Making Each Day Count

This is a continuation of our adventures in Tokyo, Japan, in early May this year. My previous post covered our first day which turned out to be quite eventful – walking from Ueno through Ginza with a few foodie stops in between. The succeeding three days were spent in Yamanako, Japan, where we enjoyed the cycling arond the lake, being close to nature, and the majestic upclose view of Mt. Fuji.

Our adventure back in Tokyo continues afterwards, where we stayed for the last leg of our Japan vacation. This time we booked a hotel at Shinjuku, a major transport hub. Out hotel was a few minutes away from Busta Shinjuku, the bus terminal connecting us from Yamanakako, and later to Haneda Airport when it’s time to fly back home.

Of all the areas we’ve stayed at in Tokyo, Shinjuku would always be the one that would give me the Tokyo feels. I remember the first time we stayed in this area a few years back, I was so fascinated by the neon lit main roads and vibrant night scene. I still have fond memories of our 2016 visit when we went to the Ninja Trick House, and the Shinjuku Gyoen National Park. There’s so many things to do, restaurants to check out, and places to explore in Shinjuku that one trip won’t suffice.

During this visit, I was determined to check off some places and activities that have always been in my Tokyo List: 1) see the panoramic view of the city from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, 2) revisit Hachiko statue and have a proper video of the Shibuya Scramble Crossing, 3) vintage shopping at Koenji, and 4) go to Nakamise-dori Street at Asakusa.

I’m so happy that the first activity we did on Day 4 was to go to the 45th floor observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The queue going up was efficiently handled by the staff, and they were organized and welcoming to visitors. The view at the observatory was amazing, and the piano music at the background added to the good ambience. From above, we saw the Yoyogi Park which was my most favorite view, and I was immediately motivated to revisit it in the next few days.

Because we were covering several locations on this trip, we bought 72-hour Tokyo Subway tickets which I now consider a travel hack for future trips, as this helped save on fares from multiple one way tickets. After the trip to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, we took the subway to Koenji in Western Tokyo, known as a cool neighborhood of hip restaurants and second-hand stores. We did some window-shopping and I ended up buying a couple of vintage clothing. We then had late lunch at アヒポキ ahipoke 高円寺店, and afternoon coffee at St Marc. It was D’s first time to try St Marc, and he quite enjoyed their coffee and signature pastry, the chococro.

That night we explored the side streets of Shinjuku, enjoyed a hot bowl of ramen, and coincidentally found ourselves having coffee under the the giant 3D cat which I always see pop up on my social media feed.

The next day D and I took the subway to Shibuya to say hello to Hachiko’s statue. To get an uninterrupted view of the Shibuya scramble crossing, D and I went to the top floor of Magnet building actoss Hachiko. We bought cold oolong tea to be able to stay at the viewing deck. It was mesmerizing watching the crossing below. After a few takes, we were finally satisfied with the videos we took.

From Shibuya scramble crossing D and I dropped by a nearby Tully’s cafe. Just like St Marc, D acquainted himself with Tully’s cafe in this trip and he liked it so much he would even buy the Tully’s coffee in can from 711 at breakfast. Afterwards we walked towards Yoyogi Park and admired the flowers, trees and lake. The visit to Yoyogi Park was a perfect way to end Day 5.

Day 6 was our last day to explore Tokyo so after breakfast we took the subway to Asakusa, where Sensoji, one of Tokyo’s popular Buddhist temple, was located. I was curious to browse for souvenirs at Nakamise-dori Street. We heard Asakusa can get really busy so we thought getting there early would let us beat the crowd, but we were wrong. From across the Kaminarimon Gate, we already saw the flock of tourists. It was so packed with people that we were not able to check out the shops at all. We took the side street to get to the temple. This was the part of our trip sadly that didn’t go as planned.

As our visit to Asakusa was cut short since we could not really move around much, we diverted our attention to finding a good restaurant for lunch. We didn’t have to look hard because there were many Japanese restaurants nearby and we enjoyed a traditional lunch set.

In the afternoon D and I took the train to visit the Old Tokyo Station. This was our last stop to the historic building with a beautiful architecture, and I was determined to get a decent photo of the place. I also took that chance to bring D to another Japanese restaurant at Shin-Marunouchi Building a few steps away from Old Tokyo Station.

As we returned to Shinjuku later that day, we enjoyed a last stroll around the neighborhood, stopping by shops for souvenirs. We savored the remaining hours we had before flying back home the next day, thankful we got to go back to the city. Tokyo never fails to amaze us, and we absolutely enjoy learning new things, places, and food each visit.

また会う日まで、東京！