Asakusa, Ueno, and Akihabara

For the third day in Tokyo, we enjoyed some of the cultural centers of the city. We started our morning at the Senso-ji Temple and Nakamise-dori Street, early enough that we missed most of the tour groups. It was so fun to see the iconic red lantern and the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate). While there, we got some fortunes - thankfully, both were good! Senso-ji is Tokyo's oldest and most significant temple, and is one of the most visited temples in the world. 

We wandered through Nakamise-dori Street after the temple and enjoyed peeking into the souvenir shops. At this point we were ready for some caffeine and popped into Alchemist Asakusa for a couple of flat whites and the best Melonpan pastry we had on our trip.

We then took the metro over to the Ueno area. We walked through the park, which is highly visited during cherry blossom season, and went to the Tokyo National Museum. The museum was so fun to explore, and had many fun exhibits. We particularly enjoyed the pottery/ceramics exhibits and the exhibits with the swords. They had some beautiful paintings and kimonos on display as well.

Next, we wandered our way through the park to find a tempura spot. We had identified a place we wanted to go on Tabelog but it turned out to be closed. After doing a little more research, we discovered there was another one that was a 5-minute walk away called Tensuzu. There were lots of locals in the restaurant, so we had a good feeling and we were not disappointed. We ordered the lunch special that included some vegetables (asparagus, pumpkin, eggplant) and seafood (a mild white fish and shrimp). The chef was so attentive, and replaced our tempura with freshly battered and fried delicacies as soon as we finished. The miso soup and rice were also very tasty. We didn't know how to approach the sauces at the table, but a kind couple sitting next to us helped us figure out what to do - we put the cabbage into the tempura sauce as instructed, and enjoyed the delicious flavors. This was a highlight of the trip for sure! 

Our next stop was to visit the Akihabara district. We took the 20 minute walk to get there, and once there went into a few gaming stores and an arcade! We played a game that reminded me of Guitar Hero (our drumming likely was a little scary to the really good gamer that showed up after us) and a game that reminded me of Pac-Man. We also played a couple claw games and left victorious with a cute Kirby plush.

We then took the metro back to Shinjuku and did a little bit of shopping before taking a break at the hotel. When we were ready to head back out, we had good intentions of trying Udon Shin (restaurant that has become instagram-famous for its carbonara udon). But, after seeing the line (over 90 minutes) we decided we'd find somewhere else to try. We walked down the street and found Senkichi Curry Udon instead. Ray got a delicious curry udon with perfectly fried pork. I tried a "spaghetti" style udon that definitely wasn't quite as good... but we both enjoyed it!

On our way back to the hotel for the night, we walked by the Giant 3D Cat billboard in Shinjuku. The billboard shows a short cat videos on rotation - it was so cute to watch, and fun to see all the people walking through the area since it's just above Shinjuku Station. 

We went back to the hotel afterwards and enjoyed some dessert from 7-Eleven. We had to get packed up for our next leg of the trip!