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.