Tokyo & Hakone

Left LA and picked up the fourth member of our group, Kenta, on our layover in Seattle. After a relatively easy 11-hour flight to Japan (I think anything feels short after the 15hr flight we took to Sydney) we landed in Tokyo. We took a bus into the city and checked into our hotel where we were staying for the next 3 nights. It was rainy so we walked to a nearby ramen shop and enjoyed our first delicious meal of many. We did our best to stay up to a reasonable hour and then got our rest in for our first full day in Tokyo. We woke up and headed deeper into the Shinjuku neighborhood to explore- looking at the different architecture, going into many different shops, and taking in the culture. A little before lunch, we hopped on our first train out of Shinjuku station (which is apparently the busiest in the world) and headed toward the Tokyo Dome. Kenta is Japanese and a lot of his family lives in Japan, including his uncle. His uncle is a really big Tokyo Giants fan so we met him at the Tokyo Dome for some lunch and a baseball game. Baseball is super popular in Japan and the fans chant/sing the whole game. As the game continued, we picked up on some of the chants and had lots of fun. After the game, we headed back to Shinjuku and enjoyed food and drinks with his uncle.

The next day we had a full day tour of Tokyo lined up. Since Tokyo is so dense, we thought this would be the best way to experience a lot in a short period of time and it was a great decision! Since it was a 10hr day, I’ll give the quick rundown of all that we saw/did:

• Meiji Shrine

• Imperial Palace Gardens

• Matcha Experience

• Senso-Ji Temple

• Tokyo Sky Tree

• Tokyo Bay Cruise

Our tour guide taught us a lot about Japanese history and culture and we were able to see so much of the city and its most iconic sights.

We headed back to the hotel to meet up with the fifth member of the crew, Gorman. He had to fly in a couple of days later due to work, but he successfully navigated his way to us without Kenta, our built in translator and tour guide! We grabbed our first sushi at a revolving sushi bar and then went to sing some Karaoke. It was so much fun we were convinced to carry on the night at a club. Most of us aren’t big into the club scene, but at least now we can say we saw what a Japanese club is like.

The next day we woke up and headed out to Hakone, a quieter town near Mt. Fuji. The train ride was about 2 hours and once we arrived we grabbed food and checked into the hotel. We were able to experience a stay in a traditional Japanese Inn called a Ryokan. The rooms had tatami mats as the flooring and no beds when you initially walked in, just a table that was low to the ground and chairs. While we were away at dinner, the employees moved the table and made up the beds, or futon, which is essentially mats on the floor. It was surprisingly very comfy. We were able to enjoy a multi-course traditional Japanese-style dinner and breakfast that tested many of our food comfort zones but was incredibly good. Additionally, we all tried the traditional Japanese baths, or Onsens, for the first time. No pictures of this because these are treated as ways to clean yourself, not like a hot tub, and you have to be fully nude to get in. The men and women were separated and it's an extremely private experience. We would have never known to try out this type of stay, but we are so glad Kenta suggested it to us. It really allowed us to understand the culture even more!!

Sorry for the delayed update if you made it this far- pictures have been incredibly hard to update! Will try to do the next post soon!