Tokyo: a Sea of Suits

May 15, 2014

Here in Tokyo at last! 

After a thirteen hour flight (which really wasn't so bad... I had a lovely movie marathon, slept some, and had the aisle to my right and an empty seat to my left; that's about as great as an international flight can go!) and a couple-hour bus ride, we arrived in the heart of Tokyo at the Keio Plaza Hotel. 

This hotel. Is so. Nice. One of our trip's leaders, Dr. Baba, used to work in Japan in the hotel industry, so I'm guessing he got us the hookup. Lizzie is real happy about it. 

I named this blog post "Tokyo: a Sea of Suits" because that was my first impression of the city! Looking out the bus window as we drove in from the airport, it really did look like a sea of suits! Nearly every man I saw was wearing dark pants, a dark jacket, and a white buttons down. And everyone is out walking everywhere. Even on a Thursday night, the city is so active and bustling! 

After checking in to our beautiful hotel and freshening up (I should do a separate post dedicated entirely to my passionate love for Japanese restrooms...), we were all pretty hungry so we made our way to the convenience store in the hotel. 

Silly as it may sound, the convenience store was such an experience! Everything in there was in Japanese and unfamiliar, so most of us ended up grabbing drinks and snacks at random. Luckily, Dr. Baba is half-Japanese and speaks the language fluently, so he helped guide us. 

I got what was basically a log of sticky rice with some raw tuna stuffed inside. It came with a separate piece of seaweed so you could wrap it up yourself, keeping the seaweed crispy. Essentially, it's an uncut tuna roll you eat like a power bar. 

Everyone knows to steer clear of pre-packaged, convenience store sushi in the states, but here it was surprisingly really delicious! So I had that interesting snack plus a little pack of fruit chews to share with friends and a green tea. This aint your Lipton bottled green tea. Green tea here is strong, strong, strong, and bitter. I don't mind strong, unsweet green tea; I drink it fairly often at home, but something about having it cold really threw me off! I think most of the folks in my group who got green tea threw it away, but after a few sips I had adapted to having it cold, and it really gave me a much-needed energy boost! 

Once we'd all finished our snacks, a group who still had energy went out with our leaders to walk around and see some of the city. 

I don't even have words for how neat the place is, and pictures certainly don't do it justice! It's got all of the hustle-and-bustle, bright lights, and walkability of NYC, but it's clean and never feels unsafe. 

This city is just so me. It's metropolitan, clean, full of good food and interesting characters, and there are massive karaoke places on every corner. 

I had to laugh as I was walking down the street and heard a Japanese version of Frozen's Let It Go on full volume. 

Showtunes Abroad! 

Perfect.