This is the finale! Since we were flying in and out of Tokyo, we split our time in Tokyo in half. On 11/06, we took a bullet train (about half an hour) from Hakone back to Tokyo, where we first started our 12 day Japan trip. Now we were ending here too.
The first thing we did was check into our hotel, the Park Hotel in Shiodome. It’s part of the Shiodome Media Tower, and the hotel doesn’t start until the 25th floor. This means every room has a great view! We paid a little extra to face the Tokyo Tower, and the view was definitely worth it.
Since we arrived in the morning, our luggage hadn’t arrived yet (which we sent off from Kyoto the day before). We decided to pass time in Odaiba, which is on a man-made island connected to Tokyo by Rainbow Bridge. It’s become a popular shopping and entertainment area with large malls like DiverCity, Aquacity, and Decks. We found a katsudon place for lunch, were able to do a bit of shopping, and also saw the life-sized Gundam in front of DiverCity!
After returning from Odaiba, our luggage arrived, so we settled in and rested up in the hotel. At night, we wanted to get a view of Tokyo and headed to Tokyo Skytree. We had dinner first at a nearby hitsumabushi (eel with rice) restaurant. There are a few ways you can eat it: as is, with leeks and wasabi, or with seasonings and a hot broth. I tried all 3, and the leeks and wasabi way was my favorite 🙂
When we finished, it was a little over an hour until the tower closed, which was actually perfect. There was no line to use the elevator, and the observation deck wasn’t very crowded. It was easy to walk around and see through the windows. Tokyo Skytree is the tallest building in Japan, and even at its lower observation deck (at 350 meters), the view was gorgeous.
When we returned to our room, I still wasn’t tired of taking photos. The view from our room was too nice to pass up, so I turned off all the lights, set up a tripod, and took even more photos 🙂
The next day (11/06), I was woken up by my husband, “hey, check out Mt. Fuji, it’s visible today.” The day before, it was too cloudy for Fuji to make an appearance, but there it was, clearly behind Tokyo Tower. Again, I am so glad we paid extra for a room with this view!
We met up with our friends to have sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market while it was still morning, and most of the sushi places weren’t crowded yet (because well, people don’t normally eat sushi for breakfast). Though a couple places are well known for always having a line, I had heard the other restaurants are good too, and I imagine that they get their fish from the same place. (They’re all located in the market after all.)
We chose Sushi Sen, and it was really good! I didn’t take photos of all of our nigiri pieces because we were too busy eating 😉
From there, we went to Akihabara, an area well known for being a great place for Anime fans. The stores there had a lot of collectables, especially figurines. I had to resist! The figures were much cheaper than what I normally buy them at! Places online typically raise the price a little, and then I have to pay for shipping from Japan or Hong Kong. I limited myself to just buying the Levi nendoroid from Attack on Titan. (I haven’t taken him out of the box yet.)
At night, we headed to the Roppongi Mori tower to get another view of Tokyo. First, we were craving curry katsu, which we didn’t have during the trip yet. We found Go!Go!Curry!, and that really hit the spot 😀
Unfortunately, I thought the sky deck and open air observatory in the tower had the same closing times, but they don’t. The open air one closes earlier, so we got there too late for it. The view from the sky deck was still nice though and offered slightly different views than Tokyo Skytree due to different location. There was also a art exhibit going on with interactive areas, so that was fun to do 🙂
The next day (11/07) was our last in Japan! It was sad to leave! We started our morning by taking a walk to Ginza. I really wanted to visit it at night, but we were just too exhausted the other days.
Then we stopped at the Tsukiji Fish Market again around 11am. It was super packed! I think it was a combination of lunch time and the weekend.
We managed to get spots at a conveyor belt place without having to wait. The conveyor belt didn’t have much variety though, so we ended up ordering most of our dishes through the chef in front of us. The sushi was good here too, but not pulling from the conveyor belt takes some of the fun out of it.
When we left, the line for the restaurant was out the door. So, if you ever visit the fish market for sushi, go earlier!
From there, it was time to leave. Luggage delivery had been amazing this whole time because we didn’t have to deal with our suitcases in the busy train stations. Unfortunately, to deliver to the airport, you have to do it 2 days in advance. We had to take them with us this time while taking the trains, and it made me appreciate the luggage delivery even more!
