Ending in the Big City – Tokyo
Night 1 - Japanese Crafts
Friday, October 3, 2025
We were seasoned pros at shinkansens (bullet trains) by this point. When purchasing our tickets we made sure we would have both a place for our luggage as well as window seats on the correct side of the train for a chance at seeing Mt Fuji. Fortunately, it was out on display for us since that wound up being our only time we were able to see it.
Our hotel, Shibuya Tokyu REI Hotel, was just off the famous shibuyua crossing. I personally find it weird that the crowded crosswalk has become a tourist attraction, there is no way I would have gone out of my way to find it, but since it was close to our hotel we went through it several times. Our first time seeing it was immediately upon exiting the train station (which was under construction). Not really the ideal time to see the crosswalks famous for being too crowded as we are carrying our luggage and hunting for our hotel. Thankfully we’re pretty good at navigating and found the hotel relatively easily so we paused to rest a moment and then ventured out for dinner and a craft class.
Since we had eaten way too much pizza for lunch back in Kyoto we were still stuffed but we knew we needed to eat something so wanted to keep it light. I wanted to try a non convenience store onigiri (triangle rice balls) so we looked one up nearby and made our way there. The onigiri were made fresh and they had a great selection of filling options and sides.
After dinner we had booked a crafting class to learn about kintsugi, a traditional Japanese art repairing broken pottery by embracing and highlighting the beauty of the broken parts. This is typically done with gold leafed lacquer highlighting the cracks. We got to try our hand at it with some small plates they provided. Our class was a non-traditional interpretation of the process which used modern adhesives to speed up the process while still highlighting the lacquer and gold powder final repair.
The class turned out to be just the two of us! Which was nice for the private instructions but also a little awkward as our teacher wasn’t confident enough in his English to chitchat much beyond the instructions. But he helped Andrew and I make lovely repaired plates and it was truly a unique and cool experience. We chose a modern kintsugi class with a lacquer that allowed us to take our plates home immediately rather than deal with curing and shipping times of the traditional approach. Because the traditional approach takes several days to dry if you do a trip where you start/end in Tokyo it might be easier to pick up your plate later on your trip. We only had the few days in Tokyo though.
After the class we were feeling energetic and the PDX Taproom was on the way back to the hotel so we figured we may as well swing in there for some reminders of home. This place had also been all over people’s social media feeds the week before we left which meant we were obliged to check it out ourselves. They had several Portland beers on tap and lots of decor from the city, a piece of the airport carpet, Portland Pickles gear, Timbers and Thorns scarves, etc. While A&I were enjoying a beer, two other folks from Portland came in and we chatted a little. Turns out they live less than a mile away from us, Small world! I’m sure the PDX Taproom attracts lots of Portlanders so it’s not necessarily surprisingly we met them, but we did have several mutual friends as well so after they finish their year long around the world adventure, hopefully we’ll reconnect. Unfortunately we did forget to flip through and sign the bar guest book though.
Before calling it a night we decided to see if we could figure out what the hubbub was about and cross the Shibuya scramble while it was at it’s busiest. Confirmed it’s a crowded crosswalk. I still don’t get the appeal.
Day 2 - West Tokyo
Saturday, October 4, 2025
We opted not to pay for the hotel breakfast while in Tokyo so for our first morning we headed out for breakfast at a 24 hour gyudon cafe (rice and beef dish). Andrew enjoyed the food, but being unfamiliar with my options I think I just ordered wrong and by this point all the rich restaurant food was starting to catch up to me and I was having some minor stomach upset so food wasn’t sounding as good as it should have. After breakfast we wanted to treat ourselves to something more familiar, like a nice cup of coffee, so we decided to swing into Blue Bottle for that and a matcha pound cake.
Since most shops didn’t open until late morning or later we decided to explore the nearby Meiji Shrine first. We opted to walk because why not, and actually stumbled across the start of a junior break dancing competition. It was fun to see all the teams warming up, but we didn’t stick around for any of the actual competition.
