☕ Hotel breakfast · later start🎮 Akihabara (James)🏛️ Ueno (Lister & Lisette)🐼 Pandas🛍️ Shopping run (Lister & Lisette)
☕ No early alarm. James vetoed the Tsukiji dawn run, so Friday starts slow — breakfast at the Cerulean and a later, unhurried departure. No queue to beat.
To Akihabara together, then split. Everyone heads to Akihabara first (~25–30 min by Metro) and browses the floors together for a bit. When you're ready, Lister & Lisette peel off to Ueno (one stop, ~6 min) for the museum, pandas and the shopping run; James stays on in Electric Town. Easy to reconvene for dinner.
Akihabara and Ueno are the north-east cluster, one stop apart; the shopping run drops down to Jimbocho. Tap a pin for its name.
The Day
morning · together
☕ Hotel breakfast — slow start at the Cerulean
ALL THREENo alarm
James vetoed the Tsukiji dawn run, so the day opens gently: breakfast at the hotel and a later, unhurried departure. Nothing time-critical this morning — head out when everyone's ready and split from there.
Then: everyone heads to Akihabara together (~25–30 min by Metro); Lister & Lisette split off to Ueno from there when ready.
late morning → PM · all, then James
🎮 Akihabara — Electric Town (together, then James)
START TOGETHERthen James stays
Everyone starts here — anime, retro games, figures and electronics across legendary multi-floor stores: Super Potato (retro games), Mandarake & Kotobukiya (figures), Animate, and the vast Yodobashi. Browse the floors together, then Lister & Lisette peel off to Ueno and James leads the rest at his own pace.
No shopping errands on James today — the ReFa, headphones and art-supply stops are all on Lister & Lisette's track (see below).
Your parallel afternoon: the Tokyo National Museum (Japan's largest — superb samurai and Buddhist galleries), Ueno Zoo (giant pandas Lei Lei & Xiao Xiao, ¥600) and the park itself. Collapses neatly to just museum + park if energy's low.
From Akihabara: one stop to Ueno, ~6 min. Easy to reconvene with James for dinner.
From Ueno it's one stop down to Akihabara for Yodobashi Akiba, then a short hop west to Jimbocho for the art shops — a tidy little run between the museum and dinner.
💆 ReFa (Lisette) — buy-fallback at Yodobashi Akiba: if she tried it at the Omotesando boutique yesterday but wanted to think it over, this is the place to buy — same brand-fixed price, no tax-free commission, points on top. CARAT RAY (legs/body) + Oshima Tsubaki camellia oil under one roof.
🖌️ Bumpodo — Jimbocho (art & stationery): historic art-supply store (est. 1887) — fine papers, art materials, stationery, café/gallery upstairs. Open ~10:00–18:30.
✏️ Optional — Tools Ochanomizu: modern art-supply shop (Copic-heavy, manga/graphic leaning), a few minutes from Bumpodo. Take it or leave it depending on time. (Sekaido in Shinjuku dropped — Bumpodo covers it without the detour.)
Route: Ueno → Akihabara (1 stop) for Yodobashi → Jimbocho for Bumpodo / Tools Ochanomizu.
Hotel breakfast at the Cerulean, later start (Tsukiji dropped — James veto) → all to Akihabara together (Super Potato, Mandarake, Kotobukiya, Animate, Yodobashi) → Lister & Lisette peel off to Ueno (Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Zoo pandas ¥600, park), then the shopping run: Yodobashi Akiba (ReFa + Sennheiser) → Bumpodo in Jimbocho (Tools Ochanomizu optional); James stays on in Electric Town → reconvene for dinner (Kyushu Jangara, Gyukatsu Motomura Akiba, or Magurobito).
No fixed morning timing now — head out when ready. Akihabara and Ueno are one stop apart, so the split is low-stress.
↪ Tomorrow: the big out-of-Tokyo day — Hakone. Early Romancecar from Shinjuku (leave the Cerulean 07:10), the mountain loop, soba lunch, a private onsen, back by 20:10. Seats already reserved.