Japan September 2016 - Part 2 Tokyo

On the second day, my plan was to walk around Yanaka Ginza Shopping Street and then shop at Nippori Textile Street. Before leaving Shinjuku Station, we decided to find proper breakfast around the area. It turned out that most restaurants open at 11 am, and the ones open were either a bakery or a coffee shop without proper breakfast.

The outer area of the 2nd floor of NEWoMan building attached to Shinjuku Station had a row of modern looking cafes but most just served pastries and coffee. The man got grumpy without eggs for breakfast but he agreed to settle with DEAN & DELUCA 新宿NEWoMan店 that turned out to be a disappointment even for me. Neither coffee nor pastries were to my liking. Oh well....

BicQlo Shinjuku

We took the train to Nippori Station and arrived close to noon. DH decided that it would be too hot to walk around Yanaka Ginza Shopping Street so we decided to switch it up and headed to Nippori Textile Street first.

Have you ever seen the inside of a vending machine?

Shiny fire truck

Lineup at McDonald's

On the train to Nippori station, we spotted a cute logo on a building that featured a black cat carrying a kitten. DH Googled it and it turned out to be a very famous logo from Yamato courier company, proclaiming their promise to handle their cargo with care just like a cat caring for its kitten. The black cat logo is called Kuroneko which is literally 'black cat'. After that, we started spotting it everywhere.

Kuroneko sign

I guess having fire hydrant sign so high makes it more visible

So I walked around the textile street and I was like a kid in a candy store. They had many different fabrics and sewing/craft supplies. It was so difficult to choose!

Store display

Store display. The store sold fabrics

Elastic ruffles for sale

Craft hardware for sale

Terai Dance Company

Meanwhile, DH went ahead on his own to browse the area. He found this small Coffee Store and bought me a cold drip pot that I had wanted.

I was told that TOMATO 本館 was a good store for fabric and that they had a lot of selection. Well it turned out that on that street they had several different stores, some of them 6 stories high with soooooo many different fabrics. It was amazing!

Check out that Nani Iro on the wall

I also spotted some of the fabrics we sell at Click and Stitch there!

They had a wide selection of laminates... I almost bought them.

In the end, I left the textile street with these in DH's backpack :) Bunch of Japanese double gauzes... aren't they just adorable?!

To get to Yanaka Ginza, we had to go through the station again because it was located on the other side of the station. In the Nippori Station, we came across this booth with stamps on them. Aren't they cute?! It seems like there are different stamps in different locations and we can collect them when we visit those locations.

It was not difficult to find Yanaka Ginza from the station, and the old town feel was very prominent as soon as you exit the station. My Japanese friend said that this area is known to locals but not to foreign visitors yet. But I think with the Japan Tourism promotions and the internet, areas like this one become more and more popular. There were many other foreign tourists when we were there.

The whole area seems to have a Cat theme, selling all kinds of cat themed items starting from ceramics, toys, and even food.

At the end of the street, we had the option of turning right or left. We turned right.

It was past lunch time and we were getting hungry so we decided to have some ramen. It was one of those you order from a vending machine.

Afterwards we continued walking and it was around time kids came home from school, I think. The whole street was closed to cars and there were many, many moms and children with their bicycles on the street.