DAY 1: BULLET TRAIN, SHINJUKU STATION, AND SHIBUYA CROSSING

With only four days left for our Japan trip, we woke up early, headed to Kyoto Station and boarded the Bullet Train bound for the busiest train station in the world – Shinjuku Station, AKA, Tokyo, Japan.

It took us approximately 3 hours to arrive at Shinjuku Station from Kyoto. It was only supposed to take us 2 hours and 45 minutes. Click here to find out why it took us a little longer than expected.

Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel: Hotel Century (Southern Tower).

After checking in, we left immediately for Shibuya crossing. Right outside of Shibuya Station stands a dedicated statue of Hachiko. Long story short, it was a friendly and loyal dog to his master and beloved by everyone. He walked with his master to his train stop everyday and waited for him to get back. Hachiko knew what time the master would come and waited patiently for his return. Upon the death of his master, Hachiko continued his journey of walking to the station where his master would board and persisted on waiting even though his master had long passed. One morning, Hachiko didn’t show up. The end.

The famous Shibuya crossing! It was smaller than I had imagined but was still an amazing sight to see all these busy humans.

DAY 2: DISNEY SEA AND ODAIBA

We started our second day off at DisneySea – A unique disney with 7 different themes, all aquatic related.

A short train ride away from DisneySea was Odaiba Island – We saw a famous earth protector – Gundam. There are also many shopping areas in Odaiba which is what makes it a hot tourist spot now. It was previously used as for defensive purposes.

Tokyo Bay – The coast line at the bottom of Odaiba’s central walkway.

DAY 3: TOKYO SKYTREE AND ROBOT RESTAURANT

I’ve stated it before in other posts but I’ll say it again – The Japanese are amazing at building magnificent structures in the middle of a metropolis. We were able to visit one of these wonders on our third day in Tokyo. The Tokyo Skytree is the tallest building in Japan and should be on your bucket list while visiting Japan.

After our admiration of the Skytree, we headed to lower ground and visited the last temple of our visit. Temples represent peace, unity, collaboration, and reverence yet, Japan has many of these sacred stops in the middle of the city which is both an achievement and irony. I believe the best way to view it is: “in the middle of chaos (the city) you can find peace (temples).” This was the Sensoji-Tokyo Pagoda.

We rounded up the busy day with Robot Restaurant – An onslaught of lights, sounds and movements. Talk about sensory overload! A high-pace tale told through Japanese style storytelling which means overly done costumes, personalities and body language. It was definitely worth the price ($70USD-$120USD) and great for all ages. The show has many variations so the show we saw may be vastly different from what you may see!

DAY 4: TSUKIJI FISH MARKET AND HARAJUKU

On our last day in Tokyo, we visited my favorite spot – Tsukiji Fish Market. The best place I have ever eaten raw fish (and I’m not too much of a raw fish lover). Tsukiji Market made me love fish and now I can’t wait to go back for more! Nothing in Hawaii can compare, not even Paina Cafe. Although, it is a close competition to my taste buds.

Our last and final stop in Japan, other than the airport, was Harajuku. Gwen Stafani made it famous with her song Harajuku Girls. However, many urban styles originate from here and is a very flashy youth scene. It only gets better (and busier) as the night draws near.

There are MANY things to do and visit while in Tokyo and I’m sure we were only able to scratch the surface. Four days to spend in a city as big as small countries is too short if you ask me. Possible our next visit we can spend a little more time in Tokyo, say a week? After visiting the “main” attractions I’m sure we can see and do more next time. If you visited something not on our list, let us know so we can add it to our bucket list!

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