Japan Trip Day 0/Day 1 - From Seattle to Tokyo! (Patreon)

This blog has been a long time coming! We put in more detail than we thought haha~ This trip may end up being 6 or 7 parts! O_O We hope you enjoy these installments~

Japan Trip Day 0 + Day 1

All our trips start with a sleepless night of finishing up work and this trip is no exception. The morning of our flight we were still putting the finishing touches on Novae pages and putting them in the queue to update while we were gone. We somehow managed to finish everything right before our shuttle picked us up, then got through security with our fuzzy brains.  

It’s very hard to find a straight through flight to Japan from Colorado, so in order to save on plane tickets costs we stayed a night in Seattle. We had an afternoon to lounge around so we decided to explore the city a little and took a trip to Pike Place Market. (It was very cold that day, and neither of us wore enough layers.) 

By the time we got there, the market itself had mostly closed but it was still a very beautiful and interesting area. The little shops and restaurants have a unique air about them, making us both feel very nostalgic for some reason. 

The market is also home to some great food! We had some of the best mac n’ cheese we’ve ever had from Beecher’s Cheese! (Jen doesn’t even like cheese and she liked it! *chief’s kiss*) 

We also stopped briefly at the first Starbucks and grabbed a quick souvenir for the family amongst the crowd. (A water bottle with the first Starbucks logo, the mermaid with them real boobs.) 

After a dinner of fish and clams we headed back, getting some much needed sleep~ (We were going on 36 hours with no sleep at this point.)

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The flight to Japan was extremely pleasant! We watched a few movies and had some really good plane food! We had to try both of their options so Kate had salmon teriyaki and Jen had creamy mushroom chicken on pasta. They were both really good but the miso soup was super salty. (Airlines usually prepare food to be a little heavy on the flavor side to compensate for your taste changing due to altitude and pressure, but it was a bit much when it came to the miso soup XD…) 

As we approached Tokyo, our plane was rerouted due to a volcano erupting along the route, but we arrived at a decent time regardless. (We’d much prefer rerouting than flying through volcano plume lol.)  

It was late evening when we arrived at the hotel and we were exhausted. 

But this didn’t stop us from going to Don Quijote, a big discount store that has everything from portable chargers, to snacks, to face masks, to… there was so much I can’t even... After a meal of MOS burger we quickly headed to the 24hr Mega Donki in Shibuya. 

It was almost 10PM as we entered the store and we were already grumpy monkeys. The thought of exploring the 7 stories building full of everything was pretty daunting. We managed to get through 2 or 3 floors before we raised our hands in defeat. There was quite a crowd and the aisles were very narrow. We grabbed a portable charger and a few Rose of Versailles face masks before heading back. We couldn’t get to the snack section this time around, but there’s always next time!  

(A little tip, it’s possible to get all your items tax-free at Don Quijote, but during popular hours there is quite a line. We waited around 30 – 40 min before getting to the counter. So if you would like to take advantage of their tax-free services, go at a less crowded hour. Our friend told us that it’s around 3pm in the afternoon, I guess we’ll try that next time haha.)

The next morning we got up early to head for the Ace Attorney café! It was a special limited time collaboration between Princess Café and the Ace Attorney franchise and we were happy that we were in the right place at the right time haha. We ordered some character drinks that came with collectable coasters and a Edgeworth themed tea cake. 

And when it comes to trying our luck at the acrylic stand gatchas, I don’t know if we’re extremely unlucky or lucky. We couldn’t get our favorite character combo but we did get a rather interesting paring.  

Apparently so did someone else haha.  

(In the end, our friend managed to get us a tiny Edgeworth and Maya~)  

With our fandom hearts fulfilled, we skipped out of the café to catch a train to Harajuku! We took our time to explore the busy street and a nearby shrine. 

Kate grabbed a delicious crêpe on the way and we both nabbed cute trinkets and a star hoody from a nearby boutique. We would have both liked to venture into the district more but we had to hurry to Loft before the store closed. 

Onwards to Loft! After a quick roast beef bowl! (It was a lot of beef…x__x. It was good! But a lot lol)

Loft is a huge gift/electronics/household goods/stationary store. Like Don Quijote, the Loft store in Shibuya is also 7 stories tall. We only got to explore the stationary floor and briefly walked around the art/knick-knack floor where we picked up some cute gatchas. The amount of different types of pencils and pens was amazing! And the selection of washi tape, stickers and planners made our eyes go wide. Here’s hoping for a store like this in North America! We must have wandered around the floor for 2 -3 hours to get a good look at everything. So if you visit, make sure to have an ample amount of time to look around! (Loft also offers tax free services if you spend 5000 yen or more~)  

Here’s our haul!  

We wanted to try out the Posca pens for such a long time, but they were always so pricy. We got them for around $2 each in Japan!

(We'll do a video later about some of the art supplies we got~)

Afterwards we headed back to our hotel with some convenient store food in tow for a quick but delicious dinner!

- To be continued -