Tokyo: 2 nights and 2 days in the Land of the Rising Sun

Thu-Sat, 8.26-28.2010

The flight from Beijing to Tokyo was on Japan Airlines which meant it was awesome! The customer service was impeccable and the food was a precursor to the Japanese food I'd be having for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, my iPhone was stowed away in my backpack in the overhead, so no meal pics. I recall having beef with caramelized onions as the main dish. For the rest of the trip, I nodded off and tried not to switch Konnichiwa (hello) and Arigato (thank you) when using them in conversation. Narita is really far from downtown Tokyo, so much of the night was in transit using the Tokyo metro system to get to the hotel.

I didn't have exact directions to my hotel (poor planning indeed), so it was by coincidence alone that I look in my Frommer's tour guide for the Shinjuku area and to my amazement, my hotel the Hotel Century Southern Tower is featured! The listed address was still of poor use to me since the Tokyo address system is undecipherable to me, but the guidebook said the hotel was Southwest of the Shinjuku station. I bit the bullet and took the South exit of the massive Shinjuku station, walked towards tall white skyscrapers, and uneventfully stumbled upon my hotel. Success! Didn't hurt that the hotel tower was only a large city block away from the metro station.

By the time I checked in it was nearly midnight. I got some McDonald's (chicken sandwich with fries and a coke), cleaned up, and called it a night.

Hotel lobby on the building's 20th floor. Killer views.

My hotel room view during the day (Night was so much cooler since Tokyo skyscrapers have blinking red lights making for a kick-ass scene during the dark).

Hotel-provided guide to buildings visible from my hotel room.

Hi-tech toilet with electronic bidet!

Tokyo has tons of vending machines throughout the city. Water, soda, tea, beer, and the like are just a few steps away it seems.

My freshman roommate at Johns Hopkins, Tak (short for Takahiro), lives in Tokyo now so I made plans to spend the day with him and asked him to show me around Tokyo. The plan was to meet at the Tokyo National Museum in the morning and take off from there to the sites I was wanting to see.

I hopped on the Yamanote JR line which makes a circle around the city to get to the Ueno station. Much thanks to my coworker Jennifer which previously lived in Tokyo for a year for lending me her Pasmo card. I was able to put credit onto the card and swipe the card in-and-out of the metro exits. So long as I had credit, I didn't have to worry about having the correct fares for each individual use.

Shinjuku station in the morning.

Breakfast from a vendor outside the Ueno station.

Tokyo National Museum

The Ueno station exit opened onto what seemed to be a museum district of sorts. There were several museums in the area. School children and parents with their strollers were everywhere along with several tourists. I met Tak at the museum entrance. Good to see a friend after all these years. Tak and I spent a little more than an hour visiting three of the five buildings in the museum. There was a special exhibit regarding the origins of China, but I figured I didn't need to see that since I had just come from there.

Afterwards, we took a stroll to Takeshita Dori, store-lined pedestrian-only street for shopping.

We grabbed lunch at a tempura place in the Takeshita Dori area. I ordered the prawn tempura, vegetable tempura, and a miso soup. Really good.

We next headed to the Asakusa part of town to see older Tokyo neighborhoods reflecting traditional Japanese homes. After arriving at Asakusa, we walked through the pedestrian shopping lane of Nakamise Dori to buy souvenirs and post-lunch treats.

In Nakamise Dori

Stall specializing in cats with moving paws that 'bring in money' for good luck.

Really flavorful green tea ice-cream cone.

Nakamise Dori leads to the Sensoji Temple, the oldest and most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Place was brimming with activity.

Leading up to the Sensoji temple, people could wish for good fortunes. The left-center one is mine.

Incense burner let out special smoke. Passer-byers wafted smoke on parts of their body that they wanted special healing for.

Incense burning.

Shrine in temple. There was some ceremony going on at the time.

A stroll through the adjacent streets in Asakusa.

Sweet potato with syrup treat.

