We’re taking you with us to vibrant, bustling Tokyo! From theme parks to tea ceremonies, ancient temples to glowing digital art museums, we packed our itinerary with the best of Japan’s capital city—and now we’re sharing it all with you. Whether it’s your first trip to Tokyo or you’re planning a return visit, this episode is full of helpful travel tips, must-do activities, and honest insights to help you experience the magic of Tokyo like a squad pro.

Download our ⁠5 Day Tokyo Itinerary⁠ to make your trip planning even easier!

• Stay at the Rembrandt Style Tokyo Nishikasai Grande Hotel or DoubleTree by Hilton near the Kyoto Station
• Get an eSim from Airalo before you go and the Tokyo Tourist Subway Passes as soon as you get there
• Reserve your Tokyo Disney Sea tickets well ahead of time
• We highly recommend the Tea Ceremony Workshop, Sumo Wrestling Show the Onsen experience, and going to TeamLab Planets while it’s still there.
• Visit iconic sites like Sensoji Temple, Sumida Park, Nezu Shrine, and Ueno Park during cherry blossom season
• Stroll through Tsukiji Outer Market, sampling sushi, seafood, and Japanese street snacks
• Discover hidden gems like Hamarikyu Gardens and the peaceful Nezu Shrine away from the crowds
• Take in sweeping skyline views (for free!) from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s observatory and catch their epic Godzilla-themed light show

We have a few other episodes on Tokyo so check those out as your plan your own advneutres!

• 2 Weeks in Japan – Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara & Disneyland
• The Best Things to See and Do in Kyoto

Find more recommended activities in our Japan Experience’s Viator ShopFind a great flight deal to Tokyo by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and watching the daily flight deals (points & cash) that are emailed directly to you! Use our promo code TS10 to get $10 off your first year subscription.

Tokyo Japan Travel – Episode Transcript

0:35

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

Today we are taking you back to Tokyo, Japan for Round 2.

0:53

Yes, we first visited Tokyo in 2019 and we had such an amazing time that we said whenever we can go back to Japan, we’re going to make it happen.

So we were able to do it after our trip to Hong Kong and Seoul, Korea.

1:08

So if you haven’t listened to those episodes, go back to our last two weeks and listen to those because this is the ending of our trip then.

I’m just a little upset that you’ve been now twice and I have not been included.

Kim, you were included.

I don’t want to hear this.

You know what?

1:24

You bitched out a little bit the first time I’m going to say because we went in January and you’re like, oh, I don’t like the cold.

So you turn it down for epic one this time.

I believe you were invited, but it just really wasn’t practical because, well, you had your early January trip that you went on.

1:41

You have your Europe trip coming even before we got here into studio to start recording or talking about.

I have so many trips coming up.

I need to take a later hiatus.

So I think this one may have been too much.

But you know, what if the party foul is on us for not saying, hey, Kim, come hour bad, but all the more reason to come back because we left Japan as soon as we were on the plane.

2:02

I told this to Brittany and I said, you know, Japan’s always been one of my top three favorite countries since the first time that we went coming back again.

I know why and I’m ready to go back.

You know, when we plan our trips, we always want to try to go like different places.

It took us six years to come back to Japan, but I don’t want to wait another six years because I really love it that much and I don’t think I’d ever get tired of it.

2:23

Like Japan is great, specifically token.

Well, I shouldn’t say specifically Tokyo.

We only all Tokyo this time.

But yeah, all of Japan is great.

But we had a great time here, just in Tokyo.

So both times we went with our honorary squatties, Cash and Ryan.

You’ve heard them on the podcast before, and this time they brought their four year old.

2:41

The four year old also went with us to Hong Kong.

Cash and Ryan didn’t go to South Korea.

They went ahead and skipped forward to Japan.

And on the day that we weren’t there, they actually went to go see the snow monkeys in Nagano and they did like a hot a hike to the Hot Springs.

2:56

So they had that for going for them for sure.

But once we met back up with them, we pretty much spent the rest of the time together.

There were a few times that Jamal and I spurred off and we’ll talk about that.

But if you guys are wanting more Japan content content, we have an episode on Kyoto and then we also have an episode about our first Japan trip, which went all over Japan.

3:19

We went to Tokyo, we went to Hiroshima, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, and we have a two week itinerary for you guys and a Tokyo itinerary.

So we have a lot of job, a lot of Japan resources for you guys.

Japan is one of our most downloaded itineraries to this day.

3:37

Squatty’s, if you’re interested in getting a copy of that, you can go ahead and e-mail us or DM ustravelsquadpodcast@gmail.com and of course, Travel Squad podcast at Instagram and we’ll send you a link.

And honestly, I can’t stress enough what you already highlighted, Brittany, about going back and listening to our previous Japan episodes from our first trip, if you haven’t.

3:58

Because everything we did here, minus one thing, I should say, OK -2 things here in Tokyo was all different, right?

So we’re going to talk about what we did here on a much shorter time, which was still a lot and a great time.

But For more information on it, go back and listen and just get really hyped up about Japan as a whole.

4:18

Yeah.

So he spent about four days in Tokyo, and one of those days was the Disney day.

But the other three days we pretty much did different things.

We wanted to have a different experience.

We didn’t want to just repeat the same trip we had before.

So we specifically seeked out cultural experiences that we had not done before that we were interested in to take this trip.

4:38

And when I say there was technically two, one of them was the Disney Day and one was going to a temple.

But that was because Honorary Squatis Cash and Ryan had daughter Lenny with them just to see the temple for her sake.

But that was just a quick little thing and then we were done doing new.

Stuff was the temple the thing with all the orange?

4:56

Different city, different city that’s in Kyoto that you’re thinking about.

This one is a different temple that they have in Tokyo.

But yeah, no, good question.

OK, Tokyo is a huge city.

It’s the capital of Japan and there’s 14 million people in Tokyo.

5:15

Huge city.

I would be shocked if you could have the same trip.

Yeah, you really can’t.

There’s so many different pockets.

It’s like, you know, New York, NY has so many different boroughs and stuff.

Tokyo is exactly like that.

You just go into one spot and it’s like a whole pocket, a whole vibe.

5:30

You go to another spot, there’s a whole different feeling to that city or that area or neighborhood.

So you just kind of pop around to all of these different neighborhoods.

And Tokyo’s Japan’s hub for fashion, technology, entertainment, cuisine.

Of course, it is the capital, so it is their largest, most populous city.

5:48

But you’re not going to be unimpressed with Tokyo.

There’s just nothing that you can say bad about it, or even Japan in general, quite honestly.

And Tokyo is filled with a lot of history tradition.

You’re going to find ancient temples, shrines and really beautiful Japanese gardens.

6:06

So let’s start with some tips.

We always like to do tips first.

As you guys know, a lot of these may be the same from the previous time that we did a Tokyo and Japan episode, but they are tried and true, and of course, that’s why we’re seeing them again.

6:22

You really need to stay near a metro system or metro station, I should say.

Specifically, Tokyo’s metro is really, really good.

Brittany alluded to it earlier.

There’s so many little pockets, neighborhoods and places that you’re going to want to go.

I mean, that really is the best way to get around.

6:40

So you don’t want to do yourself a disservice and stay far away from one.

Any metro line that you are at will get you anywhere you need to go.

So do that.

And you can buy a tourist metro pass.

They come in 2448 or 72 hours.

You can buy it at some metro stations and at the airport.

6:58

And they don’t activate until you actually start using them.

That was one thing that I kind of had like a party fell on, like Jamal was like, I’m going to buy one.

I was like, no, wait.

But they really don’t activate till you start using it.

You can even buy them online and get like AQR code and then at the stations that you can redeem them at.

7:14

Then you it’ll print out your ticket for you.

But you save so much money using the tourist metro cards.

I think for three days.

What did we pay, like 10 or $15?

Yeah, I was going to say it was no more than $15.00 for unlimited use on their metros for three days, which is pretty good I would say.

7:32

And you can buy it online like you had mentioned, more particularly even using Kluke, right?

You can buy it online at Kluke, but there are only a handful of actual metro stations that will sell them and only a handful where you can redeem that purchase online through Kluke or another vendor for it.

7:50

So I would say the best course of action is more than likely you’re going to be landing in Japan and Tokyo at either one of their two airports.

You for sure can buy it there.

I would say just buy it there and when you’re ready to use it, that’s going to be the time.

But an alternative option if you don’t want to buy the unlimited metro used car, whether it be the 244872 is if you’re an iPhone user.

8:14

It kills me to say it because it’s only exclusive to iPhone, but I don’t want to get into the my thought process as to why they don’t have it for my Android here.

But you can download what’s called a Suika card, which Brittany used at some point herself to for other reasons for other purchases, minus the metro.

