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 Tsukiji fish market, Park Hyatt Tokyo, 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
Jet lag plagued our trip. That's why we woke up around 4am on Christmas morning. We actually didn't get over the jet lag until close to the end of the trip (annoying). Knowing we would be victims of jet lag, we decided to use that to our advantage and check out Tsukiji Fish Market. Tsukiji is known for it's famous tuna auction which you generally need to get to before 5am to attend. Unfortunately, the few weeks in December leading up to the New Year holiday is insanely busy for Tsukiji, so foreigners are not allowed to even attend. That's okay, we weren't interested in the auction anyway. No, what drove us to leave our beds at 4am was the tales of the freshest sushi you'll ever have.
The concierge desk was not surprised at all to hear that we were heading to Tsukiji at that hour. He was so kind as to print out information on the market for us and hail us a taxi.
All taxis had doors that automatically opened or closed at the drivers control
Note that the trains don't run until around 5-6 o clock. We wanted to get there early to get acclimated with the market and and beat any lines we were heard that form for the sushi restaurants. The taxi fair was not cheap even with hardly any traffic on the road! 4500yen=$45 ouch. But that was our second day in Tokyo, we hadn't even attempted to look at how to use the train yet. We sure as heck weren't going to start at 4am. Whatever time we thought we would save by taking the taxi, was probably lost because we were so turned around inside the market. It's REALLY difficult to find the good sushi restaurants if you don't know where you're going! I can't even describe how confusing it was. The best advice I can give you is to pull up a picture of the restaurant's Japanese characters and ask someone if they know where it is. That's exactly what we did. People are so kind! We should have done that in the beginning! We lost probably 45 mins - 1 hour wandering in circles. D'oh!
Let me explain that the two best sushi restaurants at Tsukiji are Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi. Arguably, Sushi Dai is more popular and thus ALWAYS has a longer line. We thought Sushi Dai was closed Wednesday (darn you internet!), so our goal was to eat at Daiwa that first day. We quickly realized that by 5:45, the line to get to Sushi Dai was already 100+ ppl deep. Luckily, the line at Daiwa was considerably shorter.
We waited maybe 45 mins. You get a choice of two set meals. You've waited that long, get the pricier set! The meals give you 5 pieces of nigiri sushi (predetermined by the chef), miso soup and hot green tea. A wonderful way to start off Christmas!
Uni, egg and salmon roll
Fatty tuna *drool* oh yeahhhhh
Can't remember what this was but it was yummy!
Chef bar, the restaurant was literally that small
After stuffing our face with delectable sushi, we were ready to explore other parts of the city. It was around 7:30am when we finished. We trained it over to Roppongi.
Spider statue
Being the true American Tourist that I am, I was so impressed with some of the architecture. Look at this awesome house!
What is it you ask?
A dental office. LOL Such a noob.
We had a nice break at a coffee shop where I called my family back home to wish them a Merry Christmas. It was still x-mas eve at home, but it was xmas where I was.
We headed back to the hotel, picked up some awesome Japanese breads and cakes in the station. We hit up the Regency Club with amazing views of Mt. Fuji and tea.
Little did I know my views would only be getting better. Next, it was off to transfer/check-in to the best hotel I've ever stayed at, Park Hyatt Tokyo (PHT). We probably could have walked it from the Regency to PHT, but we had a lot of luggage and kinda wanted to arrive in style. lol.
The check-in process is one of the coolest I've ever experienced. Stepping out of the cab, we were greeted by a welcoming staff who asked for the last name of the reservation. The staff took our bags and we were escorted upstairs - PHT starts at the 41st level of the building - to what I perceived was the lobby area. At the lobby area, we were met by an older staff member who quickly welcomed us and brought us to another elevator bank. While in the elevator, he went over the details of our stay (# of nights, hyatt status, # ppl staying in the room, etc). We got off the elevator, taking out keys, he opened the door TO OUR ROOM! That's right, the check in process was done in our hotel room. No lobby counter to stand in front of. No lines to wait behind. Personal check in service directly to your room. Apparently, when we gave the reservation name at the taxi area, they called up to the lobby to have someone waiting for us. Wow. Smooth. Without further ado, here is our amazing suite room including amazing panoramic views of Mt. Fuji.
At this point, all I wanted to do was take a nice long cat nap - we were at by 3am! But no, D wasn't satisfied taking it easy. Too much to do! We decided to visit Kichijoji which is a little town just outside of the Tokyo center area.
It was highly recommended to us by D's sister who had previously studying abroad and taught English for a year in Japan. Of all the restaurants D's sister recommended to us, we were most excited about eat at Satou Steakhouse which serves matsuzaka wagyu, considered one of the best steak in the world. Kichijoji was very cute with all of it's streets and shops crowded together.
Just look at that amazing marbling yummmm
And here, the deliciousness ready for me to feast on. People, this was the best steak I've ever had in my life. There's nothing else to say except that. This steak has ruined me for any future steak I'll eat.
After finishing our delicious dinner, we walked around Kichijoji a bit. I wish I wasn't so full because there were such cute shops and restaurants. We walked around and did a bit of shopping. We ended our exploration with a nice 30 minute shiatsu massage, which totally made me fall asleep lol. After that, I knew it was time to go back to PHT and get some shut eye.
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