:30pm to line up for the 5pm ticket handout which is for the 6pm serving time, haha. In general, they only serve their premium souffle pancakes at 11am, 3pm, and 6pm, and for each time, they only make 20 servings total. Which means that an hour before each serving time, they hand out only 20 pancake tickets. No deposit necessary, you just have to be the one of the first 20 people to ask for tickets at 10am, 2pm, and 5pm. We were wondering if we could ask for the 6pm tickets at 10am but turns out you can only go during that hour before for each specific serving time.

So while we were waiting for our time slot for the shiba inu cafe, we walked around a bit and looked at all the crazy cute stuff. We managed to finally get one of those animal hats we’d been seeing on so many people where the ears move when you press the paws and it was pretty fabulous–we picked a unicorn hat with a rainbow mane and shiny silver horn!

Harajuku Mame-shiba Inu Cafe

We got back to the Mame-shiba inu cafe approximately 10 minutes before our time slot. After going in, there was a quick safety video about not feeding or picking up the dogs as well as not interrupting them if they were fighting with each other (which was for our safety to avoid getting bit).

The dogs were adorable but definitely less playful than most dogs. Our friends had told us previously that shiba inu have temperaments a bit closer to cats so they just played with themselves and didn’t really seem to like being petted. A few dogs were napping or relaxing and they were more tolerant. The rest were just running around fighting/playing with each other for most of our thirty minute time slot. But hey, we wanted to cross off animal cafe on our must-try list in Japan! And we ended up buying really cute shiba inu bowels as souvenirs.

While we were waiting to pay, it seemed like all the dogs that had been running around like crazy were now pooped out and more chill overall so I think it’s also just really variable how much they will play with you or tolerate. I also totally forgot to finish the drink that comes included with the fee and sort of wish I had drank it–I got melon soda!

ZAKUZAKU

After we left the cafe, we wanted to try one of the snacks on the street and got drawn to this shop because of the smell and because we had seen other people eating this dessert. It was basically fried dough with strawberry yogurt filling and it wasn’t bad. I was most disappointed because I thought the dough was going to be warm and fresh but it wasn’t really. The strawberry filling was pretty good though.

We then left around 12pm to head to Shinagawa station because we were going to do MariCar!

Shinagawa

At Shinagawa station, we also spotted a store selling bento boxes so we grabbed one that looked good. I was seriously also tempted to buy the bento boxes that were in the shape of bullet trains but I resisted. Honestly, I feel like I should’ve given in. We then met up with Henry’s family and headed over to MariCar.

MariCar

This was an amazing experience and it was really nice to be driving after almost a week of only taking public transportation. To do this, you probably should make a reservation ahead of time and will need an International Driver’s License. We got ours before we left for Japan and it’s pretty simply to go to AAA and get one as long as you already have a state-issued driver’s license.

Our tour was two hours long and it was plenty of time. We drove through Shibuya crossing, around Tokyo Tower, and many more other neighborhoods I didn’t quite recognize. We would absolutely do this again, maybe at night time instead to change it up a little.

We finished maybe around 3:30pm and our guide was able to AirDrop all the pictures he took for us directly to our phones. While you can’t take pictures while driving, at full stops, he told us we could take pictures then. If you want footage while driving, make sure to bring a GoPro or rent theirs. We then headed back to Harajuku to make it back for the 6pm premium pancakes at Gram cafe!

Harajuku pt 2

We got to Gram cafe around 4pm and decided to just sit there and wait for the 5pm hand-out of tickets. Mostly we sat because we wanted to eat our food. We finally got a chance to eat the bento box we got earlier at Shinagawa station. It was pretty delicious but many regrets on not getting the bullet train shaped one, haha.

After we got our pancake tickets, we walked down Takeshita street and just took everything in. Literally everything is made to look cute and we saw multiple crepe stands as well as this really cute ice cream shop that makes all the cones into cute animals. We watched the workers cut marshmellows and other ingredients into ears and beaks, and that was just hilarious. It was pretty pricy but I guess it’s for the amount of work that goes into each scoop. The chicken scoop looked really cute and was mango flavored! Maybe if we weren’t literally about to eat pancakes, we would’ve gotten something.

