NRT (Narita International Airport) – I arrived a bit earlier than expected. Going through customs, grabbing my checked-in luggage, setting up my JR (Japan Rail) Pass, & retrieving my pocket wifi went really smoothly.
Also, seeing the “Welcome to JAPAN” sign held by both Mario & Luigi (Nintendo Characters) was awesome (there was another “Welcome to JAPAN” sign held by Rosalina, Luna, & Daisy (also Nintendo characters) that was just as dope too! Love the Nintendo usage here.
Oh, and it was nice to see the Tokyo 2020 posters up at the airport (showing both anime-like mascots!) Man… can’t believe the olympics is coming around the corner. There’s a Nintendo Switch game associated with the upcoming olympics that I’ve been going back and forth about getting (“Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020”) – we’ll see! For now, I just enjoy seeing stuff that are related to the Olympics anyway.
Just like my passport, I had to make sure that I kept my JR Pass close to the chest (literally) – losing this would suck… as I would have to fork over the same amount of money that I originally paid to replace it – (no worries, because “spoiler alert” – I did not lose my JR Pass at all throughout the trip! :D, great). Even though my trip was only 11 days (technically 10 since I lose a day from flying), I got the 14 day pass instead of the 7 day one (there were 7, 14, and 21 day pass options) since I wasn’t sure how much I would have to pay (& what I would do as an alternative at the time) for those three days without it. Better safe than sorry!
Before I continue further, I just want to give a shoutout to one of my brothers from another mother – Tony! Including the fact that he and his fiancé (Eva, who is another close friend and shoutout to her as well since she helped me with ideas on what to eat and see in Tokyo) have been to Japan in the past, when it comes to logistics, Tony’s my guy – he’s very reliable when it comes to organizing and preparing for things, especially for international trips like this where having a JR Pass is a must-have when traveling in Japan. He helped me with the JR Pass stuff, and he also suggested that I get a Pocket Wifi too, because you never know when you’re in certain areas in the country where the mobile network connection can be spotty (Having that Pocket Wifi man…what a save).
Anyway, after getting both my JR Pass + Pocket Wifi – I went to the front desk (that handles JR stuff. I showed him my JR Pass, and I told him that I was heading to Shinjuku (one of the more popular boroughs within Tokyo). He asked me if wanted a window seat, and naturally, I said “CHYEAH MAN YOU KNOW IT BRUH WINDOW SEAT ALL DAY.” (jokes! I just nonchalantly said “yes.”) Taking the Narita Express train (from Narita Airport Terminal 1 to Shinjuku, which is where my AirBnb is) was really nice – assigned seating + DECENT amount of leg room (when I say that…I mean it was a good amount of room) – just overall a good experience.
It was relaxing and nice just to look out the window (even though it was nighttime), and to actually be in the country. Even though I’ve already adapted to taking the MAX Light Rail (our light rail system here in Portland), there was something about taking trains in Japan that just had that x-factor (maybe it was the precision timing of the train arriving on the dot, the different stops and places that I was unfamiliar with that the train conductor would announce every so often during my train ride that I was curious about, or maybe it could be just that I’m just super hyped and get excited even for the most little of things (which I can say that I do get excited about certain things pretty easily haha).
Train ride: [departure time] 20:44 (8:44pm) ~> [arrival time] 22:09 (10:09 pm)
After stepping out of the train & going outside of the Shinjuku Train Station, I was surrounded by all of these lighted up buildings in Shinjuku – HELL YEAH. THE CITY! Some of the buildings that I saw already gave me this initial feel good impression of the ideal modern metropolitan look. I missed this side of urban Asia… forreal.
As I was admiring the urban environment around me, I was getting super hungry! What would be the first meal that I would have in Japan?! You guessed it ~> RAMEN.
First stop ~> Misoya Hachiro Shoten! It was a 7 minute walk from Shinjuku Station – not too bad. Here we go!
When I first walked in, I knew to expect to order from the menu machine right beside the sliding door entrance (shoutout to Paolo de Guzman, a super awesome dude / tour guide that has a youtube channel called “Paolo fromTOKYO”. I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from him & his youtube vids + he recommended this Ramen shop as part of his “Tokyo Ramen Top 5 Must Eat at Shinjuku | Japanese Food Guide” youtube vid.)
Anyway, I ordered the Kara (Spicy) Miso Ramen (¥920 + recommended by Paolo). The miso is a special blend from Hokkaido (the northernmost of Japan’s Main Islands).
This bowl uses this special burnt garlic black oil (that sits on top of the broth) that just added this nice, heavy touch to the dish. It also had this soft chashu, as well as ground pork.
