Tokyo. Thank you!

Tokyo, I’m forever grateful for the heartfelt moments and the opportunity to experience the light even in the dark. I will explain more later. Tokyo truly helped me during my journey. I was hit with a bit of really bad news at that time. But, before I get ahead of myself…….

Tokyo !!!!!!!! Everyone who dreams of coming to Japan dreams of 2 places in particular. Kyoto, The Thousand Year capital of Japan and/ or Tokyo… The city is so full of energy, out of this world innovations, and futuristic technology. It also has significant cultural value. Many beautiful temples and shrines can be found across the city. It includes the currently occupied Imperial Palace. Disney land and Sea are also located here. Tokyo is Japan’s Capital City.

I chose to totally take my time here, and allotted myself a good week to enjoy the city. The last time I was in Tokyo , both my beloved parents were alive and we were staying in the Shinagawa district , in 2009. So clearly, it’s been a while. My childhood memories of Tokyo include my mother’s brother Hiroshi. He would always take me by train from his house in Chiba to Akihabara. Akihabara is Tokyo’s electric shopping district. He would take me there to get the latest innovation. I always remembered Tokyo as the city that swallows you up. It’s so big and so electrifying.

Friday : April 26,2024 

Day 1

I arrived in Tokyo. I was blissfully happy off of my Shinkansen train ride from Nagoya. There, I met up with a good dear friend ( Ruru ). I haven’t seen them since 2017. She now live in Nagoya and have been for the past 20 something years. We had lunch at the train station. Then I boarded my Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.  I was coming from a very spiritual 2 night stay in Ise, Home of the Most Sacred Shrine in Japan. And was filled with spirit and energy. I couldn’t wait to expunge my energy in fabulous and chic Tokyo.

The train was really packed, which was not surprising. The next day is the start of golden week. 

I arrived at Tokyo station. I followed the very well described directions. They guided me everywhere with how to get to my next train. I am staying in the Hibiya district. And I got off at the.Shimbashi station. From there, my hotel was a less than five minute walk.

The area was pretty busy even though it was very gray outside. This area seems to be a mix of business and somewhat pleasure. Well actually there is definitely a pleasure Street. lol. 

I’m staying at the Hibiya BLOSSOM hotel. I actually arrived perfectly timed for check-in. The lobby is located on the 18th floor. And once the elevators opened up, you have a commanding view of Tokyo tower. The surrounding area comes into view as well, and it is an absolutely stunning sight. The lobby is so pretty and airy, and everyone who works there is so pleasant. There are lots of international guests at this hotel and I’m not sure if I even saw one Japanese person that’s a first for me

My room is on the 24th floor. It’s very basic room, but it is absolutely positively perfectly divine. It’s beautifully decorated in a simplistic yet modern Japanese twist. It holds all the luxuries needed for a comfortable stay. The best part is a unique view of the city. I think I am somewhat looking at the back of the imperial Palace. So far, I am really, really happy being here. To add the cherry on a lovely cake, next to my room are three washer dryer machines. Hallelujah! So first up on my adventure here in Tokyo, laundry!!!! 

I set out two loads and decided to go take a walk for about an hour 

Ginza is less than an eight minute walk away. I haven’t seen Ginza since 2000. I visited with my friend Veronica. We were staying with our friend in Tochigi-ken so she could see what Ginza looks like. So flashy yet so elegant. Filled with all the Designer stores one could dream of. Some of these stores are pieces of art themselves. The Hermes store front is one such example. And OMG the last remaining Barney’s Ny I almost cried. How I miss Barney’s 

I didn’t want to stay here too long because my laundry was about to be done and I don’t want to be that person who just leaves her stuff in there

I finished the laundry and put it away. I completely settled in. Then, I took a shower and watched as the night sky was coming to life. Tonight I’m meeting a very good and old dear friend. I’ve worked with him for over 10 years. Michael lives in Tokyo with his partner Ryo. They are making dinner for me at their Condo. 

