Our first full day in Tokyo captured our hearts (and stomachs), and we are so excited to visit Japan for a longer trip some time in the next year. Our first day was focused on historical sites and as much sushi as we could possibly eat. We’re glad we brought a good pair of sneakers because Tokyo is a city best experienced through long, rambling walks through street vendors, parks, and the vast urban sprawl.
After our stressful travel day, we chose to take a slower pace for our first morning. We knew we had a busy day ahead of us, so we went downstairs to enjoy the hotel’s breakfast buffet for 2800 yen a person ($18). Now, when I think of a hotel breakfast, I’m thinking of rubbery eggs, greasy bacon, and some sugary pastries. Japan was the complete opposite, and their focus on high-quality, nourishing food was such a stark difference to many of the choices I’ve seen offered in America. I loaded my plate with raw salmon with roe, rice, and cucumbers, two kinds of tofu, a noodle soup with beef, a small, fluffy, Japanese omelet, and, of course, more salmon. Japanese omelets are distinctly different from their French counterparts because they are shaped more like a loaf and are sweeter, richer, and more custardy. Miso soup was also being offered, but after seeing how loaded my tray was, I had to pass this time. For dessert, I had a small serving of sweet potato cake, and it was sweet and soft without tasting the least bit artificial.
We had initially planned to just take the subway during our first day, but by the time we finished brunch, we were in a bit of a time crunch. We decided to order an Uber, and we were pleasantly surprised by a few things. First, all taxi and Uber drivers wear a suit to maintain their professionalism. Second, the quality of cars for the Ubers was much higher than what I was used to in Virginia. Our hired cars had comfortable, reclining seats and acres of leg room. Third, our Uber drivers are a lot braver than we were! Because there are so many street vendors, tourists, and tight streets, we were grateful we weren’t the ones behind the wheel.
Our Uber dropped us off in front of Glitch Coffee, and this was one of my most highly anticipated parts of the trip. My dad roasts whole-bean coffee on our farm in Suffolk, and his dedication to the craft and art of roasting has totally changed my mindset around coffee. While I used to like Dunkin Donuts iced caramel lattes, I now prefer supporting smaller, local roasters where the natural flavor notes of the coffee come through in more subtle and interesting ways. I like to learn where coffee comes from, how it’s roasted, and what the flavor notes will be. I had read online that Glitch Coffee is the shop to go to if you’re a coffee nerd who cares about the process. When you walk in, there is a row of coffee beans lined up across the counter and organized by the following categories: competition, hard to find, traditional, and innovative. Each jar of coffee beans was labelled with its roasting process and tasting notes and you were welcomed to smell the beans to get an idea for the flavor profile. We opted to do the tasting flight, and the barista was happy to answer our questions and guide us to drinks we would enjoy. Now, to be fully transparent, this was an unexpectedly expensive experience. While the price was painfully steep, the quality of the coffee was phenomenal.
Glitch Coffee focuses solely on light roasts, and we enjoyed our samples as pour-overs. The coffees have competed on the international stage, and the bold, unexpected, and complex flavors make their success a no-brainer. By far, my favorite coffee was the Colombia Risaralda Milan Nitro Wash. Glitch Coffee describes the flavor profile like a “fruit basket,” and I was blown away that it tasted like biting into a juicy cantaloupe. I’ve had plenty of fruity light roasts before, but I’ve never had one that so closely resembled the sweet taste of fresh fruit. I had not heard of Geisha coffee before our trip, but I learned that it is the “champagne of coffee” and it is some of the highest quality beans that you can enjoy. I’m really grateful to have experienced this commitment to craftsmanship and flavor, and Tom and I bought a couple of small jars of beans to enjoy at home on a special occasion.
