"I wonder if you know, how they live in Tokyo. If you seen it then you mean it, then you know you have to go."
- Tokyo Drift by Teriyaki Boyz (Fast & Furious 3)
TOKYO. Acknowledged as one of the most expensive city to live in for many years. Yes I made it, in my own affordable way.
After a long almost 10 hours journey from Osaka, we finally arrived at Tokyo on Friday morning around 08.20. We got off from Willer Bus Express near Tokyo Station (Kajibashi parking lot, across Yaesu Fujiya Hotel). Even though Tokyo Station is just 5 mins away, we chose to walk to Kyobashi Station to take subway to reach Tawaramachi Station (near Asakusa). Main reason? We didn't need to transfer since both stations are on the same subway line. Since we brought some heavy luggages, we tried to avoid subway's stairs :)
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| Morning exercise to Kyobashi Station (p) |
Thanks God there's an entrance with elevator at Kyobashi Station. We also bought our PASMO card at this station with some help from a nice officer on duty. We arrived at Tawaramachi Station 15 minutes later. There's no elevator here, so be brave and embraced the stairs. Fortunately, I met a very kind Spanish tourist who helped me to bring my heavy luggage through the exit. I owe you big one surprisingly helpful stranger.
We stayed at Khaosan Tokyo Laboratory. A very nice hostel in Asakusa area. Khaosan Tokyo has some branches around Asakusa: Ninja, Original, Samurai, Kabuki, Laboratory, and the newest one World Asakusa (open late Nov last year). The Laboratory branch was also recently open last year too.
This hostel offers many 3 bed rooms' space with colorful walls, so pretty! A private bath room is attached inside. We paid 3,400 JPY per person per night. This hostel also offers 4 bedroom's space and dormitory room.
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| Entrance (k) |
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| Reception, information, and free internet corner (k) |
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| Dining area and kitchen (k) |
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| Our bright pink room! (k) |
We arrived too early from our check-in time, but Tsubasa (hostel staff) nicely allowed us to use the public bathroom to freshen up. It was a day after Halloween and there are lots of costumes and accessories on the reception lounge, we tried some of them too.
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| Scary crab and silly rabbit (p) |
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| Tempura set and tasty soba, yummsterrr (p) |
Disney Sea here we go! We took subway Ginza Line from Tawaramachi Station to Ueno, transferred to Hibiya Line and got off at Hatchobori, transferred to Keiyo Line and made our stop at Maihama, walked to Disney Resort then rode the Disney Train to Disney Sea. It's a long journey.
We arrived at Disney Sea around 2 pm and have a plan to stay until the fireworks on 8 pm. I didn't ride any attractions while I was there because the place was too packed of people, my friends were able to ride 2-3 attractions though. I chose to stroll around and watched some shows instead.
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| (p) |
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| (p) |
We already bought our Disney Sea ticket through Tokyo Disney Resort web. It saved us sometimes because we don't have to queue in front of ticket counter anymore. We just had to print our e-ticket and showed it at the entrance gate. You have to pay 6,200 JPY for one day passport ticket to Disney Sea.
I wasn't aware that it's forbidden to use a tripod or even a monopod in Disney Sea and Disneyland. Another thing that I just knew was you can't watch fireworks at Disney Sea, because there's a show called Fantasmic to close your day there. You can only get fireworks if you go to Disneyland.
Food and drinks in Disney Sea are quite expensive. I spent nearly 120 JPY just to get a churros, minnie popsicle, and a bottle mineral water.
We're going to Shin-Okubo Korea Town for an early lunch on the next day. Another cheap but tasty japanese (with a bit fusion taste from Korea) restaurant chain similar to Yoshinoya called Sukiya. I ate a bowl of kimchi gyudon. After that we went to Shinjuku and visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to get a view of Tokyo and its surrounding from the observatory deck. I didn't have to spend any penny since it's free!
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| TMGO |
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| Buildings |
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| and building |
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| Another buildings |
The weather was too cloudy that day. It's been said that on good weather you can see Mount Fuji from up there. But I was able to catch a glimpse of Tokyo Dome and Tokyo Sky Tree though.
We went around and found a garden near TMGO. It's Saturday and lucky for us there's a flea market there!
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| (p) |
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| Got myself a fluffy little Elmo at Shinjuku flea market for 200 JPY only! |
I left Shinjuku around 1 pm and rushed to Saitama (a prefecture near Tokyo) to catch CNBLUE concert in Japan that held at Saitama Super Arena. I'll have another post for my Saitama trip in Japan (CNBLUE Arena Tour in Japan & Kawagoe).
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| CNBLUE "One More Time" Arena Tour in Japan |
I met my friends again later that night at Shibuya. We had our dinner at a curry place, once again I forgot the restaurant name. But it wasn't Coco or Go Go Curry.
Similar with Shinjuku, I didn't spend lots of my time in Shibuya. The district was too busy for me to enjoy. We revisited Shibuya on our last night in Tokyo and I did spend quite some time at Tower Records Shibuya to buy some CDs. They also have a nice little cafe and book store inside. Music, books, and coffee at one place: perfecto. As an addition we closed our Tokyo trip with a warm big plate of Coco Curry. I'm getting addicted to japanese curry.
Shibuya is popular for its crossing in front of Shibuya Station - Hachiko exit. We surely made our way and crossed that busy street :)
(k) pictures courtesy of Khaosan Tokyo Laboratory
(p) picturs courtesy of Purti
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