36 HOURS IN TOKYO

We met M's sister an boyfriend in Tokyo earlier this month. They were there for work and some sightseeing - and we were there to see them! It was our first time to Tokyo and the quick 36 hour trip left us wanting more time there.

We took at 1am (brutal Saturday morning) flight which landed around 6am. After a 2 hour bus ride into the city, we met M's sister and husband at the hotel. They were so kind to let us take a quick cat nap before our journey around the city began.

Once we were up, our first goal was to eat! While locating a restaurant, we stopped by this eye wear cleaner on the street clean our glasses. It was free and totally normal.

We walked through the lower levels of an Isetan department store in search of food, but could not find anyplace to eat takeaway. We took some pictures of the amazing Japanese packaging's.

We settled on a ramen place nearby which came highly recommended by our guide books. We enjoyed our experience, especially hearing the waiters cheer and chant! Not quite sure what they were cheering and chanting for, but it was exciting to listen to them. Japan is an incredibly insular culture. Most people do not speak English. We've traveled all over Asia and this was by far and away the hardest place to get around as a foreigner.

After lunch, we had the energy to tackle the Tokyo train system. 2 lines, lots of routes, crazy...

We stopped by the Shrine, which is a gorgeous park in the middle of Tokyo with gardens, a temple and a running path. While we were there, we got to observe a wedding processional!

After the Shrine, we headed to Harajuku for some shopping and Harajuku girl spotting!

Saturday night we visited a local sushi restaurant near our hotel. On our way home we stopped for cream puffs, a family favorite.

In Tokyo, you never need to buy an umbrella. Communal umbrellas are available outside most shops and hotels. Genius idea!

Sunday was a rainy day. We checked out the Ginza area, which is Tokyo's version of NY's 5th Ave. We spent most of our time in a massive, 6+ story paper shop called Ito Ya.

For lunch, we ate at a local restaurant in Shinjuku, where the waitress didn't speak any English. Luckily there were some pictures outside of the restaurant. We pointed at the most appetizing pictures and hoped for the best. And it was pretty good!

Before leaving Tokyo, M and I visited a cat cafe in Shinjuku, Cat Magic. There are many cat cafes throughout the city. If you are a cat lover like me, you can't miss this experience.

M claims he's allergic

And just like that our weekend in Tokyo was over. It was too short and barely enough time to catch up with M's sister and boyfriend. We were sad to leave them!