Journey to Japan: Tokyo, days 2 and 3

One of the challenges of planning for this a trip was having no idea how long to plan for transit times, viewing times, and stopping at vending machine times.  A travel book or site can only give you a rough idea, but when you are travelling as a family of 8, all these things take more time. I had an itinerary mapped out, but by day 2, we were already revising it.  In retrospect, I wish I had routed us a little differently, or moved a little more quickly through one area in order to have a little time to see the pandas at the zoo or visit Mt. Takao just outside of Tokyo, instead of some of our other stops on the metro, but we managed to see quite a bit of the city, as you can see from these 50 million photos from just 2 days. Since we had 3 cameras working at any given time, we now have to get some external storage for our computer for photos. 

Some notable facts about Tokyo:

*It is a VERY clean city. Rarely did we see even a cigarette butt on the ground.  Also, we learned after transgressing, that people do not eat or drink on the subway. They don’t eat or drink on the street, even though there are vending machines all over the place. I think people must consume their beverage just after buying it right in front of the machine so that they can dispose of the bottle in the recycling spot.

*Normally we are not big sugary drink purchasers. But in order to keep our younger children motivated, we bought them several drinks a day along our route. Fortunately, most of the machines carry more flavored water and teas than sodas. A favorite: Pocari Sweat, a beverage a little like Gatorade.

*We also stopped for snacks at convenience stores and for ice cream cones at small shops. We all decided that although Green Tea ice cream looks and sounds appealing, ice cream that tastes like grass is not really that refreshing.  Green Tea Kitkats are tasty, though.

*We were somewhat disappointed not to see sushi bars on every corner, but noodle shops were everywhere.  Our favorite place for lunch was a fastfood noodle shop: you put your money in a machine, punched a ticket, gave it to the waitress and in seconds had a tray with tea, noodles, and toppings artfully arranged.  We crammed onto stools between businessmen, and followed their example in slurping our noodles. Quick and filling.

*Although Tokyo is larger than New York City, it did not seem nearly as crowded.  Early in the morning and in the evening the subways were packed and “pushers,” men with white gloves, would push people onto the train. They just keep cramming in.  During rush hour, there are “women only” trains, which we quickly realized when my husband tried to get on one, and the ladies gave him surprised looks. Politely.

But, other than the packed trains, we didn't see a lot of people milling around the streets.  No traffic jams – although lots of fearless bike riders.  A homogenous population, unlike New York. And everyone was soft spoken, except the welcomers in the shopping centers.  I’m sure we were the loudest people around.

Our itinerary for Days 2 and 3:

Day 2: Wake early, head to the fish market and find it closed, backtrack and head to the Imperial Palace, home to the emperor.  You cannot go inside, but you can wander through the beautiful east garden. Although you'd think it is a major tourist stop, we were among only a handful of people in the garden.  Next up was the Meiji Shrine, where the Emperor Meiji and his wife, who ruled Japan at the turn of the 20^th century after centuries of shoguns and opened it to foreign trade, are enshrined.  Their shrine is in an immense and beautiful park, almost like a forest in the middle of a major city.  It had an interesting and informative display about the history of Japan during Meiji’s rule that was very informative. More fascinating is that within 2 generations of opening borders, Japan was a major force in WWII. It seems a quick change in cultural attitudes, but my history is sketchy.

*Another note: It really is much easier to remember history when you see the context. I couldn’t keep names and places straight until our visit.  A strong argument for field trips.

From the Meiji shrine, we could see the park where the Olympics were held in 1964, which were the motivation for rebuilding Tokyo after the bombings of WWII (Quick! Company is coming! Tidy up!), but we just pointed the area out to the kids, and headed over to the shopping district, another place where our timing was off. We strolled through Harajuku, the teeny-bopper “kawaii” area, but we weren’t really shopping, except for a place to get crepes and ice cream (Strong French influence still evident). But people watching was colorful.  Then we headed to the ritzy shopping area, where we spent too much time in Kiddyland, Tokyo’s answer to FAO Schwartz, just with less floor space but more cutsy bears and bunnies and Pokemons.

From there, we went to Odaiba, a neighborhood built on a landfill. This area wasn’t really for us: mostly shopping malls.  The Toyota Megaweb showroom was neat and interactive, but we got there too close to closing time.  If we were the type to spend money on video games and Pachinko or who loved to shop, this would have been great, but for us it was a disappointment. The best part was eating in the food court where everyone could try something different, and we could share flavors. My husband’s Korean food was a favorite.

After this long exhausting day, we returned to the ryokan and gathered our towels and shampoo and headed a couple blocks over for one more cultural experience: the public bath, or onsen.  The kids were reluctant, and I was a little nervous myself, but several friends had encouraged us to try it. We may have concerned the concierge a little when our youngest went barging in with her shoes on, but, at least on the ladies side, the other patrons were helpful. We were shown the toilet, Turkish style, and encouraged to use it, then given a basket for our belongings. The girls were shy and wanted to wear their towels into the bath area, but another elderly lady showed us how we should hang them up. She also encouraged us to wash first, which I knew. Once we were all sudsed up and rinsed, we got into the hot bath. Our new friend showed us how to add a little cool water in the corner of the hot bath for the 5 year old, who still was as red as a cherry when she got out.  I was enjoying a good soak in the black water, when the 10 year old announced she was ready to go and the five year old said she had to pee, even though she had adamantly asserted she didn't have to use the bathroom a few minutes earlier.  I didn’t want to scandalize any of the other bathers, if they understood English, so I left the bath way too soon.  It turns out the boys were also ready to go, except the 8 year old, who has having a fine time moving his naked little body from the hot bath to the cold bath and back again. I'd count this hour as one of my favorite moments of the trip, or at least one of the most memorable.

