TacoCat’s Travels #30 (Japan Ver1): A Wintry Welcome 日本へようこそ!

Hey Steemit!

I recently finished my Finland Travel series in the previous post, and at the end I mentioned that we would be going back even further in time to my/our first trip to Japan! Let's-a-go!

This was waaaay back in 2015, when I knew next to nothing about Japan, other than the fact that Nintendo was from there. I think by then there were quite a few Travel Japan posts on the web but I don't think it was as ubiquitous as it is now. So Japan was a big question mark to me. Of course, Sean's been there quite a few times already so he was gonna be my personal tour guide!

Please be warned that our choices in food and places to go will not be the best since it was my first time. If you're looking for a more legit Japan guide, check out @jrvacation, I'm sure they're waaaay more knowledgeable. Also excuse the picture quality; I was using an S5 at the time.

29 December 2015. Tuesday.

We took a noon-ish flight on 28 Dec so by the time we reached Tokyo it was almost 10 PM local time! We had to take a train from the airport to our Airbnb in ikebukuro and walk quite a bit from the station so it was practically midnight when we finally reached our apartment.

panorama of our apartment! It was really nice and comfortable (:

ootn to our first meal in Japan!

We were pretty hungry by the time we got to our place in Ikebukuro so we took a midnight stroll around town to find some grub. I believe this was also the first time I travelled to a cold country! After living in Singapore for so long it was refreshing to get away from the heat.

There weren't that many food places open so late at night so we decided to go to some random donburi (rice bowl) shop.

I can't really remember what shop this was, but I don't think it was any of the famous chains. Either way, this was our first meal together in Japan! And it was delicious! 😋

The next day we woke up pretty late (it was 2 PM by the time we left the house oops 😬), so we went to have lunch before going around town.

big mirror in the lobby = ootd shots to start the day 😄

We had lunch at this ramen chain called Tenkaippin (天下一品). Our set came with some gyoza too, which was pretty good. I think the ramen was only okay though. I don't think we've eaten there since so I guess it wasn't that great, but hey it was my first time. 😅

After that we walked to the station to take a train to Asakusa (one of the famous touristy places to visit)!

My first time trying a vending machine in Japan!

I hadn't learn anything about Japan at the time, so I didn't know how big vending machines were, or why they were so special in Japan. But now I know they have hot drinks and food and all sorts of other stuff in different machines throughout the country! They actually earn a lot of money because it's so convenient and low maintenance.

After about 5 min or so, we reached Asakusa station and we saw the famous golden turd!

Apparently it's called the Asahi flame, and the building is the Asahi Beer Hall, but everyone just knows it to be the golden turd. I mean look at it.

We were blessed with really good weather that day and took a nice stroll along the Sumida River on the way to the Sensō-ji temple.

Sensō-ji is one of Tokyo's most colorful and popular temples, and actually the oldest as it was completed in the year 645! And popular it is! A loooot of people were also there to visit the temple, and it was really close to the new year so there were plenty of tourists around! So I don't recommend going during peak travel periods.

We walked along the Nakamise shopping street for a bit looking at all the traditional Japanese souvenirs like fans and local snacks before heading out because it was tooo crowded!

The temple actually consists of 2 buildings; the main hall and a 5-storey pagoda.

By the time we left the sun was setting already (even though it was only 4:30 PM)!

We decided to stop for some photos before going back to the station.

Since it was getting to nighttime, we decided to head to Akihabara (which I affectionately call The Town That Never Sleeps)!

There's so much to see and do in Akihabara, and it's definitely where you'll see most of what Japan is known for - anime! Here you'll find many different novelty cafes, manga shops and arcades!

I think these twinkly lights are still there to this day

We found a retro games store where they were selling all sorts of old games and consoles!

I'm sure this place is heaven for game collectors

After that, I took my first step into the best store of all time - Don Quijote! They have a whole section of funny costumes and hats so guess what we did!

After fooling around for quite a bit (and giving the other shoppers a good laugh I'm sure), we went to check out the arcades!

There were all sorts of machines there, and many Japanese people playing intensely.

I dont remember if I was into neko atsume yet at the time but I thought these were so cute!

We were getting hungry so we decided to get some snacks when we smelt this really nice-looking yakitori!

It actually didn't turn out that great; don't buy it if it's still there

We also tried the crepe but it wasn't great either. I thought crepes were supposed to be crispy!

After that we walked around a bit more before heading to dinner!

We made a new friend!

We went to this chain restaurant called Go!Go! Curry for dinner.

The curry was blacker than what I'm used to but it was alright. It was super filling though!

After a scrumptious meal and a long day, we headed back to Ikebukuro to rest for the night.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned to my next post where we visit Harajuku!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!

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[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 35.714833 lat 139.796744 long d3scr)

Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels (Finland) #28: Our final day in HEL!