Surprise! Surprise!
This country was NOT on top of my "TO GO LIST." Everything is great about this city! It is clean, modern, dreamy, delicious, cute, and well put together! Geez, I feel like I am talking about my ideal man! <insert heart eye emoji here>
The city is bustling, and there are many hidden streets with lots of eateries, shops, and treats! I fell in LOVE!
TRANSPORTATION
The rail system is confusing! It's the most complicated system I've encountered so far, and I've traveled to many places. A friend's description of the Toyko's transit system: think of different companies independently owning each line. There are metro lines (local inner city), the JR line (expensive but faster), then there are out of city lines and so forth. If you take a look at the map, it can give you a headache (imagine birds flying around and around in your head)!
The best thing to do is ask a transit worker, most of them speak English and are willing to help. During rush hour (imagine being a sardine in a can) the train cars are packed to the brim. Therefore, avoid the transit at all cost during rush hour. They have 3-day passes for the transit, but it can't be used on all the lines so be careful. We bought the JR line pass, once activated we were only able to use it on the JR lines, but it is well worth it. The train fare is different, depending on where you start and end your journey.
Many people in Tokyo keep to themselves but are very friendly when you need to ask for directions.
Also, the city is English friendly! Well sort of, hand gestures helped a lot with the usage of simple broken down English.
The taxi service in Japan is very expensive! Unless you have a 100 USD to burn within 30 minutes, avoid taking a cab.
FOODIES
If you're a foodie, Tokyo is heaven!
Japanese food tends to be bland, unlike many other Asian cuisines that use a lot of spices. First thing, I ate was ramen at a small noodle shop that was close to my AirBnB. When in Japan, one must try the infamous noodles. It's a trend all over the world, but nothing beats trying a dish than in its original country.
If you're a big curry person, why not try Japanese curry. My cousin (lives in Japan) took me to CoCo Curry. It's a chain restaurant, but I got my curry fix here! I was a bit confused with the English menu because there are many options: sweet, mild, spicy, pork, chicken, beef, vegetables and rice. Once my dish arrived, I ate the whole thing! I was a bit hungry from walking around all day. Overall, I wasn't too impressed with it because I prefer coconut milk based curries.
I was fortunate enough to grow up with a mom that cooked Korean and Japanese cuisines. Tonkatsu is one of my favorite dishes; it's pork cutlet with Panko bread crumbs. It's a famous Japanese dish and comes with a side of cabbage slaw, rice, and soup. The meat is very tender, and the panko breadcrumbs are a perfect combination for a cutlet.
The country is known for their delicacy of fish! Unfortunately, I did not go to any sushi joints in Tokyo, but I was able to get sushi at a Ryokan west of Toyko. They served delicious fresh sushi, sashimi, and Wagyu beef. I am a sushi lover and my gosh, the freshness of the fish was scrumptious (check out my experience at a Ryokan here).
One of my favorite treats was the Mochi Cake. A friend of mine that had visited Tokyo couple of months before me told me about it. Of course, I went searching for it. They sell them at some convenient stores; I bought mine from Lawson. If you ever had a mochi ice cream, this even better! A simple white cake is wrapped with mochi and dusted with sugar powder. I ate one every day!
AREAS
Shibuya Crossing was great to witness. A bunch of people walking zigzags across the street! There are a lot of shopping in this area. I wasn't too impressed; it was like any other place! Lots of people! Lots of stores! Lots of shopping! Lots of western stores! I wouldn't spend too much time here! But a great place to watch people scurrying along the crosswalks.
Shinjuku a bustling area with big department stores and again LOTS of shopping! It's a great area to walk around, grab a bite to eat and get lost in the hustle and bustle of people getting to their final destination.
One of the entry/exit points to the Meiji Shrine is right by the Harajuku area. We mapped it out that we walked through the main entrance and exited by Harajuku station.
Harajuku was a cute area. It reminded me of Soho and the Lower East Side of NYC. There are a lot of boutique shops with eccentric goods. I have an infatuation with tutu's and left mine back in NYC, and I wanted to get one, but I opted for a bear hoodie jacket. There were a few people dressed like Harajuku, which I was a bit cray-cray to get a snap but I FAILED!
My FAVORITE area was ASAKUSA!!! It was our last place to see before leaving Toyko. If I had known, I would spend all day here! The area has a lot of little Izakayas (gastropubs), boutique stores, street vendors, and eateries. Also, two famous landmarks Kaminari-Mon gate with its enormous red lantern, and the Senso-Ji temple is here. The streets are bustling with lots of tourists, but the area has the "golden day" Japanese feel to it.
My cousin suggested we go check out Odaiba, but due to time, we weren't able to see it. I heard it is a great area by the water, but It was a bit out of the way for us. Especially, our AirBnB was in Shinjuku area.
We spent two nights three days in Tokyo. I felt another day or two would have been perfect.
We were able to visit most of the tourist places. Unfortunately, one of the days was a Monday, and some places were closed, but there were still a lot of sites open to the public. The city is spread out, but it is easily accessible by transit. If you're looking to go and enjoy the city without feeling rushed, I would suggest going for three nights and four days.
I think an extra day would have been perfect so that I could have checked out the famous Tsukiji Fish Market. FYI, the best time to go is around 5 in the morning. If you're looking to see the auctions go earlier; there is a line by that time. Also, enjoy some sushi/sashimi for breakfast, I heard from a friend it's the freshest fish you'll ever eat!
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