This post will conclude our 2 week(+) long honeymoon in Japan. It was magical from the beginning to end. We learned a lot about each other along the way and also getting to experience Japanese culture, food. Not to mention, great memories to share with each other and our loved ones.

Day 11-14 Tokyo 東京,

On Day 11, we decided we were ready to take on Akihabara. We have a few things on the docket for this day. We started as early as the shops open. We walked in and out of many buildings searching for unique items to bring home, and generally absorbing Akihabara. Juan told me that he wanted to come here ever since he was a young boy and read a headline “Akihabara the Game Capital of the World”. It truly didn’t disappoint Juan. He was like a little boy again!

I was recommended this Ramen Shop that happens to be a short walk from the center of Akihabara. It is called Kikanbo Ramen. Travel Tip: Most Ramen shop we go to in Tokyo are very efficient, there’s a line to order and pay through a vending machine. Cash and coin pouches are ultra handy for these kind of transactions. Most of these places will accommodate english speaking traveler by putting translation on their vending machine OR pictures. But you can’t really go wrong with their recommendation. This Ramen Shop is Juan’s favorite in the entire world. When we went on our subsequent trips to Japan, we will always go to this Ramen shop at least twice. He would describe this place in length about how the pork just melt in your mouth and spice levels they provide just gives their broth such flavorful intense taste. I’m gonna just share this picture and let you decide.

After our delicious lunch, we explored another part away from Akihabara - Akihabara was quite overwhelming for me (all the sounds, lights and people) So, Juan found a spot of boutique shops for me to check out called 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan. It was the perfect spot to wind down before we head to our special dinner spot: Ninja Akasaka.

Ninja Akasaka Dinner

It might be a very touristy thing to do, but we enjoyed our Ninja Akasaka experience immensely. I don’t want to spoil anything about the experience but we will share that we had a lovely meal and our sitting area was private, just for the two of us to enjoy. It was quite a lovely experience. Again, we had a set reservation for this spot and we chose our set courses when we reserve the spot. We only had to show up and pay for our meals at the end. I love how efficient everything is.

Day 12 Nakano Broadway,

Nakano Broadway was probably my favorite when it comes to the combination of shopping they have along with the pathway to get there. We found a great bakery where we shared delicious Baos (food is most important). We also stumbled upon a pet shop where Juan had to stop me from going in and adopting a japanese Inu as a surprise sibling for Jasper. Jasper would not have been very happy about it lol. I was also pleasantly surprised that there’s a Murakami Cafe inside Nakano Broadway. We (I) enjoyed a cup of cute coffee (Juan doesn’t drink coffee). Juan was also pretty absorbed watching a few gamers competing on a… uh, vintage gaming… thingy? heh, he’s a bit busy right now for me to ask what they are.

Day 13 Ghibli Museum,

I have been so excited about Ghibli Museum ever since I heard of its existence. Travel Tip: Ghibli Museum requires really ADVANCED reservation due to it’s popularity. It was quite nerve wrecking trying to figure out which day this Museum will fit within our trip. I set an alarm to make sure I booked the tickets properly and promptly because they do get filled up very very quick. If you live outside of Japan, you have to go through specific channels to get your advanced tickets and they can’t be transferred to other people either! The effort of reading through all the rules were TOTALLY WORTH IT. This Museum is one of the most imaginative and beautiful museums we ever visited. We can’t take pictures of inside of the museum, which I am actually glad about. I get to absorb without the need to snap pictures. We did snap quite a few pictures outside that I will share here.

After the considerable happiness of spending the entire morning and part of afternoon at one of my most favorite Museums to date, we were quite famished. I remember it was around 2PM and we were a bit outside of our usual Tokyo areas. This is when planning comes in handy! Through my research, I know exactly where to eat. Pepa Cafe Forest. Which happens to be a very delicious Thai Food spot. We only had to walk a little bit to reach the cafe and the food was so rewarding after being so hungry for hours by then. Along the way we got to see a few shrines and temples. We also got Juan a really tasty mango soft serve ice cream. Oh, I can’t believe I got this far in without mentioning Juan’s true love for Japanese dessert, especially soft serves. He goes crazy for them. He would eat soft-serve every hour if I don’t stop him. But, yes, my husband is obsessed!

Final couple of days in Tokyo 東京 😢,

We have reserved the final 2 days in a fancy hotel (that would have broke our budget if we had stayed there the entire duration) with a view of Tokyo Tower. Hotel name is Royal Park Hotel The Shiodome. We were glad we splurged a little bit because the view was really lovely, the hotel was super comfortable and has access to get to the train station pretty quickly. Not to mention, this is one of the few hotels that has a direct shuttle (for a fee) to get us to Narita without having to go somewhere else to catch train or bus. We were preparing for this because we did have a couple extra baggage from all the items we purchased to bring home. Travel tip: If possible, find a hotel that has shuttle reservation to get to either of the airports (Narita or Haneda), it will save you time and headache! Also, save a bit of money as taxis are very expensive in Tokyo.

In these final couple of days, we decided to take Tokyo in as best as we can, through walking AND eating a whole lot. We spent some time in Shibuya, Asakusa, Tokyo Solamachi and Ginza. Here are a few pictures from the places we visited. We also got to try out Ichiran Ramen, which is a very touristy ramen spot (lines are long on any time of the day) but ramen is good, so we can’t complain too much! It is also unique in a way. We don’t actually interact too much with the person handing out our ramen. They came up to our designated spot, pulled up the curtain, slid the ramen and close curtain again.

We went to Asakusa bright and early in the morning. We enjoyed lovely Onigiri breakfast from this little hidden shop Cafe Tomorrow Asakusa. It is an old fashioned cafe, and it is completely accurate in that description. They still allow smoking in their cafe (at the time we were there, not sure about now) and there was an older lady who sounded so raspy while smoking. She sounded like she had been smoking for 60 whole years. It was quite intense. Other than the bothersome smell of smoke, we really enjoyed the food.

Asakusa, Tokyo.

Yayoi Kusama’s famous dotted pumpkins hanging in one of the fancy Ginza stores.

We closed out our final day of honeymoon walking around Ginza after we ate Ramen at our favorite shop: Kikanbo Ramen.

It was bittersweet to say goodbye to our honeymoon, but we were also quite ready to come home to Jasper. We reminisce this trip often and we have such fond memories attached to Japan from the beginning of our marriage. We have gone back to Japan twice after our honeymoon trip and would most likely visit the city again in the future years. If you did follow along 3 parts of our 2 weeks honeymoon recap and got here, thank you for reading. It was such a pleasure for us to walk down this memory lane. I am hoping to write more recap of our travels soon. Until then, we’ll leave you with this picture of us. This picture was snapped during our flight home, a couple of flight attendants made conversation with us and found out that we were on our honeymoon. They then surprised us with the sweetest plate full of dessert. It was such a lovely way to end an unforgettable trip.

Honeymoon in Japan, Part 3 (2018)