Japan trip recap: Tokyo Pt1

I wrote a large recap about my trip on this blog earlier this year when I got back from Southeast Asia. It was a way for me to memorialize the trip to possibly look back on it one day and reminisce. It was also a really nice way for me to wrap up the trip and start moving on. So I wanted to continue the tradition with my Japan recap over the next few days.

Tokyo Night 1-3

Sophia and I took off Thursday morning and we were blessed with having the entire row to ourselves. It made up for the subpar United flight on an old 777. After 11 hours and the 16 hour time difference, we landed in Tokyo at around 3pm and proceeded to take the train to our hotel in Shinjuku.

It was a bit of a nightmare once we got to the station. We were tired and I forgot just how freakin’ big and confusing Shinjuku station is. We got a bit lost trying to find an underpass to cross the street. Lugging our roller bags in 90 degree humidity for 30 minutes after a 11 hour flight with jet lag was not fun, but we made it to our tiny hotel room.

After getting to our hotel, we showered and rested for a bit. Given that we were early for dinner, we decided to book it to Ramen Tatsunoya. We got lucky and got a seat within 20 minutes eating some of the best ramen we’ve had. After a good pit stop to Golden Gai, we went back at 9 and passed out.

The next day was filled with exploring. We decided to use our jet lag to our advantage and got to Tsukiji market nice and early. Unfortunately, the market changed quite a bit since I was went in 2016. The tuna auction was moved to Toyosu and the market lost a bit of it’s flavor. It’s now mainly just a tourist trap with some good, but touristy food stalls. We checked out some stores in Ginza for a bit and got absolutely exhausted from all the walking in the heat. After a quick stop at a delicious anago stop, we headed home to rest.

For dinner, we had a sushi omakase at Nishiazabu Taku which comes highly recommended. It was an amazing experience, but to be honest, a bit underwhelming when it came to food. We met Santiago and Fernanda who was in the same room with us for dinner. They were from Monterey, Mexico and were on their honeymoon. We ended up spending the night with them and got drinks with them at Golden Gai until 2am.

We slept in a bit and decided to hit some tourist sites the next day. We took the train to Asakusa and did some exploring around Senso-ji temple. It was incredibly crowded with tourists and we decided to check out the temple and get out. While exploring some shopping streets, I ran into a delicacy store called Himiadaru which sells cured fish. It was absolutely delicious and perhaps one of my best food finds on this trip.

Sophia and I took the train to old town part of Tokyo called Tanaka. It was one of the few places in Tokyo that was not bombed and still retained the old Tokyo feel. We had an amazing set lunch at a mom and pop shop and then explored the stores and area. For dinner, we pulled a ticket for Udon Shin and then we got a snack at Uogashi - The Standing Sushi Bar which was fantastic and cheap.

We came back to Udon Shin after a two hour wait and it was once again, the best udon I’ve ever had. I went 7 years ago prior to being one of the most popular restaurants in Tokyo and I’m happy to report that it was still as good as it was 7 years ago. The udon was fresh and chewy. The tempura was maybe the best I’ve also had.

On Monday, we woke up early and went to TeamLabs which was a really cool interactive museum. It was very unique and I’ve never experienced a museum like it. The walk through the water with the video fish was probably my favorite exhibit. After TeamLabs, we bought some Ekibens and took the bullet train to Osaka for the next leg of the trip.