TOKYO TRAVEL / PART 1
TOKYO! what a trip. so much to see. so much to explore. overwhelming, but amazing. exactly why i wanted to go and try to find a bunch of spots to share with you. because you gottttta go. let’s dive in..
we took a 4 hour flight from hong kong to tokyo and arrived into the narita airport. the airport is pretty far from everything (about 1.5 hours) so we decided to take the friendly limo company bus to the sheraton hotel and then a 10 minute cab to our hotel. it was about $26 a person as opposed to an expensive cab ride ($150-200) but it’s up to you, really. i actually liked the bus ride, it was nice, easy to book as you exit customs, and runs every 30 mins or something fast like that.
i’m going to try to break down what we did by neighborhood because there is a LOT to see in tokyo, and everything is pretty spread out. my suggestion is to use google maps on your phone and computer to plan the trip. type in a place you want to go and hit the little “saved” star so you get a bunch of stars on your map and you know how to plan your day. you don’t want to be going all over the city if you can stick in one neighborhood in the daytime and another in the evening.
tip: we rented little wifi devices from tep wireless that gave us a signal throughout the whole trip. verizon didn’t have a good data plan for the places we were visiting. we got two for four people so the signal would be strong. honestly worked perfectly in hong kong, and almost perfectly in tokyo. would also highly suggest a mophie for keeping that phone charged because maps takes up a loooot of battery.
MEGURO
natalie and i got in late and went straight to sleep but then met up with jen and jesse in the morning. it’s always fun to meet up with someone you know, somewhere new. it’s so exciting. the hotel we stayed in was the claska hotel through mr and mrs smith. it was definitely one of the most unique hotel experiences i’ve had. there is only 18 rooms, and we were able to move around and see a bunch of them. some are very modern and minimalist and some are very wacky and themed (stuffed animal theme or ship theme! ha) the place kinda felt like an ace hotel, but in japan. i liked having my morning coffee in the lobby and the store on the 2nd floor is absolutely stunning (a must.) as far as location, i felt it was sort of out of the way from things we wanted to see and more chill and residential, but a great hotel regardless. and we did find a lot of cool stuff in the meguro neighboorhood that were worth checking out. there’s also a lot of vintage shopping here!
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DAIKANYAMA
the first neighborhood we went was daikanyama in shibuya. it feels like a very tranquil upscale neighborhood with gorgeous modern buildings and great wandering streets. we went to the tsutaya bookstore which was probably the most gorgeous bookstore i’ve ever seen. levels and rooms filled with art books and endless inspiration, a cool coffee house, and surrounding unique stores. i could have spent a looooong time in there.
the sushi place we went to above was called isshin rice house and we all loved it. it was noooot easy to find, because it’s in a basement kind of. BUT if you go to this spot, it’s right down the stairs. haha, you will find a lot that getting lost is pretty common and people don’t speak that much english we found. you just have to accept that getting lost is kinda normal. just learn a few japanese phrases before you go if you can. everyone is super nice! at the restaurant, you take your shoes off as you arrive, when they bring you sake they let you choose which design of cup you want off a platter (which i LOVED that little touch) they serve you an amazing under $15 meal with miso, sushi, rice and pickles. a great little spot.
another thing i thought was cool was they have these white vending machines on the street everywhere. and even ones with beer and cup o’ sake! i don’t really see how they prevent the youngsters from getting into those, but pretty funny.
it was affordable and there were sooo many cute cats in there! felt like a surreal experience. luckily all four of us are cat lovers. you can pay for 30 mins or an hour, and you can feed them treats and almost all of them are so friendly and cuddly. look at this guy’s short legs!
a little note. i found the subway to be a bit more confusing here than other places i’ve been. (i’ve also heard it’s easy once you know it) we took mostly cabs to get around because we could split them four ways. this would have been pretty expensive if it was just two of us and i probably would have made more of an effort to sort out the subway. not trying to intimidate against it, that was just our experience with it. if you go the cab route, have cash and know that almost every cab drive spoke almost no english. we made sure to bring the business card to our hotel with the address on it, or always have the phone handy to show them on the map where we needed to go.
HARAJUKU
next up, a different part of shibuya called harajuku (near the more pink explosion street, but more on that soon) it felt very nice in that area, a lot of upscale stores. i really enjoyed wandering the little alley ways that were SO clean it was crazy. it kind of felt like a movie set and really reminded me of berlin in a lot of ways actually.
we stopped in kiddyland which has a lot of kitchy toys for kids and then had dinner at the famous maisen restaurant for tonkatsu (a japanese food which consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet) half of the group loved it, and the other half not so much. i liked it, but others complained it was a little too greasy for their taste. it’s definitely a fave in town though for many, so i would give it a shot. and it feels like you walk into the 60’s there too!
the toys we got in kiddyland, we showcased them at the restaurant. those little characters are so funny.
SHINJUKU
when you think of tokyo, bright lights, neon, tons of people comes to mind, yes? this was shinjuku. we heard that robot restaurant was quite the experience and WAS IT EVER. we were advised not to eat dinner here, just to go for the show. one of the more expensive things we did on the trip ($80 i think), but it was seriously worth it. i found so much joy in the jewel covered walls and gold seashell chairs, and neon lights and weird ass costumes. it’s definitely touristy but it doesn’t even matter. the show is down in the basement and honestly hard to even describe. but i kinda think it’s better to just go without knowing too much like we did! more fun that way. SO memorable. (read more on it here)
also i heard that the themed bars (bob marley etc) of golden gai near there are amazing, sadly we didn’t make it. i heard it’s soooo cool, next time!
a town this wild could easy be perceived as unsafe, but i felt SO safe the whole trip. probably more than anywhere i’ve been. AND a lot of people said tokyo was crazy expensive. maybe i am used to LA prices because it seemed not nearly as expensive as LA.
HARAJUKU STREET
the next morning we had breakfast in our lobby at the claska hotel and then headed to harajuku street. within minutes i found this bright purple fuzzy hat and fit right in…
i was on the hunt for those gorgeous cotton candy wonderlands. seriously have you ever seen prettier ones?! head to totti candy factory! a very fun area to walk around in and shop for unique things. an hour or so is all you need.
a very short walk from harajuku street was our next perfect lunch spot. a soba noodle spot called kamakura matsubara-an keyaki. again, a little hard to find, it’s up the elevator in a corporate looking building but actually has a nice tree view and a lovely interior. get one of the specials with the tempura and a cold beer and BE VERY HAPPY. loved that spot.
we wandered around ginza a little bit that afternoon, but didn’t see anything to put on your radar. and that night we went to this crazy restaurant, nakame no teppen, that you either have to get there super early (before 7pm) or make a reservation (we waited about 45 mins. but just walk to 7/11 around the corner and get one of their delicious rice balls and a beer and wait!) you crawl underneath this secret door (childhood dream come true) to get in and the restaurant is kinda loud and dark and feels like you walked into the past or a movie. the service was slooooow but the food we got was amazing and they didn’t speak english but we made it work. i think we were just starving so we weren’t able to fully enjoy it, but that place definitely stood out in my mind.
the next day we took a 2 hour train to kyoto, which was magical. more on that very soon. and then i have a bunch more places from tokyo i want to tell you about, stay tuned!
photos by designlovefest, see my recent trip to hong kong and colombia too!
