Tokyo

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Two Weeks in Tokyo, Part 5: Ghibli, Odaiba, and Disney

Love locks and a view of the Rainbow Bridge on a rainy day in Odaiba

On our seventh day, C and I spent the earlier part of the morning packing up our things and take them over to CZ’s hotel. We were checking out that day, and we wanted to leave our things at the same place for when we came back from our morning adventure: the Ghibli Museum!

Oh yes indeed, we had scored tickets to one of the most exclusive places in town, where the entrance tickets for the entire month sell out in about 15 minutes. The tickets are not expensive, about $7 for adults and $2.75 for kids, but one can only get them through an advance reservation system. The museum sells only 2400 tickets a day, or 600 for each of the four entrance times. We had hoped for the 10 AM entrance, but it was completely sold out when CZ entered the virtual queue so she snagged the 12 PM. We had just the one day and were lucky to get any tickets at all. There are also no photographs allowed inside the museum, making it all the more mysterious.

The only place where one can take photos is the exterior of the Ghibli Museum

We had an hour on public transport to get from Roppongi to the museum; first the subway to Shinjuku Station (the world’s second largest station and where in 1999 I got lost), then the train to Mitaka Station, where we grabbed an early lunch, and then a nice 15-minute walk to the park where one finds the Ghibli Museum. The weather was quite warm but the sky a startling blue, which made the museum, with its bright, colorfully-painted walls covered in ivy, stand out all the more. The line outside wasn’t short, but it moved quickly and soon enough we were inside. Though I understand the Studio Ghibli creators simply want their visitors to live in the moment, oh, how I wish we could have taken photographs! The museum is not large, but the rooms, including the beautiful wood lobby and atrium, are brimming with details that demonstrate the whimsy and artistry of the Ghibli animation. It was crowded and we had kids who don’t fancy lingering and reading a lot at museums. We still spent two hours there, but had we had more quiet, CZ and I could probably have spent at least another hour there.

We had another hour back by train to the hotel, then we gathered our things and caught a taxi to our hotel in Odaiba. After settling in a bit, we all headed over to the DiverCity mall. Unfortunately, the weather had turned with a light rain falling. Though it was the rainy season, we had thus far only had rain our first morning a week before. Our luck had run out.

At the mall, we visited the Unko Museum. “Unko” means “poop” and the museum is just another item in the list of the weird and silly things one can find in Japan (this is not to say that America is also not full of the weird and wonderful; it is). The museum is more about the poop emoji and capitalizes on the youth’s penchant for taking social-media-post worthy photos. It reminded me of the place C and I visited with my sister and her family in Amsterdam, the Upside Down Museum, It was kind of stupid and yet also good for an hour of silly fun.

The 65-foot tall Gundam Unicorn

The food court offered us a great spot for dinner before viewing the evening show of the giant Gundam Unicorn statue in front of the mall. The statue was neat but the light show a little long for what it was: the statue lights up and strobes different colors, transforms its helmet, and scenes from the animated show are projected behind it onto the mall building. Maybe it was just fine, but after days of mostly awesome sights and activities, something like this that did not quite hit the mark was a letdown. And the weather was a downer too.

One of our plans for Odaiba had been to spend the evening walking around enjoying the evening lights, including a view of the Rainbow Bridge. The increasingly steady rain put a definite damper on this and when we found the Rainbow Bridge just lit up with regular lights, we learned the colored lights are only for special occasions. Yet, perhaps it was all just fine not to have a good reason to stay out later as we had an early morning wake-up call the next day.

The alarm went off the morning of our eighth day at 4:45 AM. C and I had laid our clothes out the night before so we could just get up and get dressed and meet CZ and Little CZ at 5 AM in the lobby for a taxi over to the Toyosu Fish Market. In another stroke of luck, CZ had one the lottery to be one of the 60-100 people for the special observation tour of the famed tuna auction at the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. Even though I do not eat fish (my only seafood consumption is shrimp) and C often goes into a gag reflex when smelling fish, we were pretty excited about this opportunity.