It’s fantastic to be so close to the train station. It’s far enough not to be bothered by all the drama that sometimes comes along with it. With this case, I was able to hop on the train. I took the Yamanote Line and got off at Akebonobashi very easily. 

My friends live in a bougie area. Their penthouse condo inspires dreams of living the good life in Tokyo. They prepared an amazing feast of miso soup, osushi, and different types of tempura. It was absolutely divine and we washed it all down with lots of wine.

And that really ended my night. I was still so tired from traveling and putting things away and what not I suppose we all know how it is sometimes on a travel day.

Day 2 Saturday April 27,2024

Happy start to golden week ! It may not have been the best start of a day for me. However, it is golden week, so it’s something to be excited about. Unfortunately for me, I woke up this morning to terrible news. My project, after three years, was canceled. So now I’m unemployed truly devastated heartbroken confused, and just in a daze. It took me quite a minute to get out of the hotel. The day was looking gloomy. It probably had everything to do with my attitude and my demeanor. I was already going through so much with random hits of emotion, thinking about my mother, and now this. I told Myself shake it off. Today I had head to Asakusa to visit the Sensoji temple as I have always done when visiting Tokyo.

So there I went. Chin up yet still in a daze. Oh my God, the crowds were out of this world insane. I made the stupid mistake of walking down that middle shopping road. I tried to do everything I could to get out of it. It was just too much.

When I came into the temple area, chaos greeted me. I still found a way to find some peace, despite the chaos. There was a certain group of undesirable travelers. They were pushing, shoving, screaming, talking loud and had zero sense of common decency. They had no regard for the personal space of others, trying to ruin my day. lol. 😂 I still found the time to light the incense. Say my prayers and bathe in the smoke as one does when visiting the temple. I even went ahead and got some horoscope pulls as is tradition when visiting the temple grounds. The message was clear….. Good things are yet to come, but on their way… Well for my sake I hope so.

I was in such a sense of shock after all that. I think I just kept walking around in circles. It was really weird. My phone was acting up because my T-Mobile account gives me free data after I use up a certain amount. However, it’s very, very slow. So I decided to get an e-sim. My friend recommended Airalo. I downloaded the app. I got myself 2gigs for 7 days just to try. It is really inexpensive I think it was something like $6 

I was trying to do all of this while eating Ramen at this very business-like Ramen shop. Everybody was lining up for it, so I knew it must’ve been good. I got scolded a little bit because I was on my phone instead of slurping away fast. I apologize as I knew that there are other people waiting to come in. Finish my Ramen and headed out.

I told myself at this point, you are allowed to mourn, be upset, and sad. Do this for today and only for today. You are still over one week away from going home. So let’s maximize and enjoy Japan just as I planned to do. 

I needed an attitude shift 

So for today, I’m sad and I’m walking around. I just kept going straight towards the river. I think it was the Sumita river. Across the way, I could see that flame, that gold flame building thing. Oh my God, I’m terrible at explaining things. And also Tokyo sky tree. Tonight I’m planning to visit Tokyo Sky Tree around 6 PM. I want to see Tokyo both during sunset and at night when all the lights come on. 

I walked around this area for a bit. It was very cute. There are a little café by the canals and people playing pickle ball. Then I walked past and through the Tokyo sky tree area. The canals adjacent to Tokyo Sky Tree had all the boys day carp flying in the wind. I think it’s called children’s Day now but all the different boys day koi flying in beautiful rows of color. 

I had a good four hours left. My body was killing me and I was sad. I decided to rest a bit. I wanted to see how fast I could travel between the Tokyo Sky Tree and my hotel via the subway for this test. 

Back at the hotel, I rested for a bit. Then I got kind of bored and upset with myself. I should be out there enjoying amazing Tokyo. Why am I here feeling sorry for myself? I put my big girl pants on. I decided to walk around for a bit. So I walked back to Ginza. I ended up buying some perfume at Lelabo because it was so inexpensive in comparison to the USA. As of today, it wasn’t astounding.158¥ to the $1

I think I saved about 40 bucks per bottle. They also wanted me to go and do the tax refunding. However, when I did go to Ginza 6, the lines were so long to get your tax refund. I just didn’t feel it was worth it. I know everything in Japan is about patience and waiting, but I’m sorry that just looked too epic for me. It’s like waiting for a ride at Disneyland. Speaking of which, I decided to go to Tokyo Sea tomorrow. Why not right ? 

