Japan day 07/13 - Ueno park/zoo, Akihabara, Chiyoda, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Yoyogi, Harajuku, Minato, Ginza

So during vacations I absolutely enjoy the times when you don't have to set alarms, but last night I slept at least 12 hours... well let's say it's a surprise tool that will help us later. Tomorrow will be my rest day but today I will also try to take it easier (haha).

First off I went to Ueno park, there was a surprise market place where I found some trinkets and a cozy room yukata (which I'm wearing as I'm writing this 😊). Then I went to the zoo just a few meters ahead. Ueno Zoo is also featured in a lot of anime so of course I had to... Because Asian animal protection laws aren't much like Europe I was slightly worried, but the animal living condition seemed better than expected. Main objectives were seeing the guinea pigs (try not to cry challenge), hippos (try not to yell MOO DENG challenge), ptarmigans (aweebo) and other birbs, and many other animals in between, just sadly didn't see the part with the pandas cause there were a duckload of people and the zoo was nearing closing time.

It was getting darker now and outside and all throughout Ueno park you could see Christmas lighting and markets, it was super cozy. I didn't have any more plans for today so I just let the current take me. I must've had too much money left cause by chance I ended up back in Akihabara. After more mandatory weeb shop deep diving I had some noodle dinner at 7 Eleven. On Discord people were talking about the weird vending machine corner, I checked Maps and it was literally a street away from there so I quickly finished the food and ran there 🤣 

Marunouchi at Tokyo station was close anyway so I went back there and accidentally went inside to look for more souvenirs!

Then I thought, it's so close anyway, might as well have a look at the emperor's palace. Sadly the park was already closed by the time I got there but seeing the walls with the giant water moat around it was still pretty epic! The rest of the area was more boring than I expected.

Then I thought hey isn't that staircase from Your Name / Kimi no Na wa nearby? Had a little break at the shrine, found some melon cream soda 🤤 and still had some yakisobapan (fried noodle bread)!

From there I was like hey isn't Shinjuku nearby, there's a bunch of places I wanna see! And you could imagine what I got myself into. Of course I got absorbed by another gachapon place. There were a lot of partygoers in the area, but so kind... I dropped a thing and someone ran after me to return it 🥺.

Since I was nearby I wanted to check Meiji Jingu shrine, this was sadly closed, but I did find an entrance to Yoyogi park and walked around it. Then got to Harajuku and the fashionable Takeshita street, it was like exploring Tokyo after the apocalypse, thousands of people during the day, at night it was just me.

Eventually I got to the famous sights of Shibuya, there were some of partygoers again. I also went to the Family Mart where americans fight each other for the meme but there was no one. Very nearby was the Mega Donki and who could resist going in right... it was like almost 3 AM at that point. It wasn't as mega as expected but it was tons of fun exploring the store, but afterwards felt sleepy since it's kinda overloading. Good thing I had some coffee with me and we could continue on!

In the area there were more anime locations I wanted to take pictures of so of course that needed to happen. Then I went past the Scramble Crossing and had to pay respects to the Hachiko statue. There were some cringy streamers hanging out🤭

Then I needed to say hi to the Czech embassy (from the outside!), and as I was nearing Roppongi Hills I had a terrible idea, visiting my work's office Tokyo branch, there was no one of course but the area was cool and there were also Christmas decorations.

Further into Minato was the Dutch embassy, it was a bit easier to notice this one. I wanted to make pictures closer to the gate but there was a guard so it felt weird.

One of my last stops (not by choice) was Shiba Park and Tokyo Tower, it was super majestic from up close at night. After this I felt like maaybe I didn't wanna walk all the way back, it was past 5 AM, the trains started running again, and I was nearing 60K steps. I got myself to walk until Ginza station, took the train to Uguisudani, quickly showered at the hostel, and instantly fell asleep for like 10 hours.