Last year we decided to go to Tokyo for a long weekend – Yes, you read that right, a long weekend. When you find sub $300 flights from Seattle to Tokyo, YOU GO TO TOKYO! Katie is a deal hunter when it comes to travel and one of her favorite resources is Scott’s Cheap Flights . When she initially found the fare we had decided to book the trip for 3 days over Lee’s birthday weekend but the night before the trip the Typhoon hit Tokyo, cancelled all our flights, and forced us to reschedule. Lucky enough, Katie’s birthday weekend was open so we just pushed the whole thing back and rationally decided to add a day and make it 4!
Here is a wonderful day by day account of our trip, told by Lee:
Day 1:
Arrived, train ride was long.
At airport we got wifi router, suica cards (cash only!) and round trip JR train NEX tickets
Got to hotel, went to wrong APA hotel first – 2 APA hotels within 2 blocks?!? Whyyyy?
Bed hard as a rock. Drop bags, lay down 20 minutes. Go walk to ramen – got ramen at Ramen Tatsunoya, waited probably 30 minutes total – you get in line outside, then go inside to place order at machine and pay cash only. I got intimidated and didn’t order quite what I wanted. Still good! People were nice, ramen was good. Walked through piss alley, interesting! Went to National Garden – it was closed but watched Japanese firefighters practicing and it was ridiculous!
Walked past red-light district, near our hotel!
I tried the in-toilet beday, after Katie used the feature earlier (front feature) firm warm stream straight for the butt hole – mistake never to be made again. Katie lost it listening to me in there, she’s very supportive.
Lights out by 9pm Tokyo time. Our day was 21hrs
Day 2:
Katie woke up at 3am all bright eyed and bushy tailed wanting to wake up. I said no. Jet lag or excitement? Who knows!
We woke up at 7:30, showered, headed for train. Successfully made it to Asakusa! Train was kinda nuts.
Breakfast snacks in front of Senso-Ji temple – fried curry mystery meat bun, fried bean paste bun.
Senso-ji was awesome, Buddhist temple built in 7th century!
Walked to Akihabara and explored. Interesting area – heavy on anime and cos play themes.
We had a lunch snack on the way to Akihabara (walking). Gross rice things from convenient store. We saw vacuum sealed cooked whole squid for sale – no thanks!
On to Harajuku via train, again to our amazement did not get lost!!
Udon in Harajuku on Main Street downstairs.
Found rainbow grilled cheese. $10! We did not eat rainbow cheese as we were full and realized how questionable it was.
Got Xing Fu Tang bubble tea in Harajuku (brown sugar bubble tea) – best bubble tea I’ve ever had. They had setup to make everything fresh there.
Katie made a friend, it was a little chicken! Then she ate it! It tasted like mango, because the chicken was a scoop of gelato.
Walked to Shibuya crossing- it was busy.
Walked to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden – gorgeous! Formal garden has tons of roses, dozens of different varieties. Our double knockout were there 🙂
Laid in grass, walked through paths and enjoyed.
Back to hotel for 30. Got a beer and skewers at an izakaya in Piss Alley – place was tiny! Tried to get in to Bar Albatross but it was packed.
Walked back to Robot Restaurant… holy mother of God.
Shen Udon for dinner (Michelin Guide) best udon noodles we’ve ever had, Katie’s broth (earwig mushrooms) was too smoky for her.
Walked back and didn’t need the map! We’re practically locals now even though we’re not sure how to say “thank you” because apparently the translation is 20 syllables.
Day 3:
Breakfast at Egg Slut and Boul’ange before getting on train to head to teamLab Borderless Digital Art museum. Museum was cool – best to get there early! We got there at 11 and there was a small wait to get in. Left at 1:30/2 and it was madness trying to get in! Lines inside venue got longer as day went on as well.
We really enjoyed the cascading LED lights and the lamp room, however lamp room line was super long, but #doitforthegram.
Got out and found Hamarikyu gardens, the tea house with traditional tea servings was closed, bummer! We walked around and saw a 300 yr old black pine.
On to Tsukiji fish market. By 3pm vendors closing down, cool to see.
Realized Imperial Palace closed at 2:45 🙁 Gaaaaah! Oh well…
On to Nemuro Hananaru sushi – went to one in mall by central Tokyo, delicious conveyor belt sushi! Really enjoyed!
Walked to Ginza, via Yarakucho under Ginza station.
