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[S-series] Tokyo-Hakone Travel Journal Part 1: Arrival in Hakone and Odawara Castle
[S-series] Tokyo-Hakone Travel Journal Part 2: Exploring Hakone 1/2 – Sengokuhara, le petit prince museum, owakudani black eggs (Image-intensive!)
[S-series] Tokyo-Hakone Travel Journal Part 3: Exploring Hakone 2/2 – Sightseeing boat, Hakone Shrine, baby wishing tree, (Image-intensive and excess words!)
[S-series] Tokyo-Hakone Travel Journal Part 5: Last day in Japan, The Roastery by Nozy Coffee, Yoyogi Park and Blue Bottle Coffee.
Watch Day 1 of the video here:
Hi good day people,
Today we come to day 3 of our short trip to Japan. Today we check out of our Hakone/Miyagino bnb and move on with our itinerary of the day:
- Head to Tokyo taking the most value for money train
- Find our next bnb at Shiodome/Ginza area
- Drop our luggages and head out for lunch, preferably a hearty ramen meal
- Visit Senso-ji again after 2 years,
Then we will see how much time we have left before deciding to visit other places I’ve saved on my Google Map.
MIYAGINO TO HAKONE-YUMOTO TO ODAWARA
We were running a little late leaving the bnb, I wanted to catch the cheaper local train back to Tokyo. First we have to catch a bus to Odawara, but because I was in a rush, I took the wrong bus that stopped us one train station short at Hakone-Yumoto station. Oh well we might as well check out the ‘Evangelion shop’ there, its one of my all time favourite anime so I really can’t help it can I?
Check out that life-sized Rei Ayanami mannequin by the shop front. I read that they will change the mannequin’s clothes according to the seasons. So fun. But like all gimmicky stuffs, the shop sells useless souvenirs at a premium. I didn’t get any because we’re kinda short on our budgets for such things..
We took a local train from Hakone-Yumoto to Odawara in the end, but it was so darn slow.. So after that experience, I told Claire we probably should just spend the extra money on a express train, if you guys still remember the name, its called Romancecar by Odakyu. The picture above is an empty train cabin, notice how large the windows are? That’s one of the main selling point, other than the speed. Notice the conductor doing all their pointing and calling all by himself at the back? Pointing and calling is an actual thing that the Japanese train conductors practice. Check out the wiki page here.
TOKYO – GINZA/SHIODOME/SHINBASHI
The familiar sight of skyscrapers and streets lined with shops means we’re back in Metropolitan Tokyo. Not that I love the cold hard and grey concrete jungle, but this means we’re gonna have lunch!
I didn’t take any photos of our commute from Shinjuku, where Romancecar dropped us at, to Shiodome and the walk with me dragging 2 luggages up and down overpasses all the way to our Tokyo Airbnb. During that time, I told Claire: “I’m not sure how long I can keep on doing this, lugging both our luggages where you couldn’t manage the climb etc. But while I’m still able, I’ll keep on doing this.” Don’t ask me why I say this, maybe its to let her know and appreciates my effort. But I’m sure she does. Its just that there are times when she’s like a daughter to me. A wife seems to be all of the following at once: girlfriend, best friend, daughter, sister, mother, etc.
Anyhow, we decided to hunt for Ichiran Ramen at Shinbashi. Ichiran is a chain store found almost everywhere in Japan. And they were successful simply because they taste awesome.
I know no Japanese words, but well pictures will tell me lots. So we ordered through pictures and matching the Japanese words on the order slip.
I ordered the strongest taste aka Japanese taste and it looks pretty damn tasty when it came. Look at the thickness of the broth below!
This has got to be the best lunch we had in this trip. Looking at the pic, I’m craving for more now.. But alas, I’m back in my home writing this post.. No Ichiran here in Singapore…
After the lunch, we carried on with our journey to Asakusa, before we took the below picture, we spent like 15 mins staring at gashapon machines outside a souvenir shop and with me hesitating to convert some cash to small change for more gashapon play. We got a couple of pins, one of which is on my daily backpack now.
I know, boliao (lame) right? Me at 32 years old and still playing with such things. Pardon my inner child. LOL.
TOKYO – ASAKUSA – SENSO-JI
Then we went to take a selfie at the iconic Kaminarimon, just because the last time we were here, the giant lantern was undergoing renovations..
And we took with both sides of the Lantern. LOL
And of course, the always bustling street that links to Senso-ji. Always vibrant, and seldom devoid of people. I quickly took this shot of Claire when there’s an opening between the horde of passer-bys.
This is like the normal condition along this street.
A quick check on Google tells us that this is one of the best place to have a melon-pan. Its actually a butter/suger bun baked crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, it just happen to look like a melon that’s all.
We look happy, but its not really as nice as we expected, Google isn’t always right.
And this old school looking coffee place served me instant latte from a Krups full-auto machine, I wanted an artisan coffee you know, not cheap and dirty automatic machine made latte.. It taste like 600 yen’s worth of shitty-ness..
Opps, did I missed this under-shot of the Kaminarimon lantern?
And here’s a pagoda, I noticed mostly only Buddhist Temples have pagodas, I wonder..
And then Claire went and get a divination stick, she got a bad one, so there were instructions to ‘tie your bad luck’ here in the temple so that the bad luck won’t follow you home. Cool eh? What about me? Sorry I’m not a believer, so no sticks for me.
SHINJUKU – KABUKI-CHO
The skies started to turn dark after Senso-ji. We took a train to Shinjuku to do some shopping and for me to visit some 2nd hand camera shops in the area. We also had our dinner here at Hamakatsu Nishi-Shinjuku Branch. Awesome Tonkatsu with rice, pity I didn’t take any pics there, I think Claire did.
This particular roll of vending machines actually meant something to us. We were here too on our very first trip to Japan. I know vending machines are found everywhere in Japan, but these ones, during autumn 2 years ago.. We walked passed them in the rain. And we went up to them, and cursed because they only had cold drinks. LOL. Sounded like some lousy memory.
And so we walked aimlessly around Shinjuku and went into Kabukicho area by chance, and also found one of the shortlisted Cat Cafes Claire wanted to visit here in this area, by chance as well.
More brightly illuminated signages and masses of people crossing the roads. It was when I looked up at one of the buildings here and saw the Cat Cafe Calico’s signage, then we can have our first experience with cat cafes.
Cats are fickle minded animals with an attitude problem. I think they actually have control over us, being so cute and always playing hard to get. We humans try our best trying to get their attention and do silly stunts hoping they will like us. But only to suffer the usual heart break when they ultimately got bored of you and just walk away, sit down somewhere and sleep. Rather sleep than watch our stupid performances. Damn you cats! I’m starting to like dogs better now…
See, human #2 is totally hooked with this cat’s soft, fluffy fur.
They stare at you will those cold eyes. Like our presence is a bother to them. We paid good money to enjoy an hour of being judged by these felines.
See! Show us its arse! This must be an insult! That’s it, we’re out of this hateful place!
OUR AIRBNB
It happens to be Claire’s birthday on that day as well. It was really late in the night and the only cafe that’s still open was a Starbucks. So we bought a new york cheese cake after queuing for like 30mins. Then went to Don Quixote looking for a candle, before heading back to our Airbnb. We realized we didn’t have any lighter, so I lighted the candle with the mini stove in the apartment. Its amazing how they pack everything we need to live inside an apartment that’s only about the size of my living room back home.
So I made Claire make a wish and have her blow the candle. This photo will forever be saved in our memory box. Who needs extravagant shit when a simple slice of cake and a candle can meant so much to 2 person.
And that’s all folks. Stay tuned for Part 5 next.
Simon Tey