I got to Kawagoe today and I’m typing this up in the hostel I’m staying at here – Chabudai. I stayed here last time and I forgot how nice it is. Super relaxed and super laid back. Back then I spent a lot of the time exploring for the anime “Tsuki Ga Kirei”, and at the time it was a bit late for it, and I’m expecting that all traces of it are gone by now. If you want to read it though I blogged about it here and here (worth a read if you are a weeb 😉).
But now I’ll write about what me and my sister got up to in our remaining days in Tokyo before coming here.
Day 2 – Skytree, shops and Shibuya
We started the day by picking up some food for brunch at a cool place round the corner. it sold ready-made food in boxes for people at home or on their way to work to pick up and eat where they needed to. We got a box of croquettes, fried chicken, and a couple of onigiri. We found a spot next to the nearby river and ate our food, while admiring a view of the skytree – our next destination.
We hopped on the tube to Tokyo Skytree afterwards. Here are some pics from that:
After that we headed over to ueno and explored the market a bit.
After that we went to shibuya.
Day 3 – Fishies and Harajuku
We rose early for a 7 eleven breakfast, and then headed to Ginza to check out the art Aquarium installation. Lots and lots of goldfish.
After the fishies we trained all the way to harajuku. My sister got some stickers from B-Side Label and they had lots of cool t-shirt designs that were far too cool for me. We also found another gatcha capsule shop. I found a bocchi the rock machine and got another lovely keychain. And Katherine spent probably more than she should have to get her desired coin pouch.
We stopped for lunch at a belt sushi place and waited probably around an hour to get in. But it was worth it. There were two belts, the one below was just the usual random sushi, but you could also order things on a tablet that would arrive to you on the top belt. Every 5 empty plates you deposit into the bin at the end of the table would give you a chance to win something from the capsule machine above the table. We ate all kinds of sushi, and in the end we stacked up around 20 plates between us. And it only cost us about a tenner each. Bargain.
To wash down the sushi we grabbed some fresh boba. And I mean fresh.
Our last stop in Harajuku was a quiet little coffee shop a bit out of the way, with big windows, lots of furniture including a sofa and a bed, and some teddy bears dotted around too. It was quite a nice vibe.
On the way back we stopped off at Akihabara for some quick anime merch browsing and a few more rounds of taiko. I made sure my shirt didn’t say “high school girls” on it to make it wearable back home in the UK.
Only one more day to cover. Writing this made me realise we got up to quite a lot.
Day 4 – Mecha and Meat Grilling
We went easy on ourselves this day and spent most of it wandering around Odaiba, a huge artificial island in Tokyo bay.
Next to the artificial beach there was an artificial mall filled with artificial shops. Lots of touristy japanese items for sale. There was also some sort of virtual theme park, which kath and I had a look around. It was filled with VR and virtual attractions, and virtual coasters that would rock back and forth on stilts surrounded by a big 180 TV screen. Quite a smart way to fit a theme park in a small area.
Afterwards we had a walk about outside.
We went back to the hostel to have some chill time before dinner. This time we opted for Yakiniku Like. Yakiniku literally translates to grill-meat. And that’s exactly what you do at this place. Each seat has its own little mini grill.
It took us a few tries to get right, but eventually we got it. I also tried wagyu beef for the first time. It was all pretty damn good.
The Journey to Kawagoe
The following day we got up in good time to check out. But unfortunately on our way out – disaster struck. While lowering my bag to the ground outside reception, I used my back instead of bending my legs. Something suddenly struck my lower back and it’s been aching a ton ever since. Regardless, we pressed on to Kawagoe.
When we got there, it was about a mile walk from the station to the guest house. And it was one of the warmest days yet at around 31 degrees. The heavy bags combined with the heat, and a painful back, did not make it easy for me. We made it to the guest house and because we were early to check in, we dropped our bags off and decided to try a massage to improve my back. Spoiler alert – it didn’t. And it was another couple miles of walking too. Fortunately on the way was the Hikawa shrine – one that features in the aforementioned anime Tsuki ga Kirei. My anime coverage of that from a few years ago can be read here.
Manju is a type of steamed bun, and the local one contains red bean paste as well as sweet potato – Kawagoe’s specialty. There are lots of sweet potato flavoured street food and stuff on the main street here.
We went back to the guest house to check in and have a break from the heat. Kath got me some medicine and some soothing patches to help with my back, and we went out to dinner for some tempura.
I actually didn’t finish this post in time and since starting it a whole other day has passed, but this post is getting long enough already so I’ll end it here for now. And my back is still aching. I’ll write about today in the next post. See you there 🙂
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