Massive tuna bought at auction are prepared for shipping

Getting to the tuna auction proved a little trickier than expected as the market complex is so large. We arrived just in time to hand over our lottery tickets and join the English tour beginning at 5:30 AM. The auction is quick with most of the choicest fish gone within half an hour. From our special observation deck, we could see a few auctions in progress; the auctioneer standing on a box or a chair, excited motions as he called out prices, quick hand gestures and noting of things on a paper, the ringing of a bell when the price reached. Fish were being moved with large hooked tools, loaded onto wheelbarrows, and hauled away. It was all over by 6:30 AM. I am glad to have had the chance to see it.

Some of the adorable robots at Miraikan

After a break for C and I and a nap for CZ and Little CZ, we all headed over to Miraikan or the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. I had high-ish hopes for this museum but overall it was just ok. There are a lot of interactive exhibits and many were quite fun. The robots were by far the best part of the museum. However, it is also a LOT of information and it was overrun by school groups, no doubt a fantastic day trip for students. The movie shown in the large dome theater though was far too long, provided way too much information, and was hard to follow with English dialogue through provided headphones. C completely zonked out and I too may have caught a few zzzzz’s.

Tokyo Sea Life Park: Cool design, tuna plushies (I have never seen these before but they make perfect sense for Tokyo), and a very cute pufferfish

C and I then broke off to go to the Tokyo Sea Life Park. I have long had a thing for aquariums and have passed that on to C; we try to visit them wherever good ones are found. CZ is a diver and finds aquariums to be trying. Thus C and I grabbed some lunch and then started our trek to the aquarium. Nearly everything that could go wrong did. Though we were not all that far from the subway, the GPS led on a wildly out of our way direction that was further complicated by the continuing rain. We had to change once because of completely different train company lines and got on the train going the wrong direction. And it was a rapid service train to Tokyo Station, so it whizzed by several stations, taking us further and further from our destination. We got off at our first opportunity to try to grab a taxi. The first driver cancelled on us, probably due to the rain. The second took a while to get to us and then got lost. Apparently, it is is not just foreigners who have trouble finding the Sea Life Park. By the time we finally arrived, we had just over an hour and a half to explore. Though I am not 100% sure it was worth all that trouble, I know I would have been disappointed to miss it while in Tokyo just because it’s one of our things.

We headed back to our Odaiba hotel, reunited with CZ and Little CZ, and then took a taxi to our next destination where we would spend our final days in Japan: Tokyo Disney!

The gates to the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

CZ and I love Disney! We have met up together with the kids in Paris and Florida and C and I had also visited the Disney parks in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and California; Tokyo would be our sixth and final park. This was indeed the icing on the cake for our trip to Tokyo. Wanting to make this trip truly special, CZ had sprung for the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. We had a beautiful family room with two double beds, a trundle bed, and an alcove bed, in a stunningly gorgeous hotel just across from the Disneyland entrance. We also had early entry to the Disneyland park.

We bought tickets for four days at Disney; one day at Disneyland and three at DisneySea. We figured the former had many of the rides we have been on in other parks and the early entry would give us a fighting chance to get to those that were unique. Lucky for us, it worked out that way; we were able to get on all the rides we wanted and to ride the fabulous Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast twice. DisneySea was absolutely amazing! The scale and detail of the park blew us away. DisneySea is not a large park, though the new Fantasy Springs expansion adds to its size, but the design of each area makes it feel larger. I found the Mediterranean Harbor, the Arabian Coast, Mysterious Island, and the mostly subterranean Mermaid Lagoon section for kids absolutely brilliant. The rides Aquatopia, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Peter Pan’s Neverland Adventure were my favorites.

Highlights of Tokyo Disney–Left: Toy Story alien dessert dumplings; Center: Incredible design vistas; Right: It’s Japan so there has to be vending machines!

On our final day in Japan, C and I hugged our friends and travel partners CZ and Little CZ farewell. C and I would head to Roppongi for one more night as we flew out of Haneda Airport, while our friends spent a bit more time at the park and then would stay their final night near Narita Airport. Just before we flew to Japan, I found out about a taiko drum performance in Roppongi the night before our departure. I wanted to squeeze in one more cultural event. Drum Tao put on a great show!

