japan trip part one: tokyo
I went to Japan and Taiwan for 3 weeks back at the end of March into April, and it was so amazing and overwhelming. I wanted to write about it so I didn't forget anything, but I didn't blog here. I instead bought a physical journal my first day in Asia and wrote at the end of each night. But here on this blog, I'm just gonna write about some highlights and summarize my raw thoughts from the journal (with pictures)!
That being said, I'm gonna keep these entries relatively short.
First just need to mention the flights real quick. Wow. The United States is really fucking up. All 3 flights I took in Asia were better than any of the tens that I've taken in the States. The provided meals really change the vibe and keep the flight from being 100% dreadful. Even my 2 hour flight from Osaka to Taipei had a meal! Get your shit together, USA.
Our 11-hour flight landed around 6pm Tokyo time, but despite being exhausted, my gf and I knew we had to stay awake to keep a good sleep schedule. After the airport, we travelled an hour to our hotel then immediately ventured out to find food. I was immediately floored by how cool the neighborhood was (we stayed in Ueno). It truly felt like we were just getting lost in a new place because the streets are small and cozy, but more on that in another blog post.
We walked to a bunch of food spots that ended up being closed, until we found an Izakaya place (AKA restaurant serving bar food and drinks) on a main street. This place was the definition of cozy. It was tiny and intimate, with seats very close to one another in an island-bar-type format. I didn't get any pictures of the place, but if you know anything about Japan, you can probably imagine. The grill is in the middle of the bar, so everyone watches the food being cooked. I loved it. It just had a different vibe, than anything I ever experienced. We got some skewers and veggies and stuff:
We headed back, slept, then woke up the next day at 5:30am out of sheer excitement. After balling out on breakfast at the nearest 7/11, we headed for Nakano Broadway, which is basically just this famous, giant mall with nerdy shit like anime figures, games, plushies, etc. Also clothes, food, stationary...basically anything. We also found good pastries and stopped in our first Uniqlo, where we bought too many clothes.
I need to say this to any readers who may be going to Tokyo: If you don't care about anime figures like me, and you don't plan on collecting Japanese video games or playing cards, just skip Nakano Broadway and the Akihabara neighborhood. Maybe go if you're on a bachelor trip and want to hit up a maid cafe or something with your friends, but seriously if you don't care about the figures, there's not much for you there. That was a mistake on my part.
That being said, I did pick up a copy of Pokemon Green, just for nostalgic purposes:
The day wasn't completely wasted though because we found a good restaurant with "set" meals, which are just a meal option with a bunch of different foods, that looks like this:
We also hit up the Pokemon Center in Shibuya and saw Mewtwo:
Also, fun fact: the same day we visited this Pokemon Center, there was a stabbing at the other Tokyo Pokemon Center, which you can read about here: Stabbing in Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo
I'm glad we decided to go to the Shibuya Pokemon Center instead.
By this point, I wasn't doing so great. My gf and I were frustrated with each other, I was hot and sweaty, but we decided to do one last thing before heading back to the hotel, which was to see Shibuya Crossing. You know the one: the cross-streets where you can cross in all directions and it's packed with hundreds of people?
Well we saw it, but we were so tired of walking and being outside, and I honestly thought it was kinda underwhelming, so I have no pictures to show for it lol. Sorry!
That was the end of day 1. There's so much more to tell, but I think I'm gonna end things here. See you in the next one.