Day 15 - Travelogue - Museums Close Monday - Ueno Park - Narita - Flight Home

Back to Day 14 - Underground to Ginza, Shopping, Ginza GoldFish Aquarium, and Tokyo Skytree 

Today is my last half-day in Tokyo and my flight out was at 5 PM.  This means you should be at the airport (Narita in my case) by 2 PM to be 3 hours early for an international flight.  You never know if there will be some unfortunate event that disrupts the trains, security checks, airline systems, etc.  This means I had to leave Tokyo Station by 2 PM or so, depending on which Narita Express I wanted to catch.  If you are leaving from Oshiage up by the Skytree there is a regular commuter train that still takes about the same amount of time to Narita.  This train is more direct even if it travels slower with more stops, but you need to be way up by the Skytree to take advantage of it.

My plan was to just take it easy around the Imperial Palace, taking in the East Gardens, but to my surprise, it was closed on Mondays.  It turns out a lot of these types of government run sites are on government museum schedules, which means they close on Mondays.  I suppose I could have walked around the palace grounds/moat, as people jog around it, but I guess I wasn't in the mood.  I could have also gone to the Mori Museum or something else for a few hours too.  I was thrown off as I usually leave on a Sunday when things are open!

Anyhow, on with my day.  I started the day off at a Starbucks that was on my way to Tokyo Station after checking out from my hotel. I grabbed a piece of quiche (real quiche!) and a coffee, sat down by the window, and watched commuters walking to work in big waves of humanity.

Starbucks coffee and quiche.

After breakfast, I went to the train station and I was surprised I wasn't able to find a coin locker to store my suitcase in the central areas of the station.  I ended up going to the northeast corner and there were lockers their.  It turns out that the coin lockers in the northern east-west passage fill up last and there were many lockers available for large suitcases.  I then walked west towards the imperial palace.  This was when I realized that the grounds were closed.  I decided to go to Ueno Park instead to walk around.  It was an easy single train ride to get there.

Park on the way to the imperial palace.

Old fortification wall of some sort.

Nice park.

Imperial Palace guard tower on the east side.  Everyone sees this one if they are going to the gardens.

Downtown Marunouchi on a Monday morning.

Ueno Park in the winter.  The lotus ponds are all yellow now and not really all that attractive.

Temple.

Ginkyo tree in full yellow.

In retrospect, I could have done a few things that morning, but it would have been rushed.  I could have gone to Roppongi or Akihabara again too, but I just didn't feel like shopping or museums at the time.  The park was nice and I ended up back at Tokyo Station just before noon.  I wanted to try a really nice oyakodon lunch and there was at least one restaurant there that served it.  Tamahide, a famous restaurant was closed for renovations.  I went to Ito Washigoro Syo-ten (伊藤和四五郎商店グランスタ東京店) in the B1 level of Gransta and had a great lunch.

Display outside of Ito Washigoro.  They also do yakitori and such.  They specialize in chicken.

My lunch set with a chicken and egg rice bowl!

After lunch it was pretty much time to get on the NEX Express train to Narita.  View out the train on the way to Narita.

Houses passing by.

A 5 PM departure kind of sucks from Tokyo as it doesn't give you much time on your last day to do anything.  I think I would prefer a 8 or 9 PM departure or at least 6 PM.  Check-in and such was a little chaotic as it turned out that my ticket was not Air Canada, but ANA or something.  This came to bite me on the butt for the luggage transfer in Vancouver later.

The second security robot I saw in Tokyo was at the airport.

There are convenience stores at the airport, one after security, and at least two before security.  You can burn some leftover cash and such to buy all the snacks/candy/instant noodles before you board. 

Returning to Canada went without much difficulty.  The only issue I had was with my transfer in Vancouver.  I thought I was on a regular code share, but I wasn't with Air Canada / ANA.  My ANA flights were labelled ANA, not AC.  Going to Japan had my luggage go through seamlessly to Tokyo, but on return, I had to pick up my luggage, exit through customs, and go through security again to drop my bag off for a domestic transfer.  Passengers that were on a AC to AC flight number had their bags go all the way through to Edmonton.  It's something I'll look out for next time.  It was a nice big hassle for no real reason other than administrative agreements or contracts.  Same people on the same planes, with different flight numbers.  Also, the flights out at 5 PM kind of sucked for Narita, as it does chew up an extra afternoon you could have had in Tokyo.  The last time I was in Japan I arrived via Haneda, and left on a 6 PM flight.  That meant I could hang around in Tokyo until 3 PM, catch a monorail to Haneda (30 minutes), and then check-in much later.  Haneda also has more interesting things to see/do at the airport before security than Narita.

Flying from Vancouver over the Rocky Mountains.  Pretty.

Lots of snow in the winter.

 

That wraps it up for my 15 day Japan trip in December of 2022.  I hope you enjoyed reading.

Back to Day 14 - Underground to Ginza, Shopping, Ginza GoldFish Aquarium, and Tokyo Skytree

The Japan Trip 2022 Posts

1. Planning My Tokyo 2022 Trip Highlights and Attractions (for Anime and Regular Tourists)
   
2. Highlights From My December 2022 Trip to Japan (with links to daily pages)
3. Day 1 - The First Night In Tokyo
4. Day 2 in Tokyo - Visiting Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Taking a Taxi 
5. Day 2 in Tokyo - Evening with Godzilla and Christmas Lights
6. Day 3 - Back to Shibuya for New Parco, Nintendo Store, Pokemon Center, Miyashita Park 
7. Day 3 -  Views From Shibuya Sky, Shopping at Tokyu Hands and Don Quijote
8. Day 4 - Nezu Shrine, Ameyoko, Ni No Kashi Candy Store, Yamashiroya Toy Store, and Ichiran Ramen in Ueno
9. Day 4 - Sensoji Shrine in Asakusa, Tokyo Midtown Christmas Illuminations, and Pokemon Store and Cafe Nihonbashi
10. Day 5 - Yokohama, Giant Gundam at Gundam Factory, Landmark Tower Shopping, Harry Potter Christmas Trees
11. Day 6 - Yokohama , Nissin Cup Noodle Museum, World Porters Mall, Landmark Tower Shopping Area
12. Day 7 - Kyoto Part 1, Kiyomizudera and Yasaka Shrine
13. Day 7 - Kyoto Part 2, Kodaiji Temple Night Illuminations and Yasaka Shrine at Night  
14. Day 8 - Travelogue - Kyoto Part 1 - To Fushimi Inari Shrine and The Mountain Summit 
15. Day 8 - Travelogue - Kyoto Part 2 - Kennin Ji Temple and Evening at Kyoto Station
16. Day 9 - Travelogue - First Visit to Nara for Deer, Pikachu Donut, Daibutsu Temple, Kasuga-Taisha, Kohfukuji Temple 
17. Day 10 - Osaka - Seeing Osaka Castle, Pokemon Center, and Dotonbori
18. Day 11 - Seeing Himeji Castle, the Most Beautiful One in Japan, and the Umeda Sky Building
19. Day 12 - Osaka Aquarium (Whale Sharks!), Den Den Town, Shinsekai, and MOS Burger
20. Day 13 - Travelogue - Back to Tokyo - Akihabara - Shinjuku at Night
21. Day 14 - Underground to Ginza, Shopping, Ginza GoldFish Aquarium, and Tokyo Skytree
22. Day 14 - Tokyo's Underground Labyrinth 2 - Walking From Tokyo Station to Ginza
23. Day 15 - Travelogue - Museums Close Monday - Ueno Park - Narita - Flight Home

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