Then the next day it was time to leave. Our two weeks in Tokyo had come to an end. From Sumo wrestling to instant noodles; an Imperial Palace and an animation studio; karaoke and pocket monsters; ancient temples and modern sky scrapers; traditional tea in kimonos and a famous amusement park. We had squeezed so much into our time and yet we had run out of time, missing out on many other sights and activities. As we departed, Japan afforded us one last iconic glimpse of the country: Mt Fuji peeking through the clouds just beyond the metropolis.

Sayonara Japan! Until next time.

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Two Weeks in Tokyo, Part 4: Japanese Traditions & Pop Culture

A variety of Japanese masks at Kura Sushi in Asakusa

On our fifth day in Japan, we were off for a morning adventure in Asakusa. Tucked away on a nondescript side street in the heart of shitamachi or Tokyo’s “low town,” one of the oldest parts of Tokyo, we found MAIKOYA, where we would be making the Japanese confectionary called wagashi. Inside and up a flight of stairs we were welcomed into a traditional world of Japanese tea. We placed our outdoor shoes in a bin and donned slippers, then shuffled into a tatami mat room. There our instructor greeted the four of us and a couple from Germany, told us about wagashi, and demonstrated how to make them. We all followed our instructor’s lead to first make a pretty little sweet that resembled a cross between a flower and a pumpkin and then we were free to make whatever we wanted for our second. I felt rather pleased with my cute turtle. My daughter made a colorful creature she named “Stevie the Mosquito.”

Left: my handmade wagashi; Right: my preparations for the tea ceremony

Our instructor had us pack up our wagashi and then ushered us into another room – men to one and women to the other. In our room, we each selected a kimono and then the women got to work dressing us up in them and styling our hair. Putting on a kimono, with several layers of shifts underneath the colorful outermost robe is complicated. But these pros had us dressed and hair elaborately braided and/or pinned up in no time at all. Then we returned to the previous room to learn about the tea ceremony. The instructor again gave us a cultural lesson, beautifully demonstrated the stylized preparation, then let us give our own tea a whirl. Then we enjoyed our flower wagashi with our tea. Afterward, we were free to take photos of ourselves in the kimono in one of the rooms or in their rooftop garden. This activity was one of my favorites from the trip.

We gorged ourselves on sushi and other goodies delivered by conveyor belt at the nearby Kura Sushi and then made our way over to Senso-ji; completed in the year 645, it is Tokyo’s oldest temple. We entered from the western gate, we stopped first to play a few rounds of kingyo-sukui, a traditional Japanese game where one tries to catch goldfish using a paper scoop. It is another vestige of the Edo period, but has become so popular that there is now a National Goldfish Scooping Championship.

Left: design on the wall of the store where one can find goldfish scooping; right: C below the Kaminarimon gate lantern. I have a photo of myself there 25 years before

At Senso-ji we took only a short time to marvel at the main hall and five story pagoda. The kids made a beeline for the drawers of fortunes; I pulled a bad fortune which told me “Everything will come out to be bad, so you should be patient.” I think it meant that if one waits long enough even the bad can become good. At least I hope so. We spent the greatest amount at Senso-ji along the Nakimase shopping street between the Hozomon Gate and the Kaminarimon Gate buying ourselves ice cream and good luck figurines.

Our rickshaw puller takes us through the streets of Asakusa

After exciting the complex we caught sight of some rickshaw drivers and opted for a spur of the moment 45-minute tour through the streets of Asakusa. These were traditional rickshaws pulled by Japanese men wearing traditional garb, including conal straw hats and split toed (called tabi) booted socks. It was a fun tour; our drivers (runners?) were funny and full of information. The upside is we covered more ground in a shorter amount of time. The downside is we passed sights too quickly and I realized there was far more to see in Asakusa; I could have used an extra day or three just in that neighborhood.