Day 3: We hit the ground running again the next day. We returned to the fish market early, but then had to kill an hour before tourists were allowed in. Did a little shopping in the vegetable dealers' area, where a flea market of sorts was set up, and then got to walk through what was left of the fish auction, which was lots of large and unusual creatures.  I wonder how any fish are left in the sea if they do this nearly every day.  The tuna auction is supposed to be quite the scene. The older boys tried a little of the super fresh sashimi at a small restaurant in the market area. The younger kids weren’t interested and the restaurant was small, so I walked around the market area again with them and bought some little gifts for the neighbors, along with some rice bowls for us.

From there we went to the sumo neighborhood to visit the Edo Tokyo museum, which focuses on the period from about 1550 to the turn of the 20^th century, and to see the great sumo stadium which has a small museum. The Edo museum was very child friendly, and the sumo museum was amusing, if not extensive, so this was a great morning. We hoped to eat Chankonabe, the sumo wrestlers’ calorie rich stew and see a wrestler or two strolling around the neighborhood, but we couldn’t find either. We did, however, have one of my favorite meals at a curry restaurant.  I think we finished off half a dozen large planks of fresh-baked nan.  The kids were all ferociously hungry, and the waiter seemed to enjoy our appreciation of the good bread.

From there we decided to walk back to a station on the metro line, instead of the private line we had come over on, since we had the all day metro pass.  But we underestimated the amount of time it would take us to get to that point.  That was when the zoo got crossed off our itinerary, as well as a potential stop at the Tokyo Tower exit (which is a recreation of the Eiffel Tower, only bigger).  By the time we found the metro stop, we decided to head back to the ryokan, get our luggage and make our way to the train that would take us out of the city to Yokosuka, where we were staying with a friend who used to be in the Navy. 

This evolution also took much longer than we anticipated, because it was nearing rush hour by the time we got our bags and back to the subway. We then had to get a commuter line out of the city which was jammed, but here we were with our bags. I’m sure we annoyed more than a few people, even though we tried our hardest to squish into the smallest space we could occupy.  I couldn’t help feeling jubilant, though, that we had navigated the 4 train transfers without losing any kids or luggage on getting on any trains going the wrong way.

Needless to say we were thrilled when we met our friend at the train station.  He was extremely sporting about meeting us, even though we’d given him little warning about when we were arriving, since we had no phone or internet access.  Instead we called from a pay phone at the station. Happily, pay phones are still pretty accessible, even in the technologically advanced area of Tokyo.  (It also surprised us that very few places accepted credit cards. Maybe it is because of a distaste for debt among the Japanese?)

Better still, he took us to a little traditional restaurant near his house where we ate our only splurge dinner. We sat at a low table in a little area partitioned off with a rice paper screen and ordered several courses, including sushi, an enormous bowl of miso soup to share family style, meat on a stick, and a few other dishes, along with a little sake, which I don’t particularly care for.  It was a delicious meal.

To be continued ---.

Artful small space gardening

Book vending machines in the train stations!

A view of the Imperial Palace complex.

Famous bridge to Imperial Palace grounds, closed to tourists.

Gate to the Imperial East Gardens

Just a few of hundreds of beautiful large hydrangeas

The girls and I enjoying the gardens

Water feature

Jumbo sized koe

Shove those people on

In Jinbocho, the bookdealers district. 

Early dispersal of commuters outside Tokyo Station

Offering of sake at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine.

Opposite the sake, is a similar arrangement of wine barrels.

Huge cedar tori at Meiji Shrine

Meiji shrine

A wedding at the shrine. Very Cool!

These children were getting their photo taken in traditional dress and lots of makeup

View towards Yoyogi park, site of 64 Olympics

Peaceful spot in Meiji Shrine gardens. 

Nike store in Tokyo

Harajuku district

Kiddyland display. Boys's dream!

Crepes: good. Mango ice cream: delish. Green tea ice cream: eh

Seen at Shibuyu station

If it had been open, we could have gone up in the gold ball for free!

View of Odaiba

At the fish market

Shrooms for sale

The largest fish market in the world

This friendly shop owner gave the girls drinks and pins

Tuna carcass

Display of a midwife at the Edo museum

One of several modes of transportation to try at the Edo museum.

  

Amusing subway signs. 

In the sumo area, Ryoguku

Don't be a demon man on the subway!

Everyone will yell at you if you litter your cigarette butt!

A photo from the Sumo Museum of a scene the boys had hoped to witness

A small street shrine

Lotus blossom at Ueno Park