odds and ends
we did a bunch of different things today. we tried to go to the skytree and failed, but ended up walking around asakusa instead.
tickets
i have historically (both in 2024 and 2025) been able to buy shinkansen tickets online. it is always a giant pain in the ass, but i have been able to do it. american visa cards dont work in japan for online purchases, but my mastercard has always worked.
something seems to have changed, because i have lost the ability to do so. this is an absolute nightmare, because it means that i have to go to a train station and buy all of them in person now. its not unmanageable, but it is annoying and feels like a pointless hurdle to have to overcome.
so step 1 today was to obtain our train tickets to nagano on the 2nd. we went to tokyo station, and it turns out the payment issue extends beyond online purchases. i was not able to buy them in person with any of my cards. this means i will have to do it all in cash, which i was absolutely not prepared to do. if i had been able to do it online or in person with a credit card, i would have already bought all the tickets for all my bullet train traveling for the next month. but i cant even withdraw enough cash in one day to be able to do it that way. extremely frustrating.
so for now, we have our tickets for the 2nd, but none of the others. we are going to have to figure that out in the next couple days.
skytree?
its going to be rainy the next few days, the majority of our time in tokyo. but it is a beautiful day today. so today was the ideal day to go to tokyo skytree. one of the first things i did after waking up this morning was check availability for the skytree. it was wide open all day, every time slot was available. so because of the online payment issues described above, we just went there and planned to buy tickets in person. once we finally arrived there, the situation had clearly changed and all the tickets were sold out unless we came back like 4 hours later. we are going to buy tickets for it on like, friday or something instead.
since we were already in the area, we decided to pop down to senso-ji in asakusa. might as well get the mega tourist stuff out of the way while we are within sight of it.
this area is like the most “tourist hell” place in all of tokyo. its a really beautiful spot right by the suminda river, with a very cool temple and a bunch of little shops and stands. definitely a place everyone visiting tokyo for the first time should see, but it can be kind of a lot.
ramen
after failing to get into the skytree and kinda aimlessly wandering around, i decided that we must have ramen. we walked around looking for a ramen spot for a bit, and nothing jumped out at us. but i looked around on google maps and found a super well reviewed ramen restaurant close by. it did not disappoint. i got shoyu broth with chicken and beef.
this was probably in the top 5 bowls of ramen i’ve ever had, and it was $7.
smoking propaganda
another thing you have to do if you are visiting japan is go to don quijote. it is difficult to describe don quijote to someone. its like the everything store. fresh produce, video games, sex toys, pornography, t shirts, toys, souvenirs, model cars… if it is sold in a store, they probably have it at don quijote. and there is a “mega don quijote” in asakusa.
while the gang went in there, i went for a walk down the nearby street. they had a popup temporary smoking section in the middle of the street, being used as marketing for ploom, a “heated tobacco” product. they are super popular in japan as an alternative to cigarettes. its a little electronic heating device that you put sticks that look like cigarettes into. it produces very little smoke and is nearly odorless. they had a guy outside blowing bubbles to get people’s attention, and i ended up getting an amazing photo out of it. i went inside the smoking area, and its just a small table with someone giving out free samples and trying to convince people to buy one. so i tried out the ploom heated cigarette thing. it kinda sucks. dont smoke.
feet hurty
i’ve lost like 135 pounds in the last 18 months, and joined a gym a couple months back. i thought that might have an impact on the issues i tend to get with my feet on these trips, but it doesn’t really seem to have changed much. my feet were dying. we found a cafe/hostel thing, ordered some beers, and just relaxed on a little outdoor patio for a bit, it was nice.
izakaya time
one thing i haven’t really done much of in japan is go to izakayas. its something i wouldnt really do alone, since i am not very good at japanese. but with friends it feels easier to do. so we looked around our area for an izakaya, and we found one like 12 minutes away. this place rocks. they had an english menu. we got a couple beers and lemon sours, some yakitori (chicken skewers), and had a great time. we will definitely end up back here again within the next few days. they have a bunch of horse meat dishes, including horse hearts. gotta try that for sure.