This was already a full day, but we were not done! Our rickshaws dropped us off at the station so we could take the above ground train across the river to the Skytree. CZ and I knew we wanted to visit one of Tokyo’s towers but had not quite settled on Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree. But finding ourselves just across the river in Asakusa and still with energy to burn, the decision seemed an easy one to make. At 634 meters (2,080 feet), the Tokyo Skytree is the world’s tallest tower.

Daytime and nighttime views from the Tembo Deck of the Tokyo Skytree

Though it is possible to go as high as 450 meters, we chose to visit only the lower Tembo Deck at 350 meters (1148 feet). CZ had heard that the view was better at the lower deck. And with an already full day, we might only have so much energy left. Our timing was pretty great as we could observe the day turn into night and the lights of the city turn on.

The Kikyo-mon gate to the Tokyo Imperial Palace

Our sixth day began with a tour of the Imperial Palace gardens. The Chiyoda Palace has been the seat of the Japanese empire since 1868, but before then the site was used as the palace of the Tokugawa shogunate from 1457, at one point the largest fortress in the world. I wanted to include as many elements of Japanese culture in our Tokyo trip, and I felt a visit to a Japanese castle was a must. Tickets for the 45-minute tour of the inner compound were free, but had to be secured a month in advance. Unfortunately, this tour turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the vacation. As we joined the crowds in a main room for a pre-tour briefing, our guide joked that the English tour groups were always the largest. It didn’t mean so much in that room, but once we started to move en masse through the grounds, I realized the joke was not funny at all. We had somewhere between 60 and 80 or more in the group. I had flashbacks to a similarly sized tour group at the Tower of London the summer before. Like then, it was hard to keep one’s interest when constantly jostling for a space closer to the guide; unlike then, our Japanese guide did not have the voice projection of a Beefeater. It was hot and muggy; we couldn’t hear the information, the kids were bored out of their minds, and I was bummed my palace tour plan had turned out so lame. I looked longingly at the small French and Spanish groups. Surely, the Imperial Household Agency could have found another English-speaking guide or two to break up our group?

C wanted to “Catch them all!” but I limited her to two plushies from the Pokémon Center

No worries, lunch and a visit to the Pokémon Center cheered us up! My daughter C has been a Pokémon enthusiast since she was six years old. While other kids were memorizing dinosaurs, she poured over her Pokémon encyclopedia, learning the names, types, attacks, and evolutions of every single one. She owns many figurines and plushies, and the Pokémon Center in Tokyo, with its many exclusive items, is like a mecca for those who love Pokémon. She had been saving her allowance and gift money for months for our Japan trip, in a large part for this day. I failed to get us seats in the uber-popular Pokémon Cafe, but I could still get her to plushie heaven.

The current iteration of the Kabuki-za where we failed to see a performance

Afterward, CZ and Little CZ returned to their hotel to do some laundry (they had been traveling for two weeks before meeting up with us) and C and I headed to Ginza to see some Kabuki theater. Kabuki is a classical theater art form that has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and a theater has been in Ginza since 1889. Full length performances last about four hours, which can discourage all but the most dedicated theatergoers, but the theater or Kabuki-za, offers tickets for single acts. Unfortunately, despite all the planning that I put into this trip, I had the dates wrong for the performances and the theater was on a week+ hiatus. Another trip fail.

The Studio Ghibli clock at Nippon TV HQ

To make up for this, we walked over to the Nippon TV headquarters in the ultramodern Shiodome section of Tokyo to watch the chiming of the massive clock designed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. The copper and steel Steampunk clock is three stories tall and 60-feet wall; in the front it stands on two giant bird-like talons with two additional talons jutting from the clock face. These are just a few of the many small details: there are characters that move and doors that open and even a little elevator that all play out during a 4-minute long performance reminiscent of an animated Studio Ghibli short film.

C and I then returned to our hotel to rest. We had had a busy few days and needed some downtime to prepare for more adventures in Tokyo.

