Jet lag’s a bit gone so finally writing this. Story was that I was going back home and fished a JAL ticket for good prices in June or so. Then in October the Japanese Government decided to open borders again, and I did promise myself that if the stars aligned, I’d lengthen my stopover on the return trip home. So I did. Total cost to me was 300USD to change my ticket around a bit, though I had to call JAL offices to change them to an overnight ticket as my initial one wasn’t.**1/16**
6:45 AM – Arrived in Tokyo Narita. It was a \*really\* long walk to immigration, as I didn’t get to the line until 7. Immigration itself took slightly over an hour due to 2 planes deplaning at the same time but also there only being 3 counters open (more opened at 8AM). Took pretty much 2 hours to get through and take care of that and immigration.
8:55 PM – Got on the Nikko Hotel Shuttle after picking up portable wifi, the hotel was nice enough to keep my bags for the day
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10:06 AM – Boarded the Access Express from Narita towards Tokyo. It’s a very warm train, and also quite empty, even though most people did not board the Skyliner that arrived beforehand.
11:30 PM Got to Ramen Shichisai in Hatchobori. Surprisingly it wasn’t really crowded for a decently known place, it was only half empty. It’s a nice change from the tonkotsu ramen from the states, but their Kitakata style was really Chinese but imo better than how most chinese places do it. Got their niboshi ramen and the niboshi was very prevalent without being overpowering.
Spent the afternoon going to Nakano Broadway. Spent like 2 hours at Nakano trying to look for anime/game merch, unfortunately most of the stores were very retro or very mainstream. Only saw one store with Symphogear/Bandori merch, and didn’t have much luck seeing plushies. There was some \*really\* good smelling curry in the basement that my full stomach unfortunately wouldn’t let me try.
Also checked out Square Enix Artnia in Shinjuku. It’s a bar on like the outskirts of Shinjuku but when I went there, it was *unsettlingly devoid* of customers. The merch selection there was equal to the Square Enix online store, and I didn’t spend too much time or too long there. They had some figurines and nice art displayed in a room, but that was pretty much it. Was pretty disappointed and ended up sitting at the lawsons nearby and eating convenience store ice cream.
I did stop by Isetan Shinjuku’s Basement and man there was not only a lot of pretty looking packed food, but also bakeries, lots of them. I bought a pudding to eat at the hotel that ended up being obliterated by my backpack abuse.
5PM – Arrived at Sushi no Midori, which someone on the discord recommended me. Spent an hour waiting in front of it D:. My advice? Come early, come alone, or come with a reservation. They had a omakase set for 3630 yen that included o-toro, chu-toro, and fugu, but it was everything but that was life-changing. And I had Sushi Taneda at Seattle last year! Everything was so tender while maintaining the uniqueness of each kind of fish. Their scallop and eel in particular was magic. 3630 yen after tax. Downed an entire carafe of also pretty good hot sake for 550 yen too.
7:30 – PARCO Shibuya, floor 6.
1. Do you like Nintendo IP? Go to the Nintendo, you won’t regret it. Aside from the statues, there also a high variety of of merch that on top of that, fit very well with the IP they are merch of (Think Squid plush, Ink tank hydration pack, Splatoon brand shoeboxes, and Animal Crossing winter sweater.) And they’re pretty high quality too. Downside is that the Splatoon 3 shirt tags are hand wash only D:
2. Do you like Monster Hunter? Go to the Capcom Store, you won’t regret it. They have \*soo much\* nice looking monster hunter merch and keychains. The keychains in particular are mostly pretty cheap (500 ish yen), but they have some gacha leftovers from the Capcom Cafe that go slightly higher.They also have a \*wall of Capcom tsum tsums\* and a really high quality felyne plush (5500 yen!). Outside of the monster hunter stuff there’s interesting stuff from other Capcom IP, like Umbrella brand tablet candy. There’s also a life-sized Rathalos Longsword to take a picture with. Also it closes at 8:30PM contrary to what Google says.
3. Pokemon Center Shibuya was… eh… The shirt design machines were closed when I arrived and the place pretty much ends up being a generic pokemon plush store. Not much in terms of non-plush merch either.
Started going home about 9, and arrived back at Nikko Narita hotel at 11:30PM. Yeah that was a long trip taking the Tokyo Metro + the Access Express. Thankfully they still let me check in.
**1/17**
10:00 AM – \*wakes up\* FUCK. IDK why but my phone didn’t have enough power to charge while staying on with the 1500W power strip at Nikko Narita. So my phone went off and didn’t run my alarm. But it was fully powered when I switched it on :/. Anyway, picked up my bags, took the shuttle to the airport. Quick tip, if you’re flying JAL you can check in \*very\* early AND you can check just one of your two bags. Put the other one at JAL ABC for 600 yen. Ended up taking the more expensive Skyliner into the City as I was chasing time.
