Tokyo Bar & Food Tour with Urban Adventures
Shinjuku, the energy overloaded heart of this megalopolis of Tokyo. This is Japan’s mega city with over 38 million in Greater Tokyo, the largest city in the world.
We arrived on Japan Airlines into distant Narita airport. Bliss, the joys of door to door transfers. In a couple of hours through this monster sprawl we arrived at Hotel Gracery right in the middle of Shinjuku.
Shinjuku is busy, very busy. The railway station is the busiest in the world; over 3.5 million pass through each day entering and exiting through 200 entrances.
To see the area we organised an Urban Adventures bar and food tour. We met our guide Misa, late afternoon and in our small group of 12, set off for 3 hours exploring all the city has to offer, feeling like a local and savouring iconic Tokyo flavours and dishes. Our well-informed guide accompanied us through back lanes, upstairs and elevators to hidden bars and restaurants. We enjoyed yakitori (skewered BBQ chicken) at a market stall and cooked our own Monja-yaki (cabbage pancake) in the neighborhood where it originated -MonjaTown (Tsukishima), as well as visiting a confectionery shop and learning about wagashi, a traditional Japanese sweet that changes with the season.
This was a fantastic experience but make sure to pre book this tour so you can get the time and day you want, my tip would be to book the 2nd night of your stay – when the city becomes slightly less overwhelming.
Enjoy and discover small bars serving cold local beer and sake, with a great variety of home style food all prepared in minimal space. The atmosphere is incredible, and we learned a lot about the traditions and cultures of the old and modern Japan and how the Japanese entertain and like to be entertained.
It was an amazing night out in a truly mind-blowing section of the capital of a very intriguing country.
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