Day 1 in Tokyo & what I would do differently

Only writing this a full year later because the missing Japan feels hit today 😕💔

The mistake that derailed my obsessively detailed and curated itinerary: Customs + getting from Narita airport to Tokyo took so much longer than expected!! We ended up about 2 hours behind schedule so day 1 was a bit regretful and we did go back to some places and moved some plans around later on! What I would do different will be at the end~

1st 📍 hotel to put our luggages - our first hotel was located near Asakusabashi station! It’s a nice quiet area while still being decently connected especially if you’re more interested in east Tokyo (Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara etc.)

2nd 📍 Ochanomizu Station - only a couple stops from Asakusabashi, this place is popular with train enthusiasts because you can see multiple train lines crossing + It was in the movie Suzume, since we were behind time we didn’t wait around to see the trains LOL just snapped some pics and walked to the next location ⤵️

3rd 📍Kanda Myojin Shrine - is a short walk from Ochanomizu Station! Because it’s located near Akihabara, the shrine has some anime collabs (+ is the shrine in Love Live!!) but hearsay it’s also popular for business people to visit and pray here 🙏

4th 📍 Walked to the main area in Akihabara! We stopped by a few 2nd hand places like Surugaya, HobbyOFF to hunt for bargain anime goods but imo the Akiba outlets of these were not all that great 😔 Animate was ok! Preferred Radio Kaikan. Also spun a lot of gacha here~

5th 📍 Shinjuku

Because most places in Japan don’t open till late, we headed to Shinjuku to do quick essentials shopping at 100 yen stores (more on this in a later post) and sightsee a little (satosugu kfc)~ then we took a quick train ride to dinner ⤵️

Last 📍 Kirimugiya Jinroku

If you’re a real udon fan just skip the long queues for shin udon and go for a simple udon and tempura!!! This place closes at 10.30pm so it’s a good choice after shopping till late near Shinjuku!

✨What I would do different: We took the Keisei Skyaccess from Narita airport because it was the cheapest option, you tap in with your Suica and don’t need to book a ticket! The actual journey time is comparable to Skyliner etc. BUT the frequency!! I believe we JUST missed the train when we got to the platform so it was about a 40 minute wait for the next one :/

AND minor hot take: Akiba is interesting to visit if you’re an anime enthusiast and in Tokyo for the first time, but personally wouldn’t spend much time shopping there or even going there next time! It’s a bit overwhelming and imo Ikebukuro was overall more pleasant for shopping!

Day 2 (Tsukiji, Ginza, Gyukatsu 😋) 🔜❓