Sayonara Japan

The three of us took the train this morning from Kyoto back to Tokyo. After escorting my mom to the correct track for the Narita Express, we said our goodbyes and she headed to the airport to catch her return flight to the US. It's been fun showing her around for the last 10 days - hope you liked it too, mom!

Sarah and I found our way to our hotel for the night in Shinjuku, dropped our bags off, then went to find a late lunch nearby. After having a quick bite we wandered around the neighborhood for a bit...until we found something Sarah's been on the lookout for ever since we got to Japan in November: a Japanese photo booth. We've heard legends about how funny these things are so we had to try it out for ourselves. As we posed for silly pictures, we were surprised to see that the images looked like cartoonish caricatures of ourselves: wide eyes, extra soft skin, shiny hair and elongated features. That wasn't the end of the experience though...then we went to the "editing booth" to add our own finishing touches. Needless to say, Sarah was laughing out loud the whole time!

This is just one of the six pictures we got. Thanks for adding the eyeliner, blush and lipstick for me babe!

Giddy over our photo booth experience, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We'd been saving Tsurutontan Shinjuku for our last meal in Japan since we enjoyed it so much the first time. Fortunately for us, it was just as good as we'd remembered (yes, we prioritized revisiting all of our favorite restaurants - can you blame us?!). We both got the curry tonkatsu udon and loved it. Seriously this is one of our highest recommendations if you ever visit Tokyo!

One happy customer!

After dinner we walked along Shinjuku's busy streets to the Park Hyatt for our last activity of our time in Japan: spending a few hours at the famous New York Bar.

Shinjuku's busy streets.

Jazz at the New York Bar.

The perfect end to our trip.

Bill Murray's favorite view of Tokyo.

Tomorrow we plan to do a little shopping before heading to the airport and flying back to the US. We're not headed straight back to New York - we have a stop over in San Francisco to celebrate a friend's wedding. But after that, we'll be officially done with this whole crazy trip. I can't express how fast the last 13 months have gone by!!

Tokyo Round 2

Unfortunately, our flight to Tokyo was a little more eventful than we would have liked. Despite initial accommodations of Alex’s nut allergy during dinner, the flight attendants didn’t realize that the small chocolates served with coffee contained hazelnut. Alex spent the remaining 12 hour flight alternating between bouts of vomiting, sleep and delirium while I tried anything to make him slightly more comfortable. While ultimately no emergency actions were required, we both felt very scared to be at 36,000 feet during this incident and were more than a little relieved upon touching down at Narita.

We met Alex’s mom, Janet, at baggage claim and once she got over the shock of Alex’s swollen face we headed into downtown Tokyo. The Narita Express train actually takes an hour and a half to get into central Tokyo so it was already evening by the time we arrived. We stopped off at Shibuya and grabbed a coffee at the infamous Starbucks so Janet could experience the “Shibuya Scramble.” After making the journey to our hotel, we had a light dinner and headed to bed, hoping to sleep off our jetlag for as long as possible.

View from our hotel rooftop; we could see the Tokyo Tower off in the distance.

We woke up early on Tuesday morning, but given the jetlag I was happy we actually slept until 6am! I went for a run to regain some energy before the city heat took over and met up with Alex and Janet at the hotel for a day of Tokyo sightseeing. Our first stop was Yoyogi Park to explore the Meiji Shrine and nearby Omotesando area.

Outside one of the four gates leading to the Meiji Shrine.

Sake barrel offerings at the Meiji Shrine.

Clouds and crowds at the Meiji Shrine.

The weather was overcast and muggy – real feel of nearly 100 degrees! – so we realized we really needed to take it easy while walking around all over the city. In need of a break, we headed to a sushi restaurant Alex and I discovered last year and treated Janet to the novelty of conveyor belt sushi!

Lunch at Namazuko, our favorite conveyor belt sushi restaurant (proudly displaying a TripAdvisor award!)

After lunch, we headed to Harajuku to show Janet the neighborhood famous for it's "cutesy" fashion and restaurants before returning our hotel to meet a former colleague and friend of Janet's, Michiru.

