Tokyo May 2013

I visited Tokyo sometime in May 2013 for four days and wanted to write about it, but somehow I procrastinated because of all the photos I needed to edit. But I finally got down to doing it.

In this post, I will cover several highlights, including attractions, where I stayed, and what I bought.

My Scoot Flight
Transport from Airport to City
Dormy Inn Asakusa, where I stayed
Getting to Tsukiji Market
Daiwa Sushi 
Ninja Akasaka (Ninja themed restaurant)
Asakusa Imahan (Sukiyaki restaurant)
Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan (Gachapon shop)
Maid Cafe - Maidreamin
Cool toy shop at Ueno
Kitchen Street (Kappabashi-dori)
Edo Tokyo Museum
Asakusa Kannon Temple (Sensoji Temple) and Shopping Street

Ok, here we go!



My Scoot Flight
Like Scoot's Facebook page and you might even be notified of super deals like 2-cent tickets. Yes I'm not kidding. Alright, including taxes, that makes $80.02.  Still, a pretty good deal.

Unfortunately I didn't get the deal on this trip, so I paid about $400 for my ticket, inclusive of an upgrade (costing about $30) to the Super Seats (in yellow) which are slightly wider with 35" of legroom. I got it because it was an overnight flight, leaving at 12:55am, and I thought the extra space might help me sleep. Honestly, after returning on the normal seats, I didn't notice much of a difference at all. That could be because I'm small sized. But to my friend, who's quite a bit bigger than me, she really appreciated the extra space.

So my advice is, if you're small (and short) like me, just go with the normal seats.

Yes they are quite decent, but don't expect to be able to recline much. There is no TV screen and any meals would cost (about $10-20).

Transport from Airport to City
Quite seamless. All the airport staff speak good English, and the signboards are in Japanese and English so I don't think you would lose your way.

Take note, there are many train lines and different transport options though, so if you're not sure, ask.

My first glimpse of a typical salaried employee. 

Dormy Inn Asakusa
One of the best things I loved about this hotel is the Sento. It's so nice going up to have a dip in the super soft warm water.

Of course, there are other great perks about this place. It's really near the train station (Asakusa), just a stone's throw in fact. The train line goes directly to Narita airport. There's a balcony in every room (ideal for smokers) and even an emergency chute outside. Nice view of the river.

See the shopping centre on the left?

Very comfortable bed, nice water pressure, and great toiletries. Free ramen at night too! What more can you ask for?

A choice of free delicious Japanese or western breakfast. We chose Jap of course.

Our free Ramen for supper. With bamboo shoot and seaweed toppings!

Best of all, it's affordable :)

Getting to Tsukiji Market

This was harder than I thought, and also confusing. Basically we had to change lines at Kuramae station and the Oedo line that goes to Tsukijicho was quite a long walk away from the Kuramae station.

Confused already? Don't worry, so were we. Basically just because there's an interchanging station, it doesn't mean the changing lines are within the same station. Sometimes, you have to walk to another station to catch the next line. Don't ask me why.

I'm thankful I didn't attempt to stop at Tsukiji, which was actually not near Tsukijicho (where the market is) at all.

So please, if you want a fuss free experience, stop at Tsukijicho. The market is literally beside this station.

When you get out. Turn to the left. -> (yes this way)

This is what you will see. Follow this path and turn left at the junction.

There the market is right there! Just follow the crowd of people walking in

After walking another 10-20metres, you should see a cluster of restaurants on your left

If you are aiming to go to Daiwa Sushi or Sushi Dai, avoid these restaurants and follow the red arrow in the picture above. Basically, just go around these restaurants.

You'll come to an alleyway, with rows of restaurants and shops. Daiwa sushi and Sushi Dai is somewhere in the middle row. You can't miss it because there's a queue. Just look for the white signboard.

 Daiwa Sushi

We got here at 7am and waited for about 45 mins in the queue. There was even a restaurant staff to pack us into a tighter queue line. I guess they don't like us blocking the corridor?

There's only one set you can choose and it's the omakase, at about 3500 yen? This is a selection of sushi. Absolutely fabulous, fresh, and the best sushi I've ever tasted.

 I also tried the sushi at Sushi Zanmai (a chain restaurant), but it wasn't so good.

You can also order ala carte sushi. The chef served us umi (sea urchin) and it was absolutely disgusting, slimy and reeking of seafood odor. Ugh, I guess it's one of those specialties I can't relate to.

Ninja Akasaka (Ninja themed restaurant)
I saw this on a television programme and subsequently Googled it online. I must say it was an interesting place and the food was good. We were also given a private room. Apparently all customers have their own room :)

During our meal, a "master ninja" magician also came to perform tricks for us and they were fabulous. The dishes also came with their own "ninja" surprises and we were quite pleased with the whole experience.

Do note that the place is quite dark, so you'll need a camera that can shoot in extremely low light to take pictures of the interior corridor.

Asakusa Imahan (Sukiyaki restaurant)
You can miss this restaurant, as it has its own building. I love the fact that all the waitresses were in kimono and served us in traditional Japanese style. The shabu shabu lunch set is about 3,000 yen. Same goes for the suki yaki set. A little pricey and not very filling. But worth the experience.

It gets quite a lot more expensive at dinner, so if you're on a budget, I'll advise you to do lunch.