Many restaurants and cafes in Tokyo show their offerings through plastic models of their food that sit outside their storefront. Other than making one hungry, it helps with ordering.

Mochi donuts. I was too full to try them. The 'sold out' sign confused Tak and me. The displays looked real, but maybe they were plastic.

Denny's Japan. Per my sister and Tak, it's different from Denny's in the US.

Next we headed to Akihabara, a part of town specializing in electronics and also anime.

There weren't any electronics I needed to buy, so Tak asked me if I wanted to check out a maid cafe. Knowingly it was distinctly Japanese, I had heard of the concept before, but didn't know exactly what it was. We flagged down a maid-dressed girl advertising a nearby maid cafe to get directions. After waiting 10 mins or so, Tak and I walked in. This place was definitely an experience. I was super psyched I was seeing something uniquely Japanese! The cafe didn't allow for photos unfortunately.

Here's the poster outside the cafe.

Essentially it was a small cafe decorated like an anime cartoon. Bright colors and anime music playing. We were seated at a bar facing a stage. The place was packed. Among us, there were single guys, couples, and foreign tourists. After a short introduction from our maid, we picked from drinks and food from a menu. With nearly everything spoken in Japanese, Tak had to translate. I chose to get a polaroid with a maid. Usually they wear a French-maid costume, but per Tak we showed up during some special kimono day.

Ayane and me (with tiger ears) in our cat paws pose.

Aside from the photo, we ordered drinks. Mine was a cold milk-shake like drink which was prepared live by our maid Aya. During the cocktail preparation, me and Tak mirrored Aya by saying Japanese words and making shaking and heart symbols in the air before she poured the prepared drink in a glass for me. After telling Aya I was half-Filipino, she mentioned through Tak that she often visits Cebu island on vacation and that she would be going later this year.

After the maid cafe, we headed to Harajuku, an area known for its fashions and eccentrically dressed young people. We headed to Takeshita St. the most popular street in Harajuku.

Tak and I weren't sure what F.O.B. stood for in the restaurant below. It was actually a French restaurant.

For dinner, we picked a sushi joint near the Tsukiji Fish Market to get the freshest stuff. It was a tiny restaurant with probably at most seating for 15-20.

Menu in Japanese

Sea urchin on tofu skin

Octopus sashimi

Tuna sashimi. I normally don't like tuna all that much, but this was pretty fatty and fresh so it tasted great.

Horse sashimi. This one was interesting. Sliced thin and frozen, one eats it by letting the frozen meat melt in the mouth before continuing to chew. I didn't love this one so much. It tasted horse-sy.

Sashimi of yellow tail, snapper, and some white fish

Salmon in spicy sauce topped with quail egg and nuts.

Nigiri assortment: salmon, yellow tail, snapper, and squid.

Grilled nigiri. This was a new type of sushi for me. Regular nigiri are grilled slightly on top making for an interesting spin that was really tasty. Assortment included tuna, scallops, and shrimp.

After dinner near the fish market, we walked through the Ginza district and its high-end brand-name shopping.

Yakitori was another Japanese cuisine on my to-do list so we stopped at a yakitori restaurant in the Ginza area. Yakitori is an entire cuisine around grilled chicken. All sorts of chicken parts are skewered and grilled.

Yakitori menu

Drink of choice: Japanese sake! The waiter poured the sake to fill the glass and overflow into the box cup. Through the meal, I sipped the sake, including from the box cup overflow.

Raw vegetables with two sauces: i. miso with ground meat (really good!) ii. radish (not so good)

Yakitori grill man

Chicken heart, thigh, breast

More chicken

Chicken liver (I didn't like this one too much)

Photo with Tak near the metro station before he had to take the last train back to his place. In what seems to be a ploy for taxi cabs to make more money, trains often stop running near midnight even on weekends. Those stuck in the city either have to pay the crazy cab fares or hangout in the city until the metro starts running again. Thanks to Tak for showing me around Tokyo and ordering up some good Japanese food!

