3rd times the charm…right?

hello everyone! we are back with another blog post as we embark on our post grad adventure. We are starting our travels once again in Tokyo. Coming off of the craziness of school ending, my thesis, graduation, and moving we are ready for a much needed vacation! Our flight into Japan went off without a hitch and we feel like absolute pros at this going into our third time here.

The effect of jet lag never ceases to amaze us. It was beating us up the first couple days as we were on the come down from all the festivities and desperately trying to stay up past 5pm. We had one day until Keaton and Johanna got to Tokyo at the tail end of their travels around of Japan, so we went on a run in Yoyogi Park, ate at a one of our favorite cafes, shopped around, and turned it in early... again. We also stopped at a delicious donburi shop that we will talk about a little later in this post.

The following day I had a hair appointment in the morning and Conner wanted to climb at B-pump, so we parted ways and had a brief solo adventure. My hair appointment was at a salon in Omotesando called Mey Hair. I booked this well in advance since I was in dire need of a hair cut, and wanted to do something fun with my hair now that graduation was over. Plus, a hair cut here is WAYYYYY cheaper than in NYC. I had to seize the opportunity. Everyone in the salon felt so cool, and was generally welcoming to me as a foreigner. I got an off vibe from my stylist and first, but through the hair cut he warmed up and we gained a rapport. Other people who worked in the salon had their baby and a dog present which they let me hold for a bit of my hair cut, and I made friends with some guy from Germany. It was quite eventful. After the cut, my stylist took me outside to take a bunch of photos of my hair and we hugged lol! I must have made a friend after all!

Conner here! Bpump was as exciting and as humbling as I remembered it. Although the hardest grade I climbed was a v4 I got to spend a lot of time working on styles and moves I am more unfamiliar with. It was a short trip though, as I had to get back to the hotel to meet up with Johanna and Keaton.

After our morning activities, Keaton and Johanna arrived in Tokyo at our hotel and we caught up with them about their trip and headed to dinner at one of our favorite Tonkatsu places in Shibuya. When we went there last year, we thought they did not have shrimp on the menu so we were stress free about cross contamination for Conner, but this time we sat at the bar and there was in fact shrimp. Most of the dinner was spent sleuthing trying to figure out if it shared a frier or not. Which wasn’t actually that hard as we were sitting at the counter facing the fryer. Keaton and Johanna ordered shrimp, so we knew we’d find out if they had separate fryers eventually and they did not lol. It all ended up being fine and was a good experiment into the threshold of Conner’s allergy tolerance if you want to look at the positives considering he still ate most of his tonkatsu and lives to tell the tale. After dinner, we had tickets to go to Shibuya Sky with Keaton and Johanna since they hadn’t been. It was quite cold in Tokyo the first couple days, but the weather ended up being perfect for hanging out on the roof platform, and then we concluded the night with drinks at the bar there. We got lucky and there was a fire work festival going on which we got to watch from Shibuya sky!

Following the wonderful night at Shibuya sky was our first official day in Tokyo with Johanna and Keaton, and the Tokyo tour was officially starting. We started our morning by walking to one of Mer and I’s favorite breakfast shops garden house crafts. They have a very large open patio ands tons of pastries/meal options to try. After breakfast we wandered our way into Harajuku with two goals in mind: Nintendo Switch 2 and a Blythe doll. Unfortunately our better judgment won out and the Nintendo switch 2 will not be coming home with us. Even though the switch was not in the cards for us, the Junie Moon store (Blythe store) has been on my list of destinations every year when we have been in Japan, but I have never made it there. Let me tell you. It lived up to my expectations. A few months ago Blythe did a collaboration with Fruits Magazine (a Japanese fashion magazine from the 90s featuring street fashion in Harajuku, which I collect) and the doll sold out in 5 minutes online. I have wanted a Blythe Doll for 3 years, but wanted one that felt super fun and like me. I was beyond shocked they had it in store, and so happy to get my hands on one since resellers were selling this specific doll for quite the mark up. They also had a machine where you could made custom stickers with your name on it, coffee tables books, and doll clothes/miniatures that were to die for. I was in heaven. The rest of the day was spent wandering around, popping into cool shops, and exploring as the real star of the show was yet to come… our long awaited reunion with SG low. For those of you who don’t remember (probably most of you) SG low is a super high energy restaurant in Shibuya that Mer and I attended last year. Last time we made a few…interesting… friends during our meal so we were happy to go in this time with welcomed ones. SG low is known for their 20 different lemon sours which Keaton decided we should try all of. Mourning what could have been (the switch 2) we agreed. We got convinced by our server to get the soft shell crab tacos (Conner obviously not included) and a slice of melon for dessert that was apparently some sort of super rare melon that only have 10 slices available. I am not a big melon person and none of us expected the tacos to be a literal entire small crab just fried, but both were great and fun to try new things. Despite the impairment which would surely hit us in full force on the walk home we ate and drank to our hearts content and didn’t regret a thing!

