Day 1: Exploring Tokyo – A Dream Trip to Japan

This is how everything started. The trip to one of my dream destinations, Japan! I was so excited; I read everything I could about Japan. In the past, I even started learning Japanese, and now I arrived here.

Japan is literally on the other side of the world. Between the USA and Japan, somewhere in the Pacific, is located the International Date Line, and we crossed this line going West. For that reason, we departed on March 8th, 2024, and landed on March 10th, 2024, at 05:05 am at Haneda International Airport.

Close to landing… look at my face… pure excitement!

We went quickly to the hotel, dropped the luggage, and started exploring… by train, obviously. If you go to Tokyo and do not use their train system, it is the same as going to Rome and not seeing the Pope. So cool!

Google Maps showing all possible connections and timetables to go from A to B in Tokyo. In this case, from Shiomi Station to Ueno Station.

First train station in Tokyo, next to our Hotel. Shiomi Station. Here I learned how perfect is the punctuality of Japanese trains. 😳

Tokyo Station… you can not imagine how huge is this place!

First stop: Ueno Park

Ueno Park, a very big park that in Tokyo known for the cherry blossoms. Cherry Blossoms are called Sakura in Japanese. We came in the beginning of Spring. It was not yet the best time for cherry blossoms. We hoped to find any in Tokyo, if there was a place, it would be here.

Behind us the Tokyo National Museum

… we were a bit lost, not knowing in which direction to go…

With a long day ahead of us, we decided to have a short breakfast to recharge the batteries! Myrna, Sofia and Alexa travelled with us this time, it was great!!! In Japan, they serve Matcha

Street artists painting pandas on the street.

One of the many Pagodas next to Shrines you can find in Japan, right in the middle of Ueno Park. The 2 predominant religions in Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism. Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples are the places where these 2 religions are practiced. One thing we learned is that many Japanese do not chose between the one or the other, they respect and practice both!

Shinto Shrine inside Ueno Park.

We found cherry blossoms!

They were still in the beginning of the blossom process, but it was already enough to see their beauty!

After 12h jet leg, a short breakfast, trains and lots of walking, we decided it was time for us to try some typical Japanese food… sushi!

Google gave us this recommendation of a great Sushi restaurant for a reasonable price in Shibuya, one of the busiest areas of Tokyo. We took the train and went there!

Shibuya Station: first thing we saw walking out of the station was the Hatchiko Statue. Do you know this dog? It is the most loyal dog in the world!! Google to know more about Hatchiko.

Shibuya Crossing: craziest crossing I have ever seen. Every time Hollywood movies show a Tokyo, this crossing shows in the footage.

How the Shibuya crossing works.

Google brought us to the restaurant… by the way, Google Mapa in Tokyo is a mandatory tool for walking and taking trains. It makes the connections of train station, buses, and then in an augmented reality mode shows you where to walk to come to your destination. For trains it is a mandatory tool, nobody can remember all the timetables of all lines and the stops. Amazing!