Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Spring Break Part 3: Haneda Airport, Ginza, and the Edo-Tokyo Museum

 

Friday the 21st was our last day in Tokyo for a few days (I had to go back to Iwata to move apartments). Lauren wanted to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum so that's what we did that day.

First though, Lauren had to exchange some more travelers checks. We probably could have found a closer place to take care of them, but we just went back to Haneda airport.


The picture above is in Oimachi where our hotel was. That building, covered in plants, is in front of Oimachi Station.

At the airport we discovered a neat gift shop area that looked old fashioned.


We also found a cool area outside where you can watch planes taking off and landing. I feel like I would have really loved that as a kid.


We saw a Hello Kitty plane! I want to fly on it! They have Hello Kitty themed food and toilet paper! Ok, the toilet paper is a bit weird, haha.


The railing was in the way and I couldn't get a good picture.




We went to a really cute Hatsune Miku store in the airport. There was a screen outside where when you stood in front of it, it put Hatsune Miku hair on you. It worked when I first stepped into view, but then it kind of stopped. I think it was because of the kid also playing with it.



Arashi thanked Lauren for being a visitor in 2013! Wrong year though!


Bananaful... I like it!


On the monorail back we sat in cool seats that faced the windows.


 Darth Vader is in so many random ads here!

We went to Ginza and while looking for a place to eat lunch we came across a cute strawberry from Tochigi.


We decided on an Italian restaurant, called Miami Garden, for lunch. I had some sort of sesame miso sauce pasta I think. Whatever it was, it was good. 



After lunch we went into Printemps which Lauren wanted to go in because she went there in France or remembered seeing it in France or something like that. I', not really sure. It was out of our price range so we didn't spend much time in there and just walked through a bit. I saw a cute dress but of course it was way too expensive.


We then walked along the main street of Ginza. There aren't many stores that I really like there, but I love the atmosphere.



I've wanted to go in the Mikimoto pearl store before, but I had never gone in because it always seems a bit intimidating. But Lauren and I went in. We pretty much had to because they had Hello Kitty stuff! :)


I couldn't take photos of anything inside the store, but this beautiful tiara was on display in a window outside. I just noticed that my face is in the next picture. Wow, that's so creepy.


 Look at the detail! The strawberry on the left is hinged and opens up to a Hello Kitty inside!!!


From Ginza we took the subway to the museum. There wasn't a very direct route so we had to switch a couple of times. At Monzen Nakacho station we ended up outside while trying to find the Oedo line and came across a random temple.


I just looked it up and it was Fukagawa Fudoson Temple. It didn't seem like anything special, but it was fun because we just went so randomly. 


We eventually made it to the Oedo line and took it to Ryogoku Station which is near the Edo-Tokyo Museum.


I'm not much of a history or a museum person but it was pretty neat. The big bridge inside was cool, but it felt kind of too open and empty in there or something.


It's blurry, but I wanted to show that it said "orcs" like in Lord of the Rings, hahaha!


That's an orc. It's not cute, but it sure is better than a Lord of the Rings orc!


I didn't read through much of the signage there. I tried some, but I just can't concentrate on that sort of thing. I find myself reading and then realize I didn't pay attention at all to what I just read. So I can't really tell you too much about the museum. The models were detailed and impressive though!






There were a few hands-on things in the museum which I liked. I would have liked to actually ride the bicycle, but a picture is good too. 


Okay, I said I didn't read many signs, but a few were interesting to me. I found the "three sacred objects" amusing.

The museum closed at 5:30 so we had to leave. I was pretty much ready to go anyways though. I took a picture of the building as we left. It's architecture is really different than most buildings in Tokyo. I don't think it's attractive at all, but at least they tried something different. Most buildings in Japan look so uninteresting.


Overall, the Edo-Tokyo Museum is not a place that I would have chosen to go or a place I would go back to, but it was pretty nice for a museum. If you like museums and history and want to learn about Tokyo's past then it's probably a good place to go. Plus, the 600 yen entrance fee isn't bad.

We didn't have a whole lot of time before getting on the train back to Iwata, but we had some time to eat dinner at McDonald's across from JR Ryogoku Station. I just had two pieces of Shake Shake chicken. Lauren had chicken nuggets, fries, and the cherry soda that was special for sakura season.


The train ride back to Iwata was boring but not too bad. I think I spent some time studying kanji on my iPod. The weather was cold and windy when we walked to my apartment. Besides that I don't really remember much about that night. I think we went to bed pretty soon after getting to my apartment.

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