We needed to mix things up today and not spend 4 hours in a clothing store. Considering it was a Saturday, I wanted to take the group to Asakusa to check out Sensoji Temple street before it got too crowded. I was a little worried as we arrived around 10am but I think due to the Chinese government cutting 45% of tourism to Japan due to politics, it wasn’t overwhelmed by tourists. I got some good photos, especially one of a pigeon that I was following.
The family was able to get their fortunes but some were bad luck so it’s recommended to tie the fortunes to the bars at the temple. I read that there’s about a 30% bad luck rate for fortunes.
I hadn’t been to the mall at Tokyo Skytree before so we took a quick subway ride over there. This was a great decision as there were shops for everyone to check out as well as interesting information to read about the tower itself. For example, Aaron discovered that the tower gets struck by lightning on average 10 times a year.
Next on the plan was to go to Ginza to do some shoe shopping and to try to get a table at Nemuro Hanamaru, the rotating sushi restaurant that Become had recommended the other night. I told him that if this restaurant recommendation didn’t pan out, I would unsubscribe from his food recommendation service. I got us a place in line but the wait was almost 2 hours long which worked out as there was more shopping to do in the area. After an hour at the Adidas store, I got a notification that it was almost our turn at the restaurant. Unfortunately, we had to wait another 30 min once we got there for seats. My anxiety was going up as I was praying that this restaurant would deliver the sushi experience they were looking for. Finally, we were seated and there was so many options to choose from.
The best sushi we can get home is at Ichiban sushi in Edina which is an all you can eat restaurant for about $60 a person including tip. As long as I was able to eat my fill and hit that dollar threshold while getting the nicest pieces of fish, I would consider that a win. Joanna’s dad and I prioritized the otoro (fatty tuna), sea urchin, and other pieces that were not easily attainable back home. Joanna and Vianna don’t really eat sushi so he and I did the most damage in our group of 4 and the total bill came out to be $140 so I would consider that a win. The otoro was absolutely delicious, basically the fish equivalent of wagyu beef which just melts in your mouth. I insisted that Aaron try it even though he was full and after the first bite he was speechless.
I texted Become after dinner that I will maintain my subscription to his food recommendations as this was the best rotating sushi restaurant I’ve been to. I haven’t done omakase in Japan as Joanna doesn’t value the experience. Rotating sushi works for us because I can eat my fill, she can have a little bit, and then we’ll go somewhere else to get something for her.
I had watched an Instagram reel about an Asics store that specializes in dress shoes which uses lasers to measure your perfect fit and they customize insoles for your shoes. I felt bad that the guy had to measure my smelly feet after walking over 20k steps today. He placed markers on each of my feet and I stepped on the scanner which measured my foot size, ankle placement, and other metrics seen on this nifty report.
The shoes sold at this asics store were all gore tex waterproof formal dress shoes designed for a lot of walking. I think I’m still using the same black leather shoes I graduated undergrad in so I was due for an upgrade and I was looking for a pair of brown shoes as well.
Back in October, I was planning on replacing my sneakers as they had holes in the tops. Joanna told me to hold off as we were planning on going to Japan and I can replace them then. Having walked 28k steps 3 days in a row in shoes that should have been replaced 5 months ago was painful. After the Asics store we jumped into the last remaining Onitsuka Tiger store that was open near our hotel in Shinjuku and I grabbed the first pair that caught my eye.
I have a love hate relationship with Tokyo as I’ve been here 4 times now. I love that there’s so much to do and see but I hate that it gets overwhelming quickly with the amount of people and sheer size of the city. We didn’t have time to check out any museums, get the desserts we had on our lists, or even get to Shibuya crossing because we only had 3 days on the itinerary to spend here. It’s good to experience one of the world’s largest cities in small bites rather than try to do everything else you’ll end up disappointed.
We are heading to Kyoto tomorrow for a slower change of pace and hopefully start seeing the more nature-y side of Japan.
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