We flew out of London Heathrow on September 6th, endured a 14-hour flight, and arrived in Tokyo in the early afternoon of September 7th. When we arrived at our hotel in Kinshicho, our room was on the twentieth floor and had a view of the sky tree. We didn’t close the curtains once in the two weeks we stayed.
Due to being shattered, we wanted to keep arrival day easy, so we walked around the local area and popped into Yoshinoya for a beef bowl. I was channeling my inner Ichiban during that meal.
We spent the first full day exploring the local area further and found the Solomatchi Mall under the Sky Tree. I bought a jumper despite the temperature in Tokyo being 35 degrees. I wasn’t cold—far from it—but the jumper had a cat with a dorayaki, I couldn’t resist.
In the evenings, we would go on exploratory walks. I had set us on a mission to find shrines, and we succeeded in spades. Also, when we visited shrines, we were quiet, only took a few pictures, and always made sure we were not disturbing anyone. I know this is a religion, and I did not intend disrespect; this is a place where people live, not a theme park for me to visit.
On 8th September we found the Chikusainari Shrine
On 11th September we found the Gohashirainari Shrine
On 13th September we found the Nomi no Sukune Shrine
On the 14th September we found the Kameido Tenjin Shrine
We visited Akihabara on September 9th, and I revelled in how fun and lively this electric town is.
The Senso-Ji temple was on the cards for the 10th of September. I pulled the worst fortune! Everything I touch will turn to ash. Any marriage will fail, my house will burn down, you name it, doom and disaster for me. So, I tied my fortune to the gate and left it there. I also bought a charm that keeps evil at bay (I like my house and don’t want it to burn down). I then pulled a second fortune, which was better, more along the lines of, life will be tough, but you’ll succeed slowly.
We also visited café Gusto for dinner, and our server was a cat robot! I named him Neko-Beepboops and became mildly obsessed with him.
A friend had asked me to pick up some books for them, so we headed to Asakusa on the morning of September 11th. While we waited for the shop to open, we wandered through the area and happened across the Hie-Jina Shrine. I got to walk through so many tori gates! Forgive the huffing and puffing in the video, it was 39 degrees and I’m not as fit as I should be.
We headed into Shibuya that afternoon and went up Shibuya Sky to get some fantastic high pictures of Tokyo.
We also had heat lightning that night. Forgive me; I’m English, and we’re very excited by the weather.
On 12th September, we gave our feet a rest and went to a Sumo tournament. We were so lucky that this coincided with our holiday! The wonderful Mr Sherlock stayed up until 2 a.m. a few weeks before the holiday to make sure we got tickets when they went on sale. It was an amazing experience.
On the 13th of September, we went up the Sky Tree, and I might have gone a bit mad in the Ghibli store in the mall. On our shrine hunt that evening, we were fortunate to come across some local festivals! We could not have planned this; it was amazing!
On the 14th, we took the Sobu line and headed out of the city into Kamakura. The heat nearly murdered the wonderful Mr Sherlock, but he managed to survive long enough for us to see the Hasedera Temple and the Great Budda at Kotoku-in. We also explored and found the Amanawa Shinmei Shrine!
On 15th September we went to Tokyo Tower. This trip was definitely for me; I was obsessed with Cardcaptors when I was little, and the tower is a critical location in the final judgement. It was great to see it in person. I was, however, sad to see that no Moon Guardians were beating the snot out of small children, but you can’t have it all. We also popped into Shinjuku so that the wonderful Mr Sherlock could walk “Kamurochō” like Kazama Kiryu and for me to see the Shinjuku Kitty!
That evening, I gave us a break from shrine hunting, and instead, we went on a quest to find the cake vending machine. The cake was bloody delicious! As an added bonus, the shrine festivals were going on all weekend.
On September 16th, we visited Team Lab planets, and the temperature dropped to 29 degrees—the lowest it got during the entire holiday.
17th September is the wonderful Mr Sherlock and my anniversary, so for our 11th anniversary, we got on a shinkansen and visited Nara and Kyoto. We fed deer and explored the Higashi Hongan-ji Temple.
On 18th September, we went to Nakano Broadway and bought an abundance of figures. The wonderful Mr Sherlock finally managed to get hot coffee out of a vending machine. I loved Nakano Broadway; I preferred it to Akihabara.
It rained that evening, which made us think of home, so we went to a British pub that evening. I was delighted to find the beer was spot on. The 82 Ale House does a great IPA!
Our last full day in Japan was September 19th, and we spent it walking Harajuku. That evening, we went to an arcade, and I was delighted to see that one of the claw machines had little cuddly Neko-Beepboops!! Now I can take him home with me!
KATIE MARIE 
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