Tokyo on The Neumanns

Japan - Day 8 - I Dream of Jiro

Wed, 28 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today Nico let us sleep in, and then Matthew had a moot court call so we didn’t leave the hotel until about 11am. Then we took the train to Shibuya where we did some shopping. First we found a Pokémon store, then we went to the official Nintendo store where we found a lot of cool souvenirs. Then we headed to a Kintsugi class. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold. We all had a lot of fun learning about the art and then doing it ourselves. Our teacher is a renowned Kintsugi artist and it was amazing learning from such a master of their craft. After the class we sent Nana and Nico packing back to the hotel while Lee, Matthew and I headed to the world renowned sushi restaurant called Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten. There is actually a documentary about the restaurant, which has won many three star (the highest honor) Michelin awards. We enjoyed a twenty course sushi menu and paired it with some delightful sake. Afterwards we took the train back to the hotel where we joined Nico and Nana as they finished their dinner. Then Lee and I went down to the hotel bar and had a couple drinks to end the day. Another amazing day here in Japan!

Japan - Day 6 - Asakusa, Tokyo

Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today was another fully loaded day! We started off again, with breakfast at our hotel. Lee and Matthew split the traditional Japanese breakfast, Matthew said next time he would pass . . . Then we headed to the Sky Tree Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo. On our way to the tower we encountered the Pokemon store! Nico’s very good friend Calvin requested we get him some Pokemon merch from Japan, so we stopped. The tower has a viewing deck that we waited a long time to get to. While we were there we had some drinks and snacks while taking in the incredible views. After the tower we headed to the base of the tower where there was a shopping center, and what do you know, it had an animal cafe! So we stopped and Nico was able to feed bunnies and Guinea pigs, and he was also able to hold some mice, a gecko and a snake! The also had a capybara, so Nico was very excited about that. After the animal cafe, Matthew discovered a playground in the same shopping center so Nico and I explored that for a while. Next we took the train to Senso-Ji Temple where we took in the sights and sounds of this awe-inspiring place. Then we got a quick bite to eat in the area before the main event . . . SUMO WRESTLING! We got to dine and watch a real sumo wrestling match. And after the match they asked for volunteers to wrestle the pros. Nico volunteered and I seconded him. They dressed us up in silly inflatable sumo suit and we fought the real wrestlers. Nico won his wrestling match and had such a blast!

Japan - Day 5 - Shinjuku, Tokyo

Sun, 25 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Before heading to heading to Shinjuku, we made a pit stop in Ginza, the premium shopping district in Tokyo. I am very much a watch fanatic and had researched a watch from Japan I wanted to get while were where here. We went to Citizen’s flagship Tokyo store where I picked out the one I wanted, then from there we hopped in the train to Shinjuku.

Japan - Day 4 - Shibuya, Tokyo

Sat, 24 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today was Nico’s favorite day so far. We started out with breakfast at the hotel where he had Japanese pancakes (they are very much like the ones you are familiar with, but they are much fluffier). Then we took the train to Shibuya, a borough of Tokyo. There we had crepes, and visited three different animal cafes. We went to an otter cafe, where Lee quickly was bitten by an otter on the foot, a pig cafe, where the pigs would fight over who got to snuggle with you, and finally a Samoyed dog cafe, where we got to pet the white fluffy dogs. After all that we met up with a ramen tasting tour. We went to three ramen restaurants and had two bowls at each restaurant. Surprisingly, Nico loved that. He couldn’t stop talking about how much he loved the ramen. And finally when we had to head back, Matthew picked up the reigns as our navigator. He got us to the train stations, navigated us through a train transfer and got us safely back to our hotel. A very successful day for us!