Day 14 – 23 October 2025, Thursday

Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep very well last night. There were people, or maybe just one person, who dragged his slippers when walking inside our capsule room late at night and early in the morning, making “clip clop” sounds, loud enough to rouse me from my sleep. Sometimes, you get roommates who are not very considerate and that is annoying. Light sleepers should wear ear buds to sleep when staying at a capsule hotel.

I got out of bed at 7:00am, washed up and took a hot shower in the public bath. Anshin Oyado provides a basic breakfast of curry rice and free drinks but I wanted something nicer. When I stepped out of my capsule hotel at around 8:20am, it was 12 deg C outside but it didn’t feel that cold because I was already warmed up from my bath.

I craved for pancakes and managed to find a café near my hotel called Taste The World. It wasn’t very big but it was quite nicely furnished. Quite unconventionally, the café had two long rows of tables parallel to each other, running the length of the space, with the seats facing each other. There were no individual or smaller tables for groups of four, so everyone had to “share” a table.

The café is called Taste The World because its goal is to introduce cuisines from around the world. The main food menu features dishes from Uzbekistan. There was a video projection on the wall and pamphlets by the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Japan placed on the tables to introduce the Central Asian country. A sign for me to visit Uzbekistan, perhaps?

However, besides Uzbek food, the café also has breakfast sets from England, America and Taiwan. It also sells coffees and teas from other countries like Greece, Vietnam, Turkey, India, Mongolia, Malaysia and Bulgaria, as well as beers and juices from Mexico, Spain and France. The Uzbek food looked interesting but I was craving for pancakes so I ordered the American breakfast set (1,925 yen/S$16.75) and a cup of Nosnos, or Moroccan café au lait (748 yen/S$6.50).

There was only one lady chef and she did everything from scratch. I could see that she put her heart and soul into making the food. Hence, I had to wait a long time for my breakfast to be served. I was seated beside a Canadian guy and a Japanese man, who didn’t know each other beforehand. They met each other on the street and continued their conversation into the cafe. The Japanese spoke good English and he was very friendly, perhaps a bit over-friendly. Maybe it was because I didn’t sleep well or was hungry, but I didn’t feel like engaging in conversation with him too much. I could also sense that the Canadian guy was also trying to be polite by continuing to talk to him.

30 minutes later, the food was finally ready. The sunny eggs were a bit overcooked; I prefer them runny. The pancakes were also not as fluffy as I would have liked. Overall, the food was good, but not exceptional.

After leaving Taste The World, I took the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line from Shinjuku-sanchome station and alighted at Shibuya station, arriving at 9:36am. The ride took 6 minutes and the fare was 178 yen (S$1.55).

Even at this relatively early hour, Shibuya was crowded and packed with tourists. I took a photo of the Hachiko statue from afar because there was a line of people waiting to take photos with it, as usual. I then crossed the Shibuya Crossing, the world’s busiest scramble pedestrian intersection. It never ceases to amaze me how many people use the crossing at any moment throughout the day. The Shibuya Crossing perfectly encapsulates the buzz and energy of Tokyo.

I had some “official business” to attend to at 11:30am so I had some time to kill in the meantime. Thus, I headed to one of my must-visit record stores in Tokyo, RECOfan. The store is located on the 6^th floor of MAGNET by SHIBUYA109 building, right by the Shibuya Crossing. I was the first to enter the store when it opened at 10:00am.

I managed to buy some items at RECOfan, and claimed my tax refund via the Pie VAT app at the tax-free counter in basement 2. One of the things I love about shopping in Japan is that you can easily get a tax refund, either at the point of purchase or at a dedicated tax-free counter within the mall. This system is much better than claiming tax refunds at the airport, where the lines are always long and you may have to present the items for inspection.

After visiting RECOfan, I popped in to FamilyMart and bought a Famichiki, one of Japan’s most famous grab-and-go snacks. The humble Famichiki is a boneless fried chicken cutlet that is juicy and full of flavour. It is almost as iconic as their egg sandwiches, something you must try if you visit Japan.

I arrived at Miyashita Park at 11:12am, slightly early for my “official business”…which was a visit to the Oasis Live ’25 Tokyo Fan Store! In 2025, Oasis embarked on a massive reunion tour, performing 41 shows in 14 countries between July and November. I’m an Oasis fan and I am lucky to have watched them twice in Singapore, in 2006 and 2009. The band split up acrimoniously later in 2009 and very few people imagined that the feuding Gallagher brothers would ever get back together again. Hence, it was a big thing that they have set aside their differences to perform again.

Two of the Live ’25 shows were in Tokyo, taking place on 25 and 26 October. Since 25 October is just two days away, I could have extended my stay in Tokyo to watch the concert before flying home. I tried to get tickets for the concert but was unsuccessful, sadly. Hence, the next best thing is to visit the Fan Store.

In conjunction with the concerts, pop-up stores were set up in various cities where Oasis were performing. The stores will carry official merchandise with the Live ’25 logo as well as items exclusive to the country or city. Entry to the store is free but advance reservation is required to secure a timeslot to enter. I booked a timeslot for 11:30am.

Since there was still time, I went to the Adidas flagship store at Miyashita Park (the Fan Store is just next to it), where massive images of Liam and Noel Gallagher were plastered over the shopfront. Adidas collaborated with Oasis to release a range of apparel, including football shirts, jackets, track pants, bucket hats and T-shirts, all bearing the Oasis Live ’25 logo. All the merch looked damn good and I was so tempted to buy something. However, they were also very expensive. I controlled myself and saved my shopping for the Fan Store.