Gram cafe

Finally it was time for us to get some souffle pancakes and it was really worth it. It was actually really funny because you really can’t take too long to take pictures because the pancakes start to bulge and lean over under its own weight. Good thing we got four orders so plenty of opportunity for pictures and videos!

The texture of the pancakes was pretty ridiculously soft and the dollop of cream really was necessary as a topping. These pancakes are a little more eggy than standard pancakes overall but it wasn’t overwhelming. We also tried their normal pancakes which were pretty delicious as well as french toast and some more savory foods like bacon and eggs. The thick-cut bacon was awesome. After stuffing ourselves, we headed to the Sailor Moon Store.

Sailor Moon Store

Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed. The store was smaller than I was hoping and it seemed a little lacking in merchandise overall. Additionally, stuff was super expensive. The only thing I think I really wanted was the a phone ring but they were out of the Sailor Moon one and only had the other senshi. As for the rest of the merchandise, nothing had a cute:cost ratio that stood out to me so I ended up just getting a couple things from their gashapon. I’m sure the products they carry turn over quite a bit and I think they have some exclusive items but I decided to keep my hunt for Sailor Moon products to stores like Don Quijote and random souvenir shops we came across.

Daiso

We went to the Daiso because of course, why not. Got a few souvenirs to bring back and looked at the character goods they carried.

While we continued to walk back, we walked into an electronics store and spotted some Sailor Moon chapstick and I was pretty happy! I kept looking for Sailor Moon phone cases or rings but didn’t have any luck.

Most of the shops along the street start closing around 8:30pm so we started to make our way to Akihabara for a quick stop as some of the stores were still open. Overall, I feel like we didn’t really get used to the fact that so many thing shut down fairly early. Most shops in the US will close around 10pm or maybe later depending on the type of store. But thing really start to shut down around 9pm in Japan in a lot of places we went to.

Akihabara

By the time we got to Akihabara, the number of stores still opened started to diminish pretty quickly. We didn’t realize the Gashapon Hall closed at 8:30pm and most of the Sofmaps and other electronic and anime stores were already closed by the time we got there which was probably a little after 9pm.

Game Taito

We walked through the Game Taito just to look at the crane games again. Still really didn’t see anybody winning but a few people struggling and looking like they were maybe close? I honestly wonder how much effort and money you need to sink in on average in order to win something legit. On our way out, we found a funny and free two-player game which was just how fast you can tap a button–that was really cute.

Akihabara Don Quijote

Ultimately, we ended up at the Don Quijote because it was open until 5am and this one definitely had more anime goods in general compared to the other Don Quijote in Shibuya. I managed to find my Pikachu jumper and I was super pumped. We also bought more souvenirs and then headed to our hotel after that.

Natural Lawson

So apparently Lawson’s come in different flavors and a Natural Lawson supposedly focuses on healthier foods? In any case, it’s easy to see that their convenience stores because a staple for us whenever we felt too tired to walk to a restaurant or needed food at an odd hour.

The onigiri became Henry’s favorite while I just wanted all the egg sandwiches. As for drinks, the calpis soda and Kirin milk tea because our go-tos pretty quickly except when I really craved soda and needed to get a coke. We only saw maybe two vending machines out of all the ones we came across that carried Mountain Dew. Overall, it seemed like weren’t many Pepsi products in Tokyo. We mainly only saw Coke and Fanta that were commonly found in vending machines or at stores.

Shinjuku

Kajitsuen Libre

“Kanmi nomi zo shiru!”

Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman

So I’m a little obsessed with this show on Netflix that I mentioned on the previous post. It’s a live-action TV show based off a manga that is basically about a publishing company salesman who tries his best to get his work done ASAP so he can play hooky and eat desserts for the rest of the day. All the shops he goes to are real places in Tokyo so I wanted to visit at least a couple of place during our trip. Kajitusen Libre was the second place we tried that’s known for its fruits. Fruits are serious business in Japan, we saw single mangoes worth over 50 dollars!

When we arrived, we just put our name down on a sign-in sheet with our name and number of guests. I think we only waited about half an hour to be seated and we did have a bigger party than most. While we waited, we just stared at the fruit and cakes on display. Probably the funniest thing I saw was the pyramid-shaped watermelon.