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Two Weeks in Tokyo, Part 2: Sumo, Great Waves, and Harajuku Culture

C faces off against a sumo wrestler in the ring

My daughter C and I were up around 5 AM on our second full day in Tokyo. Early, yes, but still far better than I expected so early in a trip half way around the world. I made sure C had some breakfast goodies from a nearby convenience store and I took an early morning of walk over to Tokyo Tower. I returned in good time and we met CZ and Little CZ at the Roppongi metro station where we hopped on a train to the Sumida district.

One of the several sumo wrestler statues on the street near the famous Kokugikan stadium in Sumida

We were heading there to take part in a lunch with sumo wrestlers at the Yokozuna Tonkatsu restaurant. The Sumida district is famous for sumo wrestling. Japan’s first sumo tournament was held here in 1768 and the stadium there continues to host three of the six Grand Sumo tournaments held each year. Many professional sumo wrestlers live and train in the area as well.

We had a little over an hour to kill before our lunch and wrestling show began at 11:00, so we walked up to the Kokugikan stadium, where the grand sumo tournaments take place. I was on the hunt for the sumo wrestler statues I had heard dotted the area. I wish I could say the walk was pleasant, but the temperature was quite warm and Sumida district exuded an almost-deserted feel on a Saturday morning, a sharp contrast from the hustle and bustle of Roppongi. The biggest bit of excitement was when I finally found the statues and when two young, but of course very large, sumo wrestlers came into a convenience store where we were buying drinks. Their presence caused a bit of a stir, not only with us but also the Japanese patrons, but they were not particularly friendly.

We arrived just in time for our sumo lunch. The food, a traditional tonkatsu or breaded fried pork cutlet, rice, and miso soup, was not particularly to our liking, but the fact that it is often served to sumo wrestlers and at this restaurant the meal is cooked by retired sumo wrestlers made it more special. However, it was the after lunch entertainment we were here for. During lunch, the restaurant showed a short film on sumo and then brought out two of their retired professional wrestlers to explain the key rules and procedures of the sport and give live demonstrations. Then, we the lunch-goers, had the opportunity to don hilarious suits and step into the ring. My hand shot up first, much to the amusement of my daughter and Little CZ. Following my triumphant (and silly) attempt, they also agreed to get into the ring. All in all, it was great fun.

The Sumida Hokusai Museum

We stopped next at the museum dedicated to Sumida Hokusai, the Edo-era ukiyo-e or woodblock print artist whose work “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. Hokusai was born in and lived the majority of his 90 years in the district that now takes his name. We spent about an hour here. Though both C and Little CZ were familiar with the famous Great Wave painting and found some interest in the comic-like woodblock prints of Hokusai and a few of the interactive displays, the museum involved far more reading and staring in wonder at art works than a 10 and 12 year old were prepared to give, especially with so much more to see in do in Tokyo awaiting them. Truth be told, the museum exhibits use up only two floors of the building and CZ and I were also ready to move on to more sightseeing.

The original plan had been for C and I to return to our hotel after the museum; I had been quite sure that by that time we would either be succumbing to jet lag or dangerously close to doing so. Yet again, surprisingly, we were not. With the Sunday weather forecast including rain, we decided to join CZ and Little CZ on a jaunt to preview some of Harajuku’s culture ahead of our planned visit the next day.

Left: Rainbow grilled cheese; Center: Entrance to Takeshita Street; Right: Plastic models of scrumptious crepes

We made a beeline to the most famous part of Harajuku, Takeshita Street, where we would find many of the wild, wonderful, and wacky parts of Japanese youth culture. C desperately wanted to check out the fashion stores and quickly disappeared into one, but we dragged her out soon enough to have some snacks. First up were some of Harajuku’s famous crepes that have been filling up customers on Takeshita Street since the 1970s. Unlike French crepes, the Japanese crepes are thinner, crispier, stuffed full of goodies like fresh fruit, whipped cream, syrup, and ice cream, and wrapped up like cones so they can be eaten on the go. Oh my were they good. We followed up the sweet with the savory, chowing down on some breaded rainbow cheese, which was just okay.

