My first day in Japan: what I did, spent and learned

The first day sets the tone for the whole trip, so I'm going to tell it in detail and just as it really was. We landed at 9:00 AM, after sleeping on the plane, and went straight to the hotel. They wouldn't let us into the room because it wasn't check-in time yet, so we freshened up in the reception bathroom, left our bags there and set off for the market around 12:00.

Tsukiji Outer Market is a small, noisy place full of fish stalls and street food: there's a bit of everything, and prices vary, with the meat being the most expensive. We ate at a conveyor-belt sushi place, the kind where the plates pass by on a moving belt, and then it was time to try the wagyu. It can get pricey, between 15 and 25 euros for a piece, and ours cost 18 euros, but it was worth it: it was the best piece of meat of the whole trip.

Afterwards, unhurriedly, we walked to Zojo-ji temple, with Tokyo Tower peeking out between the rooftops, and headed back to the hotel through the Shibuya crossing. Nothing prepares you for crossing it the first time: hundreds of people moving at once in every direction, without anyone bumping into anyone.

You don't need a sophisticated plan to eat well. The best places we ate at were the least planned ones.

At the hotel we rested a while, changed and went out for dinner in Shinjuku. We ended up at a ramen place picked at random, and it was incredible. Afterwards we wandered around Shinjuku, ended up at a random karaoke, tried sake and finished at a 7-Eleven trying lots of cool little snacks. It was an exhausting day, without a doubt, but one you remember in full.

For your first day

If you land in the morning like we did, don't count on being able to get into your room: leave your bags at reception and organize the day around that. Tsukiji Outer Market is a good first contact, and for the market food it's worth carrying cash: many stalls only accept yen. A Suica card, which you can load onto Apple Wallet before traveling, saves you from buying tickets every time.

For dinner, there's no need to plan: wandering around Shinjuku and going in wherever catches your eye usually turns out better than any recommended restaurant. If you want ideas on where to stay in Tokyo, see where to stay in Tokyo.