Unlike 2019, I was able to fall asleep and stay asleep till the sun was up. We got changed and headed out for the day. There was a closer entrance to the subway station than the one we took yesterday, so we ended up using that to get to our first stop: Ueno.
The streets were relatively quiet as we headed down to Matsuya for breakfast. I got myself a pretty standard breakfast set with natto. I wanted to jumpstart my gut with probiotics this trip and I haven't had natto in a while. Besides the natto, there were pickled vegetables, cabbage salad, miso soup, an egg, a sausage, and a bowl of rice. If I remember correctly, breakfast was around $10 CAD, which makes it quite the deal. The restaurant was filled with businessmen as they ate and got ready for another day of work.
After breakfast, we walked around for a while before stopping at a small grocery store. We ended up purchasing salt candies, which I hear are good for replenishing salt lost from sweating. It was my first time hearing about these candies and I wasn't sure what to expect. When I popped one into my mouth, it reminded me of the salt fruit drink I had in Sapporo almost 10 years ago. It was sweet, with a slightly salty taste to it that made it feel slightly weird to ingest. After the grocery store, it was off to head to a nearby salon for her appointment. I wanted to get a haircut myself, but unfortunately, they were too busy for walk-ins that day. That meant I had nearly three hours to explore Ueno on my own. The last time I had free time in Japan was in 2019 when my brother and his friend were in Fuji-Q Highland for the haunted mansion. Eager to explore, I set off aimlessly. The salon was near Ameyuko, which is an area I'm somewhat familiar with since there's a candy store I frequently visited to purchase sweets. When I arrived at the store, I noticed that they had expanded across the street. Not wanting to purchase souvenirs so early in my trip, I took a quick glance at their selection before heading out to see some more.
The sun was starting to feel quite strong mid-morning, so I ended up heading to a nearby electronic store (Bic's Camera) to cool off for a while. I realized that I needed to purchase some hand sanitizer, so I left after browsing Bic's to find a pharmacy/drug store. With my purchase in hand or more in a tiny backpack I borrowed from my brother, I realized that I still had two and a half hours to explore. I headed to a Yodabashi store. Like 2019, their Gundam section did not seem as extensive as what I used to remember nearly 10 years back. I did manage to find some video games from someone, so I ended up purchasing them before heading back into the sun. At this point, I regretted not spending some time to research what I could do around the area. Aimlessly walking around was enjoyable in the sense that I could just absorb the sights/smells/sounds of the area, but my lower back was starting to hurt. I attributed it to the new shoes I was wearing, and/or the fact that I gained a considerable amount of weight without working out properly for a year. I recalled seeing a McDonald's on the main street, so I trudged towards the fast food giant to grab a drink.
After spending time at McDonald's, it was time to head back to the salon. Once my girlfriend was finished, it was off for lunch at Sushiro, a conveyor belt sushi chain that I have yet to visit. I would put Sushiro at the same level as Kurazushi, and just a step lower than Uobei. Once we finished lunch, we headed to the Yamanote line to go to our next destination: Ikebukuro.
The sun was still bright, thus justifying a Haagen-Dazs before we walked toward Sunshine City. I'm sure there's more to do in Ikebukuro, but that's usually where I head whenever I stop by this district of Tokyo. The first stop was the Pokémon Centre, though there wasn't anything that caught my eye. The nearby Pokémon Café looked interesting, so we stopped by to purchase a drink. Like any themed café in Japan, or from what I've experienced, the drink was ordinary and smaller than what you would usually get for that price. The experience was worth it though in my opinion. After finishing our drink, we headed to another section of the huge complex: the aquarium. I've never been to this aquarium before, thus didn't know what to expect. There were a large number of tanks with a wide variety of sea creatures. Besides the jellyfish with extremely long tentacles, it was my first time seeing an eel live. We spent nearly two hours exploring the various attractions in the aquarium before heading to another new section of Sunshine City.
I had experienced dining in a high-rise building back in 2015 when my cousin took my brother and me for lunch in Tokyo's Skytree. This time, we were on the 59th floor in a restaurant called Hoshi no Naru Ki. It was a fabulous meal set of various fish dishes. We did opt for their cheapest menu, but it was well worth the $100 CAD per person with a drink each. Each of the pieces served was displayed elegantly on the plate. Our server explained each dish in detail. I could barely make out (like understanding only 2-5%) of what our server said, but fortunately, my girlfriend was relatively fluent in Japanese. I don't have a particularly sharp tongue, nor do I really care much about fine dining, but I realized that expensive restaurants usually have a more mellow taste when it comes to food. Maybe it's just me, but there's a more harmonious blend of flavors. Our meal was served over the course of two hours, so we were able to experience the sunset from our semi-private room.
Once everything was settled, we headed back to the hotel. A very fruitful day with a solo trip around Ueno and a day at Sunshine City. To cap off the night, a wonderful dinner with a fantastic view of Tokyo. No matter what skyscraper I've entered in Tokyo, it always seems like the city stretches on forever.
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