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Day 3: A Divided House Can Stand

We knew it was going to be a scorcher but man was it hazy out when we left The Knot for the observatory on the Tokyo Municipal Government Building, and thanks Jessica for the tip. The 45th floor observatory is free and requires no reservations unlike the Tokyo Skytree. In spite of the haze, the views were great and you get an appreciation for just how massive the city is.

The group split into two with the first contingent visiting two stationary stores. Iotya and Muji. Iotya is best described as the Ikea of Tokyo with a 12-story flagship store in Ginza selling pens, and paper and every possible adjacent category.

The rest of the crew set about the visit the remains of the Hydrangea Festival at the Hakusan Temple. While we missed the festival by a couple days, the temple features over 3,000 hydrangea shrubs in various colors (blue, pink, purple, white) across 20 varieties, transforming the shrine and park into a vibrant floral display during Japan’s rainy season.

The temple itself is located in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, is a historic Shinto shrine dedicated to the deities of Mount Hakusan, revered for blessings in health, prosperity, and protection from toothaches. The neighborhood is hilly and much more residential than the others we have visited so far.

After temples and hydrangeas, the walking tour began across town and covered the beginnings of Tokyo during the Edo period. Our guide with www.tokyolocalized.com was Yuko, who works in hospitality when not giving guided tours of Tokyo.

Kuko started by explaining the origins of the city and progressed into modern times as the tour went in.

Tokyo, originally named Edo, was founded as a small fishing village in the 12th century but rose to prominence during the Edo Period (1603–1868) when Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Shogunate there in 1603, making it Japan’s political center. The Sumida River and other waterways, like the Kanda and Arakawa rivers, were vital for transportation, trade, and rice cultivation, shaping Edo’s growth into a bustling metropolis with a sophisticated canal system. The shogunate enforced a rigid four-class social hierarchy: samurai (warriors and administrators), farmers (the economic backbone), artisans (craftsmen), and merchants (lowest but increasingly wealthy). The Tokugawa Shogunate centralized power, with the shogun ruling from Edo Castle (now the Imperial Palace), maintaining peace through strict control, isolationist policies, and a network of daimyo (feudal lords), transforming Edo into a cultural and economic hub before its renaming to Tokyo in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration.

Along the way we visited shrines and temples and learned about how to the three spiritual philosophies came together in Japan. Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism converged in Japan to create a unique spiritual and social framework, particularly during the Edo Period (1603–1868). Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion, focused on kami (spirits) and nature worship, providing a spiritual foundation for rituals and community identity. Buddhism, introduced in the 6th century, offered philosophical depth, afterlife beliefs, and temple-based practices, becoming central to funerals and moral teachings. Confucianism, arriving via China and Korea, emphasized social hierarchy, loyalty, and ethics, shaping the Tokugawa Shogunate’s governance and the four-class system (samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants). Through a process called Shinbutsu-shūgō, Shinto and Buddhism were syncretized until the Meiji Restoration (1868), with kami seen as protectors of Buddhist deities, while Confucian principles reinforced societal order, blending spiritual reverence with structured governance.

After the tour on such a bloody hot, humid day, those of us who were on the walking tour hit up the WPü pub, conveniently located around the corner from the meet of of that night’s AirBnB experience.

Our evening experience was called Shinjuku Izakaya With An Expert and it was hosted by Max, an expat from Colorado. A Japanese izakaya is a casual, pub-like establishment where people gather to eat, drink, and socialize. Often compared to a tavern or gastropub, it’s a staple of Japanese nightlife, offering a relaxed atmosphere and a wide variety of food and drinks.

Our first stop was on the fourth floor of a building close to Shinjuku station. We had matcha beer and tasted various chicken preparations including fried and heart but all got a laugh about eating chicken butt.. Because why waste it and after eating trachea and chitlins, why not!

Stop number two was an izakaya owned by a fish monger and it didn’t disappoint. The cuts of salmon and tuna were so fresh. The drink of choice was sake, served the same way as the night before but this time we were told not to drink the sake in the lacquer box and instead use it as a reserve for when the glass is emptied to refill the glass.

Stop 3 was outside a restaurant and we had friend pork cutlets before heading down a maze of small bars and alleys.

Our final stop was an Okinawa themed izakaya. We had squid ink pasta with sweet potato croquettes, some killer fried chicken and lovely ice cream which hit the spot on a long HOT day.

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Day 2: Temple, Toro and Trachea, A Most Excellent Day

Our day started walking between two massive tori gates, down a lane of merchants in Asakusa to the Sensoji Temple. The temple is significant because:

1. Historical Significance: Sensoji Temple, also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple, is Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple, founded in 645 CE. It is dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, and was established after two fishermen brothers discovered a statue of Kannon in the Sumida River.

2. Iconic Landmarks: The temple complex features the striking Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) with its large red lantern, a symbol of Asakusa, and the vibrant Nakamise-dori, a shopping street leading to the main hall, lined with traditional shops selling crafts, snacks, and souvenirs.

