Tokyo, March 30
Door: Yaru
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Yaru
30 Maart 2020 | Japan, Tokio
10:11 EST – “Our last day in Tokyo”
(Sorry it's been too long but I still want to finish these logs :) Not only for you but for me as well! I hope it will still grab your interest a bit to read about my last day in Tokyo. I will probably also write about the flight back and such as to finish this story ;))
So we’ve already arrived at our last day in Tokyo and our second to last official day in Japan. Today was our only chance to visit the Starbucks Reserve Roastery located in Nakameguro. The Roastery had a notice online that they were closed until the 29th of March and we were afraid they would maybe extend their closing. So first thing I did in the morning was check online on their site if they were closed or not for the day. Luckily their notice of closure was gone so that meant they were open again!! So we got dressed and traveled with the metro to Nakameguro.
Once arrived we made our way to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. From stories and Youtube videos online we always heard that the Roastery is super busy and you usually have to wait for like 3H before you can get in. You’d get a ticket with a set time on it and that says when you can enter the queue. We were prepared for the worst but it was unexpectedly so calm. There were two doormen who were all dressed up in suits and opened the door for us. Once inside we got alcohol sprayed on our hands and we could enter the mail room. It was super fancy and so spacious inside! On your right hand you had a space where you could buy exclusive merchandise and on the left is where the roastery started. The building consisted of 4 floors and on each floor different kind of brewery. The first floor had the Coffee roastery. Here you could purchase special kinds of coffee and enjoy them with a snack which you could buy at a different counter. You could choose how your coffee would be prepared as there are several ways to prepare coffee XD I honestly don't know all of them as I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject but for all of the options you could clearly see how it would have been prepared for you as your drink was made right in front of you. The machines they used looked very pretty and unique. I'm sure if you google Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Tokyo you can get a better view of the inside, so check it out if you want!
Although I don’t really enjoy coffee I still decided to buy a drink considering this was probably a once in a lifetime experience XD Jo-Anne also got a coffee and we drank them on the second floor. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t like the coffee hahaha It wasn’t that strong but it had a little watery and bitter undertone. I think my coffee was a‘Decaffeinated Costa Rica Hacienda Alsacia’. Yeah, I also don’t know what all that means but I did get a very pretty card with the name on it so of course Ikept that~On the second floor there was a tea and soda brewery which looked really cute! To wash away the coffee taste we also bought a soda drink. Jo-anne had a Soda pop with vanilla ice on top and I had a Cherry Blossom soda! We also bought cinnamon buns at the sweets counter downstairs as we didn’t have breakfast yet XD I really liked the Cherry Blossom Soda and I’m glad we drank the coffee first and the soda second.
After we were done with that we explored the other floors. Next to the Starbucks was a small river which had a lot of cherry blossom trees on each side and they were in full bloom. So from the upper two floors we had a beautiful view of the blooming blossoms. We of course took a lot of pictures there and walked the balcony located on the third and fourth floor. The aesthetic of the Starbucks was really pretty and the had this really big roastery which reached up to the third floor and was a shining copper color. It wasn’t just a décor piece it actually roasts beans. We got to see how they refilled the oven. They had these tubes who had rotating things inside them so the beans were pushed up to the top in small portions. The oven was also decorated with cherry blossoms flowers and petal shapes cut out from the same shining copper material which hung from the ceiling. In all, the roastery was really big and really pretty!
In the end I bought a souvenir for a friend of mine and we left the Starbucks. We didn't really know where we were in the city but Jo-Anne suddenly remembered that we hadn't visited a Nintendo store here yet so we searched on Google Maps and discovered there was one nearby! The Nintendo store could be compared to the Pokemon Centers we visited. But then of course it was themed with all sorts of games which Nintendo owned XD An employee approached us and said that if we would log in in our Nintendo accounts we could participate in a small game. Lucky for us we both do have an account so we logged in and let her scan a specific QR code. Once that was done we could randomly choose a free sticker! The stickers depicted iconic characters from numerous games, I got Inkling girl from the game 'Splatoon' and I believe Jo-Anne got Yoshi from the Mario franchise but I'm not sure XD
The store also had a whole section of Animal Crossing related stuff and we were so excited as - maybe you've heard - but Animal Crossing New Horizons was just released for the Nintendo Switch and we too really wanted to play that game once we came back from Japan. Jo-anne bought a AC themed case for her Nintendo Switch which was really pretty. There was also a Kirby themed section and I really love Kirby XD so I bought a hard, sparkly phone case with moving glitters inside!We wandered around the store for quite some time and both bought some souvenirs for some friends. The Nintendo store was inside a big department store so naturally we wandered around in other stores too.
