My Pictures and Notes from Tokyo

Last updated: March 15, 2024

2024 UPDATE: SEE MY NEW TOKYO GUIDE HERE!

Anthony Bourdain’s warning about the biggest city in Japan rings true:

“What do you need to know about Tokyo? Deep, deep waters… The first time I came here was a transformative experience. It was a powerful and violent experience.”
from the Parts Unknown: Tokyo intro, sent to me by Dan Lerman

I feel well-equipped to handle large cities as an 11-year veteran resident of NYC.

But Tokyo is still a challenge for me.

Street with lots of lights in Tokyo — Street in Shinjuku, snapped while quickly walking to look at a new capsule hotel (9H).

There’s simply so much. So much people, restaurants, lights, sounds, trains, and more. It can be overwhelming for even the most experienced travelers.

And because I was coming from a week in green-lush birdsong Hawaii (Hilo and Kauai), the culture shock was especially strong for me.

Table of Contents hide

1 My Favorite Photos from Tokyo

2 Capsule Hotel and Fancy Hotel

2.1 Millennials Capsule in Shibuya

2.2 The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo

3 Food: Mostly Sushi, Plus Ramen and Katsu

3.1 My Big Sushi Mistake

3.2 Ramen Noodles from Ichiran

3.3 Katsu from Tonkatsu Maisen

4 Friends: Jack Rusher and Andy Fossett

4.1 Doug Barber from Minaal

5 teamLab Borderless

6 Green Tea: Overdosing on Gyokuro

6.1 Sakurai Tea House in Tokyo

6.2 Green Tea at Gen Gen An

7 To-Do List For Next Time

8 Conclusion

8.1 BONUS AIRPORT SUSHI TIP

My Favorite Photos from Tokyo

These are some of my favorite photos from my 48 hours in Tokyo over February 23, 24, and 25, 2019. It was my fourth visit to the city.

Capsule Hotel and Fancy Hotel

Millennials Capsule in Shibuya

I stayed at the new-ish The Millennials Shibuya. I would not stay there again, but I would recommend it for one night. Here’s what my “room” looked like:

Capsule hotel at The Millennials Shibuya with quote "Today Is the Best Day Ever" above it — My capsule room on the 5th floor. Some rooms like mine pictured here are decorated by local artists.

Cost: US$115 (Y12,500), which seemed expensive. Spacious, large capsule. Perhaps due to the winter, the air inside was very dry. Nice coworking space. Hip, friendly crowd and helpful staff. Great first time capsule experience for someone not ready to go full-salaryman.

The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo

For my second night, I splurged and blew 60,000 Marriott points on a room at the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo. I would stay here again.

The room, lobby, breakfast, gym, and pool were fantastic. They even had buckwheat pillows available (my favorite type of pillows). I didn’t like the location.

Bowl with fruit in it, overlooking downtown Tokyo outside the window — View from breakfast. Someone told me to only eat fruit on an empty stomach? I later had scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, salmon, bok choy, natto, and rice.

Food: Mostly Sushi, Plus Ramen and Katsu

Japanese food is famous. I had some good meals on this trip.

Black plate with about 15 pieces of nigiri sushi of various pretty colors — My friend Doug ordered this at a Sushizanmai near Tokyu Hands. Sushizanmai is a good chain of sushi restaurants.

My Big Sushi Mistake

When I first arrived, I couldn’t wait to eat sushi. I found a nearby location for Standup Sushi which is one of my favorite spots for quick, high-quality sushi in Tokyo.

I got a little over-eager and ordered a LOT, including this crab on the bottom right of the picture:

Banana leaf has three pieces of sushi on it, plus case with raw fish inside, pictured at Standing Sushi in Shinjuku — Grilled eel and crab guts at Standing Sushi in Shinjuku

I thought it was going to be blue crab like I get at Sugarfish.

But no. Wrong. It was crab intestines and crab guts. It was gross.

I still ate it.

I liked this restaurant, I recommend it, and I would definitely come back.

Pro tip: search for “uogashi nihon-ichi” on Google Maps to find their various locations throughout Tokyo.

Ramen Noodles from Ichiran

I would come back here and I recommend this place. I went early in the morning, at 7am, when there was no line. You order from a machine!

Bowl of noodles at top, plate of pork on the bottom — Ramen and pork from Ichiran in Shibuya

Katsu from Tonkatsu Maisen

This place is world famous for katsu. I would not come back here because it turns out that I don’t like katsu (too fatty / to much breading for my taste).

Plate of pork katsu: rice on the left, katsu in middle large place, miso soup top right — Katsu from Tonkatsu Maisen, which I found thanks to Kaitlyn Reed’s list of places on Foursquare

Friends: Jack Rusher and Andy Fossett

My friend Jack Rusher was in town. I organized a little dinner meetup with me, Jack Rusher, and my CEO friend Andy Fossett from GMB.

Three men, selfie in Toyo — L-to-R: me, Jack Rusher, and Andy Fossett. It’s not the most flattering pic but I’m glad I captured it to remember this night that we all hung out.