8:34

But that’s basically just a tap system that you can use in all the metros.

And it works very well with trains as well as buses on top of it.

I have a quick question about public transportation.

I am a little bit nervous of using subways and buses in other countries because, you know, here in America they’re not the safest or the cleanest or whatever.

8:59

Like New York, even though the subway is how you get around, I still would rather kind of sometimes take the Uber.

How is it there?

Say I’m a solo traveller, like, is it safe?

Am I going to get burned alive?

So safe.

I mean, I’ve never seen a cleaner Metro station.

9:16

Like even some of the metro stations have bathrooms.

And in New York he’d be like, never.

But here they’re so clean, they’re so tidy.

There’s no dirt, people can’t eat on the subways and I feel like they have like an orderly fashion and they keep it clean and they’re really respectful.

So it’s completely safe and you’re going to feel OK.

9:35

Like, you’re not going to feel like, what am I going to walk off with?

When you get off.

And then what about navigating it in English, which I know we’re not in America or an English speaking country, but how does that work?

Very easy.

They have so much tourism and also when they had the Olympics there, granted, I mean, they really did it up for 2020 and the Olympics there became a crapshoot because 2020 and Kovid.

9:57

But they put in a lot of work to put signs in English on the metros to let you know where to go.

Even when you’re on the train.

Of course you’ll see stuff in Japanese, but then it will transfer to English to let you know what station it is, etcetera.

10:13

And even when we were there in 2019, granted I guess it was right before the Olympics that happened, but really didn’t happen.

We didn’t have a problem with that.

And I will say this, we mentioned this before on a previous episode.

I used to love to download specific metro apps for that particular city, whether it be that city’s specific transportation system or even like, not their official app but somebody else built it, etcetera.

10:44

But I don’t even mess with that anymore.

Google Maps their public transit section to.

When you put in the stuff it’ll spell it out right for you.

Really super easy and you don’t really need to worry about.

It’ll tell you how many stops you need to take.

So if the signs weren’t in English all you need to do is count 123 maybe obviously more but just know when to get off.

11:05

Tells you what exit to go out of because sometimes there’s multiple exits into the metro stations to get on the right street.

So that is the best way to go.

But long answer to your question, you don’t need to worry about the the English translation.

It’s all going to be there for you.

11:21

Very easy and.

That was going to be one of our tips was to download Google Maps because literally we used it for the buses, we used it for the metros.

It’s so easy to use.

But with that being said, you do have to have data to have Google Maps function in the public transit setting.

11:38

So you either need to rent a pocket Wi-Fi, which if you’re travelling as a group or a couple, this might be the better way to go just for cost because usually a device can connect like 3 to 5 people’s appliances or devices.

But if you’re traveling solo, then maybe like an esim like Era Low is great for that.

11:58

We were only here for four days and we have our T-Mobile 5 gigs that gets us there.

If we were staying here longer, we would have gone over that.

Just because you’re constantly typing in the next station you’re going to, you’re constantly looking up things on the go.

12:16

So you’re gonna want something more permanent than just like 5 gigs or you’re gonna have to re up.

How’s Wi-Fi in restaurants and hotels?

It is available, that’s for sure.

Is it super widely available?

Depends on what region, neighborhood, and obviously the business itself.

12:34

But you can find it.

But you shouldn’t rely on it because we have the free 5 gigs of international data every month.

Again, if we were there longer, we would need it.

The first time we went to Japan, we absolutely used Pocket Wi-Fi.

All you need to do is Google Pocket Wi-Fi Japan and all the reputable sites and vendors that sell it will have it there.

12:55

You can when you book them.

You could either pick it up at the airport, you could even say what hotel you’re staying at and it will be at that hotel for you to pick up.

Like Pocket Wi-Fi in Japan is a really big thing, so you won’t have an issue figuring it out when you Google search that.

13:11

And this is my second time I’ve used Pocket Wi-Fi twice.

We used it in Iceland, which was absolutely essential, and then we used it here in Japan and it’s been worth it every single time we’ve bought it.

Amazing.

Also want to touch on the Japanese toilets because we are the Travel Squad podcast and we love to talk about toilets but these toilets are magical, like life changing.

13:38

They are so life changing that after Kasha and Ryan came back from Japan the first time, they actually built a house and they specifically made sure that their toilet room bathroom with the part with the toilet in it had a plug.

So they can plug in a Japanese style bidet.

13:57

And when you sit on them, they’re warm, they’re heated, do.

They say welcome, Brittany.

They should, but they don’t.

The next gins will come out with talking features like that, but not.

Currently then they have the push button so you can aim it at your puss or your tush and you can change the angle to make sure it hits properly.

14:19

The water is usually warm, some of them have an air dry feature and music Music for privacy.

Wow, yeah, so they are top notch.

Like it’s so amazing.

Did any of the hotels that we stay at have the music feature in the hotel?

14:38

Because I feel like the music feature, you’ll find more on public toilets, especially if you’re in stalls.

That way you can drown out what’s happening in your stall so the person next to you doesn’t hear.

But I think beyond that just goes to the type of courtesy Japan has as an entire country, you know what I mean?

14:55

They’re like, I don’t want to hear the situation going on.

So they have music specific, well maybe so that it makes your time there more enjoyable, but I really think it’s to drown out the the noise of what’s happening while you’re on the toilet.

I see.

Yeah, yeah.

But I love me a Japanese bidet both times that we’ve come home from Japan.

15:13

Very sad to come back home and not have a toilet like.

That well get one I.

Know, but you know what, I do want to get one.

The problem is my ass is too lazy to, in my bathroom, create a plug for the the bidet.

That’s the really what the problem is.

15:29

So I need to just put my electrical work to to work, so to speak and make it happen.

But yeah, I want one.

Another tip for you guys, especially if you’re traveling as a group, many of the restaurants are very small and they have very limited seating, so you may not get sat together.

15:45

That happened to us a few times where Ke$ha, Ryan and their child Lenny were sat together and Jamal and I sat together because usually it’s like tables of two or bar seating and a lot of places only hold like 15 people or less.

This was still the case when we were here six years later.

16:03

I felt like more places that we went to accepted credit card, but Japan is still very much a cash based society.

So you will want to have cash with you.

Mostly it’s restaurants, right?

You go into a 711, which the really popular, of course you know, any hotel that you check into, everybody’s going to be taking credit card.

16:22

But it right now I would say it’s really 5050 on if a restaurants going to take cash or card or both.

So you want to have it just in case.

And Jamal, talk a little bit about the online form that you had to pre fill out when we landed at the airport.

16:39

Yeah, so that’s new from our last trip.

Yeah.

So of course, when you enter into another country, a lot of them will have forms that you have to fill out when you’re going through immigration.

And basically it’s an Immigration and Customs form.

What are you bringing in the country?

This, that and the other?

So you can actually do that ahead of time online versus filling out the paper form when you land at the airport or if you happen to be flying on an airline that keeps those forms and passes them out on the plane to give to you ahead of time.

17:09

But I would say go online, fill out that immigration form, basically just lets them know you’re coming when they can expect you on what flight, who you are, and then it gives you AQR code and it makes going through customs and immigration that much faster for you.

17:26

And Japan right now, really, really popular tourist destination.

I mean, it really always has been as of late, but more so right now.

And save yourself time and just do the online immigration form.

Squatty, as we mentioned earlier that our Japan itinerary is one of the most downloaded on our shop.

17:47

We are updating it with latest information from this 2025 trip and coming out with just a Tokyo itinerary.

So go to shoptravelsquad.com to download yours today.

So we’re going to just dive into the trip.

I’m super excited to talk about the four days that we spent in Tokyo and we wanted to make sure that we went to Disney Tokyo Sea, but we knew that we were coming in on a Friday and then going to be spending Saturday, Sunday and then Monday there.

18:18

And so we didn’t want to go on the weekend because Tokyo Disney has been super crowded.

And if you watch Tik Toks or Reels because they added a new land recently, it’s been all the hype.

And so we knew wait times were going to be super long.

And so we were like, you know what, we’re going to have to go on the Friday and hope for the best.

18:38

So we started our first real day.

Well, we landed at the airport.

We had the rest of the night, we went to like a ramen shop.

And then that next full day, we’re like, we got to go hard and go to Disney here, OK?

We landed on a Thursday, right?

So here we are going Friday morning.

18:56

Tokyo has two Disney parks, the main Disneyland park and their second gate, which is Tokyo Disney Sea.

The first time we went to both, this time Brittany and I only went to the Disney Sea because we really, really loved this park.

The irony of it is the first time that we went this park, I don’t want to say wasn’t crowded, but we got done early.

19:16

But as she had mentioned, because they have the new land, I’m telling you, everybody’s all about this park right now.

So we even got there two hours early, 2 hours early.

