Ninjacat123 and family travel to Tokyo and Kyoto - LIVE land trip June 28 to July 7, 2024!!​🗾​

[Imgma23]

5 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Our flight from LA was delayed due to air conditioning issues. About 50 minutes late we were up in the air👍😁

 

[Imgma23]

Have a wonderful day!

[ninjacat123]

4 hours ago, Imgma23 said:

Have a wonderful day!

It’s been a wonderful loooong day! More details to come!!

[ninjacat123]

We were picked up by the driver I scheduled through Klook. Plenty of taxis there. 

[ninjacat123]

Made it to the luggage storage service that was close to our ryokan. Dropped off our bags and met Aki our Tokyo Free Guide. He had a full day planned for us. I’m thinking we will do the best we can👍🤪

[ninjacat123]

Tokyo in July is humid and hot but in my opinion comparable to South Carolina. We started our tour nearby at Senso-Ji Temple. Made a wish (got bad luck so I was instructed to tie the wish to a pole), washed our hands at a special fountain and wafted smoke to heal back pain.

[ninjacat123]

Here’s a pic of me and Aki. Such a wonderful guide and person! We wouldn’t have seen half the stuff we did today if we didn’t have Aki.

[ninjacat123]

We took the subway (using our one day visitor pass) and made our way to Tsukiji Market. Lots of fish stands! We needed some lunch so Aki led us to a conveyor belt restaurant. Love watching the dishes go by the sushi counter and grabbing what piques my fancy. Yum!! Aki joined us for lunch.

[ninjacat123]

After lunch we walked to Tsukiji-Honganji Temple. Very pretty interior with lots of gold. We were instructed to not take pics inside so we just have exteriors.

[ninjacat123]

Then we walked through the Ginza area. Totally Rodeo Drive with swanky, pricy stores🤑 and while we were there, the street was being blocked off to traffic with tables and chairs being set up.

[ninjacat123]

We took the subway to Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersection in the world! We crossed to the other side and I felt like I was in a flash mob.

[happycouple1001]

We are so happy that you made it safely to Japan. The pics are really great. Keep them coming!

[ninjacat123]

7 hours ago, happycouple1001 said:

We are so happy that you made it safely to Japan. The pics are really great. Keep them coming!

Thank you happycouple1001!! We are having such a great time👍😁

[ninjacat123]

From Shibuya crossing we walked to Shibuya Sky. We had tickets for us four scheduled to enter at 2:40. It was very busy and we entered the elevator to the roof at exactly 2:40. Aki waited for us on the 14th floor (we said he didn’t have to but he wanted to see us home) which was so nice of him.

[ninjacat123]

The view was awesome and made you appreciate how large Tokyo is!

[ninjacat123]

We were lucky that the weather held out. The roof closed due to rain and wind 30 minutes after we were left it. We were sprinkled on and it was a bit chilly as we admired the 360 degree view.

[ninjacat123]

Happy but exhausted, we took the subway back to our ryokan neighborhood. Aki stayed with us while we picked up our luggage and all the way to our ryokan door. He has texted me instructions on getting to our tours tomorrow and a suggestion for anime stores for Sky. He’s been the best tour guide and I do feel we have a friend here in Tokyo. I’m so glad we will be with him in Kyoto!

[ninjacat123]

Craig found a ramen place just around the corner from our ryokan. We cleaned up a bit then walked/dragged ourselves there. So tired, but it was worth it! A very small restaurant but the manager/owner was the star! He welcomed us and made us feel like we were in a Tampopo movie 😁

[ninjacat123]

Our ramen was tasty! 

 

Edited June 30 by ninjacat123

[ninjacat123]

After dinner we picked up some goods from the close by 7-11 and headed back to the ryokan. Within 30 minutes we were fast asleep on our futons.😴

Edited June 30 by ninjacat123

[ninjacat123]

I will get pics of the ryokan as soon as I can. Everyone loves it and it feels like we are in our Tokyo home❣️

[ninjacat123]

Hah! I got smart and used pics from Booking.com which was the site I used to secure the ryokan.

[ninjacat123]

We never needed to meet anyone. Access to the ryokan is by an electronic lock which the code and instructions were emailed to me. Very easy!!

[ninjacat123]

As you can probably figure out, it’s 4:30am here in Tokyo and I’m awake. It’s hard getting back into a regular schedule with such a big time difference (I dozed off and on throughout our LA to Tokyo flight) but it’s a small price to pay for such a fantastic experience!!

Edited June 30 by ninjacat123

[ninjacat123]

Day 2 in Tokyo! Started the morning with a cup of coffee in my cute ryokan. Not huge but very comfy. We cleaned up then walked to the subway station, about 15 minutes away. It was a rainy day and humid. Using Google Maps we got on the appropriate train which was packed due to it being rush hour. Got to a transfer and we were running out of time.  I hurried ahead hoping to stall the tour but fortunately they were still grouping up. After introductions we walked to the Tsukiji Fish Market.