By Bradley Wargo in Brad In Japan — Jul 18, 2023

Brad In Japan: Sam In Japan

In which Brad shows off Japan to his best friend Sam

From Asakusa Shrine

Hellloooo from Japan and Welcome!

It's been a blast of a week as my best friend Sam is in town!

Blast Off

He almost crushed my laptop hugging me after almost a year apart!

Takoyaki Revenge

After landing, we headed home, got changed, and went out to eat as that was his number one focus: Japanese food.

Japanese food includes Takoyaki (which is fried octopus).

After Takoyaki we got some ramen which was too spicy and that's what caused his stomach ache haha. Got that revenge for an almost broken laptop.

Day 2

I am still working for the Internship and so Sam went and explored major sights and got tons of walking in. After getting off at five and I took him by the school and then to get Sushi and Sake!

He loved the sushi and *did not* pee on the school...

Day 3

This was a long but fun day. We kicked it off by walking from Shinjuku to Yoyogi Park and found this fun place on the way.

From there we made it to the famous Meiji Jingu Shrine. I made a video about walking to this one, but had not gone into the garden until now.

Super pretty and green garden with a tea house in the last photo!!

While we didn't go fishing, we did see a fun spot for it from the train to our next spot.

This is a huge river in Tokyo and you can fish on it!

We went to Harajuku, but because it was so early nothing was happening. We left and moved on to Akihabara, the "nerd" area. It features cafes, electronic shops, figurines, and even Warhammer. Sam loves Warhammer.

We were so excited we didn't take photos inside... Whoops. But it has tons of figurines and Sam had fun nerding out and sitting down.

Having caught our breath, we moved on to another famous spot to visit: Asakusa Shrine. A place known for the massive red lantern and LOTS of food stalls.

There was a cute bear cake chop we snagged a quick bite at. It's so cute...and delicious!

Before going in though, we were starving and had to eat! And where better than a place with a 1.5-hour wait time!? It was a great chance to catch up and after really feeling the hunger, we got to go in and eat this.

So many amazing flavors and we even got to cook the meat ourselves which made it so fun and interactive. 100% worth it!

We moved on from Asakusa shrine to walk towards Tokyo Sky Tree where we found this fun contraption/art piece/garden.

He even tried to eat the "Japanese" grass!

While we didn't really go to the Sky Tree, it was cool to see from afar and imagine. We had better things to do like make it to Shibuya for the nightlife and One Piece store (my favorite Japanese Anime).

Who wore the hat better?? (Only one acceptable answer)

Finally, we ate one last bite before walking home through all the fun alleyways. It's a "10 Yen" coin (which costs 500 yen) but is sweet cheese bread essentially.

It's only me because he forgets to take photos

Wrap Up

These were the beginnings of a crazy series of days and activities (which have been non-stop). I'll cut off here but will likely do a 3 or 4 part series of his journey as there is so much more to share! I hope you enjoyed this first part and as always,

Thanks for Reading,