And by the time they opened the gate, wait times were already 2 1/2 three hours.

19:33

Yeah, crazy how?

Because we were there 2 1/2 hours early and we were still far behind in the line to just even.

Oh my.

God Park like once they opened turnstiles, right?

They aren’t joking in Japan, they are serious.

Did you run?

We did not run, but there was nowhere really to run because you’re all congregated in there trying to get through the turnstiles once you’re in.

19:55

I mean, I guess we could have we speed walk.

I’m not a runner.

Well, I mean, I shouldn’t say I’m not around.

I’m not a runner.

You.

Were running in Shanghai Disney well.

We were all skipping together, all excited, you know, and I was had a little pep to myself.

I wouldn’t say it was running, but I can’t run but just in the parks.

But nevertheless, completely different from the the last time.

20:12

So this one was a little bit more different experience.

They changed the rules.

There’s no fast pass.

If you want to get front of the line, you got to buy it.

Now it’s not unique to this park.

It’s all Disney parks now.

So different experience all together.

But this park, Tokyo Disney Sea is known for being one of the best themed Disney parks in the world.

20:33

So it’s called Disney Sea like every land has a nautical theme.

So it just is done up really, really well, really beautifully.

They do have great rides.

Thank God.

We’ve been here before.

Because if you were to go now and you’re a Disney fan, I don’t want to say don’t go, but just know that it’s going to be a disgusting mess when you’re in there.

20:53

Like almost to the point where it’s not fun.

And a few things about Tokyo Disneyland in general.

You do have to have reservations for the park, so you can reserve that online, but a lot of the time, even if you have a verified card, it can be hard to get tickets.

21:09

So if you can’t get them through the direct Disney site, you can get them through Cloak and it’s definitely safe.

So it could just be like really hard to verify it.

Every time Kasha has to buy tickets, whether we’re in Hong Kong or anywhere like in Asia, she always has an issue.

21:26

She always has credit card problems for whatever reason when she makes the purchases.

But I had difficulties even like purchasing direct for these tickets and even when I went to Clue it stopped me at first and it said it didn’t go through even though it said it charged.

And then I had to go to customer service and they fixed it and like issued it.

21:43

So I don’t know what it is about the Japan parks, but you can expect issues trying to buy the tickets, but you need to do it ahead of time because of course you do need the reservations to get it.

And Jamal mentioned that it’s nautical theme and they have actually 8 theme ports.

They have a Mediterranean harbor, they have Mysterious Island, Mermaid Lagoon which I think is beautiful, the Arabian Coast, the Lost River, Delta Port Discovery, the American waterfront, and Fantasyland, which is their newest theme Land, which is the one everyone is rushing to.

22:14

Fantasy springs specifically, not fantasy.

Land springs, yes.

Well, I like the sound of that, yeah.

But that one’s more geared towards kids.

The fantasy springs, it’s not OK.

Or you can.

I would.

I really wish it was.

You had me at fantasy, and then you lost me at kids.

Yeah, there you go.

22:31

How many rides are in that land?

What 3-4?

4 rides but three of them are only worth riding.

The other one is like a Tinkerbell little buggy ride which unless you have children children but even though like these ones are kid theme rides to like storybooks cuz they have it from Peter Pan, Anna and Elsa from Frozen and then.

22:52

Rapunzel.

Rapunzel so the Tangled one, yeah, they are really good rides.

So even though they’re the kids storybook rides still for adults, but the themed land now it’s not springs like you would expect.

OK, full with the name.

So we get into the park and we’re like, all right, we’re probably gonna have to use like the lightning passes and kind of like their fast pass system or their, what are they called, Premier passes, Their Premier Access pass, which is where you can buy your ticket.

23:23

And in Fantasy Springs, you actually can’t just wait in a general.

Currently, you can’t just wait in the general line.

You actually have to have like a pass to wait just in standby.

Almost like the virtual queue, but it doesn’t hold your spot to when to come back.

It’s just a pass to say you can wait the three hours to ride the ride.

23:42

And so we get in and we were like, in our mind, we’re like, OK, we have a plan, but once.

And we really wanted to ride the Frozen ride and we really wanted to get in Fantasy Springs and ride Rapunzel and Peter Pan.

And so we’re trying to Add all of that to like our past, right when we get in, because you can’t add these things in advance.

24:02

At the time that we recorded this, they may change things because they’re always changing things like Disney.

And so everything we thought we had planned just kind of went out the window.

Yeah, you can’t purchase the the tickets for the front of the line until they scan your ticket in the turnstile.

24:18

So everybody who got in ahead of us is already doing that.

So by the time you do it, there’s either limited space or they’re already sold out.

And I’m talking like we were there two hours early and still encountered this problem.

So just keep that in mind.

If you know what, you can have a good time, but it is a really beautiful part.

24:37

But maybe you’re not going to ride a lot of rice.

So we went and rode Sinbad’s Voyage which is a boat ride and it’s a nice ride but it’s not like one of the top rides I’d really want to ride.

And then we like went and got a snack because we had already been waiting 2 hours in line plus the almost our bus ride we took to get there and like kind of prepping.

24:58

So by this time I’m like I need a little snack.

And what’d you get?

We got something called, was it the lion’s tail or tiger tail?

Do you remember that?

It was a flatbread that was like stuffed.

It was decent.

It wasn’t like amazing, though.

25:14

OK.

And so we also, I’m just going to get into what rides we did ride.

We also were able to ride drained to the center of the earth, Rapunzel, which is one of the new ones, which we save for the end of the night, which was actually really nice.

It’s just short, we wrote Peter Pan.

25:31

Also one of the new ones.

Yes, also one of the new ones.

We paid for that, didn’t we?

We.

Did also Rapunzel paid for Rapunzel?

So on top of paying for our park tickets, we probably spent almost 50 extra dollars between the both of us for these fast passes.

25:48

And what was the park ticket cost?

Much cheaper than in the US.

Off the top of my head I couldn’t remember but.

I think they’re like 50 to $60.00.

Yeah, I was going to say no more than 70, OK.

So cheaper than the US, but then you’re having to pay for these.

26:04

And I know Kasha really wanted Lenny to ride Tower of Terror or their version of Tower of Terror.

And Lenny loved it so much that she wanted to ride it twice.

So they paid for double.

And so it adds up very quickly if you’re going through the whole park just purchasing the extras.

26:25

And is it worth it?

It could be because you’re saving two to three hours each time you’re buying a fast pass, but it’s like adding up quickly at the same time.

Quite honestly, that was our day.

I mean, we also rode the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Finding Nemo Ride Carousel.

26:44

So again, not the best Disney Day, and thankfully we’ve experienced it before, but.

We also rode Aquatopia.

We did also ride Aquatovia again I I left it off because not really worth.

Well, you might as well say what rides we.

I I missed the one.

There you go.

26:59

But that was the repertoire of what we had written.

And then once we were kind of, we had Rapunzel for a later in the night.

So our strategy then was let’s ride what we can.

And then when we ran out of rides that were reasonably like wait times were reasonable, we’re like, we’re not going to ride anything that’s like 2 1/2, three hours.

27:21

We’re just going to explore the park and actually enjoy the park because we haven’t really done that before.

Like every time we’ve gone there to ride rides, right?

And so we just walked around and enjoyed all of the different lands.

And it was actually a really nice way to explore the park and get some food, some drinks, things like that.

27:40

If you want to hear more about Disneysea and Disneyland, go back to the previous Tokyo episodes where we talk a lot more in depth about that.

We’re also toying with doing a mini episode on all of the Disney parks and kind of like a breakdown between the pros and cons, so if you guys are interested in that, let us know.

28:00

I think we are going to have some interest in that.

You mean internationally, right?

Yeah, in the world.

All of them.

Yeah, totally.

Pros and cons.

I vote for it.

There you go.

So that was our Disney Day, The next day was going to be Saturday.

This is something that Brittany was really, really looking forward to more, particularly our first morning event.

28:21

Yeah, so I really wanted to participate in some type of matcha tea ceremony because they’re really known for their matcha out there.

It’s really high grade.

It’s really delicious.

And so we were either able to choose from like actually a tea ceremony or a tea workshop.

28:40

The difference is 1, you’re being served and the other one one is you’re learning about the history of it and like being served and kind of getting more of like that back history and more like participation.

So making it, yeah.

Cool, we got to grind our matcha and do all that.

28:57

Stuff I would love to learn how to make matcha.

Yeah, so we chose the workshop and I really loved it.

Started with a video just kind of on like the history of the tradition and it was originally created for like warriors who needed like a reprieve.

And so that’s like where the ceremony came from A.

29:14

Reprieve from.

Like war times?

Just to relax.

Yeah, not being out like a nature.

They’re like your nature, but it’s destroyed.

