Tokyo in yet another 2 days (continue)

Well, didn't really have the 2 full days in Tokyo as it was the final 2 days prior to departure home. Spent my first morning in Nikko, the trip to the known world heritage side was rather a disappointment to me but oh well, in every trip one would have a least favourite spot and is part of travelling!

Is the hanami weekend! being a foreigner going to experience this for the first time, can you imagine how excited I was.

The crowd at the Ueno park entrance

local dancing with their sakura song. only heard about those ribbon obi represent a married lady, easier for the boys to differentiate heh!

a very happening hanami festival

plenty of drinking and eating

a foreigner performing at the park to earn money

a young kid looking out to the view, couldn't get her face cos my arm isn't long enough

beautiful hey

the sun setting down making the city golden looking, is a piece of art to me

clouds of cherry blossoms 

a trendy cat lady with her beautiful white kitty on tramp! that's how she would hold up the kitty's arm telling her to admire the blossoms with her. Wish I can have this sort of life when I retire.

this uncle was feeding those little birds with bread crumbs in his hand

really wish we have such scenic park in KL

food stall setup for the festival, things are very pricey

this grill giant corn cost ￥500 each

the lake by night

That was the end of my second last day in Japan.
Now my final day in Japan, I took the day very slowly. Since it is so precious to be seeing sakura in Tokyo, I therefore visited the nearest park I could, to enjoy those beautiful cherry blossoms for one last time. Here's Yoyogi park which is much quieter compared to Ueno, the morning crowd were all taking the day so easily, probably because it is a Sunday and everyone are making full use of the day before going back to work the next day.

saw the same bubble gentleman at the park from my first visit

white clouds of blossoms, why can't we have this in KL!

a whole group of poodle family were out in the park

this pair of un-identical twin's owner were so friendly and kind to let me photograph them

Yoyogi has a huge designated area fence up for dogs, divided for big and small dog. There's this huge black dog that the owner seems to disallowed him from playing with others where the owner himself would throw a ball for the blackie to fetch. What's  funny to watch that morning was one of the cheeky Shiba keep going to the blacky but obviously as you can see from the pictures the owner disallowed that and Shiba's owner came pushing and and pulling that fella away; which didn't really work. But the moment his owner raises his voice to give him command, check out his respond in the next picture.

the whitey Shiba sat down quietly after hearing his owner's command! 

Whitey is clearly the cheekiest dog that morning, wishes to give him  big hug though

on the other end there's this black & white pug that got so excited with a young boy whom was playing run and chase between the fences. Clearly shows that this pug love kids.

the pug that got tired after plenty of chasing and barking

more bubbles fun in the park

such a scenic view

families of dog greeting one another

anyone know what breed ate these, they are so skinny

a pupp at a mini concert

a Thai market in Tokyo?

It was my last few hours in Tokyo, I was a bit unorganized with what I'm suppose to do and all I have in my head was shopping! haven't bought anything after so many days in Japan, shopping was my least priority cos didn't want to add to the weight of my backpack while on the move.

Anyway, things flow in kind of quite smoothly, my instinct brought me to following few spots...

walked to Shibuya

bid farewell with Hachiko 

Went back to Asakusa cos I remember seeing a lot of shopping here, especially was aiming to get more fridge magnet :)

a giant dog ate the whole cone of ice cream offered by his owner

at the Ueno JR line entrance 

the accidental walk that brought me to this huge market that sells all sorts of goods, from electricity, fashion, household or food stuff.

I had fun in Tokyo, there were so much walking, I missed the fish market, Ghibli museum and Mt Fuji which I couldn't do cos of time constraints and museum were fully booked. Well, next time Japan, I'll be back to do more stuff.

Tokyo in 2 days

It was a brief 4 days in Tokyo, 2 upon arriving and another 2 upon departure. As usual I don't do much planning with my travel itinerary, was just following my instinct, I did have a few places that I noted down before coming to Japan but unfortunately didn't manage to do all of them as there were just too many things in such a short time.

Well now let me review what are the things I did in Tokyo the first 2 days upon arriving.

Day 1 morning - hunt down my hostel in Nishi-Kawaguchi! it isn't all too bad cos I've got the location map circle by the info counter lady at the airport.

It was a very beautiful day with clear blue skies.

After checked in, I went on out to the city, since Ueno is rather a convenient spot, stop within the same train line, so the day's walk started from there.

Park - I think I've always ended up in parks whenever I traveled, wonder if this is just me? First park visited, Ueno Onshi park which is a popular spot for watching cherry blossom.