The queue wasn’t that long and the Fan Store wasn’t at full capacity so I was allowed to enter at 11:20am. As soon as I entered, it was like “wow!” A lot of effort was put in to decorate the entire space with Oasis-branded merchandise and video clips. Seriously, all the concert merch looked amazing and fans can really go crazy (and broke) in here. But since I won’t be watching the concert, it didn’t make sense for me to spend so much on the merch so I only bought the small and cheap items. I left the Fan Store with two keychains, a pin and a drawstring bag. A small consolation for not being able to watch the concert.

With the official business completed, I was free for the rest of the day. The agenda is to visit as many record stores as possible. First up, the legendary Tower Records Shibuya. Spanning nine floors, this megastore is one of the biggest CD and record stores in the world. I’m a huge fan of Tower Records so I always make it a point to come to the Shibuya flagship store whenever I visit Tokyo.

After a mini shopping spree at Tower Records, it was time for lunch. I chanced upon a tonkatsu restaurant with a set lunch promo for 990 yen (S$8.61) and decided to eat there. The restaurant was quite big and had a healthy lunchtime crowd. The set meal was great value for money as the pork loin cutlet was substantial. The tonkatsu was crispy and the meat was tender and juicy, really nice. The rice was served in a big clay pot, which helps to keep the rice warm, so you can scoop as much as you need each time and still have warm rice later in the meal. As always, you can request for free refills of the shredded lettuce and rice.

Fuelled by a satisfying lunch, I proceeded with my crate digging endeavour. Thanks to a search on Google Maps for record shops in Shibuya, I discovered an indie record shop that I had not visited before. It is called Next Records (click here) and it is located on the second floor of a small building at Udagawacho, 11-11 Ryukou Building.

Next Records is one of the largest worldwide dealers of rare and collectible 12” singles, specialising in Disco, Hip-Hop and R&B. The shop isn’t very big but everything is neatly catalogued and organised. True to form, I unearthed four Janet 12” singles to add to my collection. The prices were reasonable and I could get a tax refund on the spot as well. Glad I discovered this hidden gem!

Just around the corner from Next Records is HMV Record Shop. The selection is pretty wide and it carries a mix of new releases and secondhand items. Unfortunately, there was nothing for me here so I left empty handed.

At 3:20pm, I was feeling sleepy and in need of a caffeine fix. As I walked along Cosmic Slope, the smell of coffee wafted through the air and my legs inevitably led me to a small café called Good Good Not Bad. It had cool and industrial vibes with funky music playing in the background. I ordered a regular latte (650 yen/S$5.66) and a slice of banana bread (450 yen/S$3.92).

The coffee was strong and perked me up immediately. The only negative thing is that the café does not have proper seats. You have to sit on metal pipes, which caused my bum to hurt after a while. Guess that’s the intention, to ensure a quick turnover of customers. But the coffee is good so that’s more important.

Next up was Disk Union Rock in Tokyo store located at the basement of Udagawa Building. The shop is big and it stocks tons of vinyls and CDs. However, as this shop carries Rock, Punk, Metal and Japanese Rock titles, I didn’t manage to get any MJ or Janet items, but I did buy a couple of Muse and RHCP CD albums here.

I then headed to the second Disk Union store in Shibuya, just 1 minute away on foot, located on the 4^th and 5^th floor of the Antenna 21 building. This store specialises in Jazz, Soul, World, Reggae, Hip-Hop, House and Techno. It is quite small and cramped but the collection is big. I bought two Janet 12” singles here at only 600 yen (S$5.22) each. Very happy.

The third and last Disk Union store in Shibuya is located at basement 1 of the PARCO building. Branded as Union Record, this is an all-genre store carrying both Western and Japanese titles, but with a focus on Rock, J-Pop, Jazz and Soul. The store is quite small but I found a very rare MJ title here. It was expensive but I knew I just had to buy it.

It was around 5:30pm when I completed my shopping. I had spent the entire day at Shibuya, visiting seven record shops and leaving with my bag full and wallet substantially lighter. Tokyo is really the best place for collectors of CDs and vinyl records. If you’re a music aficionado like me, you will understand.

However, I was not done. After taking the train from Shibuya back to Shinjuku, I went to the Disk Union store located at the 3^rd floor of the T&T III building beside Kinokuniya book store. This Shinjuku Used Centre store is big and it carries titles of all genres. You can almost certainly find something good here. However, I think I swept all the MJ titles from this store during my previous visit a year ago, so I didn’t manage to find anything I didn’t already have this time round.

Feeling disappointed, I went to the last Disk Union store located at Yamada Building. This store has seven floors, with each floor specialising in a different genre. However, it doesn’t carry Soul, R&B or Pop so I knew I wouldn’t find any MJ or Janet stuff here. I left the store after a quick browse and searched for a place to have dinner.

I was tired and hungry so I just popped into the nearest restaurant I could find. I ordered the Chashu Tsukemen (1,270 yen/S$11.05) and gyoza (350 yen/S$3.05). Tsukemen is something like “dry ramen”, where the noodles and broth are served in two separate bowls. The broth is a dipping sauce and it is much stronger and intense in flavour than standard ramen broth. The sauce was quite salty and I didn’t like it that much. I still prefer ramen.

After the unsatisfying dinner, I headed back to my capsule hotel and called it a day. After a tiring day of crate-digging, it was time to take a good bath and soak in my capsule hotel’s artificial hot spring. One more sleep in Tokyo before I fly home tomorrow!