Tokyo Trip: Tokyo Sky Tree

Day 3, Part 2.

(Austin)

    So, after we left Shibuya we wandered around and found some where to eat. I don't exactly remember the specific details but I do remember trying to go to a Ramen shop and they were closed at the time and when we walked in they gave us blank stares and we responded with more blank stares. One of the workers finally spoke and basically said "no open".  Embarrassment ensued and we quickly made our way away from the place. That being said, I have no idea what we actually had for dinner, I shouldn't have waited 3 months to write this. Whoops.

    Anyways, we ate dinner and while making our way back to the station we took an odd path and ended up on... "Romance Street". Suffice to say, it was filled with Love Hotels, cheap places that you and your significant other (or random other) could find a place for a nice...night. That being said, it wasn't seedy like you might expect it to be. It was actually a pretty interesting few minutes walking down the street.

    We arrived at the station and took the 40ish minute train ride to Tokyo Skytree. Tokyo Skytree is the tallest building in all of Tokyo, taller than Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Skytree reaches a max height of 634m or 2080ft. Of course, this it the very highest point. The viewing deck is significantly below the height but you still get an amazing view... which we have almost no pictures of. My phone was dying / dead, so elijah took the other pictures, and as I mentioned earlier his phone broke so we lost those pictures. You'll have to settle for the blurry one, sorry!

    After Skytree we headed back to the capsules to sleep again. I took some pictures of the hotel's mascot that was on the posters around the hotel. We got back and collapsed. 

My capsule above to the left and Elijah's below to the right.

Tokyo Trip: To the Hotel!

Day 1, Part 2.
(Austin)

    After finishing our crepes we decided that we should find our hotel and check in before it got too late. With Elijah as our navigator, we started walking to the station that was on the proper train line connected to the one near our hotel. Tokyo has a TON of train lines.

    On our way to the station we went down some back roads and I took the picture of Tokyo Tower lit up against the night sky. Its quite pretty in my opinion.

    We made it to the station and headed towards the hotel. At the destination station we found a bakery and bought some real food for dinner. It should be noted that a bakery here isn't just cakes. Actually, there aren't any cakes in bakeries here. Those are called cake shops here. Bakeries here have different kinds if bread, many of them with meats baked / cooked in. They are very delicious and cheap; great when you're on the go.

    We left the station and started towards the hotel. The hotel was a little bit confusing to find. The address, when used with Google, puts you in front of a building that clearly isn't the hotel, however there is a sign that says, in Japanese, "if you're looking for 1980 hotel, it is at the back of this building". While we were trying to read the sign 2 kids, maybe 12 years old, saw us and told us in very broken English that the hotel was around back. I guess they knew because we were foreigners. They ran inside the front of the building. I guess they live there.

    After walking around back we found the hotel, paid, checked in, and went to our pods. I say pods because it wasn't a hotel like many of you are thinking of. It is something called a Capsule Hotel. You basically have a bed and a small closet or locker to put stuff in and that is all. It is INCREDIBLY cheap and gave us everything we needed. Elijah complained that the beds were slightly uncomfortable though. If you are wondering, I could've put 2-3 of me shoulder to shoulder and fit. Length was also fine.

    The pictures show the ladder to my pod. The lower pod under mine was Elijah's. His opening is to the right, not shown in the picture. The other 2 pictures show the inside of the pod and the lockable closet beside the pod.

We were tired, so we collapsed and went to sleep.

Thus ended our first day in Tokyo.