Read my Tokyo Metro: Beauty Trip Tokyo Part 1 here!
This is the second day, and it is still all about beauty and health!
Kimono Experience at Asakusa
Gaienmae is a convenient place to stay if you love Ginza, Ueno and Asakusa!!
All i did was walk out from my hotel, take the Ginza Line and ride allllll the way to the last station Asakusa. You can even take a nap if you want haha.
Asakusa!!!
Apparently this is one of the most popular spot for photo taking, because you get to capture the traditional Japanese temple AND the futuristic Sky Tree all in one frame.
So much snow!!!
“Wagashi”, Japanese sweets. So beautiful to look at. Literally eye candy.
One of the”Shiranami Gonin Otoko” , or Five Men of the White Waves, and they refer it as the SMAP of Edo Period in Japan lol.
If you have time you can go to the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, where you can get all sort of information on getting around!
There’s also an amazing Talking Pen for rent!
Also, you can go up to the observation deck on the top floor for free! That’s the first time i had a view of Asakusa from this perspective ^^
Anyway, the highlight of the day was…
Kimono and Tea Ceremony experience!
I went to Hanayashiki, a cafe + tea house + kimono house.
They have really affordable plans for tourists!
The one i did was the Nadeshiko Plan, where you get to wear a Kimono and perform Tea ceremony, and also receive a certificate at the end of the session. The plan is JPY4,400, but i really wanted to wear a Furisode instead of a Kimono, so it was JPY1,000 extra!
Super super love Furisode. Actually by right i wasn’t allowed to wear a Furisode, since it is for young girls who usually wear it for their Coming of Age ceremony, i am already married PLUS pregnant lol.
But they do it for tourists who wishes to have an experience, so i’m really get that i get to choose to be a tourist if i want hahaha.
If you are curious, married women usually wear something really plain and unassuming, like the plum color kimono on the mannequin.
The tea ceremony was the most proper tea ceremony i’ve done, and in a very formal and quiet manner.
The guest will enter the tea room through a small “crawling-in” door (nijiri-guchi), and then be seated in a seiza-position on the tatami (kneeling down with your legs folder beneath your thigh). I can never do seiza for more than 10 seconds T___T let alone pregnant now, so i was given a special seiza stool to be seated on, and it felt so so so so much better!
A few exchanges of bows between the guest and the host.
And the host performed the tea ceremony in the most delicate and elegant way T__T.
There are just so much to learn about from a (not so) simple tea ceremony, including details like the wagashi (Japanese sweets of the season), the hanging scroll, flower arrangement and tea equipment. It probably takes a whole wikipedia page to write about this but i was humbled by the whole beauty and significance of it.
Thank you for the amazing experience.
My first Tea Ceremony certificate!
After that i went out to the front door just to take a few pictures!
<3
After that I had lunch at Asakusa, and went to the best Unagi shop and had the best Unagi bowl. My first thought after i finished the whole meal was : I want to order another one. XD
Tokyo Metro – Welcome Boards
After Asakusa, I took the same Ginza Line back to Ueno Station, which is just 3 stations away from Asakusa.
I found this one in Ueno Station. It is also available in Ueno, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Tokyo and Ikebukuro stations.
This is where you can get all the useful information on traveling in Tokyo in all the popular tourist places, and it is available in many foreign languages!
There’s also a huge screen with touch panel called the Journey Planner. Find your way around the subway using the Journey Planner touch panel. You can even search using voice recognition in English!
More about the welcome board on this page.
Free Wi-Fi!
Did you know?
Free Wi-Fi is available at 143 subway stations in Tokyo. You can view this map to see all the stations with free Wi-Fi!
Learn about how to connect to the free Wi-Fi on this page!
One interesting vending machine i saw at Ueno Metro Station. Metro’s books!!!
Yamada Labi, Shinbashi
After Ueno, i continue the Ginza Line back to Shinbashi Station, where a huge Labi Amenity & Tax Free shop is at!
Tourists’ heaven!!!
I LOVE THIS.
A whole section separated by the category of beauty products and BY RANKING! It makes selection sooooo easy (but also incredibly difficult at the same time because you just want to BUY EVERYTHING.)