There’s a battlefield outside.

So these were seclusion places where they can go, had rules where politics and certain things weren’t discussed.

29:31

It was meant to be quiet, relaxing and a way to bring people centered back to nature by enjoying a product from nature, right, Which is the mantra and the tea.

So it gave a really elongated history of how the practice came into be and how the tradition is still steeped and of course, as modern culture has come in, how people still do it.

29:51

But of course it’s not as prevalent, but it is still a major part of Japanese culture.

And then we went upstairs and she had a traditional tea room with the hand woven mat and then where they prepare the tea.

30:07

It’s kind of like in the ground.

And so then she was teaching us like how you sit, how you serve it, how you, how you even pick a bowl, how you present that bowl and kind of like the customs and traditions on on that of like you like you’re not supposed to wear jewelry because you don’t want to mess up this cup that is being passed around.

30:29

You don’t want to wear a watch because that signals that you’re on a time limit.

So just like all of these cultural things.

And then she made us a matcha cup and then the next time we got to make one and they were different types, so we got to try like two or three different varieties.

30:45

It was like the little brush thing, yeah.

Yeah, we got to eat the brush and whip ourselves up the the matcha.

And she’s like, Oh well, because again, she had different grades, like a really high grade, medium grade.

She didn’t give us like a bad one.

Or if it was a bad one, she didn’t say it was a bad one, but she said that, you know, these are different grades.

31:01

There’s different ways to have it based off of how concentrated it is and how much water.

And then if you put like a little bit more water and you have to brush, how to whip it up to actually bring the foam and the flavor.

And there’s like a technique on how you have to whip it.

So we got to practice and do that ourselves of all, of course, being in a traditional room, sitting on the floor.

31:23

And we had some like tea time snacks too, you know, like they have like little, little dessert items that go with the tea.

And so we got to try those two and ask questions.

So it was actually really nice and it was pretty affordable.

It was like when we went, it was like $33 a person.

I really like this one, Like I, I like tea.

31:41

It’s not like you’re going to be like, oh, I’m going to high tea or anything like that, right?

What’s really happening here, especially more so the workshop than the actual ceremony, if you do the workshop, is you’re doing something, you’re getting to taste it, but you’re also really getting a history lesson and also information about the culture, which I thought was really fun, really cool.

32:01

So from here, we walk to a famous temple in Tokyo called Sinsoji Temple, and this is one of the repeat items that we did specifically because Kasha and Ryan wanted to take Lenny here.

And last time we went, we went first thing in the morning and there was almost no one there.

32:18

This time it’s like almost midday and it was just a madhouse.

You guys are too.

I’m.

Telling you, I think after COVID, for whatever I shouldn’t say for whatever reason, I know why Japan’s awesome, but Japan tourism is really kicking right now.

32:35

It’s so.

Yes, and that would explain why so many people download our Japan itinerary.

Absolutely like it.

It’s wild.

And I have heard also Japan will offer free flights to other cities in Japan when you book it all together, because so many tourists come just to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, They really want tourists to start venturing to other towns because it’s so.

32:58

Right.

So if you book with Japan Airlines to go out there, I, I don’t know the specifics of the program, but I do know that they will.

It’s almost like their version of a stopover program, but they don’t want you in a big city.

But it’s like I’ll buy you your flight to go somewhere else within country.

You know, we had a very nice review come in on our Greece episode about why we only went to the main island.

33:19

So let me ask you this now, your second visit to to Japan, why not branch out to lesser known destinations?

I think that what are you asking more particularly on this trip why we didn’t go anywhere else?

Yeah, why didn’t you prioritize visiting a lesser visited town?

33:36

Twofold for us on this one is timing because this trip was.

Always timed.

Yes, but this trip really was to go to Hong Hong Kong to finish Hong Kong Disney, right?

And then we were going with Cash and Ryan on that one.

33:52

We all love Japan so much.

We’re like, let’s stop back.

But as Brittany had mentioned, they were bringing their daughter.

They were like, well, if we’re already going to a Disney park internationally, let’s take her to 1 here in Japan.

We all love Japan.

Go back.

I think she’ll really like it.

And of course, we had no objection because we wanted to go back to Japan, so that’s why we went to Tokyo.

34:13

So two reasons.

We were like, well, we’re flying home, we’re going to cross it, let’s go back.

This is a good reason.

We didn’t have more time to go to other cities.

And specifically, we went so that Lenny can also go to the Disney park.

And circumstances.

Right.

Yeah.

And so although we went to the Tokyo Sea on one of the days that Jamal and I were in Korea, they took their daughter to the Tokyo Disneyland park.

34:35

So she got to visit three of the international Disney parks on this trip.

All right, so you heard it here.

We don’t want any bad reviews about why we stayed in Tokyo.

Right.

So the Sinsoji Temple is one of the oldest temples in all of Tokyo, was founded in 628 AD.

34:55

So of course, really, really old.

You could see here that it’s almost like 1500 years old then at this point.

And it is a Buddhist temple.

You know a little bit more about it, Brittany, in the specifics, I believe.

It was dedicated to the Buddhist God of mercy, so really nice temple.

35:16

It’s not just a temple, but leading up to the temple there are a whole bunch of stalls with where you can get food, souvenirs, everything.

And then you lead up to the temple and you view it out the door.

And then they have one of the fountains where you can like dip in a flower and do the blessings.

35:35

And dip the flower, tap it on someone’s head.

Yes, yeah, they have one of those.

And yeah, it’s just a really cool temple.

And because of all of the shopping around the temple, I think that’s one of the reasons it just draws a whole bunch of people in.

35:52

Everyone’s just kind of in that area.

Well, the shopping around the temple has a history and a reason.

I remember this from the first time that we went.

This is actually a pilgrimage temple if you are a Buddhist one that you should be going to because of its history and significance.

36:08

So because it was a pilgrimage temple, you can imagine it was built in the 6 hundreds back in the day when you travelled like that.

It’s not a big city like it is now.

So when you got there, they had vendors that were selling supplies and food and things that people actually needed as they finally arrived.

36:25

So the shops is actually a tradition kept from the old days of when people actually came there as pilgrimages to sell now, right?

So obviously it’s in modern times, but it’s there for a reason.

It’s not like, oh, this is just touristy, tons of people are here.

Let’s have you know shops and food.

36:42

There’s a reason for it.

Yeah, So we got a whole bunch of snacks in this area.

I got this like crispy Japanese coin, but it’s really like, I don’t know, like a pastry filled with cheese in the middle.

And then we got like some stuffed strawberry.

36:57

Things are really hard on their fruit.

Like they take their fruit really seriously.

So I got some candied strawberries.

We got some chicken that was like pounded out like a thin breaded chicken, spicy chicken, that cutlet.

It was fantastic.

37:14

We also got a Creme brulee sweet potato, which was also good.

And then I got like an eel snack, which I liked.

Jamal thought it was OK.

I like eel though.

Sounds terrible.

But they have so many different types of food in this area.

37:30

Like and just get a small bite wherever you find like a good spot.

Like wherever there’s a line is usually pretty good and you can just literally snack your way across like this area.

And if you see something that intrigues you, I would say get it.

You may find the same thing somewhere else throughout the city, but you may not, right?

37:50

And some places may sell the same thing, but some may be better than others.

So if you see something that you want, I would say just get it.

Nothing will haunt you more than the thing you didn’t get.

Yeah, and every snack is like anywhere from three to seven dollars, I would say.

So not like crazy expensive.

38:06

Some things are just like $3 super easy.

So after we went to Sinsoji Temple, we were also there at kind of the start of cherry blossom season.

And we were, we weren’t planning our trip specifically for that, but we were hoping to hit it.

38:23

And so we’re like, OK, can we go and find some cherry blossoms?

So not far from the temple, there’s a park called Samita Park.

And it’s a Riverside Park where you can see like the Tokyo Sky Tree in the distance, and it’s lined with cherry blossom trees.

38:39

So we went down and strolled around that area to see if we could find there.

We did find a few trees.

They weren’t full bloom in this whole area so that not every tree was like blooming, but there were some that were and when you got some pictures and it was really nice.

Yeah, all of the trees were budding, like they were ready to go, right.

38:56

And they had some weird weather, like it was warm when we were there, but a couple days right before it was cold and snowy even in Tokyo.

So, but before that it happened to be warm.

So it went from like cold from like winter and we’re coming into spring.

39:11

It warmed up, then it had a cold spell and back.

So I really think that delayed it.

Cherry blossom season is always going to be I well, I shouldn’t say always it’s it’s season dependent right on what the winter and spring is looking like.

But it is around this time in, you know, March could lead into April.

39:29

So we were very, very hopeful for it.

The trees were budding.

They were ready to go.

