Japan 2016 Day 17: Snacking Our Way Through Cultural Tokyo
It's already December and I have got 2 more posts to go on the 18 Days Graduation Trip to Japan series. This post will cover the last second day we spent in Japan, Tokyo. It is filled with more eating and bits of cultural activities.
Day 17 - 5 June 2016, Sunday
Overall itinerary of our seventeenth day
0830 - 0900 : Urbain Tokyo Haneda Kamata, Tokyo >> Tokyo Station
0900 - 1200 : Exploring Tokyo Imperial Palace (皇居, Kōkyo)
1200 - 1220 : Tokyo Station >> Shibuya Station
1220 - 1500 : Visit Shibuya Crossing, Softserve at Shibuya (渋谷): Dolci Cafe Silkream (シルクレーム) & More Exploring
1500 - 1505 : Shibuya Station >> Harajuku Station
1505 - 1630 : Eating & Shopping at Harajuku (原宿)
1630 - 1636 : Harajuku Station >> Omote-Sando Station
1636 - 1830 : Dinner at Dominique Ansel Bakery
1830 - 1901 : Omote-Sando Station >> Asakusa (Tobu/Subway) Station
1901 - 2030 : Shopping at Asakusa: Don Quijote
2030 onwards : Return to Urbain Tokyo Haneda Kamata & Pack luggages
Being the last full day we had in Japan, it was definitely time to chill on rushing our itinerary. Our initial plan was to visit another attraction which would take awhile for us to get there. Since we were already feeling drained out from travelling so much over the past 2 weeks, it was time for us to take things at a slower pace and maybe just eat and shop eh? Not that we had not been shopping... haha.
Here is the free breakfast we had at the hotel before starting our day. We had some salad and a couple of buns, they were not bad.
First thing on our agenda of the day was to make our way to the Tokyo Imperial Palace (皇居, Kōkyo) which currently sits on the former site of Edo Castle. Apparently, the Japan's Imperial Family resides there too. Once again, this palace has also been rebuilt like many other castles in Japan. This brought back memories of history lessons when we learnt about World War Two and its aftermath. Nonetheless, this palace looks beautiful and it definitely gives off the vibes of traditional Japanese architecture.
Admissions to the outer grounds of the palace (Imperial Palace East Gardens (皇居東御苑, Kōkyo Higashi Gyoen)) is free, 1 brownie point there! However, visitors are not allowed on the inner grounds of the palace except on special occasions like the Emperor's Birthday. No worries though, there is plenty to see at the East Gardens. We pretty much spent the whole morning walking around by ourselves. If you would like to join a guided tour (it's in Japanese though), simply register at the Kikyomon Gate.
As none of the main buildings are rebuilt, the grounds actually felt a little empty since the place is huge. There are lots of greeneries around, and occasionally, we would walk past several walls and guardhouses. We spent most of our time walking through the trees and plants.
Some time in the process of snapping some #ootd photographs in the 'woods', we encountered another tourist who was wondering what we were doing. At that point in time, we were trying to capture the feeling of being lost and not knowing which is the right path to take... you know how there are many routes you can take, but you can only take one but not know if it is the right one? Back to the story, the guy requested us to help him take a photo of the pose we were doing (LOL) and we just laughed and took one for him. Pity, we did not manage to get a photo with him hahaha.
After which, we proceeded to where the former castle tower is situated. Although it used to be Japan's tallest castle tower, it is now left with just the foundation as it was not rebuilt after being destroyed by fires. Naturally, we walked in and took photos with the remaining parts of the castle and it made me wonder how did those people in the past shift these humongous pieces of rocks to build the castle? One single piece is already that big, it made me feel like a dwarf in comparison. Anyway, if you have some time, you should visit the Japanese style garden at the bottom of the hill - it is pretty!
Next stop, we headed to Shibuya (渋谷) which is famous for its large intersection known as the Shibuya crossing. Once the traffic lights blinked green, everyone started crossing the roads in all directions (6? 4 straights + 2 diagonals). That resulted in quite a huge crowd walking across the junction, it is really a sight you should witness yourself.
Beside Shibuya crossing, Shibuya is known for being a popular shopping and entertainment district. Being a foodie, our radar never misses out on good food, especially desserts! This time, we had Creamia silky smooth soft serve at Dolci Cafe Silkream (シルクレーム) where the cone is made of langue de chats. If you had the famous chocolate biscuits from Shiroi Koibito before and you like it, this soft serve is made for you!