OK now it’s time to catch the train because I need to go to Skytree

Sky tree is extremely organized. If you do everything online, all you need to do is click your way to get your ticket. My ticket came also with the galleria which is on the highest point of the tower. There were a lot of people. The organization was impressive, as there were many different elevators to take you up and down. As usual, some people are selfish. They do Instagram posts for about 25 minutes at the most perfect spot. It is not worth being upset with people’s selfishness. All in all I really enjoyed my time. I thought the views were so phenomenal. The only tower I had visited in Tokyo before this was Tokyo tower. That was pretty good back then. This is spectacular. I highly recommend a visit to Tokyo sky tree.

Afterward, I took the train to Shinjuku. I wanted to have dinner at one of the places in Omoide Yokocho. Omg forget about it. It was crazy busy with tourists. Everybody seems to know about this place. It’s pretty cool. I can see everybody so happy, enjoying their time and getting an experience. I think that is really cool. Just not for me.

Oh my stars! Across the street is this gigantic Pachinko hall. I just had to go and try it. I put ¥3000 in and walked out with ¥16,000. It was a successful one hour. I had a blast. You might have noticed from my other posts on Japan… A Tribute Journey to my Mother. I have a deep love for Pachinko. hahahaha

I was still hungry. Everywhere was packed full. Because I was solo, they didn’t want to take me. Understandable, but I was still sad about it 

I did find this Spanish wine cellar and I ordered some cheese and that literally was my dinner, of course with wine 

And that was my dramatic day 2 in Tokyo.

Day 3 ,Sunday, April 28, 2024

Today I woke up with a better attitude and some excitement as today I’m going to two amusement park types of places so this will be a very, very fun day 

First, TEAM Labs PLANET I took the train from Shimbashi station transferred a few times and next thing you know 40 minutes later I’m at Shin Toyoso station exiting the train to go to team lab

Like Tokyo Sky Tree, Team Labs is extremely organized. I was 10 minutes early for my timeslot and then about five minutes before that slot was up. They changed the times and I was able to line up to get in. That was so quick heads up. If I were you, I would come in like Birkenstocks or sandals or something. You do get to dry your feet. However, you will be barefoot throughout the entire time. The only exception is when you’re in one of the gardens. 

All in all, I absolutely loved it. It was pretty magical. I need to go visit the other one now because I heard that one is even more amazing.All in all was there about 45 to 50 minutes 

Next up, Tokyo Disney Sea I had to do a little bit of backtracking, but I did take the train from the same station

This entire trip I have been thinking a lot about my mom. I wondered whether she would like it. I thought about being in TEAM Labs. This thought came to me as I was taking my train to go to Tokyo Disney. Sea I ran into out of the clear blue sky, my mother’s shampoo lady for over 10 years. I was in such a state of shock and and I was so happy to see her. We hugged quickly. We exchanged some words. I had to go and she had to go. But how cool was that? 

After about 40 minutes of different train rides, I finally arrived at the Tokyo Disney resort area. I took the Tokyo Disney train from the JR train station to Tokyo Disney Sea. The pricing is very expensive for Disney’s own train to get to the different parks. Everything is more expensive at Disney, but that’s to be expected.

When I bought my ticket, I bought it through the app and through the app is how I got into the park 

It is not like any other Disney Park to be quite honest it didn’t feel like I was in Disney. Maybe that’s a good thing for some people but for me, I preferred Tokyo Disneyland to Tokyo Disney. 

I came here to walk around and cheer myself up. However, I didn’t find the usual Disney atmosphere that uplifts me every time I visit a Disney Park. But it’s OK. Most people come here because they have some cool rides. It’s really nice for couples and there’s alcohol served, a HUGE plus.

