With my time coming to an end in Tokyo, I figured it was time to get a little touristy, so I went off to Harujuku neighborhood to check out the street fashion there. As soon as I noticed the insane crowd walking through Takeshita street, I did an about turn and went off to find Yoyogi park around the corner.
The crowd at Yoyogi park was a bit much, but it was not as terrifying, so I decided to invite myself to one of the many Hanami parties happening in the park.
Best idea ever.
I approached a friendly looking English speaking group and got myself accepted into a Euro-Japanese Hanami party. I was having too much fun to take pictures, sorry! Hanami is a picnic party under cherry blossom trees with friends and families…sometimes strangers.
With my new friends for the day, we decided to take the subway to their favorite Izakaya (gastro pub) when it started getting dark.
The food at the Izakaya was a contender for the worst meal ever in Japan.
Sadly, I was too shocked by the rubbish to even take a picture of it. Even sadder was that I did not take a picture of the place in order to warn people from it. Ah well, if you are in the mood for Izakaya, stick to Torikizoku. I went there a couple of times in different neighborhoods, and they did not fail on both counts.
In a bid not to get into a pickle and have to deal with Tokyo taxi again, I called it a night early and went off to the hostel I was now staying at and ended up watching Les Miserable with my hostel mates.
My last few days in Tokyo were on a lazy pace. On some level, I mentally checked out and was just going through the motions in the bustling city.
I grabbed some sushi at the popular Tsukiji market area when I managed to get my lazy butt off the bed.
And as a manga + anime fan, I occupied most of my time walking through Akihabara and buying a few local games for my PS4. Gadgets here were stupid expensive, so shopping for new toys were out of the question, same items are available for less in USA.
I really wanted to buy some collectibles like Naruto figurines, but the price tags convinced me to maintain myself. Ah well.
For my last night in Tokyo, my biggest priority was to get a finale grub at Torikizoku and experience a karaoke night in Tokyo.
After getting my Izakaya fix, I ran into one of my hostel mates and I got invited to join in with about 14 other guys for some Karaoke fun at a spot around the corner.
We rented a room for 2 hours, belted out some tunes until our voice box got sick of it. And then somehow got invited into a bar that was closed to the general public for some drinks until the Sun set.
I had a few hours to kill before hopping on the train to the next town, so I did a quick stop at Ueno park, and I was amazed by the number of street food vendors.
Ah well, couldn’t really do much with my backpack for men hanging onto my shoulders, so a quick glance through was all I did before heading to the train station for the next town.
My time in Tokyo was a big ball of potential fun and disaster. I ended my time here on a good note, but I think Tokyo really needs a do-over for me.
