Tokyo

After Hakodate I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. When I take long train or bus rides I like to watch my blue bubble on the Google Maps GPS inch across the country I am traveling. Opening maps on the Shinkansen put “high speed” in perspective; I’ve never seen myself move from “A” to “B” so quickly!

I arrived to Tokyo in the late afternoon, dropped my bags at Zabutton hostel, and went on a 2 hour walk at dusk to get my bearings of this big city. I started in Roppongi Hills to catch a view of sunset.

Following a street lined with sakura blossoms, I found charming alleys that morphed into big designer stores, which transitioned into Shibuya district and Harajuku “sweets” street. I passed Yoyogi Park and wound up in Shinjuku’s famous street Omoide Yokocho (or Memory Lane).

Memory Lane also known as “Piss Alley.” It’s a street full of Izakayas…small Japanese bars. You can imagine where the nickname came from 😝

This statue commemorates a dog that that loyally waited in this spot for it’s owner every day for 9 years after the owner’s death.

I entered Memory Lane, also nicknamed “Piss Alley,” with a grumbling belly and a grumbling attitude. Wedged between tourists, I peeked into the Yakitori grills and Izakayas, looking for a reasonably priced dinner/snack. “Hangry” beyond reason, I disregarded price and took the first open seat I could find. I sat with a frown, avoiding conversation, focused only on food. A French guy, Kevin, sat next to me and opened conversation. As I ate, my mood lifted and we ended up getting along and exploring more of Shinjuku and Shibuya. Before we parted ways on the subway Kevin gave me a special gift, a little bottle of liquor from his region in France.

The next day I went to the TeamLab Borderless exhibit (my favorite art exhibit ever. Click on the hyper-link to read about the magical shift in perspective I experienced there). Afterwards I took the metro to Ueno Park and ate sakura flavored soft-serve as the sun was going down and everyone was leaving their Hanami session. Hanami is a Japanese tradition of drinking, eating, and hanging out with friends under the sakura blossoms. From there I took the subway to Asakusa to visit Sensoji temple. At this point my phone was almost out of battery, so I went back to familiar Shibuya district and searched for a bar with an available power outlet. While charging my phone I met a couple of locals who invited me to their favorite bar. A little apprehensive, I took a chance and went with them to the Shimotakaido area. We walked in to a little Izakaya and I met their friends, laughed all night, they made me sakura liquor cocktail, and they generously paid for all my drinks and a taxi home. This was one of my favorite nights in Japan. I found it hard to break the ice with Japanese people, but once a conversation was initiated the Japanese people I interacted with were out-of-this-world kind and accommodating.

On my last day in Tokyo I met an American girl in my hostel dorm who has been teaching English in South Korea. We spent the day searching for the most beautiful sakura blooms and had Hanami together (complete with a 7-11 supplied picnic) at Yoyogi Park. We topped it off with crepes in Harajuku “sweet street”. I took a power nap and went back out for sushi and beers with a friend from college. Tokyo filled my heart and my stomach!