Husband: I have to go to San Francisco to work with my team.

Me: Aren’t there other places where your team mates are located.

Husband: (Thinking) Hmm.. yeah. Tokyo, San Francisco, Sydney, Waterloo, and a few countries in Europe.

Me: Can I come with you?

Husband: Yeah.

Me: Can I come with you to Tokyo.

So that’s how I ended up spending 8 days in Tokyo on my own while my husband worked with some of his team mates. I have to say Tokyo is definitely unlike any place I have ever been.

It’s clean. It’s safe. I usually have no idea what’s going on. There’s literally something for everyone. The bathrooms are basically computers. So how does one put eight days of Tokyo into a post?

Impossible. But here are three tips for you on tours to take and the place to stay.

STAY:

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi which is a hip & expensive district of Tokyo. I usually don’t have such a  strong reaction to hotels but our stay at the Grand Hyatt was splendid. The breakfast was always good, the view from the room was on point, and the bathroom had a mind of it’s own. I usually don’t spend so much time talking about toilets but once you use a modern toilet in Tokyo it’s very difficult to go back home to your normal toilet with it’s basic flush feature, cold seats, and awkward symmetry.

You may think I’m weird for explaining the toilet (which was perfect and I miss it sorely) but this guy literally made a nine minute video to explain the toilet. I recommend watching it to understand me better. I can’t watch it due to nostalgia. It hurts.

Beyond marveling at the toilet I did take a few tours around Tokyo and Kyoto. My favorites were a bike tour of Tokyo and a night photography tour with an American expat.

I took my night photography tour with Eyexplore Tokyo and learned how to take pictures like below. It’s a technique that I have since used on my travels. You can rent a tripod from them – just bring your own camera.

Night in Tokyo
CC: Jasmine Nears

The second tour was with Y&Y Cycling Tours Tokyo with whom I highly recommend taking a tour with. First, biking through a place gives you a real appreciation for it that walking or riding a bus won’t. Second, the tour is a lot of fun and you get to see a lot and meet a women whose family has been in the leather making business for over a hundred years (yes I bought a wallet- don’t you judge me).

Leather making woman in the picture below holding my arm:

CC: Y&Y Cycling, Tour Guide Tokyo

In addition to the above tours I also booked a number of tours through Viator.com that I would recommend. 

Tokyo Morning Sightseeing Tour

Tokyo Day Tour: Meiji Shrine, Asakusa Temple and Tokyo Bay Cruise

The above tours really give you an introduction into Tokyo and get you comfortable enough to spend the next few days exploring on your own. Which is exactly what I did.