Once we had enough we decided it was time to take a break and found a small cafe. I do have to say sometimes you don't know where you are in Tokyo but then as you walk around you suddenly recognize the streets again because you've been there before. It's pretty weird because I do think Tokyo is really big and I'm sure in the time we've been there we haven't even explored all of it's districts but then again, I had absolutely no Idea where exactly Nakameguro is located in Tokyo but as we wandered from there we suddenly came to a part I recognized again and it just shocked me that those two places were this close to each other. Of course it's not weird because I am just a tourist and don't know the exact lay-out of Tokyo but I think it's just funny and amazing to be able to explore and come across such discoveries as you go. I am truly grateful that I could have made this journey through such a vastly different country.
Back to this day XD We made a small stop in a cafe and drank some juice before getting up again. I'm not entirely sure what we exactly did that day but I think we traveled to Shibuya once again to go for some evening shopping before dinner!
For dinner we decided to end with a banger and went to a Nabezo place! Do you still remember what Nabezo - Sukiyaki is? Well if not a quick refresher, we also had this when we were in Akasaka. Sukiyaki is a sort of Hotpot where you can boil several kinds of thinly sliced meat and all sorts of vegetables! We of course got an all-you-can-eat course with an all-you-can-drink course as well. Sukiyaki is super delicious in my opinion and you get really full of it XD It was a perfect last meal hahaha I am sure going to miss this sort of food once back in the Netherlands.
Well after our meal we went back to the hotel and started packing our stuff :( We decided on our clothes as we had a 11H 30MIN flight waiting for us and freshened up a bit before getting into bed. It was almost a struggle for me to close my second smaller suitcase as it was filled to the brim with souvenirs and presents XD I managed to close it in the end but I'm just hoping everything inside will survive the long trip back.
That's it for today~ Stay tuned for the last few experiences as we depart from Narita airport and my afterthoughts now that I'm home again ^^Thank you for showing so much interest up until now!
- Yaru
(Sorry it's been too long but I still want to finish these logs :) Not only for you but for me as well! I hope it will still grab your interest a bit to read about my last day in Tokyo. I will probably also write about the flight back and such as to finish this story ;))
So we’ve already arrived at our last day in Tokyo and our second to last official day in Japan. Today was our only chance to visit the Starbucks Reserve Roastery located in Nakameguro. The Roastery had a notice online that they were closed until the 29th of March and we were afraid they would maybe extend their closing. So first thing I did in the morning was check online on their site if they were closed or not for the day. Luckily their notice of closure was gone so that meant they were open again!! So we got dressed and traveled with the metro to Nakameguro.
Once arrived we made our way to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. From stories and Youtube videos online we always heard that the Roastery is super busy and you usually have to wait for like 3H before you can get in. You’d get a ticket with a set time on it and that says when you can enter the queue. We were prepared for the worst but it was unexpectedly so calm. There were two doormen who were all dressed up in suits and opened the door for us. Once inside we got alcohol sprayed on our hands and we could enter the mail room. It was super fancy and so spacious inside! On your right hand you had a space where you could buy exclusive merchandise and on the left is where the roastery started. The building consisted of 4 floors and on each floor different kind of brewery. The first floor had the Coffee roastery. Here you could purchase special kinds of coffee and enjoy them with a snack which you could buy at a different counter. You could choose how your coffee would be prepared as there are several ways to prepare coffee XD I honestly don't know all of them as I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject but for all of the options you could clearly see how it would have been prepared for you as your drink was made right in front of you. The machines they used looked very pretty and unique. I'm sure if you google Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Tokyo you can get a better view of the inside, so check it out if you want!
Although I don’t really enjoy coffee I still decided to buy a drink considering this was probably a once in a lifetime experience XD Jo-Anne also got a coffee and we drank them on the second floor. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t like the coffee hahaha It wasn’t that strong but it had a little watery and bitter undertone. I think my coffee was a‘Decaffeinated Costa Rica Hacienda Alsacia’. Yeah, I also don’t know what all that means but I did get a very pretty card with the name on it so of course Ikept that~On the second floor there was a tea and soda brewery which looked really cute! To wash away the coffee taste we also bought a soda drink. Jo-anne had a Soda pop with vanilla ice on top and I had a Cherry Blossom soda! We also bought cinnamon buns at the sweets counter downstairs as we didn’t have breakfast yet XD I really liked the Cherry Blossom Soda and I’m glad we drank the coffee first and the soda second.
