Japan day 13/13 - Taitou, Harajuku, Chiyoda, Kawasaki Ogishima, Odaiba

I cleared out my sleeping space by 11 AM as agreed and prepared for the last big day. I thought I'd take it easy and start with doing some more laundry because almost all my clean stuff was gone again and it would be so much work with my tiny washing machine at home. They didn't mind if I left my other stuff at the hostel temporarily. I took some breakfast with me to the laundromat and caught up with messages while waiting.

Then went back and took my stuff and said goodbye to Mizu san. He offered to help carry stuff but I assured him it's okay, I am catching a bus nearby. He was already super busy cleaning as many people were checking out this morning. I really missed our interactions after this, it was like having a parent/friend to look forward to seeing after every day. But hopefully it will be possible to stop by again next year, if not I'm still thinking of bringing a small gift at least.

Because I planned it wrong I had to move to another hotel for the last night. They did offer to let me stay another night at the hostel but I also didn't wanna trouble the hotel that was expecting me. The bus station was actually further than I thought and with a suitcase, some big bags, and a bad leg this wasn't gonna work so I called a taxi, bit expensive but very much worth it. After dropping off my stuff and eating the pudding from yesterday 👀 it was time for the last day of adventure (tomorrow early afternoon my plane was going).

Near the hotel I saw an old newspaper vending machine, the only other time I saw this was in Ikaho. Not sure if they always sell out first or if they are not in use anymore cause they were always sold out. The closest station to the hotel was Minami Senju, it was kinda far and a lot of stair climbing, already casting a big debuff on my painful leg 🥹 I missed Uguisudani station!

From here I went to Harajuku station and visited the Ikea for a big bag that I could check in for the flight because there was no way everything would fit in my suitcase/backpack as planned. Also got a native Japanese charger cause it seemed useful to have but it was weaker than the one I already had (was using a converter before).

Since I was in that neighborhood I wanted to visit Takeshita street while stores were opening, but there were such giant crowds, busier than at the festival even, so I quick ran back to the station!

There was another restaurant I wanted to visit but they just happened to be closed today due to hosting a company party. So I went to a konbini nearby. I found something amazing there, espresso pan, it was bread with coffee cream filling. It reminded me of the Dutch mokkataart.

Very close to there was Hie shrine, it's another of the giant famous ones, it has a giant torii gate in front and even has escalators leading up to it. It feels very unusual for a shrine, but it helps make it accessible for everyone so that's a big plus. As I got there though so my disappointment the main area was under construction and there was not much to see. You could go into their office but I didn't get where to go and everyone was busy around me running around so I wasn't sure who to ask, and decided to come back another time.

Now the place next up was super far, about one and a half hours of travel and I wasn't sure about it, but I just felt like I had to. It was the island next to Kawasaki that I wanted to visit, Eastern Ogi Island Southern Park. Last part I had to take a really long bus there. When I arrived it was already dark and it felt like it was freezing so I wrapped myself in warm stuff and added some heating packs. It was a very industrial place and people looked so confused what a white person is doing in this godforsaken place 🤣

But a little more to the south was the park next to the sea and the lighting and industrial skyline gave it such a strange interesting vibe. There were also hundreds of people fishing along the coast even though it was so dark and cold, really didn't expect that. From here you can also see the impressive Aqua Line bridge/tunnel that spans from Kawasaki to Kisarazu in Chiba.

At a konbini nearby I found matcha baumkuchen and shiitake tempura, that was sooo good!

Last stop for today (and the entire trip 🥺) was gonna be Odaiba. Another island but next to Tokyo. This place was so much more gigantic than I expected and I spent like over four hours exploring everything. No regrets whatsoever, the vibes were so different from central Tokyo and there were much fewer people, it felt like visiting a different part of the country.

One of the first landmarks you find there is the Statue of Liberty. Yes that one. If you're curious why it's here, it's because in 1998 France brought it to Japan to celebrate their friendship. Why France if it's American? Apparently the one in New York was also made by French and was brought over as a gift by boat, it's 93 meters tall but they brought it over in disassembled pieces back in 1884-1886. While the statue in Odaiba is still a sight to behold it's "only" 12 something meters tall.

Close to there is the Rainbow Bridge, 798 meters wide, connecting Minato Shibaura to Odaiba. It is so pretty from this angle. I only saw it in white but as its name suggests it can turn into any color of the rainbow. It's used to celebrate and raise awareness for certain things, but not sure how they decide when and what.

