28 October 2026
No trains please
To Ueno then Okachimachi and beyond
With so much time being spent on trains each day for my 3 day pass to pay for itself, I was keen for no trains tonight. This meant that it was a local loop for dinner. I went in a grid pattern, north south east and west. This took in Ueno and Okachimachi, familiar stomping grounds, before heading to the abandoned Shotengei east of there which is owl themed and named 'Satake'. Despite being seemingly abandoned there was a restaurant entrance with no menu, and a sign advertising their Michelin star. I guess they did not want me and I do not want to spend more than $10 on a meal, and so I carried on.
After once again skirting the edges of the chubby pink haired tourist haven of Akihabara, I ended up quite near my hotel where I found my favourite ladies only dinner option.
Tomorrow is a hiking day, with a bit of a late start due to train connections. It is not a long hike but as already mentioned over 9000 times, it does get good value out of my train pass!
Testing out the handheld IBIS in my camera. Yep, works great, 1/4 of a second.
Ueno, right near a hotel I have stayed in twice before.
I looked in the 'mode off' on the right which is 2nd hand clothes. It smells just like salvation army stores in Australia. A bit like feet, hay and burning hair.
Okachimachi has the upstairs shrine above the capsule toy stores. A guy inside was losing his mind smacking the Taiko drums.
Okachimachi itself is many shopping streets such as this, which follow the train line.
Here it is, a typical Shotengei. About a kilometre east of Okachimachi. Their closed offness appeals to families wheeling old folks around in wheel chairs to get some evening air. That and hosting Michelin starred restaurants.
The Halloween store was also in the largely abandoned covered shopping street, but it was closed. The one store of any interest was closed.
But wait, nearby a non covered shopping street, that is even more abandoned. The only patrons here are frogs in chairs.
I hate this. Please do not do this. Please ban this.
For a brief amount of time I thought about going to the food court on the top level of the camera store, but then thought better of it, there will be many food courts later in the trip when I am outside of Tokyo and walking to Aeon malls.
And not going to the Yodobashi food court turned out to be fortuitous, because I found Tokyo Soup Stock, one of my favourites. I got the curry soup combo, but then my curry was actually ratatouille, and my soup is minestrone. Vegetarian, the best of the tarian's. I have been to this chain at least 5 times and on all occasions I have been the only male in the store.
Now I will go to bed early even though I do not have to get up super early tomorrow, I just like going to bed early.