WOW!! Where do I start with this mind-blowing trip?! When we originally were booking our tickets to Thailand we noticed that there was an option with a layover in Tokyo. That got us wondering if there was a way to book a multi-city ticket so that we could hit two different parts of Asia in one trip! We ended up booking the BEST PLANE TICKETS EVER! I’m still shocked to this day how we managed to do it. It was the deal of a lifetime on one of the top airlines ANA and we were able to fly to Tokyo for 3 days and then onto our Thailand trip. Japan has been on my bucket list for the longest time but I had NO IDEA HOW MUCH WE WOULD FREAKING LOVE TOKYO! We are already dying to go back and when anyone asks about it we can’t stop gushing over it. We both have a burning desire to head back to Japan soon to visit Tokyo again and to see other cities like Kyoto or Osaka! Everything about this country is amazing. The food, the people, the mix of old and new, the wacky weird craziness, and the insanely beautiful culture. We were obsessed with all of it so hold on tight because I’m about to dump a million photos below
Already looking so tired for our EARLY morning flight
We were super hyped when we got to our plane and it was COMPLETELY STAR WARS THEMED! We are talking the entire plane was painted like BB8, they had Star Wars napkins, a stuffed Yoda and the best part was all of the announcements were said in C3PO’s voice and R2D2!! They also played Star Wars music when we were boarding and exiting the plane! It made the plane ride SO MUCH FUN!! We were geeking out!
When we arrived in Japan we took a train from the airport to the city and I’ll never forget the ride through the country side, passing forests with sudden bursts of CHERRY BLOSSOMS! We hadn’t planned it this way, but we ended up visiting Japan at the end of Sakura which is their annual cherry blossom festival. It was insanely pretty to see all of the cherry blossoms, especially throughout Tokyo itself! They are everywhere and seriously breathtaking! After trying to stay awake on the train we accidentally got off the train a stop too soon and ended up walking with our backpacks quite a ways to our hotel! Since we only had like 2 full days in the city I had planned for us to drop our stuff off at the hotel and head off to see some night life BUT… we ended up laying down on the bed and we instantly fell asleep! We’re talking still in our travel clothes, lights in the room on, shoes on, and nothing charging because we were THAT exhausted! We both woke up a few hours later and luckily set an alarm for the next morning because the next two days were JAM PACKED!!
DAY ONE: Our home base was SHINJUKU!! You may have heard about the Robot Restaurant, the Godzilla head etc. Both of those are in Shinjuku! I also heard it was the red light district for Tokyo but we never felt weird or saw anything sketchy! We visited Gold Gai which is the oldest alley in Tokyo and it feels like stepping back in time with the hanging lanterns, little shops and ramen houses. It was pretty rainy and windy our first day so we bundled up and embraced the weather! Luckily it cleared up by the afternoon! We ate lunch at an incredible Ramen place, found the Godzilla head and roamed the streets. Getting around Tokyo was a BREEZE! Not only was the metro super easy to navigate, we also walked everywhere, felt completely safe and it was so flipping clean compared to the other cities we’ve visited. There are vending machines EVERYWHERE filled with pretty much anything you could ever want and imagine from hot and cold drinks, to soup, to food, to trinkets. It’s a little wacky at first but I’m actually bummed we don’t really have cool vending machines like theirs here in America.
Our next stop was the Meiji Shrine! It is so crazy to me how a city that’s filled with bright neon lights, quirky signage, and futuristic buildings is also home to some of the most beautiful shrines, gardens and streets that look as if nothing has changed since the beginning of Japan ha ha!! Parts of the city literally feel like you are stepping back in time and you truly get a glimpse of this beautiful country and culture. If you watch the video you can see us doing a cleansing ritual before entering the shrine. I tried to do as much research as I could before coming to Japan because I knew how much respecting their culture would mean and I didn’t want to offend anyone. So I memorized how to do the cleansing ritual, how many times to bow and clap before entering/exiting the Tori Gate, and other cultural things for the rest of the city like (not eating or drinking while walking, they really frown upon that.) When visiting a new place we always try to learn the basic words in their language plus any other cultural or respectful facts!
After the shrine we headed to one of the places I was looking the most forward to because it always seemed so crazy and fun to me! HARAJUKU the center or Kawaii culture! The definition of Kawaii culture is: “the culture of cuteness in Japan. It can refer to items, humans and nonhumans that are charming, vulnerable, shy, and childlike. Examples include cute handwriting, certain genres of manga, and characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachu.” And Harajuku is center for all of that lovable and adorable cuteness! It’s also one of the main areas where the teens in Japan hang out and like to show off their incredible sense of fashion and new fashion trends! We knew upon entering Takeshita street in Harajuku that we were about to embark on a rainbow, hello-kitty, sugar filled adventure and we were HERE. FOR. IT!!! We got a rainbow cotton candy as big as our heads and couldn’t stop laughing about it! We took pictures in the funniest photo booth in a building FILLED with photo booths that turned us into Kawaii cuties! We ate a sugary crepe from one of the many crepe stands, walked past the rainbow grilled cheese shop (even though we were tempted) and walked through all of the fun and CUTESY SHOPS filled with darling and sometimes weird Kawaii items and clothing! It was a blast!!