We met up with our friends in the airport, and we said goodbye to each other and to Japan. It really was an amazing trip, and I definitely want to go back. For more photos, see my Flickr and food blog! Thanks for sticking around through all of the entries! I will be back to my normal blog posts now 🙂
My mouth is literally watering because of the intoxicating amount of katsudon and other katsu varieties you have here. I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. Hopefully sometime in the future soon. I’ll definitely remember that sushi trip. I love sushi but only when it’s fresh. I tried nonfresh sushi before and I literally puked my guts out. EEEEEEEE. Not an experience I want to live through again D:
Yayayayyay I got to read all of your Japan Trip series! For the hotel starting at the 25th floor, it does sound like a great view! I’m always fascinated by man-made island because of the complexity behind having to make it stay above the water is interesting. Hitsumabushi sounds delicious!!
It’s so cool how you got to see the city from the top view!! You must’ve been in heaven for all of the legit sushi you have eaten! Hope you enjoyed your trip to Japan and hope you’ll go back soon ;).
Happy Holidays, Cat!
GUNDAM!
That is all.
Just kidding!
^.^
I enjoyed reading all of your many adventures in Japan. Looks to be a very beautiful and culturally diverse country, plus Gundam lol The food looks amazing, too. I almost want to try it now.
Looking at your pictures brings back some memories from my trip to Japan 2 years ago! We missed a lot of key tourists spots like the Tokyo Tower and the SkyTree but at the time, the SkyTree was only open to those who bought advanced tickets. The day it was open to the public was the day we were heading back to China T_T
We missed the morning hustle and bustle at the Tsukiji Market also. We got back late at the hotel from Tokyo Disney Sea and just couldn’t wake up on time. But we did have lunch and the sushi was the best we’ve ever had! I still dream about it XD
That sounds like a whole lot of fun!!! I really, really wanna visit Japan. Hopefully, I save enough money to fly out. Yay!
Wow, what a view! *__* I especially love the night view of Tokyo Tower – it’s absolutely stunning! Paying the extra money for your hotel room was a great decision indeed 😀
I feel silly admitting this but the first thing I thought of when you mentioned Odaiba was Digimon…haha! In all seriousness though, your Japan trip sounds incredible. If I ever get a chance to visit I will definitely reference your posts for places to see and eat!
Those views are perfect for photography enthusiasts! I’m glad you got to see Mt. Fuji with that view, because the entire time I was in Hong Kong I was not able to see the view thanks to the fog from the extreme humidity! It was such a bummer.
If I ever go to Japan, I will NOT resist anime or gaming collectibles. Online price and shipping pretty much double the original price so I never really buy anything! I sometimes pick out a few things from Nintendo World, but that’s about it. Nothing too fancy.
Curry katsu? First time I’ve heard of such intriguing deliciousness. GREAT! LOL.
Were you sad when you left Japan? I know I would have been. There’s a reason so many westerners choose to live there.
I’m kind of sad your trip recap is over! I’ve enjoyed seeing all of your pictures and hearing all of your stories so much. I will definitely check out your Flickr!
Absolutely loved this series & your documentation, Cat!! I have a book on Tsukiji by an anthropologist who studied the ins & outs of the markets. It’s very fascinating actually, but quite a hefty read. Loved seeing the sushi photos of course & the views! Wowwwwww. Incredibly breath taking!!!
Conveyor belt sushi is so fun haha. There’s one I frequent in California (hoping to hit it up before I leave actually) & you’re right, not nearly as fun if you have to order everything. The quality of the fish looks pretty amazing for conveyor belt sushi though!
I was wondering when I’d see a picture of some katsu! Katsu curry used to be my favorite dish before I stopped eating meat. Mmmmm. Well, now I just eat the curry, but that’s okay, Japanese curry is delicious! Looks like you had so much fun on your trip. There aren’t any pictures of you & your husband in your flickr album I noticed! Some beautiful photos in there, woman! Wonderful!! Also, totally showing Josh your Hakone trip because it looked amazing.
The view you got….TOTALLY WORTH IT, agreed!! So beautiful. Gorgeous. Oh man, not enough words in the english language to even describe how beautiful that scene was…with the mountain in the background. Good on you for bringing along your tripod haha!! I forgot to bring mine 🙁 🙁 🙁 but it is really smart to bring along & obviously, totally worth it haha.
Thanks! I’m glad you liked my Japan series and flickr album! 😀 I tend to use my flickr as a portfolio, so I pick out my best photos for it. Everything else gets put on Facebook instead, haha.
I’m still soooo glad we got that room. So convenient to take photos from your own hotel room! I often don’t bring a tripod because it takes up so much room, but I recently bought a travel sized one! It barely takes up room in the luggage, so I think I’ll be bringing it on trips for now on 🙂