Tokyo Day 2:

The night before, we got home late and we woke up really late too because of sore feet. By our second day in Tokyo, we met with Cristina and her little daughter Nami. It was at a local café, a pretty nice spot for chats. It was also cozy and quiet, you can concentrate if you bring your work on a laptop.

Cristina toured us around Ueno Park, where we got to catch a few Cherry Blossoms in bloom. There were shrines around the park and it was really fascinating how the entire place was structured. Not all the trees have “Cherry Blossomed” because spring was just starting when we came.

Nevertheless, it was nice to see the place and it was crowded with locals. Foreigners like us enjoyed taking selfies under the pink-adorned branches.

Though the park was crowded, there was not as much noise in certain areas, probably out of respect for the shrines. There were also wooden squares where you can write your wishes/prayers.

Away from the quiet shrine area was a mini playground where Nami played with other kids. We rested for a while and had an awesome ice cream break.

ng Ueno park, Cristina and Nami had to go pick up Nami’s big sister, so we parted ways at the nearest train station.

For our next stops, Cristina taught us how to use a Suica Card. It is basically a “prepaid card” for train commuters and a lot more convenient instead of getting a new ticket for each and every stop. We load each card up to 2,500 yen, which was more than enough for our 3-4 days trip.

We headed next to Akihabara – a great spot for pop culture toy collectibles. You will find a long strip of buildings with interesting finds and often times you will be surprised to find that there are a lot more for sale in higher floors.

I went toy hunting and bought a Gundam because it makes a pretty good souvenir as it is a well-known Japanese robot craze. I do not really follow the Gundam anime series, but it sure is fun to build and assemble a Gundam model. It is quite a craft that helps release tension from stressful work. I also bought the newly released S.H. Figuarts Batman. I was such a happy kid after buying these bad-ass toys.

We had dinner at a Katsu house. I was really happy with the Katsu Curry I ordered. It was exactly the way I wanted it – juicy pork katsu with crispy crumbs outside with the right amount of curry sauce. YUM! It was great quality food.

We were so tired from our adventure when we made it back to our hotel in Shibuya. My wife wondered if she could walk the next day. We sure made the most of it!