Day 1: 12/24/13 Hyatt Regency Tokyo, N'ex & suica cards, Shinjuku

Getting to Japan: Bos-yyz-bru: curse you mother nature
Getting to Japan: Munich -Tokyo (airlines & lounges)
Day 1: 12/24/13 Hyatt Regency Tokyo, N'ex & suica cards, Shinjuku
Day 2: 12/25/13 Park Hyatt Tokyo, Tsukiji fish market, Roppongi, Kichijoji
Day 3: 12/26/13 Room Service,  Club on the Park, Akihabara
Day 4: 12/27/2013 Girondole buffet, Yokohama Ramen museum Meiji Shrine, Shibuya, Gold Rush
Day 5: 12/28.2013 Biking through Yoyogi Park, Harajuku, Shibuya, New York Bar
Day 6: 12/29/2013 Harajuku & Shibuya Shopping, Ramen alley, Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Day 7: 12/30/2013 Kyoto, Good Samaritan Tours
Day 8: 12/31/2013 New Years Eve, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kaiten Sushi NYE Traditions
Day 9: 1/1/2014 New Years = Black Friday Maddness, No place to eat!
European stopover: Zurich, Park Hyatt Zurich, Brussels, Delays

After our crazy journey, I could not wait to start my journey in Japan. We arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon. Our first stop was at the Airport Post Office.  No, we were not mailing anything home.  We were picking up one of the best travel resource in Japan, a pocket portable wi-fi device (see more).  I don't know how people navigate the urban jungle which is Tokyo without it. We had the pocket wifi with us and sometimes we would still walk around in circles. Next, we changed dollars to yen at the currency exchange, which had a pretty good exchange rate.

Finally, on our way to the big city buying a ticket on the narita express train and a suica card. The suica cards are equivalent to "charlie cards" in Boston. Basically, load money on it and hop on any of the trains in Tokyo.  What's neat is that it also doubles as a debit card of sorts.

All vending machines and some merchants in the stations can deduct money from suica cards. Speaking of vending machines, here's my first encounter with the awesome vending machines in Japan. Plus a look at how clean and modern the trains are in Tokyo.

It took us about 1 hour to get from the airport to the center of Tokyo.  We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo which is located in the Shinjuku Area - which is basically in the heart of Tokyo. It's like staying in mid-town New York, but I swear so much more people! Shinjuku station is so vast.

You can walk literally city blocks from one exit to another. Great advice we received was to always look up what exit is closest to you preferred destination. Of course our first time trying to navigate through Shinjuku, we were totally turned around!  We were trying to find the stop where the Hyatt Regency shuttle picks us up from Shinjuku station. It must have taken us at least half an hour to find even the right direction! I can't stress how much of an urban jungle Tokyo's neighborhoods are. My feet and legs were muy tired by the time we finally got to the shuttle bus stop.  Thankful, that we didn't have to walk the rest of the way to the hotel lugging our bags.  It may have been another 20 minute walk, but I was done.

Lobby performance while we were checking in on xmas eve

I feel bad, I didn't take many pictures of the Hyatt Regency. I have a few excuses (fatigue, camera battery ran out of power, forgetfulness), but it still stinks.  We were only staying one night, thinking we would return later on in our trip.  But alas, openings for our dates at the Park Hyatt Tokyo robbed me of an extra change to photograph more Regency pics. (Sorry!)  They have a really beautiful chandelier in the lobby area.   Check in was quick (arrival around (6:00PM). We were escorted up to our room by an attendant who brought our luggage up. He did a nice introduction of the room and how to use some of the electronics (electronic shades, lighting, etc). The rooms were stocked with great amenities: 2 robes, 2 pairs of slippers, toothbrush&paste, compact hairbrush, razor &cream, etc.  Suffice to say, I was very happy with my room.

We were famished by the time we finished check-in. I think because I was so well fed on my way to Tokyo (lounges, in-fight meals etc), my metabolic system was in high gear. I was downright hangry (hungry + angry).  The downside of the Regency's location is that it's not directly in the heart of the Shinjuku area -which is good for noise level, but less so for wanting a quick bite to eat in front of the hotel. We walked around but that evening was particularly cold, around low 30s with wind. So we quickly hurried to the closest mall/dining area we saw. We wanted something quick because we were pretty jet lagged at this point. We found an udon noodle shop - everything was in Japanse, but with pictures and prices! I basically pointed to a picture with udon soup and beef. The chef behind the counter pointed to a picture of an egg and asked, "half cooked"? "YES!!!" We slid our trays along the counter and there was a variety of tempura pieces available to add to our udon. D got shrimp tempura and I picked up what I thought was chicken tempura. It turned out to be some sort of potato... blah not what I was expecting.  The whole meal was less than 1300yen = $13. So cheap! The udon was so tender.  Once we broke the runny egg yolk and mixed it in with various other free toppings (scallions, ginger, tempura bits), it was sooooo delicious.

Udon with beef, deep fried potato and half boiled egg

Udon with egg and shrimp tempura 

We finished dinner and basically ran back to the hotel.  The temperature dropped and the wind really picked up. We couldn't keep our eyes open any longer and hit the sack around 8ish - dreams of sushi in the morning floating through my mind.