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Exploring Tokyo

Continuing on with the Japan adventures! If you guys haven’t already read about my first evening there, you can find that post here. We were in Tokyo for 2.5 days, and today I’ll be sharing what we did our first FULL day there. The corresponding itinerary (including maps/directions) has also been uploaded to my Itineraries page, which you can find here (Tokyo Day 2).

dsc_0038 dsc_0039 dsc_0041dsc_0044Tsukiji Market:

Deciding what time we wanted to go to the Tsukiji Market was probably one of the hardest decisions we had to make on this trip. Everybody talks about the tuna auction that happens at 5am in the morning. Which means in order to get tickets (they only had out 120 a day), you basically have to get there at 3am. And since we had just landed in Japan the night before already running on basically no sleep, we decided to not pull two all-nighters in a row. But the decision was not easy! I hear they’re closing down this iconic market soon and moving it somewhere else. So if you’re thinking about doing it, DO IT. If I go back to Japan again before they close down, I’m definitely doing it.

Instead, we decided to get there around 8am (which is still pretty early by my standards). A lot of the restaurants surrounding the market get their fish from the market super early. Which means that there’s no better place to go if you’re looking for a fresh sushi breakfast. Unfortunately, 8am was still not early enough. The lines for all the restaurants were already wrapping around outside, and these Japanese restaurants aren’t big yo. There are no sign in sheets either, so you’re literally stuck waiting. We didn’t get to try the sushi restaurant that we had our eyes on (Sushi Dai–which people claim to be the best sushi restaurant in Japan) because the line was already insane, but the one next to it (didn’t catch the name) wasn’t a bad alternative. I had freshly fried tempura with rice, miso soup, salad, and tuna sashimi. That tuna sashimi was amazing. So fresh–the texture was perfect. Literally melts in your mouth.

Anyway, bottom line, if you’re trying to come here for breakfast, I think 6:30-7am would be the perfect time (assuming you also want to get some sleep, of course).

dsc_0058 image shinjuku_gyoen imageShinjuku Gyoen National Garden:

As beautiful as this place was, it would have been 100x better without rain. It was pouring the whole time while we were there, so most (if not all) of these pictures are from my phone (holding a camera and an umbrella just wasn’t working out too well). The garden is huge, and I’d say 1.5-2 hours is a good amount of time to budget for this place. You’ll come across a lot of interesting plants, gorgeous views, and lush lush greenery. If you go during Spring, I hear this is one of the best places to see cherry blossoms!

Lunch @ Ichiran Shinjuku Station:

This place has been on my list for YEARS, I kid you not. People always refer to this place as the vending-machine-ramen place. I feel like I need to clarify, the ramen does not get dispensed out of a vending machine! A lot of places in Japan use vending machines to take orders. It simplifies the payment process. You select what you want at the vending machine, pay, and take the corresponding tickets it prints out.

At this particular ramen place, each person sits at their own private booth, with a window leading straight to the kitchen. The screen is lifted when you first sit down so you can hand them your tickets. Food doesn’t take that long to come out, and when it does, they close the screen to the kitchen so you can eat in peace. The ramen here is bomb. I was surprised because the broth here isn’t thick at all! But there’s so much flavor. And the pork is fantastic–not at all like the pork you usually get at the ramen shops in the states. You can select the texture of your noodles as well as the amount of spice you want to add in your soup (I chose moderate for everything). AMAZING. Get here before 11:30 and you should be good. They have quite a few seats and the line moves pretty fast.

dsc_0078 dsc_0080 dsc_0083Meiji Jingu Shrine:

This place is about a 17 minute walk from the ramen place. The majority of Japan’s touristy spots are either temples or shrines. And yes, there is a difference! Shrines were built for the Shinto religion and temples for the Buddhist religion. Meiji Jingu is a shrine (named after the first emperor of modern Japan), and it’s super pretty! Parts of it were under construction (at least when I went), but hopefully you’ll be able to visit the main buildings, the treasure house, and the inner garden. Check out the full itinerary on my Itineraries page if you’re interested in shrine etiquette 🙂

dsc_0107 dsc_0112Shibuya Crossing:

Chill time. This day trip is filled with quite a bit of walking, and by this point, I was already feeling exhausted. The rain, of course, didn’t help. By the time we got to Shibuya Crossing, it was around 5pm ish so it was starting to get busy. There is a Starbucks stationed right across Shibuya Station, and it’s the perfect place to watch the hustle and bustle across this world-famous crosswalk. Free WiFi too 🙂

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And that’s the end! I would have included dinner plans but the place we ended up going to gave me real bad stomach issues…so I just left it out. If you guys are interested in some of my other suggestions (ones that I didn’t personally try), you can find those on the full itinerary (Tokyo Day 2 on my Itineraries page).

Hope you guys enjoyed. If you know anyone going to Tokyo soon who’s in need of a list of things to do, send them here! 🙂

XOXO,
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Comments

    • No problem haha I didn’t either until I was looking up places to visit 🙂 Only wish I had gotten back earlier from Japan so we could’ve done an SF food tour 🙂

      Reply

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