After our hectic (and very long) travel day to get to Tokyo, we were about to embark on the first on our 2 days in Japan on the way to Europe. The kids had a very long list of things they wanted to do in our limited time. We weren’t sure how much we were going to get through but we were determined to give it a shot! An early start occurred despite the adults being keen on a sleep in.

The kids weren’t convinced by the floor beds (the adults had an actual bed), but it was definitely good to get a few hours of actual sleep.

Breakfast and exploring we go…..

Our first stop was a convenience store breakfast. The kids had been planning for months all the things they wanted to try.

There was extensive surveilling of the convenience store, much discussion, and Astrid worked her way through all the things she wanted, assisted by her siblings. With takeaway coffees, rice balls of various flavours and several other things I was yet to identify we set off for a breakfast on the go.

Markets and One Piece….

It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining. It was around 10 degrees but we were using this as an opportunity to acclimatise to the much colder European Winter we were about to hit. We’d made up a walking map for the things we wanted to tick off that day and set off towards Akihabara and Radio Kaikan the shopping area full of manga and anime stores, that Soren was keen on visiting.

Soren is still obsessed with the Japanese anime, One Piece, so of course we had to oblige his One Piece obsession and visit the Radio Kaiken shopping mall, for him to browse several stores and pick out a few small souvenirs. There was much debate about what items he would spend his hard earned pocket money on when it was only the first day of a 7 week trip.

We also, curiously, found a French bakery. We were headed to Paris next and the Tokyo version did not look like what were going to be seeing in 2 days time!

Soren of course, had his One Piece T-shirt on for the shopping experience. He did eventually decided on a few souvenir items and the rest of us were pleased to move on to our next activity.

Next was a short walk and train to the Ueno Ameyoko Shopping Street and market. The Ameya-Yokochō open air market is right next to Ueno station and very easy to get to.

We’d managed to be up and about so early that the market was still pretty quiet. Despite the fact that we’d just had breakfast, the kids were happily perusing many food items!

Astrid conned us into matcha flavoured kitkats, which we all enjoyed with the exception of Anto who was not a fan. Zinnia was particularly impressed with them.

Swan boats and Ueno Park…

Astrid had requested we visit Ueno Park. I always love a good walk around a park so was more than happy to oblige. Ueno Park is a large public park next to the Ueno Station in central Tokyo. The park grounds were originally part of the Kaneiji Temple, which used to be one of the largest and wealthiest temples in Japan.

By now it was a beautifully sunny day and the park is rather pretty. Despite it being the second day of Winter, the colours and weather were very Autumnal.

As we approached Shinobazu Pond the kids spied the swan boats and convinced us we need half an hour of swanning around the pond.

I thought I was getting 7 weeks off the bike but had to pedal Soren around with minimal assistance from Astrid, while Soren steered. Astrid and I were too tall for the boats so it wasn’t super comfy but fun. Meanwhile Zinnia had opted to go in a row boat, so she and Anto were rowing, which was wetter but more arm than leg based.

Zinnia was definitely having a ball and we were all enjoying the sunshine and a nice view of the park from water level.

After our time was up on the swan and row boats (the adults may or may not have been counting the minutes down til we could stop!) it was off for more park exploring. The whole park covers 54 hectares, so there is plenty to see including many museums and a zoo.

The park is famous for cherry blossoms in Spring, but today we got some lovely autumn colours instead. It had warmed up to the point where we could actually take jumpers off. Something that was not going to be happening once we got to Europe!

The pond and fountains seemed super inviting in the sunshine. We had to keep Zinnia from wanting an impromptu swim…..

We covered a fair bit of the park but were starting to feel hungry. Astrid had determined there was an Ichiran ramen restaurant not too far away. Eating at Ichiran was on Astrid’s list of ‘must do’s’ for our Tokyo visit.

Ichiran’s often have a long wait, but we must have got there just early enough and only had to queue for about 10 minutes. The ordering process was explained to us by Astrid, who obviously spends her Japanese lessons learning about where to purchase food. After we had all selected our customised ramens we were escorted to our booths where we could not talk to each other or anyone else. It was quite an amusing experience. The ramen was good, and rather huge!

Off to the knife district…..

After lunch we had to explore the knife district of Kappabashi for Anto. On the way there we noticed the large number of bikes all over the streets of Tokyo and a number of different bike storage areas. There were plenty of cycle lanes everywhere and cycling seemed to be a popular means of transport. Understandable when we saw the prices of city parking too!

