Category: Japan

Japan Senior Trip . Day 6 . New Sanno breakfast, Akasaka and Sensoji Temple, Odaiba and Joypolis

5/26/2019

Today was a fun day filled with nostalgia, cultural and play. We started out by heading to the New Sanno hotel in Hiroo where we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast buffet. This amazing hotel is for military, retired military and government employees and we spent a lot of time there when we lived in Yokosuka. It was our home away from home. The kids LOVED the breakfast buffet, especially the French toast and the omelettes. We would occasionally order breakfast to our room and we would always ask for the special strawberry jam. Today’s breakfast did not disappoint. I think Andrew ate 5 French toast slices in under a minute. Then he went back for more. I got my special strawberry jam so that made me happy.
After a quick stop in the souvenir shop after breakfast we headed up to see the construction that was happening on the Tokyo LDS Temple. It was pretty crazy to see that the entire temple was under construction and the church building next door was totally gone. It will be exciting to see the finished product. Since the LDS wards are now meeting in Senzokuike and Kichijoji (which are both too far for us to want to travel in church clothes) we opted for a nice walk in Arisugawa park across from the temple. It was nice to have some quiet reflection there.

After finishing up our nastalgia part of the day in Hiroo, we hopped on the subway and made our way to Asakusa to see Sensoji Temple as our cultural part of the day. This was one temple we hadn’t been to before but a popular temple to visit by both locals and tourists. It was completely packed. We started at Kamainarimon gate and walked through Nakamise dori which is the street lined with shops leading to the main temple. We found lots of various gifts here for the kids. After finally getting to the main temple we passed under the main gate called Hozomon and the Goju no To five storied pagoda which is always closed to visitors because it’s essentially a graveyard. The 2 statues that are at the Hozomon gate were modeled after 1960 sumo wrestlers. To honor them, every few years 800 citizens of Maruyama get together and create a pair of enormous waraji straw sandals. Each sandal weighs about 2.5 tons each. The main temple just past this gate (Hondo or Kannon-do) is pretty spectacular. Some of the greatest artworks from Sensoji’s collection are painted directly on the ceiling or are hanging on the upper part of the walls. The room where the services take place is also open and you can watch, but usually you aren’t allowed inside. In our haste to get out of the heat and crowds we walked back the same way we came, only realizing later that we had missed seeing the garden and stone bridge to the left of the temple. Oh well.

Back at the station, we got on the train and headed for our fun part of the day. We made our way to Odaiba, which I like to call Tokyo’s playground. There are lots of fun things to do here. After eating lunch at a pizza place, we had fun playing at Joypolis which is a fun indoor amusement park. We went on a few of the rides, played a virtual reality game, and tried our hand at the claw games. I gave Andrew 1,000 yen (@$10) and let him have fun. I told him the claw games couldn’t be won but he was determined, telling me he knew how to win. I couldn’t believe it when he actually won his favorite Pokeman character. Then he tried to get snoopy and WON that too. What??? It was crazy. He was beyond excited. We left all smiles, bought a few things at the Daiso (Japanese version of the dollar store) and got on the train to go back to our hotel. Later that night we ate dinner at Moti’s (Indian Restaurant) which was only a 10 min walk from our hotel. We were in heaven as we ate the butter chicken and naan. I first tried Moti’s when I was a teenager. It is still as good today as it was all those years ago. It was the perfect way to end our day and our fabulous trip to Japan!!

Japan Senior Trip . Day 5 . Akasaka, Pokeman Center, Harajuku, and Shibuya

5/25/2019

The morning started out with a run around the Imperial Palace twice with Bob Poulson...a good friend and one of my running coaches back in high school. He still coaches the high school runners for ASIJ. I ended up running almost 8 miles in the heat. I’m definitely not used to running in the heat yet. I’m glad it was a social run. Andrew and I met up with Bob later to eat udon for lunch. It was fun to catch up with Bob. After lunch we said goodbye and headed back to the hotel to rest. I think at this point we are slowing down. Disney kind of did us in I think.

After some time resting, we got ourselves up and headed to Nihombashi to the Pokeman Cafe. When we got there we discovered that you had to have a reservation for the cafe. Oops. I quickly got online to make a reservation for Monday morning only to find out that the entire next month was pretty much full. Oh well. We walked through the Pokeman store and bought a few things before getting back on the train.
We decided to head to Harajuku and Shibuya. We walked from Omote-Sando to Harajuku via the main road passing the Oriental Bazaar and Kiddyland...two places I remember going to as a kid. Then I took Andrew down the crazy side shopping street in Harajuku called Takeshita street. There were lots of unique stores and a lot of crepe vendors. It was so crowded but lots of fun. We hopped on the train in Harajuku and decided to head to Shibuya. We saw Hachiko first and then went to eat ramen at Ichiran. It is a popular ramen restaurant set up so efficiently. You pay for your meal through the vending machine, wait for an open stand, sit down and hand your ticket through your personal stall, and wait for your meal. In your seating area is your own waterspout for refilling water. It was so clever. We enjoyed our ramen and then spent the rest of the evening shopping in the crowded streets of Shibuya. We bought crepes and even found a Krispy Kreme. And, of course, we walked the big intersection a few times before jumping on the train to head back to our hotel.

