Slow Days in Fast-Paced Tokyo

When I first visited Tokyo, I allocated four days to my time in the city. I spent my first 48 hours exploring Tokyo with my friend, Dee, and we went everywhere! We visited several temples and shrines, vibrant streets, museums and parks. For the last two days, I took day trips to Kamakura and Nikko.

This time, Tokyo also featured on our Japan itinerary. We started there, then spent nearly three weeks wandering through other corners of the country before circling back. By the time we returned to the city’s familiar chaos, I think we were all ready to slow down.

There’s something nice about experiencing a city when you’re not trying to cram everything in, when you can wander without a checklist and let Tokyo reveal itself at its own pace.

We all did our own thing, and I’m sure Mark and Andrew would tell a different story about their stay. This account, though, is my perspective, and in retrospect, some things characterised my stay – revisiting temples, cafe hopping, and lots of outings to 7-11 and Lawson, a wonderfully weird comedy show, as well as dinner with Dee.

A Quiet Morning in Asakusa, Tokyo

I did, however, spend the first morning with Mark upon arrival. We stayed at Henn na Hotel in Asakusa, which was within walking distance of Asakusa Shrine and Sensoji Temple. So that’s what we did. We spent the first morning walking around the area, enjoying the early morning quietness, the cool weather, and the early cherry blossom bloom.

There’s something about those first few hours in a new place – or in this case, a familiar place revisited. The city hadn’t fully woken up yet, and we shared the grounds with other early risers.

I still remember the joy that washed over me as we wandered through Tokyo – that almost surreal feeling of disbelief that I was back in this place I loved so much, and this time getting to share that sense of wonder with Mark.

As someone who travels with a Nigerian passport and understands the difficulties of accessing certain countries, these moments leave a deep impression on me. I don’t take any of it for granted.

Later that day, we joined Andrew at Shinagawa Station to ride the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. About twenty days later, we returned to Tokyo and stayed in Akasaka this time around.

While Mark and Andrew left to grab dinner and experience Tokyo at night, I was content to settle in with a meal from the 7-11downstairs. Sometimes, the simple pleasure of convenience store onigiri and the quiet of your own room after weeks of constant movement is exactly what you need.

Back to Tokyo: Revisiting Hie Shrine, Akasaka

Over the next few days, we spent our time wandering through the city streets and attempting to do some last-minute shopping. Just a 3-minute walk from our hotel stood Hie Shrine – a place I’d been to before, but its proximity made it an easy choice to revisit. Like my previous visit, the shrine was a beautiful and quiet stop.

The draw is the row of Torii gates (Inari Sando) that resemble the famous gates of Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. The temple itself is also worth seeing, and I lingered a bit to watch devotees come to worship.

Exploring Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo

Two other areas that were impossible to overlook during our stay were Shibuya and Shinjuku. Around Shinjuku, I discovered a gem tucked away in Koreatown – Oyoppi Coffee. This spot has been making waves recently thanks to their signature apple rose tea, which has been all over social media.

While the tea lived up to its reputation, it was actually their tiramisu croffle that completely won me over – and even months after this visit, I’ve been searching for something similar here in Kenya. It was that memorable. If I find myself back in Tokyo, Oyoppi Coffee will be on my list again, if only for another taste of that perfect croffle.

Over in Shibuya, we attended Yoshimoto Comedy Night, a comedy show Andrew had booked at the last minute. The performances were wonderfully absurd – the kind of bizarre humour that had us in stitches throughout the evening. Some acts genuinely had us cracking up, while others were so spectacularly bad that they became hilarious in their own right. There’s something oddly satisfying about a comedy show where even the failures become part of the entertainment.

After the show, we walked through Shibuya and crossed the famous Shibuya Crossing, which seemed particularly chaotic that day – the crowds were overwhelming and I couldn’t wait to escape the madness! I retreated to the calmer streets of Akasaka while Mark and Andrew ventured off to explore more of the city’s nightlife.

Midori Sushi Asakasa

One last stop in Tokyo was dinner with Dee. The last time I was in the city, I had a moment of panic at the airport when I realised I hadn’t eaten sushi in Tokyo – something that’s actually on my “living list”. I frantically grabbed a quick bite from an airport stall, just to say I had done it. So, when Dee suggested dinner at Umegaoka Sushi No Midori, I knew this was my chance to properly tick off that “Sushi in Tokyo” goal from my list.

And what a wonderful choice it was. The meals, the atmosphere and the company were excellent. We had the luxury of lingering over dinner, savouring both the expertly crafted sushi and the easy conversation that comes with reconnecting with a good friend.

As we made our way back to the hotel through the rainy, neon-lit streets afterwards, I reflected on how different this Tokyo experience had been from my first. Where that initial visit was about seeing everything, this return was about feeling everything – the quiet morning at Sensoji, the hunt for the perfect croffle, the absurd joy of terrible comedy, and the simple satisfaction of a proper sushi dinner.

Tokyo had revealed itself to me in a completely new way, not through a frantic checklist of must-see attractions, but through those unhurried moments that happen when you give a city permission to surprise you. As our Japan adventure drew to a close, I knew I’d be back. After all, I still haven’t found that tiramisu croffle in Nairobi 🙂