Last stop of the Japan tour - Tokyo! After getting the bullet train from Kyoto we had to get 2 metros to our hotel which was a nightmare as we got caught in rush hour with our giant cases and it was super busy. We eventually made it to the hotel just before 6:30pm.
The hotel was horrible - so when my dad originally booked the hotel I said to him that he'd booked smoking rooms... He said he'll email the hotel to get them to the change the rooms. They didn't reply and 2 weeks before we were going emailed again and still no reply. If they didn't reply after the first time should have cancelled and booked somewhere else since hotels usually reply instantly to emails so that was a red flag. (I didn't realise they hadn't replied and I was super busy with work and life to even remember about it) When we checked in we asked if we could swap rooms since we don't smoke and they said they were fully booked but we could swap after the 3rd night and have 2 nights in a non smoking room. We said we would go up and check the rooms out and then get back to them. As soon as the lift got to the floor and the doors opened it stank of smoke! The room was even worse...
The room was really old fashioned and probably the worst hotel I've ever stayed at.
We put our bags down and went to tell them we wanted to change rooms then went for a wonder and to get dinner.
We found this hand pulled noodle place which was super cheap. They had pictures of the different noodles which were numbered and by the till they had different tempuras you could just grab and put on a plate. It was all super quick and easy. Also there is a station where you can grab as much seaweed to add as a topping and hot and cold water to drink.
I ordered the wrong one as mine was a carbonara. It didn't look like that on the photo. It was nice but not what I wanted.
We headed back after dinner. I freaked out and couldn't sleep the first night and it smelt really bad but didn't want to sleep with the window open as I thought I'd probably be too cold and next to the train station would have been noisy. Just had to leave the window open through the day to let the smell go away.
Tokyo - Day 1
We had breakfast with the hotel but it was awful. Had rice, curries, noodles, soup - not breakfast food and because we didn't go down till late all the "baked" stuff were gone and there was a sign saying it was only available till 8am. It was just croissants, buns and cakes that they just put out.
After breakfast we headed out. The weather was awful, heavy rain. We got the metro to Shibuya to see the scramble crossing and all your could see was umbrellas. It was Friday and super busy, so many people. The crossing wasn't as big as I thought it was. The scramble crossing outside Kyoto train station is bigger, just not as busy.
Hachikō Statue
This was from the shopping centre across the road the Daigai building
We went up the Hikarie Sky Building which is free to go up. The crossing was very underwhelming as I was expecting it to be a lot bigger.
There was a puppet exhibition on the same floor and we wandered around the shopping centre.
The rain stopped after we wandered round the shopping centre.
Got a Taiyaki. I ordered the wrong one because I got matcha and it was ice cream and the fish was a cold wafer and not one of the hot ones! Dad got the matcha and red bean that was also ice cream. Should have got custard that would have been a hot waffle fish.
We then wandered round and ended up finding another one of them restaurants from the night before for noodles.
I went for a plain one this time
Walked to Harajuku and to Takeshita Street
Takeshita Street was full of dessert places - like crepes, cakes. It had loads of animal cafes - dogs, cats, micro pigs and even an otter café.
There was a man with an otter on his head but you couldn't film him.
Tokyo Plaza Harajuku
It wasn't the best day to be wandering round as it was just start stop raining all day.
Tokyo - Day 2
The next morning's breakfast was a lot better but still not the breakfast we're used it.
We got the metro to AEO Lakeside shopping centre which was a giant shopping centre that had high street shops and an outlet. We should have went there the day before when it was raining as apart from some of the outlet shops it was mainly indoors. We got some stuff from the Nike outlet. I bought 2 pairs of gym trainers - 1 pair was around £9 and the other around £18. A pair of shorts and half zip top. Mum also bought 2 pairs of trainers for the same price and a pair or shorts. We didn't end up getting anything else as we didn't have the space to take it back.
Seen a happy little corgi in the outlet on its own tied up :(
We got dinner from the supermarket as supermarket food is just as good as restaurant food.
Tokyo - Day 4
We got the metro to the Imperial Palace. It was the best weather day to be walking outside as well. We went around the East Garden first.
Any signs of cherry blossom and people are having photo shoots.
Mad how this view would not make you think this was Japan.
It's a nice park to walk around and I'm sure in a week or 2 after we went when the cherry blossom is in full bloom the park is super busy.
Again not what I thought Japan looked like!
After we walked over to the Imperial Palace which was next to the East Garden.
Queue was massive just to get your bag checked.
And this is all you get to see of the palace... You can't go in or even go near it! Was very disappointed.
It was just this one straight path that took about 5 minutes if that to walk through. Thought you'd be able to walk up and actually see the palace but nope nothing!
We walked through another park that at least had a temple you could walk up to.
Yasukuni Shrine
We then walked to Akihabara which was a 30 minute walk.
We got there at the right time as they'd shut the road off so people could walk through and get photos. But after the road was opened back up and was full of traffic.
Walked around some of the shops and went to a massive Don Quijote store but didn't buy anything.
Akihabara is full of arcades, electrical shops and bars. Would have been cool to see it in the dark.
We then got the metro back to the hotel and went for dinner at a different noodle place near the hotel.
Mum ordered the wrong thing as her noodles were cold and she hates cold food.
It was alright but very greasy the one I ordered. Mum did want to go back to the hand pulled noodle place but I wanted to try somewhere different as we'd been to 2 but it would have been the better option.
When we got back we moved into our new rooms which didn't stink of smoke on a higher floor. It was annoying as the room was the opposite way round when I'd got used to the previous room after 3 nights.
The last morning in Tokyo...
We went to a conveyor belt sushi place which I don't know why we didn't know about sooner as the sushi was good.
There wasn't any food on the belt which was mad so when stuff came round we just took it but I realised you order your food on the pad then it plays a song when your food comes and you take it off the belt. We ended up taking like 3 dishes off the belt which weren't ours which we didn't end up paying for as they only charge you for what you order off the pad.
There's a hot water tap with matcha powder to make your own tea, loads of different sauces and unlimited pickled ginger and wasabi.
Wish we went here the other night instead of the noodle place as this sushi was good and cheap.
After breakfast we went back to the hotel to get our stuff as we had to get the train to the airport as we were flying to China.
Got this matcha taiyaki from the supermarket. Was nice, was like a cake.
And that was Tokyo! There was a lot we didn't see and I would definitely go back to do them all. I don't feel like I got the full experience but I do expect that I will be back.
