The downside of arriving early in the morning is that hotel checkin is in the afternoon, so our tired faces and sweaty bodies spent the first hours exploring the nearby neighborhoods which included the imperial palace east gardens and Tokyo station.

The gardens are from the Edo period before Tokyo was the capital (some rebuilt) with tea house and koi ponds and plum trees (still blossoming and not to be confused with the famous Japanese Sakura or cherry blossoms).

Tokyo station is more than just a railway station, it’s a whole shopping complex with “character street” featuring shops with figurines and stuffed animals and trinkets both from Japanese anime and western comics and cartoons. The station also features a “ramen street” with… you guessed it… lots of ramen restaurants. I noticed that ramen is so popular in Tokyo and Japan that Google maps actually has its own “ramen” search button here!

So after checking in to our hotel and getting a much needed shower, we went to the shopping district Ginza and ate… well… ramen!