Trip Date: October 27th – November 4th, 2017
Tokyo Metro Government Building
This building is where all of the magic happens for the city of Tokyo. It’s the brain of this sprawling city and it’s quite the tall buildings too. There are 2 towers in which you can get a spectacular view of the city. It’s also free to go all the way to the viewing deck unlike the Tokyo Towers. When you walk into the building, you’ll be greeted by security who will direct you down to the main elevators that will take you straight to the viewing deck. The views were amazing. Tokyo as far as the eye can see. The day we went it was a big hazy out so we weren’t able to see Mt. Fuji. It’s also a short walk from the Shinjuku Station so easy to get to, but there are also other smaller subway stations nearby too.
Meiji Shrine
Down in Shibuya is the Meiji Shrine. Situated in a forest in the middle of the city, you take these wide gravel roads to get to the main shrine area. We came the day before Culture Day, so there was quite a lot of preparation for shrine festivities. I bought a couple of charms and even wrote some words of thanks on a votive tablet to hang up on the wall. While we were there, a wedding had just finished up and the bride and groom were outside with their wedding party for pictures. There were other areas to visit on the shrine grounds, but we decided to just visit the main area due to time constraints.
Harajuku
After the Meiji Shrine, we walked over to Harajuku to check out the clothing shops that dotted the main alley. If you love crepes, this is the place to be. They had crepe shops almost every other store!
Imperial Palace
Unfortunately, you have to sign up about a month in advance to go checkout the Imperial Palace itself. But for us, we were still able to get unto the Imperial Palace grounds. We came from the southern entrance and walked around the public park areas on the southeast end of the Imperial Palace grounds. There were historical buildings and large park areas for people to hang out and relax. After hanging out here until they closed, we headed back to Shinjuku to grab dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant that served wagyu beef.
Golden Gai
After dinner, we decided to go hang out in Golden Gai and have a few drinks before calling it a night. Found a small bar that didn’t have a cover charge for foreigners so we stuck to this very cramped bar for a couple of hours.
