Category: Blog

So, the plan for today was to visit three museums:

1) Emerging technology (robots and the best t-shirt selection ever!)

2) Sumida Hokasai (wood cut art)

3) Edo Tokyo Museum (Tokyo history)

The first issue was that we woke up at 9.15am. Breakfast ends at 10am so it was a bit of a scramble to get up and by the time we had decimated the buffet it made for a late start to our busy day. We tried the egg chef today. I can report that he makes a mean cheese omelette and the pork dumplings went very well with it!

The first museum was off the known map and across the Rainbow bridge on the Monorail again. Today we realised that without a day pass, the individual trip on the Monorail is really expensive. It is driverless though so you can sit right at the front… worth every penny! This time Mila didn’t give in to the cute Japanese toddler that cried because there wasn’t space at the front and held her place.

Asimo was well worth the trip. I didn’t know he could hop! They did a full demonstration of what he can do, including walking sideways and singing a song whilst signing in Japanese. I assume he got that right but obviously we couldn’t check! The explanation was all bilingual in English – which is weird as most of the tourists we have seen are Chinese. Everything assumes that all foreigners can speak and read English.

We were disappointed not to be able to do a robot tour- small sit-on robots powered by gyroscopes to travel in the direction your body leans. They are hands free and only take up the same floor space as a person standing. It seemed a little pointless to pay for the Japanese tour and the English one required a 4 hour wait. Now we will have to come back!

The rest of the exhibits were interesting and more intellectually challenging than our science museums. More questions than answers and much more advanced (although comprehensible) science. You didn’t feel that it was just for kids and stopped just short of GCSE. I really liked the display that showed synthetic photosynthesis and we had to stop and look at the polymer they have developed that conducts electricity- turning all primary school teachers that tell students that plastic is an insulator into liars!!

A slightly weird lunch of hot dogs was consumed (Mila had curry sauce on hers?!) and then we moved on: back down the Monorail, onto the underground and round to Sumida. I had made a fuss about seeing the wave so the rest of the family humoured me and we went to the Sumida Hokasai museum. The permanent exhibition is very small but very interactive. The children were free anyway, but the current special exhibition featured an artist who specialises in taking wood cut prints from Hokasai and putting cats in them. Odd even for Japan but very entertaining and we all found that it made us look at the originals more closely. Both kids enjoyed trying the single line drawing, the kimono design and other drawing techniques. Even Keith said it had been interesting… that makes two art galleries that he has quite liked!

Outside the museum was a children’s park with actual children in it. We released ours to go and play on the bike powered roundabout while Keith took photos and I collapsed on a bench. By this time it was gone 5pm and our feet were starting to complain. We have done 48km of walking in the last 4 days and boy can we feel it!

We bought yet more water and succumbed to the begging for crisps for the train back. In all honestly we need all the salt we can get.

A little rest in the hotel was followed by another expedition into Tokyo’s red light district. We couldn’t bring ourselves to spend the money on the Robot show in spite of all of the flashing lights and shouting waitresses so we just went back for nice safe ramen instead! I have warned the family that we are doing karaoke at some point so they need to prepare themselves!

Tomorrow is our first trip overland and out of Tokyo so our next job was to pack the suitcases and the rucksacks, getting the delicate balance right between weight and spare underwear! Large suitcases are not welcomed on trains so they have to be sent ahead. The next time we see ours will be Monday in Kanazawa so we need to make sure we have what we need for the weekend. Only a smidgen stressful and when you are travelling with a gadget freak: the rucksacks are bound to be heavy.

When we felt mostly organised we had pudding: cake from the bottom floor of a fancy department store. Think Selfridges and then take food very seriously and add a zero to the price of everything. The peach bun was my favourite, with pink coloured dough layered on top. We would have used icing but Japanese people don’t seem to have as much of a sweet tooth as we do. Faces stuffed and air conditioning on max it was bed time again.

The next part of our adventure awaits…

A reduced pace was decided upon today. Yesterday was exhausting and included a late night.

We decided to take Chika’s advice and head to the famous Tokyo pedestrian crossing to take some photos. We managed to find somewhere a little higher to get a good angle but the humidity was incredibly uncomfortable so we didn’t stay long.

Our next stop was the one that Keith was REALLY looking forward to… full on Tokyo weirdness as the Cat Cafe! You get to spend a ridiculous amount of money to be warned about the rules, lie about your children’s ages and be ignored entirely by the cats. I thought spending time with animals was supposed to be therapeutic but I left feeling thoroughly rejected. You could choose to pay another 500 yen to buy a cat lollipop that means they sidle up to you and lick it but still don’t tolerate touching! One Japanese lady sat down, bought a lolly and then sat looking at her phone for a full 10 minutes- which would have cost her 200 yen as they charge by the time you spend. We decided against the snake or owl cafe after that experience!

