Long Weekend Vacation - Day 01: Tokyo, Japan

- September 04, 2026

After a long hiatus, we decided to visit Tokyo over the recent long weekend holiday! We purchased our air tickets in advance, and the flight was scheduled for a Friday morning.

I had a pleasant 7-hour flight to Tokyo with ANA (All Nippon Airways), and I reached Tokyo near to 2pm, local time (do note that Japan is an hour ahead than us). Clearing the customs at the airport was a breeze.

The hotel we chose this time was in the heart of Ginza, and not at Shinjuku where we usually stay. We bought bus/limousine tickets which took us to designated hotel near ours, and we walked less than 2 mins to reach our hotel.

Recently, I preferred to take the limousine bus service, as this service was just as efficient as the NEX Tokyo train, but with one additional bonus point - we did not need to roll our luggage around the train station to transfer to the local train station and lug them around, especially with the amount of stairs everywhere.

After about an hour's drive + a very short walk, we finally reached our accommodation - Aloft by Marriott Tokyo Ginza.

The room was fabulous and spacious, with a separate area - living room and bedroom area.

After putting my luggage in the room, I walked to Ginza to do some shopping. My first shopping stop - GU. I’ve been eyeing for the viral ballet Sneakers. YAY! I picked up 2 pairs for myself!

After doing some shopping, I had comforting Japanese food for lunch at one of the nearby Soba noodle shops near the hotel! It was simple yet delicious!

OMG! I was impressed by the flagship Uniqlo store, and I went straight to the 12F (special floor). Upon reaching, there was a bright neon sign which welcomed us to the café space - Uniqlo coffee.

The café space offers dine-in and takeout options. Unfortunately, the dine-in seat area was scarce, therefore, I did a takeout instead.

Time for dinner! Baby had made a reservation at 830pm for our dinner. We settled at Kushiyaki Bistro Fukumimi Ginza 6 which was literally beside our hotel.

It is foreigner-friendly Izakaya, with items listed in both English and Japanese. Upon being seated, the ‘welcome dish’, or also known as 'Otoshi', comprised of cream cheese and crackers at this eatery. As with most izakayas, there is a cover charge for dine-ins, which essentially includes welcome appetisers such as this one.

It’s impossible to resist the inviting aromas of yakitori being grilled to order. They were delicious, although I felt that some of them were a bit on the salty side. However, after being paired with beer, it was pretty delicious. The damage was a bit on a higher side, but then again, we were in Ginza after all.