Plum blossom that I'm expecting to see more

entrance of the park, there are few temple and a zoo

the kitty that attracted many shuttle clicks

owner of the kitty on the tree, another kitty is resting so comfortably in his arm

There quite a bit of early bloomed pink blossom in the park, lots of people are seems as astonished to these flowers as I am ie capturing pictures with their phone, camera etc. Take a look at them in the following few pictures.

Those branches at the background bloomed into beautiful clouds of white cherry blossom within a week

everyone's busy with this tree

how we wish KL too might have these exciting blossoms once a year right

After flowers watching, I continue to take a real slow walk around in this lovely park. Some of the scene I saw. There were lots of temple here, actually can't differentiate whether they are Shinto or Buddhism.

A shrine which I'm impressed by it's neat architecture 

one would stand at the red box to pray

more neat architecture 

a pagoda at the background

fortune wheels that's similar to buddhism 

 After Ueno park, museums time!

nice contemporary art

after seeing the kitty on the tree, bought this postcard and suppose to post them home however didn't manage to cos keep missing the post office opening hours. This sit in my backpack until I unpack my bag after the trip

parents in Japan uses these cute bike to fetch their children

Tokyo National Museum @ ￥600 for normal exhibits

TNM building, the 2 comic figures probably are their mascot

pink blossoms to end my day 1 in Tokyo, how bad can this be!

Explored the few spot with a very tired body that's due to insufficient rest at the airport (slept less than 4 hours), this was the last touristy thing I did for day 1 which thereafter I went back to my hostel. 

buy on the first night in Tokyo - ￥250 bento, cup noodle (Japanese flavour never suit my taste, it has corn in them)

Day 2!

my most utilised JR line - Keihintohoku line

check out the crowd at the Asakusa gate entrance 

brown building across the road is the Asakusa info centre, do stop by to collect maps or ask for direction

the giant lantern at the entrance

The very fun Nakamise shopping street, variety of food and souvenirs here. Prize varied from stall to stall even for the exact same item, so suggest to do a quick comparison before putting down your purchases and food wise lots of queues.

clean back lanes with shopping

these food stalls are set up during weekends I'm guessing

amazingly neat architecture

crowd was heading to the smokey pots where devotees poke their incense stick and then fetching  the smoke hoping to get blessings 

getting their fortune for ￥100 each

temple main building, spot sky tree on the background

neat Japanese garden

Done with spot number 1, now next is navigating to Sky Tree by foot on my own. Coincidentally, there is a group of tourist too are heading to the same spot, how do I know? I was just guessing, doesn't really matter if they are not, I can always stop going to the same direction as theirs whenever I feel not right.

the tree that's pretty much straight ahead from Asakusa

a hunk pulling a hunk on the rickshaw

crowd waiting to board their boat ride at the Nihombashi pier

Nihombashi river

a cyclist with his pair of pet

an owner walking her little toy poodle

the tree is getting bigger

am here! approximately 20 minutes walk, really not too bad at all

it was so crowded, at 11am I line up to get this ticket for 3pm and even if I wait with this temporary ticket, I won't be guaranteed to get a real ticket up the tree!

I see, I shouldn't have come during weekend, is the local family days time!

bid farewell to the tree, maybe I'll plan well to see you next time.

Next went ahead to Shibuya, to see Hachiko!

Shibuya station, busiest junction in Tokyo, is hard to believe this same crowd passes this junction every single time the lights turn green,  Tokyo is that crowded!

popular meeting place - late Hachiko statue

wall art again dedicated to late Hachiko 

I walked from Shibuya to Meiji Jingu, it took me another 20mins.

entrance to Meiji Jingu

a formal wedding at the shrine

the bride getting help adjusting her wedding kimono

Meiji Jingu garden @ ￥600

some farm work in the garden

Harajuku fashion at the bridge between Meiji and Harajuku

fashion the harajuku way, they are striking however not all likes to be photographed, from the 4 at least only 1 tries to cover herself

Japanese loves their pet, so awesome! 

Takeshita Street, rather a nice place to people watch

Harajuku track line

Yoyogi park, there are lots of these performance found in Tokyo, earn pocket monies  

I'm guessing they are a group of university students having a picnic and drinking at the park

This will be a perfect spot during autumn

this gentleman seems to have fun creating bubles for kids to burst

sunset in Tokyo's beautiful too

I'm liking the architecture of Harajuku station

Final spot for the day, Tokyo Metropolitan Government  building observatory floor no fee is required here. Well it is not as nice but at least I still can say I've seen the city from above.