This is gonna be a big one so buckle up!

Okay! Ready? Let’s go!

Day 1: We were gonna go to Ueno but Belle and I ended up waking up at 4am.. the time difference really hit. We were up for a while seeing if there was anything to do but nothing was open until like 930-10am. We met up with Jessica and walked around a bit. We ended up going to a Starbucks connected to the Sky Tree and getting some coffee.

After an hour, the SkyTree opened up! We ventured in and spent our WHOLE DAY there. There were so many stores and shops, as well as desserts and foods. Literally any thing you wanted to buy or eat was there.

For example there was the Kirby Cafe, Pokemon Center, Snoopy Store, Marvel Store, Hello Kitty Store, Kirby Cafe store, book stores, clothing stores from Uniqlo to lolita to Diesel, food that ranged from ramen to a cheesecake drink. It was a fun but overwhelming experience. It was like a dream but also a nightmare as I stumbled through my coin purse trying to count.

After shopping around for hours we were exhausted but we still wanted to see the view from the sky tree itself. We planned our adventure to the sky for 630pm so that we all had time to go home and take a little nap.

After we had awoken, it was time to go up! It was really cool and the elevators up to the viewing deck had different themes of the seasons. The views were really cool but sadly it was cloudy. We did see the transition from day to night time though! After this excursion, we all went home and passed out again. Also fun fact, we ended up going around the Sky Tree’s 11 anniversary! Also the top deck was Disney themed.

That was all day 1! Already so much but we continue.

day 2: We wake up once again at 4am, it’s rough but we play Zelda and try to sleep. This day we actually had a plan for breakfast! We all ( being Belle, Cam, Jessica, Liam, and myself) planned to go to Hoshino Coffee in the sky tree. We met up ( after some difficulties) and went for breakfast. We really wanted the big soufflé pancakes but those were only on holidays so we mostly just got some French toast. It was ok, I felt bad for the staff because there definitely weren’t enough seats for us.

After breakfast, we walked around the Sky Tree again! This time finding more stores and showing Cam and Liam the crazy food market and dessert options. I ended up buying some dango! It was really good and seems ritchie liked it too. It had the consistency of mochi but was sweet in flavor almost like brown sugar.

As one could guess, we did some more shopping. This time I got some baby books to practice Japanese! It was Pokémon themed how could I not?! It was funny because we also found Minecraft books and diary of a wimpy kid in Japanese. It was cool to see! After that we got some food and headed back home for our siestas for the day.

After a nap, Belle, Jess, and I went to Asakusa for ramen! It was a cute shop with mostly foreigners but it was yummy! We looked around the area and stumbled upon the Senso-ji Shrine. It was night time so the lights were all on and it was pretty empty but it was super pretty.

We saw some signs that a festival was happening and decided to check it out the next day. It was an accident that we stumbled on to one of Tokyo’s largest festivals that happens every year on this weekend.

Before we get there however, I NEED to talk about the Asakusa Don Quixote. It was CRAZY. Literally anything you could need or want was in the 4 story building. From bicycles, to chargers, to clothes, to beauty products, to food, to alcohol it was all there. It was also very cramped but cool to go through.

After Don Quixote we dispersed and went to bed.

Day 3: If you think it’s crazy now, just wait.
Belle and I woke up at a normal time today!!! Seems our bodies are finally adjusting. After being in bed for a bit we headed out back to Asakusa for the festival. At this point we thought it was gonna be a little crowded but manageable but oh boy we’re we wrong. It was around 10am when we arrived at the temple and it was already packed. We also saw a lot of girls in Kimonos and a lot of traditional clothing. We met up with Skylar and explored the area.

Apparently we ran into the one of the biggest festivals in Tokyo ( as I said before) but I was not expecting what I saw. There were tons of people and apparently the event draws around 1.8 millions viewers. There were little shops everywhere with food and fortunes to get. We all got our fortunes and all got normal fortunes. At least it’s not a bad one!

After that we saw and heard drums and chanting. The festival is about 3 temples and their shrines. Therefore, there were mini shrines that went around with chanting and clapping to celebrate. Accompanied with that were these carts with taiko drums from different families.

The crowds would shuffle around to see all the different mini shrines and drums. It was amazing and I felt so lucky to have seen it. Jessica ended up join with us at about noon for the rest of the day.

After getting a bit tired from the crowds we walked around the festival area to see all the stores. There were a lot of different stores with food, souvenirs, kimono rentals, and more. As a snack I got this 500 yen pancake with mozzarella cheese in it. It was very yummy.

We walked around a lot, bought some gifts, and once again needed a little break from the action. It had been a long day at that point of walking around and seeing so many cool things. We all went to our hotels and rested for a little while.

After a little break, Belle, Jess, and I went to this cute little American themed diner. The staff seemed so happy to see foreigners and even tried to speak English to us! It was funny to see how American culture is perceived and our food. I got Mac n cheese and it was ok. Definitely not my good ol’ box of Kraft! After dinner we did some walking to local shrines in our area and a walk down by the Sumida river. It was a nice temperature outside for a walk. We saw one temple that still have ladles and water out so we practiced cleaning our hands properly. We walked around, planned for tomorrow ( Pokemon Cafe!) and went to bed.

Wow. That was only 3 days and so much has happened. I would love to go into every detail but then this would be more like a dissertation than a blog. I’ll leave you with some more photos I took as we went around. See ya next time!