TOKYO, JAPAN
TOKYO, JAPAN
Wilson was so excited to go to Tokyo because he had just gotten into eating ramen. To say this trip was a food-driven adventure might be an understatement. Something that surprised us in Tokyo was how friendly and polite everyone was. We stayed at The Celestine Hotel in Ginza; it was very central to transit, restaurants, and shopping like the Ginza Six.
Our hotel was a block away from the metro, which is by far one of our favourite metro systems in the world; navigating Tokyo’s metro was so easy despite not knowing Japanese at all. Apple Maps came in very handy for transit breaking down every line and station for you with a straightforward colour code. It’s also relatively inexpensive, which was great.
We went to Ichiran Ramen, it is a chain restaurant that’s everywhere. Similar to that of Starbucks or Subway, it is very consistent and serves great beginner ramen. There are so many ways to switch up ramen, from broth type to noodles and meat variations. Ichiran does a Tonkotsu ramen, which is pork broth, noodles, three slices of pork belly and a half egg. Similar to most of the ramen bars in Japan, it is a self-order and single-seating ramen experience. You pay at the entrance through a vending machine, and it gives you the tickets that display what you ordered. When you get seated (individual style seating), you put the ticket on the table, and you hit service. The server comes from the other side of the bar, rolls up a little screen and takes your token and then comes back with your order shortly after. There is an order form where you can order more food or toppings and you put cash on the order form and ring for service again. Japan is still a cash-based economy. Big shops, restaurants and hotels will accept credit cards, but you can expect a lot of smaller restaurants to be cash only. Ramen bars are meant for you to order your food, you eat, and you go, sitting around after your meal is quite rude, especially when people are waiting in line. Golden Gai is a cool bar and restaurant street. It is a narrow road with tons of cool bars and restaurants that seat an average of six people; this is a great stop to try many different types of foods and delicacies.
Shinjuku is the street that has a ton of anime, wild foods and gifts, and tons of random shops like the Shiba Inu Cafe. It’s a must-see, we got a huge cotton candy flower there. Although the street was busy with people, it was a very entertaining experience going up this street. Shibuya Street crossing is a must-see as well; the Starbucks there is a great viewpoint of the intersection. Approximately 2500 people cross every time the light changes. We went quite late in the evening and it crazy busy.
Since we’re Disney freaks, we obviously made our way to Disneyland Tokyo. We got ourselves there using the metro. We got tickets there and were able to ride a few of the big rides we loved like Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. It was a pretty small park, so it didn’t take us long to do our favourite rides. We had a fantastic breakfast in the Main Street area and we noticed the food prices in Disneyland Tokyo were very reasonable. Meals were between $6-8 and water was $1. We were slightly disappointed about how small the park was, but on our way out, we saw an ad for Disney Sea, one stop away. Disney Sea is built on the ocean, and the park includes a volcano ride and Indiana Jones. We had a ton of fun walking around Disney Sea and it was a beautiful park being right on the ocean. We would recommend both parks in one day since it is a ways out of the city and they are smaller parks.
We also visited the Nezu Museum which was cool. It has a beautiful garden inside and a cafe spot for tea and coffee. The overall aesthetic and design of this museum was really nice. It’s also in an area with a lot of high-end shops with really cool architecture.
We visited Shack Shake because, like Disney, we make it a priority to go if it’s available. We had a fantastic breakfast at Eggs ‘n Things (a Hawaiian themed restaurant). We still feel like we did not have enough time in Tokyo; in total, we had five nights, but we arrived late on the first one. We barely scraped the surface with Tokyo in terms of sights and foo,d but overall, we loved Tokyo and we will return. The people were all so polite and we found ourselves continuing to bow when entering places and greeting people.
On our way back home from Asia, we stopped in Japan a second time and stayed at the Prince Park Tower and it was such a neat hotel. We got a room with a balcony and a view of the Tokyo Tower. This hotel was fantastic, great staff and excellent service.