I finally arrived at Akihabara Station after two hours of Shinkansen ride from Kyoto. It was almost midnight and the street was quite. I enjoyed my walk toward my hostel, crossing the same bridge, slowing down my steps just to feel a yellow dim light from the street lights. Though I walked with a big smile and gratitude, memories of a day well-spent at Kyoto, plus a new black goodie bag fulfilled with souvenirs but I did feel sad cause I realised, I only had two more days in Japan.
An hour before I slept on my bed, I checked maps on my iPhone and did many screenshots to ensure myself won’t take a wrong train and stopped at somewhere.
>
>
Checking maps could be the reason why I woke up a bit late. I moved my suitcase when I found a place where travelers dropped their suitcases and backpacks (I kept my suitcase beside a locker for shoes before) and I did repack all the souvenirs there. I did separate my remain outfits too for the rest of my stay. Oh, I’m kind of person who’s very organise and hate last-minutes things, fyi.
I let myself to pack slower tho I knew I would have a very short time to explore Ginza before my main destination that day. I had a fortuitous moment with one Austrian traveler when I was almost done with my suitcase. A fortuitous moment that made us became a very good friends till today (read about him, here).
Around 11.30am I headed to Ginza, a district of Chūō, Japan’s biggest luxury shopping and entertainment district. Exploring Ginza under the sun wasn’t a bad idea especially if you are interested with fashion, modern architecture, merchandising, or window shopping. It’s such a paradise for creative people and shopper, indeed. I stood in front of designer stores and many interesting window displays to train my eyes and took pictures as many as I could (nothing more pleasant than taking picture at some cool spots!). Should I say here one of my dream I had in mind when I was there? (read: enter Fendi store and bring some Fendi monsters home without worry how many dollars I’ll spend). I was a bit in rush to take a look at more stores cause I had a plan to pamper myself with some desserts from Henri Charpentier. Desserts for breakfast because, why not?
I putted Henri Charpentier on my list after I read this page. And it is true, it’s kind of a little heaven for a dessert lover. After I entered the shop, I could feel how excited I was looking at those desserts and pastries that I heard are awards-worthy. Forget about my dream to be a pro pastry chef (I dreamt about it years ago) cause I was happy enough sitting down at one corner in Henri Charpentier in the afternoon without worry about my bill. I picked a slice of strawberry shortcake and one chocolate cake. The last one was OMG to the max! A kind of to-die-for chocolate cake. I spent only one and half hour at Henri and walked down to the main street of Ginza.
.
My main destination that day was Fujiko Museum in Kawasaki. Indonesian kids on 90’s must know Fujiko is the creator of Doraemon, one of the most well-known cartoon in Indonesia. I grew up with Doraemon as one of the most imaginative manga character I could remember. His magic pocket, Nobita and his crush, Sizuka, oh Giant who sings so pitchy, Suneo the rich kid and sure, the famous bamboo-copter. I had one vivid memory about Doraemon when I was about 7 years old. I used to run from school when I had my rest time around 9 to 10am just to watch Doraemon at home on Sunday (I was off on Friday then cause my elementary school was the Islamic one). The distance of my house and the school wasn’t that far, so it was always joyful when I could run and watched my favourite manga on TV every Sunday. Fujiko Museum has four different hours to visit from morning till afternoon. You need to reserve before you go there by buying the ticket at Lawson or online. Early in the afternoon could be the best time I to visit. Mine was for 4pm, the only schedule that was available when I bought at Lawson somewhere near Tenryū-ji temple, Kyoto.
When I was still strolling around Ginza, I was a bit worry if I didn’t have enough time to take a train to Noborito Station. I checked my wrist watch and realised I still had 1,5 hours to 4pm. And you know Japan train, it is always on time. So I said to myself not to worry too much and “let me enter two shops to grab some shirts for myself” and I actually did (*crying* :P). Believe me when I walked around Ginza I made a promise not to change my US Dollar again cause hello, there is always a life after vacation right? :P But after five seconds I thought,
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t enter Fendi store as I wished.
When I realised it was the time to leave Ginza for Fujiko Museum, I was running like a fat turkey. I have checked the nearest station from where I stood and it was Mizonokuchi Station instead of Noborito. I had to take a train from Ginza Station to Shibuya Station but something happened when I arrived at Mizonokuchi Station.
My decision to take a train to Mizonokuchi Station was wrong when I found that I was blind at all with Japanese kanji. When I went down to take a bus I realized that I would not make it to Fujiko Museum but I didn’t give up yet.
I stood at the bus stop and tried to cross check the bus stops on the signage with the one on my iPhone. I just saw one queue and stood there for minutes before the bus came. But my heart wasn’t so sure with the bus even the time of arrival was the same with the one showed on my Gmaps. Asking a question to an old Japanese couple wasn’t successful too because they didn’t understand English (I used my translator to Japanese but it didn’t help them too :(). Better to try than nothing at all, right?
I entered the bus with a fickle heart. First, second, till the fourth bus stop I said,
So, I sat by the window. I was free, confused and happy in the same time, trying to pick all the scenes that day and kept in my memory.
.
You know in this life something happens for a reason. When you have prepared something and it didn’t happen like what you were expected, at least you could still pick the essence of the moment. That was the lesson I learned when I finally went down from the bus in Yokohama-Kozukuecho and found my way back to the train station. Alas, traveling has taught me to be stronger and wiser.
I headed back to Shinjuku station when I accidentally found one of my follower on my Instagram mentioned one halal ramen restaurant somewhere at Shinjuku. She was kind enough offering me a plan B sort of after I shared a picture why I couldn’t pay a visit to Fujiko Museum. Tho they way to the restaurant was a bit tricky, but I felt so fortunate could finally sit down with a bowl of spicy halal ramen again in Japan. Writing it on this post somehow, makes me think how cool if I had a friend like Doraemon, who could bring me back to Japan through his magic door right now.
I ended my day strolling around at Akihabara electric town with this song from my iPhone before headed back to the hostel. It was such a simply beautiful way to close a lovely day in Tokyo.
.
goofydreamer 