Hi! Spring break was a very fun time for me, I went over to Japan with some friends and had such a fun experience. I loved every sight we saw, and I loved the experience of everything. From walking on the street to the clean bathrooms with HEATED toilet seats and nature sounds provided if not comfortable using the bathroom in public.

Tokyo, March 17th: The plane to Tokyo, Japan was a nice and relaxing fight. We landed in Japan at a really late time however, around 7 or 8 pm. We checked into our hotel Mitsui Garden, it’s a very classy and nice looking hotel. At this time, I was starving, so we did some research on where to eat, with our dismay, we gave up and just went on a walk. However, to our enlightenment we found a mall right next to our hotel and inside that mall was a whole floor of restaurants. There was one restaurant that caught my interest called Beer Cafe, now I can’t drink, but it was an Italian restaurant and I know you may think, “you’re in Japan, try Japanese food.” Don’t worry, I did eat A LOT of Japanese food. It’s just with jet lag and tiredness we found the first restaurant we could find that wasn’t busy, because it was a Sunday night. We ordered Chicken Spicy Frit, Pizza, and Risotto.

After the very hefty meal it was time to walk it off as well, there was also a 7/11 next to our hotel as well. Since I heard a lot about Japan’s 7/11s I knew I had to get somethings. I did buy something for my friends back home in America who wanted snacks, and I bought myself a dessert. Sakura (cherry blossom) pudding. It was so delicate and not sugary at all. I love that about Japan, the sugar proportions are just right for my taste.

Tokyo, March 18th:

The bed was so comfy I didn’t want to wake up. I woke up at 6:30 am and went down for breakfast at 7:40am. The breakfast is really good there, with everything on small plates to put on the tray. I got myself pasta, chicken in sesame sauce, fish cake, salmon, and fruit. I also got myself some bread, and the bread is so beautifully baked. It’s shiny golden and crispy on the top and so soft on the inside. There’s also a Starbucks that my friend went to while I was eating breakfast, they got a matcha scone for me to try because they know I love my matcha.

We were going on a tour through out Tokyo, we had a tour guide with a guy named Mizuma San, and he would be our tour guide the whole trip through out our Japanese experience. After finishing up with breakfast, I headed outside to see how cold it was, and I must say, I’ve never felt a windier city than Chicago until Tokyo. I stumbled some many times because of the wind. Also, the thing about Japan separating it from so many other cities I’ve been to is that it’s freakishly clean. I never believed it possible to have a city with millions of people living in to be so spotless of litter and trash.

We first went to Ueno Park, greeted by a huge statue of a whale, we were expecting to see some cherry blossoms, we did find some. End of March and beginning of April is when most of the cherry blossom trees bloom, since we came mid-March there were only a couple of trees. We explored the beautiful park to take pictures of the serenity of the nature and we found a monkey. It was next to its human, but I wasn’t expecting a monkey in the middle of Japan. I highly recommend coming here though, there are plenty of beautiful pathways to walk, there are multiple shrines, and a playground for kids. I did have a lot of fun on the swing set and the slide, it unleashed the inner child in me. Swinging and looking at the pond was very calming. Sure the lake was full of dead reeds, but those reeds are apparently lotus plants, so when it gets more warmer in Japan the lake would look so beautiful.

After hanging out at Ueno Park for some time, we thought it was best to explore more historical parts of Japan, such as the pagodas and temples. On our way there I couldn’t help but notice how cute the alleyways are in Japan, all alleyways are packed with shops and restaurants and look super photogenic. Our second stop was the Senso-ji, the Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. When I tell you it was breathtaking, it was breathtaking. It was super photogenic, and the many girls and guys wearing traditional Japanese clothing such as Kimonos making the vibes of the whole place an amazing time. You can also rent these Kimonos if interested, I just didn’t want to get out of my nice coat as it was pretty cold outside. Also, everyone is super kind, they don’t get upset if your Japanese isn’t as great, they seem happy that you tried to speak Japanese then actually doing it right. Sucks for me I only knew Konichiwa and Arigato and some short sentences like good morning, good night, and nice to meet you.

Growing hungry I quickly ran towards the NUMEROUS tents selling street food, I found those candied strawberries and was going to get one but they ran out of all the strawberry ones. I found a stall selling noodles and right next to it there was a tent selling fried chicken. And of course, you can’t be in Japan without trying some Japanese desserts, thankfully there were many shops selling things. I got myself a matcha ice cream sandwich (matcha ice cream squished between this sort of ice cream cone wafer of some sort) and a sweet potato cake. This little cake soon started my sweet potato craze when I got back to the States. The cake was so delicate and not that sugary, and it literally melted in the mouth.

After eating lunch and exploring the temple and what it has to offer a bit more, we headed over to the super crowded Tokyo Sky Tower, it took an hour just to get to the elevator to exit the building once we where done. It was very hectic, everyone was mad at everyone. People wouldn’t stop pushing, and I remember some lady snapping at my friend because they were being pushed up against her backpack. Needless to say, I think everyone calmed down once they finally went down and felt the cool air and not the humid people air.

It was getting pretty late and the sun was starting to set when we reached the last destination of the day, it was a temple in a beautiful forestry park. The forest was so beautiful to walk in I just took a moment to walk around the trees and feel connected with nature again. School has been pretty hard so this was a nice snap back to reality that not everything in life should just be work. You need to let yourself take a break before burn out.

Afterwards, it was dinner time. However, I was WAY to jet lagged to care about eating, I just wanted to go straight to bed and catch up on rest before waking up early again for the next part of the tour. On our way back to the hotel, we did stop by the famous road in Japan that you always see in movies or on Youtube, the one where HUNDREDS of people are walking on. We did find an outside bakery displaying the most delicate looking desserts I’ve ever laid eyes on, so I didn’t eat dinner but I ate dessert.

That was Day 1 and 2 of being in Japan, it was so fun to explore such a beautiful country, stay tuned for day 3 and 4 as well.