Next on the itinerary was a trip to the Ginza district. Think Oxford Street but massive and sprawling. We paid a rather dismissable visit to a statue of Godzilla and then moved onto the main event… a stationary shop called Itoya. No less than 12 floors (one of which was labelled farming but we didn’t get high enough to satisfy my curiousity) with one entirely devoted to special paper. Keith took a photo which will need to become my new background. The children couldn’t stop finding the next thing that was just too “kawaii” and we succumbed to some butterflies to decorate Mila’s journal in Japanese style. I could have happily spent another couple of hours in there but time was pressing.

We are getting quite efficient at working out how to get across Tokyo now but the journey to our river boat dinner cruise was a bit more challenging. Google maps came into its own at the other end and even with high rise buildings everywhere Keith managed to find the departure point.

It was shoes off again to get on the boat and a shared table of 6 with a Japanese couple who did their very best to help translate and guide us through the eating etiquette. The variety of dishes was astonishing and a little challenging. None of us managed to eat the water snail and Keith was the only one who bossed the sushi. One word… texture. I did much better with the unidentified vegetables (apart from the okra) and the kids managed not to starve. The unlimited drinks began to show after about half an hour and the Japanese diners lost much of their inhibited nature.

I had a very entertaining conversation with three ladies who now work as English tutors in Tokyo but originally came from the Philippines. They did apologise for being a “leedle drunk” a few times and took lots of photos of the “beautiful red hair”. Interestingly they told me that they take private clients- secondary school children- and teach them phonics. They just want the kids to be able to speak English, not necessarily read or write it.

The trip itself went up to the Rainbow bridge and moored us in front of the television centre with its weird sculpture. I particularly liked the ice cream boat that came up while we were moored to try and flog tiny pots of Haagen Das to the unsuspecting tourists! On the way back, when we were munching on tempura (eel, white fish, octopus, and shrimp), an older Japanese man chanted a song at us while making amazing shapes with a bamboo mat. It was clearly very traditional and a lot of the Japanese diners were able to join in but we didn’t have a clue what was going on! There is a lot of freedom in not understanding. We just clapped along. Danny (yes you are reading that correctly!) put his hand straight up to get one of the percussion instruments, which they then gave to him as a souvenir and Mila went up to the front to be taught how to use the bamboo mat. She managed to make a very convincing bridge!

The hosts and other guests were incredibly friendly and welcoming and as ours were the only children on board they got preferential treatment. Our only minor issue was that the waitress didn’t clear dishes that weren’t empty, so the snails looked at us longingly for the whole evening and we didn’t know how to ask her to take them away!

The boat got back to the dock at 9.30pm so it was late when we got back to the hotel but another great day so it was definitely worth it.

P.S. if it is really hot and you have been outside for most of the day and you are a little dehydrated, just a little beer can be too much beer.

Much happier children at the start of day two after 12 hours of unconsciousness! I didn’t manage quite that much, but could still feel the improvement.

Breakfast was an experience. I could tell that Danny had the fear after our excitement at lunch yesterday so relief was written all over his face when he found the bacon! Miso soup and extensive salad and dressings were also available. In the spirit of trying new things, Danny went for seaweed seasoned potatoes, I tried a pickled plum (don’t…) and Keith had fried chicken.

By 9am we were sun creamed and ready to meet our guide for the day. Chika San proved infinitely patient with our touristy delight in butterflies, cicadas that sound like car alarms and enormous Koi carp. She taught us how to use the underground, sorted our bullet train tickets for the rest of the trip and introduced us to Japanese beauracracy. The lovely people at Audley who sent us all our information had bought Amelia a full price Pasmo (equivalent of Oyster) card and she wanted to change it to save us 50% on each fare. The second office we tried in the underground station found us some paperwork to complete. The poor young man did NOT like the fact that there were not enough boxes for an international phone number, nor could he work out which part of Mila’s name was her surname. We filled in another form to make him feel better and then managed to leave with our mission complete.

Travel in Tokyo is not as scary as it first appears. All the lines are coloured and have a letter and each stop is numbered. The only slight complication is that each station has different exits which are given a letter and number. Thank God for Chika.

Chika took us to the original site of the Imperial Palace. We learned that it had been almost completely destroyed in WW2 by air raids and only one watch tower is still standing. The gardens were beautiful but very, very hot. Our lovely rep from Audley had emailed us to advise rehydration drinks and after some initial resistance (flavour related) from the children we all felt better for the aptly named Pocari Sweat!

The next stop on was a boat tour via an unmanned monorail (all fine but it felt like the beginning of a superhero film… there is always a derailed monorail in those!). We went all native and bought Bento boxes to eat as we cruised up the river. Danny was significantly braver with less jetlag and even tried the weird, sweet bean paste thing that I thought was chestnuts.

