After finishing our first stint of skiing at Hakuba and seeing the snow monkeys, we headed back to Tokyo for the second leg of our journey. The plan was to see a couple of sights, do some op shopping and then head to Disneyland. We had already decided to stay at the same hotel which was good as it was comfortable, a good location next to Ueno station and a good price for Tokyo.
After dropping our bags at the hotel we headed straight out to explore the Ueno area of Tokyo, this area has a main shopping street with many side streets full of little tucked away shops and of course it had our first destination, Mode Off. These amazing stores are part of a large chain across Japan that feature also Hard Off, Book Off and Liquor Off. Mode Off are the best op shops to be found in Tokyo as their clothing is not as “curated” as a lot of the vintage stores and so called op shops around Tokyo. This means there can be bargains to be found. Ella and I found a couple of t-shirts here including a Nike one for around $5.
After exploring Ueno we caught the train to Shibuya to see the scramble crossing again. We went up to a vantage point we had used before but it wasn’t quite as good as I remember. We had tried to get tickets to the new Shibuya Sky platform but it was sold out. Right next door to Shibuya is the famous Harajuku district, but this is also was very different to how we remember it from our last visit. We tried to explain to the girls about the “harajuku girls” and how they dress but they didn’t quite understand. It seems now Harajuku is full of high street stores, and highly “curated” vintage stores with 2nd hand clothing very heavily marked up.
The next morning Ella and I went on a strike mission to visit another couple of Mode Off stores, one at Kichijoji, and the other at Koenji. Both these neighbourhoods were really cool and we could have easily spent the whole day exploring them, and the cool alleys and the vast number of op shops. Because these districts were out of the tourist areas the prices were better and they weren’t as busy. We had to keep moving though and in both these stores, especially the one in Koenji, the vast amount of clothing was almost overwhelming. There were racks and racks of t-shirts all generally sorted into colour and for cheap prices. We didn’t pick up any though, but on the way out Ella had a quick look at the hoodies and found an Air Jordan hoodie for only about $20, absolute bargain. We headed back to the hotel to pick up the others before heading out again to Akihabara.
Akihabara is a district full of electronic shops and bright lights and constant sound. It is very overwhelming and packed with people after the sun sets. There are dark alleys and small arcades with kiosks selling electronic nick nacks, tools and all sorts or electronic parts. I’m not sure how they make any money, but they are tiny, and I’m sure the locals use them.
The next morning it was time for Disneyland, for the next 2 nights we are booked into the Tokyo Disney Hotel. The weather is spectacular and on the train ride to Disneyland we are able to see Mount Fuji. When we arrive the hotel is an over the top victorian era hotel that is one of the nicest hotels we have stayed in. We dropped off our bags and headed straight over to the park. It took a while for us to get the app sorted out, it is glitchy, only works inside the park and is painful, but this is the only way to skip the queues, sometimes up to 150 minutes. We managed to cover all the big rides over 2 days including our favourite Splash Mountain twice, the girls loved it and to be able to retreat to a nice hotel with comfy beds each night was amazing. The electric night parade was good, over 1 million lights apparently, although it did start to get very cold, so we didn’t stay for the whole thing. Next stop Niseko.
