Jason and I had been planning to go to Japan for years – he had visited as a kid and wanted to go again (when he was more willing to enjoy all the food on offer), and I was excited to visit for the first time. The pandemic, of course, slowed things down considerably, but when I saw a points deal in January 2024 for a trip over Thanksgiving, I jumped on it. This was before I knew that 2024 was going to be a huge year for tourism in Japan; I know several other people who went before we did.

We began our trip with five days in Tokyo. I’d been curious to see how overwhelming I’d find the massive city, and it was both just as overwhelmingly large as I’d imagined, and much easier to navigate. This is mostly due to Tokyo’s gold standard transit systems, which we used every day while we were there (we didn’t get in a car the whole time we were in Japan). Aside from having a lot of lines and stops, trains are frequent, and we rarely waited more than 3 minutes in the city center. Each train line also has a letter and a numbering system for the stops, so we could just remember that we needed to go toward A14 while trying to navigate. Our transit cards worked for trains, buses, and even many vending machines, so we didn’t have to think about which method of transit we were allowed to take. It was just all pretty seamless (though we did get lost in a couple of train stations – I’m not even embarrassed to admit that, it’s a second city under the ground level).

Tokyo is both very busy and utterly quiet. We spoke in whispers pretty much the entire trip, and when Jason (who is quite a loud human) forgot and spoke at normal volume a couple of times, he got some disapproving looks. It’s so interesting to be in a city of 10 million people and have everything be so…quiet. It’s simultaneously nice and unnerving.

Everything in Japan was cute, short, and narrow, and most restaurants were either tiny or stacked. I was right on the edge of having to duck constantly, but Jason was always either in danger of hitting his head or actually hitting it. There are also signs all over Tokyo, warning against all sorts of things, including many parking rules and regulations which made me very glad I didn’t have to park a car.

We attempted to prioritize food, coffee, parks, Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, and some general attractions. Despite the amazing train system, we also walked a lot, averaging about 10 miles per day. Tokyo, as well as the other cities we visited, has beautiful green spaces, whether it’s a giant park or a tiny street corner. We also had amazing timing for fall foliage; the ginkgo and maple trees were all amazing.

Our first big excursion was to the Imperial Palace, where the sitting emperor lives. We didn’t go in, but spent a while exploring the beautiful grounds.

We went to the Sensō-ji temple, and though it was crowded and touristy, I had a great time. The grounds are in the middle of a bustling neighborhood, and there were shops and food stalls set up all around the temple.

We spent some time walking around the neighborhood next to the temple, which has a lot of the knives, kitchenware, and food models.

We also caught the beginning of a parade as night fell. There was drumming and light up floats and announcements we couldn’t understand and it was very fun.

We decided to go to the Shibuya Scramble Crossing at night to get the full effect of the lights, ads, and crowds.

We pretty quickly got overwhelmed by the crowds at Shibuya and decided to go to Omoide Yokocho, a famous street full of casual food stalls, to get something to eat. We stopped at Kameya, a soba noodle shop with a line, but were seated almost immediately because the process of eating took about 10 minutes – you sat down, handed the guy some coins, got your noodles a couple minutes later, ate quickly, and got up. It was delicious and also just fun to watch them work.

We also went to the giant Meiji Jingu shrine, which was finished in 1920 during the Meiji period in the midst of a huge forest. While I’m not a spiritual person, there’s something very magical about a deliberate, special place inside a huge forest in the middle of a massive city.

We had been looking forward to the coffee in Japan, and it did not disappoint us. There’s coffee everywhere, from chains to traditional coffee lounges to the third-wave shops that we love most. The care put into every step of the coffee experience is amazing, from roasting the beans to brewing the coffee and steaming the milk. We found a lot of great coffee shops, and a couple of amazing ones.

We also really enjoyed going to Tsukiji Market, which is covered in tourists (earlier is always better for fewer crowds) but has a lot of fun food to try. I had my favorite piece of tuna in my life cooked in front of me with a shallow cast iron pan of oil and a torch.

My favorite park that we visited in Tokyo was the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It’s absolutely stunning, with a lot of unique areas and beautiful ponds and amazing trees.

We spent a couple of hours exploring before heading to a tiny (and amazing) udon restaurant nearby, and then we went back to spend some more time in the park. It was especially magical with all the yellows, oranges, and reds of fall.

We had been going back and forth about whether we wanted to go to Tokyo Skytree, which is very similar to the Seattle Space Needle (but much taller – I found out after our trip that it’s the tallest tower in the world). I eventually booked tickets for sunset, figuring that would be one of the more interesting times to visit, and after walking through a very surreal European-style Christmas market, we headed up the 450 meters to the top deck.

I had been a little disappointed because it was such a hazy afternoon, and I knew it wouldn’t be clear enough to see Mount Fuji. However, to my amazement, once we got up there we could see the setting sun highlighting the outline of the volcano. We all stared at it for several minutes and tried to take photos around the other tourists.

Alright, time for some random photos from Tokyo that didn’t really have a section.

At one point, we went into a mall to get dinner (all of the malls are full of amazing food, especially in the basement), and while we were walking around a clothing store waiting for the restaurant to open, we started hearing a loud fan noise and smelling burning plastic & rubber. Mildly concerned, we went up on the roof garden (also almost ubiquitous to malls) to avoid breathing fumes. When we went in half an hour later, the noise was gone and the smell was dissipating, so we went and ate. On our way out, we saw the fire department examining…something in one of the shops.

This city also has a minor obsession with cats and I’m here for it.

Various things I loved in Tokyo: hot drinks from vending machines, beautiful autumn leaves, great parks, and gashapon.

We had a wonderful time in Tokyo. Five days was the right amount of time for us this trip, though it would be easy to spend weeks exploring the different areas of the city. We stayed busy, but also made sure to not load up our days with too many activities.

Next, we boarded a Shinkansen to travel to Kyoto for the next leg of the trip, which you’ll be able to see in the next blog (and if you thought the foliage was good in Tokyo…it gets better).