Katie Vail June 24, 2019 Japan

Tokyo Day 3: Yoyogi Park, Meguro River, and a fun Dinner Experience

If you missed Day 1 and Day 2 in Tokyo, don’t forget to check out those posts!

Day 3 in Tokyo was a Monday, and Tom took the train to Yukota for his day of meetings. I ran around the park by our hotel for 3.35 miles and then got ready for a day of exploring on my own. I basically ended up covering the southwest side of Tokyo on foot…and walked 11 miles because the subway intimidated me at first! I figured it out eventually, but more on that later.

outfit details:

Amazon athletic pants (lululemon align dupes, great for pregnancy too!) | striped tie back sweatshirt (so soft and I have the blush one too) | Walmart sneakers (better for walking than running but I didn’t want to bring an extra pair of shoes) | wireless headphones

First I walked to Yoyogi Park. It’s a pretty large park and I must have entered it from a side that isn’t used very often. It was full of large trees and paths and it was almost eerie how quiet it was. Japan has these giant crow or raven type black birds and their caws can be kind of freaky, especially when you’re by yourself and you hear them behind you! I just kept thinking of the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Anyway, after I wandered the park I stumbled upon the large Meiji Shrine, which seemed to be a huge tourist attraction. I went from being along to being surrounded by tons of people, it was a crazy experience! We saw a ceremony being conducted in and it was neat to see the ritual and hear the drum.

outfit details:

I kept wandering south and ended up in Harajuku, which I guess is a big cosplay and anime area. I didn’t see any wild outfits because it was still pretty early when I got there, but it seemed to be a really happening area. I kept walking and made it to Shibuya Crossing, which is a famous intersection where thousands of people cross the roads all at the same time. It’s a site to behold and reminded me of Times Square a little bit.

I kept walking and finally made it to the Meguro River, which is a famous place to see the cherry blossoms. There were pretty pink lanterns hanging along the river and it looked beautiful with all of the blooming cherry trees. This area is famous for its vintage shops and I popped in and out of them and had fun looking at the vintage clothing. I decided to buy myself a cheap vintage pink scarf to remind me of the day. I’ve already worn it in my hair and on my purse! Such an easy to pack souvenir too. I also had some Japanese street food because there were lots of vendors and I also had a pink bubble tea. Oh and I took a lot of selfies because I was alone haha

I finally decided it was time to figure out how to get home, so I braved the subway and made it back to our hotel with no issues! I love public transportation but it’s a bit tricky when you don’t even know the characters of the language. Thankfully everything is spelled phonetically in English so it’s doable, just takes sometime because the words are so different from what we are used it. It was a really proud moment for me!

After I linked back up with Tom (and the two Airmen he was working with) we decided to go explore a cozy little alleyway that was full of hole in the wall restaurants that could only seat 5-15 people in each one. It’s called Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho and it was an incredible experience! All the tiny restaurants were cooking food on skewers over open flames. It was delicious! We got chicken (yakitori), beef and a number of different grilled veggies and it was our cheapest and most fun meal in Japan. Tokyo is an expensive city so these types are restaurants are the way to go if you’re on a budget!