Japan Senior Trip . Day 4 . Tokyo Disney Sea

5/24/2019

One of Andrew’s only requests on this trip was to go to Tokyo Disney Sea...the only park of its kind in the world. We have fond memories of this park and scary ones too as this was the place where we were when the big earthquake of 2011 happened. It was a crazy time. We weren’t worried about a big earthquake this time but instead focused on how to get in as many rides and fast passes as we could throughout the day. We started at Journey to the Center of the Earth and rode that and then got a fast pass for it. We rode the Indiana Jones ride twice and Raging Spirits. Those were our favorite rides.
Part of the excitement of Disney is stuffing our faces with yummy treats while waiting in line. We ate cinnamon churros, caramel popcorn and Mickey popsicles. We walked all the way around the park looking for real ice cream and finally found a gelato stand. We saw parts of the Easter themed mid-day show on the water (we know...Easter is over but clearly the Japanese didn’t care) and didn’t spend more than 45 min in any line waiting for rides. That’s not to say there weren’t lines that extended all the way to 100-120 min...we just weren’t crazy enough to stand in them. The longest line we waited in said 35 min for the Nemo Searider. It ended up being 45-50 min. By the time we got to the ride...it stopped after 1 min. Technical difficulties. We hurried off the ride to catch our fast passes for Raging Spirits. They gave us a fast pass for the Nemo ride to use later but we never used them. Guess we will never know if that ride was good or not.

It got pretty hot in the middle of the day so we headed down in Ariel’s underground grotto and rode the jelly fish ride. Then we headed over to the carousel in the Arabian coast section. We even went back to the elevator at the Leonardo Challenge area where Andrew was said to have pushed the button right when the earthquake started. We had to go back and snap a photo.

We saw a variety of characters throughout the day. All Andrew wanted was a picture with goofy. As we were leaving the park we finally saw goofy. I told Andrew to quickly just run up next to him. The timid kid came out and he didn’t do it. I caught a photo of Andrew where the caption should read...I missed my chance😢 Poor kid. Oh well. At least we made it until 5pm...not 10pm like we had originally anticipated. I guess that’s what happens when you are not used to so much walking in the heat. Still...it was a super fun day. You really can’t go wrong when you are at Disney!!!

Japan Senior Trip . Day 3 . Kyoto to Tokyo

5/23/2019

We left Kyoto today and headed on the Shinkansen bound for Tokyo. After a quick 2 hr ride at speeds that would blow your socks off, we arrived at Shin-Yokohama where we got on a local train towards Yokohama. After maneuvering our way through this enormous station towards the Keikyu line, we found some gigantic lockers to store our suitcases in while we ventured down to Oppama station where we used to live. We met Kei and Koto Murata who took us to an amazing ton katsu restaurant near the station. Kei, Takeshi, Rin and Koto Murata were our neighbors for the 3 years we lived in Japan and they were some of the best neighbors we have ever had. The girls used to love playing at the park together and Kei used to teach me how to cook Japanese food at her house. I called it cooking with Kei. We have stayed in touch these last 6 years. It warmed my heart to see Kei and to catch up on life in person. Her English was definitely better than my Japanese. I think this visit meant as much to her as it did to me. As we walked to the station after lunch we just kept looking at each other saying how much we had missed each other. After a sad goodbye, Andrew and I headed up to the old house in Shonan Takatori. We managed to remember how to get there and even didn’t miss the tiny street that took us to the shortcut with the steep stairs. And yes...we didn’t stop on those stairs even though it was so hot and a million stairs to climb. After a few photos by the house we headed to the Seiyu (grocery store) to buy some treats for old times sake. We were definitely like little children in a candy store as we cleared out ALL of the Bontan Ame candies. That’s right...we took every single box. We had anticipated hiking the Takatori trail but it was way too hot and we were already getting tired so we decided to head back to Oppama station. We reminisced on the way back down about life in Japan while we enjoyed our ice cream. It was fun to remember the great life we had while living here.

From Oppama we got on the train and headed back to Yokohama to collect our bags before making our way to Tokyo. Luckily the rush hour crowds weren’t too bad. However, after essentially all day of traveling, we were so exhausted when we got to the hotel that we both fell asleep for an hour. It was hard to pull myself out of bed. I let Andrew sleep while I explored the beautiful gardens on the hotel grounds. Then it was off to find allergy medicine for Andrew. Luckily I can read katakana because I actually found Allegra. Blessings!!! I had ordered a hamburger through room service for Andrew and I to share. It was probably the most expensive hamburger we have ever had and it was pretty awful. Lesson learned...don’t order hamburgers from fancy Japanese hotels.

