I'd been looking for a decent deal to Japan for ages. Tracking on Google Flights. Searching different points websites. Then finally a flight showed up on Points Yeah the same week Meadow and Theo were off for 3 days. After a nervous half hour of transferring points from our credit card to KLM Air France, we got 4 direct tickets to Tokyo Haneda!
Day 1
But first we had to fly and fly and fly.
Ready for our longest flight ever. At least we were lucky and got a direct flight.
Theo looked nervous. I couldn't really see the kids too well since I was stuck in the center rows with strangers. Meadow, Brooke and Theo got the better end of the deal.
He had been worrying about this trip ever since he learned we were going to have to sleep on the plane.
Meadow was excited to see that the flight had anime.
First time in a long time that I've had a meal on the plane. My chicken curry was pretty good.
We got another meal right before landing.
I don't think any of us besides Meadow really slept. Brooke looked like she was sleeping, but apparently she's really good at acting.
I was trying the military trick of relaxing my whole body and it didn't work. I just can't sleep sitting up.
I have to admit, I was pretty excited for the public bathrooms in Japan.
Apparently so much so that she used one the second we got off the airplane.
Day 2
When we landed it was in the afternoon, but midnight at home. Theo fell asleep in our taxi.
We took a taxi since it seemed like it would be easiest from Haneda to our VRBO.
When we arrived we tried to follow the instructions from our host. As you can see we were a bit confused. (Later I found this photo on the intercom.)
We stayed in an apartment in a quiet residential neighborhood in Sangenjaya.
I think we were all just in a daze at this point. Our VRBo was super cozy.
The upper loft had One Piece mangas.
Our unit also had a little balcony and view of our chill neighborhood; a few miles west of the hullabaloo that is Shibuya.
We were very tired, but we decided to go get something to eat.
We walked around for a bit, dazed and confused, but decided to eat Juicy Gyoza Dan da Dan right across from the train station. It was the first place that caught my eye, but the waiters shouting out for customers got us in the door.
Gyoza was obviously the speciality. We each got a bowl of Japonica rice, shared some gyoza dumplings and noshed on the edamame.
Right behind the restaurant were an endless maze of tiny streets full of restaurants and businesses.
Why do the people in the pedestrian crossing sign look like big foot?
Day 3
Scott and I both struggled with the time change. Despite being exhausted when we went to bed I woke up at 2am wide awake.
This would be the case for the first few nights. The kids seemed to slide right into their normal sleep cycle.
I had to get a shot of the cool house across the street before heading out for a day in Shibuya.
Caught me.
Strollers and bikes were just left outside unlocked. I wish we could live in such a high trust society.
When the taxi brought us to where we were staying I was thinking, is he supposed to be driving down here.
You soon realize that this is the average Tokyo street away from the main drags. Narrow roads that force cars to drive very slowly. The whole road is a big sidewalk to be shared by pedestrians and bikers.
Most of our walk to Shibuya was via a central greenway in the middle of the neighborhood.
Was a nice walk.
I was just amazed at the housing that fit in these tiny lots.
Most of the buildings were post-war modern, but a few older houses survived.
Everywhere you looked there were these exterior staircases. It turns out these are required because of the constant risk of earthquakes.
We'd see Prontos in nearly every area of Tokyo. The egg toasts were great: milk bread with a bit of mayo and then eggs cooked on top.
After about an hour of walking we made it to Shibuya.
There was a One Piece store in Shibuya that Meadow wanted to go to.
She couldn't decide what to get.
The same building had like 7 stories of different shops dedicated to manga and anime culture.
Theo loved this Back to the Future set.
We had to cross the famed Shibuya Crossing.
If there is a store you want to go to, don't go when it opens or expect to wait in line. We didn't have the patience for that and came back later.
This is actually when we came back. We stopped by earlier before the One Piece store, but there was a line to get into the Nintendo store.
We came back after Meadow's shop and had no problem getting into the mall.
It was still crowded but no line.
More fun stores for Meadow.
Every building seemed to be a mall of some sort. Nintendo Tokyo was the main attraction of Shibuya Parco.
Up near the top was a public park.
Then we made our way over to Harajuku. By then were getting hungry and delirious.
We probably should've gotten something savory, but instead we stopped for donuts at Bontemps.
Ah come on, it was fun.
The Wiggle Wiggle store looked fun.
Meadow probably wanted to buy everything, everywhere.
We checked out an anime gallery.
By now we were starving and needed to get away from the tourists to find a restaurant with no waiting.
I got up really early on the day of our flight in hopes that it would help me sleep on the plane. I didn't sleep more than a few minutes and got only a few hours of sleep the night before. With all the walking and little sleep I was not feeling so good.
One place we wanted to go had an hour wait. Another was serving Takoyaki, which sounded good to me at least, but no one else was interested, especially since the dumplings are made with octopus. Finally we ran into a bbq joint and brewery, SMOKEHOUSE. It would do.
Nothing like Kansas City BBQ in Japan.
"I learned how to write yen!"
Apparently we missed this famed fashion street, but we did see the end, I guess.
We took the subway back and called it a night pretty early.
Meadow already scored some goods on our first day.
We thought we would take a break and head back out but I was struggling to stay awake.
I brought along our mini Switch dock, which kept Theo entertained.
Day 4
Theo gamed a bit while we got ready for the day.
We purposely picked places to stay that had washers so we could pack minimally.
