Tony Galiani Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 Caffe Veloce now accepts Suica cards and Mira in her usual pose. 5 Link to comment
RS18U Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 19 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said: After that not sure. Have you been to the Tokyo Subway Museum? Its in the south end of Edogawa City, at Kasai Station on the Tozai Line. I found it very interesting in November and also visited on one of my last days. https://www.chikahaku.jp/ 1 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 @RS18U - Thanks. I have not been but will add it to my list of possibilities - if not on this trip then on our next one. Having grown up in New York and ridden that subway all over I like museums like this. Tony 1 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Tony, Wow excellent 100 yen trees and scenery materials! I soooo keep hoping they open a store here in the dc area. Right now only the one up in ny on the east coast. An army travels on their stomach! Your posts make me hungry for a latte and something sweet… jeff 2 Link to comment
Little-Kinder Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 2 hours ago, Tony Galiani said: @RS18U - Thanks. I have not been but will add it to my list of possibilities - if not on this trip then on our next one. Having grown up in New York and ridden that subway all over I like museums like this. Tony I do recommend the train museum in Saitama. Especially after 2pm when all the schools are leaving 3 Link to comment
RS18U Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, Little-Kinder said: I do recommend the train museum in Saitama. Especially after 2pm when all the schools are leaving Good to know about the time since it was pretty busy when I went in November at opening time, although it was a Saturday too. Link to comment
Little-Kinder Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 21 minutes ago, RS18U said: Good to know about the time since it was pretty busy when I went in November at opening time, although it was a Saturday too. during the week of course, avoid week ends if you can, especially if you want to do the "rides" and simulators etc 1 Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 (edited) Tony, if you have time, try TamTam in Akihabara. I find it to be the best in the area for stock availability. Popondetta in Aki is also good and it sounds like you have been there already ("repackaged used buses"). I find Popondetta to be a bit too crammed and you really need time to check everything out. Next time you are in Daiso, and if "Legos" fancy you, see if you can find these. When my brother-in-law returned last month after spending 6 months in Japan with his wife, they picked these up for me at your typical Daiso ¥100 a package. They looked all over Tokyo and could not find the "B" Unit for Dr. Yellow like they did for the E7. They even have Kokis!!! 😁 EDIT: BTW, if you find a B unit for Dr. Yellow, can you pick it up for me? That gives me an incentive to meet you again somewhere in the world! 🙂 Edited March 13 by Kingmeow 3 Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 18 hours ago, Tony Galiani said: Also bought three sets of Tomix containers and as he was packing up my items, the shop owner gifted me the 2025 Kato catalog so that was a nice surprise. Oh, forgot to mentioned very nice of the shop owner! I had to buy mine from TamTam when I was there last Fall and it's not cheap! Something like ¥2300...for a catalog! the 2025 cover looks nicer in my opinion! Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 @Kingmeow - I will keep a look out for those as I would like to get to one more Diaso before we head out tomorrow. Explanation in my next post. I have seen Petit Block sets but none with a train theme so far. Tony Link to comment
Little-Kinder Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 8 hours ago, Kingmeow said: Tony, if you have time, try TamTam in Akihabara. I find it to be the best in the area for stock availability. Popondetta in Aki is also good and it sounds like you have been there already ("repackaged used buses"). I find Popondetta to be a bit too crammed and you really need time to check everything out. Next time you are in Daiso, and if "Legos" fancy you, see if you can find these. When my brother-in-law returned last month after spending 6 months in Japan with his wife, they picked these up for me at your typical Daiso ¥100 a package. They looked all over Tokyo and could not find the "B" Unit for Dr. Yellow like they did for the E7. They even have Kokis!!! 😁 EDIT: BTW, if you find a B unit for Dr. Yellow, can you pick it up for me? That gives me an incentive to meet you again somewhere in the world! 