Tokyo: From Akihabara to Roppongi, with the Imperial Palace and Ginza in between

Tokyo Day 2 Notes

08:30am
- from Tawaramachi Sta., take Ginza Line to Ueno Sta. (¥140)
  Ueno Zoo (admission: ¥300)
- alternative: Tokyo National Museum (admission: ¥300); temples (free)
11:00am
- from Ueno Sta., take JR Yamanote Line to Akihabara (¥140)
- go crazy shopping
12:30pm
- from Akihabara Sta., take JR Yamanote Line to Yurackucho Sta. (¥160)
- walk to Sakuradamon entrance gate of Imperial Palace East Gardens (open to public)
- have take-out lunch/snacks
- take pictures
3:00pm
- walk back to Yurakucho Sta., then walk to the opposite direction going to Ginza
- Kabukiza Theater (or just hang out in the basement, which is full of stores)
- you may visit the following stores/buildings: Nichido Garo, Tokyo Kyukyodo, Itoya, Hakuhinkan Toy Park, San-ai Blg, Sony Bldg., and more
17:30pm
- from Ginza, take the Hibiya Line to Roppongi Sta. (¥170)
- you may go clubbing afterward!
20:00pm
- from Roppongi, take Hibiya Line to Ginza Sta. (¥170)
- transfer on to Ginza Line to Tamaramachi Sta. (¥200)
- walk to hostel in Asakusa

Edison and Angel at the Akihabara Station

Akihabara is an otaku paradise. I haven’t been an otaku in ages (cue anime/J-pop music of the late 90s), but all the feels were felt once we stepped out of Akihabara Station.

On the other hand, we made a beeline to…erm, a five-floor sex store for research purposes only. There were floors that were off-limits to us ladies, so Edison went ahead to have a look at the even weirder stuff.

We did but some cute trinkets and stationery at a store nearby. I was able to score a cheap scarf hanger; I bought it especially because, like many things in Japan, I’d never seen one before. :D

After Akihabara, we took the train again to the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda ward. It was such a pleasant walk going there.

Going there, we came across stalls in the middle of a park where we brought out our snacks bought a day earlier at Don Quijote in Asakusa. Pigeons came to partake of our bread crumbs. Meanwhile, I included a bar of heavenly Häagen Dazs ice cream in my meal — not very cheap, but cheap if I compared it to Häagen Dazs in the Philippines.

You’d need reservations to enter the grounds of the Imperial Palace — and reservations are difficult to come by — so we just walked around the vast East Gardens and gazed at the greenery along with the few tourists that were there that day.

Afterward, we took a long walk to Ginza. The walk brought us to wide boulevards approaching Tokyo Station. Going there, we had to cross a bridge over a river (with an actual swan, wow — the little things amazed me here).

What I really found lovely was how natural elements were always part of urban planning in Tokyo.

They were sketching the Tokyo Station :)

We walked along narrower streets, stopping by the Yurakucho Concourse, where we snacked on yakitori and beer in one of the hole-in-the-wall shops there. I have to say, this is one of my most favorite parts of the trip — it was unexpected, there were very few tourists, and it felt very…normal. We spent some quiet time here to take a breather and just talk.

Old movie posters in the background

We walked some more, weaving our way through office buildings, until we reached high-end Ginza. I have very few pictures of Ginza, actually — I think we were too busy gaping at buildings with high-end brand names. Somehow we found ourselves in a basement where stalls sold traditional snacks, as though in a trade center. It turned out that we were in the basement of the Kabukiza theater!

We took the subway again to Roppongi Hills. For a long while, we rested our feet in the garden of one of the buildings. Then we went to a Fuji camera museum, had curry dinner, and shopped a bit in Uniqlo (where there was a sale!).