Friday, January 27, 2024

• Started the day by heading back to Ueno Park to explore the side closest to our hotel, which we hadn’t checked out before. It was closer to the lake, so different and kinda cool views.

• Continued on back towards Ameyoko, stopping in at the other building of Yodabashi Camera than the main one – this one had a floor devoted to (slightly nerdier and a whole lot creepier) toys, so we had a quick browse through looking for gift ideas.

• Following that, we stopped back in Ameyoko for some lunch, and I was finally able to find somewhere with a great looking kaiseidon to try.

• Some more walking around shots from around Ameyoko.

• Following lunch, we headed on to Shinjuku to check out Kabukicho, which we’d planned to do earlier in the trip but had to cut for time. Doing it in mid-afternoon wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, but it was still cool to walk around the streets we knew so well from decades of Yakuza/Ryo go Gotaku games.

• We also spent some time in an arcade in the area, and checking out some almost certainly bootleg Sanrio merch? Maybe it was legit, but the look and the prices both suggested something was going on.

• We stopped in at an izakaya for a couple of beers and some bar snacks, then continued on to Harajuku.

• Ready for some dinner, so stopped at a different izakaya, Dai Sui En. This place immediately felt great! Great rockabilly (and random M&M) decor, old guy working the bar/kitchen seemed to be referred to by other customers as “the Master”, and the server running orders had impeccable English that he kept apologising for. Menu was varied, customers were lively, food was incredible, atmosphere was top-notch. Mental note to come back to this place on future trips, couldn’t recommend it strongly enough.

• With happy bellies, we headed back towards the hotel, stopping for one last night-time walk through Ameyoko and Ueno, before heading back to pack – last day tomorrow!