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Sunday / 2026-06-21

Tokyo Tour And Shinjuku Food

A guide in the lobby, breakfast contraband, Shibuya chaos, and Sarah accidentally inventing the bathroom slipper bit.

A six-hour Tokyo tour, Shibuya Crossing, Hachiko, FamilyMart fried chicken, a cat cafe, and a very full Shinjuku food tour.

A gray cat perched on a wooden platform inside a Tokyo cat cafe.
Cat cafe management, seen here conducting a performance review.

Before the 8:00 AM tour, everyone stopped at 7-Eleven for breakfast and immediately learned that eating in the hotel lobby was not allowed, so breakfast moved upstairs.

At 8:10, Caitlin turned on phone service to figure out where the guide was. The guide was waiting in the lobby while the group was waiting out front. Easy fix, and the tour got rolling.

The tour was great. The guide was friendly and took everyone all around Tokyo. The group walked, shopped, saw major sights, and grabbed fried chicken from FamilyMart.

Shibuya Crossing was packed, chaotic, and very cool in person. At Shibuya, the guide told the story of Hachiko waiting every day for Professor Hidesaburo Ueno, even after Ueno died in 1925.

After the guide left, the group explored on its own, went to a cat cafe, and got a couple hours of downtime before the evening food tour.

The Shinjuku food tour involved a wild amount of food: two full restaurant stops, pork samples, and dessert. Sarah accidentally wore the bathroom slippers around one restaurant, which immediately became a running joke.

The first restaurant was the best: chicken dishes, fried shrimp, and a bunch of excellent food. Then everyone called it a night.

Photos

A gray cat perched on a wooden platform inside a Tokyo cat cafe.
Cat cafe management, seen here conducting a performance review.
Crowds near the Hachiko statue area in Shibuya.
Near Hachiko, where everyone and their phone had the same idea.
Group photo in front of decorative sake barrels in Tokyo.
Sake barrels: scenic, orderly, and not asking anyone to solve train math.
Rows of decorated sake barrels at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.
The barrel wall, doing a better job at symmetry than the itinerary.
Sarah, Caitlin, Ashley, and Zach standing near a shrine gate in Tokyo.
A shrine stop with everyone still looking suspiciously functional.
Group photo near trees and a shrine walkway in Tokyo.
Another shrine group photo, because the first one did not use up all the competence.
Sarah and Caitlin holding spiral fried potato snacks.
Potato tornadoes, because sometimes dinner needs architecture.
Temple gate and lanterns at Senso-ji in Tokyo.
More Senso-ji architecture, still not exactly phoning it in.
Kaminarimon gate lantern at Senso-ji temple in Tokyo.
A giant lantern, because subtle entrances are for airports.
Five-story pagoda at Senso-ji temple in Tokyo.
Senso-ji, making the walking tour look immediately worth it.
Group selfie at Shibuya Crossing with billboards and crowds behind them.
Shibuya Crossing doing exactly what Shibuya Crossing does.
Group selfie on a busy Shibuya street.
Shibuya, crowded in the way Shibuya is professionally crowded.
A plate of gyoza during the Shinjuku food tour.
The food tour began making its case immediately.
Tall buildings and bright signs in Shinjuku at night.
A calm little street scene, if your definition of calm is broken.
Busy Shinjuku street at night with bright signs.
Shinjuku at night, modest as always.
Group selfie with the Tokyo walking tour guide.
The guide who was in the lobby while everyone else was confidently not in the lobby.
Sarah and Caitlin wearing sheet masks in the hotel room.
Recovery protocol: hydration, sleep, and looking briefly haunted.
Group photo in front of Tokyo Skytree.
Tokyo Skytree, helpfully visible from very far away.