72 Hours in Tokyo Part 1
Over President's Day weekend last month I had the opportunity travel to Tokyo, Japan for a few days and it was an exhilarating weekend to say the least! All of my travels up to this point have been in Africa, Caribbean,Central, North South America and Europe so for the first time in a long time I actually felt like a tourist.
Like seriously y'all I got off the plane and the inability to understand Japanese was like a cold splash of water to the face. Lol. A refreshing one though that challenged me to learn a few basic words to be able to get around the city. Getting around the city wasn't hard at all as I was able to purchase a train ticket in the airport and walk downstairs to an awaiting train.
Once I figured out how to navigate my way to awaiting hostel (yes I love hostels, hotels and AirBnBs are cool, but hostels allow you the chance to meet other travelers, swap stories and learn what's happening in the city) I hopped on the train and paid close attention to the stops so that I wouldn't miss my stop. Once I arrived to Nakano I got off the train and took in the sights and sounds around me. The buildings were tall, the lights were bright and it was at that moment I knew I was Tokyo! I immediately asked a couple of guys to snap a picture for me and they were obliged and strangely elated to do so. In fact we ended up taking photos together.
Once I found the location of my hostel I checked in and recognized the accent of the receptionist immediately. As someone who travels extensively to Latin America and as someone who lives in Los Angeles I know a accent of someone from Northern Mexico and it turns out that she was from Monterrey, MX! So immediately our conversation went from English to Spanish. So I put my things down and immediately went to explore the city at night and found that the Nakano neighborhood, where my hostel was, is lively until around 5am. So after grabbing a bottle of sake(yes that's exactly what I did) I wandered around the neighborhood popping into local bars and late night sushi spots. Relatively chill and low key night.
Being as I was only in town for three days I knew I had to make the most of my time, so that meant very little time for sleep. After sampling every piece of sushi I could find until 5am I went in showered took a three hour nap and proceeded to find out what day trips I could take. I found out that in couple of hours I could be in Kamakura where a large Buddha shrine from the Edo Empire exists. So that was the move! Before heading out I also saw that I could start my day off at the Imperial Palace and not lose much time, so that's what I did...
Check for the rest of the story in Part 2 and 3.