I was on my own on Saturday and had a good portion of my day before my evening flight to LAX.

There was a Krispy Kreme near the hotel. I had to peek inside. Ironic that I can find a Krispy Kreme in Tokyo while they're absent in Minnesota.

Green-tea cookie doughnut. Green-tea flavored frosting with crumbled cookie dusting. Really good!

Massive shopping complex across the walkway from hotel building. I rode the escalators up and down a few floors, but that quickly got old.

Decided to spend the day back at Harajuku shopping and find a ramen place for lunch.

Gap store located across from the Harajuku metro station.

Another shot of Takeshita St. It was Saturday and I saw more girls dressed up as compared to yesterday with Tak.

Strolled through the Undefeated store. Heard of this brand online a couple years ago and thought the stripes logo looked really cool. Unfortunately, the shirt I wanted wasn't available in my size. I visited a few other urban clothing stores in the Harajuku area. Nike is huge (like really huge) in Japan and nice to hear all the hip-hop beats in all the stores.

Found an interesting looking noodle house in the midst of all the urban clothing stores. Seemed exactly the place to eat my very first authentic ramen noodle meal.

Upon being welcomed by the waitress, she pointed me to some vending machine covered in coin slots labeled in Japanese. Clearly, I was to pick what I wanted off this vending machine 'menu'. My waitress spoke minimal English, so I proceeded to pick what I wanted to eat off pictures posted on the wall. I gave her the 600 Yen and she fed the vending machine menu.

Customer photos on the restaurant wall. Tiny establishment with seating for 5 at the front bar and a few more at the tables in the back.

Ramen noodles with meat, seaweed, and egg. Not sure how the egg was prepared. Inside the yolk was a bright deep orange with a jelly-like texture and overall sweet taste. The noodle broth was savory and borderline creamy. Great ramen noodle dish!

More urban wear.

Hello Kitty ice-cream store.

Nike Harajuku Store

Three items I bought in Harajuku. Bottom two from Nike Store. Top one from RawDrip store.

Before leaving Harajuku, I stumbled upon some huge Japanese culture festival of sorts. Not sure exactly what was going on, but there were droves of teams in uniform and teams taking turns doing dances on stage. Booths of food, drinks, and treats were all around. I assume it was a celebration of Japan's varied ethnic heritage. Mind you it was in the 90s F, so it was super hot outside! Didn't stick around too long. Had to get bags back at the hotel and head to the airport.

Walked by the Krispy Kreme again on the way back to the hotel. This time the 'Hot Doughnuts' sign was on and a healthy line had formed outside. Good thing I got my doughnut in the morning.

Made my way to the Narita Airport. It would be in a Singapore Airlines 747 to LAX. As opposed to my earlier 16 hour Continental flight, this one would only be 9 hours. Not sure if it was because my flight was back to the U.S. or because of the airline, but passengers went through security check again at the gate. Full patdown and carry-on inspection.

Japanese meal with beef on rice, noodles, and seaweed salad.

Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice-cream immediately after.

American breakfast with coffee a couple of hours before landing at LAX.

Singapore Airlines was pretty great.

Overall my airline awards go to:

CUSTOMER SERVICE - Japan Airlines wins my customer service award in a hair over Singapore.

FOOD - Singapore Airlines wins in the food, partly because JAL only had 1 meal in the race. Continental should provide real flatwear like the other two. Really all three had excellent meals.

ENTERTAINMENT - Continental had biggest personal tv screens and most entertainment options.

Two uneventful domestic flights later, I was back in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. So that's it for my 2 nights and 2 days in Tokyo! Hung out with an old college buddy, saw lots of sights and ate lots of food. Very interesting contrast to China and the U.S.

I loved every minute of my 2-week China-Tokyo vacation! Thanks to those following me along the way through my blog!

David, ExperienceNext.com, August 2010