Tokyo, Japan Trip 2012 - Day 1

November 29, 2012

Reached Tokyo early in the morning, around 7am and were excited to start off our touring.

There are a few ways to get to town and we chose the cheapest train route. If you take the Skyliner on the Keisei Electric Railyway, it'd cost you 2,400Y pax and you can get to Ueno in 41 mins in great comfort. However, we chose the cheapest train route which costs you 1000Y pax and it was a mistake. It is on the Keisei Main Line and there are a few stops and of course, it takes you more than an hour to reach Ueno.

Once we reached Ueno, we placed our luggages in the lockers and proceeded to look for food. We didn't have to walk far before we found our favourite Yoshinoya. Yummy! The gyudon (beef bowl) is still the best. I did not eat that though. Apologies for these pics as they were taken after we'd tucked into it.

I had their new addition, the yakitori chicken.

 

Though the price is higher than that in Singapore, it is worth it. Remember, in Singapore, you have to pay for the green tea, but not in Japan where it's free-flow. So, I should say the prices in the 2 countries are not much different but the quality.... Japan is still much, much better.

Then we walked around Ueno and snacked. One of the snacks is this Taiyaki or "fishy" snack as known to Billie. It is usually shaped as a fish with red bean, cream cheese, custard, or other fillings. This one we got was rectangular. Looked cute and tasted great! Dad likes red bean, Billie likes cream cheese and custard and I love all fillings.

Around 2pm, we went back to collect our luggages and proceeded to Minowa station on the Hibiya line using Tokyo Metro Subway. There, we had to walk around 10 mins to reach the hostel. Not a problem locating the hostel as we had done our homework prior to the trip using Google Map.

Mmmm. Punctuality is wonderful in Japan. When they say "Check-in" at 3pm, you won't see anyone at the counter till then (they were busy with other matters hence could not be there at the counter all the time).

Once settled, we checked our train guide (a map you can get from any station in Tokyo) and went to Akihibara via the Tokyo Metro subway again.

Akihibara is also known as the Electric Town. We did not explore much that day as the sun set very early. We went Yodobashi Camera and it was fun. You don't just get to see electronic goods, but there's toys too! And shopping in Japan is floor after floor of wondrous goods! And it is not the departmental stores that have great stuff but those small little shops too!

I found some puzzle magazines (Sudoku and Hanjie) in Tsutaya while Billie found her anime stuff in Madarake. I love their 2nd hand bookshop (Book-Off) too. You can find great craft books (of course in Japanese). You can bet the books are still in great condition!

We had dinner at C&C Curry House and yes, the curry is great, though not spicy which is perfect for Billie. And, whereever we went, we (Billie and me) were always on the lookout for snacks.

We did not stay out very late that day as we were tired because we did not sleep well for the past 2 nights. It was easy getting back to Minowa station except that if you went out from a different exit, you will have to use the overhead bridge **sigh**. This station is not designed to have a common platform. We had to cross over to the other platform by walking along the platform (when we were coming back from Ueno) and cross to the other platform to reach the exit nearest to the hostel. Sounds complicated, right? We got used to that in no time at all.