Yokoso (welcome)! Japan recap Day 1

Hey guys, we're back from Japan - what a whirlwind of a trip! It went by so quick.... but Bear and I enjoyed every second of our stay there. We had a blast!

I thought i'd document my trip separating my posts by each day we were there, just so I have a memento of my trip as a keepsake here on my blog. There will be plenty of photos if you don't like reading all that much, so either way, I hope you enjoy my recap of my trip :)

So after a loooooong 10 hour-ish ride from Seattle to Narita airport, we get to Tokyo in the early evening. We knew the hotel we were staying at in Tokyo and couldn't wait to see how gorgeous the hotel was in person. Welcome to the Imperial Hotel! When we first found out the name of the hotel in Tokyo (located in the Ginza area of Tokyo which is the equivalent of 5th avenue in NYC), we were astonished at the room rates, which go for about $400 a night for two. This was definitely not a place I'd select if we were paying out of our own pockets, but hey, this was a trip I won, you have to remember :) Otherwise, we sure as hell wouldn't be staying at such a nice hotel, that's for certain.

Upon check in, we walked through the huuuuuge lobby that had this huge fresh floral display. Every morning, we saw an employee taking out the wilted flowers from this huge display and replacing them with fresh ones... I can't even imagine what they spend for their floral budget to be able to do that daily! We were in the tower building, which was connected to the main building via a long hallway lined with rather expensive shops, but it meant we were going to be on an upper floor, as the hotel's tower rooms go all the way up to the 31st floor.

We were on the 24th floor. We unlocked the door to our room and were amazed by the cool view of the train station and streets of Ginza below us - it was an amazing sight to take in of the evening Tokyo skyline after being away from this country for 18 years (and a first time visit for Bear). I found it pretty interesting to find the same view look so different during different times of the day...

At Night

Day

Early morning (jet lag had me getting up at odd hours of the wee morning)

We had side by side (or as I like to say, Ricky & Lucy beds) with crisp white sheets and fluffy down pillows.

The bathroom was huge and had lots and lots of amenities (which means freebies to take home, heheh). They had twice daily housekeeping too. The piece de resistance in the bathroom however, was this:

I know, I know, what am I doing taking a friggin picture of a toilet, right? Well look a little closer... it's got buttons to violate you in more ways than one:

Yes, it's a bidet with all the bells and whistles. Apparently this is the norm for luxury hotels and in some households these days in Japan, if you can afford it. It's almost a status thing, like a Prada bag, to have your privates cleaned and to have a heated toilet seat. All I have to say is.... when in Rome.... or in my case, Tokyo... :)

We freshened up and strolled around the Ginza area and found a little hole in the wall restaurant underneath the train tracks to have a cold glass of draft beer and a simple meal of yakisoba and fried rice cooked by a Japanese chef who was totally the Japanese equivalent of Anthony Bourdain, seriously. I wish we took photos of the guy, complete with cigarette in his mouth. Bear said it was the best yakisoba he has ever had in his life.

I woke up to look out our hotel room window and realized how close we were to the Imperial Palace. In the photo below, in the middle of all that greenery, surrounded by a moat, is the Imperial Palace. The inner palace grounds are closed to the public, except for two days out of the year, when the Imperial family makes their public appearance on January 2nd for the New Years greeting, and in December on the Emperor's birthday.

And that concludes day 1 in Tokyo. Stay tuned for Day 2, when we visit with the company who made all of this happen for us.