I have never been this hungry in my life.

Did you know the flight to Haneda International in Tokyo is 12 hours from Los Angeles? Neither did I, but that's how long our flight was. (Actually, we were 10 minutes early, so really I shouldn't be complaining.) After customs, we caught a taxi, and Katie and I made it to bed at 1am local time. After a few hours of sleep, I answered emails and played chess online until it was time for us to set off at 9am.

Having never been to Japan before, we were very excited to start the day. I was worried that we wouldn't get an early enough start, since it wasn't clear how difficult the rail system would be to navigate, so we didn't eat breakfast before we left because I was rushing. Turns out it's about as easy to get around Tokyo as it is to use the MUNI in San Francisco (read: ridiculously easy). Every rail station, and most maps, had English posted everywhere. Plus, the train lines are color-coded, the stations are numbered, and each side of the platform indicates the next number station along the line, just to make sure you're going up or down along the chain. It's awesome, and cheap!

We started in the southern part of the city, and headed up to Koishikawa Korakuen garden clear in north central Tokyo, stopping at a burger chain called Becker's for breakfast croissants. (Don't question it.)

The garden was absolutely beautiful. It claims to be the oldest garden in Tokyo, and the original grounds were 4 times as large as this 7 hectare park. Fortunately, we took lots of pictures, which (eventually) will make it up here.

After the garden, we decided to try and find the cherry blossoms along the imperial moat. However, we also needed some serious food. Well, at least I did; walking around for 2 hours destroyed all traces of the croissant. Katie and I walked towards the moat, looking in at nearly every restaurant along the way. The problem was, either they were too busy, or we didn't know what the options were. Places with picture menus were packed; places without them were, well, illegible (to us, anyway). The whole time, I just got more and more whiny, but we couldn't find a place we wanted to eat. Thus, after walking a mile trying to find someplace to eat, we ended up at the moat anyway. Since I demanded we grub first, we walked into a basement restaurant, where we spent 15 minutes watching group after group get seated in the smoking section while we waited for a non-smoking table to open up. Finally, we were seated, and ready to eat! We figured out how to order, and Katie got a noodle dish while I got grilled salmon and a bunch of sides. We also figured out how to say "water" correctly, which was key, as we had been walking all morning, and would be for the rest of the day.

Our order in, we took a look around the restaurant. Here's where my most important observation of the day comes in: everyone wears suits in central Tokyo. I realized this because above each and every booth in the restaurant, there were a plethora of hangers for suit jackets. Many of the people sitting near us had jackets hanging above them. Even though we'd seen plenty of people in suits earlier, it didn't click just HOW many until that moment. Actually, it's kind of cool, thinking about it. Best dressed city I've ever been in.

After wolfing down lunch, and waiting for a more-civilized Katie to finish, we headed south to enjoy the sakura (cherry blossoms) along the moat.

There were hundreds of people lined up along the fencing, and even more walking along the pathway, so we got in line and started the trail. It was breathtaking. The trees seemed to lean over the moat, as if looking at their reflection in the water, and the petals were in full bloom and falling from the branches like snow. There were people in rowboats in the moat struggling against the strong headwind, trying to row back to the small tourist port, enjoying the snowfall of pink and white in the meantime. We walked a mile or so around the moat, slowly, before deciding to head to Akihabara.

This couple was painting the art museum together.

We picked up some snacks in the metro station while waiting for the train: Katie got a Belgian waffle - prepackaged, buttery, and delicious - and I got some ramen-flavored chips. My chips were fantastic. (For those of you that don't know, I am OBSESSED with ramen. Like, seriously, you don't understand.) Then we arrived at Akihabara, an electronics, anime, and video game-centric neighborhood. We spent some time exploring a Sega-based arcade before checking out some fandom-geared shops. Some of the items were run-of-the-mill action figures and figurines; others were really interesting trinkets and t-shirts. All around, there were women in cosplay outfits handing out coupons and information for different restaurants.

Around this time, I got hungry. Again. After walking for a bit longer and seeing some more cool shops, it was time for me to eat. We rode the metro back to our station, and stopped by the 7-11 (yes, that's a thing) to pick up some snacks. I got two pastries and a bag of chips in the event we were unable to find a substantial dinner place; we walked to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and asked concierge about local dinner options. She informed us we could take a shuttle to an area where there were more Japanese dining options, as everything around the hotel was foreign.

We decided to ride to an Izakaya called Watami. It was so good! I had the gyoza and the ramen, and Katie had some chicken kabobs. The ramen was miso-based, and oh-so-tasty. The gyoza were good, although they came on the skillet so they were VERY hot. Katie's kabobs were really buttery and interesting, and we're pretty sure one of them was a liver kabob. Never had that before; score one for Japan.

When we got back to the room, it took about 30 minutes for me to get hungry again. I ate the cheese danish I had been waiting for, and then took a bite out of the other pastry...which turned out to be a rice-and-gravy deal I was not expecting! It was really good though, and I finally felt full for the first time all day. Thank you, Sebun-elebun. (That's how you pronounce it here if you need someone to understand what you're asking for.)

All told, it was a great first day in Japan! Looking forward to hitting up the fish market today, then meeting Katie's friend Jonathan Brooks on the north side and going to a hanami! (Sakura-viewing party.) Check in later!

-B