At the Cat Cafe
After a short stop at Amber’s to unload the loot, I went straight to Asakusa. Tripadvisor had hinted me to a small cat café that I liked from the looks of it. Cuddling a few cats was just what I needed because I was already missing my little cutie pie.
I wanted to go to Asakusa anyway to visit the Sensō-ji. So that worked out perfectly. I asked Amber whether she would like to meet for dinner, to which she agreed. Then I set off.
Exploring the metro
This time I decided to take the subway. Inarichō subway station was only five minutes away, and this would be a good opportunity to check out the route to that station. Both this and Ueno main station would be the focal point for many of my tours. Well, of course, I ended up going down the wrong set of stairs, and on the wrong side. Sacrilege! But luckily there was no one else around, and since the Ginza line runs every five minutes, it didn’t matter. I just took the next train.
I would quickly come to appreciate this: a) the metro is reliable and b) at least during rush hour the service is so frequent that you don’t have to race through the city or the station like a startled rabbit.
At the station
When I arrived at the station, I was once again impressed by the efficiency. No annoying ticket purchase, just put the Suica on at the entrance, ride, put it back on at the exit, and have it debited. Done. If you need to recharge the card, there are machines everywhere.
If you do have cash. Because Japan is definitely still a cash country in many places. Later, I learned that it is easy to withdraw cash at the Konbini (Seven-Eleven, Family-Mart, Lawson, etc.). There you can also recharge your Suica with a credit card. But that is not (normally) possible at the train station.
There are often automated gates on the platform so that you can wait in the right place and stand in a well-mannered line. Google Maps has a function telling you which carriage is best to get on so you can exit quickly at your destination. It also tells you the exits, however many of the train stations are just confusing. In Asakusa, where I’ve been quite often, I kept getting lost because I simply didn’t know where to go next and the entrances are quite far apart.
Cat!
But somehow it all worked out, and the GPS guided me to the cat cafe. I was a little nervous. This would be my first real encounter with the locals. What if the owner/operator doesn’t speak English? Would I make a fool of myself?
But as everywhere during my whole trip, it was a thoroughly pleasant experience. The owner spoke a little English, we had a very nice conversation, I dutifully took off my shoes and was then allowed to relax for an hour:
