Spring Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 3 - Asakusa & Tokyo Municipal Government Building Observatories (FREE)

Final day in Tokyo! Here are some shots around Asakusa!

Lunch...sushi as usual...only $1 per plate for most of the sushi!

And no one told me there was Wendy's in Japan T_T

Don't want to pay for Tokyo Skytree or Tokyo Tower, try the Tokyo Municipal Government Building! It's completely free! 

http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/attractions/metropolitan_govt_bldg/

There are two observatories and their hours vary so check the website above before you go!

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

2 Chome-8-1 Nishishinjuku

Shinjuku-ku, Tōkyō-to 163-8001

Japan

For dinner that night, I believe the place we went to eat steak is a chain. You get to choose your cut of meat and then they bring it out to you and tell you the weight for your approval (I think it was charged at a certain rate per 100 grams). Then you get to watch through the glass kitchen the chef cook the steak to your desired temperature. All the sides are sold separately except for what you saw here - a little sprinkling of corn, garlic, and onions. Overall the meat was good quality and quite tasty!

And that about wraps it up for this visit to Tokyo! Many people like to compare Japan and Korea and more often Seoul and Tokyo. While both Seoul and Tokyo are large, populous cities, they are quite different from each other...at least in my opinion. It's worth visiting both countries and both cities for that matter to appreciate the differences.  While I've visited Japan quite a few times now, there are still many places I want to see! I hope to head north next time I visit or maybe some in the middle of the country. If you have recommendations, please let me know!
 ~

Spring Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 2 - Ramen Museum & More

If you even remotely like Japanese ramen, this is a MUST VISIT!

Go to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum and eat ALL THE THINGS!

http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/

For a small entrance fee of about USD 3.00 you can go to all the different ramen shops and sample a ton of diferrent kinds of ramen! You even get same-day re-entry! Need to take a break from stuffing your face full of noodles? You can! Come back later to resume the face stuffing! 

While some people call this place a tourist trap, I call it a version of heaven. The whole restaurant area is made to look like 1950s Japan, there are store fronts and pathways that look like Japan did 60 years ago. Each one of the small restaurants has its own ramen it specializes in and all have various language menus near their food ticket vending machines. If you don't want to get a regular size bowl of ramen, you can get a small portion at each of the shops so you have room to sample them all! There is a requirement that each adult order at least one serving at each restaurant (it can be the small bowl version). There may be a line for some of the more popular restaurants but I don't remember waiting longer than about 15-20 minutes. Some tour buses do have this museum as a stop so it may be best to visit between meal times to avoid long lines. I'll let the video and photos speak for themselves, enjoy!

Spring Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 1

Once again I made a visit to Tokyo, Japan this past Spring! This was in part to see one of my Japanese friends who was in Japan at the time (he current is a resident elsewhere) and also just to enjoy another visit and eat a ton of great food!

After a crazy episode trying to sort out a hotel reservation error (I never found out who's fault it was, the hotel or the booking website), in the end I was able to get a proper room at the original rate I had booked. A month before I had booked a non-smoking room at a very affordable rate on the east side of town but a few days before I was about to depart the hotel had emailed and said they did not have my room type! A month advanced notice and just two days before my room type had disappeared? This was quite curious to me. I ended up having to book another hotel in another area of town for more than $100 more than my original reservation. After a back-and-forth with the booking website for weeks after the trip, I was finally refunded the difference. ANYWAY, the hotel I eventually ended up at was in a great location and was decent, however the room seemed on the small side even for Japanese hotel room standards.

After checking into the hotel room, I met up with my friend for dinner and an adventure in the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku. Our dinner was at a nice conveyor belt sushi restaurant where I tried an animal I had never eaten before...by accident. Check out a few pictures below!

Tuna Tuna Tuna!

..."Whale"...

Next was a stroll around the Golden Gai area and finding a small bar to enjoy a drink.

This area is known for its narrow streets and many small bars, restaurants, and clubs. It is said to look like old Tokyo during the middle 20th century. The place we went didn't charge foreigners a cover but I think they charged my Japanese friend >.< We didn't stick around too long as the place could only seat about 5-6 people and the other patrons were smoking quite a bit so we headed out early to get some fresh air and take a stroll.

That was about it for day 1! Stay tuned for more to come very soon!

~