The sun rises in Tokyo at around 5:30am, which is wonderful because we’re still adjusting to the time change. We’re greeted in the morning to a quiet street and a pink and blue cotton candy sky. It’s very calm and peaceful, a rarity for a place like Tokyo.
Asa and I take some time to walk to a nearby gyudon shop for an early morning breakfast. This is one of Asa’s favorite dishes, so we don’t mind that it’s the only option open at 7am. We guess that maybe people don’t eat breakfast as early as we’re used to. Most places (including coffee shops!) don’t open until 10am or later. But thanks to lack of open business, we have a quiet walk to breakfast to enjoy the classic Japanese beef bowl dish.
After some breakfast and additional rest at the Airbnb, we take the train to Akihabara – a neighborhood known for its electronics and “nerd culture”. It’s buzzing with people and brightly colored billboards with advertisements for anime and video games. We begin our walking tour of the city here.
From our many travels, one tradition we have and I would always recommend is to take a walking tour within the first day or so of where you’re staying. There are so many tip-based / free options and you get to learn so much about the city you’re in.
We learned about the culture of anime in Akihabara, the war-torn history of Japan at Yushima Seido, where samurais once trained, how Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity are shared and practiced at the Kanda Myoujin shrine (and even saw a wedding processional!), and about Saigo Takamori (the inspiration for The Last Samurai) at Ueno Park. I think we hit 10,000 steps by 1pm.
After our 3 hour walking tour, we had earned a much needed sushi lunch. See below the fatty tuna, shrimp, and raw fish deliciousness with a side of a cold beer and Coke. And this place was extra fun as it was horigotatsu style. You take your shoes off and sit at a low table that has a recessed space underneath so you can sit comfortably. It was a quite a relaxing way to dine.
With our bellies full, we can hear our beds calling from afar for an afternoon snooze. We catch some z’s to rest up for the main event of our day – the Track and Field World Championships 2025.
The way this came to be was pure serendipity, I was trying to fill the unicorn need of finding fashionable, comfortable, and affordable running / walking shoes, which led me to three different stores in Denver on a Sunday afternoon, the last one being Runner’s Roost. I explained to the employee we were going to be walking around a lot in Japan, he then asked when we were headed here. I told him mid-September and he informed me that would be when the World Track and Field Championships were happening. So shout out to the employee at Runner’s Roost for giving us the intel to live out one of the coolest experiences of our trip!
The Championships are being held at Japan National Stadium, where the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were held. It’s a massive stadium and the track was gorgeous with the lights shining down on it. We had the incredible opportunity to watch the women’s discuss, 400m women’s heats, men’s high jump semif-finals, women’s long jump finals, and the crowning event of the evening – the men’s and women’s 100m finals.
The first comment Asa and I made about the athletes were the incredibly strong legs they had. We were in the second tier of the stadium and could see the muscular definition on these Olympic-level super humans. And we couldn’t believe how quiet a stadium of 68,000 could be at the start of a race, waiting to hear the gun go off. You could feel the tension and the pressure build every second.
During the men’s 10,000 meters, as the athletes raced around the track, the audience cheers would follow them around the stadium – it was an incredible experience to witness just non-stop, pure support and encouragement for all of the athletes during that race. They’re running 25 laps on an 85 degree, humid evening. The audience didn’t seem like they were cheering just for someone, but for the entire group of runners to be accomplishing such a hard task, urging them to just keep going.
With that said, it was extremely heartwarming to hear the loud cheers for the home athletes of Japan, you can’t help but join in and root for them as well. We saw three Americans win gold, women’s long jump, women’s discus, and the women’s 100m – go women! It was so exciting to see and be a part of this massive event. It’s something we’ll probably talk about and reminisce on for years to come.
I’m grateful to have a partner that’s open to a completely new experience like this and a friend that’s willing to tag along for the ride. If you ever have the opportunity to see a world championship event, be like Nike and just do it.
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