(until the morning)

But thats why it’s a great thing someone thought ahead and planned a breakfast spot that opens at 11:30. Plenty of time to recover and cruise into the day. Todays destination our actual favorite breakfast spot NOVA! Nova is a very small coffee shops/cocktail bar at night that seat around 12 people with the most elite vibes. The shop is ran by a cool younger couple and the food and coffee are divine. The duo was clearly off today tho as the woman seemed unwell and so the guy was trying to run the show by himself. Nonetheless, it was delicious, and we left ready for our last minute grabs. Keaton and I went to a giant magic store to pick up some cards and the girls headed off to Harajuku to stop at pop mart before we reconvened later at the hotel. We set off to explore the neighboring areas to the hotel before stopping at Ramen Koku another old favorite for some delicious chashu miso ramen. Unfortunately, Mer and I were still waking up around 6 or 7 every morning, so after our late night at SG Low we were beat and packed it in early at 7 pm.

On our last full day with Keaton and Johanna, we made it a goal to experience a bit more of the cultural aspects of Tokyo before they left. We started of with crepes and katsu sandos at a small cafe called Neel in Daikanyama before heading out to the Shinjuku National Gardens. Although it was virtually the same as the last time Mer and I were there, it was just as beautiful and surreal. After the Shinjuku National Garden, we wandered over to the imperial palace and by wandered I mean walked aimlessly trying to find the correct entrance which we did after about an hour. Just like the gardens the palace grounds haven’t changed very much, so I got to operate in tour guide mode sharing the lore of the area (and making a lot of my own conclusion up lol). Finally after a long day of walking, (almost 22k steps) we stopped back at the hotel to have a few drinks before getting some donburi that was nearby. However, we were blissfully unaware that I was about to make a new best friend. In Japan if you enjoy your meal its respectful to say gochisōsama deshita which means thank you for the meal/feast especially at smaller intimate food shops. I have made it my goal to get more comfortable saying it as we leave a restaurant, and after a few drinks I knew it was go time. The donburi shop sat maybe 7 people and there was only 1 older gentleman working. We ate our meal, and it was of course delicious, so I said gochisōsama deshita as we left and bowed nearly completely horizontally. The man so caught of guard giggled, blushed, bowed back and said thank you. We are now friends for life… he doesn’t know it yet but I’m sure he’d agree. After this wonderful exchange, we grabbed a few more drinks and went back to Johanna and Keatons hotel room for one last send off as they began packing.

Our last little bit with Keaton and Johanna had an interesting start… we all were feeling the beverages from the night before and Pocari Sweat was our only lifeline. The mosquitos were in full force in the gardens from the day prior and Conner’s hand was NOT HAPPY. He caught a bad case of the Skeeter Syndrome. Luckily we had some allergy medicine, but it led to a very sleepy day/ farewell to our friends.

For our last full day in Tokyo we had a lot on the agenda! The day started with perfect weather, and we took the train from our hotel to Nakameguro to eat some pastries from flour + water, and a coffee from sidewalk stand on a bench along the river. Conner’s topic of conversation for this mornings breakfast was best practices, survival options, and probabilities during a tsunami. What a way to start the day!

After we finished our research and conversation, we hopped on the train to head to Ueno park, but stopped halfway to see Tokyo Tower. When we got there, we walked around the area for a bit, snapped a few photos and promptly got back on the train to complete our lengthy journey to get the Park.

Ueno Park is in Taito, Tokyo and has several shrines and muesums on its grounds. It got much hotter and humid when we arrived, but we still made the most of it and walked around several of the shrines that were present before heading to our main destination of Tokyo National Museum.

Tokyo National Museum is HUGE. Conner and I started with the Asia wing of the museum which featured art from all countries in Asia and some pieces being 4000 years old. There were many buddha statues all from different countries that showcased how different countries depict/worship buddha. We learned about the origins of buddhism and how it has evolved to present day. I can never get over the level of craftsmanship that people had even thousands of years ago. We got to see art from Iran, Egypt, Korea, and China, as well which was amazing. We then headed to the main building of the museum and walked around for about 3 hours before heading out of the museum, through the park, and to a tsukemen restaurant near the train station. Conner and I were quite hungry so this HIT THE SPOT. The dipping noodles had the perfect firmness and the broth came at the right temp to start eating immediately! Mer claims the broth was super salty, but for some reason mine was more sweet forward. Regardless we both agreed its some of the best tsukemen we’ve had if not the best. After our meal a new uncomfortable fullness nestled in us, and we took our hour long journey back to the hotel to get packed up and ready for our travels tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are off to Hokkaido and it is going to be CHILLYYYYYYYY. We will miss Tokyo, but we are super excited for the activities we have planned and to see a new place! Stay tuned for lots of milk, ice cream, nature, and culture!