Back in time to Tokyo

        It has been a few months since my last post, and there are a few different reasons for this. The main reason is mostly that I have been so busy, and staying home alone with a 4 year old and a thriving social life doesn't always allow the time to sit at the computer and write. So now I will go back in time and try to catch up on the things I should have shared with you: my friends and family, and anyone else who stumbles upon this blog.

       In August we took a mid-week trip to do some sightseeing in Tokyo. Our original intent was to take Benjamin to Tokyo Disneyland. However, the idea of spending so much money to stand in long lines in 85-90 degree weather was a rather anxiety inducing one for the husband and myself who are not fans of the whole Disney thing. We also place more value on giving our child real-life experience vs. superficial amusement parks. ( We're not judging others here, it's just not our thing!) So we nixed it and decided to show our a kid a real life attraction; the city of Tokyo!

    

This is only one small portion of a city that is so massive, you can't even imagine it!! Taken from the top of the Tokyo Tower.

 

Tokyo Tower

 

 

      There is a delivery service here in Japan called Kuro Neko (Black Cat). They work nonstop, 24/7 and for a nominal fee (only 1300 Yen or about $15 one way) you can have them pick up your suitcase and deliver it to your hotel for you. This saves the trouble of trying to lug your suitcase around the busy train station and onto a crowded train. It also gave us the ability to do some sightseeing before we even checked into the hotel, which is in kind of a boring area of the city. I can't even stress how helpful this was and it gave us basically a whole extra day and a half to do sightseeing around the city via train with the comfort of knowing our luggage was in good hands. So when we left our home in the late morning we went straight to the train with only our backpacks in tow. We had no specific plans, but headed for Shibuya just to see what we could find. After about 2 hours and a couple different trains, we headed out of Shibuya train station which spills right out onto the busiest crosswalk in Japan.

 

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My boys!

 

 

 

        It was diffucult to get a good shot of all the people as you are constantly navigating your way through the huge crowd of people. Once we made it across, we found ourselves in a massive labrynth of tiny city streets lined with thousands of shops, and various restaurants. I even saw not one, but two Shakey's Pizza's! Consumer culture really takes the cake in Japan. Everywhere you look; right, left, up and even down they manage to squeeze businesses into every nook and cranny.

 

 

You can see how there are several levels in each building. I'm still wondering what Ghetto Happy Dining is...

 

 

 

     After having some tsukimen (Cold ramen noodles dipped into hot soup) for lunch at a small noodle shop, we explored the area for a couple more hours before we headed for the subway to the hotel. The cicadas were singing as loud as can be during our steamy walk to the hotel from Hiroo Station. Ben found a newly shed cicada exoskeleton on the sidewalk of a back street. Hearing the  different songs of the cicadas is by far my favorite Summer time sound in Japan. After checking into our hotel we went for a nice swim in the pool before bed.

 

 

      

       The next day was when we decided to cancel Disneyworld, and Benjamin happily agreed (with the promise of a new toy, and a ride on the swan boats) which surprised both of us. So after breakfast we headed for Harajuku. Instead of Disneyland, I found an awesome Toy store to take Ben to and a few other points of interest to hit up.

Harajuku Station

   

       After wandering aimlessly due to a glitch on Google Maps, we finally found it a few blocks from where it was showing on the map. Kiddy Land is 5 stories of toys, but not really very big. Each floor has a different theme, One is snoopy, one is Hello Kitt, etc. and he mostly liked the one with all of the really cool toy trains and lego stuff.

 

 

     He of course approved, and we spent over an hour inside. After we found a couple cool toys we left and continued our exploring the area. Unfortunately it was a Wednesday so there were no famous Harajuku girls, or other youth sporting the crazy fashions. We will have to go back on a Sunday for some people watching.

We found a cool Singaporean Noodle (Hokkien Mae Yacman) place to have some light lunch, a refreshing drink and escaped from the heat for a bit. The food was very delicious and our waitress was very sweet to us and we are now facebook friends!

 

 

 

 



Random graffiti to see here, but still cool.

Harajuku Fashion ( I know, I don't get it either.)

     After lunch we walked back up towards the station and headed for a nice walk in the shade of old trees through Yoyogi Park.  Unfortunately the setting on my camera was wrong for this lighting so almost all of the pictures are weird...but I'm still learning how to use the camera.          

                                                                                     

The torii (gate) entrance towards the Meiji Jingu Shrine where Emporer Meiji and his wife were enshrined.

Sake barrels as an offering.

 

 

                       For some background:

 

Wait is that a real dude in there!?

 

Yeah it sure is. He is sitting as still as a rock...how cool.

 

Teaching Ben how to get the spirits attention, make an offering and ask a favor...first you clap your hands, then toss in your coins, then ask what you will...

and of course to bow after.

 

 

Later that day we went to the Tokyo Tower before heading back towards the hotel...it was one long, but fun day.   

 



Always such a little comedian!

                              

 

                              

The view is all city as far as the eye can see, 360 degrees around you, except for Tokyo Bay.

                                          

                              

 

 

One of the most visually unappealing buildings I have ever seen, not that I know much about architecture, but sometimes I notice these things....

 

 

 

 

 

        We spent the next day enjoying the beautiful weather in beautiful Ueno Park to make due on Ben's demand to ride the Swan boats in place of Disney...and of course to see the Pandas at the Zoo(for mommy).

 

 

They are quite an attraction, but so adorable.

 



 

Really cool grasshopper. I had fun holding it and showing some little kids.

 

Cicada exoskeleton...

 

         After the Zoo we took a walk around the gorgeous lotus ponds which to me are just unreal in their beauty. Each leaf is about 2 feet round, and each flower is about 8 inches in diameter (the petals are about 4 inches tall each) and they were just starting to open up for the season.

  

 

 

 

 

Tokyo Skytree tower in the background, we didn't make it there though we wanted to.

 

 

...and of course we stopped to ride the Swanboats,

 

View of the dock from our boat.

 

and for a rest.

Cooling off in the shade of a willow tree...right after Ben dumped his shaved ice... :(
But it was ok, Mom had back-up jelly beans in case of emergencies.

 

 

So tired on the train ride home, reading his paper.

 

    Overall we had a great weekend in the big city and away from home. There are endless things to see and do in Tokyo and we plan on returning often to do more exploring. We all returned home exhausted, with sore feet, and as the train neared home only then did it really dawn on me that we really do live in the countryside.