Ninjas and Soup Nazis: 48 hours in Tokyo

Ramen in Japan is a serious affair, especially if you’re eating at Konjiki Hototoogisu, one of the three Michelin started Ramen restaurants in Tokyo. It’s a place that emphasizes your personal connection with the food, and your individual experience with just that one dish.

Put plainly, you shut up and eat.

Slurp your delicate, hearty, achingly perfectly ramen - quickly - then get out. Get a little too chatty with your neighbor and, as Tara found out, you will be told to shut it and eat. This isn’t social hour, it’s ramen time. The only sounds you hear otherwise are the pleasing clinks and sizzles from the kitchen, and the hushed rustling of a cash register filling up. Was it worth the wait, the soup nazi atmosphere, and the ~$12 we paid? Are you kidding? Of course it was! Oh, and don’t take photos of the staff. Pics of the food and the menu are cool, and there are plenty of signs that state as much. Some dumb dumb behind us snapped a pic of the chef and he was yelled at and made to delete the photo. No soup for you!

Food kind of ended up being the focus of the trip, though I think we managed to walk off most of what we ate. Eating out in Tokyo can be generally very affordable. Homes in Tokyo are often quite small and lack full kitchens (certainly compared to US kitchens) so people eat out often. The quality of the food is always impressive, whether it’s a nice restaurant or a 7-11. Kaiten sushi -conveyor belt sushi- lets you pick what you want as it rolls by on a moving belt, but the place I always like to go to uses little magnetic trays that zip over and stop at your table. The quality is decent, and it’s cheap, and the novelty factor is high. But if you’re going to eat out in Tokyo, you have to try a theme restaurant. We picked the Ninja Shinjuku restaurant partly due to its close location, and we weren’t disappointed. The level of kitsch was off the charts, and the food was fabulous. All groups get a private room, and your ninja server darts in and out serving revenge at the edge of a sword, er, I mean, delicious treats on the edge of a …fork. You get the idea. There’s a ninja show, of sorts, though don’t expect any sword fights. Highly recommend.

**Coffee Kizoku Edinburgh - one of the last remaining Euro-style cafes in Tokyo from the 1980’s**

No trip to Tokyo would be complete without stopping through Shibuya and braving the massive crowds in rush hour, and of course giving the Hachiko statue a pet. We strolled through Yoyogi park, paid our respects to Buddha at the Senso-ji temple, and shopped and ate our way through as much of the city as we could. And have I mentioned how much I love the coffee/drink vending machines found everywhere? Because I do.

Tokyo vending machines - so many delicious choices

Harajuku is always a spectacle, and we shopped and ate our way through while people watching. We immediately regretted stopping in to an Owl cafe on a whim, even though they appeared well cared for. We tried to make up for it by ordering vegetarian gyoza, but they only had pork, so we shamefully ate that instead. On the bright side? Our bear shaped ice-cream was 100% bear free, so there’s that.

Also - behold the the glory that is a Japanese 7-11. I’ve seen my buddy Bill scoop out unidentifiable things from the murky, brothy depths of this hot station, but still haven’t been brave enough to try myself. Maybe next trip.

Our time in the city wrapped up and we are off to the main part of the trip - Thailand! I would have been happy to stay in Tokyo for another two weeks (or months) but I’m excited to see what Thailand has to offer. Full gallery below.

Where we stayed: Hotel Gracery in Shinjuku. Nice hotel, good location, quite novel. Shinjuku is loud and packed at all times though so if you want a more tranquil time I might look somewhere else.