The lines for everything including rides, restaurants etc was epic. This is something I’ve always detested about Disney or any theme park for that matter. Because of this, I purchased Premier passes for Tower of Terror and Journey to the Center of the Earth. It is absolutely worth it. I refuse to wait in an 80 minute line. So I went straight through the front onto my ride. I was done.

I tried to go have lunch at one of the decent places next to the Venice Canal. However, it was a 40 minute wait. I thought that was ridiculous. I just cannot fathom it. I am patient, but I am not that patient. lol. 

I found some little grub place and even that took 25 minutes to put my order in, but once I did, I grabbed my tray and sat down, drank my beer ate my food and I left 

Actually The park is quite huge and it is really pretty and nice

I was walking by the Indiana Jones ride and the line. I think it was almost a two hour wait and I was like darn. I really wished I could ride it. Then I saw this guy say ”single rider “ and she said OK. He went right on in. I did the same thing and guess what? I went all the way to the front too. You have to wait just a little bit. They need to match up with an odd number of people traveling together. Many rides are either in groups of two or four. If there are three or five, they break them up. Then you ride with them. I love knowing this. 

However, I did try to do that for Nemo and Toy Story. They said oh, we’re sorry, we don’t accept single riders. You can go on standby. Sadly, I was not into that and then I felt my time at Park has come to end. Five hours is pretty good to be at a park alone in the hot blazing Sun. So I headed back to Tokyo after a little tiny Disney shopping just a little. 

I’m not ready to go back to my hotel so I decided to go to Roppongi. . I’ve never been to Roppongi Hills. This place is so pretty. It felt bougie and pretty. To top it all off, a huge Nihon shyu (sake) festival was happening. I was following the sounds of fabulous house music being blasted throughout the mall area.

Oh my stars, I found Heaven To join in the festivities, I spent ¥3900 and that gave me a sake glass and 11 coins I bought 10 more coins because I started seeing and noticing that a lot of the drinks started at four and went up to nine coins apiece

I may have had a few absolutely delicious drinks. I told myself that you need to get out of there before you turn this into a nightclub party. Don’t go all out lol. I was actually quite tired so I walked around the Hills area and down to Azabu-Juban. I was starving by this time and I found another Ramen place. Yes, I’m addicted to Ramen. I am addicted to Ramen back home so why should I change while I’m here in the land of Ramen? lol. 

This time I had chicken collagen, soup, and more sake hahahaha.  I did pop into a tiny Pachinko parlor … Just for a skoshi. But it was not lucrative…

Day 4, Monday, April 29, 2024

Today is family day I am meeting my cousins and their husbands wife and children and my aunt for lunch

We are meeting at Ueno Park because that is where I’m going to be visiting 1st as I have never been there.

Today is the official holiday of the week called Showa Day. This holiday is in honor of Emperor Hirohito. 

It made all the sense why the park was absolutely jammed back and it was only 8:30 in the morning 

I stretched my legs and walked around the beautiful park. I just followed my way through the part and ended up at Ueno park’s Ueno Toshogu shrine. Right next to Ueno Zoo. By the time I got there, they just opened up the gates. When they open the storefront at 9:30 AM, take the exterior route to view the temple. Use a different path for a unique experience.

Right next to it is the Botan-En peony garden. I paid ¥1000 to go in there, but it was worth it. They are so beautiful absolutely stunning.

After that, I walked around the park for a little bit and stumbled upon Ueno Hanazono Inari Shrine. That was pretty. 

Next thing you know, it was time to meet my Family.

I haven’t seen them since 2009 when both my mom and my dad were here along with me as we were seeing my grandmother. 

At first, I noticed my youngest cousin, Mina, even with her mask on. I met her daughter for the first time. She couldn’t believe that I remembered her, but I do. I saw my other cousin, the one that looks so much like my mother, Maki. It took everything to hold my tears back, just like I’m doing now writing this. Then the other cousin came. My male cousin arrived , Kaoru, with his wife, whom I’ve never met. After them, another cousin , the eldest, Yoko and her mother appeared. I had to turn away because I couldn’t stop crying. I was so happy to see them. Really happy. 

