2023 Highlights

TOKYO JAPAN

In April of this year, I traveled to Tokyo, Japan. I fell in LOVE. Before I even landed, I knew I was going to love it. Japan is a destination that I’ve always dreamed of going to. I have a great appreciation for Japanese culture. I LOVE the food, anime, matcha, onsens the list goes on. I took this trip with my childhood bestie. She is also an avid traveler. I booked my trip on impulse and knew she would be down. We visited during the best time of year, cherry blossom season!! It was extra special because I was also celebrating my birthday! Our days revolved around specific things we wanted to see and try, then wing the rest. Let's get into some of my favorite things that we experienced in Tokyo! 

FOOD 

You will see me writing and posting A LOT about food. I am a huge FOODIE. Weeks leading up to my trip, my algorithm was all Japan recommendations. I gotta say, I was able to find a lot of great spots. For those who are just getting to know me, I LOVE MATCHA! This is my choice of beverage 90% of the time. My friend and I spent a whole day hanging out around one matcha cafe that I was dying to try. 

SUZUKIEN ASAKUSA

This matcha cafe was amazing! We got there before it opened and there was already a line. If you get there later in the day, they will most likely give you a ticket with a time to return. Suzukien is famous for having 7 levels of matcha ice cream. As much as I love matcha, I am caffeine sensitive so I tried a scoop of the level 3 ice cream. I had to try more than just one thing. So I also got a matcha latte with warabi! The combination of matcha with a finishing touch of warabi was the best to enjoy on a breezy spring day sitting near the Senson-ji temple. 

KYUSHU JANGARA

The first bowl and slurp of ramen in Japan felt unreal. While exploring our first full day in Tokyo, we stumbled upon this ramen spot called Kyushu Jangara. You know the place is good if locals are lined up to eat. 

This was my first Japanese restaurant experience. I love the intimate feeling Kyushu has. Like most Japanese restaurants, it is small and compact, so eating and talking is limited so that other customers can enjoy a meal as well. I got a tonkotsu ramen with marinated pork and a boiled egg. The broth was so rich in flavor and had a nice creamy consistency. Having a hot bowl of ramen in Japan felt like a warm hug. 

FAMILY MART 

Right underneath our hotel, we had the luxury of having a Family Mart. For those who don't know what Family Mart is, it is a Japanese convenience store. Each morning in our pajamas, we would go down to the Family Mart and gather a bunch of goodies to have for breakfast. I probably ate onigiri each day of our trip LOL. There are so many things that we don't have in the US and I wanted to try them all. 

UOBEI 

We are halfway through our trip and hadn’t eaten sushi yet. We met a very cool Japanese designer, owner of Sukajyan Dept in Harajuku, who told us about Uobei! It is a conveyor belt sushi restaurant located in Shibuya. Uobei has over a hundred divided eating areas. Very ideal if you want to eat a meal alone. My friend and I moved the divider in between our seats to enjoy the meal together. We were able to order our sushi on a monitor along with drinks and sides! The tuna nigiri was my favorite! Unfortunately, I developed a shellfish allergy when I was 12 years old, so I didn't get to try most things on the menu but what I can eat, I ATE. For the amount of plates I ate, it was very fair priced which made the experience 10x better! UOBEI TIKTOK

ANIME / MANGA STORE

MANDARAKE SHIBUYA

I was late to start watching anime. I got into it in 2021, and wow I am so glad I found it. Our Tokyo trip was only a week long, there was so much to do and little time. We didn’t get to visit the anime district, Akihabara, but we did visit a very big collectable store called Mandarake in Shibuya. Rows and rows and rows of manga all throughout the store! They have every genre of manga you can think of. Along with manga, they have figures, cosplay, posters and more collectable items. The worlds that you can enter when you watch anime is incredible. I have a great appreciation for manga writers and animation studios. My all time favorite anime is Attack on Titan. OOOF. I got attached to the story and characters so fast, I had to read the manga to know how it ends. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT ANIMATED AND SO SAD ITS ENDING. If you know you know. I love super gory anime and slice of life anime. A reflection of my personality. 

Shibuya before the incident. IYKYK. 

LANDMARKS

SENSO-JI TEMPLE

I have a special memory and feeling attached to the Senso-Ji temple. It’s a beautiful 67 degrees, the sun is out but there’s a cold breeze. My friend and I are walking from Suzukien with our matcha lattes toward the Senso-ji temple. We arrive and sit down on a concrete bench to enjoy the view of cherry blossoms surrounding the temple. I felt so at peace and genuinely happy. I was in a place I had always dreamed of going to drinking my favorite beverage. The Senso-Ji temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Tokyo. It was very beautiful to have visited and pay our respects to. One of my favorite parts was receiving an omikuji paper fortune. I am a big believer in luck and things happening for a reason so it was fun to see what my near fortune would look like. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

HARRY HEDGEHOG CAFE IN HARAJUKU 

You will never get bored in Tokyo. There is always something to do and enjoy. We visited a HEDGEHOG cafe. This was one of the most wholesome and cutest experiences. When we arrived we paid for a package that included food for the hedgehogs and a drink for ourselves. Japan is really years ahead of the U.S. The hedgehog cafe had a vending machine with hot and cold drinks. I got a hot matcha latte, of course. The hedgehogs have a friend that hangs out in the cafe that was a big surprise to me, a MEERKAT. With gloves on, we were able to pick up the hedgehogs. I was hesitant but once I did, I didn't want to put them down. The meerkat was being a diva and didn't let us pet him. Next time I am in Tokyo, I want to visit a pig cafe!

YOKOHAMA STADIUM DeNA BAYSTARS

We had planned most of our trip beforehand. Something that we did unexpectedly but ended up being so much fun was going to a baseball game. My friend grew up watching and playing many sports so she thought of the idea of catching a sporting event. We came across the DeNA BayStars playing in their home, Yokohama Stadium. We took the train to the stadium and it was a little chaotic but fun. There were multiple fans on their way to catch the game. I had been to baseball games before but there was something about being in a foreign country that just hit differently. Something that blew my mind was that instead of having a hot dog or nachos at a baseball game like here in the U.S, you can get RAMEN AND DUMPLINGS at Yokohama stadium. Of course we had to get some beer to enjoy the game. We got a couple drinks to get the full experience. Crowds can get a little loud from my experiences at baseball games but the fans of the BayStars were in sync with their chants and quiet cheering between. I had a lot more fun than I thought I was going to have. I’m grateful my friend suggested it! 

I visited and ate at a lot more spots than I wrote about but these were my favorite! I am going back to Tokyo in March 2024!!! I am beyond excited to go back to one of my favorite cities. 2023 was a year of being booked and busy and Japan was just one stop of many.  

Comment on some things you would want to do in Tokyo!!

-Stephany <3