Saturday 3 March 2018

Tokyo-Izu Day 2: Tsukiji Fish Market, Ginza & Asakusa

Breakfast this morning was served at Hatago restaurant.

Soup and eggs
Various bread, fruits and yogurt options
The boy had his own kids utensils! 
My breakfast choice! Yum! πŸ˜‹

After breakfast and bath at the onsen, we headed out for food and shopping in the city.

We took the FREE shuttle bus service provided by our hotel, Dormy Inn, to Tokyo Station (one way only).

Refer to the shuttle bus time table at the front desk
Dormy Inn Premium Kodenmacho Shuttle Bus
Ample space for luggage and strollers
Tokyo Station

Our Odoriko Limited Express tickets to Izu had to be collected at least a day before the date of departure (ours was tomorrow) from a station of your choice from a list of available stations. We chose to collect ours from Tokyo Station since it was on the way for us.

After collecting our tickets, we headed to the Tokyo Metro to buy our Tokyo Metro 24-hour Pass. It cost us ¥600 per adult and ¥300 per child. It was FREE for children under 6 years old but we forgot and bought for my boy! Oh well... Considered it a donation to the Tokyo Metro *laughs*

Our Tokyo Metro 24 Hour Passes

We took the Marunouchi Line (red) to Ginza Station and transferred to the Hibiya Line (grey) to Tsukiji Station. 

We were here again to visit Tsukiji Fish Market as the hubby really loved this place the last time we were here. This is probably the last time we will be able to visit Tsukiji Fish Market at this location as they will be relocating in October 2018. They were supposed to relocate last year but it was postponed. My guess for the postponement is the protest from the people because no one wanted to see an iconic place like this go!

Tsukiji Fish Market
(Address: 5 Chome-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo, Tokyo 104-0045 until October 2018)

We went back to our favourite Tsukiji Ooedo for lunch. We tried the food here previously and loved it so we're back again!

Tsukiji Ooedo

You'd have to get a queue number and order from the staff before entering. We waited for about 30-45 minutes.

As we didn't know whether we'll be able to find them once Tsukiji Fish Market moved, we decided to go all out! It was probably our most expensive lunch but it was worth it to us! πŸ˜‹

Clockwise from left: Me and our table-full of seafood!;
My 3-Salmon Don (¥2000);
I love Tamago (¥200) so we just had to order a plate!
Told the hubby to splurge on his favourite, Tuna Belly Don, as it's so much more expensive in Singapore! 
Tuna Belly Don (¥4,300)
Mixed Sashimi Platter (¥3,800)


A plate of high quality Ikura costs only ¥600 and I almost ordered more if not for the sheer volume of food we had already ordered! πŸ˜† My boy was so happy to have the whole tray to himself while I was happy that I didn't have to share mine!

Our total bill came up to ¥10,500 but we were more than happy to pay for it! So yummy!!! πŸ˜‹

We walked around Tsukiji Market buying more things (and lamenting that we couldn't eat any of the street food because we were too full!) before proceeding to our next destination.

We took the Hibiya Line (grey) from Tsukiji Station to Ginza Station to explore Ginza.

The famous Ginza Street with no cars!
(No cars day?)

We were here for shopping, especially at Uniqlo's Ginza flagship store, the biggest Uniqlo store in the world! There are 12 floors of Uniqlo awesomeness!

Uniqlo
(Address: 6 Chome-9-5 Ginza, Chūō-ku, Tōkyō-to 104-0061, Japan)
Clockwise from left: My boy insisted to take with this cute Mickey!;
The view of the street from the top floors of Uniqlo;
Lots of seating at each floor for you to take a break. 

It's so easy to shop tax-free in Japan because all you have to do is show them your passport and they will give you your tax refund on the spot!

I also visited Shiseido The Ginza, which is just down the road from Uniqlo.

Shiseido The Ginza
(Address: 7 Chome-8-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)

Unfortunately, a lot of the products I wanted were out of stock due to the flocks of tourists who wanted the same thing!

We decided to head to Mitsukoshi Ginza to see if I can buy what I wanted there.

Mitsukoshi at Ginza

The hubby noticed that there was a Japan Duty Free store at the 8th Floor so we decided to check it out.

Japan Duty Free at Mitsukoshi Ginza

We were told that whatever we bought from the Duty Free Floor had to be collected only at the airport. I didn't mind as that meant less weight to lug around when we're in Izu.

I don't wear any make up except for eyebrow liner and the occasional lipstick (my beautician said it clogs my skin), so I need a lot of skin care products to ensure  my face is presentable! *laughs*

I got myself skin care products from SK2 and Shiseido because people told me it was cheaper in Japan. However, I went back to Singapore, calculated and found the difference to be insignificant (this is of course mediated by the exchange rate). If you buy a lot, you might even get free gifts when purchased in Singapore. I decided that this will be the last time I buy beauty products from Japan as I'd much rather support our local economy plus save me the hassle of tax claims.

I had wanted a new wallet for a long time (didn't get to buy at La VallΓ©e Village in Paris) and was eyeing the Prada one as they were the only ones who produced Fuschia wallets for a period of time. Not any more! Almost every brand had a Fuchsia wallet in the design I wanted in Japan! I finally decided on TOD'S because: 1) it's one of my favourite brands and 2) it's within my price range.

TOD'S leather wallet in Fuschia

So pretty!!! 😍 Happy early birthday to me!! *laughs*

After a very fruitful day of shopping, we headed to Asakusa, a special request from hubby as we had really good memories there during our last visit. It's very convenient to get to Asakusa from Ginza; it's just one straight train via the Ginza Line (orange) from Ginza Station to Asakusa Station.

My boy is finally old enough to appreciate being here at Asakusa! He spent most of his time napping in his stroller the last time we were here. 
Asakusa Nakamise Shopping Street in the evening
Eating our favourite snacks while admiring the illuminated Sensoji

We walked and walked and finally decided to find our way back to the train station so that we can get back to our hotel. However, Google Maps failed us and we ended up walking away from the station rather than towards it!

As we were wandering on the streets trying to figure out the shorter way back, we stumbled upon a Beef Skewers shop with super awesome skewered Kobe beef! So yummy! πŸ˜‹

Beef Skewers
(not sure of the exact location but I know it's somewhere on the street between Marugoto Nippon and Don Quijote Asakusa)
Super yummy Kobe skewed beef at ¥1,200

This totally made getting lost so worth it! OK Google, you are forgiven.

We found our way back to the station without Google's help, thankyouverymuch. I can remember the way to a place I've been to before better than I can remember what I'm supposed to be doing in the next few minutes! *laughs*

Ginza Station

We decided to eat at Nakau again (even though we just ate here yesterday) because, two words: Asari Udon! So yummy! You can consider eating at any Ippudo outlet instead, if you're not as hard core about asari as we are.

Enjoying our meal at the booth seats this time

We ended the day with the usual onsen (can't get enough of it!) and snacking on the goodies we bought at Tsukiji Fish Market.

Yummy fresh strawberries bought from Tsukiji

Life is good! 😁


Continue to >> Tokyo-Izu Day 3: Tokyo to Izu Inatori Resort Sazana
<< Back to Tokyo-Izu Day 1: Dormy Inn Premium Kodenmacho

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