I’m slightly overwhelmed by the first days in Tokyo. The city is everything, and all at once.

From my quiet, more residential neighborhood with its tiny streets without cars to the mega-pedestrian crossings of Shibuya, the mega-shopping streets to tiny pedestrian zones, shrines and parks, hanami parties, fertility festivals and Japanese weddings…

I met up with my friend Brandon form San Francisco, who is visiting his friend Paul.

We went to the Meiji shrine in Yoyogi park and witnessed two weddings (one coming in, one going out of the shrine)…

We strolled through the park, covered in blue blankets for thousands of Japanese picnicking under the cherry trees…

We walked through shopping streets and had a coffee in a cat café (you get coffee and can play and feed the cats, spoiled rotten…)

We went for drinks and dinner in Shinjuku (yummy hot avocado in a sesame sauce, and creamy tofu, among others…)

We went to Kawasaki to see the Kanamara Matsuri fertility festival, with thousands and thousands of others (Japanese are very crowd resistant)

I saw the Metro empty and easy to navigate, and saw and felt how a whole bus load of people can still fit easily into an already crowded metro car…

And still I have only had a glimpse of the city, with so many areas not yet even visited.