walking up the streets from the hotel
gas station.. special thing is that the gas pump hangs overhead
flower shop
bookshop
And beside the bookshop, there's a MacDonald's. And so, we tried the breakfast there.
Gina with her breakfast
There's no big breakfast in Japan but it does have something equivalent in the form of muffins but with double patty and with bacon. The staff speaks little English but it isn't that difficult to order food. Oh, and no plastic bags at MacDonald's there, just paper bags.
Do return the trays and to dispose of the wrappers, cups, napkins etc. But its not like in Singapore where we just chuck everything into the bin. In Japan, there's a sink to dispose any remaining liquid (such as unconsumed coffee, tea or softdrinks), then throw the paper waste into the paper bin, and plastic waste into the plastic bin etc. But if the staff are not busy, then they'll likely come and assist you in this task.
And to get around Tokyo, Gina recommended the Suica pass. It's EZ-link equivalent, but the value sure ran out fast! It's pretty convenient and each top-up is 1000 yen. Deposit for the pass is 500 yen, which is refundable (t&c apply).
suica pass
The top up machines are caled 'fare adjustment' machines and can be found inside the gate of the metro station.
After breakfast, the itinerary is to Akihabara.
information board on train platform
building at Akihabara
Akihabara is an electronics area and basically frequented by otakus (geeks!), youths and tourists. There're alot of maid's cafe as well.
coffee from vending machine, with anime printed on it
more buildings
pachinko shop
The weather was cool at around 12 degrees celcius and it was quite sunny. We walked abit, went into some shops to look around. Passed by a Mac outlet and the guy was handling out coupons. It stated 'Present for you' with a picture of a cheeseburger.
It really was free but I was thirsty so ordered a small coke for 100 yen.
cute coke cup with pokemon!
Found this interesting sign on the pavement.
panda?
Then we made our way to Ameyoko, which is a very busy street between Okachimachi and Ueno Station.
Passed by Gindaco, so decided to have some snacks.
with custard filling
yummy tako balls
Ameyoko
octopus
Ameyoko really has a 'New Year' feel to it as it was very crowded and people jostled one another to look at the products. Noticed quite a lot of elderly folks scouting for seafood and stuffs. Apparently, you might be able to bargain at some shops there.. provided you can speak and understand Japanese I suppose.
Lionel and myself, look at the crowd behind us!
After jostling with the elderly, our next destination was to the Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment Building at Shinjuku to their observatory tower. Free one.. woohoOOo~
decided to take a shuttle bus (but must pay one.. tsk tsk)
No. 1 building
outside of the building
observatory at 45th floor
Unfortunately, that day was real foggy and thus, can't really see much also.
Some of the views observed:
On good days, we're supposed to be able to see this:
'Nighttime' sure came fast (at around 450pm) and soon the view changed a little:
night view
The observation tower closes at 7pm if I'm not wrong. As there's really nothing much to see up there, we went down at around 5.30pm and it was real dark...
christmas lights at Keio Plaza Hotel at 530pm
Keio Plaza Hotel
Then we walked back to the Metro station and back to Hanzomon to buy our dinner. We bought from Bento shop. Found out that the guys in the bento shops are Chinese Nationals, so we spoke in Mandarin.
yummy chicken cutlet bento at 390 yen only~
