Ghibli Museum, Odaiba, Asakusa

DAY 4

On Day 4 we picked up a quick snack at the bakery about 30 seconds from our hotel…

and headed down to the train station.

We met our friend on the Yamanote platform and headed to Shinjuku and from there on to Mitaka station.

We are fans of Studio Ghibli movies such as Spirited Away so we thought we’d check out the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

For those interested in visiting when in Tokyo, please be sure to check out the museum’s website. Tickets usually have to be purchased well ahead of time either in your home country or in Japan. In our case our friends picked up tickets for us from Lawson’s in Tokyo about a month before our arrival.

Once you arrive at Mitaka station you can either catch a bus to the museum or take a 15 minute walk like we did.

There are Ghibli signs down the road so that you know you’re headed in the right direction. And there are also pretty flowers on the trees if you are there at the right time…

Sad to say there is no photography allowed in the museum. And from what I read on other blogs, they are pretty strict about it so I didn’t even try. Instead I’ll just say that if you are a fan of Hayao Miyazaki, this is a fun place to check out!

After the museum we headed back to Mitaka station and ate at a tonkatsu restaurant. My other half had the potato croquette while our friend and I had the tonkatsu.

I have to say…it was worth it to fall off the vegetarian wagon! Especially with the ground sesame seeds and tonkatsu sauce that I later drizzled over the crispy pork and cabbage – yum!!

After lunch we caught the train to Shimbashi where we boarded Yurikamome, unusual as it is a fully automated transit system controlled solely by computers.

It was kind of a cloudy day but there were still nice sights to see along the way…

We got off to check out Tokyo Big Sight then got back on for a quick walk around the Odaiba area…

After doing a little bit of shopping we caught a boat to Hinode pier and another boat to go up the Sumida river.

As the boat pulled out, two of us stayed up on the boat’s roof to get a better view.

We were also able to see some yurikamome up close. The train we rode earlier to get to this area is named after this bird.

Getting off the boat in Asakusa, we took a stroll around before dinner time.

It was fairly crowded as usual with pretty much the same shops and food offerings as last year.

However, one thing that I remembered seeing last year that I hadn’t tried yet was this fried snack.

It seemed to be the most crowded food stall offering several different flavor options. We went with the traditional sweet azuki bean paste.

By this time it was getting a little late so we made the walk across the Sumida gawa toward our dinner destination…Kazusa-ya.

Last year through our Tokyo friends we became friends with another group of Tokyoites. A bunch of them came to visit Hawaii last summer and we met several times for food and good times.

One of our new friends is a restaurant owner from Tokyo who sent me a very nice gift last October. He also said that when we were in Tokyo again, we were to come by his restaurant for dinner. So here we were at his restaurant in Asakusa…Kazusa-ya.

Almost the whole group that we had met last summer was there taking up pretty much the whole downstairs area of this cozy restaurant.

There was quite an enormous spread laid out for us! And after a toast to start things off…

We had a variety of appetizers.

And two pots of a super huge nabe!

This nabe had so many ingredients, I don’t think I can remember them all…but I’ll try: There was cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, seaweed, kamaboko, daikon, carrots – some other vegetables that I can’t remember right now – shrimp, scallops, octopus, clams, salmon, and crab legs!

The sashimi platter was also enormous…and we also had two of these platters for our group. It included saba, maguro, ebi, hamachi, abalone, ika, scallops, and much more that I also can’t remember. But believe me, it was every bit as delicious as it looks!

When we thought it was over, more food still came out of the kitchen. This time, two plates of tamagoyaki.

And finally when we were filled to the gills with food, a very delicous dish came out. This was the rib portion of a tuna fish.

It was prepared in a teriyaki type miso marinade. And each of us got our own huge piece!

It was so buttery and delicious!

The highlight of this day? Definitely…definitely Kazusaya. It was like an all you can eat nabe and sashimi dinner with awesome side dishes and company!

DAY 1 & 2: Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Omotesando, Shibuya, Ikebukuro
DAY 3: Mount Asama, Shiraito Waterfall, and Karuizawa
DAY 4: Ghibli Museum, Odaiba, Asakusa
DAY 5: Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Ochanomizu
DAY 6: Tsukiji, Ginza, Akihabara
DAY 6 (Part 2): Kappabashi, Asakusa, Okonomiyaki, Monjayaki
DAY 7: Japanese Baseball at the Tokyo Dome
DAY 8: Ueno Park, Yanaka Ginza, Sengakuji Temple, Beer Museum Yebisu
DAY 9: Nikko Day Trip – Toshogu Shrine and Yuba
DAY 10: Fishing in Tokyo
DAY 11: Kanamachi and Shibamata