Our first day in Tokyo

September 14

We finally had the chance to sleep well, but the jet lag still bothered us a bit. At first, we were wide awake at 2:00 AM and then extremely tired at 8:00 AM. Still, we dragged ourselves out of bed and enjoyed the hotel breakfast, which was surprisingly diverse. It was presumably designed to cater to the different tastes of guests from China, Korea, and of course Japan.

After that, we set off to our first destination. The train system in Tokyo is surprisingly easy to navigate. You get a card – the so-called Suica Card – which can be recharged beforehand. When entering or exiting the station or bus, you simply hold it up to a scanner, and the corresponding amount is automatically deducted.

Finding the right platform, however, is another story. But with Google Maps, that somehow works out too.

The train service in Japan is exceptionally orderly. Lines are formed everywhere, no one rushes or is loud on the train – at least no one except the tourists. There is a great deal of consideration for one another, and somehow everything runs like a well-oiled machine.

In any case, we arrived at our first destination: the Jochi-ji Temple in the Kamakura district. A truly fairy-tale-like Buddhist temple, idyllically located on the edge of the city. First, we simply enjoyed the atmosphere and explored the temple grounds at our leisure.

Behind the temple, we discovered a hiking path that led to a nearby park. Shortly thereafter, our shoes were muddy, and we found ourselves just a few kilometers from the city in the midst of idyllic nature. The insects were exceptionally loud, and due to the rainfalls in recent weeks, the path was quite muddy in places. However, the path offered some beautiful sections.

After finally fighting our way through the muddy end of the path, we eventually arrived, quite exhausted, at the great Buddha of the Kōtoku-in Temple. There stands a gigantic bronze statue weighing 121 tons from the year 1251 on the temple grounds. Naturally, we couldn't miss out on a little souvenir, so we bought an amulet for good luck on our travels.

Afterwards, we took a short train ride to Shichirigahama Beach. At the local konbini – we will report separately about these little shops – we stocked up on onigiri and sandwiches for a picnic at the beach.

Unfortunately, we underestimated the local birds of prey. One of them promptly snatched Isis's kebab sandwich. But it wasn't too bad – we were compensated with an unusually good view of Mount Fuji for this time of year.

Subsequently, we returned to the hotel to freshen up. After that, we made a detour to Omoide Yokocho, the so-called Memory Lane. This is a small, narrow alley in Shinjuku with numerous tiny restaurants, mainly grill and ramen shops. Here we ate grilled meatballs and chicken skin skewers, which were truly exceptionally delicious.

To conclude the day, we admired what is probably the largest animated 3D cat in the world (?) – and then finally went to bed.

Long text, but we really had an incredible amount of experiences that day.