The staff and the guide lined up the carts and went over all of the features. Of course, they also gave us the warnings, about how these are just like regular cars. That failing to obey the traffic laws, that could result in penalties and fines. The guide showed us the hand gestures and signals he would use in addition to the standard turn signals and brake lights. In some places we would ride side-by-side in another place single file and he told us to watch for his signal.

And then we were off, in our little, go karts driving through the main streets of downtown Tokyo. These carts were surprisingly powerful, I mean, we kept up with traffic. Our group took up a full lane, mostly riding single file. It was a little scary pulling up next to a bus or a truck. You wondered if they saw you in their mirrors and hoped that they did not pull over into your lane. Our guide took us through many stops, letting us get out to stretch our legs, get photos, switch vehicles, and to show off some of the sites. One of the things that he had told us was that the Japanese people we’re a bit shy, but if you made eye contact, they would most likely wave at you. We had lots of groups, young and old, waving to the silly people dressed up in the go karts. And while the photo apps were few and far between or so we thought, when we got back to the shop, he had already sent the photos to be printed. He also shared several  dozen more that he had taken during our ride. This was also the first and only place that actually mentioned tipping our guide.

So this is an important tip, about of all things, tipping. Japan is not a tipping culture. In fact, offering a tip is often seen as rude. Everyone in Japan takes pride in her work and they are paid appropriately. There is not a separate minimum wage for normal workers and a separate one for service workers like they have in the US. So when you catch a cab or Uber, when a waitress takes your order at a restaurant, or any place else where you would be expected to tip in the US, just don’t do it in Japan. It’s not an easy habit to break, I mean in the US it’s second nature, expected. There are other countries around the globe that are the same way. I just wanna make sure that if you travel to Japan and I hope you do that you will remember this. I would also suggest that besides my tips, you do your own search for things to avoid or things to do. That will make your trip more enjoyable and keep the respect.

After we left the Go-Karts, we found ourselves near shopping district. This was when Mike wanted to take a look around. It had shops with anime and video games. We walked with them for a little while, stopping here and there to look into shops. It wasn’t necessarily our thing. Well there are some anime that Teresa and I have watched and enjoyed, we are very much newbs, not fans. As far as gaming, we’re not talking RPG’s here. These are more the original Nintendo and Sega games and game systems. I grew up more on Atari and Xbox. Still, I did like some of the “artwork” books. 

We soon parted ways, reminding each other we had reservations for dinner later that night. Teresa and I walked aways and found ourselves in front of a well-known gate, the Kaminari-Mon Gate. We stopped for a couple photos, stepped through into a shopping district. Now this district was not your neighborhood shops, but set up for tourists with all kinds of souvenirs and such. The stalls lined up making a path that led right to the temple. 

One of the things that Teresa has collected ever since our European trip has been pins, the enamel type pins, sometimes called hat pins. She doesn’t just get a pin from a given country. She likes to get pins with the names of the city that we are visiting. And throughout our trip here in Japan, we had found pins from Osaka and Kyoto, so now we are in search of one for Tokyo. We stopped at several stalls without much luck, most of the pins just said Japan. We stopped at one of the last shops before reaching the temple, and tucked away in the back was a few pins on display. Again, most said japan, but one stood out. It had no English letters, only Japanese. I pulled out my phone and my translator app and found this one actually said “Tokyo, Japan”. Let’s just say we picked that one up. 

We continued walking around, finding a small park in not quite yet full bloom, but close, of cherry blossoms. We had passed several signs pointing to dog cafés, cat cafés, even a bunny café. I asked Teresa if she wanted to stop knowing that she just loves animals, but she just turned a question on me asking if that’s where I wanted to go.

From the park we were in, you could see the Sky Tree (Tower). I pointed at it telling Teresa that’s what I’d like to go see. According to Google maps, it was about a 25 minute walk. We turned and made our way out of the park, and started our trek. We had looked to see if there were any convenient trains, but Google said it was probably shorter and quicker to walk it.

