Layover in Tokyo

Leaving Bangkok, and returning to San Francisco, I had arranged for a 20 hour layover in Tokyo.  (It turns out that if you have a one-stop flight, you can take up to 24 hours in a layover without being charged extra.)  The kids were more excited about visiting Tokyo more than anything, so this was to give us a quick taste.

We arrived in the Shinjuku district at our hotel at around 11 PM.  Bryce and I were hungry and willing to explore a little at night, so we walked outside the hotel and immediately found a tasty Ramen stand.  Our noodles were good, but at $9 per bowl this was definitely NOT Thailand. We walked around a little afterwards and explored the neighborhood, and saw a few only-in-Japan cars driving on the street, much to Bryce's delight.

Late night ramen

The next morning, we had until 5 PM to catch our flight, so we ventured to find the Pokemon Center. Laurel is a huge Pokemon fan, and this shop is the HQ for all things Pokemon, especially being in Japan and all.  We were able to figure out the spaghetti-like Tokyo subway with a little help from a local, and eventually found our way to Sunshine City and the Pokemon store.  Laurel was thrilled.

On the way home, we figured out the subway on our own (in spite of almost everything being written in Japanese).  We exited at a slightly different place, but Google Maps came to the rescue and helped us get home.