Both Jack and Andy are very involved in physical fitness, karate, and handstands (and related movements / acrobatics). It was fun for me to listen to them rap about stuff.

Doug Barber from Minaal

The next morning, I got a message from my friend Doug Barber who is the co-founder of the Minaal backpack company: he was staying in my same capsule hotel! So Doug and I met up for co-working.

Nick Gray and Doug Barber co-working in Tokyo, sitting at a table — Me and Doug, working in the lounge and meeting area of the Millennials Capsule Hotel.

Then we went for tea at Gen Gen An, visited the Tokyu Hands department store (he had never been), had lunch at Sushizanmai, then bought me a new jacket and windbreaker at Montbell that you can only get in Japan.

teamLab Borderless

This exhibit / immersive digital art experience was cool and I recommend it.

Huge black room with lots of video projections. Showing sunflowers and butterlies. — This is the Butterfly House exhibit at teamLab Borderless, one of the more popular rooms inside.

My favorite room was Light Sculpture Space.
This was incredibly crowded, even on a Monday at 12pm. I waited 45 minutes to get inside, even after buying a ticket in advance the day prior.
I wish I would have read about it more beforehand, so I could come up with a “plan of attack” to see special rooms such as the tea house.
UPDATE: If you go all the way out to Odaiba for this exhibit, also check out The Miraikan museum and the onsen nearby. I have been to both on prior trips and recommend them.

Man's selfie inside, wearing a black vest and tie (the man is me) — Selfie time inside the Memory of Topography exhibit at teamLab Borderless

Black and white pic, light beams going around — Picture I took looking down at the mirror floors inside the Light Sculptures Space

I liked it enough that I would go back.

Thanks to Jonathan Wegener, Mark Fisher, Tina Yip, and others who suggested that I go check it out.

Green Tea: Overdosing on Gyokuro

My friend Tynan (the guy who has a home museum) turned me on to Japanese green tea. He taught me about the quality umami flavor that is unique to this type of tea.

Sakurai Tea House in Tokyo

I did the Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience on the 5th floor of the Spiral building. There I ordered the Tea Course which included: Highest grade Gyokuro, Blended tea, Hojicha, Matcha, and Wagashi. It was pretty awesome!

Bowl with rich green colors of tea leaves, Japanese gyokuro — This is the highest grade gyokuro tea that I ordered. It is a very special Japanese green tea.

This was just one of the eight or so courses:

Table with green tea setup including chopsticks to eat it — Gyokuro is a special type of Japanese green tea. I ordered the expensive one.

Green tea and lots of cups etc — Another view: same course, looking down. The chopsticks are to eat the tea leaves.

Update: My friend Jack said that eating so much of the tea leaves may have contributed to my caffeine overdose. Next time I’ll eat less! And if you’re curious about fancy green tea in New York City, check out my review of 29b Tea House in the East Village.

Green Tea at Gen Gen An

Earlier in the day, I visited Gen Gen An tea shop in Shibuya to try their tea. I recommend this place.

Selfie inside of a tea shop in Shibuya, Tokyo — Me inside Gen Gen An tea shop in Shibuya. It is a smaller, less formal place than Sakurai.

Two small places with clumps of tea that looks like wet grass, plus a bowl with green tea on the right side — Eat the leaves! Sencha-type Japanese green tea from Gen Gen An in Tokyo.

To-Do List For Next Time

Visit this Japanese onsen: Thermae Yu in Shinjuku, via Danielle Strle.
Stay at a more authentic capsule hotel, maybe Anshin Oyado in Nishishinjuku.
Use the local Japanese restaurant review app ~~whose name I’ve forgotten~~ called Tabelog to find restaurants (Eater article). It is like their local Yelp. Similar to how I used OpenRice in Hong Kong for better restaurant tips. I used Foursquare to help me find places to eat, and that was still great.
Go to Higashiya Ginza for elegant green tea, especially their gyokuro. Tynan told me to go this time but I wanted to try something on my own.
Eat some mochi!
I would go back to teamLab Borderless. Ideally middle of the week, and right at 10am to skip the lines.
Hang out with my friends Chris Poole and Elliot and Jonathan Siegel who live in Tokyo.
Try the Matcha smoothie at Gen Gen An. It has matcha powder, bananas, and more. Looked delicious and made by an expert.
Go to this Sushi Zanmai location near Tsukiji, via Tynan and Todd. Supposedly among the very best.
SO MUCH MORE that I want to do. Reminder: watch this short clip by Anthony Bourdain that my friend Dan sent me, where he talks about Tokyo’s “deep, deep waters” as a warning.

Conclusion

I loved being back in Tokyo – and yet it also made me anxious.

I was ready to leave – and yet I can’t wait to go back.

Special thank you to everyone who sent me suggestions on Facebook, Instagram, text, Twitter, etc for what I should do on this spontaneous trip.

BONUS AIRPORT SUSHI TIP

I had legit delicious (if expensive) sushi inside Narita Airport, Terminal 1 near Gate 35, at Sushi Kuotatsu.

At around $5 per piece, it wasn’t cheap – but it was a delicious last taste of Tokyo before I boarded my flight home.