Travel Entry - Tokyo

Excited to write my first "travel blog" entry featuring - TOKYO! :)

Last weekend, Kaz and I spent the weekend in Tokyo. We took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Nagoya on Saturday morning and returned home Sunday night. It's wild to me that we got there in under two hours on the train when it would have been close to a five hour drive. While the train tends to be a bit more expensive - it makes weekend trips WAY more doable!

While the weather was chilly and it wasn't the "ideal" time to visit Tokyo - we bundled up and had two cram-packed days in Tokyo. And when I say crammed - I mean that we logged 14 miles of walking on Saturday and about 7 miles on Sunday!

Here's a recap of many of the places we visited!

Once arriving in Tokyo - I was completely overwhelmed by their subway system which is literally a million times more complicated that Nagoya's. Just looking at it about sent me into a panic - and this is only one of the two underground systems. There are above ground ones too! Luckily Kaz helped with most - ok, all - of the navigating.

Within the first few minutes, I noticed a lot more English and also way more foreigners than I have seen in the past month in Nagoya. Kaz summarized it well - Tokyo is a truly international city while Nagoya is a Japanese city with a slight international feel.

After checking into out hotel - check out these views - the exploring began! The green space that you see in this picture is Hamarikyu Gardens. This space was turned into a garden in the 1940s. Before that it was actually the residence of the Tokugawa (the last feudal Japanese military government from 1603 to 1867).  If you looks closely - you can actually see the moat around the gardens.

Kaz and I love checking out new coffee shops - so we stopped at Toranomon Kofee to fuel up. Such a neat and modern place - the workers wore white coats to give it a "lab" sort of feel.

Then we headed to the Imperial Palace. On our way, we stumbled across Hibiya Koen (park), which interestingly had a replica of the Liberty Bell in it - to represent freedom as it was granted in the United States. The park was really pretty - and literally in the middle of city - such a mix of old and new. You can see the skyscrapers in the background.

At the Imperial Palace - we saw tons of runners - there must have been some sort of race going on. We walked around the outside/gardens as you aren't actually allowed into the palace or on the actual grounds. The Imperial family lives there - and Kaz says there is a lot of interesting stories about the Imperial family. 

After that, we headed to Tokyo Station - where we came across a very neat candy making session - with lots of free samples - and then we visited the Kit Kat store. Japan has a thing with Kit Kats - lots and lots of different flavors. Look for a blog post down the road that chronicles our taste-testing and evaluation of various Kit Kats. We have decided to keep a log as we go!

Then on to the famous Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), which marks the entrance to Senso-ji (Tokyo's oldest Buddhist temple). Leading up the to Temple (inside the gate) - there is a street called Nakamise-dori filled with shops and vendors.

Once we got to the temple, I took part in a Japanese tradition called O-mikuji. O-mikuji are random fortunes on small strips of paper. I had to give a small offering - and then I had to shake this can full of sticks. One stick came out with a number on it. You then go find the box that corresponds with the number - open the drawer and take out the paper with your fortune on it. At many smaller shrines and temples - the fortunes are only written in Japanese - but this one had an English translation on it! There are varying degrees of fortunes - but for simplicity's sake - you can get a good or bad prediction. If it's good, then you keep it; however, if it's bad - you fold the paper up and tie it to a wall of metal wires at the shrine/temple. The idea is that the bad luck will stay at the shrine and not attach itself to the bearer. You'll have to judge from the pictures how this went for me!

Lots of walking led to needing some more fuel - so we tried a few street foods...rice cakes on a stick - YUM...before stopping in a restaurant for some tempura (fried food). I had the veggie samplers and Kaz had shrimp. After we ate, we took the subway to various neighborhoods just to get a feel for them. Some highlights included the Asahi beer building, which is meant to look like a mug of beer with foam and then a cup with some odd shape on top. In Tokyo, it is actually fondly referred to as the "Golden Turd." We then stopped in Akihabara Electric Town, which is known for all the technology, video games, etc. There were tons of bright lights and lots of places where you can go to play video games for as long as you wanted. There was also a building that had a floor dedicated to photo booths! :) As night and rain set it, we began heading to our final destination for the night - The Robot Show. On the way, we participated in Shibuya Crossing (also known as the Tokyo Scramble - where people cross the street in all directions at once), walked around Harajuku (which is where people dress "cutesy" - apparently a new style), and then stopped for some yummy dessert!

The Robot Show was definitely the strangest part of our trip - and definitely where we saw the most foreigners! You start out in a lounge in which people dressed as robots are playing classical music. And, then you head into this show that is a mix of sounds, lights, and basically the most random things you've ever seen. I am not totally sure what it was about - but it was an experience for sure. I would recommend it to all just for it's strange factor! 

The next morning began with a trip to an Owl Cafe....sound intriguing?! We thought so too. It is actually not a cafe at all - but a small room in which you can sit with owls for an hour. They do give you a bottle of water or tea. You can hold the owls and feed them. I found it a bit sad - just seeing the owls in such a small space and not flying around in nature. Though, we learned that they are bred in captivity. We left after about 30 minutes...that was enough for us. The owls were cute...however, maybe next time we'll give the cat cafe a try instead.

Our afternoon was spent wandering around Meiji Jingu - a shinto shrine. There was actually a wedding going on and we were able to watch the procession into the shrine. It was really neat. After the shrine, we stopped at another coffee shop called Sarutahiko Coffee before heading to Tokyo Tower to see the city from WAY up in the air. Lucky for us - it was a clear day and we were able to see Mt. Fuji in the distance. We ended up enjoying the view for about an hour - hoping to see the sun set behind the mountain. It was definitely worth it! :)

All in all - Tokyo was a great city to visit. I would have to say that if someone asked me to pick a word to describe the city - I would pick "enigma." Just because it is a mix of everything Japanese and everything not Japanese all at the same time. Looking forward to exploring the city more in the future. 

Sunny Moments: Exploring a new city!

Cloudy Moments: None!