Golden Week, Day 1: Tokyo!

At long last, here are the much awaited posts about my Golden Week trip two weeks ago! As I mentioned in a previous post, Golden Week is a week long break all Japanese have off during April. Along with six other wonderful Stanford students, we embarked on a great adventure all over Japan - thanks to our fabulous Japan Rail (JR) passes that allowed us unlimited travel throughout Japan on any JR line (with the exception of the most expensive Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train). Our adventure began early Saturday morning on April 28th in the Kyoto station...adventure awaited!

Upon arriving in Tokyo (destination #1!), we immediately headed to Ginza, one of the most expensive shopping areas in Japan. High end stores side-by-side, including: Miu Miu, Armani, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Harry Winston, Ginza is also home to one of the busiest intersections in the world.

Afterwards, we took a ferry ride along the Sumida river, and on a clear day, it was beautiful. We had scenic views of the recently completed Tokyo Sky Tree (currently, the tallest tower and second tallest structure in the world) and other interesting Tokyo architecture.

After our ferry ride, we headed over to Akihabara, one of the famous districts in Japan known for streets upon streets of electronic stores. In between stores were a few maid cafes, also known for the area, where waitresses dress up as maids and patrons pay for services such as ear cleanings (yeah, I don't get it either).

At long last, we checked into our hotel, the lovely Hotel Sunroute Plaza in Shinjuku - one of the funnest areas of Tokyo. During the day a business district, at night Shinjuku lights up and bars and izakayas (tapas style restaurants catered towards 20-somethings) are packed.

We rounded out the night with some late night snacks and drinks - a terrific way to end the first night of our Golden Week adventure!