My last day in Tokyo!! So I had to try and do as much as possible; all the things I hadn’t managed to do up until then HAD TO BE DONE TODAY. I would say it was a fairly productive day.
So I started out with lunch at Taimeiken, which is famous for its omurice, which I hadn’t had the chance to have yet. And true to its name, it was really delicious. Like, seriously delicious. I got the tampopo chicken omurice (I THINK; it’s been so long). The omelette is creamy and fluffy all at the same time. The one mistake I made was to add all the ketchup which really wasn’t necessary, cos the rice was already fried in ketchup. So my dish turned out wayyyy too ketchupy. But it was still delicious. And the place filled up quite quickly as well.
Next I went to Showakan. Showa is like a time period in Japanese history during which WWII occurred. They didn’t allow photos, which was a pity. But they had a free museum guide (in English!!) so that was pretty cool. It was really interesting cos it showed a little bit of what life was like for the Japanese during the war. I think in the media (much of which is propagated by the US) the Japanese are often portrayed as the “bad people” who wanted to take over the world. Even in history at O Levels (at least the one I remember) Japan was projected as a country that wanted to take control of the Pacific region. This is true, but the overemphasis or over-portrayal of power hungry Japan invades the minds of most people, and we forget that their own citizens and civilians were victims of war as well. The museum showed how people had their food portions and variety reduced severely and how the Japanese were not spared from air raids and bombings from the Allies as well. It was quite sobering, learning from a Japanese perspective, and you realise that war is something really so, so evil and unnecessary.
After that, I needed to cheer myself up, so I went to the Science Museum. I kind of regret not committing an entire day to it, cos it is huuuuuge. Much, much bigger than the Edo-Tokyo, both physically, and in terms of activities at the museum itself. When I went, there were quite a lot of school children there, which made me a little bit stressed. And everything was in Japanese, so I had to seriously concentrate on everything hahaha. Very tiring, but very enjoyable. I’m a bit lazy to describe exactly everything there, but people should go there. Just like commit one entire day to visit the museum and do EVERYTHING there.
I was there until about 30 minutes before closing time, and I initially thought of going to the Japanese Imperial Gardens which was nearby, but that was going to close soon too and I didn’t want to pay money and rush through it, so I decided to head back.
I stopped en route at Menya Takeichi for chicken ramen, which was one of the places recommended by my host. And THANK GOD FOR THIS RECOMMENDATION. Because seriously, BEST. CHICKEN. RAMEN. EVER. Like, I’m not even kidding.
It was practically empty when I went, but I went pretty early. It seems to be more of a late night, supper place. Opens till pretty late. It was really delicious. There are no words for it. The broth is creamy and savoury and perfect. The chicken is the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth thing ever. I’ve never had such good chicken ramen before. Well, to begin with, chicken ramen is not that common, but this is a serious gem. I walked out feeling SO happy and satisfied. Japan has a lot of good food. The time and dedication to their craft, no matter which industry, is something that really deserves respect.
So, it was my last night, and I decided to throw my shoes away cos they lasted me the entire trip of a lotttttt of walking, so much so that they were wearing out at the bottom. They served me really well. There’s a quote that goes, you should always wear a pair of beautiful shoes, because they will take you to beautiful places. Well, you should wear any pair of shoes because you choose the damn beautiful places you want to go to. And Japan, you have been beautiful.
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