A Gundam in Odaiba and the Tokyo Skyline

So I'm not a big Gundam fan, (honestly, I didn't even know what a Gundam was).
But when I saw it I realized it was a pretty freaking cool 18-meter robot in the middle of Odaiba in Tokyo.

If you decide to visit make sure you take the train and get off a stop early so you can walk across the bridge to Odaiba.
Whenever it's warm outside hoards of cosplay people gather on the Dream Bridge.
(It was very, very chilly the day we went so un/fortunately the whole place was deserted.)

There's just something about the buildings in Japan that photographs so beautifully! They're positioned perfectly to reflect the suns rays or catch the moonlight.
I don't think it's possibile to take a bad picture of the streets here even if you tried.

Come here at night though because once the sun sets you get an epic view of Tokyo and the Rainbow Bridge!

There are a ton of arcades, shops, malls, and restaurants in Odaiba so you can spend all here!!
If you get a chance, I highly recommend that you do.

Edo Tokyo Museum

What's the best thing to do on a rainy afternoon?
There are three options for me: 1. Go to a museum, 2. Go see a movie, or 3. Snuggle in bed with tea.

Considering I've been watching a different movie every night, and I didn't actually have a "bed" in Tokyo (only a couch very generously offered to me by a friend) I though a museum might be a nice change of pace.

The Edo Tokyo Museum looked nice from the website so we bundled up, grabbed an umbrella and headed out to brave the storm.
(Though I wish I had one of these babies to be carried around in during weather like this.)

The building looks reallllly cool form the outside.
Once you buy the tickets and get on a 3 story high escalator you realize that the building is for show and the museum is only on  2 floors of this building.

The museum itself wasn't my favorite.
It was interesting don't get me wrong, but for a non-Japanese speaker who has almost zero knowledge in Japanese history it was a little dry and hard to know what I was looking at.
(Most of the signs and descriptions are in Japanese.)

Luckily I had someone with me that can at least make out the titles of the description signs so I could kind of get by.

A cold day usually calls for some warm food.
A really cool thing about Japan is that you can order what you want out of a vending machine!!!
You just pick what you want, push a button, put in money and out prints a ticket.
You take the ticket directly to the chef and he rings a bell when your food is ready to be picked up.
Efficiency at its finest.

Yasukuni Shrine, Budokan and the First Cherry Blossom

I loved being in Tokyo.
After Singapore, it was a breathe of fresh air (literally) and I loved being able to walk all over the city.

One bright, sunny day we decided to go to the Yasukuni Shrine.
I was told soldiers from multiple countries are buried here from WWII, which created tension between Japan and the other countries because they felt their fallen should have been sent home to them.

There's a really nice park here too (which is even better during the cherry blossom festival).

From here we decided to walk to the Budokan arena, which was, fittingly, enormous.
This is where all the sumo matches happen during sumo season.
In the off season artists come to preform here.

And to our surprise, on the way back to the train we stumbled upon the first cherry blossom trees!!

The rest of the cherry blossoms still needed a few days of sun to warm up so in the mean time we had to find other things to do (and if you follow my Instagram you already know what those things are!).

Tsukiji Fish Market and an Izakaya

What do you do when a group of happy-go-lucky Japanese people get together?
You eat sushi, drink sake, and talk, a lot.
(Just my type of people.)

Tsukiji Fish Market is the best place to get sushi in Japan, if not in the world.
This is one of the biggest fish markets in the world, and if you can get there early enough (5am-ish) you can see and buy some tasty, different, very expensive types of fish.

If you're not looking to fork out a fortune or aren't in the mood to cook, just walk into any little restaurant and ask for the menu.

A few tips to look out for:
1. The restaurant's here don't look like much from the outside, but if there was anything to prove the "don't judge a book by it's cover" saying, this place is it.
2. If you don't know Japanese, you will most likely have to just close your eyes and choose as there probably will not be an English menu or speaker in the place.
3. No matter what you choose, it will be delicious.

Before we knew it lunch was over and we were on our way to dinner.
Dinner was at an izakaya, a traditional Japanese watering hole that also serves food.
Moments after sitting down the first bottle of sake arrived.

And not long after, the second bottle along with gyozo (Japanese dumplings) and everything else on the menu.

We sat and talked for hours, laughing, and telling stories until we realized the last train was on it's way and everyone had to part ways.