When we sat down, they were able to give us an English menu but not all the prices were accurate when we compared it to the Japanese menu. It didn’t seem like there were too many tourists at this place and the waiters weren’t as adept with basic English as in other places. But of course, pointing at the menu worked beautifully. One tip for the menu is that not all the cakes are available, only the ones you see displayed at the waiting area are the cakes they’ve made for the day. Additionally, not all fruits are in season so we couldn’t get the peach parfait that Kantaro eats on the show lol. But the melon parfait was more than enough for me (and was also briefly featured on the show)! The honey dew was so juicy and the melon ice cream was absolutely delicious. Henry got a seasonal dish that had various types of strawberries–I don’t think I knew that there were different types of strawberries– and that was really good as well. We also tried the cakes and crepes! It was somewhat expensive but it’s my understanding tha fruit, in general, is pretty expensive because it’s mostly imported.

Shinjuku Marui Annex

Seria

Since we were in Shinjuku, we went to Seria at the Shinjuku Marui Annex because it looked like one of the larger Serias when I was researching it before we left for Japan. This one was much larger than the one we saw in Ueno and made me wish we had one in the US so bad. At first, I felt a little guilty at making Henry’s family come with us to the store but they seemed to instantly take to the store and all the useful items it had. I think I got asked a few times, “Is this really just 100 yen??” The stuff that Seria sells is pretty dang high quality for what you’d expect from a dollar store and if I could, I’d bring back a whole suitcase full of stuff so that I could Marie Kondo our whole apartment.

Avengers Pop-up store

There was also an Avengers pop-up store that we checked out and found a Spiderverse gashapon. Henry doesn’t seem to have the greatest luck and we got the same Spiderman twice when we were hoping for anything but the normal Spiderman… Oh well!

Odakyu Ace

By this time, we were starving and I remembered seeing a bunch of food on the way from Shinjuku station so we ended up at Odakyu Ace. There were two floors devoted to just food and we ended up picking a tonkatsu place.

Tonkatsu Wako

I honestly was impressed by how perfectly fried the food was. I got some sort of cheese-filled beef patty and pork fillet. Henry got tempura and pork loin. We both agreed that my dish was better so I guess fillet > loin? We were also strangely super impressed by the miso soup because there were lots of little clams at the bottom!

Loft

After eating, we wandered at bit and shopped at a store called Loft. We got some really cute stickers and just looked the variety of goods they had there. But overall, this Loft was fairly small and didn’t have too much that interested us.

Shibuya

We actually then tried to walk down to Shibuya because we wanted to check out Yoyogi park and the temple on the way down but didn’t realize that the park would be closed so soon. By this time, it was a little past sunset so I guess that was a bit of a fail. We hoped on the rail to Shibuya from Yoyogi station.

Hachiko Statue

As soon as we stepped out of the station, we saw Hachiko statue on Google Maps while we were trying to orient ourselves. Of course we had to take pictures! Briefly, his story is that he would meet his owner near Shibuya station the same time every day. One day, his owner died but Hachiko continue to wait for him every day at the same spot for almost nine years before Hachiko died as well. His story is seen as one about faithfulness and loyalty.

From the statue, it’s easy to see Shibuya crossing because you’re basically right there!

Shibuya Crossing and Starbucks

We spotted the Starbucks and went up to the second floor where many people were already doing what we planned on doing: taking pictures of Shibuya crossing–the busiest crossing in the world apparently? We sat there for a while trying to get all our time-lapse videos and even saw some people in MariCar go by!

On our way out we saw a crowd of really excited and rowdy men who were singing. On closer look, we saw they were gathered around what we think was some J-idol girl group. We couldn’t even hear them sing because the guys were so loud and pumped.

Disney Store

We headed to the Disney store just because I saw it on the map and I wasn’t disappointed. Except in the crazy prices. But everything was crazy cute even if my wallet wasn’t going to open up for the cost.

Mega Don Quijote

We then headed to the Mega Don Quijote nearby and it was massive! We ended up finding a really cute Gudetama shirt as well as more Studio Ghibli socks that were Spirted Away themed! Seriously, take my money. I did also see a Pikachu jumper that I really wanted but it was out of stock, boo.

At some point we also walked by a massive Loft store that looked really cool, but it was closed by the time we got to it. Whenever we go back to Japan, I’ll be sure to try to check out this store.

After the Mega Don Quijote, it was time to go home and sleep!

