Singapore & Tokyo | 2018

It was past 2pm when I departed the gardens. I wanted some lunch and I thought about a friendly little hole in the wall donburi and noodle shop nearby that I had patronized several times on past trips. I made my way there, collected a ticket from the vending machine for my 650 yen lunch, and happily devoured the value meal handed to me by a cheerful English speaking lady.

I finished my meal at around 3pm and wondered what else I could do as I wasn’t ready to head to Narita Airport. I started wandering aimlessly towards Shinjuku station and then came across crowds and street vendors near the Hanazono Shrine in Kabukicho. Wandering into the crowd, I marveled at the street vendors and saw people carrying the same type of offerings that I had seen earlier that morning at Tsukiji. I turned right towards the shrine and saw even more people and vendors. At the shrine itself, there were many stalls selling the offerings, and a long line of devotees waiting to go to the shrine, presumably to pay their respects. Now, I don’t speak the language, I didn’t know what the heck was going on, but I still reveled in this amazing display of local color and culture. This is what travel is all about: the possibility of endless fascination. Independent travel can be tedious at times, but the effort can really pay off when one encounters gems such as these.

After observing the temple celebration, I still wasn’t ready to head to Narita, so I decided to visit Thermae Yu onsen (which I visited last September) which, incidentally, was right next to the Hanazono Shrine. I spent a very enjoyable 1.5 hours soaking in the various pools, and then decided to enjoy a different perspective of the temple festival after sundown. The celebration was even more spectacular by night with lighted lanterns.

After another gander through the temple celebration, I reluctantly made my way to Shinjuku, retrieved my backpack, and took the next train to Narita Airport. En route to Shinjuku, I made a quick pitstop at Robot Restaurant and the Godzilla statue at Hotel Gracery.

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