C in front of the Torii gate to Meiji Shrine and a selection of the sake barrels donated to Meiji

We then spent a good hour in one of the ubiquitous toy capsule stores spending coins like there was no tomorrow. CZ and I found it nearly as addictive as the kids! Then we meandered over to Meiji Jingu, one of the most important Shinto shrines in Tokyo. It is an oasis of green forest in the middle of the world’s most populous city; there are over 100,000 trees of some 230 varieties planted over 170 acres. I wanted some space, tranquility, and more muted colors after the crowded, color explosion of Harajuku. We spent maybe 20 minutes there, but after so many hours of walking, we opted to call it a day. I thought we might get back to Meiji again the following day, but alas, we did not.

It was rainy on Sunday morning. I had forgotten that June was Japan’s wettest month and in all the travel planning had failed to check this key bit of information. Having already covered some of Harajuku the day before though, we had the flexibility for a later start. Off we all went to Shibuya on the bus. We were already getting a good handle on Tokyo’s massive public transportation network and felt, rightly I think, pretty proud of it.

Great view of the Shibuya Scramble from the Starbucks

We first stopped at the famous statue of Hachiko, a real dog who waited faithfully each day outside of Shibuya Station even many years after his owner died. It is a beautiful story of loyalty and unconditional love that has made Hachiko one of the most famous dogs in the world, nearly 90 years after he passed away. We then made our way across to the Shibuya Scramble, the famous spot where seven roads converge and traffic lights signal for all pedestrians to cross at the same time. Though there are several vantage points to watch the crossing, we chose the Starbucks. The price of admission to the viewing windows was a green tea latte for myself and a cookie for C.

We leisurely made our way on foot back to Harajuku by way of another lost hour in a toy capsule store and a lovely ramen and tea lunch at a small mom and pop shop. Once again on Takeshita Street, we had a little time for window shopping and people gawking, before arriving at Harry’s Harajuku Terrace for our 2 PM appointment with the hedgehogs, chinchillas, and otters of this animal cafe.

There are many, many, MANY animal cafes to choose from in Tokyo. Initially, C had really wanted to visit a dog cafe with Shiba Inus, but we realized that was far too vanilla a choice from the options available. Should we see owls? Snakes? Fennec Foxes? As we were planning, I sent CZ a message of this particular cafe in Harajuku and within minutes of sending it she called. She didn’t even say hello, only “OTTERS!” And thus our decision was made. Though the hedgehogs were very cute, C and I had had our fair of experience with wild hedgehogs in Malawi, so they were not all that new for us. The chinchillas were adorable, but Harry’s limited the interaction with them. The otters were indeed the stars of the day. In our special interaction period with them (for an extra fee) they could not have given a fig about us; they just wanted their treats and we were merely in the way. But it was still a great experience.

Today’s purikura turned my daughter into an anime-like character

After Harry’s, CZ and Little CZ broke off for their own fun while I took my daughter C to the Purikura booths. “Purikura” is short for purinto kurabu (or “print club”), which are very popular photo booths where one can make all sorts of stylized photos. This is *not* the US version of the four poses, four printed photos booths. This is so, SO much more. Purikura had been a big activity when I lived in Japan in the late 1990s. Then though, you or you and a friend or a group of friends would have your photo printed on a variety of backgrounds to make mini stickers to share. Now, I found the photos and editing options are incredibly advanced. We struggled to figure out the process with the Japanese instructions, but C still had a fun time with it.

Dinner is served! My delicious hamburger steak with grilled miso cream cheese

Then we were off to meet my friend Koki, who had been my big’s big in my college’s co-ed service fraternity. Since college, Koki and I had met only one other time, around 1998, when I spent two weeks in Tokyo attempting to learn Japanese. Yet, I recognized him immediately. The three of us had dinner at Niku no Mori, a very small traditional counter service restaurant specializing in the very popular Japanese hamburger steak. It is more like an American meatloaf, usually cooked with onion, egg, and panko crumbs, and served over rice. Niku no Mori offered it also with a grilled miso coated slab of cream cheese.

I really enjoyed catching up with Koki over dinner and then he walked with us along Takeshita Street while C did a little Japan-style thrifting. We said goodnight to Koki at the train station and C and I returned to the hotel.

