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//TOKYO_Q4::DAY2

    HI INTERNET FRIENDS !! Cat Waving Emoji

    I'm back with the second day of my blog posts Cat Smiling Emoji Today is a bit of a slow day, we decided to take a day to recover from the plane travel and relax a bit.

    First, Brekkie ! Cat Eating Bread Emoji

    I mentioned it in the last entry, but Denny's is my go-to breakfast spot in Japan. It's usually near my hotel, opens really early (unlike most bakeries in Japan, who tend to open at 10 am for some reason ?) has insanely good breakfast options and is SUPER affordable, usually cheaper than hotel breakfasts ! Wether you prefer western-style or japanese-style breakfast, Denny's has both. Which has the added bonus of making everyone in the group be able to find something they like, no more fighting to find a place to eat Cat Laugh Emoji

    Now I hear you, "Isn't Denny's low quality fast food ?"
    I thought so too at first because I had only tried Denny's in the US before. But Denny's in Japan is pretty different from the US version. They offer a very wide variety of dishes : pancakes, french toasts, omelettes, miso soup, ramen/udon, pasta, steak, sandwiches, french food... And from all the different dishes I've tried there, ALL of them are delicious ! Cat Love Emoji

    My go-to is usually french toasts, they are made fresh everytime so the quality is absolutely impeccable. The best part is that 2 BIG slices of french toast is ONLY 540 YEN ??? That's around 3.50 USD ! That's honestly an unbeatable deal for me, since I would be paying closer to 15 dollars for that in my home country of Switzerland Cat Laugh Emoji I go to Denny's so often that I reached Platinum member status on their loyalty program... (did I mention that?)

    Onsen Time... Cat Bathing Emoji

    So you might not know, but I have a LOT of tattoos, including some big ones that take almost half of my body in total. They're not very visible in most outfits but unfortunately that doesn't matter for entering an onsen in Japan. Cat Embarassed Emoji You might know this already, but MOST onsen in Japan will not let you in if you have tattoos. Some will make an exception if they're small enough to be covered by some skin-colored bandages they provide, but it varies heavily based on the establishments.

    It's definitely possible to find tattoo-friendly onsen in Japan, but they can be hard to find or really far away. For that reason, (and also because I'm socially anxious...), I decided to book a private onsen instead ! Which means you get a private room with your own bath, which means no one cares about the tattoos you may have, and no one else but you in there ! Cat Yippee Emoji

    We picked the "Kudoshi Onsen" in Roppongi, which is located underground in front of a very charming shrine. It's open 24/7 with no front-desk/staff, so you enter by scanning your reservation QR Code without needing to talk to anyone, perfect for my socially anxious ass Cat Laugh Emoji

    While booking, you can choose between 3 rooms with different themes : Cenote - an underwater-themed room, SonDoong - a forest-themed room and Altamira - a rocky cave-themed room. I picked the Cenote room ! Cat Nod Emoji All rooms can be booked for either 120 minutes, or 5 hours. They are also listed with a capacity of 6-8 people, so I imagine this would be a perfect spot for families, partying with friends, etc. Cat Yippee Emoji

    One of the things that I noticed compared to more traditional private onsen I've been to, is that they encourage you to bring your own food to enjoy in the couch area. There is also some small snacks and drinks available for purchase in the lobby area, but there is a 7-Eleven convenience store RIGHT across the street from the onsen, so we decided to grab a bunch of snacks and drinks from there before heading in for our reservation. Cat Eating Emoji

    There is also a TV where you can watch any youtube videos you'd like, and the couch is sooo big that you can lie down very comfortably. They also provide you with various amenities like ponchos/bathrobes, a hair dryer and hair straightener, various hair styling products like hair oil, wax, conditioner, etc, as well as skincare items to take off your makeup, lotion, moisturizer, handcream...

    Then, separated by a sliding door, you'll find the bath area with a shower (it is good manners to clean yourself in the shower first before sharing the hot bath with others), the hot onsen bath, a sauna and a cold bath (great for blood circulation after the hot bath). Personally, I never use the cold bath because i'm too much of a coward to get in there Cat Laugh Emoji Below on the left is the sauna, and on the right is the hot & cold baths.

    Honestly I didn't expect to need this as much as I did, but it was actually nice to experience this kind of relaxation, it's a really nice feeling to just be in a place where you can just relax and let your mind wander, and not have to worry about being anywhere or doing anything. Cat Bathing Emoji

    Now let's head to dinner Cat Eating Rice Emoji

    The one thing I had been absolutely craving ever since we landed in Tokyo is SUSHI ! And since this is a low energy day, we decided to go to the non-verbal-friendly sushi restaurant known as Sushiro ! I say this because you can eat there without talking to anyone, since it is a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant where you order from a tablet. It's also pretty convenient to get a table there, you can use the LINE chat app to get in a virtual queue for a table while you're on the train to the restaurant and immediately get seated when you arrive ! Cat Nod Emoji

    My favorite kind of sushi is the Ikura Gunkan ! Which is one of those salmon-roe filled rolls (pictured below). One thing about me is that I'm ADDICTED to salmon roe Cat Love Emoji, but it costs an exorbitant amount of money to get it in Switzerland where I live, so I rarely get to have it usually. That's why I go absolutely BONKERS when I arrive in Japan and I can get those salmon-roe sushi for less than a dollar a piece ! Cat Laugh Emoji

    Some of the Sushiro locations now have those GIANT tablets that you can order from, and when we went there, they were having an event with those various animal characters dressed up as little sushis... adorable... (they're known as "Dakko zushi"). Whenever you order items, your "sushi meter" would fill up, and once full, a little mini-game would display on the tablet where you have a chance to win some merchandise ! I included a video above, but unfortunately that time we didn't win anything Cat Angry Emoji I can't believe they added gambling to the sushi menu Cat Laugh Emoji

    Thank you for reading this second travel log ! I'll see you in the next one, stay tuned ! Cat Waving Emoji

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