Hey Hive/Steemit!
If you didn't catch the last couple of posts, this series is about our trip to Tokyo (again) way back in August 2016, when we went there for a short international exchange program called Promoting Asian Leadership (PAL) with Keio University! The program was a week long, but we went there a few days ahead of time to explore and revisit our favourite places.
So last week, we began our final day in Tokyo at the top of the Sunshine 60 skyscraper in the observatory called Sky Circus!
They have many different installations that feature interactive
screens and VR experiences, but what we didn't expect was how many
mirrors there were gonna be up there!
We had a fun time exploring and taking lots of mirror selfies and I
cut the post short since it was getting really long, so here's the end
of that day and this overall trip! Here we go!
11 August 2016. Wednesday.
So after that colourful swirly hallway from last time, we arrived in
the final place in Sky Circus; the gift shop! Which is also connected to
the cafe!
But as expected, the cafe was packed with people and there were no
empty seats anywhere. Regardless, we weren't going to be eating there
anyway since all the snacks they had were ridiculously expensive, and we
already ate at the Skytree Cafe so this was no match.
So we just moseyed on through looking at all the merch they had.
Like these hourglass-looking things that Sean gave me long long ago:
And these interesting prints they had:
They also had this huuuge heart-shaped ring:
I have no idea what it's for, but it did remind me of the ring pop Sean bought me long ago.
I was surprised by how much stuff they had though. Maybe it wasn't as
glamorous as the Skytree gift shop but it was pretty reasonable in
size. And definitely more spacious.
By the time we were done looking at everything in the store, it was almost sunset!
We took a couple more photos.
There was just a few more things to look at in the observatory. Like these interactive screens:
Man, after watching Endgame this hits different.
There was also this one that made us look like ghosts:
And this 3D window!
Which we had fun posing in front of:
The lighting made it tough to adjust tho, but I think we managed:
And one last decal:
After we were done exploring, we headed back towards the elevator that would bring us down to street level.
Here's a video I took of the lift going down! It was pretty cool; they had a black light, some gentle music and a starry ceiling. You can also see how fast the lift was going down on the screen.
Within 30 seconds we were back at the first floor again!
After that we were pretty hungry so we decided to get an early dinner at one of our favourite tempura places - Tendon Tenya! Which I've actually written about in a tasteem contest months ago if you wanna know more about this place!
It was delicious! Crispy tempura shrimp, vegetables and lotus root on top of a bed of Japanese rice. Yummy! 😋 We each bought a small bowl since we were gonna be stuffing ourselves with a big dessert later.
But before that, we also wanted to a get one last Beard Papa cookie cream puff!
Crunchy on the inside, sweet and creamy on the inside, absolutely yummy! 😋 And not too sweet either.
After that, we made our way to Shinjuku and visited the huge Yodobashi-Camera to get some stuff like these earphones:
These are prob my favourite earphones to use on-the-go. I have my BOSE noise-cancelling headphones but I don't really like to bring them around whenever I go out since I'll sweat and affect the soft part of the earphones. I also can't wear them to bed. So I like to have these Audio Technica ones as a backup. They're affordable but still sound good, and the colours make them easy to find in your bag. I highly recommend them if you don't mind wired earphones!
Anyway, after buying a few pairs, we made our way to our favourite dessert place!
This is Pasela Resorts in Shinjuku! Sorry the huge sign is cut off but there were people walking around constantly so I couldn't get a good shot.
This is a hotel, karaoke bar and cafe all in one! And they have one of the best desserts I've seen - the thiccest toast ever!
We chanced upon this place during our first trip to Japan and the toast was so memorable we decided to come here again! I've also written about this place for tasteem if you wanna read more.
Since it was summertime this toast seemed like the perfect dessert; since it had ice cream on top.
So we ordered our usual chocolate banana with vanilla ice cream and waited for it to be prepared.
Not 15 minutes later, our order arrived! We also bought a strawberry milkshake to try.
And man, just look at how majestic this toast is!
I think it was bigger than either of our heads. But don't be mistaken; inside is not just a loaf of bread. It is bread that hollowed out, cut into cubes and toasted, covered with honey and topped with banana slices, a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce.
What a decadent treat to end our trip. We were both stuffed by the time we finished all the bread cubes.
