We arrived in Tokyo mid-day after traveling for almost 24 hours. It was an overwhelming experience navigating out of the airport and through customs. We sat down to get our bearings and realized, we could do whatever we wanted. At the time, all I could think of was sleep so we jumped on the subway and headed to a cheap hostel for the night. Walking through town, I couldn't help notice the similarities to any big city I'd ever been to. Besides the signs with Japanese characters, I could have been walking through downtown San Francisco. The air was chilly but the sun was warm on our faces and we lavished the feeling of starting a new adventure. The hostel owner greeted us then showed us to our room. He opened the door to an 8x6 room with two bed rolls in the corner and left us there. We rolled out the beds immediately and crashed, exhausted from the trip. We woke up a bit later and left the hostel to find a place to eat. The owner had recommended a place nearby but Google maps couldn't find it and neither could we. We stopped in a tiny restaurant and sat down. The cook promptly brought us the English menu which included grilled chicken liver, grilled chicken thigh, grilled chicken tongue, etc. Only grilled parts of chicken. We decided to grab a drink instead and ordered a whiskey highball or lots of whiskey and a tiny splash of club soda. A man who had been at the bar for a seemingly long time turned around and greeted us. He did not speak one word of English. After our first drinks were gone, he quickly had two more brought out to us. We tried to have a conversation but struggled with the language barrier. He compensated by ordering us more drinks. Then the cook brought us two plates of, you guessed it, grilled chicken. We said we hadn't ordered it but the friendly gentleman are the bar had ordered for us. Not wanting to be rude and trying to follow our rule to try everything, we dug in. Much to my surprise, it was delicious! We gobbled it down (no pun intended) and thanked the man for his recommendation. We continued to struggle through conversation before he payed and left. We went to pay ourselves but found the man had already bought our meal and drinks. Still a bit hungry, we found another restaurant down the street and sat down. They did not have an English so we pointed at pictures of the food we wanted. About halfway through the meal, we realized we were at the restaurant that the hostel owner had recommended. We gorged on tuna with rice and miso soup before heading back to the hostel and passing out. The next morning we woke up early, not used to the time change, and left the hostel. We walked down a beautiful path next to the river that cut through Tokyo. We were on our way to the famous Sumo Hall where we were hoping to catch a bit of the tournament that was going on. The place was huge and adorned with tons of bright flags surrounding the outside. There was a big sign that said English and immediately a guy came over to help us. Apparently tickets had sold out 5 minutes before we got there. So we turned around and walked back into the city, hoping for better luck the next day. We checked into our next hostel and left our stuff to go explore the city. We picked a direction and started walking. Not all of Tokyo is covered with big buildings and flashy lights. We were in a much more mellow part of town. We decided to pick one word a day to learn and use and on our second day in Japan, we decided on excuse me or sumimasen. We got really good at that one! We walked into a toy store that was exploding with noise and movement. They had everything you could possible think of; Harry Potter wands, a $10,000 batman mask, and, what we were looking for, real Japanese pokemon cards. Slightly overwhelmed, we stumbled out into a bustling alleyway with tons of shops and restaurants. We stayed in the alley system for a while before coming to a park. It was a nice break from all of the concrete and tons of people were enjoying the quiet calmness of the area. The pigeons were sleeping in the middle of the park, unconcerned with the thought of a child running through and terrorizing them. In the middle of the park was our first Japanese temple, colorfully adorned with lanterns and surrounded by water. Starving, we walked into a sushi restaurant and say down. Again, we were thankful for the pictures on the menu. They had a big aquarium behind the sushi bar that was over filled with large fish, including a huge red snapper. A man came by to feed them and the snapper went wild. Spraying water out of the tank and knocking into the other fish wildly. He was angry and aggressive which I would be too, stuck in a small cage waiting to become the grilled red snapper head that I wished they didn't have a picture of on the menu. I looked down at my raw tuna roll and felt incredible guilty. Unfortunately, not guilty enough not to eat it. We left with a bad feeling in our guts and kept walking around. We found a small amusement park right in the middle of the city complete with a roller coaster that went through buildings. We passed on the roller coaster but found an English pub as we left that had Moose's favorite beer on tap so we stopped in to figure out our next plan. Not long after we were joined by two British guys (how fitting) who had been traveling all over the world with their girlfriends. Once we got to talking, we didn't stop. After hours together we walked with them through the city and back to our hostels, drinking $2 beers on the