Sat, Dec 14, 2013 (Day #5)

I-Land Patio

I-Land Patio is an 660 square meters large patio area within the vicinity of the Shinjuku I-Land Tower. There are a variety of restaurants and shops at I-Land Patio, so it's a great place to relax if you're ever in Shinjuku. For those who enjoy eating outdoors; there is an open courtyard area with chairs and tables available.


Address: 6-5-1, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Open Hours: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

The L.O.V.E Sculpture
The LOVE sculpture is an iconic sculpture based on a pop art image by artist, Robert Indiana. There are countless versions of the sculpture worldwide, and luckily there was one in Tokyo. It is located right outside of the Shinjuku I-LAND Tower in Nishi-Shinjuku, and it's definitely not hard to miss.


Welcome to Akihabara


After finishing up taking photos of the LOVE sculpture; it was time to head to Akihabara. Akihabara is a district that is well known for their otaku culture (anime and manga), and a central shopping area for the latest electronics. It was unbelievable as to how many shops there were that was devoted to anime and manga.

Lunchtime @ Chimney

I ordered the yakitori platter (¥819) which came with five skewers of grilled meat. I absolutely loved each skewer as the meat was tender, and flavorful. My personal favorite was probably the grilled chicken and sausage.

The soup base for the Japanese hot pot (¥680) was pretty, but there were a lot more veggies than seafood in the pot.

The chicken udon (¥580) was a decent dish but nothing too spectacular. Instead of alcohol, we decided to order two cups of coke (¥600).

The total cost for lunch was ¥4107 for the both of us.

Desserts @ Gundam Cafe

Originally, I wanted to have lunch at Gundam Cafe, but the menu didn't really appeal to me. Therefore, we decided to go to the Gundam Cafe for some desserts after lunch.

Exploring Akihabara

It was already getting dark in Akihabara when we decided to go exploring the district. However, the district is extremely bright due to the illuminating lights from all of the shops and buildings.

UDX Building of Akihabara Crossfield.

Gashapon machines are everywhere in Japan; prices vary between 100-500 yen.

I spent about an hour exploring K-Books and the other stores in the same building. The fourth floor was entirely dedicated to selling gashapon toys and figures. The toys here were a lot more expensive than what you'd find in the machines though as the higher-priced items were 800-1500 yen each (popular/collectible items).

Don Quijote

Don Quijote is a huge discount store in Japan and there are multiple locations in various cities. They offer a wide selection of Japanese products such as food, kitchen and cleaning supplies, costumes, figures, candies, cosmetics, health care and so much more. The Akihabara branch has 8 floors in total, and you can literally spend hours shopping there.



Quick snack @ Home Cafe (Maid Cafe)

Located on the 5th floor of Don Quijote is the @ Home Cafe; a popular maid cafe. Unfortunately, photography was strictly prohibited inside so I couldn't take any pictures of the interior. It was definitely an interesting experience having the maids addressing me as "mistress". However, like a majority of novelty and themed restaurants; people usually come to these places for their atmosphere and ambiance, and not the food. I opted for the @Home Cafe Special Omelet Rice (¥1,1000). I thought that my omelet was pretty overcooked but I did like the cute heart drawings with the ketchup on my egg.


Dinnertime @ Tsubame KITCHEN Marunouchi




Tsubame KITCHEN Marunouchi specializes in German sausages.


I ordered the grilled sausage (¥890) and a side order of bread (¥210). Had I known that the portion of this dish consists of nothing more than one piece of sausage; I'd probably gotten another dish. However, the sausage was definitely delicious and full of flavor.

My boyfriend ordered  the homemade vienner sausages & eisbein (¥1100).

After dinner, we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel.