Day 10
This was the last day of our vacation in Japan. Since our flight back to Singapore was in the evening, we still got ample time in the morning to travel around in Tokyo. We had the complimentary breakfast at our Hotel Sardonyx Ueno. The hotel do not serve buffet for the breakfast, but we could choose from a few set meals, which include hot dog bun, pancakes or toast bread with soup and beverage. The breakfast was simple, but good enough to fill us up for the morning. We checked our room before leaving the luggage with the lobby, before we headed out to a nearby attraction, Ueno Park.
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| Our breakfast sets at Hotel Sardonyx Ueno |
Ueno Park is a large public park that is more than the usual greenery park we know of. It houses the Ueno Zoo, several shrines and large museums, Shinobazuno Pond and more importantly, it is one of the most popular place in Tokyo to view the Cherry Blossom! We started our tour of the park at the southern end near the Shitamachi Musuem, then walked around the Shinobazuno Pond in a clockwise direction and through the dividing pathway in the middle of the pond.
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| Shinobazuno Pond at Ueno Park |
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| Rules of cherry blossom viewing at Ueno Park |
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| Ueno Park map |
We were delighted to find many full bloomed cherry trees in the park, stopping every few steps to take photographs of the magnificent view of the cherry blossom.
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| Fully bloomed cherry trees can be seen all around the park |
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| Cherry trees along the waterfront |
We exited the pond and entered the central pathway that leads to the Tokyo National Museum. Over here, we could find more cherry trees that lined the sides of the pathway. Due to shortage of time, we decided to end the tour of the park and headed to the nearby Ueno Station (上野駅). From there, we took the JR Yamanote Line on a short ride to Akihabara JR Station (秋葉原駅).
Akihabara
Akihabara (秋葉原) is a popular shopping district in Tokyo that specialize in electronic products, manga, anime and video games. We could see many billboards and advertisements along the streets related to these themes, including cosplay-themed maid cafes.
Akihabara (秋葉原) is a popular shopping district in Tokyo that specialize in electronic products, manga, anime and video games. We could see many billboards and advertisements along the streets related to these themes, including cosplay-themed maid cafes.
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| Colourful billboards and advertisements filled the facade of the buildings at Akihabara |
It was interesting that we could find shops selling very old Nintendo and SEGA game cartridges over here. As this was our last site before we go to the airport later, we spent some time doing our last minute shopping for souvenirs at the shops and departmental stores.
Lunch
Near to lunch time, we went to The Granvania, which is a maid-themed cafe. Unfortunately, the cafe was closed for private function that day and we weren't able to patronize. Leaving the cafe disappointed, we wandered around the nearby street and eventually settled at the KFC fast food restaurant. That was our second fast food meal in Japan, after the McDonald's lunch in Osaka. Other than the regular fried chicken set meals, we also ordered something special we don't find in Singapore, which was the Chicken Pot Pie. It contains cream stew with chicken, potatoes, corn, and onion, wrapped in a crispy puff, a very good choice for someone who wanted something simpler and not fried.
Near to lunch time, we went to The Granvania, which is a maid-themed cafe. Unfortunately, the cafe was closed for private function that day and we weren't able to patronize. Leaving the cafe disappointed, we wandered around the nearby street and eventually settled at the KFC fast food restaurant. That was our second fast food meal in Japan, after the McDonald's lunch in Osaka. Other than the regular fried chicken set meals, we also ordered something special we don't find in Singapore, which was the Chicken Pot Pie. It contains cream stew with chicken, potatoes, corn, and onion, wrapped in a crispy puff, a very good choice for someone who wanted something simpler and not fried.
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| KFC meal |
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| Chicken Pot Pie |
Good Bye Japan
After our lunch, we headed back to Hotel Sardonyx Ueno by the JR train to collect our stored luggage from the hotel reception. We passed through the streets of Ueno and made a short walking journey to the Keisei Ueno Station (京成上野駅).
After our lunch, we headed back to Hotel Sardonyx Ueno by the JR train to collect our stored luggage from the hotel reception. We passed through the streets of Ueno and made a short walking journey to the Keisei Ueno Station (京成上野駅).
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| Keisei Ueno Station |
We refunded all our PASMO cards at the station, before we exchanged for the pre-paid Keisei Skyliner tickets to Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station (成田空港駅). The train journey to the airport would take around 43 min and all of us took the opportunity to have a short nap on the ride.
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| Keisei Skyliner tickets |
In summary, we had a very enjoyable 10 days grand tour in Japan. It wasn't easy for a large group to travel around in free and easy mode, and I would say we had successfully traveled accordingly to our planned itinerary. The local people we met here were very nice and would like to thank all the Airbnb hosts we had in the trip for their hospitality. This is definitely not our last visit to Japan, and we wished we could be back soon in the near future for another amazing tour.
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| Sunset view across the runway at Narita Airport |
Follow the links below to the other days of my Japan tour:
Day 1: Ueno, JR Pass, PASMO, Nakamise-Dori Shopping Street, Senso-ji Temple, Tokyo One Piece Tower
Day 2: Shinkansen, Odawara, Hakone Free Pass, hakone Venetian Glass Museum, Togendai, Owakudani, Lake Ashi Sightseeing Cruise, Hakone Yuryo, Onsen
Day 3: Kyoto, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Gion, Pontocho
Day 7: Hiroshima, Tram, Miyajima, Giant Torii Gate, Sika Deer, Itsukushima Shrine, Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Hondori Street, Okonomiyaki
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