March 21, 2009 Day 3: Walking Around Tokyo

If I could speak candidly for a moment, I'll tell you that I've never experienced jet lag quite like the first few days in Tokyo. Even though we were thoroughly exhausted, we really only slept from 11 pm - 4 am the first few days. By 6 pm, we were ready to go back to bed for the night, but we forced ourselves to stay awake in a zombie-like trance.

Saturday, March 21 was our first full day in Japan. We finally got up around 7:45, had breakfast: thick slices of toasted white bread, single served drip coffee (you attach it to a mug and pour boiling water through) and delicious Japanese strawberries. We set out with a map of Tokyo in hand and literally started walking... or maybe it was more like wandering.

We first walked Omote-Sando, which is a beautiful tree-lined street with super high end stores. No neon signs here. Most stores don't open til 10 or even 11 a.m. but we did manage to find tasty goodies at one of the several million convenient stores in the area. We now have a fond love of "chocolate bread", which is a loaf of croissant-like bread with chocolate filling. 185 yen. I think. We also went into Kiddyland... and had a crepe at "Sweets One with Snoopy".

Again, this day is very foggy for me, sadly. If you walk straight up Omote-Sando, you'll be in the Harajuku district. One of my favorite stores in Harajuku was called "The Mighty Soxer". I got some cute socks here for 500 yen.

Ugh. This day is sounding way more BORING than it actually was, but I was seriously in a daze. We came across what seemed to be a high school volleyball tournament right near Meiji. We tried to ask, but the girls just shook their heads.

We strolled through Meiji Park and visited the temple. Definitely go here if you're in Tokyo. It's quiet, serene and interesting. Before you enter temples in Japan you have to wash your hands and mouth. Just follow what the Japanese are doing and you'll be fine.

We left Meiji and met up with Rikki for dinner in Roppongi Hills, which is like a large "mall" sort of thing. I believe it's a mixed-use space. After dinner Rikki took us to the Park Hyatt Hotel, which is where Lost In Translation was filmed. We went up to the 50 somethingth floor and had a drink and a $12 cup of coffee. In this household, we much prefer the Bill Murray of "Scrooged" and "What About Bob?" ... in fact, I hated Lost In Translation. But! This was a cool spot in Tokyo with a superb view of the city at night.

Return home. Sleep.








DAY 4, PLEASE!