Travelogue-Tokyo Day 3, Gundam/Skytree

My first encounter with the life-sized Gundam in Odaiba was several years ago during its initial run.  I  was not able to see it fully erected at the time.  All they had were just the legs and a few bits lying around.  Now, Gundam is back and hes all put together, for the most part. 

Unfortunately, I still cant get that up close to it as they are building a shopping mall behind it.  Fences and barricades  prevented me from getting any closer

During the first time, there were lights, smoke generators and some movement in the head.  It was quite dramatic against the sky of a setting sun or the dark of night

Per japanese custom, Gundam has removed his shoes

The Bandai Museum at the original location had the life-sized torso and I went to see that.  I went to see his legs a few years ago and now I've finally seen the finished product.  Shame I couldnt get closer

Skytree is a broadcasting tower that is now complete and is the tallest structure in Tokyo.  It just up the Sumida River from Gundam/Odaiba.  Being the tallest structure, youn would think it would be easy to find.  Once you arrive at Oshiage Station on the Asakusa subway line, you are instructed to go to exit B3.  As I come out, I had a bewildered look on my face that I recognized from many of those coming out of the exit as well.  We had all looked up and saw nothing.  No hint of the tallest anything in Tokyo.  It turns out the building to the left was blocking the view.  Because of the perspective, it blocks out the tower even though it is shorter

There is an observation deck, of course.  It will open with the offical opening of the building in May, I believe

Until then, everyone must admire from afar

Ok, so I was trying to be cutesy with the black and white stuff yesterday.  Turns out I forgot to change it back to the regular mode and did not notice that many of my earlier pics today were not in color

Travelogue-Tokyo Day 2, Gray day

Today was a wet gray day. Thats why all thephotos are in black and white and shades of gray. Afterall, a black and white photo is more than just black and white.  It put a damper on some of the things that I had planned to do today.  I came up with a few other things I could do nwhile trying to keep dry as well.

First stop was to go to the Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku.  I consider this to be  the best laid out of the swtores I have visited.  The floor plaqn in Shibuya is too confusing.  Ikebukoro is smaller and has less stuff but sometimes better inventory quantities.  The trains were packed on this Saturday morning around 10:15am

A newer esit that takes you directly to Takashimya is less used because the cars dont stretch that far.  If there were more cars, this exit would be just as heavily trafficked as the others.  The plus of this is I didnt have to get wet yet.

Emerging from the exit, the clocktower is shroudeed in clouds and a light srpinkle has been falling for a while.  Later it was havier but still not enough to warrfant me buying an umbrella for use on a day or two.  I guess I could have borrowed an umbrella from somewhere.  Thats what happens in a society thats so trusting

I get up to the floor of Tokyu Hands that sells toys ande other gadgets.  Its interesting to see whats new.  Appropriately enough, they have Star Wars theme lightsaber umbrellas.  Of course, they ar in color

Still alot of people in Shinjuku despite the weather.  I found alot of people were still out and about at many of the places that I stopped off at.

I passed Takadanobab on the way to Ikebukoro.  I wqas originally going to stop off here, catch the streetcar for a while before proceeding to Sugamo then Skytree.  I wanted to check the Tokyu Hands here to see if they had anything different.  They had a few more Stars Wars related items.  But, I will come back to those later

I stopped in at Denny's for lunch.  The menu didnt seem as appealing as I had remembered it.  I settled for the small steak.

With lunch put away and the bill settled, I wanted to see what Yodobashi had.  I was planning to do this tomorrow sinc ethey will be closing Chuo dori for pedestrians.  Disappointingly, I found nothing that wowed me on the toy floor.  Oh well.  I began to feel hungry again as lunch didnt really carry it weight.

Since Coco Ichiban was close by, it was as good place as any.  I havent had my curry fix yet.  There is also a ramen shop a few doors down that I frequent as well but maybe not this time.

I ordered the standard tonkatsu curry.  Crispy deep fried pork cutlet, still juicy.  I love japanese curry over most kinds of curry because its the right level of heat and the thick consistency helps it to stick to the rice.  You do have the option of thruning up the heat for a fee

As I left and went back towards Chuo dori, recognized this izakaya from a show called Shiru Shru Mishiru.  I coulndt remember the name but it lloked familiar and it had the jr name on it as well as the 270yen pricing for each item.  You order via touchpad that is multilingual.  I will have to come back and try it out.  I tried looking for a location on their website but it could not navigate the japanese

One new edition since my last visit is the addition of the AKB48 cafe.  They have a show nearby at UDX so it amkes sense to open this up as weel.  Of course they seel souvenir goods as well.  The Gundam cafe has been here for a while and both had patrons waiting in the rain to get in..

Lastly, I waqlked around the area to the west of Chuo dori.  Its not an area that I frequent as mush as the east side with the train station, Yodobashi and all.  I ran across the Kotobukiya store.  They are the ones who make the Star Wars chopsticks that I purchased on a previous trip.  I browsed the store and saw some of their other Star Wars good on the second floor.  Of note, and I saw this at Ikebukoro, were themed ice trays in the shape of things like theMillenium Falcon or R2D2.  I liked the heads of Darth Vader and Stormtrooper, personally.  The one I found most interesting was the one of Han Solo frozen in carbonite.  Im sure these items are available online in the states. 

