{"id":178836,"date":"2016-10-15T19:52:48","date_gmt":"2016-10-16T02:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/?p=178836"},"modified":"2018-11-20T10:02:37","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T18:02:37","slug":"tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2016\/10\/15\/tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Tokyo is like New York City on steroids.<\/p>\n

If you’re going to go to Japan, get a personal wi-fi device; we used it in the hotel rooms, it worked much better than the hotel wi-fis. The company we used, globaladvancedcomm.com, was recommended by a friend and the unit worked well for us, supporting up to 4 devices at one time.<\/p>\n

The main airport, Narita, is one hour by train and 1.5 hours by car from Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a special deal from our travel agent, we got to stay at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo<\/a>. At breakfast while clearing the table, the waitress made a special trip to pick up a missed straw wrapper – that’s one side of Japan.<\/p>\n

\"Awesome <\/a>
Awesome chandeliers at the Hyatte <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View from our window the first stay <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View from our window the last day <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Shinjuku was crazy – lots of sex stores, even got propositioned standing next to Aviva. Aviva left her iPad at a little gyoza place in Shinjuku (the food was excellent). The concierge called and the restaurant had Aviva’s tablet – this is another side of Japan.<\/p>\n

\"Shinjuku <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Row <\/a>
Row of capsule dispensing machines at Yodobashi <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The main building of Yodobashi in Shinjuku <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

7-11s are everywhere – there’s one underneath the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. And they have the most amazing things – fresh cut fruit, dim sum, unusual drinks, and eye makeup. Appearntly they had a special Shin Godzilla figure when the movie came out (unfortunately none left at any of the ones I went into).<\/p>\n

The Robot Restaurant<\/a> show as indeed fun – not as much skin as the one on Anthony Bourdain’s show (maybe because we did an early show?), but worth it. We had front row seats – at one point the shark’s tail hit the chain they set up right in front of us.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance <\/a>
Entrance to the ticket counter <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Robot <\/a>
Robot drink service <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Airplane <\/a>
Airplane warmup <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Our <\/a>
Our hostest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Drummers\" <\/a>
Drummers <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Drummers\" <\/a>
Drummers <\/div> <\/div>
\"Drummers\" <\/a>
Drummers <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aviva <\/a>
Aviva with glow stick <\/div> <\/div>
\"Birds <\/a>
Birds and bears <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bird <\/a>
Bird breathing fire <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Clown\" <\/a>
Clown <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Dinosaur <\/a>
Dinosaur eating alien <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Female <\/a>
Female robot <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Flying <\/a>
Flying thing with furry <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Girl <\/a>
Girl on a float <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Robot <\/a>
Robot with dancers <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Our <\/a>
Our ending hostess <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Akihabara was amazing – one building was 10 floors of figures, books, cards – anything anime\/manga lovers could want. We had dinner at a crapply little German-themed restaurant below that building which allowed Aviva’s foot to recover enough to walk over to Yodobashi-Akiba, which also has 10 floors (each floor is a city block). A whole floor of cell phones and service, a floor of home electronics, a floor of figures and toys. It was Nerdvana for someone like me.<\/p>\n

\"Welcome <\/a>
Welcome to Akihabara <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Some <\/a>
Some buildings <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"More <\/a>
More buildings – reminded us of “Bladerunner” <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Close <\/a>
Close up of the entrance <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A view from across the street of Yodobashi-Akiba <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The Tokyo National Museum<\/a> was really nice, we spent most of a day there. They have a nice cafe, but they gave numbers for the waiting line and only called them out; Aviva watched someone’s number and then counted… Afterwards we decided to go back to Shinjuku to see what it was like on Saturday night. We met a guy named Kune, he turned us on to Ringer Hut and chumbo which is a mix of noodles and various ingredients either dry or in a soup. It was really good and inexpensive. He also took us through a small street of yakatori restaurants that was similar to old Edo – very narrow, claustrophobic, and filled with the smoke and smell of the coal braziers with chicken parts cooking on them.<\/p>\n

