Having painted the broad strokes of our trip in my previous post, I can now go on at length about specific things in separate posts.
So, Tokyo. As I said earlier, I was a bit miffed that we would be wasting an entire day going to Mt Fuji and Hakone. Since we would be arriving on Saturday evening, going to Mt Fuji on Monday, and departing at around noon on Tuesday, that effectively left us with only one full day in Tokyo proper. On top of that, we had a scheduled morning tour on Sunday that I didn’t particularly want to go to either. But I had to deal with it.
We arrived at Narita at around seven or eight in the evening, and promptly took the limousine bus to Shinjuku Station. The bus deposited us and our luggage at the west exit. Our hostel, Hikari House in Hyakunin-cho, was over a kilometer away, so we got to walking. The hikes to and from the Limousine Bus stops were easily the most unpleasant parts of our trip – no matter how novel it is to be in Tokyo for the first time, it’s not going to make those bags any lighter.
This is where Google Maps and I first took charge. I charged forward, phone in hand, trying to make sense of Tokyo streets, reassuring the people behind me that I knew what I was doing – or, at the very least, that the GPS satellites above us knew what they were doing.
Somehow, though, as we turned the very last corner to get to our hotel, half of our party – my aunt and my younger cousin – got separated. So as my cousin Gwen and I checked in, the other two members of our traveling party hired a cab… that simply took them once around the block and then back again. So much for the ‘no cabs’ resolution.
They arrived about fifteen minutes later. Once we had settled into our bunks, we ventured back out into Tokyo in search of dinner. We headed south, in the general direction of Shinjuku Station, seeing the sights before eventually deciding to enter a nearby restaurant for dinner.
I don’t even know what the restaurant was called, honestly. But they had wagyu beef (apparently) and English-language menus, and we were getting hungry.
We headed back to the hotel in the knowledge that we had to wake up early for the next day’s tour.
The tour we were scheduled on was a Hato Bus ‘Tokyo Morning’ tour. The bus picked us up from Shinjuku, but the tour itself began after we transferred buses at Hamamatsucho. The itinerary was: Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace Outer Gardens, and Asakusa Shrine. The tour terminated at Tokyo Station, but you could have the bus drop you off earlier at Akihabara.
So off we went the next day, to Tokyo Tower.
Tokyo Tower provided a great view of the city, but it was a bit too touristy for my liking. We were just one of the countless busloads of tourists who were herded into the elevators, given thirty minutes to scuttle about the observation decks, before being shoved back into our tourist buses.
We almost got separated from the tour here — not that I would have minded, really, but we got back to the bus in the nick of time. The next location we were shuttled off to was Tokyo Imperial Palace. 
We spent fifteen minutes in the Outer Gardens. Quite frankly, I thought we were wasting our time. We were there for fifteen minutes and we didn’t even get to go inside and see the inner gardens, so it felt like a waste. I mean, the Outer Gardens were pleasant enough, but it was annoying knowing there was so much more to the place than our tour could show us.
So after fifteen minutes we moved on to our third and final stop of the tour, Asakusa Shrine.
We actually lucked out here. Our visit to Asakusa shrine coincided with the penultimate day of Sanja Matsuri, one of the biggest Shinto celebrations in Tokyo.
On the second day of Sanja Matsuri, devotees carry mikoshi, portable Shinto shrines, around the streets of Asakusa.
The atmosphere around the shrine was lively and festive. Throngs of people, locals and tourists alike, were out and about: paying their respects to the shrine, following the mikoshi processions, or buying things from the many stands outside the shrine proper.
Thankfully, the tour was rather lenient with us for this segment — we were given enough time to look around before we had to get back on the bus. Naturally, we took the opportunity to go foodtripping – grilled wagyu beef, candied apples, freshly squeezed orange juice…
Our hunger sated, we went back to our bus, which then dropped us off at Akihabara.
For our first order of business, we found a maid cafe. Because of course we had to go to a maid cafe, the trip wouldn’t be complete without it. I have been waiting all my life to hear a girl in a meido outfit greet me okaerinasai, goshuujin-sama.
We went to No. 1 Maidreamin, which had a no-photos policy. Disappointing but fair enough, honestly – having poor schlubs like us pay to get our photographs taken with them is how the girls get their money. I can respect that.
I got this adorable photo of my cousin in animal ears, though. Meido partially visible in the background.
After lunch at the maid cafe, we walked around Akihabara a bit. Akiba is fascinating. I didn’t even stray that far from the station, and I found what appeared to be a four-story department store specialising in… adult paraphernalia, if you know what I mean. Then of course there were all the arcades, animu-related shops, and electronics that Akiba is known for.
Surprisingly, I didn’t end up buying anything. I nearly did, though. There was an adorable SD figure of Ononoki Yotsugi from the Monogatari series that caught my eye, so naturally I looked around to see if a similar one of (mai waifu) Senjougahara Hitagi existed. Alas, I couldn’t find one, so my money stayed in my pocket for once. Instead, I accompanied my cousin as she popped into a nearby electronics store to buy earphones to replace the ones she’d broken on the flight.
Satisfied with our lot, we walked to nearby Iwamotocho Station to take the subway to Shibuya.
When we emerged from Shibuya’s underground, this was happening. One of the roads leading into Shibuya Crossing was completely blocked off to motorists. Hundreds, perhaps even a thousand or more people were performing a coordinated dance in the streets, dressed in colorful outfits. I still don’t know what was going on, or what this was for.
We watched the parade for a few minutes, before moving on to our primary motive for being in Shibuya.
And what was that primary motive? Why, to visit Hachiko, of course. I had to pay my respects to the dear girl.
Some nice young people on the other side of Shibuya crossing offered free hugs. Who was I to refuse?
After that, we wandered around Shibuya for a while. We found the enormous three-floor Uniqlo at Dogenzaka, where we stocked up on clothes at prices much cheaper than they would be in the Philippines. The dress I bought there might show up in pictures of Day Five. After that, we took the subway to Higashishinjuku, and from there walked westward back to our hostel.
We all rested our feet for a while back at the hostel. My cousins took the opportunity to make (and eat) some Popin Cookin food miniatures.
An hour later, I departed the hostel alone, and made my way to nearby Kabukicho. I had a ticket to Robot Restaurant waiting for me.
How do I even begin to describe Robot Restaurant? It’s like someone gave an eight year old with a penchant for robots some LSD, an unlimited budget, and carte blanche to put together any kind of show he wanted.
Robot Restaurant isn’t really a restaurant – you can get away with not eating anything while you’re there. What it is is ninety minutes of dancing girls, dancing robots, flashing lights, and loud music. If that doesn’t sound awesome, it’s my fault. It’s awesome. It’s loud, bright, in-your-face awesome.
My day in Tokyo was an amazing experience, almost all throughout. I went to bed that night with my head still buzzing from the wonderful day I’d had – but I also went to bed even more regretful that I’d have to sacrifice an entire day in Tokyo to go up to Mt Fuji and Hakone the next day. One day in Tokyo was never going to be enough.
pretty machines 