the red brick building

shop in Chinatown

Chinatown walk

Welcome to Akiba!

There are a bunch of things you can do there, binge shopping on anime merchandise, buying artbooks, buying manga or anime, going to a maid caffee (expensive tho), going to AKB48 caffee or gundam caffee. I am not the shopper type, so I am happy with the Akiba's atmosphere but that's it. Though I am not a shopper, it's actually kinda dangerous for me (or my wallet to be exact) to be there for a long time, I could start buying things that I like, not necessarily I need. Even with that, I tried to find PsychoPass profile book, tried not to drool over Touken Ranbu merchandise and bought Tokyo Ghoul manga #sorrynotsorrymasen. A bit of strolling here and there, getting excited because I see anime characters everywhere. That's it for me.

Plaupla

Asakusa is like a historical site in the center of Tokyo. There are a lot of beautiful places, the most famous and must see from Asakusa is definitely Sensouji temple. It is a Buddist temple with the notica-able big lentern landmark 

Recommended path from me, would be since it near to Tokyo Skytree and Ryogoku, you should try to go to those places in one go. 

Tokyo Skytree is the one of the landmark in Tokyo. With a height of 634 meters (634 can be read as "Musashi", a historic name of the Tokyo Region), it is the tallest building in Japan and the second tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion. There are two observation deck, the normal one located around 350 meters, which entrance fee is 2060 yen, and if you bring foreign passport with you, there is a designated area for foreigners called fast ticket. Above it at 450 meters is the Tombo deck (you will have to pay 1030 yen more to get there). 

Sumida river from Tokyo Skytree

Tokyo night view from Tokyo Skytree

Here is  the Recommended path around historic area in around Asakusa and modern part of Tokyo in Odaiba and Tokyo Skytee from Tokyo Official Guide  (PS: water taxi is ranges from 1100-1600 yen from Ryogoku, you could also take the train to Odaiba but the Gundam is a must see! especially at night since it has the lighting and video on. The gundam even moves.)

Depok, Indonesia
September 15, 2015

Plaupla
(who just had an interview to continue her study and currently reading Tokyo Ghoul)

Shinjuku is a huge shopping district. I mentioned about the Shinjuku station in my previous post, and now I shall recommend places in Shinjuku for you to see.

Traveling is totally different for each people because each people would have their own interest. My interest is mostly outdoor, parks, building, experiences. I am also a budget traveller, meaning I pressed my budget a lot haha!

Therefore, by those description, here are my recommendation for your sightseeing in Shinjuku.

1. Tokyo Metropolitan Government building

 Go up to the highest floor, its free but there would be security to enter. From there you can see the view around Shinjuku.

They also offer free tour around Shinjuku 

2. Shinjuku Gyoen/Shinjuku Park

 I just love parks, I think it would be great to be there in the spring to see Cherry blossom/ hanami or in the fall to see the golden leaves of ginkou.

3. Omoide Yokocho

It is a short alley right next to Uniqlo, it is so Japanesey. It is an eating area as seen in this Tokyo official website. The alley filled with ramen shops, yakitori, and in the front area there are curry restaurants. They are pretty cheap, its about 500 yen. For moslems, there is a halal shop right across the street, Indian food if I am not mistaken. History note: There were a lot of fire in Shinjuku area and Omoide Yokocho is one of the survived area. Yokocho itself means "alleyways off to the side of a main street". There are several other Yokocho around Tokyo if you want to try.

4. Love art installation

Recommended route:

- a. From Shinjuku west exit you would be able to see the cocoon building,  turn right and you will see Uniqlo, and slide right to the small alley between the shops, that is Omoide Yokocho.

- b. From there, you could get your breakfast and maybe stroll around Kabukicho, which you could access under the train bridge next to Omoide Yokocho (if you dare, its a red district lol) not advised to go there at night. Trivia, if you choose to walk straight towards Rabi depato, after you crossed the bridge under the train rails, try to find the big theater and find Godzilla statue peeking over the building. Its pretty interesting. There is the Sanrio gift gate in Yasukuni dori, and near there you could find Hanazono Shrine.

- c. Afterward, you could find Shinjuku Gyoen.

- d. Grab something or bring your lunch there and rest a while.

From there, I recommend you to go to Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, which is a bit far - - e. on the west side of Shinjuku. You could see the view of Shinjuku area, and if the sky is clear, you could also see Fuji-san.

If you are interested in shopping, then Shinjuku might be your dreamland. There are huge department stores that sell various kinds of stuff: KEIO, Lumine, Isetan, Odakyu, Subnade, Takashimaya, Labi, Shinjuku Pepe offers daily necessities, dress, etc. There are Bic Camera and  Yodobashi Camera that focus on electronics devices. Some of their staff could speak English (they have name tags written that they could speak English) and also tax free. Tokyu Hands is one of my favorite shop, it sells creative and cute things, you could get some for your souvenirs, though its a bit pricey for me. In Shinjuku pepe, 8th floor there is a 100 yen shop where they sell everything for 100 yen. That could also be your souvenir shop if you like (furin, chopsticks, snacks, tea, uchiwa etc). It could take days just to stroll around the shops since each department store has 7-8 floors, you are welcome to try.