Sugamo

Tsuta Ramen pt.1

We woke up at 6am to get to Tsuta Ramen by 7am to line up for tickets. When we got there, about 24 people were already in front of us lol. Around 7:30am, they started handing tickets out and we were able to get two for the 11am time slot. Each ticket requires an 1000 yen deposit so bring cash (they were able to give us change just because so many people ahead of us gave them 1000 yen notes)! After that, we wandered around to Sugamo Jizodori shopping street.

Jizodori shopping street pt. 1

It was a bit too early to really enjoy it because street vendors were only just starting to set up. So we first went to a 7eleven for breakfast and then pulled out Google Maps and then wandered to a nearby park, Nishigahara Minnano Park, to chill for an hour or so.

Nishigahara Minnano Park

This park was a fun side stop just because we found these little exercise stations for the elderly. Of course we had to try them out. In general, it seemed like neighborhood residents were out and about. One kid ran laps the entire hour we were there. One bro was doing tricep dips, handstands, and etc. And then a couple of older people were being awesome–I love watching elderly asian women doing random exercises and stretches in public.

Jizodori Shopping street pt.2

As we walked back towards Tsuta ramen around 10am, the Jizodori shopping street was way more alive. I could see why it was called “Grandma’s Harajuku”–there were a lot of old lady undies for sale. But also in general, a lot of the knickknacks and products were geared toward an older crowd. But food wise, it seemed similar to most of the things we’d seen before. There are also plenty of shops on the street and I kept sidetracking us into all the bakeries. I had to get bread from the Tokyo Melon Anpan shop that we had walked by twice already when it was closed. I loved the store front design and the plain melon bread was so good–the bread was so soft but the topping was so crunchy. We also got an apple pie per Henry’s request. We ended up also grabbing a curry bun and this red bean filled pancake (doriyaki?) for later on the way. Everything we got was somewhere in the ballpark of 100 to 200 yen.

Tsuta ramen pt. 2 – the finale

We got back to Tsuta around 10:30am and we ended up 7th and 8th in line for the 11am time slot! Around 10:45am, they had us start ordering at the vending machine. We got lucky and made the first seating of 9 people. We ordered shoyu ramen with char siu and seasoned egg + truffle topping (which cost an extra 1000 yen) as well as the shio with char siu and seasoned egg + extra char siu. In total, the meal cost us 4000 yen. The vending machine prints out your order and then the waiter collects it from you and checks to see what toppings go with which bowl. After that, you exit to wait outside again to be seated lol. Basically, we lined up three times–luckily the first time was only 30min, the 2nd time was only 15min, and the 3rd was another 15min.

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The ramen itself was amazeballs. For sure, the shoyu with truffle topping was the best. We’re not sure if it’s because we like shoyu more or if the truffle topping just made a world of difference–but I would recommend the shoyu. And seriously, look at the size of those triffle shavings. I legitimately think that was the best ramen I’ve ever had. As for the shio, I wasn’t a huge fan of the clam/seafood flavor. It was well done, but the truffle flavor wasn’t that strong. And once I had the shoyu broth with truffle shavings, anything else wasn’t going to match up. Eating took us about 30min total and then we walked back to our hotel fighting food comas.

Iidabashi

Kinozen

“Kanmi nomi zo shiru!”

Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman

We went to Kinozen in Iidabashi because of the show “Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman” for specifically the Matcha Bavarian Cream but we also ordered the Cream Ammitsu which surprisingly stole the show for us. I’m glad we got the Matcha Bavarian Cream but I really, really loved the Cream Ammitsu. In both of the desserts, the red bean paste was absolutely the most amazing ingredient. And the in general, the ammitsu was such a refreshing and delicious dessert with really awesome textures because of the mix of agar cubes, mochi, fruit, and ice cream. I’m so glad we went to this restaurant and I’m honestly thinking about trying ammitsu in more places.

Kagurazaka slope

After we finished eating at Kinozen, we just walked up and down Kagurazaka slope which is a street full of restaurants and shops. Apparently this area has a lot of French influence and we did notice a bunch of patisserie shops and other French restaurants. In general, nothing really stood out to us besides a shop with crane machines and a hippe/yoga shop that attracted us with loud music.