As we headed up the street, I spotted a sign for a spa/massage service. We had been walking a lot on this trip. Other than the fish foot bath in Kyoto, we really hadn’t done a lot for our feet. It’s not like we had worn blisters or anything on our feet, they were just sore and stiff. Advil/Aleve helped, but it was more a blocker than actual help. I asked Teresa if she was interested as the sign said they did foot massages. She said yes and we went inside. We told the owner what we wanted, showed us the price list, and we agreed. He went to the back and got us slippers and what I would call pajama bottoms. He offered us a room to change, giving us a basket to store our pants and shoes. We sat down and his partner came out. She started working on Teresa and he was working on me. He explained that they would massage up to the knee, that it was important to relax all the muscles  that go into and support the foot. I set back, closed my eyes, and meditated.

The masseuse asked me several times if I was OK. I assured him I was, that I was enjoying the music playing, that all he need to do was ask me to move my foot or leg in one direction or the other and I would do so. The massage lasted about 45 minutes. He offered us tea, water, or juice and asked where we were heading next. We told him the Sky Tree to which he suggested a better route than what Google maps was offering. It would take us through a lovely park and over a pedestrian only bridge. We thanked him and made our way towards that park.

I will remind you not to neglect yourself. Both Teresa and I commented that our feet felt anew and that massage was more of a relief than any amount of Advil.

The park itself was lovely. We saw people walking around in traditional kimonos. There were a few groups of kids (I said kids, but young adults) who looked dressed up for some occasion. We made our way to the bridge across finding ourselves just a few blocks from the Sky Tree. 

It’s about this time that Teresa made mention that she had been here before. My heart sank a little bit as I had hoped that we would be going to places that she had not been. As I might’ve said this is not her first trip to Japan. She had been here twice before on business. Still, she seemed excited. She said the last time she was here was after dinner, so the views would definitely be different during the day than they were at night.

We made our way to the kiosk and got the combo ticket so we can go to both decks. The height of the tower is 634 m.(2,080 feet.). It has two observation decks, the Tembo deck at 350 m and the Tembo Galleria at 450 m. The elevator climbs to the first deck and under a minute at a speed of 600 m/min. Be prepared for your ears to pop. The views from the Tembo deck were amazing. I mean, I know that Tokyo is the largest city in the world, but until you see it from one of these towers, I don’t think you realize the scale or the size of this metropolis. We made our way around, I have even pointed out a few features of the places we had been.

Once you make your way around that deck, there’s elevators go back down and of course, elevators that go up to the Galleria deck. We showed our tickets and went up to the top level. You wouldn’t think hundred meters will make a difference, but it does. It was amazing to see the city sprawling out and touching the mountain range that houses Mount Fuji.

We made our way down, knowing we had to get back to the hotel. Early in our shopping day, I found a luggage shop. We had stuffed our large suitcase to its limits, so we had a choice to rearrange some things and most likely be overweight limits for check bags or buy another medium to large suitcase. The shop had a nice hardshell medium size suitcase for ¥7,700 (or about $51 US). I had hoped to find a similar deal around here. We did not have to go far. A quick search on Google Maps revealed a luggage store and it is just a few blocks away, and in the same direction as the train station we needed to get back to the hotel. We found it quickly and they indeed had a similar one (might have been the same manufacturer) in a variety of colors. And they were ¥7,700 too, with tax. I mean, $51 for a hard-shell case – you can’t beat that. I picked up the case and the shop owner asked me for my passport. I was a little puzzled and no one had asked for it in the 2 weeks we’ve been there, well except the hotels and the trains if you were buying reserved seats. He saw my confusion and pointed to a sign. It stated that travelers were tax free (with passport). So, ¥7,700 was just ¥7,000 , or $46.90 US. I guess you could beat that. I paid and we headed to the station to get back to the hotel. 

