Wandering around Shibuya and downtown Tokyo.
Tokyo was my first taste of Asia and wow it was impressive. It was like Time Square, squared literally. There were billboards stacked on billboards and everything flashed or was lit up outside of Shibuya station. Within seconds of exiting the train station I was blown away. There is a famous street crossing called the scramble crossing in front of Shibuya station which is unlike any street crossing I have ever seen. It is what I would call organized chaos. I took many photos but regret that I did not take any videos. Google it. Trust me.
It took us a while to find our hotel you can read about that in Michele's post called Always know where you are going to sleep. We landed pretty late and once we checked in we headed out in search of food and beer. Everyone was out in downtown Shibuya as it was a Saturday night. It reminded me a bit of our neighborhood on a Saturday night just a lot busier and bathed in neon light. We found a dive restaurant with great gyoza and cheap Sapporos. It was perfect. We were the only Americans in the place and were surrounded by Japanese young people having a snack after their night out. We had a few beers and some food and returned to our tiny hotel room.
Everything is smaller in Asia, at least room and bathroom wise. The thing that cracked me up the most in the few hours we had been in Japan was the bidets everywhere and the toilet signs. I have been fascinated by toilets in other countries since I traveled to Europe. Disgusting I know, but in Tokyo they have some funny toilet signs.
The other thing that amazed me in Japan were the trains and the subway. Not only were the trains efficient and clean but a happy little tune sounds when they are about to pull into the station. Of course the trains can be so crowded that they have people whose only job is just to push people onto the train. Thank goodness we did not experience that. In Tokyo it is very easy to get around via the different train lines. The next day we found our way by train and wandered around Tokyo. We visited the Meiji Shrine, the Harajuku District and Asakusa. We had lunch in Asakusa where I had the most amazing ramen soup I have ever tasted. It was a great 24 hours in Tokyo and we definitely have to go back one day.