Melissa's Travel Adventures

My first visit to Tokyo took place on April 4th-5th, and I did quite a lot of things! I explored Tokyo Station, visited the top of Tokyo Tower (to be shown in a future post), stayed in a capsule hotel, and more. Tokyo is a massive city and I barely scratched the surface of it; I foresee quite a number of trips to Tokyo in my future.

For this trip, I stuck more to the central wards of Minato, Chiyoda, and Chuo. To keep post size reasonable, it will be split into three posts: this one, Sakura (next week), and Tokyo Tower (in two weeks). Stay tuned!

Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station is absolutely massive, and its reputation as one of the busiest train stations in the world is well-founded (though it certainly does not beat Shinjuku Station). It services the Shinkansen (bullet train) lines running in and out of Tokyo, and it is connected to several shopping areas underground. I used the station both coming into and leaving Tokyo, and both times I was impressed by the sheer scale of the station. There’s certainly nothing like it in the Texas, that’s for sure!

During the first day, I visited the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Tower. I tried to go on a tour of the Imperial Palace, but since the pandemic, the number of people allowed on the tour has been sharply reduced, and it is impossible to join a tour without booking ahead of time thanks to all the slots filling fast. I will just have to try again on a later date.

Capsule Hotel

I spent the night at Tokyo Ariake Bay Hotel, a capsule hotel. As you can tell from the pictures, capsule hotels are not for those who don’t enjoy bumping elbows with strangers. The capsules are not soundproof, though all of the guests were aware of this and strived to be as quiet as possible. Still, a good pair of earplugs or headphones is highly recommended if you’re staying in one of these hotels. Sleepwear and other amenities like toothbrushes and face towels were provided, and the bathrooms and shower rooms were all shared. The futon was very comfortable, and the capsule felt perfectly cozy without being restricting. Luggage is stored on the ground floor, where it is stuffed in a locker if it can fit or locked up by staff if not. It’s perfect for single travelers, or a group that doesn’t mind being split up, but capsules for couples are much rarer. Tokyo Ariake Bay Hotel doesn’t offer couple capsules, though there are some capsule hotels that do.

Miraikan – The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation

I spent most of the morning of my second day at Miraikan. There is plenty to see and do at this museum, and nearly all exhibits are labelled in both Japanese and English. Other languages (usually Chinese and Korean) were often included, too. Printed materials such as maps were available in a number of other languages, too. As the name of the museum promises, this museum hosts exhibits on many cutting-edge areas of science, including robotics, space exploration, disaster prevention, predicting the future, the Internet, medicine, microbiology, fundamental particles of physics, and much more. The gift shop on the ground floor is small but mighty, with a broad and tasteful selection of science-type items to purchase. I spent more than I’d budgeted for here… you can pretty reliably get me to spend money on science-type items.