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Satoshi had a study thingy with his tour guide friends, so I went to Akihabara.

I had forgotten that they were holding the Tokyo Marathon...which means, no can cross the large street near JR Akihabara station!
 

they did have these free shuttles to take you "around" the marathon...so they took me from Akihabara, up to Ueno, across the large street and then down to the other side from where we caught the shuttle

It took about 20 minutes to do that, but at least I didn't have to wait 2 hours for the marathon to finish...

I had wanted to check out a cafe near Yushima that I had been to before, but ever since they became popular for hotcakes plus the pandemic, I've never been able to go back there

Again, on this day, the line for the cafe was long, so instead I went in the other direction to Yushima Tenmangu.

They were having their Ume Matsuri

Many ume trees were in bloom

Lots of ema (amulets) praying for good grades and passing tests

There was even a wedding

Then I took the route that the shuttle took to get back to Akihabara

And on the way, stopped at Tsuruse, a Japanese confection shop that has been in business since 1930

I tried their fukuume, a sweet filled with white bean and ume paste and covered with uirou (a thick paste that looks like yokan but is actually a little "chewy" like mochi)...love this!

And their long time seller, mame daifuku, this is filled with chunky sweet bean paste and red peas...loved this also!

As I was heading back to Akihabara, I could see a turn area for the marathon near Ueno.

I revisted the shops I had wanted to check out the last time I went to Akihabara

But because I was there when the shops were open, it was a little too crowded for my liking, so I was in and out...fast!

And picked up a ebi ten musubi for lunch from Momochi at JR Shinagawa station before going home.

I'll try to check out the cafe I've been wanting to go to sometime on a weekday.

I'm glad I learned about the free shuttles for the marathon and got to revisit the shops in Akihabara that I had wanted to check out.