Having our last breakfast at the Sheraton
Waiting for our transfer van to come
Our hotel in Tokyo was really interesting. The hotel entrance was on floor 1, then you would take an elevator up to floor 28 where the lobby and restaurants are. From there you could take another elevator up to the floors where the rooms are. It was a super fast elevator and we would feel our ears pop while going up to the lobby.
We got checked in at the hotel and left our luggage there since our rooms weren't ready yet, and we headed out to explore.
This really cool clock was close to our hotel. It is called the Ni-Tele Big Clock, and was designed by Hayao Miyazaki (of Studio Ghibli fame). It reminded us a lot of Howl's Moving Castle.
Taking a normal subway train
We got off at Shibuya Station, close to the famous Shibuya scramble crossing
My favorite landmark in this area is the Hachiko statue, honoring the real dog Hachi who was known for his loyalty to his owner, even after his owner had died.
We had to wait in a line to get a picture with the Hachiko statue, but it was worth it
The crossing
We had gotten a tip from our soon-to-be tour guide, Michael, that you can get a nice view of the crossing from the Starbucks in one of the buildings that overlooks it. You have to get a drink to go be by the windows, and Nora and I were the only ones that wanted to do that, so we met up with the others after taking some pictures.
Exploring the area and doing a little shopping
Awww
We went to the Mega Don Quijote store. Don Quijote is a chain of stores in Japan known for their blue penguin mascot, selling just about anything, and being a sensory overload experience. They have a theme song that is always playing (and will get stuck in your head for weeks), lots of decorations, and floor to ceiling merchandise. They are often referred to as Donki for short.
Souvenir treats are a big deal in Japan, so often next to the box is a display to show what the treats inside look like. They had some really cute ones!
Nora's reaction to being inside a Donki for a while, lol
Using a translation app to see what this sign says - oh dear :(
Passing a cat statue at the shopping center
Shopping at Muji Market
We saw the sign for the Disney Store, so of course I wanted to go in an look (yes, I know we just spent the last 4 days at Disney parks 😝)
The decorations were my favorite part - Marie!
Jaq and Gus
The exclusive plushes for this particular store are Mickey and Minnie with an Akita
Shopping for more umbrellas - we wanted to make sure we were prepared for rain and/or shine!
A Yamato Transport truck - I love their logo of a mama cat carrying her kitten
Riding the train back to the hotel
We arrived back just slightly before the Big Clock was scheduled to go off, so we waited a minute to see it
Video of the clock show
We were able to go into our hotel rooms now - they brought in a rollaway bed for the kids' room
The view
Mike's and my room
Our first activity with our guided tour was a welcome dinner at a nearby restaurant
For the dinner entertainement, a "samurai" battled a "ninja"
There was also a shamisen player who was very good!
View out of the restaurant window once it started to get dark
Ev taking her chances with the sparkling water - we had a mini geyser for a second
There had been some communication difficulties with the restaurant about what was gluten-free, so we stopped by a convenience store on the way back to get some additional food for Ev
Passing the Big Clock lit up for the night when returning to the hotel
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