Japan Day 10 - Tokyo-shi & Yanaka

Our final day to cruise the city was another toss up of what to do. I presented my parents with two itineraries- the 'old' (architecture in Yanaka), or the 'new' (architecture in Omotesando). I let my mom cast the deciding vote, as the rest of us were up for anything. She picked Yanaka (which ended up being a tad better than expected), but before we headed there, we met Joey and Marc for a final hot date at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

Amazing building seen on our walk from the station to the Government Buildings. We also passed the most delicious mochi stand (we bought over a dozen of their cream filled mochi!) and a cool little gift stand (we each bought a semi-pricey, but vibrant ukiyo-e $15 reusable shopping bag). But it will remind us all of our fun trip to Tokyo.

I felt bad, as I knew this day's itinerary included little to no fun for Ryan (again...), so I offered up the locker option one more time. He opted to try it out, but decided it was a little too spacious, and decided to come with us after all.

The views from the South Tower of the Metropolitan office building offered great views of the city, similar to Skytree. But aerial views never fail to impress us. Coming from such a rural area, we are fascinated by the amount of humanity all living quite harmoniously in such a tiny area.

From the government building, we parted ways with Joey & Marc, who headed off to check out a few eclectic art/clubs/stores in the area. We headed to Yanaka, about 15 minutes away by train, to meet Mike & Yuri for some local sightseeing.

The town of Yanaka was a very rare area that escaped both the firebombing of WWII, and the Great Kanto earthquake of 1929. As a result, there are many historic buildings still standing from hundreds of years ago. Before we walked the neighborhood, we decided to walk through the very quaint shopping district. It was filled with the most unique craftsmen, artists, gourmet food, antiques, etc.

My father was able to enjoy some treats we got him from a bakery that baked all their goods in a stone-oven (with lava rocks from Mt. Fuji). Once we saw their orange doughnuts (which he rated a '10 out of 10') and age mochi, we knew he would love them. I was able to get two types of prepared veggies, roasted kabocha and some kind of sukiyaki-like veggies. My mom had a bento, and Ryan had a bacon/asparagus stone-oven baked artisanal pizza and baked potato. It was one of those little streets (pedestrian only, no vehicles) that you wander down, stopping every hundred yards to eat something. ;-)

The neighborhood appeared to be about 1/5 'old' surrounded by the inevitable 'new' development, but still evoked many images of how Yanaka must have looked a hundred years ago.

This temple had some type of connection to the actual 47 Ronin. I couldn't totally understand the placard describing why they were there, but it had something to do with avenging their master.

This wall was so interesting, and is now protected as as a national treasure.

After we spent 2-3 hours wandering Yanaka's shopping street and the surrounding neighborhood, we walked over to Ueno park. I'd wanted to check out a tiny shrine there (Nezu) so that my parents could check out their torii. We've been to Fushimi Inari in Kyoto a few times (known for their torii), but they hadn't, so I wanted them to have that experience.

Unbeknownst to me, the torii were 'kodomo' sized! Very tiny! Adorable. Ryan could almost bump his head on the torii. Mike and Rich had to walk outside of them to avoid being decapitated. ;-)

From Nezu shrine, we all headed over to Tokyo Station. It was partly to take Ryan to one more Pokemon store (our third on this trip, if you count the airport one) in search of a gift from my parents/brother, and partly to check out their famous Ramen Street. This 'street' was similar to the one in Susukino. In this case, there were about eight tiny miniature, satellite restaurants of eight very popular ramen restaurants in Tokyo. Mike & Yuri had been raving about a new trend of 'cheese ramen' they'd tried on their last trip, and we were eager to try it.

We got lost a few times in the lower basement level of Tokyo Station. It's unbelievably massive and easy to get lost in for weeks. Let's just say we tried to find Joey for the better part of 45 min. and FAILED.

Finally...success!!! Pikachu bedroom slippers!

The ramen restaurant we tried was apparently, one of the most popular, as their line was the longest. We picked them based on the fact that they were the only one offering cheese ramen. After buying our meal tickets from a machine (common at ramen restaurants), we were sat and served the most unique bowl of ramen I've ever tasted. It was nothing like mac and cheese (thankfully), but it also didn't have any of the usual broth. It came with about 5-6 unique condiments (only two of which I could identify, red chili pepper flakes and garlic), but when mixed up with a little grated cheese, it was intoxicatingly delicious! It was served with raw egg, which I declined to use as my dipping sauce, but Rich and Mike did and said it was still very delicious.

 After our 'Final Supper,' we tried to find Joey in the station (he tried to find us for a half hour after catching a cab there) for over 30 min. Since we ultimately failed (and for Rich and Yuri to be unable to figure out how to find him, it was a MAZE). Instead, we each hopped the subway and met back at Shibuya near Hachiko again, to say goodbye this time. It was a wonderful meeting place to say both 'hello' and 'goodbye,' but bittersweet for my mom to have had such a short visit with him.

Still, we couldn't have ended our day on a more relaxing note...we had great views, great company with Joey & Marc and Mike &Yuri, a great walk (I think we clocked about 8 miles again), and great food all day long.

Our trip was so enjoyable I was already making plans in my head to return in the next couple of years, only this time, with a few weeks and a JR Rail Pass. I'd love to explore areas outside of the  cities of Sapporo, Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo and really see other smaller towns in the country. I'd also love to return to Sapporo for another Yuki Matsuri someday, as it is definitely an event that is worth repeating (and there are very few that I would given all the new opportunities to explore different places).