In Tokyo For One Night

 We had an overnight layover in Tokyo, this guy is too old to stay in the airport for 16 hours so we went through Japan customs and stayed in a hotel. But if you're going to stay the night in Tokyo, you gotta go see it, which is what we did. 

First we collected our things after customs and took the subway which was a little confusing but once we got on wasn't too bad. All the announcements are in to Japanese and English and the digital route map updates after every stop and switches between Japanese and English. 3 stops from the airport and we were near our hotel. Us along with a few other former passengers made our way to the Henn Na Haneda Hotel where we were greeted by two dinosaurs and robotic woman. We didn't get to experience the whole robot "show" as our reservations were not pulling up...realized afterwards the use first name not last to find you in the system. We dropped our bags off in our tiny rooms, got Vatsala's parents settled in and then headed back to the subway. 

Found out for how technologically advanced Japan is they still rely heavily on coins for subway and vending machines. They do have digital passes for subway but for 7 of us setting that up would've been a nightmare. We navigated ourselves to one train to another with the help of the attendants. Apparently each subway line (or at least the ones we used) use different tickets so we had to go to ticket both to exchange our ticket from one line to another. Seems really inefficient of a process but I think that does encourage the digital method of travel. 

Finally made it to Shibuya Crossing station  which is literally right at the crossing and HOLY HELL it was crowded!! You instantly get to experience the stereotypical idea of Tokyo, it's bright, crowded, and loud. 

We walked around and checked out this famous area but everyone was cold and hungry and none of the places we could all eat at could accommodate 7 people so decided to head back toward the hotel hoping to find food. My Brother in Law in his family ended up in what we believe was a Yakitori spot but they couldn't fit us too and there didn't seem to be any vegetarian options for Vatsala so we decided to look elsewhere. Elsewhere ended up being a Mini Mart (competitor to 7 Eleven). I got some Karage and Rice while my son got Cup o Noodles, my daughter bag of chips and a snickers, and Vatsala got a mystery flavored Protein Shake. 

After that it was off to bed, next stop India