Day 2 and 3-Jet lag wins…
As you can tell by the title, the jet lag got the best of me…
Needless to say, yesterday (9/26) was spent mostly wandering around the neighborhood surrounding my hotel. The hotel itself is very clean and perfect for a single traveller (Hamacho Hotel). It is a small room, but I only really need it for sleeping and showering and is still a good size.
After a (somewhat) good nights sleep, I ventured off to find some breakfast. I saw some reviews of a café nearby that had good coffee and small breakfasts, so I was off!
Street views on my walk. Check out the adorable little traditional building set in with the rest! There are also vending machines all over-if you want to order coffee, it can be dispensed to you hot! How cool?!
The café is super cute and the owner is a really nice man who spoke pretty good English. Turns out he got his PhD in Biomechanics from Oregon State and came back to Japan to open his dream coffee shop! I got French toast and orange juice, and the toast came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! If that’s not a Jeglum thing, I don’t know what is!
I did have to be a little sneaky getting the picture of the interior because he had a sign that said to the effect of “please don’t be on your phone”. Sorry for the less than ideal photo quality.
After eating, I wandered back over to my hotel and hung out for a little bit, which turned into napping. I don’t know what it is, but the jet lag going to Asia is next level-one minute I am ok and the next I want to fall asleep along the side of the road! Needless to say the rest of my day was spent getting dinner at the hotel (which was ok) and sleeping.
Today (9/27) I was a bit more adventurous and decided to brave the metro system to go to Shibuya for a couple hours! I went back to by little breakfast spot and off I went (with the help of Google Maps-it shows my walk to the train station and which train to get on, along with the stops!). To my surprise, the train station signs have English, the ticket machines can be translated into English, and the announcements are also in English! It made me feel a little less nervous about walking around and a little more confident with getting around the city.
After successfully navigating the Tokyo metro, I arrived in Shibuya, and the station exit was at Shibuya crossing…
It was so cool to see and experience this ginormous cross walk in all it’s glory, but I’m sure it is more spectacular in the evening/night. Maybe I’ll have to come back again…
My other stop (that I have seen so much about on TikTok) was the infamous Ichiran Ramen shop!
I had seen so much about how it was tasty but there’s always a long line to get in. I luckily got there when the line was just barely out the door and onto the steps, so I only waited 10 minutes before I got to the machine to purchase my ticket.
After purchasing my ticket, I was handed a card to circle my preferences for my ramen (how spicy, how rich do I want the broth, texture of the noodles, etc.) and then offered a seat at one of the open stalls.
Each seat has their own chopsticks holder (at the top left of the picture) with napkins, a call button if you need anything extra, and your own water dispenser! It’s the little things…
Once I hand the waiter my ticket and requests, they get to work on preparing it all for me. This whole thing seemed gimmicky, until…
She arrived. And she looks beautiful!
And quite honestly, I can never have another bowl of ramen in the States ever again. The broth was so rich, with a wonderful dashi flavor and just a hint of garlic that was too addicting! I may have slurped almost the whole bowl!
And the best part? It was only 920 yen, which is equivalent to $6.15! A win in my book, but now I’m on the search for a better ramen place in the country. Stay tuned to find out!
After eating that delicious bowl of ramen, I wandered around Shibuya and tried to get to the top of a building to see the crossing. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with that idea and I had to abandon ship. Maybe on my return back to Tokyo I’ll try again! I also did see this silly sign from Starbucks…I guess not everything translates well into English!
For now, I have returned to my hotel to have a (hopefully) short nap and then will need to figure out how to purchase a ticket for the shinkansen (bullet) train to Kyoto tomorrow, since that will be my next stop on this adventure! Hopefully it is an easy experience and can be done quickly! Until tomorrow!