What I enjoyed most about the Meiji Shrine, was that it was surrounded by a fairly dense forest. It was nice walking through the trees and feeling like we were no longer in the (at the time considered the) most populous city in the world. I also enjoyed the natural wood of the unpainted Torii gates. Compared to others we had seen on this trip, the shrine itself was very simple. Although I did think it funny that this being one of the last shrines we went to was the first one we saw with instructions on Temizuya, the cleansing ritual you should do before entering the temple as well as other helpful instructions (we had previously looked some of the stuff up on our own).
After the Meiji Shrine we continued walking north towards the government building which has a free observation deck on the 45th floor. It was a nice relaxing space, although views weren’t as nice as they could have been with the off and on rain we were experiencing. There are actually two towers and we randomly chose one, I’m assuming they are similar at the top, but with the overcast views we didn’t think it was worth our time to ride up the other elevator. We did hunt down several stamps on the ground floor and the tower we did go up in this building for our souvenir stamp book though!
Because of my previous mentioned stomach issues we wanted to keep lunch fairly simple and hadn’t had any sandos yet so Andrew found a sando place nearby in Shinjuku station, Newoman on the map. In hunting for this simple sando shop we came to realize that the Shinjuku station is one of the busiest in the world and also Newoman is not one but several types of shops? Or a food court? I’m still confused. We did eventually find the sando place but couldn’t figure out where we were supposed to eat said sandwiches since we couldn’t find any tables nearby and eating on the trains is a cultural no-no. And literally no one was eating off to the side from any of the many grab and go food places nearby. Eventually with grumbling stomachs we opted to go to our next destination and see if we could find tables or benches there.
In the process of trying to find our train line which was apparently operated by a different entity than the area the sando place was in we went in and out of the station. We had followed the signs to our specific train and were directed past the turn styles, not knowing how else to get to our train we followed the signs. Because of that we had to pay a fare for not going anywhere. I guess we paid for the privilege of buying sandwiches we couldn’t eat – nice. Oh yeah and it was full on raining at this point. Maybe it’s because I was hungry, but this was probably the most frustrating part of the trip for me – more so than Andrew losing his wallet back in Shimonoseki!
After getting to our next destination fortunately the rain had momentarily disappeared and we were able to find some park benches to eat at. The benches were only a little wet, but the sandos were just what I needed in the moment. While I wouldn’t say they were worth the wait and frustration, they were definitely good. The park we found even had those weird turn transparent toilets while not in use. Unfortunately they were broken so we didn’t get to see them in action because they were set to opaque full time.
Tokyo is known for it’s great shopping, so that’s what we filled our afternoon with. We went to Blue Lug, a big bike store and Loft a popular place for stationary and gifts as well as stopping at miscellaneous places in between. We tried to hit up the Shibuya Pokémon Center but it was suffocatingly full so we didn’t stay long or bother trying to buy anything. (I was very thankful we had already gone to the one in Hiroshima).
We had just enough time to drop our bags off at the hotel and grab some tasty taiyaki (sweet filled fish shaped waffle) before or scheduled cooking class. It was nice to not have to think about dinner after the disappointing aspects of our other two meals that day.
On the menu was sushi, teriyaki chicken, and spinach sesame salad. One of the parts of the sushi is Tamagoyaki, a rolled egg dish that I had been enjoying at the breakfast buffets in Hiroshima and Kyoto that also reminded me of a dish my mom made so it was nice to learn how to make that. I was frustrated at how good Andrews sushi turned out and how not sushi shaped mine turned out, but at least it still tasted amazing. I do think we’ll eventually try making forms of sushi when we get home although we have zero intention of cooking with raw fish.*
Overall the class was a lot of fun and all of the staff were very good about taking our pictures and making sure we all had a chance to cook and learn about the history and significance of some of the pieces as well as actually cooking them. It was nice to be a part of the meal after having done nothing but eat out for the past two weeks.
*Maybe you’ve noticed, Andrew decided he would eat meat while on this trip to experience the culture and local cuisine. Just like everything, vegetarianism doesn’t have to be in absolutes. Yes there were a fair number of vegan places we went to and in existence, but eating vegan/vegetarian definitely requires a lot more planning. (And honestly I’m not fully convinced some of the dishes labeled vegan were vegan, maybe they have a different definition).
Day 3 - East Tokyo
Sunday, October 5, 2025
This was our last full day in Tokyo, and our last full day of the trip. We were meeting up with one of Andrew’s high school friends, Sara, who now lives on the east side of Tokyo nearish to Asukasa a popular tourist area.
