Addis’ Trip in Japan Day 1 and 2 (Tokyo)

I know I said I’d do this on Tumblr, but for some reason, Japan and Tumblr are not getting along for me.

Day one in Tokyo was pretty short. We got into the airport at about 2.30pm but didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 6pm due to traffic and some of our group getting lost after customs.

Total travel time to get to our Tokyo hotel from Seattle was around 26 hours. The flight was uncomfortable, so I wasn’t able to sleep and I was rather grumpy by the time we got to the hotel since the food on the plane was probably the worst food I’ve ever eaten in my life.

We went to a big dinner with around thirty of us and that’s what’s pictured above.

Day two started off smoother since I was able to actually get around 8 hours of sleep (albeit the waking up at 2am).

We started going around Tokyo after breakfast and left for Sensoji Temple at 8.30am. Which is pictured below.



After the Temple we went to Akihabara (Electric Town) where I, of course, bought some yaoi manga. That was kind of a weird experience because it was like New York but instead of all of the ads or posters being of real people (models/actors/actresses) it was all manga/anime.

The next stop we went to was the Meijin Shrine. This shrine is located in a 100 + year old man made forest. Before you get to the Shrine, you pass this wall of sake barrels.



After walking a bit, you begin to enter the actual shrine.



By this time, it was already noon and we ventured into Harajuku for around 2 hours. There we went into “Candy Town” where everything is kind of an over done pink.

Lunch came next at the halal chicken place that was actually quite good.



We decided to hit a few shops before we left, which happened to include a cat cafe.



To continue on, we traveled to the 45th floor of one of the main buildings in Shibuya so we could see the Tokyo skyline.

It was around 5.30pm at this point and we all headed back towards our hotel. To which four of us spent about an hour trying to figure out what in the world to eat. Since one of the girls was a vegetarian, we decided to try a vegan ramen restaurant called T’s Tan Tan.

Trying to get there…was absolute hell. (Tokyo subway system map pictured below).



We hit Tokyo rush hour on the way there, which meant sardines shoved into a small moving box. We had to transfer twice and by the time we actually reached the restaurant, we had already paid around 4 USD just in metro fees, just for one way.

We waited in line for the restaurant for around 20 minutes, and another 15 before they even came over to take our orders. It was past 7.50pm by the time our food finally arrived. (Around 7.5 hours since I had last eaten, I was a bit snappy at this point because I was running out of energy.)

Now, I’m all for meat, I like tofu, but I’d rather have chicken. This Ramen place has a fried “soy-meat” in place of any “real” meat. It might be because I was tired, hungry and grumpy, but I was ready to ditch my friends and go find my own food. (Legit, I was tempted to go across the way and go get a bento instead.) I persisted, despite my angry stomach, and stayed to try the dreaded “vegan” ramen.



It was, well, vegan. It wasn’t like the normal ramen I have, so I was, like I thought I’d be, disappointed. It was really, really salty. Probably had enough salt content in it for 5 people.

Enough ranting about began ramen. Lol. Afterwords, around 8.15, we decided to search for the Kit Kat store, and proceeded to get lost.

In the dark.

In a downpour.

Eventually, we found it, about 15 minutes before they closed.

By this point in time, the four of us were exhausted and decided to head back to the hotel. After a quick stop at a convenience store for some water (and matcha pudding) we made it back at about 9pm.

After over 12 hours of the tour and walking around, we had walked approximately 7.5 miles according to our fitbits. (Leaving a blister on the bottom of my foot, I might add. T.T)

And now, back at the hotel room, I say goodnight. I’ll be up at 6am to feed everyone their LMW chapter.

Peace,

Addis