Akihabara

When we first got to Akihabara station, we definitely left through the wrong exit. Pro tip: always just go to the exit labelled, “Electric Town Gate.” It took us forever to find the main streets of Akihabara and we finally did, the first thing we got to see was a group of girls performing. I think they were an amateur J-idol girl group just because the crowd was small and they looked a little green. After taking videos of that, we spotted the Gundam Cafe nearby and then took off to explore.

I would cover each store we went to but we were so tired and running out of gas and I honestly don’t remember all the places we went. I swear we went to at least four different shops with crane machines and at least two of them were SEGA stores. We definitely went to Gamers, Animate, and two of the Sofmap shops. We scoured the crane machines for something we actually wanted but we weren’t too interested in a lot of the figurines and I think our tastes are a little old school–I felt like I didn’t recognize 85% of the anime characters. We saw only ONE dude who managed to get a figurine at a claw machine. We also kept looking at the gashapon for things that might interest us but no luck tonight.

At our last two stops, which were the Sofmap shops, we found something called Paper Theater and ended up splurging so hard on ones that were Studio Ghibli, Pokemon, DBZ, and Star Wars themed. Some lucky friends are getting a few of these! Our original plan was to get everybody stuff from cool gashapon but these Paper Theater things really caught our eye and we spent enough to finally take advantage of the tax-free thing.

The whole time, we were trying to make our way to the Don Quijote and Gachapon Hall but by the time we were done at the two Sofmaps stores, we were ready to call it quits. We jumped on the Yamanote line and then headed back to our hotel while grabbing Wendy’s on the way–the Wendy’s was a mistake. Not sure if this is true everywhere, but we’re unlikely to try any US food chains here from now on. Would rather eat at the convenience stores which really had delicious, cheap food.

FamilyMart brunch

We decided to take the day easy and stay near our hotel because we were so exhausted and sore from a jam-packed two days in Kyoto. All the walking really took a hit on us so we slept in a bit. When we got hungry, we decided to get breakfast at the nearby FamilyMart and I went a little crazy with buying snacks.

While we were hallway through eating in our hotel, the room cleaning service came by so we finished our meal in the lobby. We also caught our first Farfetch’d on Pokemon Go! Since we wanted to give the hotel time to make our bed and change the sheets, we started walking around Ueno for a bit. We actually headed to Ueno Park but called it quite pretty fast because it was hot and we were wearing our sneakers. On our way back to the hotel, we stumbled across Ameyoko shopping street and couldn’t resist.

Ameyoko Shopping Street

There were plenty of shops to walk through and we even dropped by a Mastumoto Kiyoshi to grab some menthol patches for our calves. Most importantly, I saw our first Sailor Moon gashapon at a toy store called Yamashiroya.

On our way back to the hotel we also saw a sign for Seria in the Ueno Marui department store so we went in and bought some souvenirs. Seria is seriously one of the highest quality dollar stores (actually 100yen) I’ve ever been to. I wish these existed in the US!

We also dropped by Uniqlo to check out the sale they were having for golden week! The cashier we met there had probably the best English we’d heard so far. After this, we headed back to our hotel room to rest for a bit now that it was cleaned.

Ueno Park

After we rested up, we decided to explore Ueno Park more and along the way, we saw a Lotteria bakery and decided to drop by because of the panda pastries. The sakura bean paste was surprisingly delicious.

We wandered around Ueno Park which was surprisingly huge because we didn’t look it up beforehand. Apparently there is a zoo there too and that explained the panda designs everywhere including on the pastries.

Eventually, we found street food stalls and tried a skewer of some part of a chicken–maybe tongue–and we enjoyed the smells.

The line of food stalls eventually led us to the Shinobazunoike Bentendou temple as well as beautiful views of Shinobazu Pond. We spent a while just walking around the pond until after the sunset. There were a few stalls with trinkets and other random accessories along the way. Once it was dark and we finished taking pictures, we decided to head out for some curry!

Coco Curry House

I wanted to try this chain just because I had heard about it. When we got there, we noticed a bookshelf of laminated manga as well as menus with anime idol characters all over them. I guess we know which crowd they tend to cater to?

Don Quijote

We went to the Don Quijote in Ueno and mainly looked at some of the weirder items in the store as well as all the character goods. There were horse masks and wooden penis keychains…

Ueno Streets

And then we just wandered the streets for a bit before heading back to our hotel.