We had a late start to the day as the night had been so difficult (Jives had a lot of wisdom tooth pain). We walked to a place nearby for breakfast, a sort of comfort dinner. We had to wait for a spot in the stairwell (lined with clocks). 

There was a sort of slimy bit of line jumping by a group of Chinese tourists, so we had to wait quite awhile. 

The shop was pretty tiny and lined with novels and shelves as well as stained glass windows in the front. We ordered on an app. Jives and I both got the same thing, a toast set with cheesy toast, egg and a cabbage salad with miso soup and coffee. The bill for all three of us came to 2300 Yen. Harit paid for it despite our protest. 

We then walked to the Radish shrine, called “Matsuchiyama Shoden Honryuin”. The shrine was sort of up a small hill in Asakusa, very near our hotel. You climb a small set of steps to a stone torii gate and then a few more steps to a small landing with the temple shop, selling daikon radishes to offer at the temple (to wish for a healthy body and mind). 

There were radishes on the steps leading to the shrine, as well as on the stone lanterns and paper lanterns. There was a second set of steps inside the shrine that led to the main shrine. The main building had a little set of intertwined radishes carved right into the peak of the angled roof of the hall. There were maple trees and ginkgo trees all around, just beginning to change to their fall colours. 

Three ladies offered their purchased radishes to the shrine with the claps and bows. The location of the temple was right in the middle of an otherwise residential neighbourhood. I love this about temples in Japan, they are seemingly everywhere, in nature, in an alley, in the middle of everyone going about their busy lives… There is a quiet place of refuge. 

We then walked a couple of blocks to Kappabashi, a street (series of streets really) between Asakusa and Ueno that specialize in housewares and more specifically kitchen ware. The main street of Kappabashi is covered in little Kappa yokai, a lovely almost turtle-like Japanese monster with a water dish on his head (I wonder if you can buy Kappa cups on Kappabashi)! 

We wandered down the main strip and took many photos of the Kappa. We also stumbled upon a Godzilla themed bar, sadly it was not open, but it specialized in craft beers! 

We then visited a pottery shop where I purchased two small handmade sake cups in turquoise and blue. The shop was packed from floor to ceiling (quite literally) with very little floor space , as the items were even stacked on the floor and in the walkways. The cupboards and shelves and tables were covered in bowls, small dishes, clay spoons and anything made of clay or porcelain you can imagine, and almost no two alike, very wabi sabi! The colours were all very subtle and earthy but plentiful. It was difficult to walk away without purchasing more (perhaps some rice bowls or odd shaped dishes for side dishes). Meanwhile Harith bought a knife at a nearby knife shop.

We then walked to Ueno station where we parted ways with Harith, making plans to meet up later on to potentially go to an arcade. 

While waiting to use the washroom at the station, I found a collection of Panda bear themed gachapon which of course I had to try my hand/luck at!…. AND there was a GIANT Genma mural, the Panda from Ranma ½ . Ueno Park is home to a small zoo, so the station is often Panda themed or at least animal themed. After purchasing our share of Panda gachapon figurines, we took the JR line to Ginza to find a Godzilla statue. We took the train to Yurakucho station and then walked to “Hibiya Godzilla Square”. I can’t believe there is actually a Godzilla square in Tokyo! I wonder if this is just a temporary thing for the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla film. We found the statue quite easily, but the area was quite chaotic, as the Tokyo film festival was on and a red carpet area was set up with many walkways and roads closed off. We took quite a lot of time trying to get back to the JR train after we had taken our fair share of photos of both the Godzilla statue and the various other adorable Godzilla themed things in the square. 

We walked through a lovely little 80’s looking pub area under the train tracks on a street called “Yuraku Concourse” which felt gritty and lovely. We also found a tiny little Inari Shrine whilst still trying to enter the train station. We finally found an entrance to the train, but JR passes were not accepted at this entrance, only Suica cards… so we kept on searching. Three attempts later, we finally entered the train station. 

