Today, Dec. 24th, our plan was to go to Ueno and check out the parks and museums there. Then, at night, we would visit some of the Christmas markets and light shows in the city. Japan is crazy about light installations. I get it though, driving through suburban neighborhoods to see Christmas lights isn’t a thing here like in the USA.
The day started off so nicely. We first went to Ueno park, by train. We went up a great staircase, and we saw the path lined with many stone lanterns, and it eventually led the way to a shrine/temple.
We walked through the small residential neighborhood that was on the hill, and eventually got to the rest of the park. The zoo entrance was there, and i wanted to see the pandas, but we decided not to (BIG mistake. You should.)
We took a lap around the pond, and on the bridge, we saw a few vendors selling crab. So we tried it! Honestly it just tasted like fishballs on a stick. Oh well. It was pretty good. We walked aroumd the pond and saw that a lot of it was covered in dead lily or lotus stalks for the winter. The other part, separated by the bridge, was clear clean blue water and people were paddleboating in their duck boats of pink or yellow.
It was quite pretty! It was also strange to see so much beautiful nature, but with massive highrises and department stores right next to it. Then on the later part of the parth, a crow dove down and CAWed and hovered right in front of our faces! I was so scared!!! Then ALL OF ITS FRIENDS joined us!!!! They just started landing around us and CAWing!! We got out of there.
We went up north through the park and saw the street, then went back into the park. There were park exercise equipments on the side of the park!
We kept walking north and saw this beautiful fountain with blooming tulips and pansies of different color combos. Many people were chilling there. On our way to the museum, we got sidetracked by a growing crowd along the path. They were watching a guy do awesome acrobatic stunts! They were actually awesome, unlike those guys in Hollywood taking up sidewalk space to show you how they can jump over people, which is nothing new.
It was time for lunch. Masa has mentioned omurice to me before, so we went to this place that specialized in it. It was in the train station, like so many things in Japan. It was really good! We also ordered the melon cream soda.
Then we crossed the street to go to the National Tokyo museum. It was a park area as well, comprised of a small campus of about 6 buildings. The main building held Japanese art, the building to the right held asian art and archaeology, the garden at the back had a few teahouses, and to the left of the national museum main building, there was a historical building built in a western style, the research center which looked boring, and an art building donated by a buddhist foundation. Below that was another building hosting one particular artist’s work and another museum hall that collected “national treasures”.
Most of the halls were quite un-noteworthy but we did see the man, god, and nature exhibit on loan from a Persian prince. It didn’t allow photography but we saw a lot of cool stuff, from PREHISTORIC TIMES to modern days! It was super cool! we saw a mummy!!! There were lots of rock figurines, depicting man, god, and nautre from many cultulres across the world and times. They also had a lot of pottery and metal implements. Most were religion based. Then the rest of the museum was about the cultures and stuff and lots of artifacts from each time period.
Then we walked through the garden, and it was super cold. There was a pond, and it looked like a scene from the hobbit. The teahouses were literally thatched out of straw and small sticks and they looked really small and like a big bad wolf could huff it down in one puff. Apparently you can book these teahouses for special events.
We ran through the garden and went to the anthropology part. Most of it was already encompassed in the anthropology one we saw already so we kinda rushed it, we already saw it.
Then we went to see the “national treasures’ and there wasn’t much except a really dim room of just lots of Hindu figures.
Then we went to the art part of the museum, which had a considerably shorter line. We went straight upstairs because there were a lot of people checking out the bottom floor. According to the map, all there was was a wooden chariot, pimped out for one of the queens in Japanese history. Upstairs, though, there were lots of Japanese art forms that were really beautiful. We also saw a hall dedicated to the exchange of knowledge between European travelers and Japan.
One display I was super impressed with was the kimono exhibit. They were so well preserved and their art style is so distinct.
The embroidery on here is exquisite.
After that, we left the museum and went to the tokyo station. We went to the ticket counter to try to get our JR pass for the tokyo-kyoto train ride, but they said that even though we had booked it, we were supposed to pick them up with our passports. We also realized that meebo couldn’t use it because he was a japan national, and you have to be foreign to get the discount. but somehow he negotiated with the company to let them use the discount because he lives in the usa.
