Our five days in Japan’s capital city, Tokyo!

After riding aboard the Nozomi Shinkansen from Hiroshima for nearly four hours, reaching speeds of up to at least 299kph (which was what I was able to clock on the GPS app), and having seen a very shy mount Fuji hiding behind some clouds, we finally reached our destination, Tokyo!

We arrived at the Tokyo station and changed onto the local Yamanote line, one of Tokyo’s most famous train lines which is also basically a city loop that circles most of the city’s major areas, passing by almost all the main attractions. This had been part of the planning when looking at accomodation and our AirBnb that was located near the Komagome Station on this very train line. 

Our AirBnb was only about five minutes walk from the train station and was located in a very local and residential area which was quiet and a perfect area to stay in. After we checked into our AirBnb we went for a walk around the local streets, stopping by and visiting the Kyu-Furukawa Gardens and stopping at a local supermarket to purchase a few items for the AirBnb (a few local craft beers among other things). That night we kept it simple and had dinner at a local Matsuya, a restaurant chain that serve simple but delicious rice bowls with thin strips of beef and covered with melted cheese (and I also ordered a raw egg to go with it). All of this for less that AUD $30 for the four of us (and that included a beer each for Suz and I). 

The next morning, our sightseeing of Tokyo truly started by a trip to the Asakusa area to visit the Sensō-ji Temple, one of the oldest and most iconic temples. As we arrived to walk along the pathway lined with vendors selling all kinds of souvenirs and foods, we discovered that we weren’t the only ones that had this idea and even though there was a slight drizzle that morning, it didn’t keep the people out. Well, we carried on making a few purchases and in reaching the temple, we drew some more fortune slips with Suz and Xander both receiving good fortunes whilst Eloise and I did not, so in order to avoid having bad fortune we both tied our slips at the local racks, left our bad luck behind and moved on.

We caught a train to Akihabara and its Electric town, a shopping area filled with electronical gadget shops and anime stores. It’s generally filled with flashing sighs however we were there during the day and the rain had stared to fall a bit harder so we didn’t get to experience it fully, however got a taste of it before we grabbed some food and visited a local brewery.

From here we moved onwards to Shinjuku where we collected our Hakone Free Passes for our day trip the following day (more about that in our Hakone blog). Due to the rain and clouds we didn’t want to spend money to get a viewpoint of the city, and decided to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, from here we were able to get some amazing views over the city (and it was free as well).

That night we ended up at Izakaya Fukumimi, where I got to catch up with and old friend, Michael, who I had not seen for almost 20 years (since our time in Thailand). We talked, laughed, had some great skewers and many many great beers until we were told that our time slot was up and we had to leave. We said our goodbyes, promising to catch up soon again and walked back towards the local train station, wandering through the bright neon lit streets of Shinjuku, and seeing the head of Godzilla on top of a building, before heading back to our AirBnb.

The next morning we made our way to the famous Shibuya Crossing, where we crossed the intersection as everyone else and also managed to get to a get into a well known coffee shop that offered views over the crossing. We stood and watched the intersection fill with people from every direction and cross and couldn’t help thinking that it was a bit underwhelming considering how famous this crossing is.

As we had our midday tickets for Shibuya Sky, we made our way to the top where a blue sky offered us great views across the city of Tokyo.

For lunch Suz and I decided to try out Ichiran Ramen, a well known Tonkotsu ramen restaurant where you are seated in a solo booth and your food is served to you from behind a curtain. We had to wait for about 40 minutes to be seated and after customising our ramen order, we were seated and allowed to enjoy our food. Whilst Suz and I enjoyed our ramen, Xander and Eloise (who had already been fed from Family Mart) were waiting for us outside.

For the rest of that afternoon, we explored Takeshita Street in Harajuku, had a Swedish Fika at IKEA and did some shopping at UNIQLO. Later on we made our way onto the Meiji Jingu Shrine where we strolled through the large park, passing the sake barrels before reaching the shrine. 

As the sun began to set, we returned to Shibuya and the crossing once again and now the crossing was filled with hundreds of people crossing, running across to get their epic Instagram shot. We again just sat and overlooked the crossing for a whilst before we left the area. We finished our night with a dinner at a local Tendon Tenya where we had some great crispy tempura and some cold soba noodles, a great way to finish a big day!

On our fourth day in Tokyo, we made our way to the largest indoor Harry Potter attraction, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo! Here we were shown through the Great Hall of Hogwarts and through the different rooms that featured in the movies. We also walked through the Forbidden Forest and many other areas that were part of the movies. We read a lot of information about how the movies were made and were also able to participate in filming scenes in front of a green screen and also stopped to have some butter beer once again (still very very sweet). At the end, Eloise decided to get her own wand and even got it engraved with her name, a great souvenir to take home.

After spending a few hours here, we returned to our AirBnb for a few hours of rest before we returned to Shinjuku once again for another Izakaya dinner experience with Michael with lots of yakitoris and more beers, another great night!

On our last day in Tokyo, we visited TeamLab Borderless, a digital art museum where you’re immersed among lights, motion and sound in different rooms. It was a great experience and at some times, we even got a bit motion sick due to the speeds of some rooms. We did notice that Xander wasn’t feeling the best however so it was decided that Suz and Xander would be returning to the AirBnb so that he could rest a bit. 

Eloise and I continued exploring the city by making our way over to the Tokyo Tower where we explored the base area before we made our way to Odaiba, catching the monorail that glides across the city and the water before a short visit to the Unicorn Gundam Statue. We both had some lunch nearby before returning to Takeshita Street as Eloise was wanting a special souvenir that she had seen the previous day, a cats tail!

We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Yanaka Ginza, an area filled with shopping, cafes and supposedly cats, however to Eloise’s disappointment we didn’t see any.

That night we decided to stay in for dinner whilst we packed for an early morning departure so we visited a local supermarket, grabbed a few bentos and returned to the AirBnb for the night. 

Our visit to Tokyo was everything we imagined and more, a great mix of culture, food, and fun, it was vibrant, fascinating, chaotic and relaxing! We managed to balance quiet moments at shrines, parks and gardens with the hustle and bustle of Shibuya and Shinjuku. It was the perfect ending to our mainland Japan trip!

The next morning we were off to our next stop, the island of Okinawa!