We then took the JR train to Shibuya for Jives to do some shopping. First we visited Mandarake which has become so popular with foreigners that it is very picked over. If you are looking to visit a Mandarake, try Nakano Broadway or the one in Nagoya, as less foreigners seem to visit those, you can find more variety. We also visited a department store where “Beam” a record store had been…but it had closed. We then went to Tokyo Tower where Jives got a Chelmico record. We then took a chance on “Reco Fan”, a lovely record shop pop-up we had visited  in February 2023. It was in the building with the One Piece “Mugiwara” store. Jives found a few more records here, but the prices had definitely gone up and the selection seemed a bit less (a lot of classical albums now). 

We walked back down to the main floor via the staircase which was full of amazing murals!! If you visit the building with the One Piece store, take the stairs either up or down to see this!! You can thank me later!

We saw some tourists doing the Mario Kart thing in Shibuya crossing… even though I thought that had been banned…

We then went to a mall to check out a bookshop where I got a pretty looking Yokai illustration book and Jives got an Akira Toriyama illustration book. We then stopped at the food court in the building and had a lovely late lunch at a little tempura restaurant. We each got a set meal with a variety of tempura. Mine was mostly veggies and a few pieces of white fish (pepper, pumpkin, eggplant) with miso soup, pickled radish, veggies, rice and a beer. Jives’ set came on top of rice and he was instructed not to add sauce to the rice. I was instructed to add sauce and grated daikon (radish) to mine. The meal was lovely, and came with warm green tea! We enjoyed our break! The bill came to 4000Yen.

We then headed back to our hotel to rest a bit, as Jives was feeling pretty unwell with a cold and some wisdom teeth pain. We did briefly stop in a Purikura booth on our way back. Purikura had become disappointing. You can only get photos to keep now if you pay more money and get a monthly subscription. You also need a line account. 

Back in the room we relaxed for quite awhile as we packed our bags. We did head out again briefly later on to Don Quixote to get some Strong Zeros to pack in our bags and bring home. I also bought a 1800Yen yukata jacket at a little used yukata booth set up on the street. 

We also walked to Sensoji Temple to see it all lit up at night. Sensoji is lovely at night when most of the tourists have left. Sensoji will always have a place in my heart, as a young Holly in 2013 had visited it at 4:30am as the sun was coming up, incense was burning and monks were chanting. A magical memory I will never forget. How lucky am I that I get to go back to Japan so often! This trip, eleven years later with my lovely travel hubby!

We then retreated to the room to finish packing and watch some TV before an early bed and our last day in Japan. 

October 29th

Jives and I woke up super early at 3:30am to visit the onsen in the hotel one last time. The bath in this Dormmy Inn was so lovely and I had the bath completely to myself. I loved the moody lighting, stained glass and the dark onsen water. I really soaked it in (pun intended) knowing this was my last onsen experience for at least a few years. 

We both went back to sleep after our soak and woke up at 7:30am to have some coffee and finish up the packing. We checked out at 9:30am. We walked to Asakusa Station to store our bags as the Asakusa line goes straight to Haneda Airport. We then took the train to Gotakuji temple to see the cat shrine again. I thought Harith would like this.. But he didn’t. We took the train to Setagaya tram line and got off at Miyanosaka station which is the closest station if you are heading to see the cat shrine. We saw some cute kids in their school hats waving at the tram, so we waved back. We first visited the Sumo temple, a lovely temple by the station with an Edo era Sumo stadium in the forest. To say it’s a stadium is probably overselling it, it’s like a magical forest seating area, something out of a fantastical anime about sumo wrestlers with unicorn powers or something! There was a ceremony going on at the main shrine so we didn’t get too close. 

We then walked to Gotokuji temple. I was much busier than the last time we were there. You could barely walk through the section with the cats, let alone take a picture. A group of Indian tourists were taking photos for so long, blocking everything from view. I gave up trying to take any photos. I went to the temple shop and bought the size #2 cat statue for 800Yen. 

We then took the metro back to Asakusa station. It took about 45 minutes to take the train to the airport from Asakusa. After waiting at baggage drop off, we went through security. Jives and I had a ramen at a shop and then we bought a Strong Zero to enjoy in comfy seats, as we tried to shake off the terrible last day we had had in Japan (I have omitted a lot of our trials here, but if you want to know… I can give you the unabridged story.) 

On the flight home we sat 17 rows apart, as Air Canada now charges over $500 each to choose your seats on a flight to Japan. It’s ok. Air Canada HAD some loyal customers in us, but that ended a few years back. We only travel with Air Canada now when we HAVE to.