We walked down by the train station in search of this restaurant they had made reservations for. We walked through a place I think it’s called Amoe Yokocho. I felt like I was in Thailand, Vietnam, or some other side street. It was filled with tourists, lower quality goods, pickled pigs feet, and fish and fruits for sale for a bargain. 

We have to go a little bit slower because my aunts knee is very bad so we all walked like elegant geisha

We finally found our restaurant. It looks like it’s going to be a good one. They were friends who were meeting up for the first time in a long time. Tears were in their eyes as they hugged, patted, and hugged again. They kept saying “osashiburi desu,” which basically means long time no see. 

It made me all emotional again. lol. I was a big cry baby.

The food was out of this world delicious. My aunt ordered two gigantic boats of sashimi. Everybody ordered their own menu. Mine came with Wagyu beef, crab, and fish miso soup. It also included tsukemono, tonkatsu, and my own little sashimi tray. 

We cheered our reunion over beer and then sake. I shared old photos with my cousins. The photos included their father and my other cousin’s mother. They are my mother’s younger brother and sister. My mom was in the last days, weeks, months, and few years of her life. I wanted them to know that she lived a very happy and fulfilled life even towards the end. My mother’s name is Sachiko. In her kanji, it means happy child. My mom was a happy child to the end. 

After lunch as a whole family, we walked back to Ueno Park. We visited this temple dedicated to a Buddha. The temple features a man’s head and a snake body out front by the senko area. It’s surrounded by Lotus fields.

After a family walk around the park, we all went to go have coffee and cake. That was one of the best experiences so far here in Japan,being reunited with my family. They also took the opportunity to remind me of how naughty I was as a child. They laughed about how I would get them into trouble. hahahahah.

Saying goodbye was so hard that I just couldn’t hold back my tears so I quickly hugged everyone and ran away and sending my love as they watched me climb the stairs to my train

And that was my day 4

Day 5, Tuesday April 30th, 2024

Today’s day five and I have plans to go to Shibuya. I spent some time on the phone this morning with my Financial Advisor. We worked on sorting my life out. This way, I don’t come home to a mess. Now, I’m truly unemployed.

The rest of the day was fantastic. I shopped around Shibuya , but didn’t buy anything. Just kidding, of course I did some cosmetics shopping at COSME close to Harajuku.

I did go to Pachinko of course, At Shibuya Crossing since it was pouring rain. I put in ¥2000 and I came out with 38,000, so yay me hahahaha 

My friends picked me up and took on a fabulous road trip in his brand new white G-wagon AMPG. I felt so Chic. They took me to Zushi In Kamakura. We had a fabulous late lunch of sashimi and katsu fish. We also drank beer. We walked the beach and enjoyed the cloudy yet beautiful day. We even stumbled across a film festival happening. Afterwards, we stopped at this lovely place called Marlowe and indulged in the most divine ice cream known to man it was so decadent and so worth it

After a lovely day, I was back at the hotel. I packed my trunk to send off to Kanazawa ahead of time. Im so addicted to this absolutely beautiful service. That was I travel super light while on the trains.

Tomorrow is my last full day and night in Tokyo. I don’t really have much planned, but I think I’m going to walk through Hibiya Park and Imperial Palace area .

My friends made early dinner reservations at Narisawa. It’s supposed to be an epic dining experience and I need to make sure that I am free from perfume scents. 

So I’m gonna try to have a large breakfast in the morning and that’s it because it’s evidently a huge meal

My friend told me that they went once and there was an edible creation on the plate. You could eat everything that resembled the forest. They had installed a speaker that was recording live from a forest somewhere far away. You were actually hearing the real forest live as you ate. So this is gonna be an experience.

Oh my stars, I was starting to lose weight. I was not gaining it all back from all this eating. But who cares. I am so happy. I can diet when I get home.

