Tokyo

 The first thing most people ask when I mention that I’m going to Japan is how long is the flight over.  This time I flew directly to Tokyo from Dallas so it took a little over 13 hours but since we passed the International Date Line I arrived on Wednesday afternoon even though I left Tuesday around noon.  A flight that long gives me time to eat, read or watch a movie, and still have time to sleep.  You should try it sometime.

There’s a store called Tokyo Kimono Shoes that takes old kimonos and repurposes them into sneakers, purses, bags, and smaller items.  If you want a specific kimono pattern you have to order them three months in advance which I did and was to pick them up upon arrival.  Since everything took longer than anticipated I had to hop into a cab the minute I arrived at the hotel (Ritz-Carlton Tokyo) and ride the 30 minutes it took to get to the store.  It’s a cute little store and I had enough time to do a little shopping before heading back to check-in before dinner.  It’s really a great part of Japan to take back home.

The Ritz-Carlton is a beautiful hotel located on the top several floors of an office building adjacent to the Midtown shopping center.  The view from my room was spectacular.  The adjacent center housed everything from 7Eleven (a great place to convert money), Uniqlo (one of my favorites especially with the yen trading at 160 to the US dollar), restaurants, and a variety of other stores.  We really didn’t have time to explore the center but did go get a couple of things at the 7Eleven and of course Uniqlo.  

We dined in the hotel this evening since we knew we would be tired from the trip.  We had the same view as our rooms so we enjoyed a stunning sunset while enjoying sushi and steak.  The food was so delicious we should have eaten here both evenings.

Thursday morning we had the opportunity to meet our guide, Yoshi, who would be with us for the next three days.  We started the day touring the Tsukiji Outer marker where food vendors sell both ingredients to take home and ready to eat items along with stores selling a variety of goods.  While places like this can seem touristy, I thought this market was a fun stop.

We had lunch at a soba noodle restaurant called 5.  I wish I could tell you where this was located but I really have no clue.  Tokyo has so many little narrow streets along with the normal sized thoroughfares that it could be really easy to get lost.  This restaurant is more for locals and serves a variety of noodles along with crispy tempura.  I’m sure places like this dot the city and I would recommend you try one if you’re here.

After lunch the tour company arranged for visits to several art galleries.  The first one, A Lighthouse Called Kanata, was beautifully designed and one of the largest ones in Tokyo.  They currently were showing several glass artists with stunning works, mostly sold, in the multi-storied gallery.  We continued on to two more galleries neither of which were as impressive as the first one.  My friend was amazed at the prices (probably because of the current favorable exchange rate) and purchased a couple of pieces to add to her collection.

We returned to the hotel and had a couple of hours before dinner.  I chose to visit the mall and shop for a couple of t-shirts at Uniqlo.  The store was small but I did find what I was looking for.  I returned to the room in time to take a short nap before going out for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant called EdiTion Koji Shimomura.  I chose it because it was near our hotel and it had a good rating.  It was prix fix (multi-course omakase) and was very good.  However we were both sleep deprived so I’m not sure we even remember the final few courses!  We returned to the hotel to fall into bed from exhaustion from a long travel day and a couple of poor nights of sleep.

Tomorrow: Tamakiya