Harajuku.

After catching up with Michiru over iced tea, Alex and I retreated to our hotel room to rest while Janet joined Michiru for an afternoon of architectural sightseeing (their shared career / interest). After a brief nap, Alex and I decided it had cooled off – slightly – enough to venture out into a new neighborhood nearby, Ebisu. I had read that the area was somewhat trendy with locals, so we stopped into an outdoor bar for a drink and some people watching while the sun went down. For dinner, we headed to Udonyamacho and cooled off in the AC before ordering our first of many udon noodle soups. We called it an early night as we were set to wake up at 2:30am (!) to try and watch Tokyo’s famous tuna auction.

Waking up early turned out to be easier than we expected and we arrived to the Tsukiji Market in time to join the first  group allowed into the auction (only two groups of 60 people are allowed access each morning beginning at 5:30am so hopeful tourists – like us – begin gathering before 3am to try and get in). Watching the choreographed live auction was incredible – we’ve never seen anything like it – and we felt like we were witnessing an authentic Japanese tradition.

Sleepy tourists waiting for a glimpse of the tuna auction.

Buyers inspecting the enormous tuna.

We couldn't believe how huge the tuna were!

Alex even got a video of one auction!

After the auction was over, we walked through the bustling fish market and made our way toward the sushi restaurants located within the area. Bypassing the crawling lines for the famous Sushi Dai, we were actually able to recognize the amazing hole-in-the-wall spot we had found last year and enjoyed an incredible sushi breakfast alone at 6am!

Early morning at Tsukiji Market.

The best sushi in the world according to us: 6am sushi breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked to the nearby Tsukiji Hongan-ji Temple and then tried to perk up with some coffee before heading north to the Senso-Ji, which we hoped would be a little less crowded at 8am! Luckily, the area was practically deserted and we enjoyed re-exploring the shrine without the masses of tourists we encountered last year.

The Tsukiji Hongan-ji Temple is very uniquely designed when compared to all of the other Japanese shrines we have seen.

A very quiet moment at the entrance to  Senso-ji.

The few visitors we saw all tried to grab the hanging lantern for good luck so I gave it a try too.

Alex standing in front of the main shrine.

We ventured to Ueno Park where we met up with Janet and Michiru at 9am, feeling like we had already had a pretty full day! We spent the morning with Michiru as she guided us throughout the park and nearby architecture sights before parting ways for lunch and some sleep.

Looking up at Kiyomizu Kannon Temple.

Lanterns lined the entryway to Ueno Toshogu Shrine

Facing the shrine.

After a restorative nap (and wondering if we are carrying over the European “siesta” habit we picked up from Spain and Italy), we rejoined Janet and Michiru at Ginza Lion for pre-dinner drinks. We checked out a few other nearby buildings with Michiru and then Alex and I made our way to one of our favorite Japanese spots for dinner: Ichiran Ramen, which was as delicious as we remembered. Rumors suggest the Tonkotsu ramen chain is opening a NYC branch this year so fingers crossed!

Beautiful interior of the Ginza Lion beer hall.

Pretty alleyway near Tokyo Station.

We woke up to rain so we had a lazy morning of shopping and stopping for tea and coffee today before having lunch at another Tokyo spot we favor: Harajuku Gyozara. Luckily, Janet liked the five-item menu as much as we did! We are now en route on the train to Nagano, which is a new stop for me and Alex!

On the Go in Tokyo

After sending a picture of an animated cat menu for Shochu to my friend Oya, she remarked that Tokyo is “like Disneyland, but for adults.” And after spending a few days here, Alex and I can definitely appreciate that sentiment (see Alex’s video from the Robot Restaurant post) but we both agree that there is more to Tokyo than just stereotypes. In some ways I feel a little defensive of Japan because most Americans - including me - don’t seem to place it at the top of their vacation lists. For whatever reason, Japan, and Tokyo specifically, is perceived as harsh, uninviting, uber-modern and really, really far away; however, Alex and I found Tokyo to be just like London or New York in many ways: vibrant, huge and diverse, full of cool bars, unique shops and amazing restaurants and totally accessible. We left Tokyo this morning after only a few days and thought “we could live in this city if one of us landed a job here.”

