Visiting Japan - massive pics ahead!

[jw0n]

I've never been to Japan, so both my wife and I decided to make a trip there. It would be a 9d8n getaway, primarily focused around Tokyo only. Some of my friends have managed to fit in Osaka and Kyoto in that sort of small time frame, but we decided against it, as I love cities and it was my intention to try and explore Tokyo.

We arrived at Narita airport at about 7am, so once we checked out from the airport, we had plenty of time to kill before we could check in to our Airbnb. So we decided to drop the luggage off at some of the lockers in Shibuya St and head out for brunch. That is truly perhaps my first experience, waiting in line for food.







Yep, 1 hour line to get into a small restaurant for lunch. This is one of the cheapest Michelin starred restaurants in the city, and while the food was decent, I don't know if I would call it mind blowing. Perhaps a little too much for the simpleton in me to appreciate. Now that we've gotten into the subject of queues, I just want to put it out right now, that most of the popular food joints in Tokyo will tet your patience. We've waited in anything from as little as 30 mins, to as long as 90 mins for food. No kidding. At some restaurants, you pay you food first before you get seated; occasionally via a vending machine. Very popular ones have English descriptions, but I was told that the truly Japanese ones would not bother seating you.

And so, onto more pictures of waiting for food!











Was it worth it? Well, I don't usually wait for food, but I had to make exceptions here. Some of the places we went to could definitely justify the wait times. Others I felt a little lackluster. Wait, wait. I forgot to share pictures of the actual food. Here goes...











This time of the year is the beginning of Spring in Japan. In other words, Sakura season! We went to Chiyoda-ku to view Sakura at night first; would you believe it, there was a queue to the "vantage point" to snap the supposedly best picture? I mean, come on...







The next day, we had plans to have brunch at a conveyor belt sushi joint in Meguro. Since it was close to the Meguro River, we decided to go for a walk and try to burn off the rice from our meal. Sakura is prettier in the day, in my opinion. The weather was pleasant in the mid teens and while I don't enjoy long walks, I actually found it quite pleasant (despite there being hordes of people).







More to come, more to come... pictures are still being uploaded.