My number one “must do” for Tokyo was visit the Park Hyatt’s New York Bar. It probably seems like an unreasonable request. Sure, I’m a little bougie but it’s not like I made demands to go drink overpriced cocktails at expensive international hotel chains while traveling. But the Tokyo Park Hyatt is different, because that’s where Lost in Translation was filmed. While I did research in staying at the hotel, at $500-$900 USD that was not going to be an option for…
Tokyo has the reputation of being weird. I think everyone has heard rumors vending machines that spit out school girl’s used panties or all other kinds of fabricated urban legends about strange things in Japan. I have to admit that I fell victim a little bit too to that opinion before I left. After reading about some of the interesting Japanese opinions regarding love & sex in Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance, I have to admit that I came to Tokyo wondering what…
Tokyo is a city unlike any other I’ve been to. Logically, my brain wants to compare it to New York because that’s the other massive metropolitan that I’ve visited, but it doesn’t seem like a fair comparison. New York feels vibrant and alive because it’s filthy, full of interesting characters and has a brisk candor in the air around those tall buildings. When I visit New York, I feel like I’m watching someone have surgery — their guts are busted open…
After what is probably the longest travel day of my life, I’m in Texas and settling back into my normal routine. Getting from Tokyo to Austin was an interesting journey that involved: a two hour commute to the Narita airport waiting around until 6:30pm Japan time on Tuesday evening to board for our flight Flying 12(?) hours until we landed in Dallas at 4:30pm Texas Time… aka 2 hours earlier than we left a four hour layover in Dallas where…