Went in a ridiculous stationary store that sold fountain pens costing $18,000! It was 8 floors tall, and you’re not allowed to touch the paper!
Went in to bar Lupin, which is oldest bar in Ginza. Historic location, Katie’s old fashioned sucked, they put lemon in it lol. I had good Japanese whiskey: 12 yr yamakazi single malt and Nikka Coffey Malt Whiskey, both delicious neat.
Took train to Ramen Yamaguchi – spot apparently made Top 50 Ramen Restaurants in Japan and is in the Michelin guide to Tokyo. They do chicken stock base, delicious ramen. Katie was not as much a fan of the chicken stock base – we are finding that udon and ramen places kinda have their shtick and they stick to it, less options for different types at different places.
Walked 30 minutes back to hotel, and stopped at grocery store – they had zero fresh fruit or veggies. We are spoiled by Whole Foods and the bounty of American Agricultural prowess. I FINALLY asked front desk for extra pillows, they brought up the good stuff! Fluffy pillows, not pancake flat waffle grid sponge pillows.
Katie said she was going to rest her eyes on me while typing this and within 5 seconds she was passed out! She says “12 hr days do that!”
Day 4:
Accidentally slept in until 9:15!
I went and got breakfast from Eggslut and Boul’ange while Katie showered. We then walked to Meiji temple on the way to Shibuya. Pretty! Looked like lots of parishioners were going to the shrine for ceremonies and “Sunday service” ?
It was cool, lots of little kids and women in kamono.
We continued walking through Forrest, saw wine barrels from France! (An international friendship thing) and sake barrels as huge decorative wall. Continued walking toward Shibuya through Yoyogi Park – cool park, a woman had an owl.
Ate some type of noodle pancake (OKONOMIYAKI) at a cook it yourself place downstairs. Mine was better than what Katie ordered. Waiter asked if we wanted them to cook it for us because apparently we looked intimidated. His assumption was correct.
On to Starbucks Reserve Roastery because multiple friends have told us it’s awesome. It was crowded, but cool – kinda. Not much different than Seattle. I ordered a coffee Manhattan with smoke that was delicious, very cool process to make it. Katie went to the bathroom and it took like 40 minutes. Not because she had to poop, because there was a line.
We then went for more drinks at Tokyo Whisky Library, it was cool. Katie got a mule and I tried Hibiki, their blended version (sold out of 17yr and 30 yr was $50) and it was delicious! I then had a Nikka whisky 17yr pure malt – more smoky but good.
Took train to sushi restaurant that couldn’t take us in, walked 30 minutes home to recharge router and ourselves for ten minutes. Tried Kuriya for dinner near hotel, downstairs and not very good. Never trust $6.00 shashimi.
We had minimal food there and went on to Shin Udon again, line was long but Katie vowed to attempt to like the udon. In line now, Katie ordered the most expensive thing on menu, udon with wagu beef! I am excited to try a second dish, also excited to try their sake of the evening. We’ll see how it goes.
Final report: the udon was amazing- Katie’s wagyu beef udon was incredible. She was a very happy woman. My udon was also good – had grated radish which was an interesting and not unpleasant addition. Sake was best and smoothest I’ve ever had.
Spent the evening trying to figure out train schedule and times for getting to Narita airport and writing postcards.
Day 5:
Lovely morning waking up. Showered, packed and checked out leaving bags in lobby.
Walk about and mail postcards – only 70 yen to mail a postcard! Japan post office is super nice and the employees are super helpful.
Got fluffy pancake for breakfast at random spot in Shinjuku, then went in basement of Keio mall adjacent Shinjuku station and found green and matcha tea – delicious!
I also got a couple treats to pack up for the trip back. Mall allowed us to refund tax, got 700 yen back in coins before leaving.
Reserved our seat on the Narita express train.
Picked up bags and headed for train to Tokyo station. Got off and ate THE BEST RAMEN EVER under Tokyo station at Ramen Alley. Place we ate at was Oreshiki Jun and they are known for tonkotsu ramen, and it was the best ramen we’ve ever had. Wandered around train station a bit more, huge and nice shopping and food, not what we Americans expected from mall ‘food courts’, even though we’ve heard food is good there. Got fresh air and hopped on the Narita express headed for Narita. I was hopeful to score some rare Japanese whiskey in duty free.
Got some decent Japanese whiskey, nothing too fancy though!