We woke up around 8am and headed to the local conbini to get breakfast for our Shinkansen ride. We had to hit up two as the Family Mart didn't have enough for us to make a breakfast. The Lawson around the corner was much more kind to us with the salted rice balls, fresh fruit, and mochi.
We loaded up with all our luggage and headed to the local train which would take us to the main station to get the bullet train. I was looking at the weather thinking it was a lovely clear day... maybe we'd see Mt. Fuji?! But I didn't want to even say it out loud to Chris for fear of jinxing it.
We got to the station and tried our luck at the kiosk for tickets. I got to the point of paying and it seemed like too little for the trip so I backed out. We waited in line for a crew member and watched a couple try to get tickets and quitely scream at each other. Our line moved quickly but we still got to watch this couple fully fight with each other and run back and forth to the spot where you scan your tickets and buy the tickets. We thanked each other for not being the types to fight like that.
At the counter I asked for, "Tokyo, two tickets, Mount Fuji?" The crew member started typing and pointed to a departure time 11 minutes from now. Yes! I said. He handed me, "Two tickets, Tokyo Station, Mount Fuji Side." Great! I said. I handed one to Chris and off we went to find the platform. The train came in just a couple of minutes and after finding our seats for two we enjoyed our breakfast on board.
I tried to blog a little but then found it distracting being in the window seat and watching all of the countryside beauty going by. I put my phone down and enjoyed the view This trip felt much more speedy, and I'm not sure if it was the clear day or the window seat but I was enthralled. Finally I could see Mt. Fuji approaching (via Google Maps) and low and behold, she graced us with her presence!
We arrived at Tokyo Station and wandered around with all of our bags finding a coin locker. The first one we found was full and asked if we had a reservation? Shoot! I thought. Should I have thought of this first and made a reservation in advance? The second one we found said the same, but Chris saw another bank behind it that had different instructions. It asked us to first put our things in the locker and then second, to pay via our Suicas. After we tapped my phone, it was done! Amazing.
~60lbs lighter, we wandered through the underground station, which I'd read would be like a huge mall, and that was true. We found multiple levels and so many shops, including a Pokemon store where we found some gifts and I was just so happy to browse in the nostalgia again!
We found T's Tantanmen Ramen, an all vegan ramen shop with a few locations including in the train station. We had to go out and back through another part of the station, and thus pay the train fare, but it was worth it. The gyozas were the best of the trip in my opinion, even though they only included maybe a teaspoon of sauce, they obviously knew they didn't need it. They were filled with TVP and veggies, and were delicious. The ramen was excellent; both types we ordered were creamy and mine was a little spicy with a black sesame broth. Delicious!
After lunch we grabbed our luggage at the coin lockers. All I had to do was press "collect" and then tap my phone and our locker opened! This is the future. We walked with our things to our local train and then to our hotel and stored our bags as we were too early for check in. We headed out and close by was some awesome shopping in Ueno. We found awesome shoe stores where I browsed and wanted to buy everything! They also had brands with local Japan exclusives, like these Converse and Adidas.
I checked out Mode Off - a proper thrift store with 5 floors and the tiniest, most claustraphobic changing rooms ever. The top floor was all YEN500 so I made sure to pick through, and I ended up with 5 items to take home! Luckily the sizing at this store was more wordly average. The girls here are TINY so it's been weird to shop with sizing and fitting an XL.
Chris also found a store with a brand he likes that's harder to find at home so he went to town. As his items were more expensive, we decided to drop me off at the foot bath tea house while he pondered. This was a spot I'd researched that Chris had no interest in. 45 minutes was the minimum so... bye for now!