We arrived and our large suitcase was not locked up near the desk, nor was it in our room. Oh no! I could tell that Teresa was upset, mad at herself for the mistake. And worse, that our luggage may be lost. We had a dinner reservation too. 

I went downstairs and called for the clerk. He came out and I again explained what had happened. He said he had seen the note and would call to the other hotel to see what was going on. He went back to the office in a few minutes later came out. He said that our luggage was indeed at the other hotel. He also said they could not arrange a courier between the hotels and was still trying. I asked him if he could call me a cab, that I would go and pick it up and bring it back. I assured him that this was our mistake and that it in no way reflected poorly on him or the hotel. He called a cab. I told him I had to run upstairs quickly just to tell my wife that I was stepping out. By the time I got back down the cab was in front of the hotel. I thanked the clerk and asked him to remind the driver that this was a round trip ride, that I needed him to wait for me while I grabbed my bag. 

We took off and got to the hotel quickly. I stepped in and there were a line of people waiting at the counter. I really dod not have time to wait, but I was also not going to be rude and ask to step in front. A lady behind the counter looked up as I came in. She immediately asked if I was the one to pick up the luggage; the other hotel must’ve called ahead to let them know I was on the way. She went to the back, brought out the bag, took a quick glance at my ID before rolling it over to me. I rushed back out to the cab and the driver, standing outside put the bag in the back, and then we are heading back to the hotel. We pulled up out front and the taxi driver opened the door. I was a little puzzled as they normally don’t open it until they are paid. He must’ve saw my confusion and motioned for me to get out. He got out as well and opened the trunk to help me get my bag out. I reached in my pocket to make sure he got paid and he said the hotel had taken care of it. That was completely unexpected, and I’d even told them several times that it was our mistake and we were willing to pay still, I was grateful to be back at the hotel with our large suitcase. I made my way up to our room and the sight of the suitcase  seemed to lighten Teresa’s mood as well.

She reminded me of the time, that I didn’t have time to sit and relax as we needed to be at the Ninja Café in less than an hour. We made our way downstairs and to the train station.

There was a little confusion between Teresa and I about which platform and even which line to take. We got on one line, I looked down at my phone and it looked like we are going the wrong way. Two stops later and I was convinced we were. We stepped off the train and looked around the platform. I wanted to go up top to make sure and get our bearings. When we came up on the street level, Google was saying the train would take 45 minutes and we only had 30 minutes until our reservation. It did say that by car was only 20 minutes, so Teresa book a cab.

We got to the station which houses, various cafés and shops. We weren’t sure we had the right place, it didn’t look familiar to Teresa who had been here before I assured her that things change and as we turn the corner, we saw Mike and Megan. They were sitting on a bench in the hall outside or rather nondescript door. When all four of us stepped up, the door opened, and we are escorted in. We were told that we would be taught the ways of the ninja.

We were escorted down a secret passage. I’d tell you more, but I’m afraid they might send the ninjas after me. The food was fabulous and well themed, as were the cocktails. The presentation was magical in more ways than one. The variety of food to choose from, and they even catered to Teresa’s vegetarian preferences. I think it was in Paris in 2000 when I last had snails, or should I say the first time and only time I had had snails. It wasn’t that they were bad, actually it tasted kind of good. I looked at Mike and Megan and they were unsure. I took the small fork and scooped out a bit. Yep, still a little chewy, but the butter and herbs helped. 

The appetizers stopped and a master ninja came out to give us a magic show. He was amazing and as I watched carefully, hoping to catch a glimpse of his sleight of hand. Close up magic is hard, and even harder when you have someone watching so close, and he did not even flinch. He gave us each a portion of the tricks as souvenirs. 

Dinner was served and it was amazing.  Like most Japanese portions, it was small by US standards, but with all the appetizers and cocktails and such, it was filling. I do think we super-size things too much in the US. 

We made it back to the hotel with Mike and Megan. We had to be up early for the flight and we had to repack and make sure we had everything we needed for the carry on.