{"id":1647,"date":"2024-05-28T05:31:21","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T05:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=1647"},"modified":"2024-05-28T05:31:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T05:31:24","slug":"japan-30-leaving-kurashiki-again-to-say-sayonara-to-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=1647","title":{"rendered":"Japan #30 – Leaving Kurashiki again to say sayonara to Tokyo."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I changed my plans a little bit because Erez’s new hiking shoelace broke. Not sure how it happened, but he tried to fix it and it made it worse. I had the receipt (I forgot leave it with him). I checked out of the hotel, and then headed for a chai latte in Tully’s cafe again so I could use their fast wifi. My room wifi was inconsistent, so it made it difficult sometimes to efficiently upload photos. Besides, I had to check out. As soon as the store was open I went in and talked to the salesperson who remembered seeing us the day before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With my Broken Japanese and the salesperson’s non-existent English, 15 minutes later, it was all sorted. Now I could head to Tokyo, albeit a tiny bit later than planned. On the way to the station I had passed this dapper looking sculpture from above many times, but never really had a chance to stop and look, so today I did – to my surprise it was of Hans Christian Anderson – apparently the other sculptures around the clock tower were characters from his stories. I am glad I took the time to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trip back to Tokyo went fairly smoothly, I made my connections ok, and this time I realized that having a non-reserved ticket did not tie me to a particular train, so there was less stress about catching a certain one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shinagawa station when I got off the Shinkansen (bullet train)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside view when I got out of Hamamatsucho Station to walk to my hotel. Notice the living green wall at the bottom of one of the buildings. It is called “The World Trade Centre”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To check in, I was directed to a machine, but the staff mostly did it for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Originally, I thought that maybe I would take the evening to chill out and work on my blog and take it easy before the trip home, and then I decided…Who am I kidding? I have one night left, I am going to enjoy it, even if the forecast is for rain :). I packed up my umbrella and my small pack and hit the town…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I researched a few vegetarian restaurant options and found an interesting one not too far away by train, in Ginza. I walked by this sushi bar inside the station that I had seen on my way to the hotel, so I decided to stop there for a pre-dinner meal (it was fairly early – maybe 3:45pm). Wow – it was delicious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The above Aburi (torched fish) was really great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This billboard was emblematic of my trip, then I noticed it was for Tokyo Disneyland. The dot on the “I” should have been the giveaway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant was in the Ginza Shopping district. Wow has it ever changed in 28 years! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the photo below is the UNIQLO flagship store. It was huge! This is just the front that you see in the photo – it extended most of a block – it is 4 floors of only Uniqlo and then has a bonus Daiso (100 yen store) and a few others on the 5th floor. The 6th floor is food \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not a shopper, but I had fun browsing there, picking up a few last minute things to bring home, now that I didn’t have to carry my purchases around with me for three weeks, and now that I had Erez’s bag to check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A couple of photos from the Daiso store:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is the Kura Revolving Sushi Bar on the 6th floor – I would have loved to try it but I was still too full from the excellent sushi I ate in the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cool Mikimoto building:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next I found the 2Foods vegan restaurant. I don’t know what kind of witchcraft was involved, but it was really good – usually I do not like vegan cheese, but this was great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next, I hopped on a train and tried to find an illuminated garden that I saw in some of the promotional materials in my room. It was at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa. I didn’t realize that there were many different Grand Prince hotels, all having slightly different names, all owned by the same company. It took a bit to find it, but when I did, it did not disappoint. Here are a few highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This was in another part of the hotel complex – I guess an intact historic building with a vintage car parked out front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More observation photos on my way to my next destination – the Tokyo Tower:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Zojoji Temple – I wish I had been there this time in the daylight – I probably have pictures from 28 years ago though – will check when I get home. It was pretty eerie at night with no lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Tokyo Tower was worth the walk – it was a warm night and it was beautifully lit up. I think last time I was there during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was a whole hangout area around the base of the tower which I don’t remember seeing before. There was an amazing looking crepe place – even the plastic food looked good, but I was already too full from my other two meals. This double decker bus was an eating area \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can see how humid it was by my fuzzometer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was walking away from the tower, turned around for one last look and the lights had totally changed so I had to go back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, a great night out and about. I think I milked enough out of my last evening in Tokyo. I got home around 11:30pm, and I was still vibrating with energy for quite awhile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I changed my plans a little bit because Erez’s new hiking shoelace broke. Not sure how it happened, but he tried to fix it and it made it worse. I had the receipt (I forgot leave it with him). I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1647"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1702,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions\/1702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}