Been to Tokyo and back
ただいま～！！
Got back from my 1 week in Tokyo trip the day before yesterday’s yesterday and I was dead tired after spending half of my youth life sitting on the train…14 plus hours ride on the train made my brain cells inactive and my muscles cramped -____-” Not complaining more here since can’t expect a student to afford riding on a 新幹線 (bullet-train). In short, 青春18切符は便利し安いし最高です!! Thank goodness for the Seishun 18 Kippu~
Tokyo was what I’ve expected, a metropolis filled with people rushing from one place to another, rail tracks criss-crossing across the city, tall all-glass skyscrapers, big gardens and parks in the middle of the city, foreigners speaking all kinds of languages and the teenagers dressed in the latest fashion gear. The moment I took a step out of the train at Shinjuku Station, I felt as though I’ve just taken a step out of the airplane from Japan to Kuala Lumpur. All the neon lights, the crowd, the buzz in the air, they are all the same. A city by any other name is still a city.
Stayed at a guesthouse cum youth hostel which was a small room shared between 5 other people. Considering that it was the cheapest accomodation available, I knew it wouldn’t be as comfortable as living in a hotel room. Not a big thing really since more than half of the day will be spent roaming around Tokyo city, not cooping up in the room.
The timing to visit Tokyo was perfect since it was during the New Year’s break and everyone will be leaving Tokyo to go back to their hometowns, leaving Tokyo a little less crowded. Taking the trains were a breeze but figuring which train leaves from which track and how much it costs needed some time. Overall, I think my friend and I have appeared in more than a dozen tourists’ photos as we ventured to almost all the tourist places of attractions.
Top 10 Memorable Places in Tokyo
1. Yamashita Park and the nearby International Ferry Terminal at Yokohama
Yokohama lived up to its name as one of the most romantic place in Tokyo. A park overlooking the ocean with seagulls flying overhead, locals taking a stroll with their pet dogs on leash, couples walking hand-in-hand, gentle sea breeze, bright sunny blue sky, sunset with Mount Fuji, Yokohama city and big, colorful Ferris Wheel as the backdrop, I would higly recommend anyone to visit Yokohama. Chinatown is the most famous place in Yokohama but it’s not as interesting as the places I mentioned above.
2. Shibuya 109
The No. 1 department store in Shibuya (pronounced as ichi-maru-kyu) that’s popular with the young crowds of Tokyo. It’s memorable for me because my friend and I spent more than 12 hours lining up in front of the store in -2 degrees temperature, eating steaming-hot cup noodle for supper and warming our hands with Kairo (heat packs) by the side-walk while dozens of tourists walking by taking our pictures. All for the 福袋 (goodie bags filled with different kinds of items of a specific brand or shop) that’s only available during New Year. Last year, a friend spent a night in front of the Apple store in Ginza for the whole Ipod set (docks, earphones etc) for the price of the Ipod itself! So we did that in the name of gaining experience.
3. Ojisan’s Crepe
If you ever wandered around Tokyo or any place in Japan and comes across this crepe shop, BUY IT! It’s good, cheap and comes in big portions and lots of flavors to choose from. The ones I had at Shibuya were awesome and I could have them for my lunch and dinner anytime.
4. Enoshima, near Kamakura
Sunset views here are the best! Go up the light house and the view from the top is amazing! If you are lucky, you might even see Mount Fuji! I was not so lucky though, only a cloudy glimpse of the mountain. Didn’t have time to wander around the island as I was too absorbed with the sunset to notice other things but from what I heard, the seafood’s good. Maybe I should go back and try the seafood one day.
5. Tokyo Metropplitan Government Building
The used-to-be tallest building in Tokyo thus you can get a very good view of the entire Tokyo city from up there. Best of all, entrance is free and one of the buildings (there are 2 of them) is open at night which means you can always make a day trip to get the morning view and return at night for the night view! ^___^
6. Tsukiji Fish Market
Largest fish market in the whole of Japan. Too bad the auction area is closed to public, would really love to see all the actions. But it was both interesting and informative for one to wander around the market area where most of the seafood (fresh and still alive) are being sold. Lots of tuna fish (gigantic sizes) and weird sea creatures that you might not even seen in your entire life. And the sashimi-don (rice bowl topped with fresh slices of raw fish/seafood) was super duper delicious! Most of the sushi/sashimi shops are located right next to the market so you can see your meal being pulled out from the water tank in the market to the chopping board right next to it. Amazing~
7. Ameyoko, Ueno
One of the largest shopping streets in Tokyo where you can buy anything, raging from clothes to pots and pans to shoes to food to bags to stationery. The main attraction is the Ameyoko “goodie bag”. Some stalls sell their goods in bundles as in they will pile up stuffs from their shops and if you ask them to pile up more, they will and you might pay 1000 yen for 14 items in total! And almost everthing is priced at 1000 yen because it’s easier to count and faster transaction as the street is often crowded. It got so crowded at one point that everyone was squashed and sandwiched between each other. Defininetely not for the claustrophobic.
8. Kichijoji, Ueno, Yoyogi Park
3 different parks in 3 different areas of Tokyo. All have their own attractions but generally they are public parks for the locals to enjoy, have an evening stroll, places for the kids and dogs to run around, families to have quality time together and couples to go on dates. It’s nice to walk around these places after a hectic round of shopping and walking.
9. Akihabara
More popularly known as Akiba, it’s the otaku heaven cum electronics town. I would really love to spend 1 entire day here just to go into every shop, check out the game parlours to watch game experts strutting their stuffs, take a peek at those maid cafes, try out the latest gadgets and games and animes and mangas and of course just to watch the crowd.
10. Ikebukuro West Gate Park
LOL Guess I don’t need to elaborate further ^__^ Obviously I was influenced by the drama series with the same title. Sitting down at the bench, I can almost visualize the characters in the drama having a gang fight in the middle of the park. Fangirl syndrome, drama addict, you can call it whatever you want but this place made it on my top 10 list.
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