This is the only picture I have, but here's a video of what we experienced :)

Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan (Gachapon shop)
Lots of Gachapon (capsule) machines, ranging from 100 to 600 yen machines. I got a couple of cute ones featuring cute SD figurines (SD stands for Super Deformed but they are not ugly at all!).

But what I really liked were the stand alone figurines on display in cabinets. As you can see, I bought a couple of them for less than 700 yen each.

Maid Cafe
We also went to a maid cafe called Maidreamin. You have a pay quite a bit for cover charge and a drink.

We were accosted by a costumed maid on the streets of Akihabara while we were searching for the Gachapon shop and decided to erm.. have a look.

What we ended up in was more than a look. We were led up the to maid cafe and the interior was decorated in pink wallpaper and Alice-in-Wonderland furniture. Or furniture that looks like it could come from a Victorian doll's house.

So basically we were made to pay of cover charge of 500 yen and  order a 2000 yen (or more) tea set. Each set comes with a few free items, basically we chose two of them, a maid cafe file (see below) and a free polarised picture with any maid of our choice.

The whole experience was rather bizarre. Our "maid" served us kneeling down and also made us play some weird hand clapping and singing games with her. If we wanted service, we couldn't say "excuse me". Instead, we had to croon "meow meow!", and a "maid" would come over.

On top of that, whenever food is served to a customer, the whole cafe of maids would erupt into a sort of celebratory song (in Japanese).

We were not allowed to take any photos of the maids in the cafe (unless we pay for the privilege) but I sneakily sneaked some.

This comes with our tea set

Our free gift

Anyway, we observed quite a number of guy (otaku?) customers and we were just about the only women there. Going to maid cafes is obviously a geek culture that I don't get, so I don't think I'll be back again, although I admit, the experience was interesting.

The rest of Akihabara was just very otaku oriented. We witnessed these people (all guys!) queuing up just for a poster and an autograph with some costumed characters. However, we did manage to buy some electronics products that were slightly cheaper than in Singapore.

Cool Toy Shop at Ueno station

I can't really remember the name of this shop but it's near the exit of Ueno station. It's got everything cool and funky.

I never seen a phone charger than runs on batteries. What a novel idea!

I have to have one of those small, light and pretty Japanese umbrellas

I play drums, and they had this cool device called Pocket Drummer. You plug this device into your portable music player, and you can sound the bass, cymbal, hi hats or snare individually or all at once while your music is playing. Everything sounds authentic, except for the bass, which sounds a bit hollow.

Kitchen Street (Kappabashi-dori)
If you love fake but authentic looking Japanese food, this is the place to come to.

Apart from fake food, Kitchen town also sells all sorts of kitchenware.

Here's a map and store guide. You can download the images in higher resolution by doing a left click and save.

Here's some of the fake food I bought. Not cheap, I think the meat skewer (below) costs nearly 5000 yen. 

What's coming to Kitchen Town without going back with a piece of great kitchen ware? Like a Japan made Ceramic knife!

Edo Tokyo Museum
Several guide books actually recommend this museum and it's a great place to see really detailed miniatures as well as read up on Japanese culture. Some of the exhibit descriptions are really funny and I highly recommend coming to get educated on Japanese culture here.

Really funny descriptions about Tokyo culture

Asakusa Kannon Temple (Sensoji Temple) and Shopping Street
This street was just a stone's throw away from our hotel and it's mainly a tourist street. You can find all sorts of knick knacks and Japanese confectionery and snacks here.

At the end of the street is the famous community temple Sensoji. It's nice looking and worth a stroll but nothing to hold me there for more than 20 mins.

This is a famous tempura restaurant in Asakusa. I think it's called Daikokuya. The tempura was delicious and crisp, but

What really fascinated me was this. I thought it was some sort of beancurd (because I can't read Japanese) but what it really was was Fishcake! It was really smooth and delicious, and I can't believe they have arranged it exactly like it looks in the picture.

Lonely Planet recommended a French yakitori restaurant in Asakusa called Vin Chou. We went to check it out one night. The food and atmosphere was great. But each piece was ridiculously expensive.

I'm not kidding. Each single skewer costs about 300-400 yen. Usually, at other restaurants, you get 2 or more skewers for that price.

The picture above shows their famous duck. We were expecting half a duck for the price we paid, but what came to the table was that.

I really like the vintage vibe this place gives off though :) 

Come here only if you have money to spend. After ordering a few skewers, we went back to the hotel to fill ourselves with free ramen :p 

Along the way we bought many goodies from the convenience stores too :)

Sushi Zanmai

This is one of those 24 hour sushi chains. It's the first restaurant we ate at when we arrived. I thought it was okay. It was quite crowded but the sushi here can't compare to Daiwa at Tsukiji.

If I were to rate it, I would say it's of a similar standard to Sushi Tei in Singapore

Convenience Stores in Tokyo
Convenience stores in Tokyo are like a wonderland to me. You have all sorts of fresh and ready to eat meals in beautifully wrapped bowls and boxes. My friend fell in love with the croquette (under the hot items section). There's really a huge variety of delicious food you can takeway in these stores.

Coincidentally, did you know 7-11 is a Japanese company? Don't forget to check it out.

Best thing is, there food in convenience stores is cheap and affordable :)