Kappabashi had an entire street of interesting stores, including many with kitchen supplies and more different types of knives than we could count. The staff in any of the stores were happy to provide assistance with what type of knife you needed for preparation of different foods.

We perused many stores while Anto was like a kid in a candy shop but he couldn’t make up his mind in his somewhat sleep deprived state and declined to buy the giant swords Soren was keen on…..

Aside from giant swords, Soren also found many chefs outfits he was keen on acquiring. They were cute but we weren’t sure very useful for the next 7 weeks in the cold and snow!

Zinnia was being a bit special by now so it was back to the apartment for a late afternoon rest as the total sleep count in 3 days was still in single digits, cumulative! We curtailed any knife shopping for the time being and figured that some resting to counteract the jetlag was in order.

Spectacular lights and views….

A powernap onboard, we wanted to make the most of the day and catch some of Tokyo by night. Luckily it got dark rather early, and it was out into the Tokyo evening and off to the Metropolitan Government building, via the train and some walking. We got to visit the huge Shinjuku station and managed to not get lost. There were also some impressive tunnels through to the Government building and plenty of walking to stretch our legs.

We discovered there was a night light show projected on the front of the building synchronised to music. The building has 2 towers and is 243m tall so it was a rather impressive canvas. There were plenty of people laying on the grass and enjoying the show and the kids were happy to join them.

The illuminations and music were quite spectacular and we watched for over 15 minutes and did not have any repeat. It looked like there were various different shows every 30 minutes and we had to somewhat drag the kids away to go up the tower to check out the views, with the promise to come back and watch some more of the show at the end.

Each of the Metropolitan building towers has an observatory at a height of 202m. The North tower was closed while we were there but the South was open. The building and observation decks are free to visit. You do need to do a security bag check before they allow you up, but there was little wait time before the rather zoomy ride up in the lift.

The towers have spectacular views over Tokyo. The endless buildings and lights laid out below were impressive and offered a fantastic perspective on how many people occupy the Tokyo city area!

There were quite a few people up in the observation deck and everyone was glued to the windows trying to make out different landmarks.

There is also a cafe and gift shop and Soren found yet another couple of souvenirs for his rapidly growing collection.

The light show and observatory are both free and definitely worth doing! It has remained one of the highlights of our visit to Tokyo.

Once we were back down the kids were keen to watch the next series of illuminations. Zinnia was rather impressed at how giant the buildings were!

We could have watched the illuminations all night it was getting rather late and Soren had a desire to go see the Shibuya crossing……

We jumped on yet another train, getting good value out of Tokyo public transfort and were off to Shibuya. The kids had all been keen to walk the scramble crossing with thousands of others. Soren had been worried we were going so late in the day there wouldn’t be enough people. It was now almost 8.30pm on a Monday and the adults were not particularly worried about lack of people, and it was of course, packed.

We had fun checking out all the crazy signs and bright lights. There was a bit of sensory overload with so much going on!

Like thousands of others we had to walk across the crossing when the lights changed. Of course half the people are filming themselves walking across so there is a bit of dodging people and trying not to lose a child in the process. The kids had a ball and no one was lost….. that was to come later!

Now all a bit hungry we walked through Shibuya in search of somewhere for dinner. There were of course plenty of places to eat and despite Soren’s worry it wasn’t going to be busy enough, many of them had long lines.

We found a place that looked popular but not too busy and had some interesting Chinese and Japanese dishes and at least some menu in English. Soren and Zinnia ate their body weight in food after a lot of walking. Astrid had hit a bit of a wall of tiredness but still managed to list off all the things she was going to fit into her remaining 36 hours in Japan.

With full bellies we decided that sight-seeing for the day was done. We had to head back across Shibuya crossing to get back to the train so there was a bonus crossing for the kids. It was just as busy at 10pm!

Despite it being late the kids were happy to check out more signs and buildings although poor Zinnia’s legs were about to fall off from all the walking, she’d clocked up almost 40,000 steps for the day, with the other kids over 30,000 and the adults not far off that mark either. A pretty good effort considering the lack of sleep!

The tiredness was real as the kids were napping on our laps on the train on the way back to the apartment. There was absolutely no arguing about bed time, a huge day but plenty of fun and definitely plenty of food!

Up next…..

Our second (and sadly final) full day in Tokyo had the amazing goldfish museum, food and treats at the Tsukiji outer market, Uniqlo, the Sensō-ji temple and plenty of food….. including a restaurant selected by Astrid that I could literally nothing at!