Part 3 of 7 of our Japan trip: Tsukiji Fish Market, Senso-ji Temple and En Route to Osaka

LAST DAY IN TOKYO. Three days were not enough to visit Tokyo. There were still a lot of places on our list that we want to visit but we had to limit ourselves due to time and budget constraints (ako lang pala ang may budget constraints lol). For our last day in Tokyo, we went to Tsukiji Fish Market. It is known for its fresh array of seafood and its tuna auction. We skipped the Tuna Auction because (tbh) we won’t wake up early just to see it.

Subway: Shibuya station to Ginza station (Ginza Line); transfer line — Ginza station to Tsukiji station (Hibiya Line)

The moment you step out of the Tsukiji station, you will be welcomed by the smell of seafood (in other words, malansa yung amoy), and you’ll know it you’re in the right place.

While looking for a place to eat, we passed by two of the most famous restaurants in the area: Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi. At 8:00AM, there were already long queues for the two restaurants.

We initially queued for Daiwa Sushi, just because we saw it first. We checked out their menu and expectedly we saw that it was quite expensive. A set menu costs 3500 JPY, and we’re not even sure if it’ll be enough for one. For someone who isn’t too fond of sashimi and other raw seafoods, I easily backed out. Upon further deliberation, we decided to walk around the area and check other stalls.

After walking aimlessly, unsure of where were going, we finally reached the Tsukiji Outside Market, where numerous stalls were selling different seafood items. I bought the first thing I saw that I know I can eat: Tamago. I bought it from the same place featured in Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho.

Quick Kwento:

So I decided to sit down as I eat my Tamago, while my sister, mom and friends walked around. I can remember being quite pissed because I was starving already and we can’t decide where to eat. So after eating my Tamago (which btw, hindi masarap!), I walked around na lang and took photos of the food in the market when…

I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED ALL THE PHOTOS IN MY CAMERA!!!

Ang bilis ng nangyare, I was only supposed to delete the recent photo that I took but since medyo badtrip ako, I pressed the buttons too fast and mali yung napindot ko 🙁 So my badtrip went to a whole new level! Imagine all the photos from the first two days were gone! The next few minutes were a blur to me until I sat down with my friends (they found a place to eat), I didn’t eat because wala akong gana. But most of the restaurants in Japan, they have a policy of 1 order per person, so I ordered a miso soup. After a few sip, nahimasmasan na ako, and I decided to buy a new SD card na lang (so as not to overwrite yung photos) and i’ll deal with recovering the photos when I’m back in Manila na lang. After that, medyo nabuhayan na ulit ako ng loob. May gana na akong maglibot and kumain sa stalls. :p

STRAWBERRIES!!

Mama trying on their streetfood. She never eats streetfood. Only in Japan.

Squid’s tentacles

Crab stick (left); Squid with cheese (right) — SUPER SARAP!

That’s the squid with cheese

2nd ice cream for the day: Sesame, Matcha and Strawberry (in order)

It started to drizzle, so we decided to head back to our AirBnb because we have to check out at 12nn. Before heading to our AirBnb, we dropped by Tokyu Hands first. These med students need to get their hands on some school supplies. And then I bought a new SD card at a BIC store in Shibuya.

We checked out of our AirBnb and headed to Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal to leave our luggages. Our bus was scheduled to depart at 10:10 in the evening. To kill time, we had lunch at a nearby Yoshinoya and then I kinda force them to go to Senso-ji temple, kasi mahaba pa naman yung time.

Subway: Shinjuku-sanchome Station to Bakuroyokoyama Station (Shinjuku Line); transfer line — Higashi-Nihombashi to Asakusa Station (Asakusa Line)

Senso-ji temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo. On the way to the temple, you can also see the towering Tokyo Skytree. They are near each other, so if you have time and energy you can also visit Tokyo Skytree after (21min walk or 1 train station away).

When we got to Senso-ji, there were so many tourists in the entrance that we found it hard to take a picture.

Inside was a long stretch of stalls selling souvenirs and food. Since, we did a lot of walking for the day, we were too tired to explore the area. We just checked out a few stores but after a while, our feet gave up on us. We sat down and rest for a while before heading back to Shinjuku.

It’s good to visit Senso-ji Temple if you have a lot of time, but in our case, we should have just stayed within Shinjuku and use some hours to rest before our 9-hour bus ride to Osaka. (If you plan on following our itinerary, move Senso-ji temple on an earlier time or day — not when you just checked out from your Airbnb).

We headed back to Shinjuku Bus Terminal around 6pm. The ticket counter and boarding stops are located at the 4th floor of the building. We bought our ticket from Willer Bus website, so we were just waiting for our boarding time: 10:10PM.

We had our dinner at the terminal. I bought the chicken meal from Family Mart (one of my best Family Mart finds, unfortunately, I can’t find my photo of it). We retrieved our luggages from the coin locker downstairs. And then waited…

Our bus picked us up at D10.

I love that the bus had curtains for privacy and we have our own comfortable space. The seats can be reclined and we have our own outlet for charger.

We were expecting to arrive at Osaka by 7:30AM. For now…

TIME TO SLEEP. 

See you on my next blog post.

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Here’s my total damage for the day:

Ice cream vendo – JPY 160
Tamago – JPY 100
Miso – JPY 200
Street Food – JPY 330
SD Card – JPY 861
Lunch at Yoshinoya – JPY 400
Coin locker – JPY 250
Food at Shinjuku Bus terminal – JPY 460

Food: JPY 1650 (I have a budget of JPY 1750 per day)
Others: JPY 1111
Day 3 overall: JPY 3761

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Day 4 preview:

Arrival in Osaka
Dotonbori food trip
Osaka Castle