Wednesday May ,1st 2024 DAY 6

May Day is lei day in Hawaii. I’m singing that song I. My head. 

Today is my last day and night. I decided to walk the opposite way this morning towards Hibiya park. The sky is dark and gloomy. First though I sent off my large luggage to Kanazawa. 

When I stepped outside. It was windy like crazy. 

As I made my way to Hibiya park , I noticed the Imperial hotel My friend from bangkok always stays here. And when she comes to hawaii she’s stays at my favorite hotel on my island and the sister to the Imperial Tokyo , the Halekulani Hotel. 

I stopped here for a little Boujie breakfast at park side diner. Wow the best croissant I ever had. So buttery and so flakey. I just had to add more butter hahaha. 

Wednesday May ,1st 2024

May Day is lei day in hawaii. I’m singing that song I. My head. 

Today is my last day and night. I decided to walk the opposite way this morning towards Hibiya park. The sky is dark and gloomy. First though I sent off my large luggage to Kanazawa. 

When I stepped outside. It was windy like crazy. 

As I made my way to Hibiya park , I noticed the Imperial hotel My friend from bangkok always stays here. And when she comes to hawaii she’s stays at my favorite hotel on my island and the sister to the Imperial Tokyo , the Halekulani Hotel. 

I stopped here for a little Boujie breakfast at park side diner. Wow the best croissant I ever had. So buttery and so flakey. I just had to add more butter hahaha. 

While May Day is Lei day in Hawaii, May 1 in Tokyo was rain day. Boy, did it come down all day and all night.

I walked through the peaceful but very wet Hibiya Park, and stared at the Imperial palace from afar.

I then took the subway to Omotesando Area as I needed to pick up some skincare from one of the most fabulous new skincare companies that you will not find in department stores called Lekarka 

After I picked up my goodies and gifts for some of my friends because we cannot get this in the United States, I just walked down to Shibuya Crossing area. I walked around a little bit but was a little miserable because of the rain. I just didn’t feel like doing museums or anything. So I headed back to the hotel to watch TV and napped for a few hours so that was really nice

This Evening was dinner at Narisawa. It was an absolute experience. The meal consisted of 11 courses, complete with alcohol pairing. There was also very rare sake that you can’t get anywhere. It was divine and phenomenal. My friends love to eat really well. They know all the best places to eat. However, a lot of times it is out of my price budget. It’s still worth it.

Full and completely buzzed the server asked us where do we have plans to go to next as they were going to call us Taxi They literally have you in and out at 2 1/2 hours and a way of nudging your ride, pretty genius

We decided to go down to Shinjuku ni chome. We wanted to have some cocktails with my friends. It’s their neck of the woods, and it’s where they like to hang out. The last time I came to this area was in 2009. It’s nice to be back. We went to a bar where all the foreigners go. I learned a very interesting phrase. I’ve heard of “rice queen”, but yesterday, or last night rather, I learned of “potato queen” lol. Isn’t that hilarious? I’m sure you can guess what that means if not, I’ll explain it to you in the comments .. just ask…..

We left the potato queen bar. Then, we went to an all you can drink sake bar (NIhon shyu). You can drink as much as you like for two hours. There are sections that have more premium sake. You have to ask for that. You do get to choose one extremely premium sake as your one top sake, but you can only have one. The rest you can drink until almost all of them are empty. I think we had about nine different sake we tried.

Let me tell you I was feeling quite lovely

The boys wanted to continue going, but this aunty took a taxi home lol hahaha. I was Really feeling the buzz. 

I cannot think of a more perfect way to end my last night in Tokyo

Thursday , May 2, 2024 Day 7

I was sitting on my bed. I stared out into a somewhat cloudy sky. I looked into Tokyo and the Hibiya Area, and I just felt a huge sense of GRATITUDE.

I am so lazy to pack, but it must be done…….

Next adventure…..Kanazawa an Unexpected 3 days of Beauty 

Thank you Tokyo. You were exactly what I needed ….