Sunday, November 7, 2010

Japan Log : Day 2

After that packed out first day I had, I planned something much lighter for that day, not to mention I had to change hotel. I took my sweet tome during morning packing up my stuff and checking out with no problems. In overall, Shinjuku Sun Lite Hotel was a pretty nice place, not too far from 2 metro stations and 10 min away from the JR line. The staff was helpful and polite, like almost any staff of any kind I encountered. My second hotel was located near the Ueno station, but since it was too early to check-in, I let my main baggage in a coin locker at the station for the sum of 300 Yen and left for Ikebukuro.

More after the break



Took the Yamanote Line from Ueno to get there and for some reason, I fell in love with the line, I guess I can understand why there are so many “Densha Otaku” (Train Geek) in Japan. It is such a reliable mean of transportation over there, you really can't go wrong with it.

The main reason for going to Ikebukuro was to visit Sunshine City and Namja Town, a Namco theme parc about cats. Yeah, cats. My real goal was Ice Cream City, a place I first saw in a Tokyocoone vlog on Youtube and since he is partially responsible of my passion about Japan, I needed to go there. Some kind of pilgrimage I guess. After tasting some awful ice cream and making my way in the haunted house, which was pretty awesome by the way, I paid a visit to the Tokyo Dome and its small attraction park. I only did one ride though, the Thunder Dauphin, which reaches speeds of 120 km/h. The hyperactive staff guy was pretty hilarious.

It was now time to check in at the Ueno Tougenaya Hotel, much better located than my first hotel; it was only 4 min away from both the metro and JR station, plus a Lawson at the corner and a post office 6 min away from there. The room was clean, the provided yukata was a large one, the TV was larger, BUT the in room internet wasn't working, so I had to go down in the lobby every time I needed to use internet.

Soon after, I departed for Iidabashi where I enjoyed a wonderful cafe called the “Canal Cafe” on the shore of a canal just beside the train station. Watching the sun setting down over there while drinking an overpriced coffee was great. Also walked in the surrounding areas and enjoyed the feel of some old fashioned streets that have survive the modern times.

A great way to end the day with relaxing times (and yeah, I did drank some Suntory that night).  

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