But literally of the 50 plus, if not more that are in this Riverside Park, only three or four were blossoming at that point in time.

So it was still really beautiful to see.

39:45

But when you Google Photos of cherry blossom season Tokyo and you see the parks with literally hundreds of trees all pink and bloomed at the same time.

Like we were a couple days from missing it before we went back home.

And I’m, I’m kind of devastated about it, but it was still cool to actually see a couple trees here going.

40:04

Then we later in the day we had planned a sumo wrestling show and so we needed to go back into that area.

And so we went over to that area.

It was still a little too early for the show, but there was a store called Don Quixote next door and they’re also called like a Donkey Stores.

40:24

And they are these huge stores that are like anywhere from like 2 to 4 stories and they are just filled with like the different flavored Kit Kats and other Japanese candies and snacks and souvenirs.

Like a 5 below.

Yeah, yeah, kind of like a 5 below.

40:40

And you can find electronics, they have the like viral makeups there, the eyelash curlers.

So Kasha had a whole list of things that she wanted like hair masks, skin products, makeup, the the types of kit Kats.

40:55

And so we went in there and we just kind of like we were just like mesmerized with how much stuff.

Crazy.

And we didn’t go crazy yet.

We were like, OK, we can’t go crazy now because we got to go make our show, but we’re going to look and pick out the things that we want mentally and then come back here after the show.

41:12

Yeah, this.

I mean, there’s multiple Don Quixote stores, but this one happened to be like 3 buildings over from where we were doing the sumo event.

So we were like, all right, we’re going to go to this one, check it out, figure out what we want.

But beforehand, because I didn’t want to have to carry that one into the Sumo 2 didn’t really know at that point.

41:32

Are we going to do anything after the sumo and then be stuck with these bags to carry around all day also?

But yeah, it’s fun to just go in there and see what unique stuff they have.

And again, it’s not just candy.

The first floor at this one was, but then you go up to the second floor and then it’s just different themes of different items from like the makeup.

41:51

But there was even watches that they were selling there, like in the jewelry.

Alcohol so.

They have all sorts of stuff in.

That Don Kyota would have hated to see me coming.

You know how when we were in Costa Rica, you made so many different purchases?

That would be you.

Like on every level you’d be like, oh, wait, I need this.

42:10

So yeah.

So we were just prepping ourselves for that.

We did go back and we got a whole bunch of Japanese types of candy, some Kit Kats, and I brought my coworkers some stuff and they just absolutely loved it.

They have a eyelash curler and cash is like look for a red package.

42:28

And so we’re looking all over for this red package.

You can’t tell what’s inside that red package, like what brand it’s gonna be, but when you actually open it up, it’s a Shishito eyelash curler.

In the States, it’s like 30 bucks.

To get that same one there it’s like 8 bucks.

Shishito, what does that mean?

42:44

It’s a Japanese brand like skin care makeup brand.

Is it a special kind of eyelash curler?

It’s supposed to be one of the best ones.

Just stand like what you would expect or does it have any like unique?

Features.

It doesn’t have any unique features, but it is like supposed to be 1 of.

The cuz I’ve seen some that almost are like little brush Combs and a curler.

43:04

Interesting, but.

Supposed to, I mean, not that I curl my eyelashes, right, but from what I know from Brittany, it’s supposed to be really top quality, substantially cheaper there than of course, as she said, you could get here in the US But isn’t Shishito, I mean, it’s a brand right when we were staying.

43:21

Shishito Peppers.

Kind of like that, but when we were staying in Kyoto, the first time we went, you were talking about.

Their face wash.

Yeah, some of the makeup and face wash that they had complimentary I think in the hotel with the toiletries was a Cheeto and we were really.

43:37

Your mom took it.

My mom and Zana and my end wash, Yeah.

But very like inexpensive high end but good quality.

Local to Japan, yes, which it would make sense that it would be less there.

And the stores are open like 24/7.

A lot of four, seven, Yeah, not all of the stores, but most of the stores.

43:54

Are open all of us, most of all kinds of stores or just this particular?

The Don.

Quixote.

The Don Quixote.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

So just think of the vibe in here.

Like, you know how people go wild for Bucky’s here in the US and we’ll stop in it.

That’s the type of sentiment people over there have for Don Quixote.

44:12

If I was gonna give it like an analogy or comparison.

Yeah, I need to go.

Yes, you do.

A must stop.

And we didn’t do this the first time we went to Japan.

I actually didn’t know about it the first time we went to Japan, but it was right next door to where we were going to the sumo event.

And this is super exciting.

44:28

I really wanted to see some sumo wrestling and when I asked Kasha, I originally like, hey, are you interested in going?

And she was like, I’ll ask Ryan and Lenny.

And I guess Ryan was like, yeah, yeah, let’s go.

And they didn’t know how Lenny would take it.

She loved.

She was.

Standing up, yelling at.

44:43

Yes she was.

She was on the bench between US and she was standing up cheering for our person.

But hilarious.

Not just a sumo show you start with.

Like seeing a geisha do a song and dance, and then they talk about the history of sumo.

44:59

They go through their routine, like their stretches and their exercises that they do.

Then they go over some demonstrations on like, what the rules?

And so like, what would get you a point or how would you get the other person out in English?

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah, absolutely.

45:16

And then the room was divided pretty much in two sides.

So on your side, you are cheering for your person on that side, and on the other side they have, you know, the competitor and you.

It’s very like interactive too.

So like they were talking about the salt that they throw into the ring and we all got to go up there and throw the salt.

45:37

And then we saw some wrestling matches and then at the end someone in the audience can go and try to go up against the sumo wrestlers.

And I was trying so hard to get Jamal or Ryan to participate and both boys were just being Debbie Downer so.

45:56

You had to show him what’s up.

No.

Yeah, I was like, you’re talking all that game, why don’t you go in there and do it if you want to do?

It but these like sumo wrestlers are like 300 to 350 lbs and the show came with a sign.

What do they put a suit on?

46:13

Well, that are you?

Well, see, here’s the thing.

This is half the reason why I didn’t want to do it, right?

The sumo ring is actually like a sand ring, right?

I’m wearing clothes, not exceptionally nice, but I’m going to be going out in those clothes, walking around later in the day.

I didn’t know how hard they were really going to try.

46:30

I know they’re not really going to try to beat me and throw me down, right?

I mean, obviously.

Well, right, maybe you don’t know.

I thought not and I was right once I finally saw it, but I’m thinking to myself, I don’t want to get dirty.

So that’s one of the the main reasons why I don’t want to do it.

46:47

I don’t know how hard they’re going to go at you.

But then the people who volunteered, some kids volunteered, believe it or not, and then adults, but they put all of the people who volunteered in like inflatable fat sumo suits.

So you came out like all watery, so your actual clothes were protected.

47:05

And then of course they let the kids.

The kids went two on one on the sumo wrestlers and as a joke, of course, the the kids are clearly they’re not pushing them, but eventually the sumo will back down like you pushing me out of the ring.

And he let the kids win, but he did not let any of the adults win.

47:20

That is for sure.

They tried like really hard, but eventually, like once they were done, like, all right, this is ridiculous.

It was like a smooth, comfortable push, but they pushed him with might and got them out of the ring.

It’s so funny because like the kids and even the adults are like pushing with all their might and they’re just standing there like statues.

47:36

Like they are not moving.

They are just rock solid.

And the show came with a all you can eat hot pot chicken meal.

And it had different sides to it.

So there was like a fried chicken side and there I think it was like a little salad type thing and some dessert and edamame.

47:54

Yeah.

And so you could order any of that like as many times as you wanted.

It also came with a free drink as well.

A drink.

Wow, I love this.

Yeah, so it was fantastic.

Yeah.

And so this wasn’t like a true sumo match again.

48:09

I mean, you could see they were giving demonstrations, the history, the routine.

So this is clearly catered for tourists.

So you’re not in a big sumo arena, although they do have a real legitimate sumo ring.

Down there, legitimate sumo people.

Yeah, yeah, they are legitimate sumo people.

48:24

They have gotten injured so they’re no longer in the professional circuit.

So this is what they do as like the demonstration.

So eventually they will do a sumo match to see who wins amongst them and they will legitimately do it.

But it’s not a registered fight then at that.

Point is this something that you book on like Viator?

48:42

Get your guide.

Yeah, we worked out on Viator and in our itinerary and in our show notes.

We’ll have it linked for you guys.

I would highly recommend this.

Don’t go in again thinking you’re going to see like a true sumo match in that way.

But they make the event really fun, really interactive, you learn a lot, you get good food.

49:00

It was a fun experience all around.

And you get a picture at the end that they print for you and they don’t charge it you or so you get a free picture at the end with the sumo wrestlers and the geisha.

How?

Fun.