Day 3 in the books and still no real jet lag to speak of…

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Two Weeks in Tokyo, Part 1: Preparation & First Days

My view of Tokyo Tower on a glorious summer morning

A trip long time in the works

Right now travel to Japan is hot. Everyone and their brother and their third cousin twice removed has been making their way to the Land of the Rising Sun. The government closed the country to tourists for over two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, with individual travelers only being able to enter after 2 1/2 years. Thus a weak yen and people no longer wanting to put off their trip of a lifetime, Japan is now seeing record-breaking numbers of visitors.

Our trip though had been long in the making. I have wanted to take my daughter for many years. When she was in the first grade she did a presentation on Japan as the place she wanted to visit the most because, she said, the people there cared deeply about nature (this is the same kid who broke out in sobs during the class viewing of the great floating garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean). That same year C told her teacher she was part-Japanese so that could march in the school’s international parade with the small contingent of Japanese students.

C in heaven in the Japanese snack aisle

C has loved Pokémon, anime, Nintendo, and Japanese snacks for several years, and now as a teenager is very keen on the fashion. She has wanted to go to Japan soooo bad. Also, we love Disney amusement parks and Tokyo was the final park for us to visit (after four times each to Florida and Shanghai, two times to Paris, two times to California, and one time to Hong Kong).  And over 20 years ago I was an English teacher in Western Japan, and though we would not make it to my Japanese hometown, I still wanted to introduce my daughter to this country where I made so many memories.

I initially planned for us to visit while we were in Malawi, though the long distance and the complicated route were making me rethink it. Then the plan, for April 2020, was made impossible by the global pandemic.

Planning in advance, but not too far in advance

C and I would be traveling to Tokyo with our good friends CZ and her son Little CZ, with whom we have traveled together with in China, Paris, Finland, and on our London and Norway trip. After some discussion, we made the decision to only visit Tokyo as the mega-city offered ample cultural activities and sights to keep us plenty busy.

CZ and I are big travel planners; we really love it. For example, we have known we would go to Japan together in the summer of 2024 since sometime in 2022. We bought our plane tickets in the summer of 2023, as soon as the dates became available. We had our hotel in central Tokyo for the first part of the trip booked nine months out. And, we began to build our shared spreadsheet on places of interest about seven months out.

And then we were stymied because so much to see in Tokyo must be booked in advance, but not too far in advance. And it seemed every place has its own advance reservation rules. So many times we knew what we wanted to do, but we had to wait until the window of opportunity opened. This was a whole other level of planning detail that we had not been quite prepared for.

We were soooo lucky to score these unique film strip tickets to the Ghibli Museum!
  • Tokyo Disney hotels can be booked from 11 AM of the day four months before.
  • Tokyo Disney park tickets can be booked starting from 2 PM of the day two months ahead of your visit (and you cannot book multi day tickets or park hopper).
  • Imperial palace gardens tour can be booked from the first of the month preceding the month you want to visit.
  • Pokémon cafe – reservations are accepted from 6 PM 31 days out from desired visit date, but you need to be on the website at the moment reservations open and have a tremendous amount of luck.
  • Cup of Noodles Museum Yokohama – reservations can be made starting at 10 AM three months and one day prior to the day you wish to visit. 
  • Toyusu Market Tuna Auction tour – is offered through an advance lottery system: to visit one has to apply for lottery the first seven days of the month preceding the month of your visit and only 100 people selected per day. (We got it!) 
  • Ghibli museum – Visitors must have advance reservations, but one can only do so at 10 AM on the 10th of the month preceding the month of your visit. This was the most difficult of them all as there are only 200 tickets available in 4 entry times per day. CZ and I logged on to the website in advance.; at 15 minutes till the appointed hour, a countdown started on the website. At exactly 10 AM Tokyo time, we were brought into the virtual queue – CZ had about 2500 people in front of her and I had about 17,000!! It took about 15 minutes and CZ got in; she was booted out of her first attempt – probably sold out – but on her second attempt she got in and scored us our tickets!! It felt amazing! It felt like we had just one the lottery and I suppose in a way we did.  (I waited and I got in at 10:58 and nearly all days were completely sold out, just an hour after tickets sales for the month went live!!) 

