12 hours in Tokyo

We traveled 53 hours from Phu Quoc to get home to Salem, Oregon. We took 4 flights through 6 airports and we got to live an entire day twice.

In between all of that we had a 12 hour layover in Tokyo where we had to change airports. But more than that, it gave us a chance to break up the long day of travel and have some fun. So here’s a couple of Sudermans in Tokyo, Japan. Quickly now or you might miss them.

We will have to go back to visit Tokyo properly someday, but I’m pretty impressed with how much ground we were able to cover in just a few hours. Connor had a single, but very specific request to find a place where he could play pachinko – a slot-machine type game where you drop pinballs through slots to try and win more pinballs (I’m not an expert in the nuance of pachinko, but that’s what I gathered) – so once we landed, off to find pachinko we went.

It was about 9 o’ clock in the morning by the time we got through the airport and into the city…Not exactly pachinko playing time, and we had an hour until some of the parlors were even open. So we took a walk.

It was a beautiful day. Like absolutely perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, cool, and lightly breezy. Perfect for exploring. We walked through a park that was completely empty, whether it was because of the virus or just that it was early in the morning, we mostly had the city to ourselves. It was fabulous.

And then it was finally pachinko time! We walked into a parlor that opened minutes ago, and were their second customer of the day. We spoke no Japanese and the attendants didn’t speak English, so we warmed up to pachinko with a game of charades trying to explain to Connor how to play, use pinballs and insert money. We finally figured it out, and Connor was off fulfilling his childhood dreams (a co-worker of my mom’s used to have an old pachinko machine and Connor LOVED that thing).

Turns out its harder to win at real pachinko vs. a game in someones basement and Connor had had enough after just a few rounds. But mission accomplished! If we did nothing else that day it still would have been a success. Also I’ve written pachinko enough times in the post that I’m convinced I’m not spelling it correctly, and I’m sure you guys are tired of reading it, so enough of that!

But there was still so much more to do. Like eat. But it was still quite early in the day for lunch time so we found this fast food place that was open 24/7 for a quick, easy lunch. They even had a menu in English. The food was okay. My one regret is we didn’t have any amazing food while we were in the city, but with only a few hours and a limited budget, it was good enough.

Along with site seeing, we successfully navigated the MRT system in Tokyo multiple times to get to our desired destinations, which is a whole achievement itself. We took the MRT to Akihabara to see what there was to see. I feel it’s probably a place that is much more alive at night time. At 11:30 in the morning it looks almost ordinary.

I found extra cute fuzzy pokemon socks that I couldn’t resist, and Connor got a postcard, so we can successfully prove that we indeed had stepped foot in Japan.

Our final stop of the day was the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa. It was so beautiful, and there were lots of people about, which made it lively and fun to observe everyone coming and going.

We spent the rest of our afternoon here, enjoying the sunshine, and our beautiful surroundings.

I saw several people walking by with beautiful looking mochi, and I told Connor that we had to find the source, and try whatever it was these people were eating on sticks. After a few minutes of searching we found a stall down a small alleyway selling an assortment of strawberry themed desserts/snacks. Mochi, ice cream, pancakes, candied strawberries. It all looked drool worthy, but I was here for the mochi. And so was everyone else it seemed. There was a considerable line, but the wait was worth it.

They were just as good as they looked, and I ate mine way too fast. I would come back to Tokyo just for some more of that mochi.

And then before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport and finally go home. But this won’t be the last time we’re in Tokyo.

So we flew back home to the US. Connor and I made it safely all the way to Salem without issues. We are joining our parents in quarantine for the next few weeks and I hope everyone reading is staying safe and healthy. I’m sad that this is trip has come to an end, for now. I will return when I can and continue my travels sometime in the future. Until then, stay healthy and watch your toilet paper usage!

-Natalie