For Albert’s 50th birthday (not until December) we decided to take our trip to Tokyo. We hadn’t been able to because of house purchasing and various setbacks in the past three years, and while expensive trips are not really in our cards at the moment, we cashed in our Delta and Bonvoy points and did it for almost free (we bought Albert’s ticket – for MQM points). So the expense – which is still a lot, is in the food, toys, and entertainment. But the kids can appreciate it and it was important to go and disconnect from the stresses of work and regular life.
We’re on our way!
Made it to Japan! Kids did great on the flight.
Day 2: First full day Tsujiki Fish Market (old one), Ginza Toy Store, Shibuya Kiddyland and more. A lot of eating of course, some highlights: tuna steak grilled and torched, very fresh bluefin tuna, fruit, pastries (chocopan) and of course ramen, Shio/Tonkatsu this time.
Day 2: Our trip is so different than our last ones, we go at the girls’ pace and it is hot and humid here. So less sight seeing, more soaking in the culture. Here are the girls. The girls with their bears, it is the Obon festival right now so the girls with masks at Mitsukoshi, Curie and Elia at the Sony pop-up aquarium, and then with the LOL display at the Ginza toy store (Hakuhinkan Toy Park).
Day 2: The stuffed animals at the Ginza Toy Store were very expensive, so we decided not to get any, but then there was this pop-up Dell store that gave away these bears if you posted a picture on Twitter and Instagram with their hashtag. Free bears, gotta love it.
Day 2: Then, because it is Japan, we saw some interesting things. This is a sampling. A giant tuna head, tuna eyes the size of your fist for eating, octopus, an Aibo in the wild (seriously, the owner was taking it for a walk), fresh wasabi, the mascots for the Tokyo Olympics, bread the shape of seals to celebrate the Sony aquarium, a square watermelon to stack easier, a very carved Snoopy watermelon, a giant stuffed cat that Erin loved but was $125, Ultraman, and remote control fighting robots.
Day 3: The big highlight of the day was the “big robot” for Elia. The Gundam is life sized, about 40 feet tall and transforms from unicorn mode to destroy mode. We waited for the transformation for 15 minutes. It rained a little while we waited…
Day 3: … the actual transformation was a little underwhelming.
Day 3: The girls wanted some cotton candy. It was huge!
Day 3: For Albert’s 50th birthday, he wanted to go to a conveyor belt sushi place (kaiten) the whole meal was only $68.
Day 3: The 6th floor is Gundam Base. Here are all the Gundams for the major shows. Curie really liked Gundam Base and wants to try to build a model.
Day 3: Gundam Base, there were a lot of cutouts to take pictures with.
Day 3: Elia liked Haro, a little round robot in almost every Gundam show. Erin said Albert’s experience was probably like if we went to a Barbie world for her in terms of nostalgia.
Day 3: There are a lot of shops at Odaiba, here are the kids posing at many of them.
Day 3: Fuji TV real and Lego.
Day 3: Miniland in Legoland.
Day 3: Playing at Legoland, Erin and Albert were so tired in the middle of the day.
Day 3: Legoland racer builds. Curie asked for a car, Albert asked, “fast or pretty?” Curie said both. So Albert went physics on it. After Erin and Elia built up the city, they came over and Albert built one for Elia as well.
Day 3: Odaiba, the rainbow bridge and some great Hokkaido Ramen at a place that has 7 ramen shops in one area. We did not go to the ramen museum because of this shop. Elia fell asleep
Day 4: Our girls in Japan. I have Day 3 pictures that I haven’t worked on yet, we are on the way to Tokyo Disneyland, more later.
Day 4: Tokyo Disneyland. Arriving at Tokyo Disneyland. We hadn’t been able to buy tickets in advance and were stressed about it, but we needn’t have worried, getting tickets was really easy. Main Street at Tokyo Disneyland is covered for rain and snow. It also makes an amazing reveal for the castle.
Left to right: 1) Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle with the original Smallworld (albeit with a Santa hat from the 1964 New York’s World Fair), 2) Magic Kingdom at Disney World with the more impressive Cinderella’s castle and a tiny Smallworld indoors, and 3) Tokyo Disneyland with the same Cinderella’s Castle, though better colors, and a very impressive Smallworld with not only colors, but many Disney movie characters singing with the Smallworld children inside. Kids liked Tokyo Disneyland better. We’ll add to this after EuroDisney, Hong Kong, and Shanghai… we were too tired to work on pictures, more later.
Day 4: Tokyo Disneyland. Our various family pictures, the lower left is blurry but it is of Star Tours which included the Force Awakens and Last Jedi. Elia was really excited to ride but it turned out to be pretty scary for her. She still liked it – kind of. 🙂 Curie loved it, it is her third time. It was so hot we poured water in our hats and put them back on our heads (one of Elia’s favorite parts). More Disney and Odaiba later, headed out to the Meiji Shrine, Harujuku, and back to the plastic food.
Day 4: Tokyo Disneyland Smallworld. Here are the Disney characters we found. More Disney to come
Day 4: Some dramatic views of and from the castle.
Day 4: Inside Cinerella’s castle is more impressive than Disneyland. Can you go into the castle at Disneyworld?
Day 4: The kids’ favorite ride was Peter Pan, they loved flying in the night.
Day 4: The top picture is the carousel at Tokyo Disneyland the bottom is the second floor of a double decker carousel an Agraba in Disney Sea!
Day 4: The kids at Disneyland.