As a shopping haven, we did some shopping at Shibuya (of course). There is a Disney shop here, so if you are a Disney fan, you would not want to miss this out if you are not visiting the Disney theme parks in Japan. We spotted many cute tsum tsums, so fluffy, I only want to squeeze them all haha. It is slightly pricey though, so we left without them :'(. In the case of souvenir shopping, I think socks is a great choice since everyone need socks right? Japan just has so many cute socks and they are affordable too, like the ones here. Sorry though, I could not remember the store name.
While crossing the road, we saw a vehicle with Deadpool on it... I only managed to capture its back side of it, hahaha.
After visiting a few more shopping streets and malls like Shibuya 109 (a fashion complex with many boutique shops) and Tokyu Hands (it has 8 floors worth of household items, woah!), we finally left Shibuya for Harajuku (原宿). Just a 5 minutes train ride away from Shibuya station, we reached there just in time to fill our rambling stomachs. One thing to take note if we ever comes to Harajuku in the future: do not come on weekends. It was literally 'people mountain people sea (人山人海)', sardine packed to the max. Everyone moved together like a parcel.
Putting that aside, we decided to have crepes for lunch after seeing so many people holding one. Problem was, there are 2 crepes shops just right opposite each other - Angel Hearts and Marion Crepes. At moments like this, we observed the queues at each store and went with Angel Hearts after seeing there was more crowd there (#whattouristsdo). We got 2 crepe, one was strawberry cheesecake flavour and the other was chocolate banana flavour. In hindsight, we could have shared one because each serving is huge! It could be because of the amount of cream too. Nevertheless, I felt it was good enough.
Walking back onto the busy streets, we slowly made our way to Calbee Plus, another place with super long queue. Before this visit, I have only ever eaten those package chips from Calbee. Now, I got to eat them fresh from the kitchen(?) and drizzled with the sauce I like. 2 portions again! One was chips drenched in Maple Syrup & Cream Cheese (310yen) and the other was chips with ROYCE chocolate (250yen). There were other flavours available such as Hot & Spicy, Salt & Butter and Double Cheese. I really like the Maple Syrup & Cream Cheese one, it was more 'appealing' to our taste buds as compared to the chocolate one. Crunch crunch, freshly prepared chips are really the IT thing you must have!
For people who wants to shop at Harajuku, you could too! There is a Daiso outlet together with several fashion shops like La Foret! and Monki (operated by H&M). That being said, there were loads of people everywhere - on the streets and in the stores.
Continuing on our food journey, we went to Dominique Ansel Bakery located at Omote-Sando. Famous for its cronut pastry, frozen s'more and cookie shot, we could not miss out on the opportunity of eating them here! You could pretty much guess what we ordered already. First thing first, we made a reservation before we flew to Japan for a table on the 2nd floor. If you do not make a reservation, you would probably have to wait for a table on the 1st floor (self-service). On the 2nd floor, you could order items from the 1st floor which includes all the desserts except the cronuts.
After pondering over the menu for a good 10 minutes, we ordered a Frozen S'more, a Cookie Shot and a Grilled Cheese Sandwich together with 2 pots of Matcha tea with some sort beans/grains. I remembered the tea was quite nice and it went along well with the sweeter items like the Frozen S'more. Now, I invite you to take a look at the glorious Grilled Cheese Sandwich, look at that oozing melted cheese! One word of advice: Eat it while it's warm, it tastes better that way.
Here are the Frozen S'more & Cookie Shot, desserts which you have to order if you visit Dominique Ansel Bakery. Almost every table had a serving of them and it is not hard to figure out why. They are desserts with unique concepts which serve as a special experience even though they were not fantastic (I have tasted better desserts throughout the Japan trip). Give it a shot:)
Stomach filled to the brim, we thought we could make do with some walking. What better way to burn off those extra calories than to go shopping at Asakusa: Don Quijote. We had to walk about 15 minutes from the station to the building itself. It is a huge supermarket selling all sorts of things from bags to toys to electronics to... (drum rolls please) SNACKS!
The snacks are primarily located in the basement and I had a wonderful time walking up and down the aisles eyeing all those Japanese desserts. Guess what? I found my favourite soy milk drink here in over 10 flavours on my last night in Japan. Since it was my last night here, I could not get all the flavours and savour them over the next few days (so sad), so I only got 2 flavours - peach and matcha. I have to say my favourite is still Strawberry after drinking them.
Take a peek at what I bought, mostly matcha snacks & candies!
Recently, Don Quijote has opened a new branch in Singapore called Don Don Donki. However, it seems like my favourite soy milk drinks are nowhere to be found though.
Overall, Day 17 was a really packed day filled with a lot of walking before we leave Japan the next day. Time well spent!
