[samtcy] Consolidated 2 Japan trips (Kansai + One Piece exhibition + Tokyo + Nagano)

[samtcy]

986) Walkway from Tetsudo Hakubutsukan station to the Railway Museum


987) Main entrance of Railway Museum. Admission rate is 1000yen for adults, 500yen for children.


988)


989) The turntable will operate at 12noon and 3pm daily.

 

[samtcy]

990) Seating area with a view of the train tracks, so you can watch trains pass by while you take a break.


991) View from the window


992) 1 of the cafe at the Railway museum


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[samtcy]

1004) Another cafeteria at the Railway museum


1005)


1006) train simulator


1007) Museum shop selling lots of train related products


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[samtcy]

1009) I bought a box of these (the Yamanote line set). It contains cream wafers I think.


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1011)


1012) Lunch plate


1013) Suica penguins

 

[samtcy]

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1017) plastic spoons.

 

[samtcy]

1018) An Ekiben stall at the railway museum selling ekibens (Ekibens are bentos which people buy to eat on trains)


1019) Cute ekibens


1020) A stationary train, for people who bought the ekiben and eat here.


1021) Taking train back...


1022) Taking the New Shuttle line back to Omiya station

 

[samtcy]

1023) At Omiya station awaiting for train back to Tokyo


1024) After returning back to Tokyo, I headed for Fudo-mae station. There's a nice little stretch of road with sakura trees near the station.


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1027) From Fudo-mae area, it's just a short 3mins walk to Meguro river. There are sakura trees along this river.

 

[samtcy]

1028)


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1030) A nice leisurely stroll (took me about 30mins i think) to walk from Fudo-mae station to Meguro river then to Meguro station

 

[samtcy]

1031) Meguro river


Then took a short train ride from Meguro station to Hamamatsucho station for the observatory at World Trade Center building (located just next to Hamamatsucho station).

1032) The observatory (admission rate 600yen, but I had a printout discount coupon so only paid 500yen). Spent 2hrs sitting on 1 of the chairs reading my ebook, drinking ice cocoa, and waiting for sunset overlooking Tokyo skyline.


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1035) Zozoji Temple, near Tokyo Tower

 

[samtcy]

1036) Garden just next to World Trade Center building


1037) View of Odaiba


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[samtcy]

1039) View of Tokyo Tower

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[KYFoong]

Sam, you can apply to be a tour promoter for Japan...maybe good idea to propose (as foreign based).

 

[samtcy]

Sam, you can apply to be a tour promoter for Japan...maybe good idea to propose (as foreign based).

Haha, I wish wor. Too bad I can't understand much Japanese language beyond Hiragana.

 

[samtcy]

Trip 3 (Mar 2013) Day 9: Ueno Park + Asukayama Park at Oji + Akihabara + Koishikawa Korakuen + Rikugien


Sorry about the delay. Been busy with other stuffs so didn't really had time to upload pics here.


1044) Woke up really early (around 5:30am) so as to be able to go Ueno Park and avoid the crowds. But then, no such luck. Even though I arrived at Ueno Park before 6:30am, there were many television crews there, filming the view of Ueno's Sakura trees.

1045) Recycling bins

1046)

1047)

1048) Many panda themed food products sold at shops at Ueno.

 

[samtcy]

1049) Inside JR Ueno station

1050) Check out the cute panda bread! Too bad it was sold out.

1051) Panda themed pastries, sold from a bakery inside JR Ueno station.

1052) Mini tonkatsu burger with imprint of panda. I love tonkatsu from Maisen restaurants, so I ended up forking 320yen for this mini bun for my breakfast.

 

[samtcy]

1053) Took a short train ride from Ueno to Oji station, where there's a nice and relatively unknown park called the Asukayama Park (located just opposite Oji station). I think I was the only foreign tourist there since I only saw Japanese during my couple of hours spent at this park. Lots of sakura trees here too, and way much less crowd than Ueno.

1054) Asukayama Park

1055)

1056) Found a nice bench under a sakura tree and had my breakfast there while reading my e-book for about an hour to pass time and wait for the morning rush hour on the trains to be over.

1057) See my bag and pink ebook reader? That's where I sat.

 

[samtcy]

1058)

1059) Someone "chop-ing" a Hanami spot.
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1060) This SL train has been converted as part of the playground at Asukayama Park

1061) Yup, and that retro trolley bus as well.

1062) Sat on this swing for about half an hour, just watching the world pass by and enjoying the cool morning air. Plus, it's been a long loong time since I've played on a swing.

 

[samtcy]

1063) Still at Asukayama Park

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1067) Walking down these steps to get to Oji station.