Day 1- Japan- Arrival and Tokyo Tower

Today I arrived in Tokyo and I instantly love it. 

Here is my first glimpse from the plan:

And here is my first healthy dose of culture shock:

IS THAT REALLY A PROBLEM THEY HAVE?

HOW DO I FLUSH THE TOILET?!?

We landed in Tokyo around 6:30, but didn't get to the hostel until around 8. It turns out that the Tokyo subway system is very confusing! The trip from the airport to the hostel should only take about half an hour....

The hostel is really amazing- The Khaosan Tokyo Origami!

The beds are 10x comfier than the ones we have in Beijing! It's like sleeping on a cloud. I also really like my little cuby room. We had looked into capsule hotels for our stay, but it hadn't worked out.

I took the reception pics after we got back later that night, so it was quiet. When we first arrived they were having a halloween party and there are a lot of foreigners here. The other people staying in our room are very friendly and tried to give us directions (although they weren't very helpful).

After putting our stuff away we grabbed some ramen and went out exploring. Our hostel is directly across the street from this MAGNIFICENT temple, the Sensoji Temple. It is HUGE and looks amazing illuminated. We will have to go back during the day to shop in the little stalls lining the temple grounds.

Here is a picture of the Sumida River from our wandering!

I had my first cultural experience using the vending machine. There are vending machines on just about every corner here. There are also a bunch of smaller shrines that you just stumble upon walking around. It is hard to get a good picture at night when they are closed, but they are all really cool.

After changing our plans for the night many times, we decided to go check out the Tokyo Tower. It is, essentially, a smaller version of the Eiffel tower, but still really cool to see up close.  I bet there is a great view from the observation deck up top. We will have to come back earlier in the day sometime!

Selfie!

The light it throws off is especially cool, and you see it reflected in every window of every building and car. 

We missed the last train back, but grabbed a taxi. Can't wait for tomorrow. I'm glad we decided to have an earlier night rather than stay up until 3:30 to wait in line for the fish market. I want to save my energy so I can see EVERYTHING IN TOKYO! 

I love it here.