After the craziness of Harajuku we were off to even more craziness in SHIBUYA!! Including the famous Shibuya Crossing! One of the largest crosswalks in the world where thousands cross at the same time to get to various parts of Shibuya! And it truly was a sight to see! Not only did we cross multiple times with the hoards of people. We got a great view of the action from above at a starbucks on the second floor of a building! We even ran into some missionaries and had to take a picture!! I don’t have any pictures of the crossing but we have TONS of video in the film. We walked around Shibuya for a while, admired the cherry blossoms, found the disney store ha ha, and explored some shops! We came back to Shibuya a couple more times for sushi, food and to see the nightlife!
After Shibuya we headed to one of the CRAZIEST THINGS WE HAVE EVER DONE!!! We headed to dress up in crazy hilarious costumes and go-kart around the city in actual go-karts. MARIO KART IN REAL LIFE HA HA HA! I had seen videos of this on YouTube and travel channel and I thought if I ever came to Japan I was totally doing this! It was a lot of work before we even got to Japan! You had to make an appointment far in advance and you also had to get your international driving permit and bring it with you like a passport! We had to sign a waiver and it was all pretty intense! We ended up getting put in a group with the funnest people who were all just as pumped as we were! It was hysterically funny but also terrifying. The leader of our group was CRAZY! I truly didn’t think we would go that fast on the go-karts but I was SO SO SO very wrong. We FLOORED it. Zooming around the streets, alley ways through SHIBUYA FREAKING CROSSING multiple times and other busy locations. It might not look too fast in the video but there were times my knuckles would turn white from gripping the wheel so hard and my hood would fly off my head we went so fast. And the thing is, we were driving WITH cars… like in actual traffic. The funniest part was everyone on the streets stopped to take pictures of us and waved to us like we were famous! We couldn’t stop laughing!
We ended our first full day in Tokyo by heading to the ROBOT RESTAURANT! We bought tickets to the show because I heard it was one of the weirdest most eccentric things you could do in Japan so we were totally there for it. And boy IT WAS BIZARRE! I mean really cool at times but mostly just plain freaking weird. It’s extremely hard to explain and I don’t have any pics from it ha ha but lots of video in our film. I still can’t decide if it was worth the price or if I recommend doing it. But part of me wants to say YES because it truly is an experience! It’s so weird that I think it must be done by all who visit ha ha. Quick story though.. we almost DIED at the performance because one of the robots accidentally caught on fire when exiting and lit the curtain on fire filling the entire room with smoke. I grabbed Tyler’s arm and pointed to the flames and was like “Ty, we have to get out of here, this place is on fire!!” We almost left but they pretty much have you chained in and it’s impossible to get anywhere. Luckily they put out the fire and had to have a very long intermission to fix everything. We were super on edge the rest of the show though!! Day one of Tokyo was a BLAST and I wasn’t kidding when I said we jam packed each day with SO much!
DAY 2: Was just as packed with adventure as Day 1! We headed to Sensoji, the oldest temple in Tokyo! It is located at the end of an extremely long shopping street and is stunning! After reaching the temple we both got our fortunes! I had “average fortune” ha ha ha and Tyler had really good fortune! Luckily neither of us got bad fortune or else we would have had to tie it to a stick in the temple and burn it so it wouldn’t follow us home ha ha! We explored the grounds, cherry blossoms and ate the yummiest fish shaped, red-bean filled pancake and then headed to our next destination!
Next we headed to Tsukiji fish market and had THE BEST SUSHI OF OUR LIVES!!! We had no idea how fresh and incredible sushi could be until we ate at a shop in the market. It was melt in your mouth sushi that didn’t taste one bit like fish. We watched them cut the fish and prepare it right in front of us and watching them create the sushi was magic! The fish had been caught and bought that same day and our lives will never be the same ha ha!! The market itself was incredible and walking around, watching people make sushi and sell other goods was such a fun environment! We also had some delicious mochi!
After the market we headed to Akihabara AKA Tyler HEAVEN!! Akihabara is a part of Tokyo that is the home of Otaku culture! Which is the term for people obsessed with anime and other things like video games, card games, and certain movies+tv shows! We had a BLAST in Akihabara! Pretty much every skyscraper is full to the top with arcades, card shops (imagine pokemon cards, yu-gi-oh cards, and magic the gathering cards all lining walls in glass cases), collectibles, comic books, video games and so much more! We kept exploring building after building, floor after floor, all things nerdy and Otaku! Tyler was in heaven the whole time and even bought a Japanese version of one of his favorite video games! We also found a vintage Nintendo store that was 3-4 stories tall, full of all things Nintendo and Mario. We also got some capsule prizes which are HUGE in Japan! There are walls on the street just full of capsule games where you put in your Yen and twist the handle until out pops your prize! It was seriously so much fun!
Two full INCREDIBLE days in Japan! We ended day 2 by exploring more around Shibuya, seeing the crossing at night and doing some shopping! We bought some fun flavored kit kats, a stuffed pikachu for Rosie and some more Japanese candy to take home! We ended our night by eating some conveyer belt sushi! It’s kind of the fast food version of sushi but it tastes SO FRESH and amazing. The plates have different colors that signify their prices so you know how much you are spending! When you see a plate that you want going around the conveyer belt you just grab it and enjoy! It is seriously a blast! We fell head over heels in love with Tokyo and can’t wait to go back!! We can’t say enough about Japan! What an incredible country!!
