Hello!
I'm writing this as I'm waiting in the airport after my first trip to Tokyo with my girlfriend.
Even though we went in January, the weather was pretty nice to us, we hail from NYC and the weather in January can be bipolar so it was nice to have pretty consistent weather.
Our first night consisted of landing in Haneda and going through a relatively smooth border crossing. We then took the airport bus to Shinjuku station and then took an Uber to our hotel. The hotel was actually really nice and recently renovated. We actually found an incredible deal and we were able to score a fairly large hotel room for about 85/night. Our hotel was right next to a Lawson's so our first dinner was from there.
Our first proper day was spent walking our asses off in Shibuya and Harajuku. Meiji Shrine was really nice and I got an amulet. We then spent time going through stores and the like and found a really good ramen spot. My favorite thing about walking was seeing the abundance of elevated and open cut railways. For dinner we had shabu shabu and it was quite mid, Korean hot pot is better.
The next day we explored Ginza and I liked it more than Shibuya and Harajuku reminded me of Midtown Manhatten. We were really sleep deprived as our bodies hadn't adjusted to the timezone yet and we had Unagi (Eel). Honestly not worth it for what I paid and it just tasted like cod so pretty underwhelming.
The next day we explored Asakusa and went down the little Shopping street to Senso ji temple. We went on a little food crawl and ate some good food. We then went to a samurai and ninja museum and it was really fun. They had us throw ninja stars and we were able to put on costumes and take pictures. After that we went to the knife/cooking supply street and I was able to buy a nice knife to replace some cheapo one I had at home. After that we had some Udon local to our hotel and it was pretty good, we got a little tripped up on the ordering machine as it was a little older and didn't have translation. We then went to a local sumo show and it was really fun. They allowed us to "fight" the wrestlers, they went a little harder on me because I told them I did Jiu Jitsu for 5 years. Even though I'm 100kg, he was able to pick me up and just push me out the ring. Never the less, I had fun.
The next day we went to Tokyo DisneySea and we had a blast. Note to everyone going, the Premier Access Pass thing is totally worth it and they also shut down some rides cause of the wind so that was like 70 minutes wasted. This was my second time at Disney, first time being at the 3 years of age, so first time with some consciousness. I really enjoyed all the sets and the costumed workers.
The next day was spent in Odaiba with the Gundam and Joyopolis. The Gundam was cool to see and pose with. We then walked through the mall and had a small lunch of some Udon with tempura. We then walked along the bridge and went to Joyopolis which was fun and I would say pretty comparable to other arcades I went to with the addition of some of the attractions like the half pipe. We got a little motion sick at the end after some 360 degree rotating transformers thing. For dinner we got some halal ramen and then kebabs which were absolutely delicious.
The next day was our last full day in Tokyo and we just went to do some last minute gift shopping. We had some nice conveyor belt sushi. That was about the highlight of the day.
The next day, which is today as of writing this, is our flight day. We have a pretty late flight so we were able to spend almost the whole day doing some stuff we missed but the yamanote line had some other plans for us and had a power outage crowding all other train lines. We wanted to visit the railway museum in Saitama but all the trains going there were packed like in those viral videos of people squishing themselves into the train. We then decided to spend the day walking around Harajuku and Shibuya again. We then took an Uber to the Terminal as I didn't want to deal with trains or busses with our luggage after a disappointing day. It was a decent price, comparable to what I pay to get to the airport back home.
Things we liked:
The cleanliness and reliability of the Metro system
The absolute connectivity of the system
The hotel actually giving fresh towels and not just promising it
The tax free shopping
Things we didn't like
Trains at 150% capacity
Having to be quiet on the trains
Walking on the left side (lol)
Hoping to return and getting to experience the railway museum and possibly visit the other cities every other tourist goes to.
by HaywoodJablowme3