Today we’ll explore travel experiences we had in our short stay in Tokyo, Japan. See our hotel, local exploration, shopping, dining, and preparation for onward travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We’ll share some practical insights on transportation, accommodation, local culture, and budgeting, emphasizing a balanced mix of sightseeing and everyday life experiences in the Takadanobaba neighborhood of Tokyo.
We arrived in the cruise port in Yokohama and used the Go app to take a taxi for the 35 minute drive to our hotel in the Hakadanobaba district of Tokyo. We stayed at the Sotetsu Grand Fresa.
Our room was compact but lovely. Plenty of room for a short stay. Storage was minimal but we kind of expected that in Japan. We loved the technology in the bathroom! Bidets are not common in Canada but they should be!!! This bathroom even had a section of the mirror that would not steam up during a shower so no need to wipe it off to brush your hair and finish getting ready for the day. Japanese hotels offer all kinds of amenities such as slippers, pajamas and all kinds of toiletries from the basics to free toothbrushes, facial masks, cleansers, cotton swabs, etc. Everything you need to make you feel pampered.
We arrived a little early so we dropped off our luggage and went for lunch until our room was ready. The woman at reception pointed us in the direction of a street right around the corner that had a really large selection of eateries.
We wandered along the street looking at the plastic food menus. It was our first time seeing these and it was such a cool idea! They displayed plastic replicas of the dishes on offer so you knew exactly what you were ordering. We chose the spicy miso ramen combo that came with 6 gyoza. Oh my word! It was such a huge meal. One combo could have easily fed two people. It was delicious and reasonably priced. Being in the university district of Tokyo generally means you can find good deals on food because they are priced for students.
The 7/11 was close by. Of course we had to go in and buy some Japanese 7/11 food! There was also a Don Quixote store right next door. This is a very popular Japanese department store that only sells Japanese products. We had a lot of fun shopping here. We loaded up on snacks to send home to family and we even bought a new suitcase here at a great price. Our large suitcase got a bit damaged during our flight. It had a split in it and the wheels were a bit wonky so we ended up donating all of our winter clothes from the cruise in the old suitcase. Now we had a brand new one to begin the next leg of our journey to Thailand and the wheels glided so smoothly!
The Hakodanobaba area of Tokyo was the place where the creator of Astro Boy lived. At the train station there is a huge wall covered in a mural of all the characters. It’s well worth seeing!
We only stayed a couple of days in Tokyo but we did so many things. Too many to cover in this post.
Watch the video below for more in depth information on the sites and experiences we had in Tokyo, Japan and tips for getting around the city.
