Our first full day exploring Tokyo! While there was a lot of excitement, I was still on Mumbai time and felt so awful when I woke up at 11. I had wasted half the day! I told myself not to beat myself up too hard.
I love temples so the first thing I wanted to do was visit a temple right near our place known as the Hie Temple. It was my second temple and unlike yesterday, it was built in the style I had expected. The building was white framed with bright red trim and pillars with a contrasting green roof. There were two structures, one which was the actual shrine where people were going up to pray and the other that maybe housed the priests. In the prayer structure there was a large donation bin where people were dropping coins and far beyond that were some large drums which I assumed were used for ceremonial purposes. To pray it is customary to bow, clap your hands twice, and then bow again. Perhaps the cutest thing I saw today was a little girl dressed in a pink kimono sitting on a block and posing for the camera. She was just so small!
The coolest part of the shrine was the torii gates in the back of the shrine. There was one large one and several smaller red ones that covered the stairwell down! The red torii are so distinctly Japanese and look like the ones from a very famous shrine except here there were no people. It was definitely an offbeat location!
For lunch we headed to Tokyo where the Kirby Cafe Petit was located in the train station. We also discovered an entire shopping mall in the basement of the train station! Sadly, the Kirby cafe only had cakes and desserts so we knew we had to find a different lunch spot. We settled on ramen because how can you go wrong with that. We placed our order and paid for the food on a machine at a restaurant called Kamakura and were then seated inside. To my surprise our ramen came out very quickly! I picked out the meat and gave it to Suyi who is always happy to help me clean up. It was a massive bowl of ramen and I ate until I could no longer. My favorite part of ramen is the soup base. As someone who has spent hours laboriously making it from scratch, I know that is where all the flavor and love comes from. It was a good bowl of ramen.
We had to return to the basement to go shopping and in true Suyi fashion, we had to walk through every single aisle and store to make sure we had covered everything. He saw the Pokemon store and went crazy attempting to buy nearly every Pokemon. I kindly reminded him it was only day 1 and that he had to be able to take it all back to the US. I also ended up somehow buying Pokemons too for a friend. Shopping took a very long time and by the time we finished it was already starting to get dark!
We went to the Taito area next to visit the famous Senso-ji temple. This temple complex was bustling with people and was also a market. Vendors lined the road on both sides of the street selling souvenirs and food. I saw so much food I wanted to try including mochi, matcha ice cream, and dango! Everyone seemed to be eating dango, a rice dumpling dipped in sweet soy sauce so Suyi and I decided to try it. In Japan they are very strict about having a time and place for everything. Therefore you cannot eat while walking as eating is something you have to make time for. Suyi and I kept on getting carried away as we saw cute souvenir shops after another. I walked in one and bought a few ceramic cat souvenirs. There are so many cats that make for the most adorable souvenirs. I looked outside and it was basically dark and told Suyi we had to get to the temple first then we could go shopping and continue munching.
We made it to the end of the street to see the famous Senso-ji temple that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Senso-ji is a Buddhist temple that was completed in 645, one of Tokyo’s oldest temples. It was built to honor the goddess of mercy Kannin. In front of the gates there are 3 giant lanterns glowing red and white with Japanese inscriptions. Behind it, the stairs led up to the temple where many people were praying. Off to one side was a beautiful 5 story pagoda that was lit up nicely. It was only about 4:30 pm but the sun had already vanished and it was pitch black. We spent the rest of the time walking through the small souvenir shops.
If there was one place we absolutely had to get to today it was Akihabara. Akihabara known as Electric City was better at night as that is when the area comes to life and all of the lights are on. The main avenue, Chuo Dori, is known for selling second hand electronics, towering game arcades, anime stores, and manga comics stores. If I were to describe heaven for Suyi this would be it. He was so excited and his eyes lit up as we went from store to store. There are hundreds of stores and you could spend hours in each one. You walk into a store that appears to be small and then realize it towers 7 stories high. The amount of stuff packed into these stores was impressive. We went into what felt like nearly every anime store possible, me trailing Suyi wondering what was the difference between the store we were at now versus the last hundred anime shops we had been in. He bought quite a lot of things and I picked up a few things for a friend to keep me occupied. We went into manga stores that had 7 flights of just comics books and magazines. We visited anime flagship stores and so many gachapon stores. At one video arcade Suyi even convinced me to play dance dance revolution which I lost so sorely at.
We spent hours wandering the shops at Akihabara but Suyi was happy so it made me happy until of course the hunger set it. I found a place called R/Q close to Akihabara and what a gem it was! Initially the place seemed so small with not enough room to accommodate us but the lively host ushered us into the bar area. We managed to squeeze in just about. The host nor any of the waiters spoke any English so Suyi spoke a few Japanese words and they were impressed with him! The host loved us immediately. She had us write our names on the wall with the map of the country so she could remember where we had come from. She was so lively and her whole restaurant had a very homey feel to it. She introduced us to another Japanese couple at the bar who started talking with us. Apparently that couple comes to the restaurant every night to eat and since one can't eat sushi everyday, they order the other items on the menu. The host continued to talk with us and Suyi was showing off his Japanese explaining how he plays the violin and she was having the time of her life. She repeated and told the whole restaurant that Suyi played the violin. She even gave us edamame on the house!
At some point a man named Henry was seated next to us. Henry was from the U.S. and at first had to adjust to the family we had become. Seated right next to us, the host made sure we became best friends and we're always talking. As a souvenir, the host gave us these cloth bands that you tie around your head and made us wear them for the duration of the meal. That meal was more than just a meal. It was a whole experience and the host made sure we had the time of our lives. We were laughing and joking the entire time and picked up more and more friends. The sushi was hand rolled right in front of us and was so good. Very fresh and the perfect quantity! My favorite part was when Suyi ordered sake and the host allowed him to fill up a massive cup and even finish the bottle.
We had so much fun at that restaurant! The waiter tried to apologize and tell us the host was just drunk but we loved her boisterous energy and efforts to create a community of everyone that ate at her restaurant. It made it so much more fun than just the two of us eating in silence. Plus, we were here to meet people as well!
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