We arrived in Japan after a longer than expected travel day.  We had imagined arriving at the airport and quickly getting into the city before grabbing some sushi for dinner.  As it turned out we landed around 9:30 and we still had a journey of just over two hours including walking to the train station from our terminal, buying tickets, asking for help since we didn’t understand our tickets, and transferring before getting to our stop.  We finally got to the Airbnb around midnight and decided to call it a night without getting the sushi we were hoping for.

We woke up the next morning in our tiny apartment and decided to head straight to the Tsukiji Fish Market to experience the hustle and bustle of the commercial market and get some much desired food.  Walking around the market there were instantly options and we grabbed a quick streamed king crab bun to hold us over while we searched for the right sushi place.  We passed some great looking sushi stands as soon as we arrived at the market but were intimidated by the lack of menus and crowds that were swarming around every option.

Finally, we stumbled upon a conveyor belt sushi place that had indoor seating and was crowded but didn’t have a long line.  Pulling plates of the best sushi we had ever had from the constant stream of the conveyor belt luckily requires no translation.  After having our fill of delicious tuna, salmon, and other unidentified items we left fully confident that we had experienced the best sushi of our lives thus far.  The rest of our time in Japan would be filled with exploring this beautiful country and chasing the dream of more amazing conveyor sushi.

With the remaining time on our only full day in Tokyo we explored the city and tried to see as many sites as possible. We went to the the lovely Meiji Shrine where Kelly spent lots of time admiring the written prayers offered by faithful buddhists and visiting tourists and slightly less time being disgusted by large, brightly colored spiders.

After the park we took the subway to the government building complex for a view from the 45th floor observation deck in Government Building #2.  The view offers an appreciation for how truly expansive the city is with the mountains just beyond.  It was interesting to note that the best view of the Tokyo tower can only be seen from the cafe where you must make a purchase before entering. We chose to settle for the peripheral view of the tower instead of buying a latte to get a better view. The free observation deck was definitely worth it, but the little touch of consumerism/capitalism did remind us of home.

After the observation deck we spent some time wandering a little park with water features we spotted from atop the observation deck before heading to the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world – Shibuya Crossing, also known as “the scramble.” I think that we were a little early to see the peak “scramble”  – we were there at about 4pm and can only imagine what it looked like about an hour later. You can check out the scene in a short video on our Instagram.

We ended the day by doing some much needed laundry back at the apartment and grabbing some sushi at a sushi bar near our place before calling it an early night to be ready for our train to stop #2 in Japan, Shibu Onsen, in the morning.