track our trek

literally, i mean…it rained for our first three days solid in japan! no worries, though…we didn’t let it stop us from hitting the streets of the big city. we started out our first day with an adventurous Japanese style breakfast…mental note…save “adventurous” eating for later in the day! although i knew what to expect from my bowl of rice, miso soup and piece of salty fish, i was unprepared for the cold raw tofu slab sprinkled with seaweed…and neither was daryll prepared for his fermented soybeans with some sort of sticky mustard-like sauce…it looked a bit like alien vs. predator eggs ready to hatch. lol! at least we got some good protein to carry us thru the morning! we spent the morning walking around shinjuku, which was much less lively by day than it was the night before…mostly a business district. we walked for a few hours through central park and the imperial gardens before we stopped for a much tastier lunch of chinese noodles. after lunch it was back to the room for what was supposed to be a short nap & to find ourselves accommodations for our next few days (since all we booked before we came was our first couple nights in the hotel!) a short nap turned into 4 hours for me and 3 for daryll—jet lag’s a bear--while we took turns surfing the web in search of hostels with available rooms…hmm… trickier than we thought it would be! we’re slowly getting the hang of this improvisational travel & learning it will probably be good to stay 4 days to a week ahead of ourselves when booking rooms to avoid being forced to pay high rates. it’ll get easier once we get ourselves oriented a bit.

our next couple days were much more action packed. we moved ourselves to our new digs in asakusa…a brand new hostel called k’s house tokyo…which was sparkling clan & full of very friendly folks from all over. very cool! we had a deluxe double to ourselves (with a deluxe price tag) since we had booked so late & that was all they had left. But it was worth it to meet some folks and feel a bit more connected. we did some sightseeing in asakusa & had some very yummy treats before we headed out shibuya to check out the night life. day 2 was a much better eating day! delicious katsu-don for lunch, fried bean paste (?) treats that come in flavors like pumpkin, green tea, sesame & sweet potato…and the most delicious chocolate/banana croissant for dessert!

what shall we say about shibuya at night? about tokyo in general, we were overwhelmed. when we tell people we meet we’re from the states and new york, in particular, they say “oh, you’re used to it.” but in nyc, only times square is on sensory overload! in tokyo it seems everywhere we turn it’s flashing lights and neon signs and pachinko (like slot machines)! get on the train, ride to another section of town & find more flashing lights! and so many people on the streets at 11pm! very cool! this city really never sleeps!