So we left and we walked around the “littest” part of tokyo, Ginza. we walked through this one street that felt exactly like Fifth Ave, with all the high end stores and the lights and everything.
We went to Itoya, a store that had multiple stories full of office supplies. We wanted to look for a pen for my brother, but they were all kinda lame and I didn’t know what he even wanted. So we left, and just walked around some more.
We went to Michi terrace which was across from the station. The train station itself looked so beautiful with the lights highlighting its features.
We wanted to go to Manten Sushi, but it was all full and you couldn’t eat there unless you had a reservation. so that was disappointing. We went to the michi terrace mid city light night market or christmas market, but it was SO SAD. The line for it (a mob, really) lined up for 4 blocks and still, the crossing guards were directing traffic farther and farther back. And inside the Christmas market grounds, it was so full and packed that you’d just be standing shoulder to shoulder, all trying to see some lights. It was just a bunch of sheets hung up with lights on the trees, and something being projected on each sheet. We decided to bounce.
We came upon this small store so we checked it out and we had fun looking at pens and watches, but didn’t buy anything. I tried on a tiffany watch but it was too small looking for me. We didn’t know where to eat, so we came up out of the Manten sushi building, saw that it was beautifully lit up inside, and just walked to the next station so we could skip that step of the itinerary.
We tried to go to Tokyo Tower. We came upon another Christmas market thing, and at first it was a little packed at the entrance, and it was german themed. Couples were taking pictures (for sale) of them in front of the Christmas market, with the Tokyo tower in the background. It looked nice, they even had a professional light in front to light them up. There was a long line for it.
The walkway was packed with people, and it was necessary to thread your way through if you wanted to walk past. They were selling so many things like ornaments or wreaths. Japanese ppl love making wreaths with nontraditional things. Then after we got through the “hallway” of the Christmas market, the crowd was SO BAD.
There was like a “cul de sac” that the market ended in, except these booths all sold food. People were eating Christmas dinner on picnic tables in the dark, getting beer spilled on them by strangers trying to pass by. Then in the circular tent at the end of the cul de sac, there was a fake Santa singing christmas songs on stage, and people were gathering around, even spilling out of the tent, many craning their heads or raising their phones to watch santa sing and dance. The sides of the tent was some sort of fabric or plastic sheeting and you could see the outlines of people from the outside. It was HORRIBLE. We ended up climbing out of the back to escape, near the electric generator.
Then we had to walk MORE to get to the Tokyo tower. We walked across a few sky bridges and a bunch more blocks until we saw this mini Tokyo tower lit up, in front of the real Tokyo tower. Then we sat in front of the trash can and the crepes area, with our back to the fake Tokyo tower and under the real Tokyo tower. Then we tried to think what to do next. we wanted a crepe, but the line was soooo long for that too that we felt sad 🙁
We sat for a long time, and then we decided we were fed up with the crowds. We decided to uber to Roppongi since the trains were super packed at this hour as well. We mapped to the train station, but we decided to get dropped off to get a cake for the holidays. It is a holiday tradition in Japan to buy a strawberry shortcake for Christmas.
We went to one bakery, and they didn’t have any cakes because it was sold out. Then we went to another bakery, and THEY DID HAVE THE CAKE!! the couple in front of us bought a cake, and we were so scared they’d buy 2… but they didn’t, so we got the second to last cake in the case :O Then we finally had our cake.
We walked around and tried to figure out what was good and what wasn’t good. Because so many times, our choices are driven by hunger and we just waste a meal in Japan on eating something subpar. But it was Christmas Eve, almost 10PM, and we still hadn’t eaten. We’d been training around and trying to find a place to eat for the last 3 hours or so, and we were frustrated. So then, we found this random little izakaya that seemed good so we ate there. We literally ordered everything we wanted from the menu since it was all so cheap. I got a yogurt cocktail and that was amazing. then we left the izakaya and decided to walk back to our apartment in akasaka.
Then we passed by Roppongi night lights and it was thankfully, not too crowded. It was quite beautiful, there was a middle sculpture and the rest of the ground was covered in a net of small tiny changing lights. It was really beautiful. Some of the lights seemed like they were swooping on a track and that was how we ended our night. We walked back to the Airbnb, and ate some of the cake. Masa ate the head off of the Santa.