For breakfast we met up at a cute retro diner called Cafe Colorado which seemed extra appropriate because Colorado is where Sara and Andrew grew up. On the menu were various breakfast toast sets, pizza toast for Andrew and Sara, red bean toast for me. After breakfast we took the train to Asukasa station where Sara took us to the cultural center for a lovely view of Tokyo Sky Tree and surrounding buildings.
Next we made our way towards the Sensoji Temple. It was massive and full of all sorts of people. This temple had the most market stalls between the gate and the temple compared to any of the other shrines we went to. It was fun to see the fall leaf decor they had put up as well.
After the temple we wandered through some of the shops, tried our hands and failed at an arcade claw game, and then Sara took us to a spice stall where we were able to pick out a container and mixed our own spice blend to brin home which was fun.
After that we grabbed some drinks and made our way to the Sumda River so we could feel like real locals strolling about. Kanpai! (Cheers in Japanese).
For lunch we stopped in at a vegan cafe that Sara had never been to but had been wanting to try for a while. It was fabulous and definitely not run by a cult like some of the previous ones we ate at in Korea. Finally we headed towards the famous Sky Tree; we had to check off seeing the tall thing with the thing on top! At 2,080 ft (634m) it’s actually the tallest tower in the world! (as of writing this post at least). I guess all the other tall towers we saw were just warm ups. In order of height tallest to shortest of the towers we saw: Tokyo Sky Tree (2,080ft), N Seoul Tower (860ft), Seattle Space Needle for reference (605ft), Kyoto Tower (430ft), and finally Busan Sky Tower (390ft).
After getting our fill on cutesy shops near the sky tree we said our goodbyes so Sara could get back to her family. We explored the area a little on our own and then went down to Jimbocho next. Apparently they were voted the world’s coolest neighborhood in 2025. But when we stepped out of the station it felt like a sleepy corner of the city. We were maybe in the afternoon lull? Feeling tired ourselves, we decided to hit up a cute cafe with stellar book vibes. Once caffeinated we checked out some of the book shops, several had walls of book shelves outside, Tokyo’s book town felt a lot more organized than Busan’s.
Finally we wanted to hit up the Harajuku neighborhood famous for fashion and vintage clothes. Because we are who we are we skipped all the “new clothes” stores and checked out a couple of the vintage shops which had tons of variety and cool pieces, plus I found some cute clothes for a final souvenir. And we both spent way to much money on cute stickers at the B-Side Label store. We’re both suckers for a good sticker, and this was a whole store of them!
Wanting to make sure we tried as much of the street goodies as we could, while abroad we also grabbed some takoyaki (tempura octopus spheres) and an ice cream crepe to split.
After making our way through the shopping street we caught the subway back to hotel to drop off bags and rest for a moment. We then opted to have ramen for our last night out. Our first choice also had vegetarian ramen, but they had a long line and we weren’t feeling like waiting in line so we went to another spot a block away. I’m sure the first would have been better, but second choice was still pretty dang good – and no line.
Day 4 - Time to Go Home
Monday, October 6, 2025
Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 4pm but being a Monday and needing to kill time in the morning nothing seemed to be open. If it was open, it needed reservations which we had failed to secure. So after having breakfast at a nearby cafe we opted to head straight out to the Haneda Airport. There is an onsen at one of the airport hotels that would have been such a perfect way to end the trip, but unfortunately it closes for cleaning from 10am-12:30pm…. exactly when we needed it. Fortunately there were a surprising number of restaurants and several shops we could peruse while we were killing time. We even got a fancy matcha parfait to split and some farewell free sake tastings.
We were pretty exhausted by this point so it wasn’t such a bad thing to get to our gate early and just chill. Our flights home were pretty uneventful, although it was cool to have time travelled arriving all the way back in Portland around 1pm after having left Tokyo at 4:15pm.
Overall the trip was fantastic if not a little exhausting. We’re so thankful to have the privilege to go on adventures like these and hope to one day return to both places, maybe even with bikes.
You May Also Like
Elephant Nature Park (Thailand Part 2)
Kansas Roadtrip – 2019
