I realised I’ve barely mentioned the very short trip I made to Tōkyō in January. Well, unless you count that extra long SCANDAL at Budōkan post and the halal ramen entry. This was my second late winter Tōkyō trip, so I make no apologies if I made it look like this break had a ‘been there, done that’ feel to it.

I mean, I could’ve done a bit more reading on the city and venture out to places I had not covered in my past trips. Like, I should’ve tried to check out Robot Restaurant in Kabukichō. Or perhaps take a train westward from Shinjuku to the Ghibli Museum. Talking about museums, with the lack of sakura or autumn leaves this time of the year, checking out the various Tōkyō museums would’ve meant more Lonely Planet boxes ticked from the arts/culture/history perspective.

Actually, this time I arrived on seijin no hi but unfortunately didn’t fare too well on the photography side.

I did none of the above options. Like my occasional trips to London[1], I tend to gravitate to familiar places. It’s the obligatory multiple trips to Tower Records Shibuya for media. Or satisfying my craving for a massive sashimi donburi breakfast in Tsukiji-shijō. And later pigging out on more sushi at Genki. Or enjoying a cold lattest and the atmosphere at, well… LATTEST in Omotesandō. I think you should get the picture now. More eating than sightseeing. Heh.

Ochanomizu was another usual haunt that I had to swing by where I got some GOTOH hardware for Asami-chan[2] at BIG BOSS. By sheer good luck, I managed to catch up with Handa-san who was instrumental in making me buy my ESP Horizon NT-III, I mean… KuroiMAMI as opposed to an Edwards.

The only slight deviation from the usual was revisiting Akiba. I did visit Akiba briefly during my short 2015 trip but that was because I had to pass the time whilst waiting for KuroiMAMI’s hard case to arrive at the shop. This time, I was in search of a BANDAI Millennium Falcon kit which I am glad to have found one at Kotobukiya. One thing I didn’t expect was the abundance of STAR WARS in Japan (see the short vid in this previous blog post). They also have way better stuff here made by BANDAI and Kaiyōdō.

And the Falcon wasn’t the only item I found at Kotobukiya, but I will leave this tale for another day.

Accommodation-wise, I was back at the Shibuya Granbell in Sakuragaoka-chō. I was right impressed with them last time and it’s a stone’s throw away from Shibuya station’s south exit.

It was nice to be back, but I hope to do a summer time break to catch a matsuri the next time I return to Japan. And if I ever come back in winter, Hokkaido will be the next box to be ticked.

またね、日本

For more photos from this mini-trip, check them out on my flickr.com site. Or you may just wanna watch this:

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[1]I think I’ve been to Tōkyō more than I did London these past two years.
[2]I don’t expect any of you to keep up with the number of g… never mind.