Sunday, January 7, 2024

• Woke up still feeling sore, it’s taking us a little while to get our adventuring sea legs back under us (especially after Wrestle Kingdom earlier in the week).
• Beautiful weather this morning, so we headed to Tokyo Station.

• We found a little store run by a craft brewer in the station itself, where Mel had a very nice boutique umeshu (plum wine) and I had a float of their signature beers to try.

• Their logo was an owl, which seemed very fitting for a couple of travellers from Ikebukuro.

• We ventured into Character Street; it turns out, I’d completely understood what this was. For some reason, I was expecting museums and exhibits of Japanese animation, but it’s entirely character stores and endless merch.

• Had a good walk around, but my only purchase was for MBW, a luggage tag with her first name in katakana (and Kuromi, of course).
• Found a little curry place for lunch within the station – the katsu curry was delicious, just a hint of spice, crisp and juicy chicken.
• Following lunch, we ducked over to fulfil one of MBW’s bucket list items, visiting Tobichi, the Hobnoichi store.

• She’s been a hobonichi fan for as long as I can remember, so this was a long-awaited journey.
• On our way back to the Yamanote line, we stopped at a tiny coffee shop, Coffee ITO. The owner was very sweet, the ambience was nostalgic, and I think the coffee was instant. Two out of three wasn’t bad.

• Afterwards, spent some time exploring our Ikebukuro neighbourhood.

• Found a little stall selling very tasty strawberry daifuku.

• We found a different Yakiniku Blackhole than the one we’d planned to visit later in the trip and took advantage of this good fortune by making a booking for dinner the following night.

• Found a nice-looking Chinese restaurant and had the nicest fried rice meal I’ve ever had in my life. It was truly incredible.
• Visited Yellow Submarine to stock up on some board games, swung past Labi to visit their gatchapon collection, and then took our first visit to a Don Quixote this trip.

• Finally, back to the hotel, another early-ish night to try to get on top of sore knees and feet.