02-23-2025 Walks

Woke up in the very early morning after getting about 6 hours of decent sleep (<!>). I dozed off and on until around 5:00, then we got up and had a light breakfast before heading out for a walk through Ueno Park. There was ice on the water, and it was pretty chilly in the shade. We walked around the water, saw the shrine, the walked over to where the Buddhist temple was, along with some museums. Here is when we started to look for a coffee shop, but the directions were convoluted by the proximity of Ueno Station. Eventually, I got us to a place with coffee and traditional Japanese breakfast, but there was a long line to get in, so I found another shop nearby. Coffee was decent, and warmth inside was better. From there, we walked back to the Airbnb to plot out the rest of the day's activities. We hung out there for a while, then walked to the Yushima subway station to head down to the Meiji Shrine and Harajuku area. When we go there, no issues with the subway, we walked to Afuri, a little ramen place nearby, seating 16 people at a I-shaped counter. The ramen was good, could have been a tad hotter for temperature, but still good and efficiently run. Then we walked down Takeshita St, extremely crowded and full of youth-and young People-oriented ships and restaurants. Saw places where you could interact with cats, dogs, dwarf pigs, even otters. Lots of sweets shops as well. After that, we walked on a nice wooded path to the Meiji Shrine, which was frankly a little disappointing. The grounds were impressive, but the shrine was more of a gathering place for people, not so grand in and of itself. We walked from there over to Yoyogi Park, hoping to see some cherry blossoms. There were just a few trees blossoming, none in the big grove, where I'm guessing it is pretty spectacular when in bloom. We sat and people watched for a while there, lots of girls in short skirts and platform shoes, dogs with jackets either on a leash or in a stroller. There were two groups of 50's-style dancers dancing to music on a PA system, it was a little odd but they looked to be having fun. We then walked back to the station and took the same train back to our Airbnb neighborhood. With these two excursions, we walked over 20k steps. We walked back to our Airbnb for a break, resting and taking it easy until it was time to get stuff for dinner. I thought I had located a bigger better discount market toward Ueno Park, so we walked over there. It was discount alright, but the food selection was poor, very little fresh food. We got some odds and ends and walked back, where I made green curry tofu and mushrooms for dinner, with rice. It was fine, filling. Then we had a quiet evening before turning in.