ASAKUSA > AKIHABARA > OCHANOMIZU > SHINJUKU

The morning started with the usual routine of “I-don’t-wanna-get-up”. I can’t believe myself. I’m in Japan and YET it takes forever to kick me out of bed >_> ( Sorry Sam! ) I was really too tired ( from the long hours on the plane ) and broken ( from lugging the luggage around SO much. Hello NON-ELEVATOR exit of Asakusa station, I shall remember you with much hatred )

We I finally got up around 8-ish and got ready for the first stop ever in Japan! Kaminari-mon! The area I’m staying in is a famous tourist spot in Asakusa [ 浅草 ] for it’s giant red lantern and temples so it’s definitely a good place for us to start exploring Tokyo!

View from Komagata Bridge.

It’s one of the three bridges ( and the one we used often ) that cuts through the Sumida River. The red bridge you can see in the second picture will be the Azuma Bridge, there’s Umaya Bridge further down but we never really bothered with that side of the town? O_o; Komagata Bridge is blue and in between of Azuma and Umaya, by the way. We used this often because it’s the shortest route from Asakusa Station to the hostel. Plus, since we’re kinda hopeless with directions, it’s really kinda good that there’s a little temple-like building at the side of the road here to indicate that we WERE INDEED on the correct bridge XD

And oh, being the stupid fangirl that I am …

Bandai building XDDD ( If you don’t understand the significance of this place, uhmm .. don’t ask. It’s better that way ^^; ) And like what Keroro would do, I pay my tribute to the building every morning as I crossed the bridge the whole time I’m in Japan XDD

By the way, tonnes of picture under the cut. Considered yourself warned? XD

KAMINARI-MON
For the strangest coincidence, our semi aimless wandering brought us exactly to where we wanted to be! Kaminarimon ! must.. not… crack… RaimonTaro jokes..

Kaminari-mon ( Thunder Gate )

L : Nakamise Dori + R : Hozo-mon

Through the first gate of Kaminari-mon, there’s a long stretch of street that’s filled with shops on both sides specially targeted at tourists. Souvenirs, o-mamori, beads, keychains and food were sold everywhere ♥ I love the busy-ness and the slightly festive mood here. Kinda reminds me of Chinese New Year Eve market-place ( only less crowded and with less pushing XD; ) A lot of different tongues can be heard here so I felt slightly less out of place in a foreign country. I’m sorry Japan! But I’m here to inflict my stupid gaijin-ness at you!!

We were totally sold by cheerful baa-chans and plunged our first 円(s) of the day! On fresh anpan on a stick XD We ended up rather hungry after weaving in and out of many different food stalls ( soba stalls, senbe stalls and TAKOYAKI stalls! ) Resistance was futile ..

Who can resist freshly cooked Takoyaki? Not me :3

Random Asakusa pictures time! Sam and I were randomly going around following our eyes and feet. It was a pretty relaxing stroll all the way with us just letting go of all worries and enjoying the sights and smell.

Next stop! AKIHABARA [ 秋葉原 ]

Picture shamelessly stolen from Sam

To tell the truth, even though I wrote “Akihabara” as one of the earliest place to visit on my dysfunctional itinerary, I simply have NO IDEA what is it to do here O_o Go me for being the one who research places to visit >_>; But hey! Welcome to Geek-Kingdom : Akihabara. You can know it’s Akiba already the moment you get off the train station. By the time I reached the exit of the station; I’d already seen nearly all the colours available on the DS-Lite series and both PSP black and white ( people were playing it at the subway whole waiting for train XD )

We walked so much around the place and yet we just have absolutely no idea what to do. Did some detour into stores that looks enough; steered clear away from creepy and shady stores and BASICALLY I’M STILL MAD THAT PEOPLE GIVE ME WEIRD LOOKS WHEN I GET NEAR ANY GUNPLA. Damnit people, I’m a girl BUT I like Gundams! So there! Squeee Gundam 00 promo EVERYWHERE. Giant poster of Exia and Setsuna and the rest of the pilots are everywhere too. It made me a very happy fangirl XDD thus scaring away Rei once more XDD

SMAP billboard XD Oh hay as much as I’m NOT a JE-fan; I can’t push some of them away. Kimura Takuya is awfully hot for an ossan ( not as hot as my OTHER ossan though *ahem* ), Nakai and Shingo are absolute crack ( especially on TV shows ) and Oh gawd, Kusanagi, he’s my hero since he parodied Kouda Kumi XDDDD And uhh.. Japanese-curry taste funkeeeyyyy ~ ( yes yes, that’s the Malaysian taste bud talking XD; )

Sam and I eventually found a CD-store and all hell broke loose XD; I bought myself TAKUI’s Swanky God Pop and WYSE’s WxYxSxE. I really wanted TAKUI’s older album - NUCLEAR SONIC PUNK and ultimately Daita’s EUPHONY to tell the truth :\ But the store doesn’t hold those items. Woes.

We gave up Akiba Akihabara soon after ( feeling much poorer too ) and decided it’s still kinda early for the night time cityscape view, we detoured a little to ..

OCHANOMIZU [ 御茶ノ水 ]

Once again, shamelessly stolen from Sam - view from Ochanomizu Station + 2nd hand CDs store : disk union

According to a link Moona sent me; there should be several used CD stores around this area. We were pretty lost about where to begin but lo! Disk Union was just across the street. I do feel a bit d’oh when I saw the red sign staring back at me. Got Moona her BaseBallBear’s C album ( which I would dearly want too XD ) for ï¿¥2100 but got the steal of the day when I found B’z - Green album for only ¥600+. WINNAR IZ MEH!!!! ♥

Wandered around there a bit more looking at places and the Universities around. Found that food is pretty cheap there. The entire street are filled with music related shops! Guitars shop! Bandscore shop! Stringed instruments shop! You name it, and chances are you’ll find one a few steps down the road. FUNNNN :3

Tokyo’s Night-scape?! SHINJUKU [ 新宿 ]

Made our way to Shinjuku when the daylights gave way while we were in Ochanomizu. Being the Malaysian I am who had never traveled much, having the daylight fading around 4:30 p.m. - 5p.m is pretty unsettling. My body started to give me signals to sleep/rest because it’s night time But no worries! I bravely strode onwards!

Lookee who we found in Shinjuku’s Station? XDD It took me a while to realise why Sam was going “Terurururuuuuu” at me for a minute or two. ME = FAILED

The station attendant assured us that it’s only about 10-minutes walk from where we dropped off to Tokyo Metropolitan Government building ( “Tocho” for short ) but I think we ended up taking far longer than THAT to finally reach the place. If Sam haven’t been pushing through I might just gave up already going through the seemingly never ending streams of clean shiney tiles.

But our hard work was paid off! Tocho, finally! And we were sent zooming up to the 45th floor. I did not try to hold my breath counting the time going up or down. Nuh-uhh

All in all, not bad for a newbie-first-day in Tokyo methink ( just ME actually *coughs* Sam had been to Japan prior ) Exhaustion started to set in once more so we ended up making our way back home; abandoning the Detour #2 plan to find Marui Young/One/whatever for BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT store that day. Afterall, we do still have a few more days in Tokyo ♥

Tags: akihabara, asakusa, japan, ochanomizu, shinjuku, tokyo