Japan - Tokyo Day 4

Happy Friday Tokyo!

Fata was to meet CF in Mitsukoimae, about 30mins by train out of Shinjuku. So, we took the train to JR Ueno, where Fata was going to change trains at the Kaisei-Ueno Station and I spend the day at Ueno Park. It's a huge park with museums, schools, theaters, shrines, temples, lakes and lots of place to stroll and hang out.

At 10:30am there was a free English walking tour held by an English speaking volunteer guide. I had the honor to have the company of Kume-san, a retiree who lives just 1 train station away from Ueno Station. He spends his time fishing around the world, the last trip he made was to the east coast of the south island of New Zealand were he caught 30 12-pound brown trout. His next trip is up north to Hakkaido.

The tour was one-to-one 'cos I was the only one there :P It started at 10:30am and went through to a little pass noon. He took me to all the historic sites and explained the stories behind each. It was enlightening and it felt good how much the Japanese take pride in and hold on to their past.

There were 2 pandas at the Ueno Zoo, and at ¥600 I thought it was worth a look-see. Both pandas were in some state of 'nuah-ness' cos the weather was just too damn hot. The enclosure' s made up of compartments for different functions, like sleeping, eating... okay, I can now saw I have seen live pandas :)

Off to the red pandas on the other side of the zoo, super long walk in the heat across a bridge. Anyhow, the furry cuteness was worth it! I saw the zoo keeper arrive once with a snack for the russet panda, it was super cute! Later, the zoo keeper came back with lunch and this time a 2nd darker red panda emerged from one of the little houses. Super cute!!!

By the time I left the zoo it was 3pm, so I headed back to Shinjuku to wait for Fata's meeting to finish. This time instead of getting out at the usual South Entrance, I got out at the East Entrance and ended up on a side of Shinjuku that was totally new to. The shops and people were amazing, so many things to see and buy and eat!

The rest of the day was spent with Fata at Akihibara strolling around the stores. And we had a pre-dinner-ramen-snack at a small vending machine place and it was yummy! This was a snack 'cos we then headed back to Shinjuku looking for a Tsunahachi tempura place Guan recommended. We took a long time wondering around looking for the place but by the time we did, we were glad we made it in time for their last order.

We shared their special set and ordered extras, the extras included mushrooms, unagi, and a very special tempura egg yolk which was still runny inside! Yummy!!!

Kumxia Japan again for another good day!