Japan Day 8: Tokyo
January 8.
Instagram
Today is my last day in Tokyo until the end of the trip, when I come back to Tokyo for 2 days and fly back to Boston. This is also going to be the last day I have with Vivian, as we'll be slitting up tomorrow morning, but also this morning, we're moving in different directions, as I have tickets to the Ghibli Museum.
The one downside to the Ghibli museum is that no photos are allowed here, but there's so much art everywhere. Books after books after books, exhibits galore, and every room seems to have some kind of film reel running, but best of all, there's a theater in the basement playing a movie that can only be seen at the Museum. The film is short and based on the story Nezumi no Sumo. The cafe had exclusive beer as well, and overall I really enjoyed this museum, even if everything they were selling in the giftshop was a bit overpriced. I feel bad that I don't have more photos to share, because this took up a good few hours of the morning into the early afternoon.
After the Miyazaki Museum, which was about a 45 minute train ride west of Shinjuku, I headed my way back to the hotel to grab all my purchases and stuff them in a box to be shipped back to the US. I stopped in the Godzilla store briefly near the Godzilla Head, packed up everything, ran into a language barrier at the post office, and eventually sent a box of gifts and Kit Kats home to Boston. I wish shipping a box internationally wasn't so expensive, but this would run me $110 to mail the box home. Considering I did stuff the box with like 20-30 things, I think it all evens out, right?
Vivian was done with her morning run, so we met up for lunch to grab Soba over by where the Imperial Palace is located. Mastsuya Honten is the name of the place, and apparently, it's been standing for over 100 years selling soba. It was a great little restaurant, the food was delicious, and it was surprisingly cheap considering the service and history. I do recommend!
After our lunch break, we made our way over to the big Nintendo and Pokemon store that are over in Shibuya, I know we were just there yesterday, but I don't think I realized that the big Nintendo World store was located at one of the department stores in Shibuya, so let's double back! There were so many shops on the floor Nintendo was on, including a stand alone Pokemon store, Capcom, Digimon, Shonen Jump, and a general bookstore. So many things I wanted to buy, but I remembered that sadly, I'm back to my backpack only as I already shipped the box home. We'd grab some sushi at one of the sushi-go-round places in Shibuya before moving on to our last destination.
Our last stop together on our trip is a little neighborhood around the corner from the hotel called "Golden Gai," which is the jam packed neighborhood full of tiny bars and eateries. It used to be where brothels were once located, and it's still late-night party central, just no brothels. One of Vivian's friends had been there before, so the plan was to retrace their steps and find some artwork they had left behind. We were able to find his artwork dollar bill in a little tiny bar (legit only had 8 seats total), I think it was called "No Strangers," the bartender was super cool and had a great playlist.
The next bar is called "Deathmatch In Hell," and it's a horror themed bar, just as small as the last place with maybe enough room for 10 people in total. There are two mini TV's on and behind the bar playing two different horror films at the same time, and the music in the place was Death Metal and Thrash. It's seriously the coolest bar I've ever been to, and it was covered wall to wall with horror movie or metal paraphernalia, oh and everything costs ¥666. Vivian and I both drank more than we probably should have, knowing we'd both be on the move early tomorrow morning, but YOLO.
Today is my last day in Tokyo until the end of the trip, when I come back to Tokyo for 2 days and fly back to Boston. This is also going to be the last day I have with Vivian, as we'll be slitting up tomorrow morning, but also this morning, we're moving in different directions, as I have tickets to the Ghibli Museum.
The one downside to the Ghibli museum is that no photos are allowed here, but there's so much art everywhere. Books after books after books, exhibits galore, and every room seems to have some kind of film reel running, but best of all, there's a theater in the basement playing a movie that can only be seen at the Museum. The film is short and based on the story Nezumi no Sumo. The cafe had exclusive beer as well, and overall I really enjoyed this museum, even if everything they were selling in the giftshop was a bit overpriced. I feel bad that I don't have more photos to share, because this took up a good few hours of the morning into the early afternoon.
 |
| Rainy day at the Ghibli Museum. |
 |
| Felt cute, might delete later. Ghibli Museum. |
 |
| Rain, rain, go away. Beer at the Ghibli Museum. |
After the Miyazaki Museum, which was about a 45 minute train ride west of Shinjuku, I headed my way back to the hotel to grab all my purchases and stuff them in a box to be shipped back to the US. I stopped in the Godzilla store briefly near the Godzilla Head, packed up everything, ran into a language barrier at the post office, and eventually sent a box of gifts and Kit Kats home to Boston. I wish shipping a box internationally wasn't so expensive, but this would run me $110 to mail the box home. Considering I did stuff the box with like 20-30 things, I think it all evens out, right?
Vivian was done with her morning run, so we met up for lunch to grab Soba over by where the Imperial Palace is located. Mastsuya Honten is the name of the place, and apparently, it's been standing for over 100 years selling soba. It was a great little restaurant, the food was delicious, and it was surprisingly cheap considering the service and history. I do recommend!
 |
| Matsuya Honten Soba, Chiyoda Tokyo. |
After our lunch break, we made our way over to the big Nintendo and Pokemon store that are over in Shibuya, I know we were just there yesterday, but I don't think I realized that the big Nintendo World store was located at one of the department stores in Shibuya, so let's double back! There were so many shops on the floor Nintendo was on, including a stand alone Pokemon store, Capcom, Digimon, Shonen Jump, and a general bookstore. So many things I wanted to buy, but I remembered that sadly, I'm back to my backpack only as I already shipped the box home. We'd grab some sushi at one of the sushi-go-round places in Shibuya before moving on to our last destination.
 |
| 8-Bit Art. Pokemon Cells to make Mario Art, Nintendo World Tokyo. |
 |
| Snorlax Grafitti. Pokemon Store Shibuya. |
 |
| Sushi from a sushi-go-round restaurant, Shibuya. |
Our last stop together on our trip is a little neighborhood around the corner from the hotel called "Golden Gai," which is the jam packed neighborhood full of tiny bars and eateries. It used to be where brothels were once located, and it's still late-night party central, just no brothels. One of Vivian's friends had been there before, so the plan was to retrace their steps and find some artwork they had left behind. We were able to find his artwork dollar bill in a little tiny bar (legit only had 8 seats total), I think it was called "No Strangers," the bartender was super cool and had a great playlist.
 |
| No Strangers, Golden Gai, Shinjuku. |
The next bar is called "Deathmatch In Hell," and it's a horror themed bar, just as small as the last place with maybe enough room for 10 people in total. There are two mini TV's on and behind the bar playing two different horror films at the same time, and the music in the place was Death Metal and Thrash. It's seriously the coolest bar I've ever been to, and it was covered wall to wall with horror movie or metal paraphernalia, oh and everything costs ¥666. Vivian and I both drank more than we probably should have, knowing we'd both be on the move early tomorrow morning, but YOLO.
 |
| Smoke Outside Please, Mia Wallace, Deathmatch In Hell, Golden Gai, Shinjuku. |
 |
| Baby Yoda, Deathmatch In Hell, Golden Gai, Shinjuku |
January 8 by numbers:
- Photos: 226
- Miles walked: 11.3
- Steps: 22862
- Total Calories Burned: 4674
- Bowls of Ramen: 0 (Soba isn't ramen!)
-Joe
Comments
Post a Comment