Somewhere in Shinjuku

March 27th and the weather was gloomy. I started my day with a MR.waffle. I don't remember what flavor this was, but it was good. 

Back on the Fukotoshin Line. Definitely less riders and look, everyone had no problem social distancing. Actually, I'm sure everyone was glad to have a little extra space.

I stopped at KERA SHOP in Shinjuku and then walked a longer route around Shinjuku Station.

I wanted to visit Pure Sound. I made it there but didn't find anything I wanted.

I decided it would be good to rest a bit, so back to my hotel. Not the best photo of the setting sun but it was nice to see it reflected like this.

My treat for the day was this little strawberry cake from 7-Eleven.

They really don't have sweets like this at the 7-Elevens here. Nor the really fresh good food selection.

Even something simple like this they still made it look nice.

As for what I bought at KERA SHOP, the Moi-même-Moitié Candelabra Embroidery Shirt in black. Along with something else. Since my flight had not been cancelled again, I decided it would be okay to spend a little money. I really like the asymmetrical cuffs and the candelabra buttons. I have a couple little vintage Moitié ties so I thought this would be fun to wear like this. 

The Ride to Narita and Ippudo Ramen

Passing by Shinjuku again on the NEX train to Narita.

And by Shinjuku's Time Square.

I finally got an okay photo of the Osaki gnome.

Tea time on the train. I think I'm hooked on Kirin's Salty Lychee drink. It's really good when it is hot out. I also tried 7-Eleven's Matcha White Choco cookie. It does look like the photo on the package and tastes like matcha green tea.

As the train heads out of Tokyo Prefecture, there were glimpses of Sky Tree.

And headed towards Narita the landscape turns to farms.

A little green beginning to show back in March. By June, everything was green. A bit of blurriness due to the speed of the train, sorry about that.

And into Narita International Airport with a little time and feeling a bit hungry, I decided to check out a well known place.

Since airline food is hit or miss, I end up not eating so much while flying. So I opted to get a bowl of the Shiromaru Classic ramen at Ippudo Ramen.

Nice soft boiled egg. As for the ramen, I wasn't feeling it. I don't know if it was because there were a lot of loud people in the place, or if it was a bit heavy. It was a decent bowl but it was kind of underwhelming in flavor.

Ippudo is in a lot of places now, so it's easy to check it out while staying in Tokyo. Now I can say I did just that.

I also was tempted by cookie samples at a shop by there. And ended up bringing home a box of Sagu Langue de Chat in their sakura flavor. Ishiya Ginza is actually in Hokkaido, with a couple shops in the Tokyo area.

These light cookies were really nice. After my long flight back to Oregon on Delta Airlines, it was a nice treat to enjoy with green tea.

N'EX Time

Since I stayed in Ikebukuro for the last part of my visit to Tokyo, I decided to take a different train to Narita. The Narita Express. I bought a ticket ahead of time to reserve a seat. Boarding was fairly easy. From Ikebukuro to Tokyo Station it follows the same route as the Yamanote Line. So I was able to get a decent photo of Shinjuku on the way.

And one more of Shinjuku with the Studio Alta building.

I probably didn't need to pay the extra for the reserved seat since the cars were not full. Most of the people in my car were from Taiwan. Not much to see in the train itself but it was very comfortable.

Getting to see sakura along the track made me wish I wasn't leaving. And yes, there is more graffiti every time I visit.

Shibuya looked a little more generic from the train.

More sakura trees. It was full on bloom by this day.

Good old Yamanote Line train.

Sky Tree off in the distance.

This is either the Arakawa or the Naka river.

Baseball fields along the Edogawa River.

Finally at Narita International Airport waiting for my plane. Time for tea.

Along with one of those little blueberry pies from Boulangerie Asanoya.

Long flight back but not as bad as the last long flight back. Flying into Los Angeles International Airport over the Channel Islands off of California. That's San Miguel Island. It's owned by the US Navy but people can visit if they fill out the permits and follow the National Park Service rules.

To the right is a little bit of Santa Rosa Island and left is Santa Cruz Island. Santa Rosa Island is open to visitors but Santa Cruz Island is mostly a nature reserve.

So that was my trip to Tokyo. Although I was not done traveling. After getting a connecting flight back to Portland, Oregon, I rested for a day and then drove up to Seattle, Washington. My next post will have a little bit from that trip.

Going to Gotokuji

 Ever wonder what it is like to look out the engineer's window of a train in Japan? I just happened to end up in the last car of the train this day so I took a quick photo. Yeah that's the Yamanote train there.

Which I took to Shinjuku Station, changed trains and ended up here. Which looked just like it did ten years ago.

 Here was Gotokuji.

The inside of the station was different, but going outside, the Denny's was still there. 

More vibrant signage was happening on other buildings. 

But looking up, there they were. Cats. Very happy dancing festival going cats. 

Musical cats. 

And just cats and paws on poles. 

The area still had that Tokyo suburban feel. Florists offering hydrangeas, forecasting what was to come. 

And sakura branches for now. 

As I walked I saw vivid flowers blooming. 

And cats. This time in the shape of an older looking bench 

The shop where I bought a few things ten years ago was still there. I stopped in again. 

I remembered this door! But now it had a yakitori booth in front of it. 

 Ten years ago it looked like this.

From what I could see, it looks almost the same now. 

So why was I back in this cat filled town? For a couple reasons.

One was to visit this place again. Gotokuji Temple.