After our bellies were filled and satisfied, we headed back out onto the street.
And we ended the night by shopping at our favourite discount store - Donki Hote!
We bought a crap ton of souvenirs, that consisted of mostly snacks. Thankfully we were packed for the summer so our luggage had ample space to fit everything.
12 August 2016. Thursday.
It was time for us to fly back to Singapore! Our flight was in the late afternoon around 5pm but we had to check out of our Airbnb at 12pm so we decided to head to airport early and just chill there until it was time to board.
We decided to get some snacks from the aromatic bakery just downstairs from our apartment before leaving:
Yea our apartment was basically hidden in the middle of a shotengai. It was pretty convenient since there were stalls just below us so we could get essentials and snacks really easily.
After bidding farewell to our really nice airbnb, we took the train to Haneda Airport. By the time we arrived it was 1:45pm.
We waited around for the check-in counter to be open so we could dump our luggage and explore the airport more freely. And about 20 minutes later, we finally checked in our luggage!
Interestingly, the counter had these chilled towels they offered to guests due it being one of the hottest summers in Tokyo! That was nice of them to offer, but I didn't take one since I wasn't sure what to do with the towels once I was done with them and I didn't want to throw it away since it would be quite wasteful.
After we dumped our luggage, we went exploring!
They had this really nice floral display! I think it was to advertise for Hokkaido's flower fields since it was so hot that most people would want to visit Hokkaido for the cooler weather.
They also had these traditional looking shops that were also decorated with flowers but I think these shops are always here.
Still, it was really cool to see how they blended the traditional decor inside the modern high tech airport.
Like having this shrine display wishing travellers a safe journey:
And designing the souvenir shops to looks like these traditional houses:
I think these houses were from the Edo period, with the slated roofs and stuff:
We found this photo booth with a few props and stuff!
After walking around for a bit we got hungry and decided to get some lunch and had cheese curry for the last time!
And of course, no trip to Japan is complete without a fancy toilet photo:
We continued exploring and found this huge bridge!
And some fancy benches and umbrellas!
There was also this huge pagoda that was decorated beautifully:
Beside that was a display of art from school children (I'm guessing):
And a whole wall of fortunes that people could write and leave behind (sort of akin to the love locks in Paris):
We decided to visit the gift shop and they had these cute Snoopy keychains!
And other Peanuts stuff like stickers:
Looks like they were having an indoor concert of sorts here too:
They even had a mini donki hote here! Perfect for some truly last minute shopping.
This donki had 2 different sides to it too; I think one side was for snacks and the other was mainly cosmetics.
I liked that this upper floor had a more astronomical theme.
But we soon found ourselves back outside near the curved bridge.
But pretty soon it was time for us to head to the gate.
So we passed through the security checks and customs and made our way to our plane:
It was 5pm by the time we boarded. Time for us to chill and binge movies for 7 hours!
By the time we arrived in Singapore it was 10:50 pm (we're 1 hour behind Japan time).
When we got home we unpacked and this was our entire souvenir haul (which also includes airfrov stuff)!
And with that, we've come to the end of my second Travel Japan series! Sorry for the long post, but since there wasn't much left I thought I'd just have 1 long ending.
Overall, I thought this trip was pretty fun! We got to try a lot of new things, and visit quite a few different places like Tokyo Disneyland, the Miraikan Museum, the Fuji TV Headquarters and most notably, the Snoopy Museum! And we also got to celebrate Sean's birthday by going up the tallest tower in the world - Tokyo Skytree!
Although the P.A.L program was kind of a hit-or-miss for me, most of the people we met were pretty nice and friendly. The accommodations were still pretty crappy though, but they did plan some interesting excursions. So you know, you win some you lose some.
Overall we had a really fun time in Tokyo, even though it was ungodly hot and we couldn't be outside in the daytime for more than half an hour because it was absolutely sweltering. But we had fun and that's all that matters.
If you've kept up with series, thanks so much for sticking around! I hope it was interesting despite the large chunk of it being school-related since it was mostly a school program with Keio University.
Tune in next week when we go on a shorter trip across the border, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!
Again, thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #76 (Japan 2.0): Making Reflections in the Sky 🌈
