Tokyo

That's my hotel in the Shimbashi neighborhood of Tokyo. Took the bus from the airport which was a good plan. Didn't get a phone card or SUICA. (Transportation card) To get to the SUICA I would've had to navigate downstairs where there were a ton of people trying to catch the train out of the airport. The phone card was a good call because it was expensive at the airport and very cheap at the electronic stores. Shimbashi is definitely a happy hour drinking destination for local suits. They started immediately at 5pm. All the places were small and not geared for foreigners so I ate at chains with touch screen machines.

Since I didn't have a phone card and I was walking from Tokyo station to my hotel I was running late for my check in time. GPS worked fine though. This hotel includes washer dryer hybrid machines in their rooms.

First thing I hit was Donki (Don Quijote) to grab a bunch of essentials like hand towels because they typically don't have paper towels or air hand dryers in restrooms. Got some regional Kitkats for my sister, they were sold out of a lot of popular flavors. The tax free shopping stuff ended up taking a lot of time because I needed to buy a bunch of things to meet the minimum. This ended up happening a lot because things were so inexpensive.

I checked out Muji and Uniqlo because I needed some socks and it was so wild to me that Muji sold fresh produce and food. They had a ton of packaged food and frozen food! I also have never seen a outdoor escalator before. I wonder if it shuts down when it rains.

I woke up crazy early because I usually wake up close to noon in US so that worked out very well for me. I didn't take a lot of pictures of the first day. I got to this spot I wanted to go to fancy curry spot Ittaikan Curry by Tsukiji Market. There's one chef and a bit of a wait for him to make a fresh pot of rice for every customer. Half of the menu was showcasing the rice.

I stopped by Shibuya but it was so early that there were almost no people there which is very uncharacteristic. I come back later to this same spot by this famous dog statue and it was almost unwalkable because of the crowds.

I got there a few weeks before Cherry Blossom season. It's kind of unpredictable nowadays. People will overpay for plane tickets and hotel in anticipation for the season and can totally miss it. Luckily I got to see a few early blooms on this trip. It's supposed to be everywhere and intense.

This was Yoyogi Park. It looks awesome from the street because it's on a hill.

There was an Ireland festival at the park and I saw banners for Ireland along Harajuku as well.

After the park I got to this very famous ramen spot. It was ranked the best ramen in Japan many years ago. I first saw it on Youtube back in the old days. People basically had cram in and wait directly behind other people while they sat and ate. It was still so early so I got in line about 40 minutes before they opened. The place is called Fuunji ramen and they do tsukemen which is dipping noodles. First time trying it like this and it was SO GOOD. Best bowl of noodles I've ever had. The young Japanese guy next to me was definitely treating it as an experience as well.

Next stop was Shimokitazawa. It's a very trendy area slightly outside Tokyo with a ton of 'vintage shops' It was a little disappointing because it was just a ton of Americana and stuff like that. First time seeing a bike garage like this.

I stopped at a Share Lounge (There's multiple locations) because I needed to charge my phone and the cafes looked packed. You pay by the hour here and there's lots of free snacks/snack buffet. I didn't want to fill up on random junk though. It's like a cross between a fancy cafe and a shared workspace. I've seen pictures of ones in busier areas though but this one was really chill.

I swung by Harajuku and saw a huge crowd towards Yoyogi Park. I guess there's a shrine there that's very popular. I stopped by the Samsung store to see what their Teamlab collab was all about. It was really nothing to write home about. I did check out some of the Harajuku shops, mainly the toy store for souvenirs. The whole area was so crowded and the store started to get dangerously crowded. When I left they started to line people up outside.

Tokyo tower wasn't too far from my hotel so I went to check it out at night but I didn't bother getting too close. For dinner I went to Ichiran which was open very late. It definitely tastes better than the US. I tried it in the US shortly after coming back so I could tell the noodles were bouncier and the broth was better. It was also definitely a happening place to go for late night dinner even though it's a big chain.

Went to check out Sunshine City mall in Ikebukuro and ended up near a huge cosplay convention. There were a lot of cosplayers with professional photographers and a gigantic line of people with rolling luggage. They take it seriously over there. There was this gyoza vending machine inside the mall too!

I had quite the lunch at my first Kura Rotating Sushi in Japan. I ordered 14 plates, some of them were premium, got dessert and it came out to be 12 dollars! This place was also so busy but they had a row of booths for solo diners.

Yokohama