After we were done with that we explored the other floors. Next to the Starbucks was a small river which had a lot of cherry blossom trees on each side and they were in full bloom. So from the upper two floors we had a beautiful view of the blooming blossoms. We of course took a lot of pictures there and walked the balcony located on the third and fourth floor. The aesthetic of the Starbucks was really pretty and the had this really big roastery which reached up to the third floor and was a shining copper color. It wasn’t just a décor piece it actually roasts beans. We got to see how they refilled the oven. They had these tubes who had rotating things inside them so the beans were pushed up to the top in small portions. The oven was also decorated with cherry blossoms flowers and petal shapes cut out from the same shining copper material which hung from the ceiling. In all, the roastery was really big and really pretty!
In the end I bought a souvenir for a friend of mine and we left the Starbucks. We didn't really know where we were in the city but Jo-Anne suddenly remembered that we hadn't visited a Nintendo store here yet so we searched on Google Maps and discovered there was one nearby! The Nintendo store could be compared to the Pokemon Centers we visited. But then of course it was themed with all sorts of games which Nintendo owned XD An employee approached us and said that if we would log in in our Nintendo accounts we could participate in a small game. Lucky for us we both do have an account so we logged in and let her scan a specific QR code. Once that was done we could randomly choose a free sticker! The stickers depicted iconic characters from numerous games, I got Inkling girl from the game 'Splatoon' and I believe Jo-Anne got Yoshi from the Mario franchise but I'm not sure XD
The store also had a whole section of Animal Crossing related stuff and we were so excited as - maybe you've heard - but Animal Crossing New Horizons was just released for the Nintendo Switch and we too really wanted to play that game once we came back from Japan. Jo-anne bought a AC themed case for her Nintendo Switch which was really pretty. There was also a Kirby themed section and I really love Kirby XD so I bought a hard, sparkly phone case with moving glitters inside!We wandered around the store for quite some time and both bought some souvenirs for some friends. The Nintendo store was inside a big department store so naturally we wandered around in other stores too.
Once we had enough we decided it was time to take a break and found a small cafe. I do have to say sometimes you don't know where you are in Tokyo but then as you walk around you suddenly recognize the streets again because you've been there before. It's pretty weird because I do think Tokyo is really big and I'm sure in the time we've been there we haven't even explored all of it's districts but then again, I had absolutely no Idea where exactly Nakameguro is located in Tokyo but as we wandered from there we suddenly came to a part I recognized again and it just shocked me that those two places were this close to each other. Of course it's not weird because I am just a tourist and don't know the exact lay-out of Tokyo but I think it's just funny and amazing to be able to explore and come across such discoveries as you go. I am truly grateful that I could have made this journey through such a vastly different country.
Back to this day XD We made a small stop in a cafe and drank some juice before getting up again. I'm not entirely sure what we exactly did that day but I think we traveled to Shibuya once again to go for some evening shopping before dinner!
For dinner we decided to end with a banger and went to a Nabezo place! Do you still remember what Nabezo - Sukiyaki is? Well if not a quick refresher, we also had this when we were in Akasaka. Sukiyaki is a sort of Hotpot where you can boil several kinds of thinly sliced meat and all sorts of vegetables! We of course got an all-you-can-eat course with an all-you-can-drink course as well. Sukiyaki is super delicious in my opinion and you get really full of it XD It was a perfect last meal hahaha I am sure going to miss this sort of food once back in the Netherlands.
Well after our meal we went back to the hotel and started packing our stuff :( We decided on our clothes as we had a 11H 30MIN flight waiting for us and freshened up a bit before getting into bed. It was almost a struggle for me to close my second smaller suitcase as it was filled to the brim with souvenirs and presents XD I managed to close it in the end but I'm just hoping everything inside will survive the long trip back.
That's it for today~ Stay tuned for the last few experiences as we depart from Narita airport and my afterthoughts now that I'm home again ^^Thank you for showing so much interest up until now!
- Yaru
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