November, 2024

Headed to Tokyo center a bit late, because punctuality is overrated. Grabbed lunch—I had udon, while D and M opted for the fine dining experience of McDonald’s. A culinary tour de force. Then, for reasons best left unexplained, we decided to tackle the Rainbow Bridge on foot. Yes, both ways. It’s like we were auditioning for

D and I hit up the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, a place so massive it felt like training for a museum marathon. We tackled the Japanese gallery first, then had to call a time-out for lunch—pita bread gyros, because nothing says ‘immersive cultural experience’ like Mediterranean food in Japan. Refueled, we took on

Started the day with a trip to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Observatory—because who doesn’t love free views and a chance to feel superior to the ants below? Each tower has an observatory perched 202 meters up on the 45th floor. On a clear day, you’re supposed to see Mt. Fuji in all its glory.

D and I hit up the Making of Harry Potter theme park in the afternoon, and it was a solid 3.5 hours of magical fun—though I was secretly hoping for a bit more wizard-level interactivity. Sure, you could join a Quidditch game or snap a pic of yourself chimney-hopping into the Ministry of Magic (ours didn’t download,

Today was the day of grand adventures and minor catastrophes! First stop: The Making of Harry Potter. Spoiler alert: the real magic was in how quickly the tickets sold out online. No in person selling. No online tickets for today either. #disappointment Plan B: Samurai Museum in Shibuya. Except it was closed, so… Plan C? Wandering

Kicked off the day by flexing our debate skills, arguing with the previous Airbnb host and defending ourselves against their ridiculous case. Also filed for reimbursement of cleaning fees—because, why not? Final score: Us 2, Host 0. Then headed to the Tokyo National Museum of Nature and Science. It was pretty solid, though a lot of the

Ah, the joys of travel—sometimes it’s less ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and more ‘Stress, Cancel, Rebook.’ This was one of those days. The place we stayed was so bad it made ‘terrible’ look like a compliment. Cue a showdown with Airbnb to cancel the nightmare. Rebooking a new place in Tokyo last minute? Oh, just a casual exercise