The comforting glow of the vending machines as we stayed overnight at Haneda. We would soon discover that vending machines are practically around every corner in Tokyo.
Our flight got in a little past midnight. When we booked our tickets, we thought this would be fine because people sleep in airports all the time and we were willing to spare a bit of comfort if it could save us money. It was actually kind of fun and a little eerie, although I think my travel accomplices would disagree on the fun part. There were so many sleeping bodies strewn about.
I took a lot of street snaps, except not of passer-by fashion but of actual streets. I'll spare you the monotony and only post a few.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
Harajuku! Cat Street has a deceptive title, although we did our homework beforehand and knew to expect fashion rather than cats. We observed the chaos of Shibuya Crossing from up above and down below, which isn't actually all that chaotic when you're actually walking among it, and we said hello to Hachiko.
Tsukiji Fish Market
Nakajima Tea House
Some tea and sweets in Hamarikyu Gardens, as per the recommendation of the greeter by the garden entrance. He was an excited old man who told us all about the gardens and included his own personal recommendations for the best spots, which turned out to be practically everything.
Tokyo Imperial Palace
Fuji Shibazakura Festival
Sakura ice cream as we enjoyed the festival! I took every sakura option I came across, including sakura taiyaki.
The pink moss was actually past its peak bloom but it was still super crowded. Afterwards we went on Tenjo-Yama Park Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway, which has the most messed up folktale behind it, I love it. It also provided a view of Mt. Fuji without the usual crowds on ground level.
Zozoji Temple
I met some friendly cats here. The ginger cat was so lovey - it would rub against my leg and then roll around on its back, asking for pets. There was also a black and white cat and a cat with one blue eye and one green eye. I wanted to bring them home with me.
The Last Day: Breakfast
I have many thoughts on my stay in Tokyo, but I'll try not to bore you with excessive detail.
- As Can says, Japan has perfected the egg. I had the most softly poached egg in all of the universe in my curry. It flowed like a liquid.
- I enjoy the vending machines used in restaurants to order as I am all for minimal social contact.
- I satisfied my craving for tsukemen.
- There were so many crows in Tokyo! At one point, their cawing blended together and sounded like a symphony.
- No one uses a bike lock and that's all sorts of amazing to me.
- We tried natto and discovered that the off-putting aspect wasn't the smell or the taste but the texture. It was so stringy.
- Everyone warned us that Japan would be expensive and yet everything seemed fairly reasonably priced? Or maybe we're just cheap by nature, so we were naturally attracted to cheap food too.
- I loved all of the gardens! Beautiful!
I managed to check a lot off my checklist, although Mister Donut eluded me. That being said, there's still so much I want to see, so I'll be coming back to Japan eventually, hopefully, one day in the distant future. I'm not quite sure when.