On the second floor you get all the common items in a drug store. Snacks, household items, etc. I think Labi is doing an AMAZING job by putting up all the best-ranking products and popular products for easy shopping.
I was asking a store staff (Chinese-speaking, extremely polite and helpful) where can i get some of the popular Japan medicines recommended by Chinese websites which made the whole world go crazy, and she pointed to a rack i was standing right in front of.
The 12 Must Buy Drug Store Items.
Awesome. I recommend ALL of them.
Huh. Hello Kitty Sparkling Wine?! Why oh why Japan i love you. (But not now. I can’t drink alcohol now T__T)
My shopping!!
Organic Dinner at Ginza
After shopping, I went to Ginza to pamper myself with super healthy organic dinner. Just one stop away from Shinbashi, on Ginza Line again. The restaurant is called Dorobushi, and it is located in the Fancl building.
So much vegetable goodness!
My vegetarian platter!! It was lightly cooked yet flavorful with just the right kind of seasoning and sauce!
Complete with miso soup and multi-grain rice.
And that was the second day of my beauty trip with Tokyo Metro!!
76 CAFE, Omotesando
After i checked out on the last day before heading over to Tohoku for my next travel project, i dropped by 76CAFE again! Took a Metro ride from Gaienmae Station to Omotesando Station.
A very healthy roast beef rice bowl with extra avocado topping!!
Met up with Jillian and her new baby! Can’t believe we are all mothers now.
With baby Finn!
And… that’s all!
And remember again to get your Tokyo Metro Pass!
Tokyo Metro will be having their booth at the Japan Travel Fair this coming 12-14 Feb at 1 Utama, which i will be at too!
Come and find out all you need to know about getting around in Tokyo!! 😀
Visit:
www.tokyometro.jp
Thank you for sharing this with us… Just in time for me… I will be visiting Tokyo very soon… Been to Japan so many time and yet I never really visit Tokyo before hhahahaa~~~!!
I have planned my Tokyo trip this year end, thanks for the info. Hopefully I will get to experience the magic of Japan you always talk about!
I was so so excited to meet you at the Japan Travel Fair last weekend! I really can’t believe after following you so many years i get to meet you in person~~~~~ It was like a dream come true (^^)!!!!!! I am still a student so I am trying to save money for Japan! Thanks for always sharing your love, i really wish i can visit one day!!!
Please continue to share more!
The beauty station place sounds like heaven!! Cheesie have you used horse oil mask before? I heard many bloggers raving about it!
Cheesie!!!! It was soooo nice meeting you at One Utama the other day!!! Loved what you shared too!! I can’t wait to go to Japan soon with my bf this April! Hopefully get to catch some hanami!! Love you lots!!! And thanks so much for taking picture with me!!! 😀
Hi, for the labi tax free shop at shimbashi station,
Isnt walking distance from train station?
The variety of beauty products
Is comparable to shibjuk drug store? Thanks
I think the drug stores are similar, if you stay in Shinjuku maybe you don’t have to go all the way there, but this one is huuuuge and it’s super spacious! It provides a more comfortable shopping experience generally. 🙂
cheesie, is it ok if i have the shop name or some direction to the unagi shop at Asakusa? its ok if you dont remember :p thanks very much!!
I’m so so sorry but i really didn’t remmber T___T. It’s not one of the main street shop lots though. It’s about 5 mins walk away! I’ll update if i happen to remember!!
My dream is to wear a furisode too (hell my dream is to OWN a furisode lol XD) I’m never getting married so they won’t chop off my long sleeves. You look gorgeous in that furisode.
The “old-School” parts of Tokyo like Asakusa are among my favourites. I always stay there when I’m in Tokyo. I’m keeping note of these experiences you’ve shared, I’m definitely in for the furisode- and tea ceremony-experience. I knew these Things existed there but I never actually got to try it out yet.
And I loooove the thought about the Edo SMAP haha 😀
Haha or you can always get married and just pretend to be an ignorant gaijin lolol. The tea ceremony was so solemn it almost gave me chicken skin (in a good way). I need too to get in touch with the more traditional side of Japan.