Saturday and Sunday turned out to be pretty cloudy and dreary so we were glad we did so much sight-seeing on Friday when the weather was beautiful. We woke up Saturday still feeling a little jetlagged so we started the day with coffee and some trip-planning. For lunch we headed to a cheap ramen bar where we ordered via vending machine and sat at a small counter, never seeing our server save for her hand when she slipped our bowls to us.

A pretty hearty - and extremely efficient! - meal for less than $10.

After lunch we headed to Omotesando and walked around Tokyo’s version of Fifth Avenue. In addition to the high number of fashionable young people and designer stores, we were surprised to see so many lines of patiently-waiting Japanese people. What was everyone waiting for? Popcorn and chocolate! The lines for Garrett’s Popcorn and Max Brenner Chocolate (who knew each had a Tokyo outpost?) snaked all the way up and down the street and attracted more attention than any of the other stores. However, as we were trying to avoid the crowds we did stumble upon one of my new favorite areas in Tokyo: Meiji Jingumae, a pedestrian-friendly area with lots of cool shops and restaurants.

Feeling a little worn out, we headed home to shower and figure out a game plan for the evening, which ultimately landed us at Robot Restaurant. I won’t borrow from Alex’s post, suffice to say that it was one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve ever had.

We woke up sleepy (ok maybe a little hungover) on Sunday morning and were in the mood for a big NYC-style brunch. Since Japanese breakfast typically consists of rice and fish, we sought out a western-style café in Roppongi Hills, an upscale area of Tokyo known as the Skyscraper district. The eggs benedict at Lauderdale were somewhat of a letdown but the pancakes were incredible and I was happy we had four to share! Afterward we strolled around and checked out a few stores before heading to the Harajuku district.

One of the many colorful storefronts.

Charming house on one of the residential streets.

Harajuku, known as a popular spot for young teenage girls to buy the latest in street fashion, was completely insane. The streets felt like Mardi Gras and we couldn’t help but gawk at what can only be described as costumes.

Complete insanity.

The Japanese are REALLY into cats.

Craving some quiet relaxation, we did what anyone would do: had a tea at the local rabbit café. Similar to a cat café (which have begun to pop up in the US), the rabbit café was a place for us to have a drink while playing with rabbits. Definitely not the most sanitary of experiences but one I’m not going to forget anytime soon.

Look at this cutie.

Given its size, I am not convinced this was actually a rabbit!

After thoroughly washing our hands we went to the popular Harajuku Gyozaro for dinner and were happy the line wasn’t too long! The food was awesome and a bargain at $2.50 for six piping-hot gyoza. We left feeling full and content after another great day touring the streets of Tokyo.

Sometimes simple is best: perfectly cooked gyoza.

We woke up early Monday morning to make it to the Tsukiji Market and watch the fishmongers cutting and cleaning the day’s fresh catch. While we missed the famous 5:20am tuna auction (I swear we would have gone if public transportation was running at 4am), we were still able to see all kinds of fish and other sea creatures and scored a front-row sushi spot for breakfast, a must-do when in Tokyo.

Checking out the day's fresh catch.

One of the many storefronts outside of the fish market.

Inside the fish market.

Enormous tuna.

Be sure to avoid all of the moving dollies and fishmongers!

The best - and freshest - sushi we have had so far.

Having narrowly avoided multiple motorized dolly collisions, we took the subway up to Asakusa and spent the rest of the morning checking out the area (admittedly very touristy) and exploring the Senso-ji shrine.

Entrance to the Senso-ji shrine.

Tons of shops and tourists on the streets leading up to the shrine.

Standing in front of the Senso-ji shrine.

Alex in front of one of the surrounding pagodas.

The Senso-ji shrine.

Nearby garden with accompanying Buddha.

We saw some other (smaller) shrines in an adjacent park .

