Apologies for the delay in posts, the last two days we’ve had in Tokyo have been very “hurry, what else haven’t we seen or eaten and what do we want to go back and do one more time!?!? ahhhhh!”
Needless to say, these days flew by very fast but were very fun! So much fun that we don’t have very many photos to show for, but I will do my best to share and explain everything!!!!
We decided that Day 11 would be a day to do nothing but last minute shopping for ourselves and for gifts kind of day.. so we started at Harajuku and walked to Shibuya. Nothing very new to take pictures of, BUT a notable mention was these cheese tarts we happened upon in Shinjuku subway in the morning. A small but significant queue of people were waiting to buy these, and of course in Japan (or any asian country or area) this means that the product must be good. The place was called “BAKE” and sold nothing but these “cheese tarts” sitting in the window. No flavour variety or anything. Also a sign read “Limit 12 per customer” so that’s when I knew we had to join the line. Turns out asian queue mentality was right again because these cheese tarts were probably one of the most delicious, decadent pastries I’ve ever had. The crust was lightly sweet and very crunchy, pretty much a cookie. The middle was soft, delicate, sweet cheese mousse that tasted like the way cheesecake is supposed to taste but that TEXTURE. AHH. The baked top added a bit of a creme brulee crisp to every bite. We knew we had to come back again before we left.
For the rest of the day, we shopped and basically just soaked up all of the sights to see in Harajuku and Shibuya. It was nice to not really have a schedule!
One of many slanty narrow roadways filled with pedestrians in Harajuku
People in Tokyo have mastered the escalator etiquette of stand on one side, pass on the other. Although I had to get used to keeping to the left instead of the right.
For dinner, we decided we needed to have some sushi which surprisingly, we hadn’t had yet while in Tokyo. The truth is that sushi is really a “once in a while/special occasion” thing here – for the good stuff at least. We finally settled on this place called Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten which had some reallyyyy good reviews on Trip Advisor for being affordable yet delicious. When we finally found the place, the queue line confirmed the place was legit. They had a process where you use a touch screen to specify how many people, if you prefer table or sushi bar or either, and you get a ticket with a number. When we arrived, the number was at 142.. the number I received was 169. And so we took a seat and waited.
Said queue line with the restaurant being that tiny thing in the background. We were so far back, we didn’t even reach the benches they had outside for people to sit on.
The line was actually not too bad, turned out that people just ended up leaving so we got bumped forward quite fast. We waited about 40 minutes and I’d say it was quite worth it for the price and quality!!! Please try this place out if you’re in Shibuya area 🙂 It helps that it’s located within Shibuya Mark City so you won’t have to wait outside.
Day 12: Last day!!
We spent our last day checking out more of Ueno and it’s outdoor market area, Ameyoko. We had decidedly spent way too much of our stay on the west side of Tokyo (Shinjuku/Harajuku/Shibuya, etc) and not enough on the east side, so we made the 30 min subway trek over. Again, the goal was to just eat a lot of stuff and see all that we could and I’d say it was a very productive day 🙂
Ueno station
Stopped for a snack – Adorable pastries, one melon bread shaped like a turtle and the cube bread was filled with chocolate! Just like those koala snacks. Small carton of milk, which was amazing. Japan what do you put in your milk that it’s so delicious!?!? tiny Yakult, and of course more cheesecake tarts from BAKE.
Matcha Soft Cream – I bought this at a matcha shop in the market! SUPER strong matcha taste which was right down my alley but not down Alex’s. Oops forgot to take a pic before taking a bite.
at Ueno station, we passed by a glasses place that Tim had recommended and within 30 minutes I walked out with a new pair of glasses. For only 5800 yen. They did a quick eye exam and fitting right there in the store. I love Japan.
Ameyoko at night! You really need to wait for it to be night time, it comes alive when it gets dark.
This small temple was tucked right in the middle of all of the busy commotion of the market.
Finally, we headed back to Shinjuku for our last dinner in Tokyo 😦 We decided on another one of those cute little restaurants in Shinjuku Station on the 7&8 floors, in the pseudo food court thing where we had our first meal! It was Alex’s turn to choose, so he chose a place that specialized in curry and pasta. The food was very north American but Alex says it’s probably one of the best lasagna’s he’s ever had so, seriously Japan, is there anything you don’t do well? We’ll miss you 😦
hellofujisan 