Tokyo trip 2
Sat 02.November - Sun.17.November.2019
DAY 4 Wednesday, 06. November
We spent the whole day in Odaiba, the artificial island that connects to central Tokyo by the famous landmark Rainbow Bridge. Odaiba was one of the places I really wanted to visit on our first trip, but which we ultimately had to skip unfortunately. We planned our days a bit better this time and Odaiba was definitely a place we wouldn't skip for a second time!
We had to switch trains halfway there, and of course, it took us two tries to find the right station that would take us directly to Odaiba. It took about 30-40 minutes to get to Odaiba from Asakusabashi, where our hotel was. The fun thing is, the train track makes a loop above the water just before connecting to the Rainbow Bridge.
There are several shopping malls on the island, but we only visited two; the Decks and Venus Fort. The Decks mall was right in front of us, where we got off the train, so it was a natural choice to go there. We visited the Daiso, a 100 yen shop there, and on our way out, we briefly sat down close to a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop. From where we were sitting, we could see the poster of their menu. We were talking about the different flavors we saw there, and perhaps I was pointing at the menu when all of a sudden one of the clerks from Baskin Robbins walked up to us and offered us a free sample (a spoon sized bite) of an ice cream that was new to their menu. After that, we really didn't have much of a choice, we had to buy some ice cream from there! I bought us both a cone each and I unfortunately forgot to write down what flavor I picked! All I remember that it was really good and colorful!
After the ice cream break, we went to the beach. The day was beautiful and sunny, perfect for a day at the beach! Although we didn't spend that long time there. I did waddle in water for a little while, even if the water temperature wasn't exactly warm anymore. I'm on a beach in November, there's no way I wasn't going to dip my feet in the ocean!
For this day, I had dragged along my bigger camera, while I otherwise just relied on my phone to take pictures. While we were still at the beach, I photographed some birds, which is another weird(?) hobby of mine.
We walked along the beach, until we saw the Statue of Liberty replica and headed in that direction. Naturally, there was a crowd around the statue, everybody wanting to take a picture, and of course I joined the party.
Our next destination was DiverCity Tokyo Plaza, while walking there we passed the distinctly looking Fuji TV Building. I think there's a One Piece café there and an observation deck, if I don't remember all wrong.
The main attraction on Odaiba for me to see was the life-sized RX-0 Unicorn Gundam robot statue, which is at the plaza in front of the DiverCity mall. Obviously, it was a very popular place. There's a giant robot standing there, how can you not take any pictures of it?! I'll admit, I have never watched an episode of a Gundam anime (any of them) in my entire life, but I still recognize the awesomeness of a 19.7 metres tall robot right in front of me.
Behind the statue was a small Trailer shop, I didn't take a look inside, but I did buy a miniature version of the statue from a Gachapon machine right outside the shop. Slightly opposite from the trailer was the official Gundam Cafe that also included a gift shop. I did check out the shop, and was tempted to buy some of the items, but I ultimately didn't buy anything.
From the plaza we continued on to the Venus Fort shopping mall. I don't know what back entrance we took, but we ended up in an exhibition hall for old cars and the whole area was decorated to look as old as the cars. I'm no car enthusiast, but I can't complain, it was free!
We found a new 100 yen shop, Seria,we hadn't encountered before. Visiting Seria turned out to be quite fun, because I found a few products with Finnish words printed on them. And a flower pattern that was strikingly similar to Marimekko's Unikko pattern. Hmm.
To my pleasant surprise, we also found a wonderfully weird Village Vanguard shop. I'm not sure if it's classified as a book store, but they do have a very varied selection of goods, like other than books and comics. They had a quite a good selection of merchandise for western series too!
I also paid a visit to the Kiddy Land toy store. The shop was rather small and had a disappointingly small selection. I was about to leave without buying anything, until I saw some Star Wars stuff in a bargain bin. I gave them my money.
We went into a Family Mart convenience store to buy us some snacks, I tried some fish shaped pastry with vanilla custard filling. It was good! It was about time we call it a day and were considering getting back to Asakusabashi. But! We couldn't possibly leave Odaiba before rounding back to DiverCity plaza to witness the "awakening" of the Gundam statue!
The statue lights up and makes sounds, while a projection of Gundam anime clips shows up on the wall behind it and a Gundam theme song plays in the background. Wouldn't you know it, there were a lot more people gathered around the statue now. Everyone pointing their camera at the statue, myself included. Oh, what a magical moment that was.
This was definitely one of my favorite days in Tokyo. The weather was perfect and the views were beautiful and a lot of fun experiences!
We were going to Nakano Broadway! We should have been able to get straight to Nakano from our closest station without having to switch trains. However, one of the train tracks was out of commission today, because...... well, as the TV screen displaying information so discreetly put it; the train was out of use for today because they were cleaning human remains off the tracks!
Wow. That's just horrible. Still, you have to appreciate the straight answer that leaves no doubt over why the train isn't moving. Macabre as it is.
..... So yeah, we had to make a switch between trains to get to Nakano.
We got there quite early, not all of the shops were even open yet. Me and mom went our separate ways after we decided a time a couple hours from now when we would meet up again at the entrance. That way, we can both explore the place at our own pace.
The Broadway mall is so huge I can't even explore the whole place in one day. Therefore, I knew we would probably come back here some other day. So if I saw something that I liked, but was unsure if I wanted to spend my money on it. I'll just take note of the thing and the next time we'd return, if the thing was still there, I'd buy it. Unfortunately, that comes with a risk that somebody else buys it before I could, but that's life!
I admit, I may have gone a bit overboard with my Doujinshi buying spree on this trip. Something just "clicked" this time and I was able to find all the series I was looking for without having to ask for help. I feel so proud, yet so ashamed. ;D
I literally spent all my time at the Mandarake shop until it was time for me to go meet my mom at the entrance. We decide to take a break from the mall and went for a little sightseeing in the small streets around the mall. We came across this life-sized Ashita no Joe statue outside this one ..... establishment (I have no idea what was inside).
I was really fun wandering the streets, finding all these unforeseen details. I can't explain it, I just thought the small streets were really photogenic.
We eventually found the Life supermarket, this place had a little seating area where you could eat those lunch boxes they sell at the store. So that's what we did. After recharging some energy after a good meal, we went back to the Broadway mall for a little while longer.
calm before the storm
When it came time for us to get back to our hotel, the train track "problem" had been fixed, so we were able to take a direct train to Asakusabashi. I don't know, maybe the "problem" from earlier had messed up people's schedules or something. The train was so packed full with people, by the time we got to our station we barely made it out the train in time. I know this is a regular occurrence in Japan, but I'm surprised how seldom we actually experienced it, like only twice during the whole trip.
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