First Days in Tokyo

Day 1: Long flight on Japan Air. Very nice seats in Executive Class. Not enough food (in my pregnant opinion). Arrived here around 4 pm on Wednesday afternoon and took limo Bus to hotel which took another two hours. Arrived at our very zen hotel room at the Park Hyatt Tokyo about 7:30 pm. Took hot baths and dressed to go down to very cool lobby bar for snacks. The bar reminded me a little of the pyramid club -- only the views of Tokyo are way more spectacular! Its like the NY Skyline but 12 times larger and longer. First "funny different thing" observation is that Japanese are very concerned with having warm butts and clean genitals -- have now encountered 3 toilets with a full range of controls on the seat...heated seats, an air filter machine that kicks on when you sit down (its either that or a noise machine intended to mask embarrassing noises) and then a whole push-button bidet system and dryer system that puts the Europeans to shame! For more about these toilets and to see photos, click here.

Day 2: Slept the whole night through, Woke up and had a delicious breakfast. The views from every place in this hotel are spectacular, so we looked out on Tokyo as we ate from a gorgeous American style buffet. Afterwards we went out for a walk and checked out a bunch of electronics stores (overwhelming, but cool) and watch stores (mom bought a watch) and then a paper store, where I spent $30 on cards. Then we stopped to eat lunch at a tempura place --where we couldn't understand anything...thank goodness for pictures on the menu, except that "oh no!" all the pictures were of tempura batter food, so we had no idea what was actually under the batter on anything. We basically just pointed to two meals and took a chance..I have no idea what I actually had (mom got pork) but it tasted pretty darn good. Also got my first taste of *real* miso -- yum! The lunch was delicious and about $20 total. We did a bit more shopping (browsing) then we came back to our room -- mom is resting, I am also going to nap, and then we'll probably hit the gym. The gym is amazing...the views from the treadmills are absolutely the best in the whole hotel....all glass walls, all the fitness equipment looks out at the Tokyo skyline, and since there aren't a ton of skyscrapers close by, the views are very clear and broad. The pool and spa is also gorgeous and I cant wait to get in it. Good thing I brought my swim cap though -- its mandatory and you have to rent one if you didn't bring one, and they seem to be rather strict about it.
Here I am on our first day in Tokyo. This is taken from a pedestrian crossing in the Shinjuku neighborhood, which is where we are staying.