Then there's Fuji television building, with the giant steel orb in the middle, you might recognize it if you've seen some of Tokyo before! I couldn't get a proper picture of it from the front but I took a picture from the side, the structure looks so smooth somehow, something about it makes it satisfying to look at xD

Right next to that is the place everyone is waiting for! The mall and area around is is called Diver City, which is a pun on Diversity (the place is very diverse I guess?), and Daiba from Odaiba is also the Japanese pronunciation of Diver. The word Daiba itself means like a fort, because the island was built to protect Tokyo during the war, and when the Japanese insert an o- or go- in front of a word it indicates that they give it more respect or that it's important to them somehow, I guess the fort to protect the rest of the city was quite important! But now it's just an island that looks cool and that's also important!

Oh yeah that's not what I wanted to talk about.. it's the radiant mall with the rainbow colors, and the Gundam that's right in front of its plaza and also rotates between, so it's part of the beautiful rainbow chaos. It's one of those landmarks (is a Gundam a landmark?) that you often see in news related to Japan or Tokyo. Pic included of course!

Right around the corner of the mall there was a place called Unko Museum Tokyo, idk what the shit they're doing in there cause it was already outside opening hours but unko means 💩.

Other than that there was lots of forest, flower, mushroom, light art called LightWalk Odaiba, the sing reminded me of some fantasy thing like Avatar or Guild Wars 2 or something.

A bit more ahead is the Dream Bridge, I don't know the lore for this but it's a wide bridge with lots of lights and weird patterns and it looks even more amazing at night so in this case I'm happy that it I got to see it after dark!

Before moving on I had a little snack at the konbini, fruit milk and sweet dango, not super nutritious but it made me happy so it helped! The staff didn't look very happy, lots of partygoers were in the area so they must've had it really busy.

The last big sight for today (hehe) was Tokyo Big Sight, the upside down triangle help up by four pillars. It has to be the building most featured in anime! This place is a frequent space for conventions and events and exhibitions. It existed since 1996 and has over 100k square meters in usable space, which makes it the biggest convention venue in Japan. Before reaching the building itself there is a massive road leading up to it with two covered walkways on the side, and you gotta go up quite some stairs (or I believe there's escalators as well), which makes it feel all the much more majestic.

I wanted to see more after this despite being almost unable to stand on my left leg but the last train was gonna depart very soon so I walked over to the next station and went back to my hotel is Asakusa. The hotel was a bit scary at night, it was very dark and smelled like smoke and there was a guy snoring really loud and I thought it was some monster that was growling from the dark 💀 Quickly went to the ground floor to take a shower and back to my room on the fourth floor (the cursed number...) other than that I had a good sleep but it reaaaally made me miss the hostel.

In the pictures I will include the amount of steps/kilometers I walked, I never walked this much in my life but this trip blessed me with the power of infinite curiosity and determination, unfortunately I am trapped in this shell of meat and bones and had to come to terms with my limits...! but this was so much fun and I feel like I never made a better decision in my life than to go on this spontaneous trip.

Unfortunately mount Fuji was not visible at all during the entire trip but on the plane back I could see it from the window, what a proper goodbye! 

 

Thank you so much if you read all the way up to this point. I hope you had as much as fun reading it as I had writing it. I just felt like the trip deserved a proper report in some form. This made me so much more motivated to plan an even more exciting trip for next year, hopefully that one will come true in October. Let's goooo!

 

One more bonus video, random train crossings (why are those such a vibe):

 

 

 

 

Anime Pilgrimage - Bakemonogatari @ Tokyo & Kanagawa 【 聖地巡礼 - 化物語 @ 東京 & 神奈川 】

Anime Pilgrimage - One Punch Man @ Tokyo Setagaya 【 聖地巡礼 - ワンパンマン @ 東京 世田谷 】

Japan day 12/13 - Asakusa, Chiyoda, Nakano, Kichijouji, Setagaya, Jiyugaoka, Shinagawa

We're nearing the end here, so today I was lowkey gonna be starting my speedrun of things I really wanted to see still but didn't get to because of having made plans. The last two days were gonna be travelpilled souvenirmaxxing experiencefarming picturegrinding and so on, but hey it's gonna be spontaneous and chill right? Today the train lines were gonna become my biggest friend.

First up was Asakusabashi station which I planned to visit much earlier cause it's so close to Uguisudani, but at the same time so far to get to. The place I specifically wanted to see was called Yoshitoku Doll, they handcraft those traditional Japanese Hina dolls there but they also had so much other high quality adorable stuff too. Didn't have much money left but the main objective was to get a guinea pig so I did that would love to visit this place again next time though.

Second stop was Iidabashi station, and then walk over to the Nippon Budokan to take some pictures. You often hear this place mentioned because it's a famous stage for big live music performances and probably more, you also hear about it in music anime, so I just had to go see it in real life! There was an event going on that day but the amount of things I wanted to see was packed so on we go!

