Tokyo, Japan — The Cleared List

Every time I travel someplace new, I always have a moment when I think to myself, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually here.” Well I felt that way the ENTIRE time I was in Tokyo. Japan has always seemed so far and so different to me, I never thought I would actually visit this incredible country. Completely out of my comfort zone and a bit frightened to say the least, I flew the 15 hours from Atlanta to Japan determined that this trip would be one of the best yet.

I arrived in Tokyo at 10pm- this is thirteen hours ahead of U.S. eastern time. Feeling completely jetlagged and disoriented a friend and I made our way to our hotel, InterContinental Tokyo Bay, via a taxi. I really enjoyed our stay at this hotel. The staff was super helpful and there were beautiful views of the bay and Rainbow Bridge.

View of Tokyo Bay from InterContinental Hotel room

Our hotel was also just a ten-minute walk to the Daimon subway station and also close to the monorail. On our way to the subway station we could see Tokyo Tower in the distance. Speaking of Tokyo Tower, after a full nights rest we woke up super early the next morning and the first site we ventured off to was the Tower. The Tower is hard to miss with its bright red color and massive size.

Our next stop was the Hie shrine. The shrine was very interesting with bright red flags and temples. I did make the mistake of wearing shorts and I was bitten by what felt like hundreds of mosquitos! Despite the beauty of the shrine it was a short visit for me because my legs felt like they were on fire! If you visit be sure to wear long pants or bring some OFF spray- no joke!

Next on our list was Shibuya Crossing. This is rumored to be the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world. I had fun walking up and down the different crossings several times- I even took some video lol. It is simply amazing to see so many people amongst the backdrop of thousands of shops in the city.

After Shibuya crossing I was starving and ate a meal of Tokatsu Ramen at a small shop in Harajuku, close to Cat Street. This ramen was so incredibly tasty. After a short trip back to our hotel we made our way to Shinjuku to catch a show at the Robot Restaurant.

I will say navigating Tokyo was difficult enough- but we could not find Robot Restaurant to save our lives! I was super bummed because we missed our show time and this was one of the main attractions in Tokyo I had been dying to see. Determined to see the show we talked to the manager who was extremely helpful and squeezed us into the last showing. Thank goodness he did because this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me! It was so different, I have never seen anything like it. Where else can one see bright lights and colors on every square inch of a building, dancing robots, and robot wars?

We walked around Shinjuku which was exactly how I’ve always envisioned Tokyo to be. Tall skyscrapers, bright lights, and even Godzilla lined the sky. After leaving Shinjuku we called it a night and this was the end to our 1st night in Tokyo.

Our second day in Tokyo we made our way to Kamakura which was about a 1 hour train ride away from the city. After arriving in Kamakura it was about a 1.5 mile walk to see the Big Buddha. The huge statue towered over everyone and was definitely worth seeing.

After making our way back to the Tokyo Bay area we enjoyed some of the best sushi I had ever tasted. So fresh and yummy I feel like I could have eaten endless amounts of it. There are tons of sushi shops all over Tokyo and I have a feeling you can’t go wrong with any of them.

On our third and final day in Tokyo, it was gloomy and rainy. I was thrilled that we managed to make it two days without rain as our visit was during the end of typhoon season. With my raincoat on and umbrella in hand, I took the monorail to Odaiba Island. Here we visited the Gundam Front Café and snapped some photos of the huge transformer looking figure. I also lost my mind and did quite a bit of shopping in this area before heading to Tokyo station for lunch/dinner.

After gathering ourselves we made our way to Haneda airport and waited for hours on standby to catch a flight to LA and then finally back to ATL. The time change is so crazy- we left Tokyo on Friday morning, landed in LA on Thursday evening, then landed in ATL on Friday morning….CRA-ZY. Overall, while the trip to Tokyo was quite exhausting, I’m so glad I had the chance to experience it. Tokyo in three days- Check!! Now where to next?