While the shrine and surrounding areas were pretty cool, the highlight of the day was lunch with our New York friends Mike and Nikou, who allowed us to crash the final day of their honeymoon! We had a great time catching up over bento box lunches and a private shamisen concert at Waentei-Kikko (If you go, go for the experience, not the food) and all agreed it was pretty cool we were having lunch together halfway around the world from NYC!

Loved spending time with these two!

Once we finished our long lunch and said our goodbyes, Alex and I made our way to the Tokyo Metro Government Building for some amazing views of the city at dusk.  The building offers two observatory desks with free admission, making it the best option for checking out the skyline in Tokyo (which explained the line we had to wait in!).

Twilight in Tokyo.

Having sampled fresh sushi, ramen, tempura and a handful of other Japanese dishes, we ended our time in Tokyo with the biggest bowls of udon I have ever seen. I thought the cuisine in Japan would be relatively “light” as compared to some of the American and South American foods we had sampled but – besides sushi – no such luck!

Biggest bowl of udon ever.

We rolled ourselves home to pack and get ready for the early train to Takayama – where I am currently writing this post – and got to bed early. We are excited to spend some time in the Japanese Alps and expect that the pace will be a little less crazy than Tokyo!

Robot Restaurant

This one hour show definitely deserves its own blog post. I first heard about Robot Restaurant on Anthony Bourdain's show Parts Unknown. Sarah also read about it on TripAdvisor. Everything about it looked crazy, but we figured that it would be unlike anything we'd seen before (or will ever see again). We were right.

If you are ever in Tokyo and have a free night, you should check this out. Yes, it's campy and overdone (and will probably give you a headache) but it's worth it. I'll give you the play-by-play here but the pictures can hardly do the live show justice.

We took a quick subway ride up to the theater (scratch that, basement is a more appropriate description) where the show is put on several times a day. I paused to snap a quick picture on the way in.

Once we picked up our tickets we were escorted into a waiting room to have a drink before the show started. I was overwhelmed just by this room itself...I mean where else do you sit in gold seashell bucket chairs with glowing tiger walls??? Answer: nowhere.

As we got a few minutes closer to show time, a herd of 20 or so businessmen showed up (maybe they've been before?) and a band came out to entertain us. These costumes were just a glimpse of what was about to come...

After a few songs from these guys we were escorted down a bizarre staircase to the main stage. We walked down about four flights of stairs and I think everyone was disoriented by the time we arrived.

Once we took our seats it was time for the show to begin. First we saw a "traditional" Japanese drum show. So far so good.

Then they added a dragon. Still pretty normal.

Quick costume change, then we heard Lady Gaga songs sung from a rhinestone-encrusted horse with a lazer show in the background. This is the type of stuff that we were expecting.

After this, things started to get a little weird. Did a panda ride a cow across the stage? Yes. Did a monkey hang onto a wasp with fire wings? Yes. How about a dragon - did a girl come out riding a dragon...? (Yes, obviously.)

Just when I thought we were done with these animal props, this happened:

The shark attack was the finale of this part of the show. The crew cleaned up the stage for a few minutes, then the "real" robots took center stage. It felt a little like we were on the set of the next Transformers movie.

Once these robots had done a few laps of the stage it was time for the grand finale: four giant lady-robots with three actual ladies on them! I have no idea who thought this up!

All in all it was a fun, weird, contemporary Japanese experience. We were going to head to a karaoke bar but decided to come here instead and we definitely think we made the right choice. You can watch people sing Journey songs badly everywhere but you can't see anything like this anywhere else. Come when you're here and brace yourself!

Konnichiwa Japan

The next leg of our journey has officially begun! Sarah and I were pretty restless with excitement so waking up early on Wednesday was not much of a challenge. My dad dropped us off at the airport and, after a quick pre-departure picture, we were off on our first flight to LA.

Be back in eight months!

Had some pretty cool views of the Rockies as we flew across the country.

This first flight is not part of our Round the World Fare. If we started the global ticket in Japan it was a lot cheaper, so we figured we'd fly the cheapest way possible from NY to Tokyo, then pick up the ticket there. We found a great price on Priceline, but it meant flying two different airlines: Virgin America to LA then Singapore Airlines to Tokyo. We were a little nervous about losing our bags during the transfer, but the gate agents at LAX were able to track them for us to let us know they'd made it onto the second plane.