\"Admission <\/a>
Admission by machine and ticket counter <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The main museum building <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"My <\/a>
My favorite painting in the museum <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A battle scene detail from a scroll <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Another <\/a>
Another detail from a long scroll <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A print <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Now <\/a>
Now that’s a really nice iPhone case <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Miniature <\/a>
Miniature Indian painting <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Miniature <\/a>
Miniature Indian painting <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A print <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A samurai helmet <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A statue <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A statue <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Wafer <\/a>
Wafer with red bean desert – yes, they have a nice cafe <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We went to the Yamatane Museum<\/a> and saw works by Hiyomi Gyoshu. We also visited the Meiji Shrine and Senso-ji Temple.<\/p>\n

\"Entry <\/a>
Entry mat for Yamatane Museum <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Meiji <\/a>
Meiji Shrine entrace torii <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sake <\/a>
Sake barrels – the monks made sake <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The monks also made wine <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The charm shop at the Meiji Shrine <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A panorama of the shrine complex <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Portal <\/a>
Portal for the Senso-ji Temple <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Detail <\/a>
Detail of portal diety <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rope <\/a>
Rope on rear of portal <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The shops along the street leading to the temple <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Senso-ji <\/a>
Senso-ji Temple <\/div> <\/div>
\"Senso-ji <\/a>
Senso-ji Temple <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Statue <\/a>
Statue of young buddhist <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"2 <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"3 <\/a>
3 girls in kimono taking selfies <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Figure <\/a>
Figure on a building outside the temple complex <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We took the bullet train (Shiksenshen) from Tokyo to Kyoto – that required a shuttle from the hotel to Shinjuku Station (the busiest in Tokyo – it is indeed crazy-insane inside), then a subway to Tokyo Station, and finally the bullet train to Kyoto. Aviva had stomach issues so we were rushing a bit to make our trains.<\/p>\n

And based on that trip, we decided not to try to go from Kyoto to Narita Airport in one day, so we took the train back to Tokyo on the 14th. We had a hard time – Aviva had stomach problems and we barely made it to the train on time. Thanks to our travel agent we got an upgraded room at the Hyatt on the 25th floor (what a view!). We went to Yodobashi in Shinjuku and I found some Godzilla 2016 figures and some metal Star Wars figs. That part of Shinjuku is like Akihabara – bright and loud! We ate at a ramen place.<\/p>\n

The next day we took the shuttle to the airport. There’s amazing shopping at Narita airport so don’t worry if you have some Yen left.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A robot at the Hyatt to help you find photo locations in Tokyo <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Selfie <\/a>
Selfie with person who helped us find the big art supply store <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cool <\/a>
Cool building in Shinjuku <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cats <\/a>
Cats in a window <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I <\/a>
I thought Aviva’s coffee looked cool! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A bookstore window <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cantalope <\/a>
Cantalope KitKats – the flavor for Hokkaido, avialable in the airport <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Elevator <\/a>
Elevator to get to the Anime Information Center in Akihabara <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Japan <\/a>
Japan was very clean <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The kids fashion street <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Make <\/a>
Make in India – somehow I don’t think they know this double entendre <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A cool manhole cover in Tokyo <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Yes, <\/a>
Yes, a McDonalds <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"An <\/a>
An old public telephone <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The toilets are modern marvels – controls for the one at the Hyatt <\/div> <\/div>
\"One <\/a>
One of our lunches <\/div> <\/div>
\"Steamed <\/a>
Steamed gyoza <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aviva's <\/a>
Aviva’s bento box on the train to Kyoto <\/div> <\/div>
\"My <\/a>
My bento box on the way to Kyoto <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The cashier at 7-11 giggled at my t-shirt <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aviva <\/a>
Aviva left her jacket with the luggage – so it must be folded and bagged properly – very Japanese <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Me <\/a>
Me with a Hatsume Miku costume at the airport <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I <\/a>
I hope so too <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\nTranslate<\/span><\/a>\"\"\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tokyo is like New York City on steroids. If you’re going to go to Japan, get a personal wi-fi device; we used it in the hotel rooms, it worked much better than the hotel wi-fis. The company we used, globaladvancedcomm.com, was recommended by a friend and the unit worked well for us, supporting up to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2422,2423,143],"tags":[2427],"class_list":["post-178836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan","category-tokyo","category-travel-foreign","tag-japan2016"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2w3Qj-tokyo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179683,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178836\/revisions\/179683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}