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Japan 2019: Retracing steps
posted : Sunday, February 24, 2019
First full day in Tokyo and it's mostly about revisiting some of the places which I have been to the last time round.
We were pretty close to the Ueno area which is also relatively near to the Asakusa area (actually come to think of it that was one of the considerations for selecting our hotel) so grouped these two areas into one day. Started off with the Ameya-yokocho Shopping Street on our way to Ueno Station. 
Daily pick-me-up! There's also a coffee machine at the lobby so also grabbed a cup from there every morning.
Light at the end of a staircase
Ameya-Yokocho
Not too crowded, but incredibly sunny.
Junction at Ueno station. Major station that has trains towards Narita.
I like this kind of architecture actually. Modern looking, lots of glass elements.
Roughly lunchtime so joined a half-an-hour queue for Ichiran! Was quite excited to introduce this to the sister coz I had largely good impressions of the ramen, even if I ate it with a blocked nose the last time round. Speaking of which, I was already back to 100% at this point after a bit of scare couple of days ago. This time round somehow I wasn't as wow-ed though. Felt like the tonkotsu broth wasn't as intense as I remember. But still, a pretty decent bowl. 
The display that indicates which cubicles are empty
That familiar cubicle, with blinds rolled back
Ramen!
Dropped by Ueno Park next. Missed the sunny blue skies which we totally didnt get to see in Hokkaido (except that few hours in Noboribetsu) and though temperatures were in the high single-digits range, it's didn't feel particularly cold, a bit warm even lol (maybe too used to cold from Hokkaido already). 
Up a flight of stairs towards Ueno Park
Random 祈福 gimmicks
One of the few shrines within Ueno Park
Theres a baseball stadium to the left, how Japanese
Pagoda
Street food
Ueno Park is huuuuge. We probably explored like a quarter of it before deciding to head over to Sensoji Temple because I wanted to be at Sumida River by sunset. 
Heading back to Ueno Station
It's a good thing we did because the crowd at Sensoji Temple was INSANE. Japanese New Year is a 4 day holiday or something so there are still plenty of locals who are heading to temples for prayers. And it's not a single queue into the temple, more like a platoon moving forward towards the temple with ample crowd control measures. 
Arriving at Asakusa, where the street outside has been pedestrianised. Maybe only certain days and time.
 
Panoramic views
Kaminarimon
Us in front of it
Nakamise Shopping Street revisited. No time to shop, joined the queue
Approaching the shrine
Into the shrine, entering in batches. Look at the crowd behind!
Surprisingly the area outside the temple isn't as crowded. Maybe people just disperse after exiting but we could patronise the street food stalls with ease. 
求签 has been moved outside the temple. Got a decent one this time so allowed to bring back!
Karaage
Kena cheated by this. Very little juice!
Headed out of the temple and walked towards Sumida River next. This part of the trip was exactly the same as my previous trip lol - Sensoji Temple->Sumida River->Tokyo Skytree. Though this time can afford more time for a bit of window shopping at Tokyo Skytree. 
Back at Sumida River
#2yearchallenge?
Sun setting
Ducked into a cafe to wait for sun to fully set.
Like this
To Tokyo Skytree again
Dinner at this place called Tempura Tsunahachi
Tempura ice cream
Kawada Nanoblock store! Wish I had the space for this kind. To think we are still relying on instruction sheets while the staff there are just casually using tweezers to pick out the blocks they need from a big bag of blocks and assembling at will. We noobs.
Called it a day! 
Tapao-ed from Hokkaido. Pretty good!
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