Feeding time, and the zoo

Hi! Lucinda writing an update on day number 4 of our trip to Tokyo.

We've both been very tired today as we're struggling to adjust to the time difference and didn't get a full night's sleep last night.

It was an early start this morning - as George mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, we were visiting another Michelin starred restaurant, but this time with a twist.

Tsuta was the first ramen noodle restaurant ever to receive a Michelin star, and is all the way over on the west side of the city in Sugamo, two train journeys away.

You go in the morning to get a ticket and come back later in the day. As they only have limited availability, they recommend that you go along early. We managed to wake up shortly after 8am to book a slot for 2pm.

With a few hours free, we caught a train to Ueno which was only a few stops away from the restaurant to look at the markets and go to the zoo.

I was a bit hesitant when George first mentioned the idea of us coming to Tokyo. As he was trying to convince me, one of his selling points of the trip was the amazing zoo that they have, and the wide variety of creatures.

One in particular that fascinated him was called the shoebill - a type of stork. When he initially showed me on a picture on Google, I got the fright of my life. My dad was there, and he thought it was hilarious so it actually made him want to go to Japan too!

George has a theory that if regular storks are the ones that deliver babies, shoebills look more likely to kidnap them.

When we arrived at the zoo there was a big queue, but it went down fairly quickly. We were both impressed by how cheap it was to get in (600 yen each, or £4.14).

With only a few hours until lunch, George suggested that we visit the shoebills first (as this was the highlight for him), then make our way round as many other animals as we could.

They were in fact creepier looking in real life than they were in the images online. There was even a sign at the side saying not too go to close to the fence as they can bite, so I kept my distance.

We also got to see loads of other cool animals up close including polar bears, giraffes, kangaroos, gorillas, rhinos, iguanas, elephants and tigers.

Throughout the afternoon we heard regular tannoy announcements explaining that it was very busy, and instructing everyone to keep an eye on their kids.

So as you can imagine, my anxiety levels went through the roof when a parent allowed their small child to climb up on the fence of the bear enclosure to take a picture!

Just next to the zoo was Ueno Park which is holding a Ninja Festival this weekend.

We went in to have a look around and were drawn right away to a stall selling cups of sake (Japanese rice wine).

We were given a lovely ceramic sake cup as a gift, and each tried five different types of sake. The girls serving us were very funny, as we obviously couldn't speak Japanese, and they couldn't speak very good English. Instead we spoke through sign language, which they found very amusing!

They had so many amazing-looking street food outlets, but we had to resist everything as we had our ramen lunch coming up soon!

We saw kids and adults dressed up and acting as ninjas, and lots of different games for people to play including a blow darts board. We only spent around half an hour there but the festival is still on tomorrow so we may go back if we have any spare time to explore.

Next up was the lunch, which we were well ready for as we hadn't had much to eat all morning in preparation.

We had a short wait outside, as it's very small with only around 8 seats inside, but it was well worth it.

When you go in you select which bowl of ramen you want from a vending machine on the wall, and it prints off a ticket. You then present this to the chef who makes your meal in front of you.

I wasn't sure what to order but George pointed out a sign that recommended the popular dishes.

We both ended up ordering the same one which was seasoned with soy sauce and included char siu pork, won tons, soba noodles, soft boiled egg, spring onion and more.

It was incredible and very cheap at only 1800 yen (£12) per bowl for a Michelin star lunch. The portions were huge and George finished his but unfortunately I had to leave some.

I was laughing as we were eating, as George was very loudly slurping as apparently it is polite to do so in Japan! We only saw American visitors in at the same time as us, and they were surprisingly quiet in comparison.

Next stop was Ikebukuro, where we had a browse around a Japanese football shop which also sold some British kits including Manchester United.

George: "Where's all the Stranraer kits?!".

In Ikebukuro, we visited the Life Safety Learning Center. I didn't know what it entailed as it was one of George's suggestions, and when we went in the elevator I thought it was going to just be a museum that you walked around and looked at things. I couldn't have been more wrong.

We were initially taken into an auditorium to watch a short clip on fires and the impact that they have on people's lives.

Then, we were taken into a room and had to pretend there was a real fire. Flames appeared on a screen and we shouted "kaji-da!" (Japanese for "fire!") before opening a real fire extinguisher and spraying it at the "fire".

After that, we moved into another room, which filled with artificial smoke, and we had to try to escape. Of course, all of the safety advice was in Japanese which added an extra degree of difficulty!

To round off our very strange experience there was an earthquake simulator. George took part in this and I took some video and pictures of him.

The tour was led by a former member of the Japanese fire service, and it was scary watching the clips of recent earthquakes that have happened in Japan and the devastating trails they leave behind.

Thankfully, we are now both fully clued up on what to do if there's a fire or earthquake in the next week or so!

Tomorrow we're off to try some tasty treats and see more of the wacky side of Tokyo in Harajuku.

Lucinda