Day 5: Tokyo Sky Tree and Gōtoku-ji - Two cats and a crazy lady

With Sendai on the itinerary for the following day, I decided to keep things relaxed for my last day in Tokyo. I went up the Sky Tree, then on to Gōtoku-ji, the cat temple dedicated to the Maneki-Neko. And, since I’d soon be riding the Shinkansen, there was also a voucher to exchange for my JR Pass.

Tokyo Sky Tree

First stop was the Sky Tree, where glorious weather delivered a spectacular view over Tokyo — and, as a bonus, a rather stylish second breakfast involving a cocktail and a slice of cake:

Day 5: Tokyo Sky Tree

I have a weakness for viewing platforms of any kind (as long as they aren’t church towers with narrow stairs or rickety ladders). So it was clear to me that I absolutely had to go up to the Tokyo Sky Tree. I couldn’t say no to enjoying the view over the entire city at a height of 450 m and, if I was lucky, even see Mount Fuji. In contrast to many other attractions, I actually managed to get a ticket for Monday relatively easily. The combined ticket for the gallery and the “normal deck” at 350 m was not…

Tokyo Station

En route to the cat temple, I passed through the architecturally striking Tokyo Station — the perfect place to exchange my voucher and lock in seat reservations for the Shinkansen. A good excuse to admire the building itself while I was at it, and naturally, a few photos followed:

Day 5: Marunouchi and Tokyo Station

On the way from the Sky Tree to Gōtoku-ji in Setagaya, I made a short stop at Tokyo Station. On the one hand, the building is absolutely worth seeing, and on the other hand, I wanted to exchange the voucher for the JR Pass. Because the next day I was going on a tour! Tokyo Station I had briefly visited the station the evening before on the way back from Odaiba and had already taken a few pictures. Today, however, I wanted to devote a little more time to the building. The station consists of two architecturally very different parts:…

Gōtoku-ji, the Cat Temple

The day’s second main destination was Gōtoku-ji and its army of Maneki-Neko, tucked away in the quieter Setagaya district. I spent a wonderfully peaceful afternoon there, well away from the usual city noise:

Day 5: Gōtoku-ji – the cat temple

The “cat temple” Gōtoku-ji is located in the Setagaya district. The complex was built in the 17th century during the Edo period. There is a lovely legend about its history: In the 17th century Edo period, a poor monk lived in a small, run-down temple in Setagaya. Despite his poverty, he took cats into the temple and shared his meager meals with them. One day, Lord Naotaka Ii of the Hikone district was out hunting when a storm suddenly came up and he took shelter under a mighty tree near the temple. At the entrance to the temple, he noticed…

Akihabara and Dinner

To finish the day, I made a return visit to Akihabara for a dose of cosplay culture and mecha merchandise, followed by a satisfying dinner in Asakusa. All in all, a relaxed send-off before the journey to Sendai began the next day:

Day 5: Akihabara and Dinner in Asakusa

To round off the day I go to Akihabara and finally to Asakusa for dinner. Akihabara: Hunt for scale model kits In Akihabara I had already visited the Yodobashi Akiba, ostensibly looking for electronics. But then I found a fairly large model building department there. Today I wanted to see if the other shops in the area had more to offer in this regard. So I went to the Unfortunately, in neither store I could find what I was looking for – there are certainly large model building departments, also for classic Plamos. But the selection there consisted on the…