Tokyo - Day 5 (Shinjuku - Nippori - Ueno - Nakamise Shopping Street - Sensoji Temple - Asakusa)

We checked out from APA Hotel Shinjuku Kabukicho Tower around 11am and left our luggage at the reception area before we walked over to Ichiran ramen to have our brunch. Ichiran ramen is just 3 minutes (210m) walking distance from APA Hotel Shinjuku Kabukicho Tower. The ramen is so good that we have to go there a second time. The first time we had it was on our 2nd day in Shinjuku for supper. You can read all about it by clicking this link "Tokyo - Day 2".

This time I ordered their classic Tonkotsu ramen with medium spicy level. Their recommendation is 1/2 mild. The ramen broth turned up to be slightly spicy but it's still good. If I were to order again in future, basically I will follow their recommendation except for the noodle texture which I will select soft. My partner on the other hand ordered Ichiran set menu that comes with half boiled salted egg, dried seaweed, kikurage mushroom and extra slices of pork.

Ichiran ramen

Restaurant ambience

Ichiran set menu - ¥1,580

Half boiled salted egg

Classic Tonkotsu ramen - ¥980

Address:

Ichiran Ramen

1-17-10,

Shinjuku City, Kabukicho

Tokyo 160-0021,

Japan
Opening hours: 24 hours

My partner bought some Japanese cough medicine from the nearby pharmacy before we head back to our hotel to collect our luggage. We took a train from Shinjuku Station to Nippori Station (¥200 per person) and reached APA Hotel TKP Nippori-ekimae around 1.45pm. We will be staying in this hotel for 2 nights. Since we can only check in at 3pm, we left our luggage at the reception area and took a train from Nippori Station to Ueno Station (¥140 per person). We went to Hard Rock Shop located inside the Ueno Station. Both of us bought a T-shirt and I bought a key chain as well.

Nippori Station

Hard Rock Shop Ueno

Hard Rock T-shirt - ¥3,600 and key chain - ¥1,000

Address:

Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo Uyeno Eki

7-1-1 Ueno,

Atre Ueno 1F,

Taito City,

Tokyo 110-0005,

Japan

Instead of taking a train, we decided to walk to Nakamise Shopping Street which is almost 30 minutes (2.1km) walking distance from Ueno Station. There's nothing much to see along the way but I enjoy walking in cold weather. By the time we reached Asakusa it's almost 3.30pm. We went to Asakusa Hard Rock Shop and I bought another T-shirt and key chain.

Tokyo Skytree

Asakusa

Hard Rock Shop Asakusa

Hard Rock T-shirt - ¥3,000 and key chain - ¥1,000

Address:

Asakusa Rock Shop

1-16-1 Asakusa,

Taito City,

Tokyo 110-0032,

Japan


Nakamise Shopping Street is just 3 minutes (200m) walking distance from Asakusa Rock Shop. This is one of the best attraction in Asakusa. The shopping street connects the main gate of Sensoji Temple and the main hall. You get to shop and eat! First thing we had was the kibidango. It's mochi (Japanese rice cake) coated with kinako (soy bean flour). Bear in mind that you can only eat within their shop premises. There's a place for you to stand and eat beside the shop.

Kibidango Azuma

Kibidango - ¥350

Kibidango

Address:

Kibidango Azuma

1-18-1 Asakusa,

Taito City,

Tokyo 111-0032,

Japan

Menchi-katsu is a deep fried meat patties with chopped onions and seasonings. It's just 2 minutes (180m) walking distance from Kibidango Azuma. There's no queue outside the shop while we're there but our menchi-katsu was piping hot. It's crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Since my partner is a meat eater, he loves it.

Nakamise Shopping Street

Asakusa Menchi

Menchi-katsu - ¥350

Menchi-katsu

Address:

Asakusa Menchi

2-3-3 Asakusa,

Taito City,

Tokyo 111-0032,

Japan

Agemanju is a type of fried buns stuffed with either curry, chocolate, sakura, monjayaki (Japanese pan fried batter), pumpkin, custard cream, green tea, sweet potato, sesame, chestnut, strawberry or bean paste. We ordered curry flavour and their standard agemanju which is the bean paste. I prefer their curry stuffing as the bean paste is a bit sweet for my liking. 

Asakusa Kokonoe

Agemanju

Agemanju stuffed with curry - ¥200

Agemanju stuffed with bean paste (standard) - ¥130

Address:

Asakusa Kokonoe

2-3-1 Asakusa,

Taito City,

Tokyo 111-0032,

Japan

Sensoji temple is just right in front of Asakusa Kokonoe. The temple closed at 5pm and we have 40 minutes left to visit the area. It's a Buddhist temple and the oldest temple in Tokyo. After visiting the temple, we saw a stall selling daifuku and we decided to get one too. I preferred the strawberry daifuku that we had in Tsukiji Market.

Sensoji

Sensoji

Sensoji

Sensoji

Sensoji

Sensoji

Sensoji

Strawberry daifuku

Strawberry daifuku - ¥350

Strawberry daifuku

Nakamise Street (night view)

Asakusa (night view)

We had our early dinner at Heijoen Asakusa, 6 minutes (450m) walking distance from Nakamise Shopping Street. We ordered assorted 8 kinds of special wagyu for 2 person (¥9,800), 4 different rare cuts of Kobe beef - Kobe deluxe Kalbi, Kobe special selected Kalbi, Kobe deluxe Rosu and Kobe special selected Rosu (¥5,000) and a bowl of rice (¥270). We had a good dinner. I never knew beef could taste so good.

(Total bill - ¥17,405)

Heijoen Asakusa

Cold drinking water and sauces

8 kinds of special wagyu for 2 person - ¥9,800

8 kinds of special wagyu for 2 person

4 kinds of Kobe beef (150g) - ¥5,000

Green tea

Address:

Heijoen

1-15-10 Kaminarimon,

Taito City,

Tokyo 111-0034,

Japan

Don Quijote Asakusa is just 5 minutes (400m) walking distance from our dinner place. There's wide range of products from food to electronics and clothing. Basically you can just find anything here and they open 24 hours. If your total purchase is over ¥5,000 excluding tax, you can get tax free. Since my partner only bought a pair of heattech, we still need to pay the tax.

We left Don Quijote around 8.30pm and took a train from Asakusa to Kita-senju (¥210 per person), then change another train from Kita-senju to Nishi Nippori (¥170 per person) We should have bought a direct train ticket from Asakusa to Nishi Nippori instead of buying it at 2 stations which's much more expensive. Finally, we're able to checked into our hotel at 9.30pm after a long day.

(Minimum temperature of the day: 5℃ ; maximum temperature of the day: 11℃)

Note: ¥1 = RM 0.039

Asakusa Don Quijote

Address:

Asakusa Don Quijote

2-10 Asakusa,

Taito City,

Tokyo 111-0032,

Japan

Opening hours: 24 hours