We took another Uber to the Imperial Palace for our 10AM guided tour. The guided tour of the palace is offered twice a day and is free, however, you must apply online to access this experience. It was pretty straightforward to enter some basic personal information, and there were plenty of spots still open when I applied a couple of weeks in advance. The juxtaposition between the bustling, modern city and the tranquil park and timeless palace was such a vivid reminder that Tokyo is an intensely modern metropolis but also deeply rooted in its history and traditions. We were lucky that the leaves were still their brilliant bursts of yellow and that the weather, while crisp, wasn’t very cold yet.
When we checked in, we watched a brief historical presentation that was mostly performed in Japanese. Then, we were divided into groups based on language. If you’re used to college tour guides walking backwards at a moderate pace and projecting their voices loudly for everyone in the back to hear, you’d be a little shocked by the breakneck pace of our tour guide’s rapid steps. Our walking tour of the grounds was slated to last an hour and half, and our guide made sure we saw all of it. Because the Imperial Family lives within the Palace, the rooms inside were off limits, but the grounds and buildings were beautiful and well worth the visit. Our guide highlighted the recent diplomatic events and ceremonies that had been held on the grounds, and our favorite quote was: “King Charles was close enough that I could smell his scent.” Legally, the buildings within view of the palace cannot be too tall or look into the palace’s windows, so while the sleek modern buildings are visible, they don’t dominate the skyline and ruin the tranquility.
After we finished our tour, we walked down the street to visit the East Garden. Groups of children were enjoying field trips and picnics, and there was such a sense of calm and joy in the air. We could have rambled along the paths for hours if we weren’t hungry for our lunch.
While I had planned to snack at the many stands near our hotel, we decided it would be better to find something to eat closer to the palace. Just across the street was a mall with a basement full of restaurants. We decided to eat at a curry restaurant with a distinctly American bar/golf theme to it. We only knew how to say “thank you” and “hello” in Japanese, and our waitress didn’t know any English, but the menu was in English and Google Translate became a trusty friend throughout the trip. The curry was inexpensive, delicious, and satisfying. When I thought about curry, I thought about the aromatic Indian curries like tikka masala. Japanese curries, however, are more like a rich, savory gravy served over rice or udon noodles and lack the spiciness that often defines Indian curry.
After much anticipation, it was time for our first subway ride. I’ve ridden the subway in New York, Boston, and DC, and the subway, for me, is usually a smelly, sticky, seedy place plagued by delays. The Tokyo subway, on the other hand, was clean, and throughout our entire experience, we felt so safe. There were no panhandlers and the culture of respect really went a long way towards making public transit a far more comfortable experience. The single best piece of advice I can give is to trust Google Maps. The program will tell you exactly what subway car to enter, how many stops you’ll need, and what door you should exit at the station. Without knowing a single word or character of Japanese, you can fluently navigate the subway system as long as you have Google Maps. Plus, there is enough English that you can recognize the car that you’ll need.
When we got out of the station, we came up to an alleyway of shops and were stopped in our tracks by an adorable advertisement for latte art at Hat Coffee. The small upstairs shop had a set menu of 2D and 3D images they can create, but they also can create custom images as long as they fit within their guidelines. Tom ordered a 2D custom design of a heron inspired by the one we saw perched at the East Gardens, and I ordered a 3D set design of a bear. They have stands set up so you can record a video of the baristas creating your unique work of art and a table with the perfect lighting for pictures.
My bear was bouncy and way too adorable to eat, and I could not believe the level of detail that Tom’s heron had.
We brought our coffees with us to the Thunder Gate, the famous entrance to the Senso-ji temple. The gate was buzzing with tourists in rented kimonos posing for pictures.
On the way to the temple, there are dozens of vendors selling everything from lucky cat figurines (which I picked up for Mom) to takoyaki to hot, sweet sake to meticulously crafted chopsticks. We saw so much that we wanted to do and eat, but we had to restrain ourselves because we had a huge dinner plan for Thanksgiving. As we searched for a trash can to throw away our latte cups, we were puzzled to find none around. And yet, there was not a scrap of trash to be seen on the ground. With hundreds of tourists and children milling through and eating and drinking, there was not a single piece of trash blowing in the wind. We learned that publicly accessible trash cans are few and far between, and it is customary to dispose of your trash where you first bought the product. The commitment to cleanliness was clear in every part of Tokyo that we visited, and, in comparison to New York City, it is shocking.
