Asia Trip 2023 Day 0 - Tokyo Round 2
It’s been about six weeks since we returned from our South America journey to Brazil and Argentina and like any good trip it made us eager to travel again. We were fortunate enough to have another opportunity with Jenn having a work trip to Tokyo. When we found out about it we knew wanted to take advantage and build a trip around it and that’s exactly what we did. Jenn left for Tokyo on Saturday, June 3rd on Air Canada leaving from Laguardia, making a quick stop in Toronto before taking the nearly 14-hour flight to Tokyo. She arrived in on Sunday afternoon where she had room service and got ready for her week of meetings.
After a weekend with Frasier, I flew out on Tuesday, June 6th from Newark on a direct flight to Tokyo on United. I arrived at the airport a few hours early to get some work done in the Polaris lounge before boarding my flight to join Jenn. For the first half of the flight, I watched two movies, The Son and Women Talking, both slow, depressing, but beautiful, and an episode of the very bad Fubar on Netflix. For dinner/lunch, I went with their beef short rib which was fine but nothing to write home about. For the second half of the flight, I did my best to sleep. I arrived in Tokyo a little after 2 PM on Wednesday, June 7th, and had a driver pick me up at the airport to drive me the hour to Conrad Tokyo where Jenn was staying. I arrived while Jenn was at work so dropped off my bags, ironed my clothes, and went back out to try and stay awake.
I made the quick 30-minute walk to the Tokyo Tower to try and help the jet lag and enjoy the beautiful Tokyo evening. From there I got back to the hotel where I ordered room service, a beef teriyaki bowl, and an Asahi beer. It wasn’t great but it was the light meal that I was hoping for. Jenn got back from her work dinner a little before 10 PM and we ended the day.
The next morning after a pretty rough night's sleep Jenn was off to work and I had the day to myself in Tokyo. After laying around a bit I made my way downstairs for breakfast where I had a beautiful lobster omelet with a bisque sauce and enjoyed their very eclectic buffet which included your normal American breakfast staples along with a salad bar, pastry station, Japanese breakfast items, and the oddest of all a taco bar.
From there I walked a little over a mile to Kokyo Gaien National Garden the home of the Imperial Palace. I don’t think Jenn and I came here on our last trip and I can sort of see why it wasn’t all that exciting. It was a perfect day to walk around Tokyo, listen to and finish my book (The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell), and enjoy being in Tokyo. From the Imperial Palace, I took the subway to Shibuya where I walked to the Nintendo store in the hopes of finding Gracie, Cam, and Abby a gift. Unfortunately, when I got there it was picked through so I came out empty-handed. From there I grabbed a quick Starbucks iced caramel macchiato before walking to the Shibuya crossing and back onto the subway to the Conrad.
I took an hour to rest back at the hotel before going to the Hamarikyu Gardens directly across the street from our hotel. It was a few bucks to get in and I was there for over an hour, I walked the grounds, taking pictures, and listening to my new book Demon Copperhead. I got a text from Jenn that she had wrapped up her work event and so I walked back to our hotel room.
Jenn finished work and I took a power nap before we made our way back to Shibuya for dinner. Tonight we had reservations at Hakushu Tepanyaki a 20-seat teppan restaurant that American Express helped us book. We were seated with a family at a teppan where we ordered the Waygu filet, garlic rice, miso soup, beer for me, and white wine for Jenn. Everything was delicious from the sauces to the vegetables to the perfectly cooked steak. It was a very relaxed and delicious dinner and one that we both thoroughly enjoyed.
From dinner, we walked back to the Shibuya Crossing where we took some pictures and then made our way back to the Nintendo store. This time a lot had been restocked and we came away with a few stuffed toys for the kids and a new cologne from Jo Malone for Jenn. From there we boarded the subway back to our hotel just as the rain started to fall. We were back in the room a little before 10 PM where we closed the blinds and got ready for the trip to begin tomorrow.
