Following the tourist bread crumb, we explored Tokyo the usual way on our own in late December 2019 (pre-covid). Our itinerary that day (12/22/19) included Sensoji Temple, Akihabara, The Imperial Palace, and Ginza.
We started our day with buffet breakfast at our hotel (Citadines Serviced Apartments Central Shinjuku, located in Kabukicho) and headed to the Shinjuku Station to process our Suica cards for the trip. After we settled our Suica cards and purchased the Shikansen tickets, we took the Yamanote Line with subsequent transit to the touristy Sensoji Temple area.
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| Shortly before 7:00 am from our hotel room. The bars in Golden Gai can be seen below |
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| Buffet Restaurant Stella, 7:02 am. We were the early birds |
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| Great buffet content, perhaps a thing of the past |
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| Beef don |
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| Bread and cold sides |
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| All smile and keeping it simple |
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| Second breakfast at Mister Donut while walking to the Shinjuku Station |
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| Settled with our Suica Cards - we will be using this card to transit in all public transit going forward except for the Shinkensen. The adult ones we purchased at the machine but the child one we actually had to a visit a kiosk |
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| We are in |
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| The iconic Yamanote line |
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| Our first stop - the touristy Sensoji Temple |
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| Food stall area passed the first gate |
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| Mango softserve |
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| Hot mochi |
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| Walking to the second gate |
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| The second gate |
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| Looking back from the actual temple |
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| Walking to the train stop from the side of the temple with new Tokyo Skytree in view |
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| West exit food stall |
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| Melonpan time |
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| Melonpan stuffed with Matcha softserve |
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| Purchasing a juice via the Suica card is exciting |
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| Tourist in 2019 |
After taking an expensive transit from Sensoji to Akihabara, we arrived at Yodobashi Camera, the electronic mega store. We did some further exploration in Akihabara with our tank near half empty around noon time.
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| The metro station is located just across from Yodobashi camera |
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| Entering the maze of the multi-story Yodobashi camera |
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| Gachapan |
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| Late Fall foliage in Akihabara |
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| Feeling dwarfed by the mega store Don Quijote |
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| Inside the mega Don Quijote Akihabara |
With little food intake at Akihabara, we transited to Tokyo main station to visit the Imperial Palace. The palace itself is off limit to tourists. Our plan was to visit the garden area outside the actual Palace then head to Ginza.
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| Exiting the new Tokyo Main Station with the old Tokyo Station in view. This is the political center of Tokyo and has a distinctly different feel from the touristy and rowdy Akihabara and Sensoji Temple area |
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| Tokyo city center |
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| By the moat of the Imperial Palace entrance |
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| The moat watch tower |
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| Late Fall foliage in the Palace Garden |
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| Light rain is not an issue |
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| The moat Watch Tower viewed from the garden |
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| Ancient city wall against the modern city backdrop |
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| Late Fall, Imperial Palace Tokyo |
After visiting the Imperial Palace in the late afternoon, we transited to Ginza. It wasn't too late in the evening yet maybe around 4:00 but the sky was already getting quite dark. We explore Ginza a bit in rain and visited the flagship Uniqlo store and found a great Unagi Don place in the department store Mitsukoshi Ginza. We enjoyed the great dinner and headed back to Shinjuku and called it a day.
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| Ginza in rainy December evening |
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| Lights of Ginza |
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| Our dinner place in Mitsukoshi |
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| Great set menu |
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| More than enjoyable |
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