I was already starting to feel like a local hanging our clothes outside.
Shoes are prohibited indoors and we were provided slippers.
I love that the streets are narrow yet pedestrians, bikes and cars all seem to coexist.
That's the key.
We may have had to stop a few times for Theo to tie his shoes.
I also didn't realize how much of a bike culture there is in Tokyo.
Taxis aren't very cheap here so we took the train.
We were in search for an American-style breakfast.
Bikes and stairs. Everywhere.
Apparently it's a big no no to take pictures of strangers. I didn't realize this. But also it's OK if people aren't the main subject.
We've also discovered that restaurants aren't really open before 10am here. To get breakfast we found an American restaurant.
Breakfast Club in Higashiyama. Actually pretty close to the Pronto we ate on the first morning.
I don't think they realize how much syrup we use. What is this, the baby size?
I need to make this at home.
You would.
My pancakes may have looked like they famed Japanese-style pancakes, but don't be fooled.
Whoops.
Apparently you pay up front at almost all restaurants. And no tip needed. Eating in Japan was incredibly affordable.
We walked by a Don Quixote and I said we have to stop in to get some snacks.
So, we did.
After stocking up on snacks we tried to figure out where we were going for the day. We settled on Shinjuku for our first stop at a Tokyo arcade.
Scott got so excited to take a picture of this building that he left behind his toiletry bag.
It's true.
We had to walk a ways to the train station back in Shibuya.
Shinjuku Nishiguchi.
I think one of us saved this Gigo location when we meant to go to the Akihabara location.
The claw machines aren't like the ones at home. They're impossible to win.
I mostly wanted to play some games, but the kids just wanted to play these impossible machines.
Much like Akihabara this neighborhood is dedicated to electronics, anime and game culture.
For lunch we stopped at a yakitori joint in Omoide Yokocho Memory Lane.
At every restaurant you are given a wet wipe to wipe your hands before eating. We were so confused the first time we got one. Now I wish every restaurant at home did something similar.
That's the stuff.
We ate along the alley that's squeezed along a rail corridor.
But the main alley was one block over.
Memory Lane would be so fun at night.
Some public bathrooms don't have soap or anything to dry your hands with. I brought with us paper soap sheets and a towel.
One of the stores we wanted to stop at was Kiddyland.
While I didn't take many photos here, we were here for a long, long time. I've never done so much shopping on a vacation in my entire life.
The kids get to shop and then adults get to gander. We had to see Golden-Gai even if it was only during the day.
Then we made our way over to Koreatown.
I guess this is the place to go for all our Korean skincare products.
And food and culture. But yes, there were quite a few stores dedicated to skincare.
We had to stop for tanghulu.
Fresh fruit covered in a clear candy coating.
After 3 days we finally used one of the vending machines. They're so ubiquitous, you can't avoid them.
We stopped to rest at a park and I think Theo had more energy than we did.
I think we just needed a place to sit down for a bit. Toyama Park would do.
We were worried about doing this trip with Theo. Normally after two blocks of walking he complains he's tired. He hasn't complained once, even with us doing 25,000 steps a day.
A sriracha vending machine. Now that's going too far.
I love that bikes rule over cars here. Also that most people don't lock their bikes.
Brooke clearly was never into arcades, but the Takadanobaba Mikado Game Center was high on my list of places we had to stop. Unlike Gigo, no claw machines. Just plenty of classic arcade games.
There was a Street Fighter tournament going on when we arrived.
Most of the games we'd never heard of.
The kids mostly wanted to play the smash the alligator game.
We ended up at a Bahn Mi spot for dinner. I think we'd had enough Japanese food and needed a change of pace.
You pay for your food up front in a vending machine which spits out a ticket. Then you give them your ticket. Perfect for us non-native speakers.
Theo and I ended up switching meals. He preferred the awesome chicken pho.
Scott and I added Suica cards to our Apple Wallets. This made it easier to add any amount you need to your card.
We got Meadow a physical card, but she could only add money to her balance with cash.
Which you could do at any train station or even 7/11s.
With Theo being a kid we had to buy one in person with his passport. But he is only half the amount. After we had purchased his card Meadow made the comment, "Wow, she was so nice. In America they would just be like here's your card, bye."
We had to switch trains in Shibuya, so had to go back out to see the crossing at night.
When in Tokyo, I suppose.
Meadow and I had been wanting to get taiyaki since we saw this place the first night. Kurikoan Taiyaki.
Meadow went with the traditional red bean paste, Theo got strawberry and I got cream.
I think I also went with the cream.
It's basically a fish shaped pancake with a filling of your choice. Not bad.
Was hoping to get to see them make it, but they were just wrapping up for the night.
After waking up at 3am I was ready for bed as soon as we got home.
I think this was the first night we actually slept in.
Day 5
We picked up onigiri at Don Quixtote the day before for a snack and never ate it. Worked perfectly for a quick breakfast.
It's actually what many Japanese eat for a quick breakfast.
We figured out that we could take the train all the way to the train station. Unfortunately this meant getting on during rush hour. After using the "less"crowded trains over the weekend we got packed in like sardines.
Just not in this picture. (Brooke sometimes complains about pictures I post. I would never.)
We snacked on more onigri while waiting for our train to Nikko. The fresh ones were much better.
We waited on the wrong end of the platform for our train and almost missed it.
We had to rush to the gate at one end of the platform and just made it.
See you soon, Nikko.
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