The day after our trip to Kamikochi we took a bus early in the morning from Matsumoto to Tokyo. There’s actually quite a few buses leaving out of the bus terminal in Matsumoto, so it’s really convenient to travel from there. It took a little over three hours before we finally arrived in Shinjuku.

I had forgotten how insanely busy it was in Tokyo. It had been a long time since I last stepped foot in Shinjuku and I was once again amazed by the sheer volume of people everywhere we went. We ended up going to one of the department stores for lunch on the upper floors. We chose a gyutan restaurant because everyone wanted Japanese food. Since it was a weekend we waited about 30 minutes to get seated inside. I’ve had gyutan on many occasions in Nagoya, but everything seems to taste way better in Tokyo. =P

We didn’t have many plans for the afternoon so we spent some time wandering around Kichijoji and Mitaka. There was a ridiculous amount of mosquitoes inside Inokashira Park, so needless to say I was bitten a few times. Later that evening we headed over to Shimokita for dinner. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there are tons of Okinawa restaurants in the neighbourhood. We ended up going to one called Champuru for dinner. Everything we ordered reminded me of my time in Okinawa. The best part was getting the last plate of umibudo they had available. (The table beside us were told it was all sold out and would take a few hours for them to deliver new stock lol.)

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Our second day was mostly spent in Chiba for the K8 con. I’ll write more about it in a separate entry. For the evening my sister and I met up with Yuka, Junko, Tomomi and Yumi-san at Ninja Akasaka for dinner. As the name suggests, it was a ninja-themed restaurant. It was dark and mysterious when we were led inside our private room. With all the hidden doors, the drawbridge and the mist spewing inside, the restaurant had everything down to the smallest details.

Food wise it was mediocre at best, but at least the presentation nicely complemented the theme. One of the highlights was having a ‘higher class’ ninja come inside our room for a private magic show. I’m pretty sure the price we ended up paying was mostly for the performance rather than the food itself, however I would recommend going at least once just for the experience.

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I didn’t have too many plans for the last day of my trip. Since my sister was heading back to the airport in the afternoon, we decided we would stop in Yokohama for the morning as the stations were on the same line (me going back to Nagoya and her to Haneda).

After arriving at Sakuragicho Station, we waited a while for Carmen to meet us, then the three of us headed over to the Red Brick Warehouse. I’m pretty sure it’s my go-to place to shop in Yokohama. We ended up grabbing lunch together inside, then said goodbye to my sister who had to leave to catch her flight back to Toronto. Carmen and I stayed a little longer in Yokohama and caught a few Pokémon. =P

It was pretty much the end of my last big trip in the summer. I’m glad I got to experience Kamikochi and the alpine route this time around. It’s something I can finally cross it off my list. =D