Tokyo Part 2

Tokyo Part II

Welcome to the second part of my Tokyo trip. As you will see there are quite a few images in this post despite being only 2 days so let’s get into it.

All Around Akihabara and Back

For the first day back in Tokyo after our trip to Fujisan we decided to go to Akihabara as I wanted to visit the Owl Cafe.

On the way there I got a quick snack from the Family Mart then quickly headed to the owl cafe so we didn’t miss our booking. Below are a few images I took on the way there.

Family Mart Karaage Chicken
Family Mart Karaage Chicken
Akihabara Sign
Akihabara Sign

Once we got there, we went inside once our booking started and I was quite surprised. As soon as you get in you’ll see Owl’s sitting everywhere and at first I thought they were fake as they sit so still but I eventually realized they were are all real.

How the session works is you get to pick an owl then have your photo taken by the staff (image directly below so not taken by me or with my camera). After that you can go sit down and have different Owl’s sit on your shoulder if you like.

For me I just wanted one owl which is the one in the bottom left called “Turtle” which was also on my shoulder in the photo they took.

Us at the Owl Cafe
Us at the Owl Cafe
Snowman the Tawny Owl
Snowman the Tawny Owl
Spring onion the Rock Eagle Owl
Spring onion the Rock Eagle Owl
Monjya the Barn Owl
Monjya the Barn Owl
Mr. Yamashita the Little Owl
Mr. Yamashita the Little Owl
Turtle the Western Screech Owl
Turtle the Western Screech Owl
Mr Ostrich the Burrowing Owl
Mr Ostrich the Burrowing Owl

I liked Turtle so much that I actually had him on my shoulder for 45 minutes and didn’t try any other owls. I was glad I did though as pretty much every other person there had the owl poop on them whereas my loyal Turtle didn’t poop on me!

In fact he kept cuddling up against my head. Even if I moved my head a bit to the side, he’d get closer and lean against it. After this point, Owls have officially become my favorite birds with Turtle being the figure head.

Atfer this was done we went to have a look around the rest of Akihabara which you can see in images below.

Yodobashi-Akiba
Wagyu Beef Skewers
Kanda Myojin Shrine
Kanda Myojin Shrine
Good Luck for Me
Good Luck for Me
Daikoku Sama Statue
Daikoku Sama Statue
Kanda Myojin Shrine
Kanda Myojin Shrine
Akihabara Crossing
Akihabara Crossing

Visiting Yodobashi was a huge highlight for me as I got to to see cameras/lenses that I had never previously seen in person before. I could have spent an entire day browsing around this store and I’m not someone who enjoys shopping.

After this we went back to Shinjuku so my wife could shop.

Godzilla Road
Godzilla Road

I was quite tired so I didn’t do too much shooting that night and just opted to find a spot to sit and wait while catching up on my podcasts. Above is one image you can see I took from that night on Godzilla Road.

It was quite funny as despite staying there for for nearly 4 days, we didn’t know about this street and were walking to Shinjuku station a very long way each time. After this we of course ensured to use this much more straight forward and faster way.

teamLab Planets and Asakusa

The next day we went to teamLab Planets which was interesting to say the least.

Below is a image from outside the facility before we went in. The line was quite long but it didn’t take too long to get in.

Outside Teamlabs
Outside Teamlabs
My wife
Also my wife

I did take more images than the two above but most were of my wife and I so nothing I felt like editing/posting. For me personally, I would never go to teamLab’s again. A little fact about me is I absolutely hate feet. I think they’re disgusting and if I could choose, everyone would wear shoes and feet would never be seen.

When you go to teamLab’s, they make you walk around barefoot which was bad enough as all you could smell was people’s stinky feet. The worst part is people go into the toilets barefoot then put on these shared flip flops to walk around this section of the exhibit which is one of the most unhygienic things I can image.

All I can say is if you don’t like smelling feet and don’t want to put yourself at risk of catching foot fungus, please avoid teamLab’s Planet.

Off to Asakusa

After this we made our way to Asakusa as there were several places my wife wanted to see here. Once we got off the train, we made our way to the main attractions my wife wanted to see.

Below are images I took around there.

Kan'non-dōri
Kan’non-dōri
Kaminarimon Gate
Kaminarimon Gate
Nakamise-Dori Street
Nakamise-Dori Street
Sensō-ji
Sensō-ji
Asakusa Five-Storied Pagoda
Asakusa Five-Storied Pagoda
Best Fortune
Best Fortune
Mochi
Mochi
Asakusa Streets
Asakusa Streets
Asakusa Stall
Asakusa Stall

I got quite a few shots I was happy with while in Asakusa. The one two photos up titled “Asakusa Streets” is my personal favorite and after I took it, I knew I would love it.

Sadly I had left my FE PZ 16-35mm back at the hotel on that day and it would have really come in handy for a few of those images considering how big the buildings were. Regardless I made the 35GM work hence why I love that focal length so much.

The Last Night in Tokyo

As this was our last night for the first round of Tokyo, there was a very important location I wanted to visit still.

As you can see below that location was Shibuya Crossing. I knew for somewhere like this, the wider the better so I took my 16-35mm with me.

Shibuya Crossing
Shibuya Crossing

This was a pretty fun location to visit and although it’s a big cross, I imagined it was much larger in my mind.

In terms of location, the image was taken at the top level of MAGNET by SHIBUYA109. There’s a small restaurant/bar type of place and if you buy a drink which is fairly cheap, you can stay there as long as you like and take pictures.

Luckily there wasn’t too many people up there so we managed to get a shot from the edge. I had to shoot through glass and didn’t have a lens skirt with me but thankfully the reflections were barely noticable.

Night Out in Kabukichō
Night Out in Kabukichō

After that we just shopped around Shibuya for a bit then headed back to Shinjuku. Around there I had my 85mm with me, so I used that for some street shots with the above image being my favorite.

It was a fun last day in Tokyo and I had already decided it was my favorite location.

Off to Osaka

As I usually had to carry my luggage on the Shinkansen it was hard to take photos of them (especially with how fast they pull up/take off) but there is something I wanted to say about the trains.

I love how clean they are, especially compared to Sydney. When I do ride the trains here, I never sit down as they are very smelly and dirty but in Japan they are so clean, I was pretty much always sitting on them. There was even one time I fell asleep, then my wife and her sister couldn’t wake me up and we nearly missed our stop because of it.

The Cleanest Trains
The Cleanest Trains

Because of how much I enjoyed the trains, I thought I would take the above image before we left Tokyo as I had something to show how nice they are inside.

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2 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

Joey J 📸reply
May 3, 2023 at 10:09 pm

Nice! Shibuya crossing is amazing! Shot at 16mm? I remember a few of these sceneries like Asakusa. Tokyo is on my list for places to live for a few months (then shoot as often as I can). 😅

Daniel Leereply
May 7, 2023 at 4:46 pm
– In reply to: Joey J 📸

Thanks Joey and this was actually at 21mm! As I needed to shoot through glass, if I was too wide I’d get part of the building in there so had to zoom in a bit! I think if you spend a few months there you’ll never want to leave haha.

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