Time flew in Japan and we couldn’t believe we were back in Tokyo already enjoying that last couple of days there. For our last couple of days we headed from Yokohama to Ueno, where we bought a 48 hour subway card before taking the hibiya line to iriya. and stayed in the Space hostel. This was the most backpacker place we had stayed in Japan with a dorm of bunk beds and a communal area that was actually being used by other travellers. We carried out a bit of admin whilst we had wifi and printer services checking into our flight for Hong Kong and printing documents we needed to be able to get a Chinese visa when we got there. Then we scouted out Ueno station checking with information there that we would be able to travel from there to the airport via standard train to save us some money, where we were told we could get the limited ex on kesei main line for 1030Y. From there we headed to Yodabashi in Akiharbara for chargers and to get white backed passport photos ready for our Chinese visa application in Hong Kong. Whilst there Dave tried the Pablo cheese tart and chocolate tarts that we had seen throughout Japan, but hadn’t yet tried (200 ish each). These were apparently delicious so it was probably a good thing he had only just trued them! Whilst in Akihabara we had dinner at the vending machine noodle restaurant we had had on our first night, which was just as good as it was then! After wandering around Bic Camera we headed to Taito and had a go in the sound proof karaoke booth there, badly singing Let It fly by the Foo Fighters (100Y) as you can’t get much more Japanese of an experience. Then we played on some Mario kart in the arcades before heading back to the hostel for the night.
Our last final day in Japan, sad times. For breakfast we had our personalised cup noodles as we couldn’t take them with us, and they were even more delicious when you make it yourself! We spent part of the morning talking to people in the hostel and making Japanese travel recommendations and was nice to be back in a place with fellow travellers. Japan for us at least, was definitely a different type of travel experience in terms of hostels. We wanted to soak in as much Japanese and Tokyo vibes as we could before we left so we headed back over to Asakusa and took a wood-block printing course at Mokuhankan, go through the different techniques of carving and layering up printing of the blocks. It was very a very involved process and I definitely came away with an appreciation for the craft. The artwork these masters make are stunning, as well as the also doing fun character prints (i.e. Mario cart, marvel etc) as traditional Japanese wood block prints which are awesome. If I could have afforded to buy some I definitely would of done but we came away with a couple of versions of the wood block print we got to make. We enjoyed walking around the very traditional feeling Asakusa before grabbing a curry lunch, enjoying each delicious meal we got to have whilst still in Japan.
After lunch we headed to Roppongi Hills for a great view of Tokyo town and midtown. We then got on the subway and made our way to Daimon for greats views looking out over Tokyo bay and the rainbow bridge. We got some a couple of alcoholic fruit cans (peach all the way) and sat on a bench by the bay in the sunshine enjoying the surroundings. After returning to the hostel for a short while to figure out timings for the following day, we travelled to Shibuya to go back to the restaurant where we initially had amazing ramen with Dave’s dad 4 weeks prior. We treated our self to set dishes of pork ramen, rice and gyoza to get the best of Japanese cuisine for our last dinner before heading back for an early night ready for an early start to the airport in the morning. We woke up at 4.30am, left the hostel at about 5.30am and got the subway to Ueno. From there we took the train to Kesei Ueno and then took the Kesei main line ltd express (1030y) to Narita terminal 2. We checked into our flight and had a final Yoshinoya breakfast before boarding our flight from Hong Kong.
We absolutely adored Japan and it was definitely our favourite place on our trip. It is incredibly interesting and beautiful with a fantastic mix of modern and traditional as well as amazing people. It was also incredibly easy to travel around using local transport and the JR pass and we would recommend it to anyone.
Ale
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