#exploretokyo

iconic heights/

Join us at the Tokyo International Mineral Autumn Fair 2024! 🌍✨

📅 Date: 2024/10/4 (Fri) 10:00 - 2024/10/7 (Mon) 16:00

📍 Venue: Shinjuku Sumitomo Building Triangle Plaza, Tokyo 🔖 Booth/Stand: A8 and A9 @tima_shinjuku

Come explore a stunning array of minerals and gemstones, and don’t miss the chance to discover our latest offerings! We can’t wait to see you there! 💎

Was planning on a chill day today since there was a chance of rain but my new vegan friend (Brenna) and I decided to have some easy adventures instead. We started off our morning with a nice hearty breakfast at bar&patisserie megan again before heading out...to get more coffee at a little coffee stand a few blocks away called Pells Coffee Stand.

Croque Madame followed by a delicious Honey Iced Soy Latte. I felt like I was back in California.

Now that we were caffeinated we officially started our day. We decided to journey everywhere by foot and first decided to make a pitstop through Aoyama Gakuin University. The gorgeous trees were glowing under the sunlight.

Eventually we made it to the Omotesando Hills neighborhood where we spent the morning gawking at all the name brand and boutique items we could never afford. There were a few vintage/used clothings shops that were full of great items but even those were out of our price range, but at least we had fun trying on all the items!

Never thought I could pull off a hat but damn I felt cute.

Since Brenna is vegan we decided to get lunch at a vegan traditional Japanese joint called Brown Rice, and lord I think I had the best tofu of my trip here (and I went to a tofu specialty shop). The meal was delicious, the ambience was fantastic, and I’m so happy Brenna got to eat something besides vegan burgers (which is apparently a large chunk of the vegan food here). 

Japanese food is often heavy on the fish but they can develop some amazing flavors even without it. Seriously this meal was so fantastic.

After lunch we walked around the area some more exploring thrift stores, soap shops, and more. We eventually decided to head over to Roppongi Hills. We did a walkthrough of the Asahi TV station, Mori Gardens, and some of the shops.

The garden itself is quite small but there’s plenty of flowers and other gorgeous patches of nature throughout the complex.

Once we did our rounds we were ready to get into the insanely long 70 minute line to go up to the Tokyo City View And Sky Deck and Mori Art Museum. I absolutely LOVED the Mori Art Museum. It’s just the right size and my friend and I were able to enjoy every piece at our own pace.

There were so many interesting exhibits. These two were particular favorites of mine. The first was a warping of a standard “beautiful” scenic images, the other was an interview with people that had been through the war. The propaganda they still have memorized was haunting.

While we didn’t pay to go up to the sky deck, we enjoyed the gorgeous views of Tokyo from the observation deck which also had a wonderful Pixar exhibit.

So glad I got to see this view especially since my trips to Tokyo Skytree didn’t pan out too well.

Pixar exhibit wasn’t big but it had some cool little stands like this build your own character booth.

By this point we were absolutely starving and I was so happy to learn that Savoy Azabu-juban had a vegan option (the Marinara pizza) so we both could experience the amazing pizza made by Kaneko-san. I really can’t praise this simple pie enough. It was mindblowing how something so basic could taste so good.

Simple ingredients but lots of technique, time, and love made for just some amazingly great pizza. One marinara pizza (garlic & oregano) and one margherita pizza. 

With our bellies full we headed back to our hotel for a long night’s sleep. The walk back was lovely and I had a wonderful time talking with Brenna and sharing stories about our adventures. I’m so thankful for the wonderful friends I’ve made on this trip.