Day 4: The Queen of Hearts castle where we ate lunch, a gift shop the Snow White ride which was the scariest ride and because it was scary, Elia says she liked it. Space Mountain looks like Space Mountain from the outside, but since we didn’t ride it we don’t know if it is in the Disneyland configuration or the Disney World configuration.
Day 4: There was this bread that Curie and Elia really liked, Japanese, so a little sweet. It had an imprint of a heart that the girls cut out. Albert cut one and took a picture.
Day 4: The monorail at the differrent parks look different. There are four stops and you have to pay to ride.
Day 4: Disney Sea. When you enter, there is this globe on water. Here is the obligatory holding the globe picture that did not impress the kids, and the globe in the daytime and a night.
Day 4: Scenery at Disney Sea, effectively mostly Elia’s photography.
Day 4: Mermaid Lagoon and the walk way from the Jules Verne area under the volcano to Mermaid Lagoon.
Day 4: Disney Sea. We asked the kids what were some of their favorite things were and Elia told us it was when we poured cold water in their hats to cool them down. Oh many if not most of the Disney Sea scenery pictures were from Elia including this one of Curie.
Day 4: Mermaid Lagoon in Disney Sea and the double decker carousel in Agraba. Erin took the kids on the “tea cups.” Albert didn’t ride.
Some photography, my favorite Disney castle shots at night. Disney World with the reflection off a light post base, Disneyland with Sleeping Beauty’s castle transformed into Elsa’s castle in Arendale, and for Tokyo, Ariel’s Castle at Disney Sea – not even the center piece of the park, but very impressive. Under rated by tour guides, very kid friendly even though it was rated more like EPCOT or California Adventure. I thought I had a picture of EPCOT I liked but I can’t find it.
Day 5: Shibuya and Asakusa: Hachi dog statue, Shibuya crossing, Tokyo Skytree, plastic food at Kappabashi, and an old temple there. We arrived too late to see any of the plastic food. We may try again today.
Day 5: We started the day late after Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea the day before. Albert wanted to get more kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi, there are a lot in Tokyo, we didn’t have as good an experience as we did at Odaiba (or Kura for that matter) .
Day 5: Sensoji Temple at Asakusa. You pay 100 yen for a fortune, if it is a bad one you tie it on a stand and leave it at the temple, if it is a good one, you take it home. On our honeymoon, Erin was really troubled to have gotten a bad fortune even though we tied it there and left it. Now 12 years later when we got a bad fortune we simply tied it and put money in for another one, 4 times! Our motto in our family is “Chens never give up” and it was an amazing way to tell the kids the lesson that if things don’t go your way, you sometimes need to work at it to make your own good fortune. Also it is a great fundraiser for the temple to have people keep giving money until they get a good one.
Day 5: in 2007, we played the Taito drums on our honeymoon. We found them again today and the kids had a great time.
Day 5: Nakamise Shopping Street at Asakusa – animal cafes, there was an owl on the street. We didn’t do it though the kids wanted to.
Day 5: In 2010, we had the red bean fish at Tsukiji fish market, but we didn’t find them there this time, we did find this chain that had red bean fish and ice cream. The kids had a little fracas over the last bite, so we found another one at Ebisu (near our hotel) and they each had another.
Day 5: This is the IHOP of ramen, not the fanciest, nor hippest, nor foodie-ist, but it was Curie and Albert’s favorite.
Day 6: We stayed in Ebisu, which is a little like staying in Tysons when visiting DC. We did have a train station nearby, but it was connected by a series of conveyor belts and tunnels.
Day 6: Meiji Shrine. One of our favorite places is the Meiji Shrine, there are these amazing Torii gates there including the two main ones going in, there are also two smaller ones we found.
Day 6: Meiji Shrine. Here we are at the gate we entered in, on the path to the shrine where we got popsicles and Elia discovered that she likes green tea popsicles, and at the shrine itself.
Day 6: Meiji Shrine. The path is very peaceful
Day 6: Meiji Shrine. On the way there are these barrels on the left and right. One side held rice wine sake, and the other held French wine. We also pointed out to the kids that there were caretakers who fastidiously swept away the leaves from the path. There was another area for prayers and fortunes, and we saw one of the attendants of the main shrine area where you weren’t to take pictures.
Day 6: Meijji Shrine. The shrine itself is more understated and has a gravitas to it. There are a lot of tourists, but it is not tourist-y.
Day 6: At the ramen place in Harujuku on the second floor, there was great window light.
Day 6: Erin’s favorite ramen is Kyushu Tonkatsu Ramen with fried garlic oil.
Day 6: Asakusa again. Erin wanted an ice cream crepe at Harujuku which we did not get but we found a place in Asakusa.
Day 6: We made it to the plastic food place! We wanted to buy a bowl of ramen, but that would have cost $80, we did buy little magnets for $10 but then bought more for a $1 at the nearest Daiso.
Day 6: Night before going home. If you ever go to Tokyo and want a kimono or a yukata, go to Asakusa, there is a shop there that sells any item for 1000 yen, or about $10, It is an amazing deal. Erin got a robe, Albert got an overcoat, and we got Elia a full yukata/kimono. Here is our family picture in our hotel room.
Day7: We’re back! It was a little close with the NEX train but we made it and we made it through customs a few hours before their problems.
Day 7: We don’t buy a lot of souvenirs of our travels and use pictures and video to remind us of our trips. We did buy these doorway tapestries though. The first of Mt. Fuji is in our bathroom, the second of the owls is for the kids’ room, the last with the toilet picture was for a bathroom but it made our space look like a restaurant or bar, so don’t be surprised if it is somewhere more random if you visit our house.
