3 Days in Tokyo!

During our visit with Melissa's dad, Steve, we went to Tokyo for 3 days. We weren't sure what to expect, but once we got there, we were positively surprised! First of all, Tokyo is amazingly clean. We would walk for blocks and blocks and never see any trash on the ground! Also, the people were all very friendly and well-dressed. We were also surprised with how few taxis were around, especially compared to the streets in New York City.

Tokyo is obviously HUGE. The metro Tokyo area is the largest in the world with just over 33 million people and metro New York coming in second with about 18 million people.

Getting There- The Bullet Train
We traveled from Gifu City to Nagoya by local train, and then took the bullet train, known as the Shinkonsen, to Tokyo. To drive would have taken over 8 hours, but it only took 2 hours on the bullet train. Speed comes with a hefty price tag though...$200 per person round trip.

While on the bullet train, we passed the tallest mountain in Japan, Mount Fuji. In the picture below, you can see the snow-capped peak above the clouds.

Day 1- Ginza and Shibuya Districts

After checking into our hotel, we decided to explore some of Tokyo on our own using the local trains and subways. The train stations were EXTREMELY crowded and hardly any signs were in English, but once we figured out how the system worked, we managed okay! We began by going to the Ginza district. This is a very upscale district in Tokyo with many designer stores and nice restaurants.

We first walked around the Sony building, which had about 6 floors of new electronics on display. We had fun looking and playing with all the new technology. We then spent an hour just walking down the streets and going into shops.

As nighttime approached, we decided to take the subway to the Shibuya and Shinjuku districts, which are known for neon lights, crowded streets, discount shops, and arcades. We loved walking around here, especially since this is what we imagined Tokyo to be like! Below is a video of a huge intersection in the Shibuya district.

Day 2- Tokyo Disney Sea

Our second day in Tokyo was spent at Disney! There are 2 parks in Tokyo: Disney Land and Disney Sea. We decided to go to Disney Sea since we don't have this park in America. We began the day by standing in line for an hour just to buy our tickets to get in... we weren't the only ones with the idea of going to Disney for Spring Break! We ended up having a great time and went on some really fun rides!

Disney Sea is only 5 years old and is really beautiful. It is located near the Sea of Japan and has hotels, gift shops, and restaurants throughout the park that resemble Europe.

After a long and fun day at Disney, Frank was able to catch up on some sleep on the train ride back to our hotel.

Day 3-Full day Tokyo Tour
On our last day, we went on a 10 hour tour of Tokyo. It began by picking us up from our hotel at 7:30am. We then went to the Tokyo Tower where we were able to have a look of the city from the observation platform.

We had a nice view of a temple surrounded by cherry blossom trees.

Next, we went to the Meiji Shrine. It was nice to get away from the big city for a while and enjoy the peacefulness of the shrine.

Our tour then took us to the Imperial Palace, which is home to the Emperor and Empress.

We weren't able to go inside the palace, but we had a nice time walking around the grounds.

After lunch, we went on a 45 minute boat ride on the Sumida River. The cherry blossoms were beautiful along the river!

The boat ride ended in the Asakusa District, where we then walked to the Asakusa Kannon Temple. This temple, unlike the first one we went to on the tour, was in the heart of the city and really crowded. This was one of the highlights of the tour!

Outside of the shrine, we were shocked to see a group of Geisha walking down the street, as well as a group of monks standing around talking!

Cherry Blossoms in Ueno Park

We ended our trip to Tokyo with a visit to Ueno Park to see the thousands of cherry blossom trees in bloom. Before we moved to Japan, we had read that Japanese people LOVE the blooming of the cherry blossoms in April and really celebrate it. Once we arrived at the park, we not only saw thousands of trees, but we also saw thousands of people! Everyone was walking around and having picnics under the trees while eating and drinking sake. This was definitely something we will never forget!