Park beer, anyone?
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We left the apartment about 9:30am and strolled through Ueno-Kōen, the massive expanse of park to the east our our apartment, of which we see only the ponds. Don’t get me wrong, the pond area is lovely, but there’s soooo much more to the park. And it’s sunny. And it’s Saturday. And it was already hopping. We decided to swing through later in the day to get a good taste of city life.
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 On to the Tokyo Anime Center. I’d read mixed reviews but none of us are anime freaks so we figured we’d check it out since we don’t have any expectations – besides, it’s free so what is there to lose? There was a small line when we arrived just before the 11am opening. Small space, not terribly interesting but I’m glad we popped in since anime is such a huge part of Japanese pop culture. |
| After strolling a small street market we headed across the canal in search of Marcato, one of Tokyo’s best burger joints according to Time Out Tokyo. Unfortunately it was shut down so we doubled-back and headed for “Book Street” – 160 used bookstores within a few city blocks. Nice little area – the book stores appeared to be highly specialized and also highly Japanese so we moved on. But not before having lunch at a Chinese restaurant. |
  After lunch we took the subway up north of Ueno to check out Yanaka – a quaint residential and boutiquey neighborhood. A friend suggested “getting lost for a day in Tokyo” and Yanaka was a bit like that – lovely, quite neighborhood alley-ways with a sprinkling of cafes, boutiques, temples, shrines and residences. Super-confusing to navigate, even with a detailed map! |
We made our way back through Ueno-Kōen around 3pm and it was packed. We found a cart selling cans of beer so we took advantage of the opportunity for a “park beer”, posted up on a nearby stone wall and enjoyed people watching: gfamilies, hipsters, street performers and tourists shared the sunny afternoon. |
 We ate dinner in the apartment again – takeout sushi and noodles. And the view. |
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Hah – handbag! 🙂 |
Suntory time with fireworks on the horizon courtesy of Tokyo Disneyland. 🙂 |
