The flight from Hong Kong was relatively short and we both slept for most of it. We arrived on time and worked our way through immigration and customs – which was all a breeze – and we were out in no time. Given the distance between Narita airport and Tokyo city (and our hotel), we decided to take the train.

The one thing we were craving and couldn’t find was a coffee shop anywhere at the airport arrivals area or at the train station in Narita. Fortunately when we arrived into Tokyo proper, there was a chain coffee shop right there – and to top it off the coffee was pretty good too. The hotel was a short walk from the train station and we were checked in and unpacking by 9.

To keep us busy for the day and stop us from falling asleep, we had booked in to do a walking Food tour of Tokyo. After a short subway ride we arrived at Shibuya and met our guide at the Hachiko Memorial Statue. There was just one other couple from Canada who were on the tour with us. We started by visiting a tiny standing-room only sushi restaurant. The restaurant only just fit 2 chefs, 12 guests and 1 kitchen hand. The chefs made the different rolls and sushi in front of us and we had a variety of raw salmon, tuna, grilled octopi, flounder, roe and shrimp. My favourite by far was the grilled octopus and flounder. I might have offended the chef by dipping the octopus sushi in soy sauce, because she proceeded to make me another one and warned me not to add soy.

We followed this up with a “Cook your own” barbeque restaurant, where we sat in a traditional Japanese setting. It was a variety of beef cuts, from ribs to rump and belly. They also had some finely sliced wagyu. While it didn’t seem like a lot of food, by the time we grilled and ate all the meat, we were all pretty full – and at this point we were only halfway through the tour.

The next stop was again at another tiny restaurant with standing room only for 6 guests. Moreover, this place only made Octopus balls – just with different toppings. We had 3 different varieties which we watched the chef cook in front of us. They were all served in bamboo bowls with a variety of dipping sauces. The final stop was in a bakery where we got a collection of desserts to take home with us. Overall the tour lasted about 3 hours with a lot of walking and some wonderful food.

Once the tour ended we wandered back to Shibuya square and saw firsthand the madness and symmetry of watching over a 1,000 people crossing the intersection every 2 minutes. We found a L’Occitane cafe at the square and went there for a coffee and afternoon tea. We then came back to Hachiko square and took a photo with the Memorial Statue of the dog and a murial behind.

We still have dinner to go to in a couple of hours but it was a great way to get a “flavour” of Japan on our first day. We were surprised by how hot and humid it was with the temperature soaring up to above 30 degrees in the afternoon.