[ Digitalian : Asterick ]

Starting over　行こう　常にnext stage　アスタリスク描こう
星も眠る宙の果てに　君と二人漂うように
愛を求め脈打つeverything　幾千もの時空を越えて

Starting over　Let's always go to the next stage and draw an asterisk
At the ends of space where even the stars sleep, you and me are wandering aimlessly
Everything pulses with the desire for love　Crossing through thousands of spaces and times

Day 2, April 9th : Tokyo & Ikebukuro

6AM, after praying and washing up, we took the monorail to Hamamatsucho Station (¥490); from there we bought the Tokunai pass (unlimited Tokyo Metropolitan District Pass for JR East line (day pass), ¥790).  

Two excited fangirls.. Haha! If you were wondering how these two met, you can pretty much guess now =P

Sham and Zeze booked a different apartment & wanted to check in first so the rest 4 of us kept our luggage at the coin lockers in Ikebukuro station and found the 2 their place. The coin lockers have different sizes and they were everywhere so it was really handy! The only thing is you need to remember exactly at which area you kept your luggage ^^;

By 10 a.m. we made our way to the Imperial Palace, stopped by the park opposite it to take pictures of what remaining of Sakura trees. 

Tokyo Station

Up close

Don't you just love the scene?

Near the Imperial Palace

Then we went to Akihabara, ate some Takoyaki and just strolled around... 10 years ago, Zira and I were excited to go into the shops to find Naruto stuff but now we no longer read manga. We then made our way to pray at Masjid As-Salam / Islamic Community Centre which was set up by the Sri Lankan muslim in 2012. The place is located between Okachimachi and Ueno Station and had to walk a little. 

Akihabara

Takoyaki!

As-Salaam Mosque a.k.a.Okachimachi Mosque 

On the way to Ameyokocho market, we dropped by a Pakistani restaurant called Salam, to eat- believe it or not, we finished our lunch in 10 minutes!  (since it was almost 3 and everyone was starving I guess). At Ameyokocho, you can buy fresh fruits, seafood and miscellaneous items for souvenirs. They also have halal places to eat here!

By the end of the road (for us anyway since we started at Okachimachi station), we were at Ueno station. But instead of taking the train, we walked across Ueno park, konon-kononnye nak makan sambil picnic, but we ended up walking and taking pictures and were trying to find our way to the train station to to to Asakusa via the Ginza line. Initially we thought of walking around Asakusa then along the Sumida river to Sumida Park before heading to the Skytree. But, we ran out of time and everyone’s feet were starting to hurt, so we took trains instead to Skytree. We bought the Fast Skytree Ticket at Fast Skytree Ticket Counter on the 4th floor (inside the West Entrance) which cost ¥2820, compared to ¥2060 for the same-day-ticket.

Ueno Park

Skytree

View from the Tembo Deck (observation deck)... You can see Tokyo Dome there

You can go further up to Tembo Galleria (Floor 450, extra another ¥1,030) and the ticket can be bought at the Tembo Deck

View at night time ♥ 

Tokyo Tower at far distance

In front of the Tokyo Skytree Station

Spent some time at Skytree before going to Shibuya to meet Anis and Izzat at Gyumon Yakiniku (needs a reservation prior), a halal meat restaurant. We then walk around Shibuya area – the famous Shibuya crossing and took picture at Hachiko statue. Shibuya crossing at night was beautiful and it was less crowded.

Yakiniku, suki! *drools*

Looked like a pro, right? To be honest, SO NOT! Haha!

In front of the shop ♥

Shibuya Crossing, at night with less crowded people

the famous Hachiko statue

With Anis, our host during the dinner ♥

Checked in at our apartment in Ikebukuro at around 10.30 pm and what do we find there? (I was super SUPER excited, I swear) KOTATSU!!!! Our host, Kenji was nice to leave some snack, fresh flowers (smell so nice!) and little instruction cards around the apartment.

Welcome message from Kenji ♥

The fresh flowers for us- apartment smelt really nice when we came in!

Kotatsu!! ♥♥♥♥

By the end of Day 2- we were dead tired ^^;

Next: Day 3 = DisneySea!

Love love love Tower of Terror ride , the tower behind the Easter basket there!