Is your head about to explode? We thought ours might! Yet, against the odds, we lucked out time and again. Sadly, it did not work out for the notoriously difficult-to-get Pokémon Cafe. I set my alarm for 4:50 AM so I would be on at 6 PM 31 days in advance. I logged in and could see the tickets for my day were not yet available. I refreshed at 5 AM, and the site was immediately unavailable due to heavy usage. At 5:03 it cleared and every single entry for the day was already sold out! In three minutes.

The jet-lag busting plan and the first full day

Jet-lagged and faced with this shower!

It had been a long time since we had made a flight as long as that to Japan, 14 hours from Dulles Airport to Haneda Airport. To combat jet lag, I had us in bed at a decent time the night before our flight and then we slept in as long as we could. As our flight took off around noon, the plan was to stay awake as long as possible, falling asleep only the last few hours. We would disembark bleary eyed and shuffle our way through immigration at 3:30 PM Tokyo-time, but the equivalent of 2:30 AM Eastern Standard Time. I hoped we would get to our hotel room around 5 PM where we could collapse and sleep as much as we could.

The first part worked out well, but the second part a bit too well. I did not sleep on the plane at all and C only slept for 1.5 hours. I worried we would be extra grumpy in the immigration line, but managed to get through the surprisingly poorly-designed immigration line. It seemed the airport was not quite prepared for the tsunami of visitors; it took us at least an hour. But we remained awake and in good spirits.

We did not fall asleep in the taxi ride to the hotel. Nor did we do so immediately in the hotel room. We had showers and went out to get some food from the closest convenience store. It was nearly 8 PM when I finally just turned out the light after 23 hours straight without any shut-eye.

I knew we would wake up in the early morning hours, but I thought it would be even earlier than it was; we made it to 3:50 AM. Luckily, our hotel was smack dab in the bustling area of Roppongi in the world’s largest city. There were, at a minimum, eight 24-hour convenience stores within a 6-minute walk from our hotel. We visited at least one each of 7-Eleven, Daily Yamazaki, Lawson, and Family Mart, checking out all the Japanese goodies, and buying snacks along the way. Once we had been out at least three hours we took our haul back to the hotel room for an eclectic breakfast.

C’s digitally enhanced tea and matcha ice cream in the tea room of teamLab Borderless

Knowing we would have jet lag and expecting an early afternoon crash, we had only one thing planned for our first day. We met CZ and Little CZ at the teamLab Borderless digital art museum about 15 minutes from our hotel on foot. They had arrived in Tokyo a few days before us after a multi-stop journey to Dubai, Singapore, and Borneo, and thus were already adjusted to the time difference.

I find it hard to describe the teamLab installation; it really is something that must be experienced. A series of rooms with digital art projected on to the walls and spilling from room to room? The overflow from one room to another is why it is called “borderless.” Yet, this does not even begin to adequately describe the sensations of rooms large and small that defied my expectations. My favorite installations were: the Bubble Universe room filled with thousands of silver crystal orbs hanging from the ceiling that would light up at our proximity and the En Tea House which is so dimly lit that the colorful digital flowers that bloom from the tea or coconut matcha ice cream are even more vibrant as they spread out across the darkened liquid or black table top. We stayed in the museum for three hours.

You can indulge your hankering for Japanese KitKat flavors at Don Quixote

We grabbed lunch at the nearby Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo (C and I have a tradition of visiting Hard Rocks around the world). I was sure that after lunch C and I would drag our jet-lag-fogged selves back to the hotel. But we were still awake! The magnificent 7-story, 24-hour operated Don Quixote store across the street called to us and we all heeded. We spent at least an hour, and a good chunk of change, exploring every floor.

C and I then parted ways from our friends. I figured we were going to give in to the jet-lag at any minute and would be best off at our hotel when it happened. I don’t know how we did it, but we made it to 7:30 PM! Surely, this could not last, right? We would find out on day two…