Day 7 - Asakusa, Ueno

1 April 2009

Woke up this morning feeling rather sad, as it was our last full day in Japan. Seven short days - hardly enough to experience all that Japan has to offer!

Anyhow, had a great breakfast of toast, salad and some soy + seaweed pasta (mmm fusion), then bid a fond farewell to our inn, and the larger-than-life Mount Fuji.

Thick buttered toast and a surprisingly good salad.

Leaving our mark on the board at Kawaguchiko Station Inn

Left Kawaguchiko for Shinjuku by bus, me sleeping the whole way through (and probably drooling on mummy's shoulder). Hoho. ^^ Transferred straight to Asakusa to dump our luggage at the Asakusa Riverside Capsule Hotel... wheeee capsules! Think that was the highlight of our day. But more on that later. ;)

The capsule hotel - almost right beside Sumida river

We were saving this day for more cherry blossom viewing, as we hoped that there would be more in bloom. However, coz of the dreary rainy weather... most trees had not reached full bloom yet. They were still pretty though!

Strolled leisurely down Sumida river and this is what we saw:

a canopy of sakura...

peach blossoms

geishas on a horseman-drawn cart xD

the Asahi beer building with golden "beer foam" on top!

words... fail me.

Lunchtime! Decided to walk into KFC as I had previously seen a commercial on their new limited-time-only Shoyu Fried Chicken... and, susceptible as I am to advertising... I just HAD to try it out. It didn't disappoint. It is, singularly, the most delicious and succulent piece of fried chicken I have EVER had, anywhere. Shoyu is soy sauce... and this piece of boneless chicken was marinated thoroughly in soy sauce, covered in crispy (and just slightly spicy) batter... every bite was amazing! Now KFC will never be the same for meeeeeeeeeee! *wails* Haha. I liked it so much that I went back the same evening to buy somemore... and it was sold out. :( *wails somemore* They should definitely make it part of their regular menu... and this item should definitely come to Malaysia. Wishful thinking, I know. Anyway, I've rambled on too long bout a piece of chicken already. Feast your eyes on the pic! It tastes better than it looks. Haha!

Finger lickin' goooooooood.

Strolled down Nakamise street again, bought enough senbei (rice crackers) to feed a nation, and ate more soft serve icecream. Can you believe the variety of flavours they have for soft-serve icecream? There was caramel, yam, red bean, custard pudding, tangerine, plum, rum and raisin, chestnut, melon, almond jelly, cappuccino, rose, sweet potato and even TOFU! How does tofu icecream taste like? I didn't wanna pay 300 yen to try. ;)

Ridiculously wide selection... we chose green tea and grape! Yum.

Next stop, Ueno, and the first thing we did was go to that delicious potato stall and buy more of that. Watched ducks paddle contentedly along Shinobazu Pond, pretty cherry blossoms reflecting off the water... braved the crowd again to get a lifetime's worth of views of sakura on the main street (who knows when we'll see them again)...

mayo, soysauce, seaweed, butter, potatoes...

these are a list of my favourite things (ala Julie Andrews)

Tranquil.

me, the crowd, and our huge bag of senbei

close to sunset...

swaying gently in the breeze...

Walked back to Ueno station and wandered around Ameyoko for a while. Ameyoko is this market of sorts which used to be a black market for American goods. Now it's lined with seafood stalls, and an assortment of knickknacks. A pretty cool atmosphere... every now and then a train passes by right above your heads... lots of seafood sellers trying to out-shout each other with their cheap deals... plenty of folk rushing here and there.

Before we knew it, night had fallen. Returned to Asakusa, all the while feeling rather wistful... and cheered ourselves up wih a good meal of Unagi at Unatoto. Mummy had the Unachazuke (or something like that... can't remember), which is similar to ochazuke, except with bite-sized pieces of unagi on top! Good stuff. Comes with a pot of green tea to pour into your bowl and sort of eat it like porridge, if you like. Good stuff. I had something similar, except that it was freaking spicy, and that the tea was replaced with a soy-based soup.

Who knew that eel could taste so good?

Then it was off to a konbini for more junk food to buy back home, and back to the capsule hotel for the novel experience of a lifetime! We chose Asakusa Riverside Capsule Hotel coz there aren't that many capsule hotels available for women - the other one available is in Akihabara, which is 1000 yen more expensive.

The whole experience was kinda fun. We purchased our "one night's stay" tickets from the vending machines, stuffed our shoes in the shoe lockers and went up to our floor (women only!) with anticipation.

Keep Out, man! You hear that?! Lol.

What greeted us inside was a warm and dimly-lit walkway with dozens of capsules on each side. Some were already occupied... with people reading, talking in whispers, watching tv, sleeping. Found our capsules and began to camwhore and giggle as quietly as possible. :)

Mummy posing Japanese style...

When in Japan, do as the Japanese do. ^^

My capsule on top and mum's below

After goodness-knows-how long of camwhoring, we changed into the capsule-issued pajamas (cute! haaa) and trooped off to the public baths to clean ourselves. The public bath was uncomfortably congested. Eh. This place has no private showers, so if you're squeamish then you'll either have to skip showering or... skip showering. ;D

Capsules galore and mummy in pajamas

Enjoyed the view of Sumida River from the top of our hotel for a while, then went back into mummy's capsule to hang out and watch some tv. Two of us could fit comfortably in one capsule. The capsules were nowhere near as small and claustrophobic as I thought they would be.

And thus ended our last night in Japan. :)

Goodnight, Tokyo.

You are dearly missed.