Oh boy. Prepare yourself. This post is going to be a long one because we did so much in Tokyo! We spent two action-packed days here and had a ridiculous amount of fun. It is officially several family members’ favorite city in the world now. So, there’s going to be a lot of photos and even then it will be hard to capture the 48 hours we spent here. Here we go…

On Day 1, we hit the main spots (at least the main ones for us). We navigated all day using the Metro, and basing our fun around several key stops on the various lines. We kicked things off with Shibuya. The official description says this: “Famous for its dizzyingly busy scramble crossing and its shopping centers, Shibuya is a place where people of all ages can have fun day and night but only if they are willing to brave the agoraphobia-inducing crowds.” It’s incredible how busy this area was. And the crosswalk… wow. The Shibuya Crossing is the busiest intersection in Tokyo – and the world. There are 7 crossings from either side of the streets and as many as 2,500 people cross the intersection every time the lights turn green. Locals call this moment ‘the incredible scramble’ and we experienced it in all its glory. This photo of the crossing doesn’t even begin to do it justice.

At one point, we even saw some Mario Kart carts on a tour. (Apparently, the locals hate these because they mess up traffic and cause disruptions, but it was neat to see the Mario Kart video game live in front of us, with the drivers dressed up as characters.)

In Shibuya we also stopped and said hi to the statue of Hachikō, a famous dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno’s death.

Last but certainly not least, we did some shopping in Shibuya. And by ‘we’ did some shopping I really should say that the kids did some shopping. They were so excited to go into several of the stories, including a store devoted to Pokemon, a Nintendo store that required entry tickets just to get into, and a massive Disney store. I’m not going to lie – it was a bit overwhelming to me but we made it out alive!

Inside one of the stores (called Hands), there was an entire section devoted to capsule toy machines (those little machines that spit out plastic balls with little toys in them – called gashapon machines here). They’re so popular! Here’s Ryan in heaven after spending a few coins on one.

When we had our fill of Shibuya, we hopped back on the subway and headed for the Meiji Shrine. The shrine was completed and dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and the Empress Shoken in 1920, eight years after the passing of the emperor and six years after the passing of the empress. The shrine was destroyed during the war but was rebuilt shortly thereafter. Entry into the shrine grounds is marked by a massive torii gate, after which there’s a surprisingly tranquil forest (despite the large number of visitors). The approximately 100,000 trees that make up Meiji Jingu’s forest were planted during the shrine’s construction and were donated from regions across the entire country.

On the way to the shrine, there were these cool barrels of sake wrapped in straw. The sake barrels are offered every year to the enshrined deities by the Maiji Jingu Nationwide Sake Brewers Association. Fun, right?

After walking just a short distance, we arrived at the actual shrine. It was incredible and photos don’t do it justice. People were participating in typical Shinto activities, such as making offerings at the main hall, buying charms and amulets, and writing their wishes out on an ema. We only spectated.

After the shrine, we hopped back on the subway. By the way, we were still fairly energized and happy in our subway travels at this point. Proof:

Anyway, our next stop was Shinjuku, an area that Tokyo Cheapo describes like this: “It’s one of those areas that’s good for just about everything — sightseeing, shopping, eating, and drinking. With lots of neon lights, noise, and crowds, it’s got a definite “Tokyo” vibe.” This stop was a planned food stop for us, so that’s what we immediately set out to do. We split up and Matthew, Ryan, and I went to KFC. Ordering was entirely done through a machine – from ordering to paying – and the only interaction with people we had was when picking up our food once our number was called. There was a dining area upstairs with individual kiosks that you sat in, face forward, and ate silently in as if you were in a library cubicle. It wasn’t silent though – they had country music (of all things!) playing. We did some good people watching while we ate. The food was good and Matthew had his first melon soda.

Meanwhile, John, Audrey, and Rook went and had some traditional street food down this cute street.

After dining, we met up again in a Don Quixote store – a store with a little bit of everything in it.