Senso-ji is a Buddhist temple and is the oldest temple in Tokyo. Many people were wafting incense smoke on themselves, but most people seemed to be following an old tradition: receiving a fortune. For 100 yen (65 cents), you can randomly pick a numbered stick that corresponds to a numbered box full of fortunes. Tom and I each picked a fortune, and, I received the bad fortune. Tom got the good fortune. In order for me to keep my bad luck at the temple, I was instructed to tie my paper fortune to one of the many metal poles that were full of other unlucky papers. While I don’t believe in fortunes, the bit about travel going wrong became a little too spot-on during our departure day.
We said goodbye to the temple (and my bad fortune) and walked the two minutes to our hotel where we took a half hour nap before cleaning up for dinner. This was the meal I was the most excited for: a traditional omakase. An omakase dinner consists of a variety of courses chosen completely by the chef’s preferences for what is freshest, and it’s a way to get a lot of high-quality traditional and creative sushi in one meal. Plus, you can see the chef working right in front of you, which is definitely a treat. We took the subway to Ginza, which felt like a whole other world from the temple we had just left. Ginza is a definitively modern part of Tokyo; the streets are full of high-end, luxury shops that stretch on and on. Our reservation was at Sushi Takaya, which was located at the basement level. After descending the stairs, we were promptly seated. On our right was another American couple who were ending their trip to Tokyo soon and were 3 courses ahead of us at the dinner. It was fun to peek to the side and to see what fish we could expect to see next.
I honestly lost track of the courses as plate after plate of food was presented to us by the chef. He knew enough English to chat a little with us, and he wanted to see on Google Maps where Guam was. My favorite courses were probably the first three: an assortment of vegetables and grilled fish, hamachi and octopus with lime and pink salt, and a rich and creamy egg custard. We also had the opportunity to cook abalone on a hot rock (a quick few seconds on each sizzling side) and sample wagyu, tuna, salmon, and more. By the time the final three courses came around, I was sneaking half of each portion to Tom because I was so full. Tom ordered the sake pairing with this dinner, and he enjoyed the variety, especially given how limited most sake menus are in the States.
Stuffed to the gills, we stepped into the cool night air for a slow walk through Ginza to see the enticing line of Christmas lights. We had no destination in mind and just followed what caught our eyes, and there was certainly plenty to do that. I wish we could have window shopped during the day to take it all in; the UNIQLO store had shirts swinging on what looked like a clock’s pendulum, a giant stained glass mural of what appeared to be Henry VIII and his court adorned a cafe’s eating area, and decorative Christmas displays urged you to stop and look again and again. As we walked along, we saw a cozy pop-up for Bushmills and decided to stop inside for a drink. I guess the song is right that “wherever you go around the world you’ll find an Irish pub.”
We took the subway back to Asakusa and were greeted by the bright lights of a 24 hour Don Quixote. Now, the Don Quixotes in Japan are vastly different from the Don Don Donki we enjoy so much in Guam. While the Don Don Donki is a wholesome grocery store with a huge food court that will take all of my money one day, Don Quixote is packed with tourists loading up on every kind of souvenir. It was 12:30AM, but the lines for the tax-free tourist checkout counter stretched on and on. I had promised my brother plenty of Pokemon souvenirs and picked up a couple of Pokemon themed bento boxes and chopsticks as well as a box of Pocky. Tom, on the other hand, loaded up on Kit Kats to bring home to his family. Japan has every flavor you could and couldn’t imagine of the candy including: matcha, strawberry, chestnut, apple pie, Mont Blanc, Tokyo Banana, Kyoho grape, and on and on and on.
With our treasures in hand, we walked the final few minutes back to our hotel. The next day would take us to an immersive art exhibit, the top of Tokyo’s tallest tower, and, surprisingly, to the Statue of Liberty.
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