Tales of Tokyo

Apologies on the delayed post! We returned to the United States last week and hopped right into our work week, thus minimizing our time to write about Tokyo. Now that we’re settling back into our daily routines (in Chicago and NYC), it’s time to share the last of our adventures with you.

If we were to paint you a picture of Tokyo, it would look like a cleaner, more efficient and much more sprawling Manhattan. In that painting, we would double the number of people out on the streets, add millions more neon lights and incorporate Japanese signs and signals on every street corner. The city is enormous and makes one feel like an ant in a never ending field of grass blades. The other obstacle is that little to no English is written or spoken, which makes it difficult to see street signs, read menus or navigate the train system.

In our opinion, Tokyo was our greatest challenge on our ‘round the world adventure.

That said, we began our first day by diving right into the city’s ancient history. The Meiji Shrine is located in the heart of Yoyogi Park – a beautiful sea of green in a city that is otherwise filled with skyscrapers and concrete. The Shrine is dedicated to the late 19th-century emperor who opened Japan to the West. It’s wonderfully serene – situated among a forest of trees and gravel pathways. We enjoyed the grounds of Yoyogi and took several photos of the Shrine before meeting up with a good family friend who was our host while in Tokyo.

Greg, our host, dedicated an entire evening to showing us around the neighborhood, Kichijōji that we would call home for five days. Kichijōji is one of the “hippest” neighborhoods in Tokyo according to locals; the streets are busy and filled with delicious food vendors and bustling shops. There are thousands of things to keep yourself busy with. We spent the evening taste testing (weak) local brews and salivating over the freshest seafood on the planet. Seriously – Tokyo’s oysters and sushi nigiri is to die for! We filled our bellies and swam home (or at least it felt like we were swimming) so that Greg could get some rest before his class trip to Mt. Fuji (he’s a teacher at the American School in Tokyo).

After some much needed zzz’s, we cooked breakfast the next morning and mapped out plans for the weekend. Months of reading and highlighting information about Tokyo in guide books lead us to Shinjuku – home of the World’s busiest intersection. We grabbed coffee from a nearby cafe and watched from above as the lights turned from green to red, the walk signs from cross to stop. It was fascinating to see the number of bodies that would cross the streets each and every time; a sea of humans. It was an image that we’ve never before seen, at least not on the streets of Chicago or even Manhattan.

Our dynamic duo kicked off Sunday with some… FOOTBALL! Obviously! The Notre Dame Alumni club of Tokyo had a viewing of the Notre Dame game at a military hotel and they were kind enough to host us for the 8:30 AM game. We drank champagne and celebrated the Irish’s win, and then headed to Chiyoda to see the Imperial palace. While some of the imperial buildings are now dilapidated due to time’s wear and tear, the view of the palace from the outside was absolutely breathtaking. Massive trees crowd its detailed doors and a body of water stills surrounds, which was once used to protect against intruders.

While we made several other noteworthy stops during our time in Japan, none were more memorable than our last. Per recommendation, we made our way down to Sushi Dai at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market. After waiting in line for four hours, the small door was finally opened to us. The restaurant seats 12 people at a time and features four expert sushi chefs who are tentatively waiting and ready to serve. We opted for the full sushi menu which included a green tea, miso soup and an omelet to start. It was followed by 10 pieces sushi nigiri: fatty tuna, lean tuna, salmon roe, red clam, long-tail snapper, Japanese snapper, saury (we’d never heard of it), sea urchin, sea eel and a piece of your choice. Holy mother of all fish gods; this was the BEST tasting food ever! The snapper melted in your mouth like butter and the lean tuna may have been the finest piece of fabulousness to ever touch our mouths. Mmm… DeLicioUS! I’m not going to lie, when the chef told us that the red clam was still alive, that definitely made it harder to swallow (that, and it was SUPER chewy), but everything else was first class, grade A awesomeness.

Now that we’re home, it feels like the travels documented on this blog were just a dream. Our 20 days abroad went by in a flash, but the memories will stay with us until we’re old and gray. Thanks for reading and stay tuned… because we have some more travel plans up our sleeves.

We’ve got the bug,

-Two for Takeoff