Yeah.

So what was really exciting about this day in particular was earlier in the trip as we were landing in Tokyo, one of our squaddies, Reagan had said that she had, she was in Japan.

49:28

She kind of made like a hint that she was in Japan and she was jet lagged.

And I was like an honorary squatty at this point.

And so I was like, so are we going to meet up for drinks?

And she was like, yeah, so she had picked a spot for us to meet up for that night and we were going to head to that area to to meet up with her and her husband and meet a squatty in person.

49:52

So.

I love that we’ve been doing those here and there, like more frequently than ever before, and I just love it.

So she picked a rooftop bar and restaurant in.

My Girl rooftop bar.

Good job, Reagan.

Yeah, it was kind of in like the Harajuku Shibuya area.

50:09

And so we had a little bit of downtime, Jamal and I, so we actually went to the Tokyo Plaza Harajuku.

And these are buildings where they have these rooftop terraces open to the public.

And you can, there’s a Starbucks at the top there so you can grab a drink or you can kind of like work in their outdoor space.

50:28

I think there was Wi-Fi available and you can just kind of look out.

And there was 2 buildings like this.

So Jamal and I checked that out for the first time and it was night time.

So we had like night time views.

And then we headed over to the rooftop bar and restaurant.

It was called a soap and it was on the 18th floor of the of the Sequence Myashita Park Hotel in Shibuya and really good cocktails.

50:53

I think I had my favorite cocktail I’ve ever had.

What was it?

It was, I don’t even know what it was it was called.

Do you remember what it was?

Called oh, I don’t remember what yours was.

Called Killer Queen cocktail and it was a rose cassis liquor, strawberry and a lemon puree and it was sparkling, creamy, fruity and so so delicious.

51:17

Like I got two of them.

I didn’t even want to switch my drink because it was so good.

You and Reagan both got the same thing.

Yeah, Yeah.

I just ended up going simple and getting an Old Fashioned.

They had a nice cocktail list of specialty drinks, but none of them that just really caught my attention.

So if they don’t, then I’m an old fashioned type person.

51:36

So that’s what I got.

But their drink selection was good.

But for me, I thought it was a lot of stuff too sweet and fruity that I didn’t want in that moment.

I see, and we spent like 3 hours just chatting about our trips and where they were going throughout Japan, what we were doing on our trip, just about life in general.

51:57

They’re from Massachusetts, kind of outside of Boston, so it was just really cool to just kind of catch up and get to know her in person.

I love that.

So that was the conclusion of our Saturday.

On Sunday, we were going to try our luck at another park, another famous park to see cherry blossom.

52:17

So we’re like, all right, well, this park doesn’t have a blooming.

It’s a new day.

Maybe they’ve started to bloom, maybe there’s more blooming.

So we went to a different park.

First thing we did in the morning.

I’m going to butcher the pronunciation again.

Forgive it, but I believe you pronounce it Ueno, right?

Ueno Park.

52:32

Think so.

Yeah, it’s spelled UENO, So I’m going to go with Ueno.

All right.

And this again is one of the most famous parks that you can go to that has a lot of cherry trees to catch for cherry blossom season.

It is a huge park.

You can spend a ton of time roaming through this park.

52:50

It’s really beautiful, and it’s also home to the zoo, some museums, and the zoo even has the giant pandas there.

So pandas.

Yes, it has pandas.

I think the zoo here in this park is also the oldest zoo in Japan.

53:06

I believe it is too.

Were the pandas running around?

We didn’t go to the zoo, but the park has the zoo.

So point being is this, this is almost, I don’t want to say it’s almost like a Central Park, but it’s not just, oh, here’s a park and there’s trees.

There’s stuff to do within the park like you would find.

53:22

Balboa Park.

Balboa Park in San Diego.

Exactly.

Yeah, there’s a pond.

A lot of the cherry blossom trees are like lining this walkway along the water.

And we did find more cherry blossom trees here that were in bloom.

53:38

There was three kind of congregated together that were really in bloom.

And so that’s where everyone was, just like all the tourists were just in that area.

But we got some good pictures.

It was really beautiful to see.

And we went there before we went to a shrine that actually Reagan recommended to us.

53:57

Yeah, So we went to the Nizu shrine in Ezu.

Again, forgive the pronunciation.

It’s so hard.

Even when I try to Google this stuff phonetically, I’ll get like multiple responses of like how you say it.

So I never really know.

But this shrine is a historic Shinto shrine in Tokyo.

54:15

So when we say Shinto shrine or you heard us earlier talking about like temples, right?

Temples is for Buddhists, shrines is for Shinto.

Shinto is the indigenous or native religion of Japan.

I’m not too sure the philosophy of it or belief system, but you’ll see shrines and temples all through Japan.

54:34

Shinto shrines are for Shinto.

Do they look different?

They’re kind of different.

I would say that the the shrines are more pagoda oriented where the temples sometimes have it, but not necessarily.

And so Reagan had already been to Sensoji Temple, and she was saying how busy it was and crowded it was.

54:58

And then she was talking about Nezu Shrine and how there was almost no people there.

And she was like, highly recommended.

It was my favorite thing that we’ve done so far.

So we’re like, all right, we’ll go.

And she was absolutely right.

There was like almost no one there.

It reminded me of Fushimi Anari shrine in Kyoto, which is the one you were talking about earlier with all of the Tory gates lined up that are so.

55:21

It had a lot of gates.

It did.

That must be what I saw.

Yes.

But those ones were like miniature gates to look like it.

Well, I don’t know if it was designed to specifically look like it, but it is part of the shrine having those targets, but they’re much, much smaller.

55:36

Than you walk underneath.

Them, yes, you walk under.

It’s not that small.

Yeah, some of them I felt like I had a duck though, a little bit.

I didn’t.

Well, I know you, you, you never do.

I had to a little bit.

So they’re not like full blown size ones, but you can walk under it, OK.

Yeah, yeah.

So it was really nice because there was like no one there.

55:53

And when you’re at Fushimi and Ari Shrine in Kyoto, you’re constantly at the beginning getting in and out of people’s pictures and it’s very crowded.

This one, I could walk through the whole thing and like no one was there.

So it was really nice to just kind of have that little reprieve.

56:09

I felt like it was away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and we really liked it.

Guess how old this shrine is?

2000 years old.

Close to about 1900 years old.

The current structure is built like in the 1700s.

So I I’ve forgive me, I have forgotten what happened to it.

56:26

If they’ve added, got burnt down, destroyed for whatever reason, but there’s been a shrine here.

Of all this exactly.

Exactly.

Not necessarily built of stone built of wood, but I know it might get your juices full a little.

More impressive.

So my dad and his girlfriend had gone to Japan.

56:46

They spent like 20 days in Japan before we were there.

They.

Went to a lot of the miscellaneous cities.

Yeah.

So they went all over Japan, North-south everywhere, and they kept talking about the SU Kiji outer market, which is like a big place where they actually used to do the like famous tuna, like where they throw it and kind of like the tuna markets and stuff like that.

57:11

Auctions.

Yeah, auctions.

They sell tunas out there like I think one of the most expensive tunas they’ve ever sold at that market went for like 1,000,000 plus dollars, yeah.

It’s crazy.

And so they don’t really do the auction in that area, but they still keep that market going.

So it’s like a whole bunch of food stalls and different things like that.

57:30

So we went to go grab some food in that area.

I would say a lot of it is fish and seafood, but.

You can find Wagyu A.

Lot of stuff there that is not seafood.

I don’t think you would have gone there, Kim and been like shit, I have nothing to eat.

You would have found a lot of stuff.

I am obsessed with Wagyu right now, yeah.

57:48

Yeah, they have a lot of Wagyu, so you can definitely find something to eat there.

And so we went and we had a place on our list that we wanted to try called Moto Dane.

And a lot of the times the stalls have like set nigiri plates.

So we went, it wasn’t the stall.

58:05

It was like actually a small restaurant, like maybe a block off of the market.

So we went and got Nagiri there.

At this point, Ryan really wanted to try it.

Jamal and I really wanted to try it.

Because we hadn’t had sushi yet on this trip.

Yeah.

So.

But Kasha and Lenny were like, absolutely not.

58:21

Those are my girls.

So I think they went.

Ventured off with them.

To go get udon in the same kind of area, so they were able to find food also that was conducive for them.

So you would have gone with them, but it was really good and it was affordable for sure.

58:39

And then after that, we just walked up and down the marketplace and you can see everything.

You can see like fresh oyster, sea urchin, the tuna Wagyu, lots of different snacks.

So we got Hakato cream ice cream, which is like a really rich, creamy ice cream that was delicious.

58:57

So we got that.

Did we get half strawberry half vanilla?

I think we did.

Yeah, I think we did.

