Next stop after FabricTown is Kappabashi-dori, home to restaurant supply stores … most notably the ones selling the creepy plastic food models. Lovely pottery and cutlery available at reasonable prices.  From there we stumbled upon Nakamise-dori – a series of covered and uncovered arcades with stalls selling everything from traditional textiles, to souvenirs to sweets. And it was packed.

We stopped for lunch at a soba/tempura cafe since we haven’t had either yet on this trip – it was tasty. Then we hopped the subway back to Ueno for a mid-afternoon break.

We popped out for one last pass through Ameya-yokocho, the open-air market south of Ueno Station. It was hopping with merchants hawking just about everything. We walked through a shop and ended up on another side street we’d missed previously and found ourselves at a 7-story “mall”.  We went up to the 5th floor to check out the mini Loft then strolled through Village Vanguard (think Spencers, on steroids). Great stuff!

Takeout again from the Nepalese place as we watch night fall on the Tokyo skyline. Yeah, I’d come back.

“FabricTown” is a real place, my friends, and it is textile paradise. It’s about a half mile stretch in Tokyo’s Nippori neighborhood that is packed on both sides with all the textiles, trims, notations and sewing-related items you can imagine.

I did my homework in the blogsphere and had a short list of shops to visit. The big score was two pieces from Kyoto-based design house Sou Sou. They came with a little pattern book of Sou Sou designs.

Finally found one of the vending machines that sells beer! Not that we were looking for one per se, but we’d heard that they have vending machines for “everything”.

So far we’ve  seen water, soda, coffee drinks (in cans – hot and cold), facial cream, and smokes. Now beer.

Here’s dinner from the Nepalese restaurant. Three curries, rice and two kinds of naan. Yum!!!

We say “sayonara” to Tokyo tomorrow morning and take the bullet train to historic Kyoto. Probably just in time too … I don’t think our Tokyo map would survive another day of sightseeing!

Random observations:

– Bicycle-riding on the sidewalk is a recipe for disaster (we weren’t riding, we were trying to walk). I thought it was just us not knowing how it “works” but I’ve seen a fair number of local pedestrians nearly get taken out too. No bells, no warning that they’re coming up behind you – at least the older bikes squeak a bit, if you can hear it over the traffic.

– I’ve never seen so many blue suits and white shirts anywhere in my life. It’s the “uniform” of the professional. They may be the *same* suit they’re all that uniform. The random hipster has a “skinny suit” but otherwise no variation.

– There are no trash cans … anywhere. And the city is immaculate. We haven’t seen much takeaway coffee or eating on-the-go either.  If you buy a drink from the vending machine, however, you need only look for another vending machine to locate a recycling bin.

– Minimal red pants. Must be a European thing.

– You can’t smoke while walking down the street but you can smoke in practically every restaurant, bar and cafe in town. Say whatever you want about going to Starbucks in a foreign country, it’s guaranteed smoke-free. Win.