12:00PM – Still chasing time so figured I’d get some Curry at Takashimaya. Ended up at Picoti Picota and got their fried oyster and vegetable curry combo (2200 yen). A pretty complex tasting curry, and the place was actually pretty. I’m no curry expert, but I think they had really caramelized tomatoes/veg mixed with a fair bit of japanese worchestershire. Veg were cooked perfectly and the fried oysters were crispy out and still really tender in. Still pricey though.
Also contrary to what tabelog says, Katsukichi does not serve curry :/
1:15PM – Pokemon Tokyo DX/Pokemon Cafe. Had to book this one month in advance, but not only were there spots day of (for later times), but no shows too. People left pretty quickly to boot. I got their souffle pancake, and contrary to your standard expectation of a novelty cafe, it was pretty good. The banana whipped cream was very smooth and did not offend at all, and it paired with the fresh fruits and the dense, cakey pancake well. And so was the sweet syrup, no bitterness, just pure caramelized smooth sweetness. The store itself has a much higher variety of merchandise than the Shibuya store (and cute ones too, I recall seeing a fluffy wooloo cap and backpack). Ended up getting a couple zipper charms for myself and coworkers back home (200 yen each). These were way better things than the gacha machines in nakano, so yeah, don’t gacha, it’s a scam. Go to the pokemon stores XD.
2:50PM Stopped by the Square Enix Cafe in Akihabara to see if I could still find chocobo plushes. Unfortunately… not. Again their selection was similar to their online store in the US, so wasn’t really great either. Welp, towards the airport I guess. Took the Access Express
4:30 PM Arrived at airport Dang these trains are on time. Went to the Narita Pokemon Center, and for a small store they had a REALLY good plush selection for such a small store. Like you too could get a oversized plush of your choice at the very last minute to pack into your check-in luggage for a flight (I did not). Aside from the Narita specific goods, they had a wall that was pretty much all pokemon themed snacks. Good for omiyage. Bought a few more, organized the bag I left at JAL ABC,
5:30PM Most of Narita inside was still pretty closed sadly (knew this from transiting through a month ago) so decided to get Tempura Udon at Tsuruhan. It was again, pretty good. Nice chew on the noodles, light yet flavorful and refreshing soy broth, and crispy yet fresh tempura. Had to rush eat though since my flight was at 6:30 XD. Made it at 6:15 as there was no traffic through customs. Interestingly after I arrived at the airport there were announcements everywhere saying one of the JR lines was broken down.
Departed at 6:30 on time, no hassle.
**Additional Notes**
Decided to rent the telecomsquare wifibox as they opened early, and had an unlimited plan for 840 yen per day. It was self service rental and return. The counter was not staffed when I picked it up, but was when I returned it. Performed above expectations, as I never charged the thing throughout the two days and it was still kicking. I didn’t use it to charge my phone as i had my own power bank though. Only really struggled with connection in very very high density areas like Shibuya itself and underground in Shibuya. Wasn’t able to find any previous experience about people renting it so… here you go.
Barring the underpowered power strip, Nikko Narita was alright. They give better rates if you book at least 14 days ahead, so my hotel stay was 50 USD for the night. It’s a rather small dorm sized room, but more than enough space for a single traveller (why don’t more hotels make smaller rooms for single travellers). You might struggle with space when you’re opening suitcases though. Room also had a fridge. Shower was clean as well. Bed was extra comfy, curtains were 11/10 effectiveness. I’m pretty sure I would have woken up earlier instead of 10AM if the bed wasn’t so comfy and the curtain 100% opaque.
A day trip to Tokyo (which was my original plan) is definitely not enough, do overnight at minimum, but do more so you aren’t rushing around so much and have time to revisit places/ adjust things. And eat more things.
I decided not to get the tokyo subway pass and it really didn’t lose me any money. I only took the JR lines twice and my total cost for tokyo subway + Tokyo JR didn’t hit pass prices. The biggest bite of my transport costs was really shuttling to and from Narita.
If you can time things, take the Keisei narita access express. You don’t really lose much time, and the trains they use are fairly comfortable and modernized. And no concerns about seating once you get out of Tokyo.
Tokyo subway system, for all it’s complexity was pretty easy to get around with all signs in english, as long as you paid attention to what platform you had to go to and the electronic signs saying what sort of train is arriving. Crowds might be overwhelming if you aren’t used to taking mass transit though.
Man I wish I had more curry. And time to explore akihabara and the Skytree pokemon center.