I don’t want to say I wanted only.

Well, when we say vanilla, we’re just talking just straight white ice cream, right?

But they don’t put vanilla flavor in.

59:13

The whole point of that Hakado ice cream is that it tastes like milk.

You know, it’s like the true pure milk.

Of course they had it with the strawberry flavored, but you can really taste that tanginess of the true milk flavor with it, which I really, really like.

59:29

It makes it more unique than, oh I’m in America eating ice cream and it’s really sugary vanilla or whatever, so it’s good.

So at this time we do have a reservation later in the day, but we needed to kill some time.

And so of course, we’re trying our luck at seeing the cherry blossoms because they’re kind of in season.

59:47

So we went to another garden called Hamaruku Gardens.

It’s really big.

There’s like a big pond in there.

They have a traditional tea house in there.

You can get like matcha tea there as well.

And so we just found like a nice spot on the grass.

Ryan and Lenny took a nap for like a solid hour or so on the grass.

1:00:07

On the grass.

Nice.

Kasha just laid out a jacket and Lenny went right to sleep.

And then Kasha, I think she she was like scrolling on Instagram and stuff like that.

And then Jamal and I walked around the park.

It was actually a really beautiful park.

So we probably spent like an hour roaming around the park before we needed to head on out to our next reservation.

1:00:28

Our next reservation was Team Borderless.

Have you ever heard of Team Borderless?

No, I had never ever really heard about this either.

I first started getting wind of it when Brittany’s dad and girlfriend had just gotten back from Japan as well.

1:00:44

I should say when they just got back, when they were even initially planning their trip, they were talking about this.

I’m like, what’s this?

Do they have an exhibit in Vegas or somewhere here in the US too or something?

Right now they have one that looks like it.

It’s it’s like a digital Art Museum, like a very immersive, kind of like the Van Gogh and things like that.

1:01:00

Yeah.

But basically this one company, they’ll do to some degree.

This is really like a pop up.

I mean, it’s a staple there that’s set up, but it’s not going to be there forever.

And they’ll do those digital art museums.

They have the original 1, which is just team Borderless.

1:01:16

And then they have a second one because it was so popular called like Team Borderless, like Planets.

We opted to do the planets one because why?

Because it’s a more interactive experience and so you’ll be like walking through water.

1:01:32

It’s like very sensory oriented.

And if you’re going with kids as well, like they’re going to be more engaged.

And so since we figured we’re traveling with a four year old, we wanted to do it.

We also wanted to do it because Team Borderless, the original is there to stay, but planets is just temporary.

1:01:48

So we may not be able to do it again.

So wanted to do it for that reason too.

And there were three main sections.

There was a garden section of forest section and a water section.

I think you would have really liked it, Kim, because it’s a place where you can get a lot of really cool Instagrammable photos.

1:02:07

Like the garden area.

They have these like floating where they orchid.

They were orchids and they’re hanging on street strings, but the whole room that you’re in is like 360 floor ceiling wall mirror.

1:02:23

So then it makes it seem really more concentrated than it is, although there are a lot of them, like coming down, but it just creates this whole sensory element too of you like, whoa, there’s mirrors on the floor, there’s mirrors above.

It makes you really feel like you’re really embedded in these orchids that are coming from the ceiling up and down.

1:02:41

Yeah, and they interact with you, so if you get close to them, they start to raise.

And then you can start and make your own path through these orchids.

And then if someone’s not standing in a spot for enough time, they’ll start to lower down.

So they’re just like constantly, like ebbing and flowing.

1:02:56

And it’s really good for pictures.

My one big tip is do not wear a dresser skirt because everything is mirrored.

And you probably also do want to wear shorts because you’ll be walking through water.

So it’s kind of hard.

And I wore a skirt and they did have like a little tie that I could put around me.

1:03:14

So I did do that.

But then I took it off because I was like, oh, we’re going to go through water in the other sections.

It was a mistake.

But you know what, it’s OK.

Whoever saw my crotch saw my crotch that day.

Yeah, so when we were in the garden room, she had the long skirt that they gave or covering, and so of course you couldn’t see the reflection.

1:03:35

But when you go into the water section, which we’ll get to when we start talking about it, they don’t want you to take in your phone, wallet, keys, bags, anything.

So, like, put it in the locker.

Oh, you could take your phone.

That’s right.

Because we took photos.

Excuse me?

Everything else was left behind.

1:03:51

So Brittany’s like, well, we’re getting in water, but I’m not going to carry this skirt around anymore.

That’s going to cover like my entire.

Floor length too.

Floor.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that was a mistake because once you get out of the water in the water exhibit, who knew there were going to be more mirrors?

1:04:06

And then, you know, I’m just walking behind Brittany and having reflective views of everything.

Lucky you.

So while I’ve seen it before, so is it really lucky, Something new?

But somebody else got lucky in the moment.

Maybe.

Maybe.

We also went into a forest area and their big attraction there was like this five room space where you catch and release extinct animals and they have like a whole interactive app and the more you catch it, the more facts that gives you about like these extinct animals.

1:04:37

And it was really cool.

They had like a land portion, they had a kind of like a sea portion.

It was very interactive so.

Yeah.

So you had to download the app.

So as soon as you walked into the room, they had the QR code for you to do it.

They give you free Wi-Fi in there cuz of course if you don’t have it, they want you to be able to do it.

1:04:54

So with the app, you either have an arrow to shoot the animal, so you’ll have to kind of line it up to shoot it.

And again, these are just projections on the wall, but the animals are moving, interacting even with each other.

On the floor are the water animals.

1:05:10

So if you want to catch a water animal, you have to cast a net so you can toggle between am I shooting an arrow?

Am I casting a net?

And like Brittany said, depending on how often you caught it or what you caught, it would give you like information about it.

And you’re there acting like as a researcher, so to speak, interacting with it.

1:05:28

So the more times you catch it, the more information you learn about it.

So but they had hundreds of different animals that you can do in there.

But eventually you’ll get tired of it.

And why I say that is as cool as that wall was to see all that, the app I wish was better and easier to use because you get really frustrated because I’m like, dude, I’m straight up shooting this.

1:05:49

Like, why are you not registering it right now?

Or I shot like a big giant lion and all of a sudden I hit some small little bird or raccoon that I didn’t even see that’s hiding behind it.

Like how did I hit the raccoon and not the lion?

Right.

So that the app I wish could be better and the the shooting feature, but really cool room to be in.

1:06:08

It’s a it’s a mind sensory trip.

Yeah.

And the last area we went in through was the water one.

And you have to take off your shoes and put everything in the locker, like Jamal said.

And you start by walking up a pathway to like, a light beam waterfall.

And then you walk through like, a bubble room where, like, it’s like foamy bubbles that are all like, home party.

1:06:27

Yeah, it’s really cool.

You can go into a room that’s also mirrored where you pick like a star on the app and it’s a whole bunch of like light streaming down.

And if you pick a star on your phone, it starts lighting up in that way.

1:06:43

And so at one point there was like nothing going on.

And I told Jamal, I said we have to control like the stars and like the lighting.

And so it made it more fun and like interactive.

So it’s just a really cool like sensory digital art.

How?

Long did you spend in there?

1:06:59

An hour and a half, no, like total, Yeah, I think we spent like 2 to 3 hours there that long.

Yeah, time flies then, I guess.

I didn’t feel like it was that long, quite honestly.

It was at least two hours, OK, and then by that point we worked up an appetite so I had a place on my list specifically for ramen.

1:07:18

Good ramen.

We’re like, we need to go to a good ramen spot.

Better than B shot Kim, I’m going to tell you right now you would have been in love with this one.

Better than B shock?

Yeah, who puts corn in the ramen?

Corn comes in a lot of ramen actually.

It does terrible.

My favorite place here in Austin.

1:07:34

They have corn corn in their ramen.

Because you’re a corn and ramen girl, aren’t you?

Like all their ramens come with corn.

Like how have you not had corn in your ramen?

Yeah.

We don’t like it.

Well, you and corn have a storied past.

I love corn.

1:07:50

Nevertheless, I just love to rag on B shock for you because I know you love it.

I don’t hate it, it’s just not what I think is my favorite.

However, though, this was good ramen.

Yes, it was.

It was like an hour wait to get into the ramen shop and Ke$ha, Ryan and Lenny had to sit separate from us.

1:08:07

But it was worth the wait.

We all walked out and we’re like, wow, that was worth it.

What kind did you get?

It was a tonkatsu ramen.

I love tonkatsu.

That’s my favorite.

The pork broth and everything like that.

I’m not opposed to getting other types too, but that was.

1:08:22

I’m a spicy miso.

Girl, I love a spicy miso.

Is very very good I wish I could get a tonkatsu with some spicy elements or chili oil to add and to give it a little bit more pick but spicy miso is I like to switch it up too.