Third place of the day was Nakano Broadway located very close to the Nakano station. It's basically a giant shopping mall dedicated to weeb culture. Like Akihabara but under one roof. With some unexpected self control the merch haul was very not overboard. On the basement floor they had more stores not specifically aimed at weebs, and the one I was looking for was Miyoshiya, a second hand clothing store where you can find yukata, kimono, and maybe other things starting from 1000 yen (about 5-6 euro) to find something for my friend's gf, and I also picked some stuff for myself, there's no way I would fit it all in my suitcase but it will be fiiine! Some clothes had very bad stitching or lots of stains, but most of it was surprisingly okay. But what can you expect for these prices!

Close to there were some more anime places I wanted to take pictures of, including a Starbucks so I took the opportunity to go for a coffee. The cashier said the bag I was wearing was cute, I told her the character is called Stinky (Kusaiyatsu 🤭) from the Moomins but sadly she didn't know him. Still this little interaction made me happy cause Japanese people (especially those working in service) just barely do small talk.

Fourth was Meidaimae station, there I went to look for Saitama (One Punch Man)'s apartment building, despite his name it's not located in Saitama but Setagaya city in Tokyo! The vibe was so different in real life because it's not actually abandoned and it's next to a busy road. But you could see the apartment in the show was clearly inspired by this location.

The cat temple Goutokuji was kinda close so I took a bus there, but unfortunately it already closed earlier at 5 PM and this one has no way to get in or catch a glimpse at all outside opening hours. Sadly it will be off route tomorrow so maybe next time!

It was kinda cold tonight so I bought some of those magic kairo heating packs that you shake and squish and then it slowly heats up and lasts for like ten hours. Perfect product! My fabric shoes were very thin and I stuffed some in my socks 🔥

Not far from there was Jiyugaoka station, known for little Europe and other eccentric art things. I unfortunately learned the Europe part is just part of a privately owned square that is closed off during the evening and night, and you could kinda see it from the outside but it didn't look as cool in real life. There was also another square behind bars that was supposed to be a Korean thing I believe, it was bright pink, but it looked permanently closed. This area had a lot of interesting Europe inspired buildings with bricks and different colors. It had this hip vibe to it, I'm surprised you don't hear about this place often! Near the station there was also a museum with a giant orange on the outside that says "sniff here" but i was too scared...

Last stop for today was Shinagawa station, it feels a bit like a gateway into Kanagawa. Of course this was also for anime tourism... It doesn't sound very cool when I describe it like this but it actually makes me discover so many beautiful spots I'd otherwise never know about 💕 The station itself has some incredible architecture, it feels so unreal in a way, with the giant arching hallway.

Another spot I wanted to visit was Konan park, it has some bizarre structures and pretty lights and the night skyline is breathtaking as always.

There were a few homeless people at the station so I wanted to bring them some warm food and drinks and those heating packs. There were more konbini bags around them so it looks like more people did the same, that makes me happy ^^

It was time to head back to the hostel, my leg was in so much pain at this point that I'm not sure how I would handle tomorrow, but I tried to sleep a bit longer, it was like 10 hours. Resting did help a lot, but well, only one day to go so gotta make the most of it! The thing that mostly bothered me was that it slowed me down and I couldn't do as many things as I wanted!

Tomorrow I had to check out from the hostel so I walked once more by the vending machine with the pudding that was close to there. One for now, one for tomorrow, and one for Mizu san. I thought he would laugh but he was very thankful, what a precious man.

Anime Pilgrimage - My Dress Up Darling @ Ikebukuro & Saitama Chichibu 【 聖地巡礼 - その着せ替え人形は恋をする @ 池袋 & さいたま 秩父 】

Japan day 11/13 - Ikebukuro, Saitama Chichibu, Nezu Shrine

(how have these posts become so large 😵‍💫 this one 7200 characters, yesterday's 7800)

 

Today another late awakening, but my next destination was close! Today I wanted to go explore Ikebukuro. Wanted to do this earlier but later today I had a train to catch from here anyway, so it was the perfect timing! From today on my leg was really starting to hurt from all the extensive running and walking, but only had three days to go, so had to get the most out of it somehow. Thankfully I had a lot of painkillers with me! Idk if it was the painkillers or if I didn't eat enough but today I kept snacking and snacking, pocky, butter cookies, baumkuchen, no end to it!

There's an easter egg you can find in Ikebukuro, or easter owl? The place itself means pond bag(?) but bag written on its own is fukuro, and owl is fukurou, someone must've thought this was really funny cause you can find owl statues all throughout the area, some area hidden, some are more obvious.

Otherwise Ikebukuro is kind of a weeb paradise much like Akihabara, but less neon lit, with more of a modern feel to it. They say Ikebukuro is like the girls' version of Akihabara, and I can see why. In manga stores shoujo and BL themes were much more prominent 👀 On that topic, I found the first manga volume of Sono Bisuku Dooru wa Koi ga Suru / My Dress up Darling for a few hundred yen and just had to get it. 
To my surprise it's uh... a bit more spicy than the anime. Normally I'm not much of a manga fan because anime are so much easier to get into, but since non translated books are so hard to get by outside of Japan, this was the perfect opportunity. I collected a few more other titles during my stay here too, now to continue that kanji learning!

