Tokyo: Day Two

We lugged ourselves out of bed for day two of Tokyo--tired, but excited--and headed straight to Asakusa. We decided to wait for breakfast, but by the time we arrived in Asakusa it was nearly lunch time. There was a nice restaurant where Chad ate omuraisu, which is similar to how is sounds: an omelet with rice inside. I had a lovely obentou.

Next, we headed down the crowded streets to Asakusa Temple, one of the oldest temples in Tokyo.

Seeing the temple was well worth having to wade through the crowd. Pictures below include the gate to the shrine, Chad wafting away evil spirits with incense smoke, a pagoda, and some of the decorative work found inside the temple.

This was painted on the ceiling in the temple:

The gate to the shrine is called the "Thunder Gate," and it is guarded by the god of wind on the right, and the god of thunder on the left.

Before leaving Asakusa, we made two very important stops. First:

Taiyaki glory.

And second:

Afternoon Sangrias.

From Asakusa, we decided to leave Tokyo and go to Yokohama, Japan's second largest city. When we arrived, Chad was taken over by excitement and suddenly became part of Dragon Ball Z.

Then he got to use a big boy rocking chair!

Yokohama is famous for being one of the first ports in Japan to be opened to foreign trade, but it's also famous for its China town. You can bet that as soon as Chad recovered from his fireball throwing and rocking chair fun we headed toward the luring streets of Japan's largest China town.

Discovering Yokohama China Town

After an expensive dinner in the China Town (yeah, what? I thought Chinese food was cheap!), we went back to Shinjuku. Night had fallen, but we weren't finished yet!

Above you can see what happens when you enter a SMAP izakaya, and below you can see Shinjuku's awesome night lights and the side of a Tokyo cab.

Almost time for bed, but not without one final question:

Day Three coming soon!

Three Days in Tokyo

We've been busy little bees, flitting from one job to the next and trying to fit in little trips in the meantime. Sorry for the delay in posting, but I hope this post -- the first in a series of three on our trip to Tokyo -- eases any feelings of bitterness/anger/depression you may have been feeling. Because I know how important reading this must be to most of you ;-)

DAY ONE

Chad, Yasu and I took a night bus to Shinjuku and arrived at about 5:30 AM. That's right, 5:30. You probably remember what a chipper morning person I can be, so I'm sure you can imagine how (un)happy Yasu and Chad were as I forged into the city in search of coffee. Luckily it didn't take too long to find a cafe where we could eat breakfast and hang out for a couple hours while we waited for things to open up. We were also lucky that it was such a beautiful day and that we were surrounded by interesting buildings like this one:

After breakfast, we left to drop off our stuff at The Washington Hotel.

After stopping at the hotel, we were off to Harajuku -- making a quick stop at Meiji Shrine first. It was really tough to pick only a few pictures of Harajuku, but here is a peek at some of what we saw in the famous city:

It was super crowded, and mostly with teenage girls! There were some interesting sights (and people!), but my favorite part of Harajuku was a little restaurant tucked away called Blue Garden.

(Left to Right)
1. Chad and Yasu thinking about where to go after lunch
2. Salad from an awesome salad bar, and a 100 yen beer (about $1.00 USD)!
3. Pizza-in-a-Cup
4. Cool guys
5 & 6. Carubonara Raisu in a stone bowl (it continued cooking after it was brought to the table!)
7 & 8. Chad's Curry Rice dish -- so yummy!
9. Eating fondue
10. Yeah, did I mention fondue in #9? Because it was part of the salad bar. And it was amazing.
11. Once again, amazing.
12. Flowers to celebrate the restaurant's recent opening

After a really wonderful lunch, we headed to Yoyogi Park. We got to see some pretty interesting people around every corner, including dancing Elvises (Elvi?).

Pretty sure this was a man...

We thought this girl's look was pretty impressive:

This guy was a mime-rabbit:

And these guys were the two most interesting people in the park that day!

We had been walking for hours and it was quite hot, so we headed back for a nap and a shower (finally!) at our hotel. After a brief respite from Tokyo-overload, we headed out for a little shopping and dinner. Sorry to report that I've forgotten the name of the ramen restaurant we went to and where is is exactly, but I feel like you can still take some time to drool over its glory. Chad's ramen is pictured on the left in the middle, and he says it was the spiciest ramen he's ever eaten (see his picture directly below the ramen--he's sweating!). I ordered salt and butter ramen (pictured on the right in the middle). So healthy! ;-)

And so came the end of our first day. There was so much to take in, we couldn't imagine what lay in store for us on day two. Can you? We'll be posting soon to let you know!