Visiting Godzilla on the Way to the Tokyo Marathon
It was race day – 1 in Tokyo and time to ACTUALLY take it easy. But never fear, we still have a few fun things in store for you. Walk with us this week as we go visiting with Godzilla on the way to the Tokyo Marathon.
Breakfast and a Covid Test
As usual, our morning started at the Italian restaurant attached to our hotel (aka The Crevice.) And we had our typical Japanese breakfast of salad, rice with curry gravy and coffee. Frankly, I was REALLY into it by this time.
What WAS new this day…taking a Covid test. Stephen had to upload two negative tests in order to run the race on Sunday. Could you imagine coming all this way and then catching Covid and not running?? As they say, it would be “no bueno”.
Shaking Out the Legs by Wadakura Fountain Park
We left early to go meet runners from Boston Buddies and Destination Marathons over by Wadakura Fountain Park. It was beautiful there but COLD. I stayed long enough to enjoy the view and say “Konnichiwa” to the athletes.
Preparation is Key
Although it was COLD, we couldn’t waste one of our last days in town. So first stop was to Saito Coffee who has been serving up hot brews since 1948. I think this may have been their original grinder. Since no one spoke English, we were happy that Google Translate was around to help us with our lattes.
Off to See the Terror of Tokyo
If you didn’t know there was a giant Godzilla statue in Tokyo, you would miss it. Attached to the Toho Cinema, he peeks out over “Godzilla Alley”.
While we were figuring out how to make some fun videos, ominous music began to play over loud speakers. Godzilla roars were added to the mix and then his mouth sparked and blew smoke! Such fun for 0.00. Here are our masterpieces from our time on Zilla alley.
A Quick Bite at Teppanyaki
We ran into our friend, Jacque, just past Godzilla and decided to duck in for a quick bite at a little restaurant that looked inviting. I believe it’s my first time visiting a place that had plastic for a door but it wasn’t the first time I consumed meat of mysterious origin. That being said, the company was great and beer was cold so…”Kanpai”!
The American Food Meals
With the marathon the next day, we thought we’d stick to “known foods” for a couple meals. Someone told us that KFC in Japan is a whole other thing and that we HAD to try it. Well, who are we to not take a travel tip?
I’ll be honest, it was pretty good but I don’t get Kentucky Fried Chicken often enough to know if it really was different. It was still fun to find out.
Late Dinner at Dominos
For dinner that night, we decided to get some take out pizza from Dominos. Some fun things about this experience…this was their delivery method.
Also, no one there spoke English nor was there an English menu. I thought that was a little odd for such an American restaurant. How was the food? Well, it was just like home. Enough said.
The Collision at the Crevice
The night ended with a “bang” and not in a good way. Check out these pics we took earlier in the day of Stephen in his race shirts.
Not only do they showcase Stephen’s uncanny ability to look the same in EVERY SINGLE PHOTO, it shows you how close the wall was to the bed. Now it wasn’t exactly a Farbman, but it was still an issue.
Stephen usually gets all his racing clothes laid out the night before, including racing belt, fuel, shoes, heart rate monitor, and hat. In a normal sized hotel room, we would use the sofa or the dresser to stage his clothes. At the crevice, his only option was the little space right below the TV. Everything was going well until he stood up and hit his head SO HARD, I thought he knocked the TV off the wall and that he split his head open!
After taking a few moments to recover, we discovered the collision didn’t dislodge the television from the wall. And the damage to Stephen was limited to a crease on his forehead, a small cut and as we would learn later…a concussion!
Join us next week for the slightly concussed running of the Tokyo Marathon and our evening cruise around Tokyo Bay! This week Stephen will be running the Cleveland Marathon so be sure to follow him in real time on Instagram at The__Travel__Oracle and if you’d like to get our latest article and curated content right to your in-box, you can subscribe to us for free!
