Tokyo, Part 2 - Giants, Mickey Mouse, Fish & Drumming (and Poop too)

Preface:
This post was originally going to be two or three different posts, but due to some challenges with finding consistent WiFi* along with some jam packed days, my ability to craft a story has been tough. As such, grab your Snuggly, stoke the fire, pour yourself a cup of Joe (or hot chocolate), and enjoy....

We rolled back in to Tokyo after our snow fix for another week of exploring. In an ancient city of 13 million people, there is an endless supply of things to do, and it would take 13 lifetimes to take it all in.

Mar 3 - More Wesley time
Our first day back from skiing was relatively uneventful as we settled back in to a new apartment, coincidentally about five blocks away from our first place in Asakusa. (Side note, after having wandered different neighborhoods, I quite like Asakusa. The market area is huge but chill, the temple is awesome, and there is a lovely river that runs through).

Speaking of rivers, while the rest of the clan was emerging from slumber, I went for a little jog to check out the waterfront. What a delightful place to run and people watch. Some were stretching like sumo wrestlers, some were fishing with bamboo rods in a man-made culvert, the park had a roller slide (a curving slide made of rollers that felt like I was luggage going thru a scanner), and my favorite was the nice lady out walking her rabbit... Leash and all.

We were very close to the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest free standing tower in the world, so I'm told.

So I'm a sucker for the Sensoji Temple Area. Couldn't help but run by it again in the morning.

We had one last opportunity to have a proper play date, so we made arrangements to grab lunch and go to Ueno Park with Wesley and his mom, Ali, and younger brother, Griffen. Autumn stayed back for another intense study day. Unfortunately both big kid playgrounds were under renovation, but when there is a large area with plenty of trees, that's all that is necessary to let kids be kids. As we said our goodbyes, we left very thankful that chance brought two 7 year olds together in New Zealand, which resulted in new friends in Tokyo. It's a small world.

I'm pretty sure I am not supposed to take pictures of school children, but it's simply too difficult to resist. They are so darn cute in their uniforms and hats.

This elderly gentleman had this amazing skill to draw nearly any animal you could think of with a dripping sponge on the end of a stick. Moreover, he did it upside down. Really cool stuff. And without any expectation of tips.

Snack Break:
A proper American style grocery store (think Safeway) is non-existent in Tokyo (or anywhere else in Asia for that matter. Must be a British empire thing). Gathering food supplies for proper home cooking is an effort. But what they have instead are millions of convenience stores (7-11, Family Marts, Lawson's, and Daily Yamazakis). Every block has at least one of these, if not all four, so you're never more than 100 steps from a snack break. (we actually hit every one of these on our five minute walk from the subway to our apartment). 

One snack in particular became my favorite (a twice daily dose), the triangle shaped rice balls entombing some kind of fish or meat and encased in seaweed. It is the perfect $1 snack ever invented. Unless of course you don't like fish or seaweed (aka the rest of the family). Moreover, the premade sushi is both delicious and incredibly cheap. Oh, and if the mood strikes, you can pick up any number of canned Whisky Highball beverages, original or flavored. Delicious.

Mar 4: Yanaka, Giants and Swallows
We had heard that attending a Japanese baseball game is an experience not to be missed. Good fortune was with us and we got tickets to a preseason Tokyo Giants vs Yakult Swallows game at the Tokyo Dome.

On our way to the game we took a stroll through one of the oldest regions of Tokyo called Yanaka. Unfortunately we were in a bit of a rush, but we still had an opportunity for a little souvenir shopping, and to learn how to battle with metal tops and a bit of string (for the youngsters out there, it's the original Bey Blades). Again, it is so wonderful to be around such happy and helpful people.

The crowd were facing off on the makeshift metal top battle arena

This overly enthusiastic old gentleman helped me to properly wind up the top to give it a spin. (I think he may have had six too many highballs before giving me the lesson)

Let's talk baseball! First and foremost, the Japanese treat baseball more like the world treats soccer or Americans treat college football or basketball. The fans rally around their respective bands (the swallows fight song was the theme to Back to The Future) and cheerleaders, and are constantly singing songs and doing chants, especially when a good rally is underway. There is a visitors section that is dwarfed by the home crowd. You can't help but join in the festivities. They have managed to make baseball fun (apologies to you diehard baseball fans that can endure an entire nine innings without retiring to your smart phone).

The Yakult Swallows have a tradition of spinning small umbrellas when they score a run. 

The Giants band section

The Japanese Baseball League teams all have some vague resemblance to MLB logos.

