Tokyo Travel Experience

Ever since I was younger, I had always wanted to go to Japan and more specifically, Tokyo.  Well finally, my 20th country was Japan and Tokyo didn’t disappoint.  Tokyo is everything you’d expect and everything you’vee seen in the movies and video games.  Big buildings, massive billboards, bright lights everywhere, extremely technologically advanced and jam packed with people. 

Tokyo has over 40 million people in the city and surrounding area, so it’s packed.  Instead of building wider, buildings are built taller.  On our first night we were looking for distilled water without minerals for our baby’s milk.  It was a nightmare to find, and one of the department stores we searched was very narrow but very tall.  Each floor was small and I had to climb the stairs and search 7 floors to no avail.  Seven stairwells later I didn’t find the water, but found it later on elsewhere.  This is a testament to Tokyo, there isn’t a lot of horizontal space, but there is vertically.  This was ever apparent in our hotel room at the APA Hotel.  It was the smallest room I had ever stayed in, but at least we were on the 14^th story with a wicked view of the city.  To read about having to evacuate one night and staying in an extremely small room click here.

Our hotel was in the Shinjuku area which was an awesome location and one that I’d definitely recommend.  Other areas to stay in are in Shibuya and Roppongi, but Shibuya is overrated and Roppongi is good for nightlife but apparently has some sketchy characters that prey on overly eager tourists.  Shinjuku was a great central location with plenty of places within walking distance, plenty of taxis and has the Shinjuku train station, the worlds busiest train station with 200 exits and tons of dining and shopping options.  Don’t worry it isn’t as hard to navigate once you get used to it and being such a busy location, you can get virtually anywhere in Japan from the station.  In addition to being a central location and easy to travel around, Shinjuku has a lot to do.  There are tons of restaurants, bars, convenience stores, shopping options and other entertainment forms including many arcades, the Kabukicho Tower, girls clubs (if you’re into that type of thing) and Godzilla climbing one of the buildings. 

In addition to exploring Shinjuku which was fun in itself, there is tons to do in Tokyo.  One of the highlights for us was the Senso-Ji Tower which everyone has seen on TV or commercials for the 2020 Olympic Games.  The temple was cool and easy to get to from Shinjuku. We had to do a couple of train transfers but it was nothing.  If you get a JR pass, which you can read about in my tips for travelling to Japan, you will become accustomed to the trains in no time.  Not all lines are covered by the JR pass, but it will only be a couple of bucks for a transfer to these local lines.  Senso-Ji was cool and it was photogenic, minus the swaths of tourists.  Like most tourist traps in Japan, it was packed, and it wasn’t even peak season.  Still, there was lots of souvenirs, food options and the temple was really cool.  You could also purchase and light a bundle of incense for a small fee and partake in a Buddhist ritual.

One of the top attractions in Japan is Go Karting in the streets dressed as a cartoon character.  I did this with STREET KART Tokyo Bay and did the 2 hour tour where I cruised through the Tokyo Bay, over the Rainbow Bridge and to the Tokyo Tower.  The experience was phenomenal and a hell of an adrenaline rush. ,Click here to watch my video of the experience.

And another must do experience is going to Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi.  It is a bit of a trek to get there, but with the JR Pass and a quick train transfer it isn’t too bad to get there from Tokyo.  Tokyo is one of the best home bases if you want to go to Mount Fuji.  Going to Mount Fuji was a long and tiring experience and if you have time, you could stay a night in Kawaguchiko.   But if you don’t have time and you have energy to spare, take the day trip, it’ll be worth it.  We had lunch in Kawaguchiko, took in views of Lake Kawaguchi, rode the Mt. Tenjo Ropeway and got panoramic  views of the lake and Mount Fuji.  Finally, we went to Chuerito Pagoda, the iconic temple with Mount Fuji in the backdrop.  It was a long and tiring day but was worth it, to read about how to get there and the experience click here.

In addition to the big sightseeing we did, it was just nice to be in a country and massive city that is so different than back home.  Tokyo is extremely busy but the transportation, infrastructure and attractions are all organized… or at least organized chaos.  There are plenty of cool neighborhoods to explore and try some food in, but we only scratched the surface.  Of course there was Shinjuku, which we loved to walk around and eat in.  The food was amazing and even though the food was tremendous in Osaka and Kyoto, minus the street food in Osaka, the food was even better in Tokyo.  The ramen was the best I’d ever had and after the first night trying spicey ramen in Shinjuku, I kept trying to emulate the meal again but to no avail.  I had ramen twice more in Japan, once in Osaka and once in Kyoto, and while it was good, neither compared to the spicey ramen I had in Tokyo.  We also spent a night eating in Kabukicho Tower.  The tower is in the heart of Shinjuku and has tons of entertainment options.  There are claw games and arcades, a theater, a hotel and plenty of restaurants.  We ate there one night and listened to live music, soaked up the lights and atmosphere and enjoyed a wide range of foods including skewers, gyoza and more. 

In addition to Shinjuku, we checked out Shibuya and ate in a restaurant overlooking the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing, Shibuya Crossing.  It was cool but if you ask me, Shibuya Crossing is overrated.  We also had a short visit to Harajuku which is a famous trendy neighborhood, known for shopping and themed cafes.  We didn’t have a lot of time so we did a bit of shopping and grabbed an ice cream in the street.  Whenever we go back to Japan we will go back and spend a bit more time in Harajuku.

In addition to wanting to spend more time in Harajuku, there were many other neighborhoods we didn’t see.  I didn’t check out the nightlife In Roppongi, and only saw the neighborhood while driving by in a go kart.  We also didn’t check out any anime stuff like the Akihabara neighborhood.  And finally, aside from an arcade and playing some claw games in Kabukicho, we missed out on some of the major arcades and technology like the massive interactive Gundam robot.  We also walked through Omoide Yokocho which is a small series of alleyways in Shinjuku known for tightly packed restaurants and a more authentic feel.  It was busy and hard to get a spot that fit with our baby stroller so we just walked through and took in the atmosphere.  Instead, we went to a nearby restaurant where we cooked our own Wagyu steak at the table which tasted excellent and was an amazing experience; still we would have liked to eat in Omoide Yokocho.

We only spent 4 nights in Tokyo and those days were packed with activities and fun.  Tokyo was amazing and so was our experience there, but 2 more nights there would have been perfect so 6 nights total is the ideal time for Tokyo.  We will definitely be back and will explore some of the other things we missed out on in one of the coolest cities in the world, Tokyo.