Travelling through Tokyo!! Part 2
Let’s move on to the second part of this trip...welcome to a follow-up of my odyssey through Japan:
Day 5 - April 6, 2024
Today we woke up at 7am, got dressed and headed down to take a train to Fuji Station. I ordered a Matcha Latté and a croque monsieur on the way. We took a bullet train, and I was deafened by the sound it produced when it rushed past us. It was so loud, it could probably be heard from a mile away and nearby objects seemed to tremble. I was awed to think how us humans, managed to create such a beast, and control it to our liking. Once we reached Fuji Station, we took a bus to Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre. When we arrived, we went to the museum and learnt about Mount Fuji and its cultural history, and why it continuously appears to snow at the peak (its due to the high altitude and is the highest point in Japan). Mount Fuji also happens to be an active volcano, which last erupted 300 years ago. Many Japanese feel a special connection towards it, and treat it as an object of faith. There’s a large balcony at the top of the museum, where you get a phenomenal view of the small cottages and trees that lead up to the mighty Mount Fuji. A small layer of clouds and fog gently cover the mountain which makes it ever so mystical -- it's truly a breathtaking sight.
After the museum, we got hungry, so we went to a nearby street-food destination, and ordered some seafood stir-fry noodles and pork buns. They had a well, brimming with water, which refilled itself every second. It had a sign which said, “Do not touch the water but you may refill your cups with it”. We took our paper cups and filled it with the water; it was cool and refreshing. We ordered some ice cream at the end: matcha, cherry blossom and blue spirulina (my favourite was blue spirulina). Then, we went to a shrine called ‘Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha’. It had a beautiful view of a clear lake surrounded by towering emerald trees, that resembled ancient sentinels guarding the secrets of time. We sat and admired the view for a while.
We headed back to the bullet train to return to the metro station. By the time we reached the station, it was evening. So we decided to go to a ramen restaurant, as we were all craving it. We found a nearby restaurant called Ippudo, an authentic japanese restaurant, which was rated very highly. There was a short queue in front of it, so we waited our turn; the wait lasted approximately 30 minutes. We ordered the Pork Miso shiromaru motomi noodles, the Pork Karaka noodles, and some dumplings. The ramen was brilliant, the pork was so tender and overall it was the perfect wholesome dish for the chilly evening. After our dinner, we headed to the Tokyo Dome Hotel, checked in and got ready for bed.
Day 6 - April 7, 2024
Today, we woke up at 8:30am and went to seven eleven to get some breakfast -- we ordered some kimchi rice and a strawberry sandwich. After we finished, we went to Shinjuku - Naitomachi Park. It had a mesmerizing view of dozens of cherry blossoms and trees of all colours. It was here that I found out there were types of cherry blossoms. The petals from the cherry blossoms rained intermittently to the floor, showering us with its grace -- it was truly a magnificent sight (it really is as good as people said it would be). After I took close to a trillion photos, we sat down at a cafe in the park and ate some ice cream and chicken nuggets (an arbitrary combination but was suprisingly delicious). Then, we took the metro to Shibuya!! We saw THE iconic Shibuya crossing! It was absolutely crazy. There were people swarming the roads in all directions when the traffic lights turned red. We didn’t even need to go anywhere, but we still crossed as we felt it was somehow, imperative. We went to some small souvenir stores and bought some keychains and hats. I got the cutest grey wool beret. Funnily enough, on my list of things I wanted to buy from Japan, a beret was actually the very last minute one. Yet, I was adamant I would get it and it seemed when all hope was lost, I found it in a teeny tiny corner shop!
Later, when we got hungry, we stopped by an Italian restaurant (yes, Italian I know, but in our defence, we had to quickly find a nearby restaurant for food and this was the best we could find) called ‘De Salita Shibuya’. We ordered a spicy cheese and chicken pizza and some tomato sauce pasta. When I tell you this was one of the best Italian food I’ve ever had in my life, I’m not joking. Maybe it was because I was famished, or that it seemed very warm, but I had never eaten a pizza with so much relish. 10/10! Definitely recommend, if you get the chance! Then, we immediately rushed to Shibuya Sky as we had a reservation there. It was incredible, and we got a bird’s eye view of the whole of Tokyo. It was quite warm. We took multiple photos and waited there until sunset -- it was 100% worth it. After, we wandered through the streets and went to a few electronics stores and arcades. We stopped by a small corner restaurant and had some chicken katsu curry, it was sweet and delicious. When we finished dinner, we took the metro back to our hotel.
Day 7 - April 8, 2024
We woke up at 8:30am and got ready to go to TeamLab Borderless! In case you were wondering, there’s TeamLab Planets and Borderless; both are different versions but Borderless is the newer. We went to the Mori Building Digital Art Museum which is a giant mall. We first went to go eat lunch at a Japanese seafood restaurant, which was popular for its tempura. We ate a chicken tempura bowl and a seafood tempura bowl; both were delicious and very filling. After we ate, we went to the art museum. It had an intriguing illusion in the entrance that made it look 3-dimensional. The TeamLab was incredible, and was filled with vibrant lights, shapes, colours. Each room you stepped into had a different theme and the lights in the room guided you into your next room. There were rooms filled with flowers, waterfalls, transparent orbs, fish (all were lights). In one of the rooms, you could create your own fish and colour it however you’d like, and they would scan it and display it on the screen (I drew a seahorse...it was a gorgeous blend of pastels).
Afterwards, we went to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Museum. It’d been a while since I had watched the movies or read the books, but I was suprised how well I remembered everything. My favourite movie would’ve been the Philosopher’s stone -- the scenes with Harry and the Dursleys were always amusing. It’s a little alarming how much they grew throughout the series, I remember I was heartbroken when I found out the series had officially ended. The museum was wonderful and we got to see the behind-the-scenes of each of the Harry Potter movies and the props they used. Since CGI wasn’t properly developed yet then, they had to meticulously design every prop -- incredible. They literally designed the moving stairs, since it was needed for all the movies. They took the most minute details into consideration like the texture of the walls, dress fabrics, etc. If you have even a passing interest in Harry Potter, visiting there is an absolute must. We ate dinner there; We had meatball pasta, shepherd’s pie, butterbeer and apple strudle. Afterwards, we took the train back to the hotel and packed to leave for the next morning.
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