TOKYO IN 5 DAYS

Thursday 16th March:
12 hours later

We arrived at Haneda Airport at 7.30am.
Picked up our pocket WiFi and queued up to get our Japan Rail Pass. It was all really simple, as well as finding the Monorail to take us into the heart of the city. Our hotel was situated in Shinjuku - a busy hub with the worlds biggest train station - so we managed to navigate our way there. We couldn't check into our hotel till 3pm - so we left our bags there and went exploring.
We decided to use the day to get our bearings around Shinjuku and see what it had to offer.
We then took the train to Shibuya to see the crossing and have another wonder around to see what Tokyo had to offer. It was a long day soaking up the culture change, and getting used to the transport system. 4 coffees later we decided to retire early due to major jetlag - we had some shitty ramen and fell asleep.
Also their vending machines are the BEST!


Friday 17th March:
Skytree and Akihabara

After waking up early - we made our way to Starbucks for some breakfast. The Japanese have odd breakfasts, so an american chain was the only way to go. We had buttermilk biscuits and waffles with the most delicious coffee. We made our way to the Imperial Palace only to find it was shut! Should of done more research! Luckily we were quite close to Tokyo Skytree and it was turning into a beautiful day. So we headed to Skytree town went up the 634m structure to see the city from above.
We got fast passes so that we didn't have to join the horrendous que - so we paid 4000 yen (about £35) to go up both observation decks. The view was incredible. I would highly recommend the experience! Below the skytree is a load of shops and restaurants including the Pokemon Centre! After wishing all my money away, we headed to Akihabara to have a look around their 'Electric Town'
We really wanted to experience a maid cafe - so we did! We went to Maid Dreamin' which looked like a tacky horror story at first - with a few guys sitting on their own and a stage in front of them. In the end it was a really good experience of moe culture in japan, with cute girls serving us the most kawaii food and drinks! You had to sing little tunes when you got your food, wore animal ears, and had to say 'Meow Meow' to get the servers attention! My boyfriend found it a little cringey at first, but as more people came into the cafe, it was much more fun!
We woundered around Akihabara and looked in all the anime shops - manga, figures, vintage games - It was really interesting, and I enjoyed trying to find merch from my favourite anime's (yes I like anime...so sue me!)
We finished off the day walking back to our hotel and stopping of for some food. We ended up in the basement of some building eating Okonomiyaki - which I found out I don't like! (Food was HARD in Japan!) But I had some really nice peach wine?


Saturday 18th March
Studio Ghibli and Meji Jingu

The day started with a Mcdonalds breakfast (it was right outside our hotel, it would of been rude not to.) I had booked us tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum in advance - It was located in Mitaka; a little train ride away to the outskirts of Tokyo, to get the the museum we had to walk through a gorgrous park with a lake, street food, and old shrines and bridges. It was really nice to get out of the city and see local life for a change. We were really lucky and saw some early cherry blossom!
The museum was really nice, with lots of Ghibli Charm! If you haven't heard of Studio Ghibli before - it's basically Japans version of Disney. Animated movies designed for all the family - they are charming, and gorgeous to watch - my personal favourite is Howls Moving Castle. We spent about 1 hour 30 mins at the museum, it's only small but well worth a visit.
We walked back to the train station through the park and headed to Meji Jinju Shrine just outside of Harajuku Station.
The Tori Gates to enter the park were the biggest I'd seen. It was all surrounded by woodland with wide paths up to the shrine. It was crazy to be so quiet when it was in the heart of Tokyo. We walked to a park on the other side before finding some food at our hotel. The resturant was called 'Royal Host' and was terrible....I'm sure we'll find some good food soon right?!


Sunday 19th March
Imperial Palace & Tokyo Tower and Robots

 This morning I had to cutest Pastry from a little bakery we found near our hotel. It was a little koala shaped chocolate bread! OMG!
The Imperial Palace is open on Sundays so off we went! The sun was shining and it was the most gorgeous day! The Gardens were really nice to walk around, with old buildings dotted around - like old tea pavillions and japanese style gardens with huge skyscrapers lurking in the distance. We wanted to go see Tokyo Tower (Exactly the same shape as the Eiffel Tower except red!) we didn't feel the need to go up as we'd already been up SkyTree. There was a festival going on underneath, which had some japanese girls performing and loads of local food stalls.Behind the tower was a cute little park, and side streets to explore.

Later that evening we went to the Robot Restaurant - this was truly japanese. Oh My! Loud, bright and a little bit crazy! It was £70 a ticket which was pretty pricey...however if your going to go to Tokyo it's high up on every list of things to do! It was certainly memorable, and very different. The show was about 2 hours long, and you could order food too.
Once the show finished it was about 9pm and we decided the night wasn't over - so we made our way to the Metropolitan Government Building to get a free nighttime view of the city from their observation deck! (The Japanese sure loved their decks!) Walking through the skyscraper district at nigh was really nice too. The night view was incredible.



Monday 20th March
Nakano Broadway, Okibukuro and Tokyo Dome

For our last day in Tokyo (don't worry - we do return!) we went to discover Nakano Broadway which is full of anime goods and vintage toys. It was really interesting and the side streets were really fun to walk down. With electrical wires hanging overhead and bright signs everywhere - it was like being in an anime itself! We finally had our first decent meal - which was breadcrumb chicken, curry sauce, with some mash and a little soup - odd combination, but damn it was tasty!
We then went to Okibukuro to find Sunshine City which is a HUGE shopping centre. It also has the Pokemon Mega Store which had everything in it! It was so so busy as it was a national holiday, but we still enjoyed wondering around a new part of Tokyo. We then went to Tokyo Dome which is a baseball stadium, and has a number of other attractions too - such as rollercoasters, rides, a water park and themed cafes (I saw a Moomin Cafe, a Bubba Gump and some others!) I would defiantly want to explore TokyoDome more next time we visit Tokyo! It looked like it had a lot to offer.
I don't even remember what I had for dinner....obviously nothing to write home about! Was quite possibly a Mcdonalds.....it was amazing out there! Teriyaki burgers come to the UK please!!

Tune in next time for our trip to Osaka!