Travelogue-Tokyo Day 1, Its a ramen kind of day

I got up this morning with the intention of going to Yokohama to the Cup noodle Museum.  Before I do that, I thought I would go to Ippudo in Ebisu.  I have heard alot of glowing reviews about this place in many ramen blogues.  They have branched out into many locations including Seoul and Hong Kong.  This location is the progeneator,the one that started it all. 

I didnt try their specialty.  Since I prefer miso ramen, I ordered the akamaru.  It contains miso and garlic oil with the thin round noodles.  I didnt get much of a whiff of the miso, it was very subtle.  There was a bit of chili pasted to give it a bit of nice heat.  The soup was very good.  Even better when you crush some extra garlic into it and let it blend with the soup's heat for a while.  I was very satisfied with this

I get to the museum around 1pm.  I am told the next available slot to make my own cup noodle was not until 4pm.  Three hours to go so I started to lookaround.  There was display of instant ramen and cup noodle history rpresented in the packaging.  There was a documentary but I skipped it.

I guess everyone comes to make their own cup noodle as evidenced by the long line and large groups of people.  Time slots are divieded up by the half hour from open to close, 10am-5pm. 

During the wait, I watched some of the other japanese-speaking peoploe making chicken ramen from scratch.  They wont let you do it unless you can speak the language.  So, I wont even bother to show the pics.  My number came up and I began by buying my cup at the vending machine for 300yen

Proceeding next to the tables, you can pretty up your cup with colored markers.  You could leave it plain too but at least wtie the dat3e on it because I dont think it nwill outlast a Twinkie

After your design is complete, you get to put in a brick of noodles into the cup.  You get to choose 4 of 12 toppings.  I put in egg, crab, corn, and green onion

You also get to choose from 4 soup bases.  There was tomato.  Im sure they had chicken.  I dont know what the other one was but I choose curry.  In hind sight, I could have made a c-cup if I substituted the egg and enion for cheese and chili pepper

Then its sealed for your protection.  And, shrink-wrapped for their protection

Watching the heat shrink wrap do its thing reminds me of Shrinky Dinks

Lastly, its time to bag and tag.  place into provided pouch then pump with air to cushion the valuable one-of-a-kind item

This gets the Rogue Dogue stamp of approval

I spent way more time in Yokohama than I had expected.  Firstly, there was the wait for my cup noodle.  Then it took a long time just to get back to the train station.  The Akaikutsu bus is an on/off conveyance that only goes in one direction.  The slowest parts was the middle third.  It was 5:30pm by the time I got to the station and the sun was beginning to set.  To cap off the day, I decided to have ramen for dinner.  I went to the Setagaya branch at the ramen street at Shinagawa.  I order my usual favorite there.  Its a very thick broth with wide thicker noodles.  I added the extra chopped onions.  The chasiu seemed larger and thicker than I remember.  I could do a curry theme but the museum for that, also in Yokohama, closed down many years ago.  BTW, there is the ramen musem at the Shin Yokohama train station.  This is a better sourced out food(ramen) court then the hackneyed Noodle Bazaar at this one.  There is another Cup Noodle Museum in Osaka that has been open for much longer

Travelogue-The Scenic Route

I was done with Tokyo Station and it was time to head back towrite this stuff up.  Instead of taking the direct route back, I figured I would go a different route and stop off at my favorite haunts.  I transferred at Akihabara to the Chuo line to cut across the Yamanote loop.  Its okay, I dont usually visit the north loop very much

At Shinjuku, its back to the Yamanote.  Just outside the station is Studio Alta.  Being one of the busiest stations in town, large numbers of people would exit the trains but large numbers of people would rush in to take up the empty spaces

Lastly, Shibuya did not require any transfers.  As with the other transfers, I didnt get out of the staqtion like I did at Tokyo.  Feeling satisfied that Ive done something today, its back to the room to figure out what to do for tomorrow and hope the weather holds out.  Its warmer here than in Korea, but my third leg has me going back to Korea for a day and a half

Travelogue-Tokyo Station 1st Avenue

After settling in, I wanted to go out and do something. I decided to visit a new set of shops called 1st Avenue near the Yeasu Central exit in Tokyo Station. As we arrived at Yurakcho Station, I espied Darth Vader exiting the Yamanote in the opposite direction. I gave chase but he had disappeared before I could get down the stairs. Vader has now left the station. The force is strong in this one. I am aware of Tokyo Trooper Danny Choo but was not aware that Vader was a regular Tokyo walker.  I arrived at the station and focused on 2 areas.  The first was the Ramen Street.  About 8 shops populate this area.

Since it was dinner time for some, I expected large numbers.  Most shops had lines of people waiting for them.  Some lines went around the corner

Some lines went around more than 1 corner

Some of my friends will be happy to note that the shop selling candy and a great variety of Kitkat is still around but moved to the nearby Ramen Street.  I have seen and purchased so many Kitkat in my mnay trips here that I have forgotten what I have or have not seen/tasted/bought.  I now these are new.  The first commemorates the new Tokyo Skytree which is due to open in 2 months.  Orange flavor.  Why?  I dont know

This one with Rilakuma(sp?), pancake flavor?

The other area was Character Street.  They have a variety of goods resembling many familiar faces

Many of the TV studios are represented such as NHK, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, etc

One store of particular note to a friend of mine is located at one end.  I didnt look at the prices but the selection seems to rival what I have seen at Yodobashi in Akihabara

Most of the inventory was related to the Tomy line of trains and accessories.  About 25% was other train related stuff

Theres eve footwear for the kids that resemble Shinkansens.