Finally, I’ve reached my home’s past life.
Tokyo! where I spent most of my 20’s until my early 30’s. I lost my residency visa because of the pandemic and was unable to renew it.
That means for this visit, I came as a Tourist with a Tourist visa.
It is a last-minute decision after I realize how affordable the ticket is from Busan to Tokyo and then from Tokyo transit in Incheon and returning back to Kota Kinabalu. Why not?
Although it is just a 4 days trip, not enough to be honest. But I want to revisit some of the places I usually go and also catch up with a few people. Compare this to the Seoul and Busan trip, which is very relaxed and chill.
My 4 days in Tokyo are fully occupied with visiting places and also meeting up with friends at night. The first day was basically just me arriving in Tokyo and checking in at the Hilton Odaiba. Wandering around the area and visit Convenience Store nearby getting all the snacks I’d been wanting to munch.
You’ll get a very nice view of Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge at the Odaiba’s Deck. Even inside the Hilton Hotel.
Love how I can just take out the Ricoh GR3 from my pocket and capture the view and get such a high-quality image from a compact camera.
The next day, had my breakfast at the hotel’s lounge and head directly to Shimbashi taking some architectural building with the Fujifilm GFX 50SII. Had my haircut after almost 10 days of not trimming my baldness at the 1200 yen barber shop.
Then from Shimbashi, just a few minutes’ walk to Ginza. Wandering around take some random snap photos. Nothing much changes, to be honest. The only difference is there’s no group of China tourists. Nothing against them, but it does change the environment and vibe of the places without them.
Rekindle back in early 2010 before the rise of the Group of China Tourists that basically increase every country’s GDP and now everything head to recession and then back to normal.
After snapping a few photos around Ginza, drop by my favourite miso ramen store at the edge of Ginza, which is around Kyobashi area. It is located in a very quiet alley, just a few minutes walk from Kyobashi Metro Station.
After enjoying the bowl of ramen, walk to Kyobashi Metro Station and head to Asakusa area to revisit my favourite area before heading to Yokohama for a catch-up dinner with an ex-colleague of mine.
If you’re interested in the Ramen shop I mentioned above, the name is DoMiSo Ramen Ginza. You won’t miss it if you search on Google Maps.