But like when you have a really good like rich broth, I love it because a really rich broth like that reminds me then almost like of a FA because you know, it’s it’s stewed an animal based where you really get that the essence of it.

1:08:49

So nevertheless, but we did, we didn’t even say what the ramen place was that we went to.

It was called Ramen Tatsunonia.

And this is actually near the Tokyo government building, which we were actually happy about because afterwards at in the evening, the Tokyo Government building, they’ll do a 15 minute digital light show that’s on their building that.

1:09:13

Fits what is with these Asian countries in their light shows they.

Love them.

They love them.

They love them, yeah.

So after we had gotten the ROM and we went to go do that.

Yeah, the Tokyo Metropolitan Buildings, they actually have two free observatories, so you can actually go up, look out at the city.

1:09:29

We didn’t go up to any of them because it was late and we were gonna only do the last showing on the government building for the night.

So we barely made the last one.

Like we at first we thought we wouldn’t even make it and we actually separated from cash on Ryan.

They wanted to go home.

1:09:46

And so Jamal and I ventured out for this.

But we did make the night the light show, and it starts at around 6:00 and it goes like every 30 minutes and ends usually around like nine, 9:30-ish.

So we caught like the 9:30 showing and they were doing a Godzilla showing.

1:10:03

Yes, they had 3 short films, two of them are Godzilla and then one was just kind of like, I don’t know, like a colorful Japanese art show I guess on the building.

But 15 minutes it was definitely worth it.

And they do change it up so it’s not always Godzilla.

1:10:21

Like they will change it for cultural events, will change it for cherry blossom season when it’s like really in season.

They’ll change it for the holidays, for New Year’s, things like that.

So I would highly recommend it, especially if you’re in the area.

I mean, this building’s near 800 feet.

1:10:37

I think it’s like 797 feet tall.

So the whole building is really lit up with whatever show and that they’re doing.

And it’s not just like, oh, let’s light up lights on the building.

Really the projection of Godzilla on there, of course, is the shape of Godzilla.

But when he’s there destroying a building, the building is the government building that he’s destroying because the lights match perfectly to the windows, to the frame.

1:11:00

And then as they’re like, after that scene, they’re reconstructing it.

You can see like, oh, well, the building actually looks like it has a hole in it, you know, and it’s not just some random flat screen that they’re just projecting stuff on.

So they make the building really interactive and part of the show too, based off of its shape.

1:11:17

And that was our last full night in Tokyo.

The next day we were, we had like a was it 4:00 PM or 6:00 PM flight?

Something around that time.

And one thing that we didn’t do either time we were in Tokyo before was go to a cat cafe.

And Lenny really wanted to go to a cat cafe.

1:11:35

So Kasha found one that wasn’t super far from where we were staying and it was called Cat Cafe Moth and we got there right when it opened.

I love this place because they probably had about 15 cats and they were all different breeds, different sizes, kittens, no kittens.

1:11:52

And they had a system where if the cat was wearing like no collar, you could touch it freely.

Anyone could touch it.

But if it was wearing a blue collar, you could pet it.

But if you were to give it a treat, it might kind of like nip at you for the treat.

And then ones that were wearing red collars are still getting like social.

1:12:10

So they said, like, if it comes up to you, fine, but don’t like actively go pet it.

But there was like Persian cats, there were Scottish fold cats.

There were so many different types of cats.

Cats, you’d sit down and they would like come in your lap.

And it was really it was a fun cat cafe, better than one in San Diego.

1:12:28

All cat cafes are good in my book.

I well, the, the animal cafes that they have in Japan, I mean they’re wide-ranging of animals.

I mean, you could do owl cafes.

They have copy Baras.

The first time we went, we did a hedgehog cafe.

Off the top of my head, I’m forgetting a whole.

1:12:43

Penguin.

Penguin.

Snakes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So cat cafes were the originals were of course, you just go to these cafes, you get to interact with the animals and of course all those other animals sound more exciting than cats, right?

Because everybody sees cats every day, so to speak.

Not if you have one, but I mean, you’ve been a strays, they’re out and about, right?

1:13:02

So nothing special.

But when you have that many different varieties all together and you’re just petting on them and the relaxed environment, they have toys, they’re cat trees.

You come in here, these animal cafes, they’ll sometimes even give you like free drinks when you’re in here.

So you get to just enjoy your hot coffee or iced tea or whatever it is that they’re.

1:13:22

Giving you Does Japan have stray cats?

I didn’t really see.

Anything on the no stray dogs?

No shooting on the street?

No, they probably rescue them and put them in these animal cafes, but no, I didn’t see them.

So we had a good time.

We were thinking about doing another animal cafe, but when all is said and done, we decide on cat.

1:13:42

And I’m not even upset about it cuz they’re not of course getting unique.

We have a cat, but it’s just a fun environment when you have that many of them.

And we were sitting outside the Cat Cafe, and we’re waiting for it to open, and I just smell like this delicious, like baked good.

1:13:59

So I just kind of, like, wandered down and there’s your nose.

Yeah, I followed my nose.

I was like, where?

What is that?

And there was this alleyway, and they had waffles and doughnuts and crepes and, like, cream puffs.

And I was like, oh, my gosh, we have to get a snack here afterwards.

1:14:15

So I before the shop opened, I showed Kasha and we were, like, scoping out everything that we were going to get afterwards.

And we did get crepes after, and we got one that had like a slice of cheesecake in it with strawberries and bananas and cheesecake.

And yeah, it was like a caramel drizzle with a cheesecake.

1:14:33

Strawberries, bananas, like.

Full on regular slice of cheesecake in a crepe.

Yeah, Wow.

Yeah, I don’t think American size, portion size of a cheesecake slice, but definitely a triangle slice of cheesecake, a little bit smaller for sure to fit in the crepe.

And they, they roll their crepes up and Jamal and I split that and it was fantastic.

1:14:53

Highly recommend. 10 out of 10.

And then right across the street, Jamal had found a a place that had like, nigiri and more sushi that we wanted to try.

And they specifically had like a tuna set because we love tuna sushi.

So we got that, Ke$ha.

1:15:10

I’m sorry, I was going to say Ryan was all about it too, because Ryan really wants to eat sushi.

He likes sushi a lot.

Me and Brittany do, of course.

Cash and Lenny no.

Yeah, so they went and ate, I think like next door or something like that.

Well, we had the sushi and yeah, it was fantastic.

1:15:26

We had our flight later that night, so we went back to our hotel to grab grab our bags.

Our flight was at 6:15 out of Narita.

But it does take like an hour, a little bit longer, an hour and a half to get to the airport.

So.

And then of course you have to be at the airport like 3 hours early for international flights.

1:15:43

So that does take up a lot of your time.

Lounge in the airport at Tokyo.

There was, yes, absolutely.

More specifically at Narita here.

So there’s two airports flying into Tokyo.

There’s Haneda, which is closer to city center and International Airport, of course, but just not as big.

1:16:00

And then there’s Narita, which is super far outside of Tokyo city center in a really isolated area, takes a lot longer to get to.

They have something called the Narita Express, which is a train that you could take from central train and metro stops within Tokyo to it.

1:16:18

But even with the express in the name, don’t be deceived, it really does take about an hour to get out there.

But you can also get out there not taking the express and taking a normal metro, which takes a little bit longer and is cheaper.

So just know what you’re getting into when you fly into Japan or out of it, specifically going to Tokyo with those two airports.

1:16:40

The lounge was actually pretty good.

They had like beers on draft that you can get.

They had some snacks and that were just kind of out.

And then they also had like a, a menu you can order from and then pick up mixing, yeah, your, your food and take it back with you.

So it was actually a pretty nice lounge I would say.

1:16:57

It was a techie beer on draft situation because you put the glass up there and then it would grab it, dip it back so that it pours it in a way to where it doesn’t create the head.

And then at the very end it will tilt it back and give you like a big burst.

1:17:12

So that way you get the head topping on your beer.

So they put it on in a very so.

Good robots and everything.

But yeah, this lounge, did you say it allowed you to order food?

Yeah.

The menu.

I love those.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you can pick some stuff up and then there was order food just as well.

1:17:28

But by the time we got there into the lounge, we didn’t have too much time because we had to wait before we got in because there was a little bit, a bit of a wait, I know.

But we enjoyed ourselves in the lounge.

We did.

So that wrapped up Japan Part 2 for us, or more specifically Tokyo.

1:17:46

But I’m ready to go back.

Yeah, let’s go 2026.

Yes, I’m ready to go back even this year.

If time allowed for it, I would go back again this year.

It sounds like a wonderful trip and I can’t wait to visit Tokyo myself.

Thank you, Squaddies, for tuning in to our episode this week.