I benefited a ton from this group while I was planning for my trip to Tokyo, so I thought I’d pay it forward with a trip report (April 2 – April 8). Here’s a mix of things that we (my boyfriend – 38, my nephew – 18, and I – 31F) did, saw, observed, etc., that I hope will be helpful to others.
**Arrival Day at Haneda**
* Landed in Haneda at 3:30pm on Sunday. It took about 1.5hr to go through all the steps (covid, immigrations, customs). Make sure you do the QR codes! The Covid one easily saved us about 20 minutes.
* If you can, buy an eSim ahead of time. It was so convenient to have internet access the second we landed. I downloaded a 3GB plan and used less than 1GB after using it regularly for navigating and Google Lens.
**Day 1 Highlights**
* **Akihabara:** Taito Station and Game Panic had such a great variety of claw machines and arcades. It was also cool to watch some of the really experienced players play some of the different games that don’t exist in the U.S.
* **Ueno:** Bought a beautiful goshuincho from the Ueno Toshogu shrine (my favorite of the ones we saw at the other shrines and temples).
**Day 2 Highlights**
* **Shibuya**: Shibuya Crossing is really cool to experience in person. But the Pokemon Center absolutely made my day – the Mewtwo alone was worth the visit. And the Meiji Shrine was also wonderful, but we saw it at the end of the day when we were exhausted, not realizing that it’s a bit of a walk to get the shrine.
**Day 3 Highlights**
* **Asakusa**: This was my favorite area for souvenir shopping. They had a great mix of daruma, lucky cats, postcards, tenugui… everything! Sensoji Temple was also the first place where the calligraphers drew the goshuin for us in-person, as opposed to giving us a sheet with a predrawn/stamped goshuin. Later we stumbled upon a network of smaller shrines & temples that added the goshuin to our book. My favorite was Matsuchiyama Shouden because of the daikon offering and the meaning behind it.
**Day 4 Highlights**
* **Chiyoda:** The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace were filled with a ton of color. Save yourself some time and start at the East Gardens – the other parts of the Imperial Palace are closed and you don’t see much else beyond the moat (unless you sign up for a tour, I think).
* **Bunkyo:** The Azalea Gardens at the Nezu Shrine were also stunning and I think they are in bloom through April.
**Day 5 Highlights**
* **Asakusa**: We went back to get more souvenirs!
* **Adachi**: My nephew’s a big Hajime No Ippo fan so we went to see the boxing gym that is owned by the writer of the manga and has a lot of one-of-a-kind memorabilia.
**Departure Day at Haneda**
* ANA Airlines told us to arrive 3 hours early, so we did. Made it through baggage drop and security in an hour.
**Misc**
**How do I love the subway system? Let me count the ways.** It’s on-time, it’s clean, it provides clear signage and information on the trains and stations… I could go on. I relied on Google Maps for all of our travels and never once had an issue. I could never quite figure out when rush hour was, but the train was tolerably crowded between 9 – 10:30am and 3 – 5pm (i.e., the trains were filled with standees, but I wasn’t standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people).
One tip I’d give to people who are less familiar with taking public transportation: Be mindful of your surroundings and the space you take up, especially during rush hour. If you’re wearing a backpack, wear it in front of you or hold it down at your side. When boarding a train, walk closer to the middle of the train, instead of the front, to make it easier for people to get on/off at the next stop.
**Cash or credit?** I ordered 50,000 yen through my bank before my trip. I used the cash mainly to load all our Pasmo cards and to buy souvenirs/food from small vendors. For everything else, I used my credit card. I was easily able to use my credit card in most places in Tokyo that I actually switched to using all cash toward the end to make sure I used all of it before I left.
**Speaking Japanese.** I learned enough Japanese ahead of time to ask some basic questions. On our first day there, I started off with a few greetings to be polite, but everyone took it as an opportunity to speak to me as if I were fluent. I had to apologize and then ask them to repeat themselves in English. So after that, I started with English and only used Japanese when there was a language barrier. But most of the shops and restaurants in Tokyo had staff that were able to communicate in English.
**Vegetarians!** Plan out your restaurants ahead of time, or at least pick a few. Especially if you’re traveling with people who want to eat meat. I thought I could survive on sides alone, but in some places, there weren’t even good vegetarian sides to choose from.
**Bring a Ziploc bag for trash**. If you buy and eat your food in the same place, you’ll have no problem disposing of your trash. But if you buy an ice cream or crepe and walk around with it, it’s nice to have a Ziploc bag to hold your trash until you find a bin to toss it.
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