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This past November, Vince and I spent 10 days in Japan exploring Tokyo, Hakone and Kyoto. This was my first trip, and Vince’s second- he visited back in 2014. Our main goal was to immerse ourselves as much as possible with the local life, engage in some cultural experiences, and eat and drink all the best food and drinks. We had so many recommendations from friends and family, we built a Google maps list so we’d be able to find some of those spots while out and about.
We bought our flights in June for about $2,400, round trip direct from LAX to Narita via American Airlines/ANA. We’ve confirmed that we prefer to land at our destination after a long haul flight, late afternoon. So we chose departure from LA on Thursday at 12:30pm, meaning we’re going to be awake for most of the 12 hr flight. A nap is fine, but there is no pressure to ‘fall asleep’. We landed in Narita on Friday, at 4:30pm (12:30am PST). So we’re pretty tired, but it’s manageable. All we need to do is get to our hotel, have a quick dinner, and sleep.
From the airport we took the Skyliner, this takes you direct from the airport to Tokyo Station in about 40mins. We purchased round trip since we’d also be flying home from Narita. From Tokyo Station, our hotel was only 15mins away via subway.
We stayed at APA Hotel Pride Akasaka Kokkaigijidomae. APA is a huge chain of hotels with great reviews and plenty locations around Japan. When I search for hotels, I typically scour booking.com, filter to 8+ star, and hone in on locations. I want a clean, well maintained, well reviewed hotel- but also as important is distance to the subway and a coffee shop. This checked all the boxes- it was clean, across the street from a subway and entrance and 1 block from Family Mart. We got our first eggs sandos, chips and tea, and were in bed by 9pm local time.
Saturday we started at Common, a cafe/coffee shop in the Roppongi district. They had an espresso menu, and breakfast toasts topped with sliced meat and poached eggs. We then meandered over to Mori Art Museum where we bought same day tickets to the Louise Bourgeois exhibit. Mori Art is a contemporary arts museum founded by real estate developer, Minoru Mori. It is located in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower- a commercial, cultural, and residential mega-complex. What caught our attention was this enormous spider structure right outside the entrance. As well as the subtitle of the exhibition: “I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful.”.
We then bopped over to the infamous Shibuya Crossing, and ended up at the mega four story Tower Records. We also made our way to a much smaller record shop- NERDS, where Vince had visited on his last trip. These little shop was packed floor to ceiling with new and used international punk, hardcore and metal records. To end the day- we got a few cocktails at Bar Trench. A legendary bar, known for seasonal and specialty cocktails, many made with Absinthe. I went with a Trench 75 signature- with Sake replacing champagne of a classic French 75.
We ended the night on a dinner recommendation from a friend- at Butagumi, for the best tonkatsu we’ve ever had. This spot was extra memorable as it was the first traditional meal we had. Set in a two story house, with a moon shaped window on top, we were greeted with warm and cozy vibes. We took the stairs to a quaint dining area where we removed our shoes and climbed into the horigotatsu style tables. They spoke little English, but had hand written menus in English where we chose our pork cuts and sides. Everything was incredibly delicious and fresh. And the hospitality unmatched. I quietly mentioned to Vince I was going to go look for a bathroom, and before I can climb out of the table, one of the staff had brought over my shoes, turned them out for me to step in and gestured to me where to find the bathroom. We left with repeated bows and ‘Arigato goaimasu’ before Vince bumped his head on the first of many low ceilings, on the way out- haha.
Sunday, we explored the Shimokitazawa neighborhood. We’d read it was a hip, cultural area filled with second hand shops, cafes and bars. We started at Ogawa Coffee Labratory. A ultra modern, minamilist coffee lab with a variety of beans and blends to choose from. We browsed through a ton of nearby shops and bookstores. Stopped for some onigiri for lunch at Kamakurayama Rice Shop and a few pastries from The Standard Bakers. We marveled at the fashion passing by- everyone, young and old, looking styled and just so cool. We then made our way to our next stop- Meiji Jingu Garden and Shrine. This is a shinto shrine, surrounded by a lush forest, right in the middle of Tokyo. It was near closing time, as the sun was starting to set, but still so many people were making their way in. We stopped at the main shrine to write out our wishes and prayers for the new year. We passed the consecrated sake barrels, and through the Ootorri, Great- the largest wooden myojin style torii of its kind in Japan, made of 1,500 year old Japanese cypress.
As soon as you exit, you’re right back in the city, bustling with people shopping and dining. We made our way to a hidden coffee lab, called Koffee Mameya– in the Omotesando area, near Shibuya. We waited in a short line, for nearly 45 mins. Every time we said, ‘maybe this is too long’, we were reminded we were on an agenda-less vacation, and had no where else to be. And it was worth it! We had a one on one convo with our assigned barista, a sensory experience, to help us decide the which bean we wanted to try- Vince got X pour over, I went with X cold brew. We left with beans and detailed instructions on how to recreate our brews at home. From there we beelined to dinner at another recommended spot for a unique experience with tsukemen– thick dipping noodles. At Fuunji– your dipping your noodles bite by bite into their one of a kind sauce, made from a blend of creamy chicken soup and fish powder. *chefs kiss*. Again, the environment made this extra memorable. The space is.. intimate- there are only 15 bar counter seats, so everyone gets a view of the preparation. The line starts inside the restaurant, behind those bar seats along the wall and out through the door to the alley. The pressure is on once your seated, because you have a bit of an audience with hungry tummys waiting for you to finish! We ended the night with a walk through the famous “Golden Gai” district. Essentially six alleyways filled with a couple hundred tiny bars- we popped into one up a narrow staircase, with just 6 seats at the bar. One thing to note, is smoking is typically allowed- so be prepared!
Monday, we started the day with coffees from Glitch Coffee Roasters, in Chiyoda city. We were en route to check out Tsukiji Outer Fish market– we got fresh sashimi from a vendor almost immediately! We then ordered some Wagyu and shrimp skewers from Wagyu Jyu-Jyu. We also got this incredible mini egg sando bites from Yonemoto Coffee Lab, a small coffee and bites outpost which proudly states John Lennon loved to stop by. We then popped into a small restaurant near the exterior of the market called Hokkai Ban-ya for some more sashimi. We ordered the seafood bowl with slices of salmon, fatty tuna and lean tuna. We also ordered sea bream sashimi. We then took a short walk down to see the Sumida river to take in a view.
We spent the rest of the day with a little souvenir shopping in Ginza. We stopped at Beams Golf, and Uniqlo. We then made our way back to the hotel with a stop for dinner at a Shabu Shabu Matsugoro in Akasaka.
Now, off to Hakone!
