On our first full day in Tokyo, we caught the train from Asakusa to Shibuya. We were excited to go to Shibuya crossing which is the busiest crossing in the world. When we got there, we were very underwhelmed and couldn't believe that it actually seemed so small! It also wasn't very busy at the time, but I'm sure it gets a lot busier at different times of the day and also at different times of the year.
We loved seeing the 'Mario karts' going around the streets. Jay and Harri had thought about doing it but decided against it once they heard the price of getting an international driver's license plus the cost of the karts. It wasn't too expensive, but they said they'd rather spend their money on other things.
We crossed the crossing, and I told the boys that I knew about a place where you pay a fee to enter but that covers the cost of a drink, and then you can stay there as long as you want and can view the crossing from above, so we went up there.It looked a lot more impressive from above.
After checking out the crossing, we did a little bit of looking at the shops and then walked to a restaurant in Shibuya for lunch. Six years ago, my brother Eden and his family had an exchange student, Mayu, stay with his family for a year. We didn't spend a lot of time with her while she was here, but spent Christmas with her and saw her at other family events and we have kept in touch via social media since she returned back to Japan.
When I told her we were coming to Japan, we organised to meet up for lunch and she suggested Zauo Fishing Restaurant. I had heard about those restaurants before our trip, so I was excited to go there with her and her Mum Yoku who we met there for the first time. Yoku could speak quite a bit of English and what she wasn't sure of, Mayu would interpret for her. I asked Mayu if there was anything that she wanted me to bring her from Tasmania, and she said she would love some Promite! Apparently, there was a debate when she lived with my brother and his family about whether Vegemite or Promite was better, and she thought Promite was, but she can't get it anywhere in Japan.
It was so lovely to see Mayu again and to hear what she has been up to since leaving Tasmania (graduating Uni and getting a job!) and to meet her mum. Her mum was so funny and not at all like I had imagined most Japanese women to be like. She had such a funny sense of humour and made us laugh with all the things she was saying.
The restaurant has live fish in tanks. You choose which fish you would like to catch and the price you pay depends on the type and size. You can also get the staff to catch a fish if you'd prefer but that costs a little more. You then let them know how you would like it to be cooked and can order other dishes to go with it.
We all had so much fun catching the fish and laughed when they would announce it to the whole restaurant. I always missed the part when you were supposed to clap!
We chose to catch the smaller fish as we knew we would be ordering other food to go with it.
We all chose to have our fish deep fried, but Mayu had hers done as sashimi (raw) and we all tried that and loved it.
While we were eating a magician came to our table and asked us if we'd like to see a card trick. He actually did magic for us for about 7 minutes, and he was incredible. At the end he put a box on the table and that's when you are expected to give a donation to pay him for the tricks that he did. She explained that they go around to izakayas (Japanese bars) and restaurants and do it all the time for money. I didn't mind paying at all, as he was amazing and it was such a fun way to end off our meal.
Yoku was so lovely and sneakily paid for our meal before we left. We had such a lovely lunch with them both and it was one of the highlights of our trip.
After lunch we looked at the shops more and had a time slot to go into the Pokémon Centre in Shibuya. It's so popular that you can't just walk in but have to get a time slot and then go back when it's your time.
It was our first time trying Japanese crepes and they were so good. When you get it, the crepe is more rolled up like a cone. Every food shop has a display like this one out the front and its actually fake food, so that you can see what you are buying. Since coming home, we have found a cafe locally that sells 'Harajuku style crepes' which Kobe and I are so excited about, and we have been there a few times already.
Just across the road from Takeshita Street is Meiji Shrine which is in the middle of a huge park in the middle of the city. There were some beautiful sake barrels as you walked in.
I had heard that it was a place that wasn't to be missed, and it was beautiful and it was lovely to be away from all the hustle and bustle of the city for a bit, but I think we had seen so many impressive temples and shrines already and I particularly loved Senso-ji in Asakusa at night and the temples and shines in Kyoto, that I couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
Harri was really struggling to walk this day because he had so much pain from his leg injury and said he couldn't walk much further. I knew that there were some other cool things to see in the area, and they were very close by, but he really couldn't keep walking so he decided he'd catch the train back to Asakusa so he could go and rest at our accommodation.
Jalen was keen to keep looking around and at first, I was ready to just go with Harri, but he assured me that he'd be okay catching the train on his own and would let me know that he was okay on the way. I felt okay about it as we knew that Japan was very safe and we had been travelling together for over a week and knew that the trains were quite easy. The train ride was about a 40-minute trip back and I was very happy when he told me that he'd made it. I was actually so proud of him as he was very overwhelmed the first couple of days that we were in Japan and now he was catching trains across Tokyo on his own!
Jay, Kobe and I then caught a train to Shinjuku station (about a 5-minute ride) to see the 3D cat billboard and to check out Godzilla Street which I'd seen all over social media.
We then walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. During the week it has a free lookout, but we were there on the weekend so we couldn't go to the lookout. I had heard about an illumination show that happens every night on the building, so we went to see that. It runs for about 4 hours every night and each show runs for about 20 minutes, before starting again. The beginning of the show is Godzilla over the years, and then it has a lot of different things which are Japanese themed.
It was absolutely incredible, and I couldn't believe that it was so good and was totally free! I wished Harri was there to see it too, but I know he couldn't have kept walking with us.
It was such a fun way to end off our first full day in Tokyo. When it finished it was still quite early (probably about 6 pm) but we were all tired and decided to catch the train back to Asakusa and get dinner there. We all decided to get something different and after I got my food (ramen again!). I decided to take a walk around the streets because I just wanted to soak everything in before going back for the night.
I was so lucky and came across this beautiful geisha show on the street outside the Don Quijote store. I couldn't believe what an amazing day we had in Tokyo and then the day finished off with this.
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