This Japanese course for lunch, which was suspended due to the Corona disaster, will be back for the first time in about three years, since March 2020. We report on an early experience of the tour, where you can enjoy an authentic course meal while riding on a double-decker bus with an open roof!
Japanese Menu Lunch Course
Price: 11,800 yen for shared seats, 12,800 yen for last row, 13,800 yen for front seats
Operating days: Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and holidays (except some dates)
Currently, there are four routes available for tours around Tokyo: Lunch A Route, Lunch B Route, Dinner C Route, and Dinner D Route. The one we boarded this time was the “Lunch B Route,” which tours the Asakusa/Skytree area.
The tour departs from in front of the Marunouchi Building of Tokyo Station at 11:40 a.m. and travels to Asakusa via Nihonbashi, Akihabara, and Ueno. After getting off and enjoying a 30-minute free stroll around Sensoji Temple, the train will return to Ryogoku Kokugikan and the Sumida River, returning to the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station at 2:20 p.m. for a two-and-a-half-hour ride.
The main attraction of the Tokyo Restaurant Bus is its retractable roof. The clear roof is bright and open by itself, but when it is open, you can feel the breeze, which is even more refreshing. It depends on the weather, but on this day it was cloudy, so it was not so hot and pleasant even with the roof open.
Of course, the bus is air-conditioned. By the way, the roof opens and closes automatically, but the guide opens the roof manually with both hands. It was a bit of a performance, so don’t miss it!
The meal begins with an appetizer, followed by a full course meal of steamed and grilled dishes, rice, dessert, and after-meal drinks. The restaurant bus departed from in front of the Marunouchi Building amid chants of “Cheers!” and headed toward Otemachi from Uchibori-dori Avenue along the Imperial Palace moat, with Otemon Gate on the left. Listening to the guide’s commentary, we first try the appetizer of yuba kinchiku. Mmmm, delicious!
Alcohol, soft drinks, and bottled drinks, of which there are about 30 varieties on the lineup, are available at extra cost. Sake and shochu are also available for the Japanese course only.
The best part of the restaurant bus is that you can enjoy a course meal while looking out of the bus window at the “current” Tokyo scenery from a high vantage point, and the tour guide will add commentary and trivia about tourist attractions.
For example, as we approached Nihonbashi, the starting point of Japanese roads, he told us which side of the road sign we could see, and where COREDO Nihonbashi stands, there used to be Tokyu Department Store and even earlier, in the Edo period, a kimono shop called Shiroki-ya. Kodenmacho used to be an execution site, and Shoin Yoshida was executed there.
On the other hand, while passing near the Nihonbashi exit of Tokyo Station, he explains, “Demolition work has begun on the Asahi Seimei Building on your left. The 390-meter Torch Tower, the tallest building in Japan, is under construction here. I would like to try it!” There is also an introduction to a robot café near Kodenmacho Station, which is a bit further into the future of Tokyo.
There is also a thrilling moment in the course, when the bus passes under the elevated tracks of the JR and Shinkansen lines. The 3.8-meter-high restaurant bus is a bit too close to the roof for my liking, so I wondered if it would be safe. I was very nervous. The highlight of the ride is the passage under the elevated Kajiyabashi Bridge just before returning to Tokyo Station.
© Source travel watch
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