Two day trip to Tokyo

Home to more than 13 million people in the prefecture, Tokyo is an incredibly fascinating city of culture, people, skyscrapers and intriguing anime phenomenons. My girlfriend gonca and I came to visit to Tokyo for two nights. She wanted to stay one or two nights longer than that but she eventually deal with my opinion that we should leave early if we place far more value on visiting more prefectures in Japan. Of course,  if it is your first time to Tokyo, you will need at least 3-4 days to see all this city has to offer. Either way, I'm going to upload some of the pictures I took throughout our stay.

Day 1

Getting around Tokyo is incredibly easy once you've got the hang of it. This Tokyo subway ticket covers all of the famous neighbourhoods to visit. It is entirely possible to stick to the subway without using any other transportations. A day pass costs 800 yen( A child age of 6-11 is a half price), two day-1200 yen and three day-1500 yen. it allows for unlimited travel on the Tokyo Subway for that day. We bought two day pass and decided to use it to the maximum possible level.

We base our accomodation on Kawasaki, roughtly 20-minute from Tokyo because we were planning to visit to Kamakura and Enoshima as well. After quick breakfast, We headed to the subway and towards Asakusa. When you get to Asakusa, you pass through Kaminarimon gate, which is guarded by two protective deities, Fujin and Raijin. Bear your mind that you want to get here early if you want to get pictures with as few turists as possible in front of the gate. We got there around 10 am and there were already a bunch of tourists.

 

Past the gate is the Asakusa Shopping Street. It has plenty of small souvenirs for those who don't have a lot of room in their suitcases. Gonca bought a Ramune drink( it's called Soda, one of the famous Japanese beverages) she had been dying to try. There are also plenty of shops with bags and other bigger souvenirs. If you are ready for a snack by the time you are making you way back towards there, you can try a few different flavour of snacks that you can not find in your country.

I'm not sure of its technical name. At the water statue, you can fill up a cup with water and make a wish while pouring the water onto your hands.

The Asakusa was absolutely undoubtdly amazing. You are not supposed to take pictures of the innermost part of the temple, but of course, I did not see the sign until after I had taken several pictures.

 

We managed to make our way to Ueno park after asking some of the walkers passing by, how can we get there?. The park was outstanding, even on a hot summer afternoon. There were a few small temples and exhibits inside of the park but be cautious that the exhibits are temporary and cost money to enter. The temple we entered was not crowded while there. The views of the nature inside the park had me hypnotized. I am a lover of mother nature, especially trees and rivers. This is a turist destination, so it is difficult to take pictures without people being in the background. It is possible to get some good shots though.

We are noodle for lunch 

Akihabara is known as Anime twon, well, its true. but more importantly, you will be able to find any kind of electoricity items at a relatively cheaper price. As gonca wants to try,  we entered one of the Meido cafe( As far as I can remmember, We paid 1000 yen for 30 minutes per head and Gonca asked a staff to take a picture together, it turned out 1000 yen just one picture, ,, creepy).

Day 2

 

 We were planning to get up super early but gonca overslept as always. When we arrived in Tsukiji Market, which is one of the main sights to visit when in Tokyo, it happened that the market was about to close. We should have arrived before seven in the morning to see fish coming in, the tuna auctions and so on. We arrived in the area late and were told you are too late to come. But thanks to a staff working in the market we realized some parts of markets were still up.

It is very easy to find your way in and it’s very huge inside. I guess when gonca thinks of Japan, she expected everything to be modern and super clean, Tsukiji market is at the other end of the scale, messy, busy and wonderfully authentic.

Note: People at the market are here to work, and they will very directly let you know if you are annoying them or on their way. 

The scenes inside are very ‘real’ maybe a little too much for some. Sometime you forget that there was a very alive giant tuna behind you.

It is good sometime to just see the process behind some of our food, so that we are all a little bit more appreciative and mindful when we eat something 

Harajuku Takeshita Street. It’s super busy, and sadly also home to a big squad of African guys trying to sell shirts at a pretty expensive price. they are literally the only black guys in the entire neighbourhood, and will most likely make an attempt to grab your arm to start selling you whatever it is.

We were big on the IZAKAYA( Tengu Sakaba)  we accidentally discovered on our way back to our accommodation. 

We left for Kamakura next day that I’m going to have a blog post up anytime soon.