spring – 11th Squad Cat

Tokyo Spring Day 6

2018-04-282018-04-23Posted in Bucket List, Tips, TravelTagged Diver City, Gundam, Hachiko, Japan, Odaiba, Photography, sakura, Shibuya, Shibuya Crossing, spring, Tips, Tokyo, Tokyo Tower, Travel, Yurikaome, Zojoji1 Comment

Day 6 of our week–long stay in Tokyo was spent going around Tokyo Tower (although we didn’t go up), dropping by Odaiba, and then passing by Shibuya. The rest of the time was spent packing up and buying last-minute souvenirs since we would be flying home the following day. But anyway, here’s the day in pictures:

We headed towards Tokyo Tower via Daimon street. This is one of the interesting establishments in that area.

This is a photo, not a rendering^^

Stopped by Starbucks for breakfast, with Tokyo Tower in the background.

We entered the Zojoji compound where we got a good vantage point of Tokyo Tower

We boarded the unmanned Yurikaome monorail to get to Diver City. Best experienced from the front cabin 😉

The gundam was being taken down last year and wouldn’t be up until around September or so.

tulips in Diver City

For some reason this reminds me of Gundam 00

Shibuya Station

My friends all took turns having their picture taken beside Hachiko. Here’s a practice shot.

Before taking on the famed Shibuya crossing.

Tokyo Spring Day 2

2018-03-022018-04-21Posted in Bucket List, TravelTagged Akihabara, Imperial Palace Gardens, Japan, Photography, sakura, spring, Tokyo, Travel, Tsukiji Fish Market5 Comments

So, Day 1 is a quick stop at Ueno Park; in the second day of our week-long trip, we went to Tsukiji Fish Market, Imperial Palace gardens, and had dinner at Akihabara.

We got to the fish market shortly before lunch. We did have lunch and coffee, but no, we did not have sushi. I failed to find the line of stalls selling sweets, too. Of course, Tsukiji Fish Market does smell like fish (duh!), but it’s still a lot cleaner than how I remember the wet markets we used to frequent when I was a kid.

If we had enough energy, we would have definitely spent time falling in line at one of these stalls.

Checking out the menu

A row lined with souvenirs

Yup, still in the Tsukiji Fish Market complex

A quaint restaurant with a fresh fish head on display

Next stop is the Imperial Palace gardens. Whatever we had at Tsukiji we definitely burned on the way haha. Good thing we had a bag of strawberries to keep us fueled.

Probably the closest one could typically get on a regular day

One of the many picturesque views in the gardens

Enjoying the blossoms

waiting for the titans 😉

Our final stop was somewhere in Akihabara to meet our former officemates who also happened to be around the area. No pictures here because we were too hungry and we kinda looked haggard^^;

ah, the lively Akihabara

cheesecake for nightcap

I’ve always wanted to see this in person.

Hastily took a shot of Gundam Cafe’s entrance. I had to!

There was a lot of walking on this day but experiencing the places and feasting on the sights and sounds made all the walking worth it. Onwards to Day 3!

Tokyo Spring, Day 1

2018-02-262018-02-26Posted in Bucket List, TravelTagged Japan, Photography, sakura, spring, Tokyo, Travel, Ueno Park6 Comments

I joined my friends on their adventure to Tokyo April of last year because it would be their first time to travel DIY, and I tried getting a ticket for the 25th L’Anniversary, the weekend of which fell right smack in the middle of the schedule. I figured too that it would be my last chance to join them since I would migrate late last year. So, joining the party last, I made our itinerary and became the unofficial guide.

We landed at Narita Airport around lunch time so we had a meal first and then checked in to our house.

a view of the tarmac

Pikachu and I almost went matchy-matchy^^

thank God for escalators. that’s no camera angle; it is that steep o_o

I had my friends go through an ordeal, and I really felt bad about it–the station we alighted from only had stairs on the exit we were supposed to take. We eventually made it to the house and after getting some much-needed rest, we headed to Ueno Park.