Japan first day!

June 4th (Day 1):

Waking up to my 9 am alarm and pulling myself off of my 1 foot high bed, Bean and I quickly went downstairs to catch our FREE breakfast before it ended at 9:30. Now, in my past experience, breakfast always included some rice and other oriental dishes in addition to some classic American food. However, we could not help but laugh at our breakfast display of: hard-boiled eggs, salad with dried cucumbers, toast, French onion soup, and coffee/tea/orange juice. Slightly confused, we scooped some salad for breakfast and gathered various means of liquid type food. The breakfast time was made complete when I whipped out a Tim Tam for Bean to try the “Tim Tam Slam” with me (of course at breakfast). This Australian God given treat is for all to try and I bought three boxes on my way to Japan. Eating opposite sides of the candy, you use it as a straw in coffee or hot chocolate and as the liquid moves through the candy it basically makes it into a melting hot mess of chocolate and biscuit…seriously the best. Soon we were off on our first day of exploration in JAPAN.

First stop, trustworthy 7 eleven for the ice cream, milk chocolate treat wrapped in waffle cone that Tietz has told us about ever since he knew we were going to Japan. Don’t worry Tietz, you did not let us down. There’s nothing like ice cream after salad for breakfast. We walked down three separate streets for a long time ooing and awing at every food place and boutique clothes store. Starbucks was very prominent as usual, we’ve seen at least 5, and there was even a Tully’s, T.G.I Fridays, and Coldstone! We also found a tallboy of coke that we were so amused with…definitely tourists. But don’t worry, because when lunch came around we didn’t just choose to go to a McDonald’s or anything. Instead, we picked a random “noodle” house of some sort that we saw tons of people going into, so we figured it had to be good! After ordering by means of a machine, we sat down awaiting our tasukimen asimanto (I think that is KIND of right). Completely unsure of what we were about to eat, I sat amazed at the cooking and people around me. Right as our food came, Bean’s face turned to mine as the fish smell overwhelmed us. Seeing that we are both not keen on very fishy things, both of us were a little nervous about the unknown soup that accompanied our noodles. Unsure about what we ordered, I had made the smart move of ordering it the spicy way, hoping it would mask the unordinary smell and taste. After a few bites, I found that dipping the noodles in the soup was actually bearable and I loved the new, mystery experience (but still unsure enough to not dig deeper into the soup’s contents). Bean, on the other hand, stuck with noodles and some random spicy seasoning she found (looked like cayenne to me). Anyway, after a spicy mystery food experience, we were out on the streets again.

Walking, we found vast amounts of restaurants and good places to remember, of course all having to do with food. The trends of clothing on the street never ceased to amaze us, and we even saw someone dressed like a French maid. At one point we walked down this tiny side road and found a few bars, including a “black music: jazz, hip-hop, funk” bar. Ha. We also found ourselves crashing the Ritz Carlton. Ok, so maybe we just snuck in and used the restroom, but I still felt pretty important. Behind the Ritz Carlton was a small garden and playground. After being kids for a few minutes, swinging and sliding down the futuristic playground area, we saw people setting up tents and stage equipment (like there was a festival!!). We promised ourselves we would come back and check out the market or festival tonight or tomorrow, I hope it is an awesome find.

Green Tea Kit Kat is awesome!

I would be able to tell you more about the day, but lets just say that we walked back to the hotel and, after vowing to take a one-hour nap woke up at 8 am the next day. However, the plus of sleeping 12+ hours is that we didn’t have to pay for dinner! Haha. I can’t even tell you when the last time I slept that long is.