Anyway a big reason I wanted to visit this place was also because a lot of the anime is set here and the second season recently came out, and I loved it so much, so big new refreshed excitement! This was one of the times I was really awake during the daytime in Tokyo and it was possible to see gigantic the skyscrapers actually are, how they build these so high and earthquake proof them goes much beyond my small town European mind.

First big part was the square, or park, or park that looks like a square Naka-Ikebukuro Park, and two big malls around it, one for about anything, and the other just for manga I think? Man the Japanese are something else!

Then I went over to East-Ikebukuro Central Park, the place where they do the cosplay meetups. There were also a lot of pigeons, I hadn't seen that many in Tokyo before. I discreetly dropped them some crumbs and continued taking my pictures. Then later on the way back I saw a Japanese guy throw like a mountain of seeds on the ground and and there were pigeons sitting on his arms and head, what a legend.

Right next to there was Sunshine City, a a multi story building that is both mall and offices, and on part of it there is like a square you can walk onto from the sidewalk, but it's also a roof. The lower side of the building is made with really pretty colored bricks, and the garden in the front is so cute, so many tiny houses in a forest!

At the entrance of the building for some reason there was a Sesame Street store, never thought I'd see that here. Of course they also had gachapon machines with epic figurines!

Once inside of the mall I searched for the aquarium, and found it on the very top floor! The main reason was just a minute of anime pics but I knew it wasn't so easy to get me out of there, the atmosphere was absolute on point for an aquarium. I could've spent hours there but unfortunately, time constraints... I went through the two floors with the fishies, will include some pics and videos. Next up was of course a souvenir shop and after that there was a lot more to see but I had to start running back to the station if I wanted to make it. I reserved a train with Seibu for a direct train to Saitama-Chichibu at a specific time, and unfortunately the much later tickets back were already sold out so I was gonna stay about 1,5 hours, before the main even would even start.

I made it to the train with minutes to spare. The train interior was nice but felt wrong, everything was covered in carpet, even the floor, but everyone enters on their shoes? How do they keep that clean D: it did look clean though!

The ride there was nice as far as it was visible, but I got to witness the sunset, the sun quickly disappeared behind the urban and tree filled environment. The stops they announced on the way sounded very familiar, I realized it's because I watched another anime about an apocalypse train adventure where they take exactly this route 😳

When we arrived, I should've known for the amount of tickets sold that it would be busy, but nothing prepared me for this. It was impossible to walk at a normal pace. The market was way more gigantic than I thought, the stalls looked like they went on for kilometers (oh I checked and it was actually one kilometer!) Despite all this I had a good time, the atmosphere was on point, it smelled like food everywhere. Recording here:

 

As a happy vegetarian but infinitely curious weeb I just had to try out takoyaki (grilled balls of batter with octopus). It was pretty good, but still I was hit with sadness for eating another creature (sometimes I feel like this world isn't made for me 😅).

After walking all the way to the shrine where the main event/parade would take place (which I would miss cause of the early train back..) I started slowly walking back to the station and still had some time to spare. Maybe it was enough time anyway. But I liked seeing a big part of this traditional yearly yomatsuri (night (or evening?) festival). The train back to Ikebukuro was very similar to the one to Chichibu but it had Moomin decorations 🤍

When I got back to Uguisudani despite my leg hurting like hell I decided it was a good time to check out the big cat shrine since it was just 2km away, apparently you can still see much of it even after closing hours! On the way there I found a small cat shrine next to a store and it had so many little trinkets and statues and pictures! When I eventually got to my destination, Nezu shrine, I realized this was not the cat shrine at all. The cat one is Goutokuji, and it's not a shrine but a temple! Man what a flub. But when I got closer it was still insanely beautiful, there were those yellow ginkgo trees everywhere, even much of what fell to the ground was still bright yellow and reflected the moonlight. There was also a thousand figurative torii, apparently they call this senbon torii, a thousand of those gates. I think it was still at least a hundred to be more realistic. Well you can count them for yourself if you want: 

 

There was also a strange low pressure storm happening, felt a bit ghostly, matched perfectly with the nightly shrine visit.

Was thinking of taking the train back but got lost somehow and decided to just walk. Between Nishi Nippori and Uguisudani station I found a vending machine that sold pudding in a drinking can(?), never seen that before so I got it. It was impractical to eat/drink but it was really good. The deliciousness dopamine helped soothe the leg pain 🤎💛 and with a few steps to go I was back at the hostel!