Arrival
The flight was long. It was more unpleasant than I anticipated.
Our goal for the evening was to get to Japan, get our rail passes, get data cards for the internet, make reservations for our train trips, take the train into Tokyo, get checked into our hotel, then see and do some things to help us stat awake into the evening.
We did all of those. It didn’t go quite as smoothly as I had hoped but at least the fun has begun!
Bath time
The first thing we did was go to a bathhouse. What a way to jump into the culture!
I asked the girl at the hotel front desk to call ahead for us to make sure that tattoos were acceptable. She did and they are at Mannenyu.
We were not made to feel unwelcome at all, however, I don’t think many foreigners use this beautiful facility. I was an intense experience even for me. Owen did very well (although he got scolded a little by an old man for taking his shower stool).
The bath felt great! The hot bath was just barely “push your boundary” hot. The cold tub was perfect. We both tried and enjoyed the electric shock area in the medium tub. It was stronger than I expected. It was so nice to wash off the travel day.
Dinner
After baths, we were starving. We jumped right into a Korean BBQ but we were somewhat overwhelmed with how to do it.
Fortunately, the “Hot Bowls” that we ordered were perfect.
Walk through Kabukicho
I think that we were too tired to truly appreciate Shinjuku and Kabukicho but our eyes were still wide as we wandered the streets and explored the video game palace of Taito Station.