Arrived!
On our first day in Tokyo, we trained into Shinjuku station from Narita airport. The hour long ride took us from the countryside to the urban center. Like the noobs we were, we came out of the station at the wrong exit and took twice as long to walk to our hotel. It was fine; we got to see quite a bit of Shinjuku on our way to our hotel. After getting to ur rooms and unpacking we headed out to Omoide Yokocho for dinner. Shinjuku at night is full of people and lights. It was hard not to stop every few feet and gawk. Omoide Yokocho was packed full of food stalls that were packed full of people. It was exactly what I imagined. (I’m going to go ahead and talk about the heat. It was HOT. And humid. So much so that on one of the days, I I couldn’t shoot with my camera for a solid hour after leaving the hotel as I had to wait for it to acclimate to the outside temp. That being said, I tried my damndest not to let the heat and humidity keep me from doing anything.) After dinner we walked around a bit and headed back to the hotel.
Day 2 in Tokyo – Our first full day in the city started with light sprinkles, then sun, then a deluge! Yay for Japan in the summer.
Our first stop was Tsukiji Hongan-Ji Temple. Then we got food at Tsukiji market and walked around. For being such a touristy area, the food was super great. After getting our fill of food, we trained it up to Kita-No-Maru park. There were many crows and cicadas. Lots of rain. We walked the park then headed west to Koenji to check out the thrift store scene. The rain followed so we holed up at Chosen-Ji temple. We were done for the day so we headed back to the hotel where I took a nap that was only supposed to last an hour but lasted until 4:00am. Evidently I was still jet lagged and super tired from a day full of walking around the city.
Tokyo Day 3 – No rain, sun out in full force. It was so humid, I didn’t use my camera, just my phone all day.
Our first stop of the day was Meiji Jingu Gyoen. This huge garden and temple enshrine the spirits of former emperor Meiji and empress Shoken. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much forest in the middle of the city. Once we finished there we walked to nearby Harajuku to take in the sites and shops. We didn’t spend too much time here since it was super touristy and crowded during the midday heat so we left for Shibuya for lunch. I have pics of Shibuya from another day but on this day, we went to a conveyor belt sushi place. It. Was. All. I. Ever. Dreamed. Of. No pics but let me just say, the Asahi was cold, the toro was fatty, and I never had to eat another crab leg again (spoiler alert, I did).