The noodles were thicker & more straight than I would typically taste & see in Ramen (comparing to ramen back in the states) – I liked it a lot! Although… for some strange reason, my bowl didn’t include the soft-boiled egg that was illustrated in the menu machine (I thought about inquiring on it, but decided against it since I was just too hungry to care & at the time, I wouldn’t know how to ask about this in Japanese). Overall, what a good first meal to have in the land of the rising sun!
Before I headed to my Airbnb in Shinjuku, I was still a bit hungry – there’s one other stop that I wanted to hit up that was only a 6-7 minute walk away… ANOTHER RAMEN SHOP! CHYEAH. LETS GO.
Next stop ~> Hosenka! Ordering food was the same way as it was from Misoya Hachiro Shoten – from a menu machine (I hope that’s what you call it haha… correct me if I’m wrong). This (& the ramen I got) was also recommended by Paolo from the same aforementioned youtube vid.
I ordered their Tokusei Ramen (Special Ramen in English. ¥1,000) – oh. my. goodness… I’ve never had this kind of ramen before! The broth is made from a premium sea bream called Kinmedai (金目鯛) or “Golden eye snapper” in English. With rare pork shoulder chashu, bits & pieves of Kinmedai, bamboo sprouts, chopped red & green onions, AND this delicious half-broiled marinated egg, this bowl of ramen was quite exceptional. I loved every bit of it, and I couldn’t believe that ramen can be soul good like this ~> it must be the fish broth. Also, the whole wheat noodles paired very well w/ the broth.
Something that I didn’t order shortly after I finished this Special ramen is the “Kinmedai Chazuke,” which Paolo did recommend & which was eaten afterwards w/ the leftover ramen soup. This dish consists of an additional bowl of rice w/ the soup topped w/ 2 small pieces of Kinmedai chunks & a bit of mild wasabi. I decided not to get it at that time because (1) I was too full, & (2) I didn’t know how to ask for that in Japanese… (in hindsight, I could’ve been resourceful & showed Paolo’s video on the “Kinmedai Chazuke” & hand motion to order this).
Man… not one, but two bowls of ramen – what a way to start off! After finishing up at Hosenka, I started walking to my AirBnb in Shinjuku – even at around 10:30pm, the streets were still crowded w/ people left & right. Originally, the walk from Hosenka to the AirBnb was supposed to take 10 – 11 minutes – it ended up taking at least 20 – 25 minutes. I relied on Google Maps to find the place, only to realize that the address that I input into Google Maps was a bit off… I then re-input the address (straight from AirBnb just to be sure) & thank goodness… I was able to find the place (along w/ help from Harumi’s (AirBnb host) directions from our 1v1 AirBnb chat.
The AirBnb was at OMORI BLD via the 9th floor. When I first came into the place, I was met by two gentlemen:
- Min (Harumi’s Husband)
- “Ratis” (Latvian tourist, who has been to Japan 5-6 times prior) [I think that’s his name… at least that’s what I remembered]
An interesting moment happened after we greeted each other w/ handshakes – both commented on my handshake & how strong it is – I’m not joking. I was surprised that they would comment on something that I considered to be a norm in my everyday life when meeting people for the first time. Min told me that having a bold, strong handshake is an American thing, and that in Japan, the standard, normal handshake is just a mild grip (as he demonstrated to me shortly after). Both Min and Ratis were pretty friendly & we talked a bit about each other’s backgrounds & our prior experiences in this country.
Shortly after, Min showed me his nice, unique place, (& from the pictures I saw on the AirBnb website) and the room I was staying in was pretty dope – it had all of these trinkets, toys on display, & old, framed posters (such as one about Pasadena / Rose Bowl… whoa! that’s pretty much a 5-10 minute drive away from my hometown back in Southern California. What a small world).
A couple other things to note that Min showed me about his place:
- The Shared Bathroom – the toilet doubles as a bidet! HELL YEAH. I remembered using the bidet quite A LOT back during my first trip to Japan 12 years ago. I’ll definitely be making good use of using the bidet whenever I take a deuce. The shower was cool – there was this flat, grounded platform that was dedicated to showers, & a separate bathtub (all in the same area). Both are controlled by this built-in mini machine thing on the side wall that configures the temperature of the water Honestly, I wish I had this setup at my apartment. (I know that a lot of houses nowadays have that sort of thing where you have a small, enclosed shower area + a separate bathtub, but with this one at the AirBnb in particular – it just had this x-factor of a design, and the built-in mini machine attached to the side wall was something that I’ve never really seen before in households.
- Throughout the place, there were tons of action figures & other stuff that Min + Harumi had collected as tokens of appreciations from prior AirBnb guests – that is really nice to see.
The view outside of my window is quite nice – 9th floor view & there’s a shared balcony next to my room. Time for some shuteye, & hopefully jetlag won’t do be too badly tonight.
Cheers / wave
Listen to what you see. 