🙂 FYI they are way smaller than lego, if you want "lego" trains , you can find these on amazon jp and i bought one in the saitama railway museum 2 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 Typing this while try to get awake over coffee at our hotel. Last full day here thought we are not sure of our plans for the day yet. We have been a bit subdued since hitting Tokyo though that has not kept us from logging 15 kilometers wandering around yesterday. First stop yesterday turned out to be Bumpodo for (more) art supplies for the Princess followed by a visit to their excellent cafe. I had wanted to stop at the nearby guitar shop but, still being unhip, it was not open yet when we got there around 11:00AM. So I did a quick Daiso run to get a plastic box to carry items back and found a neat box which will be handy for storing incomplete modeling projects as well. For the grand sum of Y100. At Bumpodo I had their Fuwa (I hope that means fluffy) cinnamon toast - excellent! On the way there we emulated @kuro68000 and took a meandering route via back streets and that was fun. We came upon a tiny temple squeezed into the space by one house and another house with a little garden and stream feature as well as some interesting architecture. After Daiso, we thought it would be nice to see the Imperial Gardens. We had seen the gardens near the Imperial Palace but not the ones further west so made our way there - only to find out these are private. (Why this is not noted on Maps is beyond me and that was the first of my Maps frustration for the day.). Disappointing but not a big deal as we could continue on to Shinjuku Gyoen where we wandered around for awhile then relaxed with some lattes - though no sweets this time! Mira when to the greenhouse for awhile and I must confess to nodding off a bit as I sat on a nearby bench. A bit tired I guess. Next stop for us was the large five floor art supply store (the name escapes me) near the gardens while I headed over to Popondetta (for my next map frustration). None of the info lists the simple location - 7th floor of the Keio building - just an address which was not helpful. And Maps could not get my location right - telling me I had arrived when I had not. And I know that info is on the forum - I should have made notes before I went but had not originally planned to go there. Anyway, no Kokis but I did pick up a tram in what appears to be the Kochi colors. I noted @cteno4's personal WiFi spot on my way there. We reunited to go to our new favorite tonkatsu restaurant, Saboten. Even if one has to grind their own sesame seeds - they do provide the necessary tools. Once again Maps told us we were there when we weren't. If anyone wants to check it out, Saboten is on the 8th floor of the Keio Building. After dinner we headed over the Metropolitan Building for the light show. We ended up watching it from the street as we were a bit late and were not sure of the right viewing site. The theme was Pac Man Eats Tokyo. Our timing was also bad in relation to the featured shows. In Fukuoka, we missed the Godzilla show as it ended right before we got there. In Tokyo, they do the Godzilla show on the weekends so we will miss that here as well. We decide to call it a day at that point so back to the hotel to rest up for today. The Princess will be down for breakfast shortly and we will sort out what to do. I feel compelled, yes compelled to make it to at least one more Daiso and maybe Popondetta and/or Tam Tam stop but we shall see. Ciao, Tony 8 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 Okay - high brow or low brow? I had been thinking museums and Mira had been thinking aquarium but we are now thinking an alternate plan. Yanaka Ginza - Tokyo's cat themed shopping street where I can get cat tail donuts! Then on to Nippori Fabric Town for her while I walk down to Ueno and Akihabara. I can hit two Daisos as well as Tam Tam and Popondetta. Maybe pick up the TM-01 power unit I foolishly passed on yesterday. I suspect the dollar against the yen is not going to get better, and may get worse, so I am actually saving by buying now. Something all the enablers on the Forum want to hear! Ciao, Tony 4 2 Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 55 minutes ago, Little-Kinder said: FYI they are way smaller than lego, if you want "lego" trains , you can find these on amazon jp and i bought one in the saitama railway museum Yes, I understand they are smaller thus I put Legos in quotes. Not real Legos. Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 18 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said: I suspect the dollar against the yen is not going to get better, and may get worse, so I am actually saving by buying now. Something all the enablers on the Forum want to hear! Ciao, Tony Here! Here! Unfortunately it's below 150, at ¥148 to 1 USD. 1 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 1 hour ago, Tony Galiani said: I noted @cteno4's personal WiFi spot on my way there. I was scratching my head why you said this until i scrolled down and saw the picture! Excellent and definitely where i would get free internet. jeff Link to comment