Speaking of the second plane, I didn't realize we'd be flying on one of Singapore's A380s - the new, double-decker plane. I'd seen these from a distance before at other airports, but never up close. It's hard to imagine how something SO BIG can fly! (Cue Sarah's eye-roll and ohmygodit'sjustaplane! commentary)

There were four jetways used to board the plane. Four!

Though no one should ever be excited about an 11+ hour flight in an economy seat, we were both a little giddy given the airline's reputation. We were not disappointed. Easily the most luxurious economy experience we've ever had. Though the legroom is still a bit cramped for me, the plane is so big I could walk around and stretch out enough to keep myself limber.

We arrived in Tokyo at 7pm local time, which is about 5am NY time. We stayed awake, for the most part, the entire time so we'd have an easier time getting to sleep when we got here. Well it worked - we were both exhausted! The bus to downtown Tokyo worked out great though and we didn't have any trouble finding the apartment we rented on AirBNB...though it is a little smaller than I was expecting!

At least it's not one of the capsule hotels!

After sleeping / lounging for as long as we could (I was proud of myself for making it until 5am!), Sarah and I spent a few hours this morning planning out the next month of the trip then got ready for a day of exploring Tokyo. Our first stop: coffee. We went to Sunday Coffee, right around the corner from our apartment, then walked up to Yoyogi Park.

We had beautiful weather today so we wanted to take advantage of it. Here's an odd shaped sundial in the park.

Perfect morning for a stroll.

After a nice walk through the fall foliage, we headed over to the Meiji Shrine which is practically connected to the park. The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji who is credited with helping start Japan's industrial revolution. The shrine itself is only one small part of the site - there are many other areas to visit nestled within a forest of tall trees.

Entrance to the Meiji Shrine.

Each year, sake brewers throughout Japan donate barrels to the Meiji Shrine. The sake itself is used in ceremonies but the barrels are bound together to commemorate the offerings.

The Meiji Shrine.

A temiuzya right outside the shrine.

We also saw a couple doing a wedding photo shoot. Not exactly the same kind of attire you'd see in NYC!

We were both getting pretty hungry at this point so we decided to walk a little further north to Shinjuku for lunch. We found this small sushi place called Numazuko and were treated to conveyer-belt-style sushi! I knew I wanted to try a place like this while we were here, but I didn't expect to get it as our first meal in Tokyo!

The chef makes plates of sushi then just puts them on the conveyer-belt for you to take. At the end of the meal, the waitress counts how many plates you had to tally up your bill. Very fun experience (and delicious sushi too)!

Full of sushi and green tea, we walked over to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden to see another of Tokyo's great outdoor spaces. The grounds were meticulously maintained and the flowers were beautifully colorful - definitely worth a stop if you're ever in Tokyo.

A sculpture on an island in the middle of a koi pond.

Flowers were displayed under covers like these...

...and in the fields like these ones here.

Another of the (many) ponds.

A beautiful row of trees in another corner of the garden. How are we the only ones here??

We wanted to wrap up our sightseeing extravaganza by walking over to Tokyo Tower. We saw the tower fully illuminated as we drove into the city last night so we figured it would be worth seeing up close. Not really. There isn't much of a park to go with it (the base of the tower is basically surrounded by a parking lot) and it looks less like the Eifel Tower when you really get close. It was still nice to see more of Tokyo on our walk over there though and if we hadn't gone then Sarah would've missed out on this great photo op:

Not really sure what those things are but I have to assume they're Christmas-affiliated given the display behind them?

Tokyo Tower (with some trees blocking the parking lot!).

We concluded our whirlwind day in Japan with a trip to the New York Bar at the Park Hyatt. This is the bar made famous by Lost in Translation, though the views are enough to make this a famous spot without Bill Murray! We sipped Japanese whiskey and took in the views before heading home to bed. Overall we had a great first day in Japan!

What a view!

The full moon even came out from behind the clouds later in the evening. Definitely grab a drink here if you come to Tokyo!