We were all wilting from the heat in the middle of the day so lovely Chika decided against another park and took us to see the Sensoji temple. She showed us how to purify our bodies (water) and minds (incense) before going in. We paid for the children’s fortunes to be read (another wonderfully interaction free transaction based on number) and then went to get our stamp. Apparently Buddism has a lot in common with Pokemon as Buddists collect stamps from each temple they go to. Our guide had a beautiful memento book with a stamp and calligraphy for each one. Sadly they only bother with the hand written effect if you have the book to put it in, so we had to buy a printed one instead for Mila’s memory book. Tomorrow we will start taking it with us! All Japanese tourist locations seem to have stamps to collect and Mila is very into it. More of that to follow I am sure.

Chika showed us the Shinto shrine near the temple and taught us how to tell the difference between the two- rope vs incense basically- so we didn’t embarrass ourselves or offend anyone. Then she took us to a traditional tea house where the menu is in picture form and in the window as you go in. We tried cold green tea (meh), two desserts where you pour syrup over crushed ice (strawberry: yes, matcha and sweet red bean paste: no) and a third; fruit salad and ice cream with more red bean paste (tastes like chestnuts so I liked it) and a green cream soda! Another culinary adventure but as we were all sitting down in air conditioning we were prepared to try anything!

Chika then took us back to the underground, pointed us in the right direction and waved us off. A lovely lady and a fantastic guide.

Our evening excursion (we are not done yet!) was to go to the 35th floor of the Tokyo Skytree building (2nd tallest building in the world but the first if you count the television antenna!). We had time before our scheduled ascension so we gave in to the pester power and took the children to the aquarium. It was exactly what you would expect- Japanese ascetism in every tank. I thought they had gone too far with genetic experimentation but it turned out it was just a large eel underneath a sting ray!

More queuing led us up another 35 floors to some more amazing views. It was very hazy today so visibility wasn’t great, certainly no chance of seeing Mount Fuji today although foothills were in view yesterday. Danny wasn’t keen on the glass elevator up to the 45th floor or the glass panels in the floor on the way back down but he lived to tell the tale.

By the time we had come back down in the super fast elevator (90 seconds to travel 30 floors), been to the Pokemon centre and grabbed some food it was dark so hotel and bed seemed a good idea. Our journey was made more entertaining by the tiny girl swinging between her parents’ hands whose shoes squeaked with every step. Children are few and far between in Tokyo: the low birth rate here was just a dry fact before we came but you soon realise that babies and pregnancies are uncommon.

Navigating ourselves back across Tokyo in the dark went off without a hitch, roll on tomorrow!

We were all a bit confused about when Sunday stopped and Monday started… I think it was somewhere over Russia anyway!

We arrived in security to be greeted by a sign (of which I didn’t dare take a photo…) telling us that no camels or products from camels could be taken into Japan. This did not help our sleep deprived delirium but we managed to sober up enough to convince them to let us in the country!

A lovely Audley agent met us on the other side and went full blown Keith on us checking we had all the listed tickets. Fortunately we are big fans of thorough.

The taxi ride into Tokyo was a revelation… it is enormous. 30 miles from the centre and it was already completely built up. The kids managed to sleep a bit which made the rest of the day much less painful…. for them!

Our hotel is lovely. The most important factor being the highly effective air conditioning. It has been 39 degrees all day. Enough said. We managed to navigate ourselves to the recommended road for “street food” and find the scariest restaurant known to man.

Immediately it became apparent why we had gone to such lengths to learn a bit of Japanese. We scarpered in great haste… only to realise that I had left my hat behind and had to slink back to get it. We survived the meat kebabs we were eventually brave enough to buy but at least two of them remain unidentified.

Our afternoon consisted of a very hot walk, a queue and then an amazing view of Tokyo from the Tokyo Government Building’s South Observation Tower.

Our main aim was to try and stay awake until something approaching bed time. We had a little rest in the cool of the hotel before braving the humidity of Shinjuku and finding Ichiran- a ramen restaurant that would be beloved of anyone with ASD- you order your food and pay at a machine that is reminiscent of the one found in car parks. Then you state your preferences by circling options on a piece of paper.

No human interaction is necessary. Even better, you sit in individual booths facing a closed curtain to eat your selection. The perfect choice for all jet lagged parents!

Our day ended at 6.30pm when Mila, Keith and I all fell asleep while doing something else… Danny is obviously better equipped to deal with less sleep and managed to brush his teeth and get into bed before he succumbed.

A mostly dull (and thankfully eventless) day. Enlivened only by the statistics of the flight we still had to do when we left Amsterdam (9000km!) and by being offered cornettos at 3 o’clock in the morning! No idea why, but then they turned the lights off. Cocoa before bed I could understand but ice cream?!

The Dutch are big on hydration too. We have been given water- forcefully- no less than 5 times and that does not include the juice, coffee, tea and pop. All of which may explain why Danny has disturbed the poor young gentleman no less than 8 times to have a wee!

Today has been our last day at home before our epic adventure to Japan. Tomorrow we catch a plane to Amsterdam and then on to Tokyo. Then we get to see if the time we have spent learning Japanese over the last twelve months was worthwhile. I am going to spend the flight practicing saying “my son is allergic to prawns”.

Let the adventure begin…