Hey there, Joel
There are a million doors to walk in to in Tokyo, and by million let's be honest tens of millions. Many of those millions sell you things. Today was the day to go shopping! We haven't really bought many souvenirs this week as we were planning on doing it all in one go. Naturally our first destination is Wal-Mart on Crack. If you've been to Tokyo you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't you'll figure it out when you visit. We managed to find just about everything we needed there, the rest was at Bic Camera in the toy department. We are so excited to deliver these goods! And since they are surprises, there are no pictures.
For lunch we headed off to Kameiido, a single stop along the Chuo line in the more residential part of town. It was time for Gyoza from my favorite shop. Only... it wasn't time for Gyoza from my favorite shop BECAUSE THEY AREN'T OPEN ON TUESDAYS.
We ended up a CoCo's Curry House for lunch instead. A delicious chain restaurant that serves delicious curry. For dessert (because lunch deserves dessert) we hopped in to Mr Donut for a donut. Lunch was very filling. Since we were close to our Hotel stop we headed back to our room to cool down for a little bit before taking off for the afternoon adventure. Jamie wanted to stay behind and recharge so I left her at the hotel and ventured out on my own.
Only there was no afternoon adventure. I had plans to head 30 minutes north to Saitama to visit the JR Train Museum and see some Bonsai trees... only it closes at 5 and I wasn't on the move near early enough to make it out. Once again I was sad today! So I popped out of the station I was in and ended up at a very popular street market to wander. After a little bit of walking I realized Jamie needed to join me so I invited her out and we wandered together. One last thing that needed to be stuffed in to our mouth was more beef and we were solicited in to a all-you-can-eat Yakiniku restaurant, on the 3rd floor behind some sketchy doors and elevators. It was... okay.
Tomorrow is go home day and we have a few local adventures to take before hopping on the airplane. So stay tuned!
There was one Ramen shop here that always had a long line of people waiting to get in. It was long when we got there and long when we left. Social Media creates the unnecessary hot spots that I'm sure are great for business but otherwise just a waste of time - you can get amazing Ramen anywhere! No need to wait in line for so long.
Thanks for coming along today! Until tomorrow.
- Joel, Jamie, and Jethro
Jethro's Diary
And just like that, our week in Japan is over.
Today started with souvenir shopping for the families. There’s this crazy store here called Don Quijote and it has everything you can imagine. So, we bought lots of goodies to take back for everyone.
And finally, on his last day, Jethro found the journal he’s been looking for the whole trip. It’s a leather traveler’s journal holder so you can swap out refillable packets of paper. Ideally, he would have found it the first day, but that didn’t pan out, unfortunately. So, it’s ready for the next adventure.
Jethro also split off and went on a walking tour of Tokyo and saw the Kaminari-mon Gate, which is the ancient gate to enter Tokyo, now surrounded by huge skyscrapers. It was the most touristy place of the whole trip. Packed with tourists. It is beautiful, but we have had a great time not hitting all the touristy spots. That’s the benefit of having Joel as a guide.
Tomorrow we begin our long trips back home.