Tokyo

Our trip to Japan was so much fun!  It was way beyond my expectations!!  Tokyo is an amazing city.  I couldn't believe how clean it was-I felt like I could lick the subway seats (I didn't!).  The people are so nice and our trip was extra special because we spent lots of time with Ayano who was our exchange student a few years ago.  She is so sweet.  She took us to the most delicious restaurants, arranged tickets and tours for us and made our trip so enjoyable and fun!  While we were in Tokyo we spent a lot of time eating and shopping!

This was my favorite meal (although we had so many great meals it was hard to choose.  This dinner was thinly sliced beef that we got to grill ourselves.  It was accompanied by vegetables and dipping sauce.  One thing that I thought was interesting about a lot of the places where we ate, the restaurants were on the upper floors of high rise buildings so in addition to great food we got a great view!

Morning trip to the fish market.  We planned to get up to go to the tuna auction and although I was awake at 4AM I didn't feel like standing in line for a few hours.

Hachiko.  The dog who waited for his master.  That movie makes me so sad!

We loved our visit to the cat cafe.  The cats were so chill.

And then we stopped for an afternoon snack.

This was my favorite shopping place in Tokyo.  It is a new mall called Ginza Six.  We stayed in the Ginza part of town.  I really liked it, it reminded me of the upper east side of NYC.  There were lots of shopping and many good restaurants.  

This art installation is amazing!

I was obsessed with the toilets!  This one had a place to put your baby.

Ayano's mother works at the DIET which is like the Capitol in Washington.  She arranged a private tour for us which was really interesting and fun!

We met the congressman (or whatever it is called in Japan) who Ayano's mother works for.   We got to have tea with him.  I liked is life sized poster of himself he had on his door.

We went to an area called Roppongi for dinner one night.   I loved the crystal guy on the ceiling and the food was great as usual.

This spider sculpture is so interesting.  It is called Mama because she has eggs in her belly.

See the eggs.

A great view of the Tokyo Tower.  We went up in it one day and it gives you a great perspective of what a huge city Tokyo is.

One afternoon we went to a traditional tea ceremony.  We had not had lunch and were expecting traditional tea snacks.  I don't know where I got that idea since we were in Tokyo, not London.

We got 3 little beans and also got to eat the tea leaves.

Also 3 water chestnuts and a little fish.

We spent a day with Rena who is an exchange who stayed with another family in Atlanta.  She is so sweet.  We shopped and ate.  Had pizza and then met Ayano and another exchange student and went to the Ramen Museum.

Ramen Museum.

Really cute and really good ramen.

We met Ayano's cat who is so funny.  He was eating a smelly snack out of a squeeze tube.  

One of my favorite things was the food halls in the basement of the stores.  This was the one at Ginza Six.

Ayano and K went to Disney Sea one day and I stayed behind and shopped.  Not quite sure what this was!

Our hotel lobby.

Dinner with Ayano's mother.  The food was so amazing!!!

Stopped by the food hall at Ginza Six to pick up some cat tongue cookies but the line was an hour long!  Everyone waiting in line was so calm and polite.

We couldn't wait to go to Ayano's favorite spicy ramen noodle place.  Very, very spicy!!!!!

Afterwards we had Ice Monster.  It was so good!!!

I loved the subways in Tokyo.  They are so clean and once you get the hang of it they are really easy.  Our hotel had a subway station in the basement.  A great feature is if you are struggling suddenly a door pops open and smiling face pops out and helps you!  The first time it scared but this time we were so happy to see the smiling, helpful face!

Also in the basement of our hotel was the pastry kitchen with large window so you could watch the pastry chefs at work.

K loved this drink.

Dinner at Gonpachi with ayano and her mom.  It was so good with a great view.  Ayano used to work here.

More toilet obsession.

The food at our hotel was really good!  And there was a Starbucks across the street.

Ramen vending machine.  K and I agreed that this was our favorite meal.  They gave us a bib and a hair band to hold our hair back.

Meiji Shrine.  We kept the shrines and museums to a minimum when we were in Tokyo.  I did enjoy the Edo museum but the girls could not get out of there soon enough!

There are vending machines everywhere.  Even beer vending machines.  And you can use your subway pass at vending machines.  

One of my other favorite things was simple syrup everywhere!  Why don't we have this?  It is a Starbucks and all of the coffee places we visited.  My other favorite thing (I didn't get a picture) was the parking lots.  They suck your car in the stack it up like a rubics cube.  

Loved the subways.  This is the guy with the white gloves who gently shoves everyone onto the train.

Another great meal with another great view.

Ghibli Museum was such a fun afternoon.  We were so lucky that Ayano's mom got us tickets.  They are very hard to get and sell out in advance.  The museum was in a suburb and it interesting getting to see other parts of Tokyo.

Our hotel room had a great view!

Our room overlooked the DIET where Ayano's mother works

We loved our 10 days in Tokyo and were so sad to go!