Tokyo - First Day

After our filling breakfast, we checked out of our very nice ryokan, and traveled to Shinjuku station in Tokyo. In total, we had to make 3 train changes to get to our destination at Shinjuku. We got to Shinjuku Plaza Hotel, our hotel, around 11:30 AM and dropped off our bags. We had some free time, so we took the JR-Yamanote line to Harajuku to go shopping and view the people dressed up in interesting clothing. While walking around, we wanted to eat lunch, so we stopped off at Ishigama Ramen Denden. This is a restaurant that specializes in ramen served in stone bowls. I ordered a miso ramen and Alexis ordered gyoza with rice. When my ramen came out, my stone bowl was bubbling, and the stone was ridiculously hot. The server also provided an empty bowl to place your noodles and soup so that they cool down faster. Overall, it was a decent bowl of ramen. I personally think the stone bowl is more gimmick than anything else. After lunch, we walked around harajuku, and then we went back to the hotel.

At our hotel, we checked-in, I changed clothes, and we went downstairs to meet Mieko and Masako, two of Alexis' relatives that live in Japan. It was a short meeting, but it was nice to meet some of her relatives here. After Mieko and Masako left, Alexis and I rested before taking the train up to Ikebukuro to go to a cat café. Alexis and I were introduced to the concept of cat cafes when we saw them featured on Samantha Brown Asia - Japan episode. The closest cat café I was able to find was one in Ikebukuro called Nekorobi Cat Café. Nekorobi has a total of 12 cats, some of them being rescues. Most of the cats were sleeping while many of the customers pet them and took pictures of them. This café also had free internet, Nintendo Wii, and some free snacks and beverages. We visited for about an hour, and then we did a little bit of shopping before dinner.

Alexis wanted to try some non-Japanese food, so we went to an Italian restaurant called Pasta Del Sol in Ikebukuro. We ordered a caesar salad, margarita pizza, and a pomodoro pasta. The portions were on the smaller side, but they did a pretty good job preparing the food. The pasta was a perfect al dente, and it had some nice flavor.