street because we could. It was tough the next morning when our alarm went off at 5:30am so we could get to the Sumo Hall for tickets. There was already a line but we were assured we would get a ticket if we waited. It was way colder than I expected without the sun beating down and we struggled to stay warm while keeping our spots. After an hour, the ticket box opened and then everything was a rush. We got our tickets and got inside where everyone was sprinting for the best seats. Unfortunately, the general admission tickets only included the very back nosebleed seats but we found a good spot and settled in. Everyone else saved their seats and left, planning to come back for the more popular matches. We watched a few of the preliminary matches before leaving to get some food. We didn't realize that most places don't open until 11 so we wandered around in the cold, zombie like, until we could get something to eat. Frozen to the bone and dead tired, we headed back to the hostel for a nap before returning to the tournament. When I woke up, I felt a film around my throat showing the first signs of a cold. We went back to the hall and watched as the more experienced sumos entered and began to wrestle. It was like being at an American football game. People were yelling out their favorites and cheering loudly. I didn't expect it from such a traditional sport. It was hard not to get in the spirit and cheer with them as these huge men tip toed on the edge of the ring, trying not to lose. It was an experience I'll never forget. We grabbed some ramen, ordered from a machine, and then walked home in the cold night air. That night I felt much worse and whatever we had eaten was not agreeing with me. It may have been the worst stomach ache I've had in my entire life. Eventually I fell asleep but woke up feeling very sick. We traveled to our next room but were unable to check in until 3. I felt like death and just wanted to sleep but the rude desk boy said we'd have to pay extra even though our room was ready. Thoroughly frustrated and tired, we kept walking around in the cold. For those few hours, I hated japan and wanted to go home. Finally they let us up but we had no time to relax before trying to catch the sunset at the top of the Tokyo government building. It was crowded and the windows had tons of smudges from people pressing their hands and faces against them. Personal space really isn't a thing here. You'll find out quickly as soon as you hop on an elevator or the metro during rush hour. I found a good way to get some space is to cough a lot. We got some amazing pictures and watched the incredible sun set behind Mt Fuji in the distance. That night we went to our first Sushi-go-round. The plates pass by and you grab what you'd like. At the end, they count your plates and charge you accordingly. The sushi wasn't the best quality we've had in japan but the experience was fun. I went back to get some sleep while Moose walked around getting pictures of the city at night. We woke up, still sick, and headed for the Shibuya crossing which is similar to a mini Times Square. We were standing on the street figuring out where to go next when a man came by and asked us if we had some time. I was skeptical at first but he told us he was an english teacher at the local photography college and shot for National Geographic Japan. He had seen our tripods and figured we'd be good candidates to help in his english class. We followed him to the school and he gave us some material to check for errors. Half an hour later, we were full on teaching an english class. We worked on pronunciation, animal noises, and camera talk before dipping a little into American politics. After the two hour class, the students came up to thank us and talk more about our trip. A few of the students even took time to walk us to the metro station. It wasn't what we had expected to do that day but it was so fulfilling and unique. Definitely worthwhile. Feeling pretty sick after talking for two hours, we headed to our airbnb for the night. We slept in the next morning to try to kick the sickness and then headed to the Tokyo tower. It's very similar to the eiffel tower but bright red.
We went up and got a great view of the city. We jumped on the metro to get down to the skytree for sunset and went 350 meters up to have one of the most spectacular views of all of Tokyo. We stayed until the sun was completely gone and the city lights were bright. We headed down to Roppongi for a uniquely italian/japanese fusion dinner before turning in for the night. We got another late start the next day and headed to an outdoor store so we could pick up some things for camping. We ran a bunch of errands, getting ready to head to fuji to backpack, which took us all day and left no time for hitching out of the city. We booked an airbnb and headed for it. For almost two hours we tried to get in the apartment while running a quarter of a mile back and forth to get wifi to ask the owner what wasn't working. On my 4th run, I realized we were not at the right apartment building. An extremely kind man offered to help and found the correct address and even offered to walk us there. At 10:30 we made it inside and crawled onto the incredibly thin futon to sleep. The place didn't have wifi so we had to push off all of our planning until the next day where we found a Starbucks and planned out the next few weeks. Now we try to hitch hike out of town to Mt Fuji where we hope to spend a week in the mountains.
