After photographing in Sydney, Australia for a little over a week with both a destination Indian wedding and a couple days of personal travel, I took a few more days to travel for myself and ended up in Tokyo, Japan. I hadn’t been to Japan since college and have always wanted to go back, so this was a perfect opportunity since I was on the other side of the world already =). I came back with tons and tons of photos, time lapses, and videos… with no real idea how I could possibly organize them and present them to the world! I think the video will come separately, and for now I will try to present everything I did each day as a way to share with everyone who keeps asking “how was Tokyo?” and also as an aide to others who may be planning their own vacation or wedding in Tokyo, Japan! Side note – I’m always available for travel to Japan for a destination wedding =).

Here is the blog post for Day 0 and Day 1 (I don’t really count the travel day since I got into Tokyo pretty late), follow along to the other days of my trip by clicking this link for more posts from Japan.

I took an early morning flight from Sydney to Tokyo on Japan Airlines (JAL), which was overall pretty enjoyable. As you can see from above, the gate agent tried to help me out by putting me in one of the Bulkhead seats for a big of extra leg room. The only disadvantage of course is that for the TV screen is a rotating one, but it’s a minor inconvenience for the comfort. Also, a big benefit of JAL was an outlet at the seat, woohoo! It barely powered my 15″ MacBook Pro, so I was actually able to work a little bit editing wedding photos and not watching movies.

Welcome to Japan sign inside Narita Airport – apparently their were signs for no photos since this is in baggage claim and I got yelled at by security for this iPhone photo – oops!

First view of Ikebukuro. After arriving at Narita I took the train from the airport to where I would be staying, Ikebukuro, which is about a 2 hour journey.

I stayed my first two nights at Kimi Ryokan, an authentic Japanese ryokan in Ikebukuro and very English friendly!

KIMI RYOKAN
36-8, 2chome, Ikebukuro,
Toshimaku, Tokyo
Japan 171-0014

Unfortunately I’m a little too big for Japan apparently. Size 13 Wide must be uncommon here…

My 4.5 Tatami room at Kimi Ryokan, perfect for the solo traveler or a couple! I only slept in the hotel so it was the perfect size and price for me, highly recommended! It’s also a very short walk to Ikebukuro Station which is easy to get anywhere in Tokyo on the JR Yamanote loop. In the second photo you can also see my modest travel set up, camera backpack (ThinkTank StreetWalker HardDrive which is reviewed here for this trip), roller with 2 week’s worth of clothes, ThinkTank Retrospective 30 (for the wedding – click for a review of it), and my North Face jackets.

Dinner in my room at Kimi Ryokan – fast food from a nearby Family Mart.

Day 1 – Ikebukuro

I started the trip roaming the streets of Ikebukuro and walking to the Sunshine 60 complex, which has an observation deck on the 60th floor. Not a super impressive view during the day, but you can really get a sense that even out here in Ikebukuro that Tokyo is just massive!

Sunshine 60 Ikebukuro Guide

Sunshine 60
3-1-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro
Toshima, Tokyo, Japan

Sunshine 60 is a huge shopping complex with a bunch of different stores and attractions. Their is the Sunshine Aquarium and NAMJA Town located inside, as well as nearby department mega stores Tobu and Seibu, and electronics via Bic Camera and Yamada Denki. I skipped most of these things, since we have a pretty good aquarium back home in Atlanta, and headed for the more “offbeat” places – Tokyu Hands and Nekobukuro!

Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro
１丁目-２８-１０ Higashiikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo 170-0013, Japan

Yes, these and more are for sale inside Tokyu Hands! It’s a pretty awesome DUY store with some uniquely “Japanese” items for sale. Tokyu Hands is also a chain department store with many other outlets, but the thing that makes the Ikebukuro branch unique is that on the 8th floor (the pet floor) is Nekobukuro Cat’s Cafe!

Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro & Nekobukuro Guide

For the low low price of 600 yen (on a weekday at least), you can go play with a real live cat! And lots of cats! Supposedly the idea of Nekobukuro is to allow residents the chance to enjoy having a pet, without actually having one in a crowded city like Tokyo with limited living space. When I went on a weekday afternoon their was only 1 other patron, a pretty good ratio for the 20 or so cats they have =)

Overall it was pretty fun! I only spent maybe 15 or 20 minutes inside… I mean I didn’t really want to waste hours petting cats in Tokyo =). Definitely worth seeing though just to say you have hehe.

After Ikebukuro it was off to Akihabara Electric Town! A few more photos of Ikebukro on my way to the station.

Ikebukuro station is the second busiest station in Tokyo after Shinjuku, so it’s a sight to see in and of itself! Definitely nothing like our little train stations back home in Atlanta.

Akihabara Electric Town Guide

Ok, so I did go to Akihabara back in college when I was more nerdy and into video games, but I still wanted to go again this trip for the photo opportunities. Akihabara is definitely the stereotypical “Japan Cool” that we see in Western culture with electronics, video games, manga, and anime everywhere. This is oddly also the only area of Tokyo where I saw other Western tourists, of course it was January when I went with temperatures in the 40s and 50s during the day.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Gatcha-Gatcha Gatchapon Capsule Toys in Akihabara!!

Maid Cafes as far as the eye can see…

For lunch, I just had to… the legendary “Unbelievably Satisfying Beef Mega Mac” from McDonald’s! It’s basically a double Big Mac with 4 beef patties instead of 2, but something about the cooking in Japan makes it taste fresher and less “greasy” compared to a USA Big Mac. It was really good =)

After lunch and Akihabara it was off to Shibuya! Lots to still see in Akihabara if you are into anime and video games, but I was there mainly to take photos of the people and the scenery. My last time here I spent a good amount of time roaming all of the back alleys and electronics stores, so come ready to shop =)

Shibuya Guide

Ok, back to the big city life! After Akihabara I went over to Shibuya via the JR Yamanote line again (that train is so convenient). Shibuya is a bit more what you would expect of a metropolis like Tokyo with lots of shopping and food outlets, without categorizing itself as just electronics and manga culture like Akiba. Very photogenic and perfect for time-lapse, I shot A LOT here =)

Of course I had to go to the famous Shibuya Scramble crossing which is right outside of the station. Just take the Hachiko exit and there you are!

I even went inside the Starbucks to grab some warmth via a White Chocolate Mocha and also of course to take some photos. On a weekday I was able to patiently wait and grab a window seat overlooking the scramble crossing, this was prime real estate! I set up the camera to run a few time-lapses while I finished my coffee of course. I’m pretty sure the signs said “no photos” in Japanese but I tried to be stealthy with my setup (no tripod of course).

And so ended a full day 1 of adventure around Tokyo! In addition to these photos I shot about 100 GB of time-lapse and video footage which will be compiled into a video eventually after these blog posts get done. Be sure to follow along this blog for more posts in the category  “Japan” to see the rest in this series and what I did for my other days in Tokyo!