RS18U Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 @Tony Galiani seems you have had a great trip, been fun and informative following along. Hope your trip home is good with no delays. Will 1 Link to comment
N-Osoi Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 17 hours ago, Kingmeow said: Tony, if you have time, try TamTam in Akihabara. I find it to be the best in the area for stock availability. Popondetta in Aki is also good and it sounds like you have been there already ("repackaged used buses"). I find Popondetta to be a bit too crammed and you really need time to check everything out. Next time you are in Daiso, and if "Legos" fancy you, see if you can find these. When my brother-in-law returned last month after spending 6 months in Japan with his wife, they picked these up for me at your typical Daiso ¥100 a package. They looked all over Tokyo and could not find the "B" Unit for Dr. Yellow like they did for the E7. They even have Kokis!!! 😁 EDIT: BTW, if you find a B unit for Dr. Yellow, can you pick it up for me? That gives me an incentive to meet you again somewhere in the world! 🙂 Just had a look through a Tokyo Daiso - either that was a limited time deal or the branch was sold out! Bummer. Don’t see space for it with the other brick things. I would have grabbed them! 5 Link to comment
Gunzel Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 That seems like a fairly limited selection of Petit Blocks in that store. We had heaps of the railway ones here in Australia six months ago, I can check if anyone wants them, they are significantly more expensive here though, A$3.30 each (about Y310). 4 Link to comment
ED75-775 Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 12 hours ago, Tony Galiani said: And I know that info is on the forum... Now why does that sound familiar... oh, because I posted about it in my random photos thread! And I included the Google Maps link for it too. Well done for finding it in the end. And if you think the US dollar to yen exchange rate's not flash, spare a thought for me who's looking at ¥85 to $1NZD right now or our Australian members on ¥93 to $1AUD. I'd happily take that ¥148 to $1 conversion right about now! Hopefully the exchange rates stabilize and start heading in the right direction before I travel. Alastair 1 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 Just a quick note about the Petit Blocks following up on @Kingmeow's request. I took a look today but no luck. I guess it is a case of grab it when you see it. All the Daiso's had some but they seemed to be the recent ones: Number 15 and 16 - C-11 and coach. And the only Daiso that had diorama supplies was the one at Nakano Broadway. Cheers, Tony 4 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 @ED75-775 - it was your post that prompted me to go to the Popondetta in Shinjuku. It was completely off my radar until I saw that. Worked out well for me as I was able to get that tram model there. Cheers, Tony 2 Link to comment
kuro68000 Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 On 3/11/2025 at 7:32 AM, Tony Galiani said: Okay - I thought it would be neat to post the pictures from yesterday while I was on the train as both JR Shikoku and the Tokaido Shinkansen theoretically have free WiFi. But in reality .... On our Nampu JR Shikoku requires you to enter your e-mail to which they send a verification to connect. That worked fine .... for about 10 minutes. It was weak and then cut out. To restore it - repeat above process. So I did not bother with that. On the Tokaido Shinkansen, I connected but download speeds were so glacial that every connection attempt would time out. So having arrived in Tokyo, I am going to post yesterday's pictures. That's been my experience too, it's very spotty and needs re-authorizing every 20 minutes. I don't know what their back-haul is but it's not very good. 17 hours ago, Tony Galiani said: At Bumpodo I had their Fuwa (I hope that means fluffy) cinnamon toast - excellent! Indeed it does. Fuwafuwa is one of those lovely double words, and onomatopoeia. Or kind of, because fluffy obviously doesn't make a sound, but somehow the words sound fluffy. I like double words for some reason. Pikipiki is bubble wrap, nakanaka mean something like "very" or "to a great extent". Wakuwaku is something like gushing water but can also refer to feelings of excitement. Mochimochi is kind of soft and sticky, like, uh, mochi... Dokidoki is a heart beating, and my favourite perapera which is something like "blah blah blah" but reserved for foreign languages that you don't understand. There are sort of semi ones as well like gyūnyū (cow's milk). You can order milk in some cafes but it tastes weird. 1 Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now