Today was a bit of a travel day (not that far from Yokohama to Tokyo, but we slept in a bit). After getting up and packing, we took a train to our hotel in the Akasaka area (Presso Inn Akasaka). We stored our luggage with reception and then went to walk around a bit and grab lunch.
We ended up finding a kaiseki restaurant (Kaisuian) that seemed a bit mysterious, but when we showed up at ~11:45, we were already the 3rd group in line (it opened at 11:30). It was definitely not catered to English speakers (sat in the back on the floor, and promptly lost all phone signal/ability to translate the handwritten menu). Fortunately, there was one other couple there (who spoke English + were very surprised that we managed to find this place), who pointed us to the most popular dishes. (This meal ended up being really good; see pics below).
After grabbing lunch in Akasaka, we headed to Shinjuku (a very touristy area in Tokyo, but nonetheless worth checking out). We attempted to do some shopping but kept managing to end up in high-end/expensive malls. Lucy purchased a sparkling apple juice from a vending machine (it was almost too sweet for Lucy; way too sweet for Benton “like drinking a Jolly Rancher”).
After Shinjuku, we popped on the subway and went to Harajuku to roam some more. There is a street with a bunch of shops (and Lucy purchased some skin care products). We also got a sweet potato + Ube ice cream crepe (would recommend).
Finally, we went back to Akasaka and met up at an Izakaya place with Eugene (one of Lucy’s wushu coaches/friends), and Eugene’s travel buddy Alex. This ended up being a lighter dinner, but after our large lunch, we weren’t super hungry.
Overall, this day was a lot of walking around/roaming different districts, and we were pretty tired: we went back to the hotel and slept not long after dinner.
