We knew it would be better. We didn't know how different it would actually be — starting with the temperature of the rice.
Forty thousand people, a gyudon at 11am, and a horse called Vodka. You don't need to understand horse racing to have a great time here.
You put in 300 yen. A plastic capsule drops out. Inside is a small figure of an animal sitting in a sauna. You have no idea what you expected.
Electronics, anime, gacha machines, and a full-size Godzilla in a shop. You either get it or you don't.
You understand Tokyo at street level. You understand its scale from above. The second one you can't get anywhere else.
Skytree is taller. Shibuya Sky has the better outdoor deck. Tokyo Tower is still the one you can't stop looking at.
There's a snobbery about conveyor belt sushi I held for too long. Then I ate at a good one in Tokyo and quietly dropped it.
Back home a chicken skewer is an afterthought. In Japan it's a discipline. A good yakitoriya might do nothing else for forty years.
Yakiniku puts a grill in the table and lets you cook your own meat. It sounds like a gimmick. It isn't.
Grilled eel over rice sounds simple. At the right place in Tokyo, it's one of the best things you'll eat in Japan.
Japanese city parks are clean, quiet, and often beautiful. Running through them before breakfast is one of the better habits we've picked up.