Then we meandered our way to Kabukichō – the most famous, er, infamous, neighborhood within Shinjuku. It’s Japan’s largest red-light district, with lots of host and hostess bars, love hotels, and other NSFW attractions. To be honest, we didn’t realize it was the red light district when we arrived… and it was daytime so we’re not bad parents. 😊

The area has a lot of other stuff too, though, like the giant Godzilla head statue, above the Toho Cinema multiplex.

Our final stop in Shinjuku was for some bubble tea. Bubble Tea, which is also known as tapioca tea or pearl milk tea, is a popular Taiwanese drink that has become very popular in Japan. This particular area of Tokyo is known for some of its bubble tea shops. We went to 16 Tapi, a shop close to our metro stop. John doesn’t like these so he didn’t get one, but the rest of us each got a treat before moving on.

We did a quick shopping stop at a clothing store (Uniqlo) and then hopped back on the subway and headed to Tokyo stop to the infamous Character Street. This ‘street’ is actually a section of a mall under Tokyo Station, which means everything is in one compact space making it easy to navigate in a fairly short space of time. There were a couple dozen shops each featuring a character / genre – so stores for Gibli, Pokemon, Hello Kitty, Snoopy, etc. We did a little (more) shopping and then headed off to our next stop.

Our final stop for the first day was to Akihabara, a famous destination for fans of anime, manga, video games, and idol culture. Before that, it was known as the place to shop for discount electronics — in fact, Akihabara’s original nickname was “Denki-gai” (“Electric Town”). By this time in our day, it was getting a little late and had started to rain a little, so we didn’t say long here. Just long enough to get a taste of the excitement of the area. And, of course, a little time for Ryan to play some claw machine games at a store that had hundreds of the games.

At this point, we headed back to our final stop on the metro before jumping in a cab (John, Audrey, Rook) and hopping on a separate train (me, Ryan, Matthew) to call it a night. For the record, while we had a blast all day, this was the final subway photo… hahaha.

Ryan, Matthew, and I went back to the ship and had room service to end our long day. John, Rook, and Audrey headed back to the hotel they were staying in (since Rook and Audrey weren’t able to check into the ship until the next day). On the way, they stopped at a 7-11 for dinner. On the ship, the cruise director (Ray) had been talking constantly about how delicious the egg salad sandwiches are at Japan’s 7-11s. So, of course, John had to try one. (I tried one the next day, so no judgement in that statement.) And, yes, they were indeed amazing.

Our second day in Tokyo was a little more subdued (thankfully!). We headed to a nearby (to the ship) shopping center (yep, more shopping) and wandered around the mall. Here’s a photo of me outside of the mall with Doraemon, a famous robot cat from a Japanese manga series.

Inside the mall, John, Audrey, Rook, and Matthew went to a train sushi place for lunch. A bullet train delivered their sushi to their table!

A cool thing about Japan that we discovered is that they have allergy menus that are relatively easy to interpret, which was essential for Matthew’s peanut allergy. We used a menu such as the one here for the sushi restaurant as well as a Mister Donut treat stop later.

Rook, Audrey, and Matthew did more clothing shopping (while John supervised with a credit card, haha) while Ryan and I went to yet another claw machine store (where Ryan ‘won’ a toy from a show he likes: Spy x Family). We also stopped by a Hello Kitty shop because I was a fan when I was a kid and so Ryan says she’s  my idol.

After all the shopping, the store attendant gave John a lottery ticket to see if he won a prize for all the shopping. Sadly, he didn’t win, but the fact that after this much shopping he walked away with only a small piece of paper that said “Lose” was hilarious to me, so it was photo worthy.

At this point, we made our way back to the ship. All in all, Tokyo was a fantastic city for our family. I don’t think anybody had a bad time. We were mesmerized by all the sights and sounds, and amazed at how clean the city was despite there not being many public trash cans. There were millions of people yet it was organized chaos without honking or screaming so it didn’t seem nearly as crazy as New York City or Las Vegas. Every single one of us agreed that we would absolutely return to Tokyo again in the future. John and I just might not do as much shopping next time… 😉