Japan Senior Trip . Day 2 . Biking around Kyoto

5/22/2019

Today we rented bikes to tour around Kyoto....but they weren’t just any bikes...they were electric assist bikes. Oh yes. Biking really is the coolest way to see the Shrines and Temples around Kyoto. We headed first to the outskirts of Kyoto to Tenryuji Temple and the Bamboo Forest in Arashiyama. It took about an hour to get there and probably a little longer since we got a little lost at the beginning trying to get headed in the correct direction. I’ve been told by my son that I have a terrible sense of direction. I would disagree in most cases but he was right in this case. I got us going in the wrong direction at first. Andrew was the most excited to see the bamboo forest and it did not disappoint. There were crowds of people walking through the short stretch of the bamboo forest. It makes me wonder how I ever got that shot with no one in it several years ago. I think it was mostly luck with a little help from Mike who waited patiently with me for a small window of no people. It was still amazing to see all the bamboo and be in such a beautiful place.

Next we headed back to the center of Kyoto to see Shimogamo-Jinja Shrine but when we got there we couldn’t find a place to park our bikes legally so we moved onto the next shrine. They have very strict rules where you can and cannot park your bikes. Good thing is we weren’t too far out of the way for the next shrine and we got to bike along the Kamogawa river. The next stop was Ginkaku-ji Temple, also known as the silver temple. At this point we could tell we were starting to burn. Oh no...I had put sunscreen on but missed a few spots. Andrew...well he completely forgot to get his arms and they were already red. Or was it just that he didn’t listen to me when I told him to put it on 🤔We spent some time walking around the grounds and enjoyed some Katsu don and ice cream before heading to Heian-Jingu Shrine. This shrine is pretty spectacular looking. The grounds are enormous and the garden extending all the way in the back of the shrine was outstanding. We had fun walking through the gardens.

At this point Andrew was uncomfortable between the burning arms and his allergies acting up so we decided to head back to the hotel. The road we took at the beginning was SUPER crowded and the sidewalk was so narrow it was hard to get around. Eventually we turned toward the river and rode along that almost the entire way back. I dropped off Andrew at the hotel and left to go find some aloe for our burns. After getting him more comfortable I thought he would venture the 15 min bike ride to Fushimi Inari Shrine with me. Nope. He was done. I really didn’t want to miss this shrine seeing as it’s my favorite. We should’ve done it earlier in the day. I had a fun ride before sunset and made it just in time for some light. It was mostly dark when I finished. Still...it was so peaceful to walk there by myself at dusk. I came back to the hotel and Andrew was starting to fall asleep. But wait...we needed to eat dinner so I dragged my tired son over to Kyoto station to the Kitchen on the 10th floor of the Isetan Building where we had a fantastic Margarita pizza and enjoyed the amazing views of Kyoto Tower.

Japan Senior Trip . Day 1 . Denver to Seattle to Osaka to Kyoto

5/21/2019

It was a long travel day to get all the way to Kyoto but we made it in good spirits and a little tired and delirious. Our 3 hour layover in Seattle was spent at the Centurion lounge eating a delicious breakfast. Blessings. Our 10 hour flight was spent watching movies and taking short naps. It was so strange to not have to keep a little one entertained. We landed in Kansai International Airport which is actually on an island...how crazy is that. Made it through customs without any problems. The guy at the customs desk asked me for my military ID and orders. I think he got confused with all the re-entry stamps from when we lived there before. Too funny because they were all dated 2013 or earlier. We made our way over to the ticket office and bought our Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto. Only able to read half of what the ticket said we were able to find the correct platform and waited for our train. 80 min later we arrived in Kyoto station which is huge and somewhat confusing. It was a team effort to navigate that station to exit on the correct side. Luckily we popped out exactly where we wanted to be and only had a quick 2 block walk to our hotel. Yay...we made it. We got cleaned up and headed out to eat dinner. In the amazing itinerary book Mike made us he suggested to eat at Katsukura for some tasty Ton Katsu. It took some time to figure out how to get over to that side of the station and up into the restaurant area on the 11th floor of the Isetan building. We managed to get there before the crowds and sat right down to order. The Ton Katsu (breaded pork) was ordered by size in grams. That was strange to me. Andrew said I hope you remember your Japanese because you have to order for us. The nice thing is most people in populous areas speak a little English but I ordered in Japanese anyways. A little rusty but I did it. Our meal was outstanding and as I was eating I felt like I was floating outside my body...clearly sleep depravation was kicking in. We finished eating and headed to the bread store for Andrew but most of the bread was picked over. Maybe tomorrow. Instead we stopped at a convenient store to grab treats and paid with my Suica with the tap of my phone (Japan’s version of Apple Pay). Sweet...it worked. Thanks Mike for setting that up for me. Then it was back to the hotel and into bed. What a great first day!