Japan Day 6: Tokyo
January 6.
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Hakodate morning market is most likely much more lively during the tourist summer season, which is one of the benefits of traveling in the off season, no crowds to be found anywhere. Even though it was clearly quieter than normal, almost every stall and station was open selling fresh caught seafood, including king crab everywhere. I also stopped in a morning ramen shop for some more soy ramen and the food Hakodate is most well known for: Squid!
Hindsight being 50/50, if I were to do this trip again, I think I'd fly up to Sapporo immediately and just try to hang on with 24+ hours without sleep, and then slowly cascade down to Tokyo with those stops in Hakodate and Sendai. It would realistically save about 8 hours of travel time, at the cost of around $75-100. Time being money, that's really not an awful deal.
I didn't realize that I could grab all my JR train tickets in one swing, and didn't need to grab them one at a time... So I ended up grabbing my tickets back to Tokyo later than I should have, because the holiday crowd making their way home packed the train to the brim. I'll have to take 2 trains today in three sections. One train from Hakodate (downtown) to Shin-Hakodate station, and the second train from Shin-Hakodate to Morioka station, then move to standing room only from Morioka to Tokyo. The ride would be 4 hours in total, and 2 of them standing room only. The train was packed, but I made a friend, he likes reading newspapers and drinking beer.
Sure I got stuck on a train with standing room only for two hours, but today is going to a pretty rad day, because Vivian arrives in Tokyo today! Viv Diesel is an old coworker from my Photogenic days, and we never actually worked in the same city, I was Boston, and she was Philly. We became friends through our mutual work doing customer service emails. She now works for an airline, and she worked things out to hop a flight to Japan to hang out with me for my 3 days in Tokyo.
I arrived in Tokyo a little after 2pm, and by the time I swung over to my hotel in Shinjuku, it was exactly 3pm on the dot and I could access my room. I dropped my bags and quickly headed out for a little scouting mission before needing to meet up with Viv at Tokyo Station. She'd be coming in on the same 45 minute train ride from Narita, so I had plenty of time to explore the neighborhood and once she landed, then I'd make my way to the station to meet her.
Shinjuku is super cool, there's shops everywhere, a Godzilla statue, and it's a late night spot with its bars, restaurants, and clubs. It's also home to the tourist friendly Robot Restaurant with flash decor, a wild robot show, and food that's not included with it's crazy entrance fee ($85!). When it's time to meet Viv at the station, she's real hungry so I have the best cure: Ramen.
Yume Wo Katare Tokyo is open today, so we hopped on a train up towards Bunkyo and ate a giant bowl of delicious noodles. Yume Wo Katare translates to "share your dream" and the idea is that if you use all your focus and determination to eat their bowl of ramen, you can use the same determination and focus to achieve your dreams. The bowl of ramen is huge, 300g of noodle, plus bean sprouts and giant pieces of pork. It's about double the normal sized ramen you'd find elsewhere in Japan.
With dinner over, we were back on a train to head down to famous Tokyo Tower. I pre-purchased my ticket to the tower, and when Viv confirmed her travel to Japan, I snagged a ticket for her as well. There's two different observation decks, the main deck, and the top deck tour, so naturally, I booked us tickets to go all the way to the top. Tokyo Tower's main observation deck is covered in lights, sound, and interactive exhibits, because the tower is pretty well surrounded by new taller buildings all around, gotta add some extra flair! There's also a One Piece exhibit!
The Top Deck Tour is spectacular, especially at night. I loved going up the Skytree in the daytime, and complementing it with Tokyo Tower at night. All around are buildings lit in the night sky, and it's perfectly clear, so we can see all the way down to the buildings in Yokohama. Unfortunately, can't see Mt Fuji from the tower at night, but that's alright. Seeing Tokyo at night with all the lights everywhere, it takes me back to watching Akira and Cowboy Bebop on late night TV.
Following the Tokyo Tower tour, it was 100% time to hit the hotel and go to bed. Viv was on a plane all day, and I've been running around all day since waking up at 6am. Good Night!
Hakodate morning market is most likely much more lively during the tourist summer season, which is one of the benefits of traveling in the off season, no crowds to be found anywhere. Even though it was clearly quieter than normal, almost every stall and station was open selling fresh caught seafood, including king crab everywhere. I also stopped in a morning ramen shop for some more soy ramen and the food Hakodate is most well known for: Squid!
