JAPAN TRIP: DAY 9 Fujiko · F · Fujio Museum & Yanaka Ginza

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Thursday, January 21, 2016

Let's head to Kawasaki and visit our childhood friend, Doraemon! From Tokyo you need to get aboard the Odakyu Line train from Shinjuku Station towards Odawara and stop at Noborito Station. From Noborito Station, you could ride the shuttle bus to Fujiko · F · Fujio Museum, or if you want to walk, it would be closer to stop at Mukougaoka Yuen Station.

When you're on budget, onigiri is a perfect choice for breakfast. I need at least two onigiris to fulfill my morning appetite. Since all the informations are in kanji, I kept a picture in my phone from a blog I found while googling with all the onigiri variants with English translation. These twos were from 7/11, both were good!

Actually we want to ride the shuttle bus, but since it was still quite early when we arrived, we decided to walk from Noborito Station. Thank God for Google Maps!

Fujiko · F · Fujio Museum was around 20 minutes walk from Noborito Station. The environment was quite nice for a walk. There weren't so many cars passing by, and the neighbourhood was quite quiet.

And finally we arrived at Fujiko · F · Fujio Museum. For your note, they don't sell entrance ticket at the museum, so you must buy the ticket in advance at any Lawson convenience store branch throughout Japan. I bought my ticket days before at a random Lawson store I found in Osaka. How to but the ticket? Just look for the Loppi machine inside Lawson, and follow the direction from the web (click here). Actually, I already did follow the instruction, but I was quite confuse when a window popped out and it wasn't in the direction. So we just asked the cashier to help us, but then a customer helped us and finally we purchased our tickets successfully. The ticket was JPY 1,000, and you must choose an exact date and schedule to enter the museum. There are four entrance time: 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM, and 4 PM. We chose the earliest one since we had to leave Tokyo that day.

There was already a queue in front of the entrance, and we just wait for the entrance door to open.

After we entered, we were given a translation device, so we could enjoy the exhibition room. There were two exhibition rooms, exhibiting Fujiko · F · Fujio original color artworks, and you could listen about the stories behind each of Fujiko · F · Fujio masterpieces through the device. No pictures allowed in the exhibition room.

After exiting the exhibition room, you could enjoy other activities at The People's Plaza.

You could read manga (only if you could read kanji).

Or you could enjoy the short original movie that is not shown elsewhere in the theater.

Or you might try to collect mini figurines from this vending machine.

We headed to the third floor, the most favorite part of the museum to take pictures, the Rooftop Playground.

There were also a bakery and cafe on the third floor.

Buy your Doraemon's favorite dorayaki here!

We entered the cafe to have lunch. There were not so many options on the menu, but all the menus displayed the characters from Fujiko · F · Fujio's mangas. Cute!

I ordered this Gian's Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl, served with a bowl of miso soup (JPY 1,030).

My pork cutlet was decorated with Gian's face. Isn't the bowl cute? Orange colored like Gian's t-shirt, and there was even Gian's face with off tune notes at the back of the bowl cover. The taste was pretty good also.

My friend ordered this Korosuke's Spaghetti Carbonara with Korosuke's Croquette (JPY 1,200). Drinking water was for free!

Before you leave this place, don't forget to visit the Museum Shop.

You might want to buy Gian's CD Collection for your friend.

Because it was already sunny and hot, we decided to take the shuttle bus back to the station. We got the P-Man bus! You need to pay JPY 210 for a one way journey.

From Noborito Station, we headed back to Tokyo via the Odakyu Line. We stopped Yoyogi-Uehara Station and changed to the Chiyoda Line to reach our destination, the Sendagi Station. From Sendagi Station, we walked around 10 minutes to this neighborhood called Yanaka Ginza.

Yanaka is one of the district in Tokyo that has an old-town atmosphere, and Yanaka Ginza is a shopping street that offer this old town vibe.

Along the street you could find various shops selling from food to souvenirs.

The food here was pretty affordable, you could find decent bento for less than JPY 500.

There were also fruit shops. My friend bought a box of strawberries. Looking at Sarang from The Superman Returns show, I wondered why she loves strawberry so much. Apparently Japanese strawberries are sweeter.

I visited this random dessert shop, and tried their neko (cat) themed dessert.

Originally I visited Yanaka Ginza to try the famous Matcha Choux from Chayutei, but from all of the day throughout the year, they have to be close on the day of my visit. Great, I need to go back next time.

What's also famous at Yanaka? The cemetery. Wanna have a visit?

From Yanaka, we headed back to our hostel for a rest while waiting for our night-bus schedule. O would like to recommend Hikari House, it was a nice hostel. Girls should try the level 1 bathroom, with a super complete powder room next to it.