Asia Trip 2023 Day 1 - Sushi Splendor and Tea Misadventure
Today is the first real day of the trip although you wouldn’t know by how we started. After a decent night's sleep for both of us, we were up early this morning both on our laptops working. Jenn went to grab us Starbucks a little after 8 AM and by 10 AM we were finally packed up and ready to go. Today we were changing hotels from the Conrad where Jenn was staying for work to the Park Hyatt one of the most iconic hotels in all of Tokyo made even more popular by the movie Lost in Translation.
We grabbed a taxi downstairs at the Conrad and 20 minutes later were checking in and unpacking in our room on the 50th floor. The room is a bit more dated than the Conrad but reaks of old-world charm and luxury. We spent some time unpacking and taking in the new hotel before we made our way out.
Our first and only appointment during the day today was for a tea-tasting experience. We found a museum, The National Art Center a close walk from the tea tasting. We grabbed another cab to take us to the museum where we were dropped off just as the rain stopped for the day. Unfortunately, the museum wasn’t what we were hoping, a string of small independent showcases that all required cash to get in. We walked around the museum a bit but realized it wasn’t what we were looking for and left. From there we made our way towards the tea where we grabbed a quick lunch at McDonalds. We struggled with ordering but lucked out with someone who spoke English and a few minutes later were enjoying our burger and fries. From our quick lunch, we went to a nearby Buddhist temple and then to tea.
We arrived about ten minutes early at Sakurai Tea Shop where we immediately sat down at the eight-person counter to enjoy a tea and liquor experience. Neither Jenn and I are big tea drinkers but we thought if we were ever going to learn to be, Tokyo would be the place to do it. Unfortunately, while the experience of the shop was perfect, the tea and its accompanying food and drinks were not. We started with green tea and moved on to gin, rum, and whisky-infused drinks along with other Japanese small treats. I’m not sure I could say that Jenn and I liked any of it. It's just not our style and unfortunately, it made the experience more about getting through it than enjoying it. If we ever do something like this again we should do a coffee tasting instead!
We left tea a little buzzed and bummed and decided to take the subway back to our hotel and walk some of it off. We only had a little over an hour to kill before needing to head back out. Jenn rested and I caught up on writing my posts and unpacking. A little after 5 PM we went down to grab another taxi to take us to the Mandarin Oriental to go to the 38th-floor restaurant, Sushi Shin by Miyakawa Tokyo to enjoy a sushi evening. We had gone here back in 2017 and I can tell you that our second visit was just as memorable. We arrived a few minutes late (thanks to traffic) and caught up with the other guests with a glass of champagne and some delicious appetizers. From there we had 10 different sushi rolls that were all out of this world. I don’t want to overstate just how good each of these rolls was but I can say without a doubt this is the best sushi either of us has ever had. We closed out the meal with a delicious ice cream sandwich that they made in front of us, a perfect end to the dinner.
From dinner, we walked down to the 37th floor and enjoyed a drink at the Mandarin Oriental Bar. Jenn had what they called an Aviation (Tarquin's Dry Gin Fresh Lemon Juice, Maraschino Liqueur Violet Liqueur) which she loved and I had their classic vodka martini. It was a perfect nightcap on a wonderful evening back at the Mandarin Oriental. We took the subway back and within minutes of arriving had closed our blinds to a perfect first day vacation.
