Taito City Loop Bus – Megurin

As a tourist in Tokyo most people are pretty much limited to getting around on trains and subway, with the occasional use of taxis, trams and ferries. My dream of a zeppelin passenger service connecting Hakone, Odaiba (in Tokyo) and Odawara still hasn’t won the approval of the Japanese government! Actually though, there is also a pretty excellent bus service in the city, filling the gaps between hard to connect stations. For example, the most convenient way of getting from Shibuya to Roppongi, to major centers inside Tokyo and not far away there is no trains or subways and you’d have to do a lot of tricky detours to stay within the subway system to get from Shibuya to Roppongi, if it wasn’t for the excellent bus service! Things have become even more convenient in the last few years as you can now use your train passes on buses as well. In Tokyo’s tourist destination number one, Taito City (home of Asakusa, Kaminarimon, etc.) there is a loop bus system aimed exclusively at tourists, the Taito City Loop Bus, or Megurin for short. Consisting of small frequent buses on three interconnecting routes and tickets for 100 yen per ride or 300 yen for a day pass it’s easy and convenient for local tourists to travel around Taito, and especially the route connecting Ueno station with Asakusa station. Taito is also full of other more minor things to see and do and if you’re into the charms of downtown Tokyo but want to spare your legs it is a good way to just loop around and see so much more of the city in these slow buses than what you can see from the subway or trains. The only trouble is that most of the information is in Japanese! But if you have a local friend to help out, or if you are a local and want to show visitors around, this is an excellent way to spend a day in Tokyo. Besides, the buses are really cute. Here’s a map in Japanese of the routes – pretty impressive!

Taiyaki Headwear

I saw these two beauties on the streets of Shibuya (that’s where all the kids hang out, and increasingly, foreign tourists: I wonder when Japanese teens and young adults became a tourist attraction?). Usually I wouldn’t have needed any excuse for it but their taiyaki headgear almost forced me to take their picture. I love that they’re deep in a serious discussion while wearing paper novelty hats! Naturally I had to check out their source and it turns out a national chain store of taiyaki (traditional sweets made out of red bean azuki paste fried in pancake batter) food stands had a campaign. The two dudes wearing the bigger taiyaki headgear gave me the first clue. If you spot these on a street near you, don’t forget to ask for a paper headband!

This reminds me, when I get the time I’ll dig up that photo of a baby in Shimokitazawa with the same headband. Adorable.



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