3. Cultural Hub: Sensoji is a major cultural and religious site, hosting events like the Sanja Matsuri festival in May, attracting millions of visitors annually. Its main hall and five-story pagoda are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

We reveled in the architecture across the centuries, wrote fortunes and took in people watching before heading out to the Sumida River Promenade.

The river walk quickly took us across the river to Sushiro for a sushi train experience. Virtually contactless, you make your selections on an iPad and they are delivered by conveyor belt to your table. The quality was excellent, variety was good and everybody was able to have a huge lunch for under $17.

The there was nap time back at The Knot before the games began.

Our AirBnB experience this night met up at Ueno station. Eat and Drink Like a Local: Taverns and Ramen. Our guide Akira took us through the back alleys and side streets of Ueno in search of authentic Tokyo food and drink.

Stop 1: Not quite a dive but not exactly fine dining. The atmosphere was electric with a party of business men in the adjoining room whooping it up and blowing off steam. The food was an array of sushi on a sushi boat ranging from salmon to toro to shrimp, and you better suck out the head… We also had soups and a refreshing drink of mixed molassesey liquor and a beer called Hoppy. Oh and the pickled mackerel was not pickled to our liking.

Stop 2: Met by the Tokyo guidos dressed in white linen jackets we were warmly welcomed into a dive that you might find in the backwaters of Luang Prabang. And this is where the trachea comes in to play… We “experienced” pork and not served many ways but rather many “cuts” if pork ranging from tongue, diaphragm to chitlins and, yes, trachea. Luckily there was sake to burn away the flavors that lingered. And the sake was presented in an interesting way by placing the glass inside a lacquer box and then filled beyond overflowing so that the lacquer box was full… Why not just get a bigger glass?

Stop 3: Cocktails on the third story of a narrow row house. We were here to chat about local drinking customs and etiquette and have what’s best described as a whiskey soda. We learned that the Japanese understand what is means to be over-served and so if you see someone sleeping on the street who is fairly well dressed, they are left alone out of sympathy. We also learned it’s polite to pee sitting down, but I’m not sure any of us agree.

Stop 4: The ramen. Amazing chicken ramen. Thick broth. Large slices of chicken. Hearty and delicious. And all in the narrow basement of a small house. Possibly the best ramen…

So with good memories and extremely full bellies we metro’d it back to The Knot for some rest before the next day began.

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Day 1: The Best Way To Start A Vacation Is..

With breakfast from 7 Eleven and a sake tasting in the foothills of Tokyo.

The day started for some of us in Shinjuku Chou Park at the Starbucks for some excellent morning beverage and people watching. Then on to a 7 Eleven for some seaweed salad and sushi for breakfast. And yes, it’s damn tasty!

Our AirBnB experience started with meeting Ryuta at Shinjuku Station and heading out to the Ozawa Sake Brewery, about an hour by train. The brewery is nestled into the hillside of an idyllic village.

Sake breweries are most often located where the water is pure and in this case is “limestone filtered”. Rice production on the other hand requires different conditions to flourish and thus most sake breweries bring in the rice they need. This also allows brewers to quality control which rice they use instead of being stuck with a particular harvest like wineries.

We learned about rice polishing, which is the degree to which the rice is milled. More milling gets you a sweeter higher quality grain but at great expense, whereas less milling lands you with a starchier source.

Historically sake was not aged because the federal government expected it to be shipped out upon production so that they could collect their tax, however that has changed. Today there are two bourbon casks at Ozawa filled with sake as an experiment in aging, and no, we offered to tap the casks and check the aging process but they didn’t take us up on our offer.

After our tour, we did some hiking into the hills along the river to a shrine before doing a tasting. A tasting on a relatively empty stomach at that. But is was a good time in an idyllic setting.

After returning to Tokyo, we made our way to Shinjuku Park, which is one of many huge green spaces in the city. 38 million people crammed into one densely constructed city and you need some open areas. So in spite of the heat and sun, we toured the park’s traditional Japanese and rose gardens and took in some excellent people watching.

Throughout the day we took advantage of the AI photo generator in Whatsapp and would generate absurd meme-like images of what we were going to do next. Those are reflected in the images from day 1

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Day 0 Smooth Sailing & Ramen

Flights were good. Out of Minneapolis we had a nearly brand new A350. Food was tasty, service was solid and the flight went by quickly. Oh and we arrived nearly an hour ahead of schedule.

The LA boys joined us at the airport and after some time working through how to navigate the subways and trains we made it to Shinjuku Station and made our way through the drizzle to our hotel, The Knot. Efficient rooms, fun lobby and quiet location on a park.

Most of our trip has been planned with the assistance of Grok and Chat GPT and for a dinner, Grok was spot on with what we needed: Ichiran Shinjuku! Ichiran is a chain of nearly short order ramen places.

Step 1: Order and checkout at the kisok

Step 2: Fill out a card with your preferences

Step 3: Wait to be seated at one of the 20+ study carol-style stalls

Step 4: Wait for the reeded blinds to open and take the receipt from the kiosk and preferences card

Step 5: Prepare your chopsticks and get some water from the dispenser in the corner

Step 6: Eat and slurp yourself to happiness

With excessively full bellies and warm hearts, we made out way back to The Knot for a night cap and then bed. A very firm bed…