Tokyo, last day

The morning

This morning, I was woken up by someone else's alarm clock. Imagine setting up a loud alarm clock in a dorm... and they even snoozed it. The audacity!

I have a plane to catch in Narita Airport in the evening, so I decide to stay close to the train line going there. After checking out of the hotel, I drop by bag in a coin locker at Asakusabashi, thten continue by foot.

My goal today is to go to Ueno, and stop by Akihabara on the way there.

I start with breakfast at a random cafe on the way, where I get a matcha pound cake and Darjeeling tea.

There is a small ramen restaurant close to this cafe, it opens up at 11 but there is already a long line before it opens, with 20 people waiting outside at 10:45. It must be a good place...

In Akihabara, I go across the Electric Town, which is a complete weeb town: it has plenty of arcade games, gatchas, figurine shops and maid cafes (with teenage girls dressed up as maids attracting the customers on the streets).

I then walk north through the aptly named Junk Street, that has a bunch of cheap electronics stores.

There is a keyboard shop that I had saved up as a place to visit from my last trip in Japan 2 years ago, but I didn't have a chance to go last time. This time, I'm not gonna miss up on it! Except that it's too early, the shop isn't opened yet. At least, I got to look at the keebs through the store's windows...

Continuing on the way up, I go through the Ameyoko Shopping street, which has a lot of different kinds of stores, mostly food but the inner stores also have fake watches and fake brand bags and shoes. At least I'd assume they are fake, based on the shadiness of the place.

I decide to stop there for lunch, hitting a bunch of items in my todo list: gyoza, karaage and yakitori (with chicken thigh, skin and quail eggs), with a beer.

Ueno

In Ueno, I start with a walk around the Shinobazuno pond. Most of it is covered by lotus flowers, however it is not the blooming season so it is just very green. I am sure that it looks amazing when it's blooming.

Next to the pond is the Ueno Zoo. I am thinking of quickly going through it and ending up next to the museums with enough time to go to at least one of them, but it is very interesting, and I end up spending hours there. They have two pandas, Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao. The line for one of them way very quick, but I had to wait around 30 minutes to see the other (it was worth it, it pooped while I was watching).

Here are some of my favourite portraits I took there:

I end up exiting the zoo as it closes up, and I have no time left for anything else, so I head to the station (thankfully, it is right next to me).

To the airport

After an uneventful trip back to Asakusabashi station to retrieve my bag, I head towards Narita Airport. Thankfully, Asakusabashi is on the correct line (well planned, me!), so I just have to find the correct track and hop in the train. Or do I... as you may have guessed, my troubles with Japanese public transport were not done just yet.

The trains going to Narita are very confusing. Last time, I remember that I had to be in a specific part of the train, because half of the train split up in the middle and went to a different direction. This time, I was on the correct track, but it is used by different trains, and the one I got in goes in the same overall direction but not all the way.

Thankfully I checked multiple times as I was going through the stops, and I was able to stop at a station that is also used by the more direct line to Narita, that doesn't use all the stops.

I had to wait a while at the station, so I used that time to sort through the pictures of the day, and the sunset appeared, absolutely majestic. The most red sunset I've ever seen, with a view on the Tokyo Skytree and Mount Fuji in the back.

Once I arrived at the Narita station, I realized that the metros were not the only place with card readers only for some stations... This train also doesn't accept the Visa card at Narita. How is that not a common problem that they are aware of and have to fix quickly? I had to go through a manual payment, telling the lady where I left from...

Because of the delay, I kind of had to rush through the airport, and my original plan to eat at a restaurant at the airport had to be substituted to konbini food from Lawson.

The plane started boarding shortly after I arrived at the gate, and so off I was... to Cairns, Australia!