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| Terje Kammar Med Krabbar Ja! Hakodate Morning Market. |
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| Breakfast Ramen at Ajino Ichiban, Hakodate. |
Hindsight being 50/50, if I were to do this trip again, I think I'd fly up to Sapporo immediately and just try to hang on with 24+ hours without sleep, and then slowly cascade down to Tokyo with those stops in Hakodate and Sendai. It would realistically save about 8 hours of travel time, at the cost of around $75-100. Time being money, that's really not an awful deal.
I didn't realize that I could grab all my JR train tickets in one swing, and didn't need to grab them one at a time... So I ended up grabbing my tickets back to Tokyo later than I should have, because the holiday crowd making their way home packed the train to the brim. I'll have to take 2 trains today in three sections. One train from Hakodate (downtown) to Shin-Hakodate station, and the second train from Shin-Hakodate to Morioka station, then move to standing room only from Morioka to Tokyo. The ride would be 4 hours in total, and 2 of them standing room only. The train was packed, but I made a friend, he likes reading newspapers and drinking beer.
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| My Train Buddy. Somewhere outside Morioka Station. |
Sure I got stuck on a train with standing room only for two hours, but today is going to a pretty rad day, because Vivian arrives in Tokyo today! Viv Diesel is an old coworker from my Photogenic days, and we never actually worked in the same city, I was Boston, and she was Philly. We became friends through our mutual work doing customer service emails. She now works for an airline, and she worked things out to hop a flight to Japan to hang out with me for my 3 days in Tokyo.
I arrived in Tokyo a little after 2pm, and by the time I swung over to my hotel in Shinjuku, it was exactly 3pm on the dot and I could access my room. I dropped my bags and quickly headed out for a little scouting mission before needing to meet up with Viv at Tokyo Station. She'd be coming in on the same 45 minute train ride from Narita, so I had plenty of time to explore the neighborhood and once she landed, then I'd make my way to the station to meet her.
Shinjuku is super cool, there's shops everywhere, a Godzilla statue, and it's a late night spot with its bars, restaurants, and clubs. It's also home to the tourist friendly Robot Restaurant with flash decor, a wild robot show, and food that's not included with it's crazy entrance fee ($85!). When it's time to meet Viv at the station, she's real hungry so I have the best cure: Ramen.
 |
| Godzilla Statue, Shinjuku, Tokyo. |
Yume Wo Katare Tokyo is open today, so we hopped on a train up towards Bunkyo and ate a giant bowl of delicious noodles. Yume Wo Katare translates to "share your dream" and the idea is that if you use all your focus and determination to eat their bowl of ramen, you can use the same determination and focus to achieve your dreams. The bowl of ramen is huge, 300g of noodle, plus bean sprouts and giant pieces of pork. It's about double the normal sized ramen you'd find elsewhere in Japan.
 |
| Yume Wo Katare Tokyo |
With dinner over, we were back on a train to head down to famous Tokyo Tower. I pre-purchased my ticket to the tower, and when Viv confirmed her travel to Japan, I snagged a ticket for her as well. There's two different observation decks, the main deck, and the top deck tour, so naturally, I booked us tickets to go all the way to the top. Tokyo Tower's main observation deck is covered in lights, sound, and interactive exhibits, because the tower is pretty well surrounded by new taller buildings all around, gotta add some extra flair! There's also a One Piece exhibit!
 |
| One Piece Exhibit, Tokyo Tower. |
The Top Deck Tour is spectacular, especially at night. I loved going up the Skytree in the daytime, and complementing it with Tokyo Tower at night. All around are buildings lit in the night sky, and it's perfectly clear, so we can see all the way down to the buildings in Yokohama. Unfortunately, can't see Mt Fuji from the tower at night, but that's alright. Seeing Tokyo at night with all the lights everywhere, it takes me back to watching Akira and Cowboy Bebop on late night TV.
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| Tokyo Tower, Night View |
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| Tokyo Tower Very Impressive Panorama. Rainbow Bridge, Odaiba, Tokyo Bay. |
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| Tokyo Tower Very Impressive Panorama, West View. |
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| Me And Vivian Being Tourists. |
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| Same. |
Following the Tokyo Tower tour, it was 100% time to hit the hotel and go to bed. Viv was on a plane all day, and I've been running around all day since waking up at 6am. Good Night!
January 6 by numbers:
- Photos: 155
- Miles walked: 9.3
- Steps: 18649
- Total Calories Burned: 4362
- Bowls of Ramen: 2
-Joe
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