I entered and was kindly greeted. I was set up at a stool and a basket underneath to store my things, and a cleansing cloth to wipe my feet. After the cleaning I stuck my feet in the hot, communal well, and it was HOT. It took me a minute to get acclimated. I was offered a tea or coffee to go with my soak, or I could pay $4 more for a beer. Yes please! I also added on a 10 minute back massage for $15. I enjoyed my soak for half an hour and watched the other guests take photos for social media. "Are you here because of Instagram influencers?" One girl asked me. No! I actually found this place by researcing on the good old internet. I kept enjoying my soak while trying to calm my mind from wondering if they would tell me when my time was up, because I wasn't sure. About half an hour in a tiny lady came over and asked if "massage ok now?" Yep! She had me lay my head on a cloth covered pillow and went to work on my neck, shoulders and back. Wow, did she know where to poke. Girlriend gave me the massage of my LIFE! I was sweating since the water was so hot but I didn't worry about it. A. Maze. Ing.
After this she gave me a card indicating when my time was up. Chris was already at the door to pick me up but I kept my feet in for the last few minutes; this was too good to give up early. When my time was up I dried off, paid, and paid my compliments via google translate. Walking out of there my feet truly felt healed of all of the walking and standing from the last 9 days. My shoes felt like marshmallows!! Amazing experience that I'd highly recommend.
Reunited, Chris and I walked to Akihabara, the nerdy district of Tokyo. We first stopped at some Gachapon halls and had some fun looking at all of the possible trinkets we could win. Of course we got some souvenirs to take home.
Next we found some retro game shops selling any and every game and console. I joked that we didn't need to go to the museum if we saw all of this! I'm talking shops with multiple levels dedicated to every gaming system known to man. Shops with collectables for sale and not for sale. Very cool, very nostalgic, and I've been getting instagram ads for retro gaming systems ever since!
Next we got to dinner - one of the more highly recommended ramen joints in the city, Kyushu Jangara. With only the one vegan option, ordering was easy, and once again done while we were waiting in line. I think the place had maybe 8-10 seats? The queue went fairly quickly and once we were inside at the tiny bar we got to watch the inside server/expo at work, with his old school ordering system at hand. Very fun to watch him and the kitchen work. We got our bowls of ramen, and I added in some of the vegan sides like pickled ginger and spicy pickled greens. This ramen was delicious, and the char siu was super meaty and a nice addition. I gave both of the team members who helped us dinos, and even though the inside expo guy was all business I know he liked the gift!!
From here we kept wandering and found the claw machines. Building upon building of floors of claw machines. And not the silver, old school style, we're talking SEGA made robot arm claw machines. We watched people throwing in $5 at a time to try and move an item in a box off of it's tight rope to win it. We watched kids perfectly place the huge claw on the XL sized stuffy, only to have the claw pick it up and drop it immediately. Rigged! Chris played for a pringle chip keychain and lost. I played twice for an edamame key chain; I'd seen someone with it in Tokyo earlier and I had to have it, so I went for it and after two tries I got it! Chris played for what looked like a McDonald's french fry and lost twice, then I lost for him too. Wasn't meant to be I guess!
On the next level was a photoshoot area where they had a hair station with curling irons and flat irons. You could fix up you hair and then head into a tiny booth for a photoshoot. I could hear the groups of girls inside!!
We went up a floor to the gaming areas and found the dance section. I played a modern version of Dance Dance Revolution and crushed it so much so that it had me keep playing! I eventually lost but felt like a pro!! We watched 20/30 something guys playing these kayboard guitar hero type games (you know the ones) and pressing the buttons so fast and perfeclty it was STUNNING. My jar was quite literally open watching this.
The last level of this building was the retro games. They had everything from pac man to wacky gator (which I played) to shooting games to those games with the motorcycle bodies.
They had this zomnbie SEGA game called The Typing of the Dead which had an actual keyboard attached, and you had to type the random words to defeat the enemies. I slayed!!!
After wandering some more stores we found a distillery and brewery I'd pinned. I tried their fresh hop beer, then bragged and showed off Driftwood's instagram. The staff seemed interested to learn about a Canadian fresh hop beer! Beer was great and I got a whisky highball and a Hef to go.
We tried to hit up a funky little bar on the way home - Game Bar A-Button - which promised drinks and a nostalgic atmosphere, but they were full. So we called it a night at 10pm and headed home.
This featured blog entry was written by kmcveggie from the blog Veggie Pack.
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