Lyla D.
Yelp
Last April, we spent 3 days in Tōkyō, as an introduction to Japan before embarking on our cruise in Yokohama. Our first full day of sightseeing, cultural immersion, and retail therapy started with a visit to the Meiji Shrine and ended with a stop at Ameyoko. We also participated in a sushi-making session and a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony in Asakusa. We hopped back onto our tour bus and rode for about 15 minutes to Taitō City's famed Ameyoko Shopping Street near the Ueno Station.
I'm not a window shopper or casual shopper, so before we arrived at Ameyoko, or the shortened name for "Ameya Yokocho," I looked up shops selling quality dried seafood, such as oysters, scallops, shrimp, clams, and abalone. I found several shops that were also recommended by our local guide and made a bee-line to them. Along the way, I passed a couple of shops serving snacks and Japanese whiskeys which my husband and I were drawn to even after having stuffed ourselves at lunch. However, we were limited to just an hour to browse or shop so I only came away with the dried seafood which I stuffed into my luggage throughout the cruise.
As we left Ameyoko on our tour bus en route to our hotel, we passed a Starbucks Cafe on Okachimachi-Kasuga-dori Avenue where I happened to spot the backs of their Bearista Bear Collectibles dressed in kimonos in the window. Because I had casually collected the Bearista Bears since the late 90s up until their mid-to-late 2000s discontinuation in the USA, I was intrigued and wanted to get a pair of the bears. Unfortunately, since we disembarked in Singapore, I didn't get close to another Starbucks in Japan to look for the bears. By then, our luggage was packed with food products or souvenirs from the other East Asian countries we visited, so I made a note to myself to look for the Bearista Bears since we booked our 2025 return to Japan onboard our cruise ship.
This year, we primarily toured Japan and Korea for three weeks and returned to shop at Ameyoko. This time, we made a beeline for this Starbucks Cafe. We ordered two iced coffee beverages from the friendly barista and inquired about the availability of the bears. Luckily, we got the second-to-last two 2024 Limited Editions Bearista Bears, still wrapped in plastic bags. He completed the transaction, packed our collectibles in a bag, and served us our beverages. I'm unsure if I imagined this, but the coffee beverages at this Starbucks Cafe tasted better than the same blend at home in Hawai'i.
The cafe was small, cozy, clean, and had a younger generation vibe to it. There was more seating upstairs but we didn't wander upstairs since we wanted to stop and get some made-to-order sushi, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and yakitori to take with us to eat while waiting for our return flight.