Tokyo
Our next destination is one of the biggest capitals of the world: Tokyo. For such a big city it felt surprisingly quiet. Most cars were electric, and the vast majority of people relied on the subway. Even during rush hour, the streets felt calm and orderly.

Day 1
Our very first task was heading straight to Uniqlo to buy coats, having slightly underestimated just how cold a Tokyo winter could be. After a very yummy tonkatsu lunch, we spent the rest of our first day exploring the stationary stores of Ginza. One of them had twelve floors, so Bryson was truly in his element. He even met another American stationery nerd in the shop and the two of them talked about inks and nibs for ages.

Day 2
While our first day was geared towards Bryson’s stationary interests, the second day was focused on my love of temples. We explored the Asakusa region, wandering through traditional markets before visiting Senso-ji temple. I drew an average fortune prediction at the temple. Though I’m not sure how much I trust it, as our trip was anything but average. From there, we walked to the beautiful Ueno park, where we explored the gardens, visited three more temples and stopped by a local market where Bryson bought a cherry blossom stamp. That evening we returned to Asakusa for some delicious ramen.

Day 3
Day three was our skiing day. We took an early shinkansen to Gala Yuzawa resort near Niigata. The train journey itself was incredibly exciting. It was unbelievably fast (we crossed the country an hour and a half), immaculately clean and perfectly organised (it left exactly on time). We even got a perfect view of Mount Fuji from our seats. We arrived at the resort and picked up all our ski kit directly at the train station before heading straight to the baby slopes so I could teach Bryson how to ski. Bryson was an incredibly quick learner. After just twenty minutes on the carpet Bryson graduated to the chairlift slopes and by the end of the day he was the king of the green runs, with a perfect snowplough. It was truly special sharing one of my favourite activities with my husband. I also appreciated slowing down and truly noticing how beautiful the landscape around me was.

Day 4
The next day we took it easy, recovering from our ski adventure. I did a big 7-eleven shop, picking up all the items the internet recommended I tried. I ate delicious fried chicken, onigiri and my personal favourite, the egg sandwich (which tasted four million times better than any egg sandwich i’ve had in the UK). That afternoon, my friends Jewel and Nanako from Cambridge flew in to spend time with us. We wandered around the old town catching up after not seeing each other for long. Since it was Nanako’s birthday, we took her out for Thai food, then bought a big birthday cake to celebrate with her.

Day 5
On day five Bryson, Jewel, Nanako and I ventured out to the Royal Palace. While we weren’t allowed inside the palace itself, the gardens were beautiful and unlike anything i’d ever seen. From there, we headed to Shibuya, one of the busiest areas in Tokyo. We saw the famous Shibuya crossing, explored anime stores and even visited a hedgehog cafe. The hedgehog we interacted with at the cafe was called Kook and we bought a small teddy hedgehog with the same name to be a buddy for Bearthollomew. That evening, Nanako took us to one of her favourite sushi restaurants. As a couple whose relationship was built on sushi dates by the River Cam, Bryson and I were very excited. And the sushi lived up to expectations as it was some of the most delicious sushi i’ve ever tasted. No more wasabi for us!

Day 6
Sadly, Nanako had to return to Oita the next day. So Jewel, Bryson and I visited Tokyo Skytree. At the skytree, we ate udon and tried takoyaki. The only time Bryson had ever tried it before was years earlier, when we bumped into Nanako with a bag of them at Homerton College. Since then, he’d been desperate to try it again. We tried the original with moving fish flakes and an egg salad version. Both were delicious and we left the food hall completely stuffed. Bryson loved the Skytree because it was full of stationary shops, which he explored while Jewel and I hunted for gifts. I ended up buying a mini nanoblock Tokyo Skytree model, which I’ve already built three times.

Day 7
The next day we explored Shinjuku. We started by heading to the top of the Government Building for a free panoramic view of the city. After that we found a delicious tiny soba bar tucked away in an alleyway. We then explored Maiji Jingu Shrine (which was in a beautiful park full of trees and a stress full of themed cafes and teddy shops. I dragged Bryson into a Hello Kitty cafe, filled with hundreds of Hello Kitty teddies, which needless to say wasn’t his cup of tea. Later we sat at another bar-style restaurant eating gyoza. Watching them cook the gyoza was almost as fun as eating them.

Day 8
The next day we had a lazy morning before heading out to Odaiba to see Tokyo Bay. The island had a statue of liberty (admittedly a bit smaller than the one in the US) and a wonderful view of the Tokyo bridge and bay. We wandered around taking pictures before taking the train (with an amazing view) back to mainland Tokyo. That afternoon and evening, we explored Akihabara (the gaming district) . We visited a ten storey gaming shop where I tried every console, controller and headset. Afterwards, we visited an eight storey arcade where we all played Mario Kart, challenged each other to a bowling game, did one of those dancing games, and explored the retro games floor. We had a lot of fun. We then had a delicious dinner at another ramen place. I accidently got spicy ramen in my eye … again. I suppose I’m just really bad at using chopsticks. Afterwards we headed back, played games with Jewel (we established through pictionary that I’m not a very good drawer) before heading to bed early ready for our early morning flight the next day.

It was so nice to see Tokyo, and catch up with some great friends.