On the flip side, it's an entirely civil affair. Perhaps it was a function of the preseason crowd, but nobody stood... Not even when the Giants hit a three run home run. I jumped up in excitement, and felt like a loner. They are also overly concerned with safety. Before the first pitch there was a tutorial on the proper means of avoiding getting hit by a foul ball, which is initiated by a loud whistle from the "hard hat wearing  foul ball guards" and subsequent covering of your head and curling in to the fetal position. And as the crowd departed the stands were spotless, not a single abandoned beer cup or yakitori skewer was left behind. In the end, we decided that the American pastime could learn a thing or two from the Japanese, and vice versa.

What probably stood out most was the food and beverage service. The concessions were clearly skewed to the Asian market with noodles and yakitori. But the best part are the drink girls sprinting up and down the stands with kegs of beer on their backs and a beer dispensing nozzle in hand. If beer isn't your fancy, the Whisky Highball girls were equally service oriented. Gone are the gruff middle aged men slinging bags of peanuts and sloshing trays of stale beer, just cute girls in skirts and flat brimmed hats pinned to their pony tails.

It's really something to watch the beer girls run up and down the stairs with these kegs on their backs.

It's Highball (whisky with soda water and ice) time

The other notable difference was the pace of play. It was quite businesslike. No lollygagging about between innings and weird rituals between pitches. A count down clock ran between innings to keep things on pace, and we were out of there in 2.5hrs with plenty of scoring.

Was a wonderfully warm evening on our way home. This is basically the view from our apartment.

The cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom.

Mar 5: Rainy Day Blues
It seems the weather in Tokyo this time of year is a bit unpredictable. We spent a wonderfully sunny and warm day yesterday in an indoor baseball stadium, and today we woke to a cold rain. This gave us an opportunity to get caught up on some Italy planning (ie bought concert tickets for Macklemore in Milan), and locked in our stay in Florence. The kids also got a heavy dose of schooling.

Our options for the day were limited to indoor activities, so today we headed for the Miraikan Museum (future technology and innovation) on Odaiba Island. Truth be told, it was a dud. Partly because of the language barrier, but mostly due to the Debby Downer mood it put us in from the exhibits talking about how the planet is on a course for environmental disaster and how diseases like muscular dystrophy are incurable. Even the Android Robot show left Nicole and I thinking we're not ready for humanoid robot assistance. It's slightly creepy.

This was actually a really cool exhibit. It used black and white balls with a series of raceways and spirals to explain how the internet worked. The kids loved it (the parents too).

This robot was kind of creepy. It moved so fluidly but in a non-human way that it kind of made me cringe.

The earth ball was an impressive sphere made of small square LED panels that allowed for a 360 degree screen.

On our way home, we caught a glimpse of a nighttime skyline looking back on Tokyo city.

Ban Dai is a big thing here. It's some kind of futuristic robot warrior thing. This was a massive statue of one in front of a mall.

The stormy weather created cool glowing sky.

Pottie Break:
I would be remiss if I didn't touch on something that is part of our daily lives, using the Japanese toilets. We knew we were entering a new world of pottie time when we hit Southeast Asia and every toilet was accompanied by something called a bum gun, a spray nozzle exactly like the ones most Americans have at their kitchen sink. It took some getting used to, but once you got the hang of it, it's really quite refreshing. (It should be noted that Zane and I were the only ones willing to shoot ourselves and routinely used it). However, it can leave a tsunami of a mess everywhere. Well the fastidious Japanese would have none of that, so they took the bum gun to a whole new space aged level.

The essence of the improvement is the motorized retractable wand that negates the need for your hand to break the oogie toilet bowl plane. Next to every toilet is a control panel with more buttons than the cockpit of a Boeing 747, made more intimidating by the fact that the labels are all in Japanese. This panel controls the heat of the seat (which is both satisfying on a cold day, but with that strange feeling of wondering who was in there just before you), the heat of the cleansing water, the intensity, the pitch and yaw, and about 9 other buttons I'm too afraid to press. Then, upon completion, when the toilet is flushed, the top of the tank functions as a built in hand wash sink. Brilliant! While the water stream may not be our future, our first order of business upon our return will be to seek out the heated seat.

Notice the integrated sink at the top of the toilet tank. When flushed, the water comes from the spout and then drains in to the tank. Simple but ingenious. 

Unfortunately every apartment had a slightly different configuration, so each new place meant learning a new system.

Mar 6: Tsukiji Fish Market and Sushi Making
Considering all the delicious fish and seafood in Tokyo funnels through one place, the Tsukiji Fish Market, we had to check it out. We opted against the main event, the famous tuna auction, because it requires getting up at Dark O'Clock and they don't take kindly to little kids, but the rest of the intermediate wholesale market and outside market was entirely enjoyable.

Throughout the market are plenty of sushi restaurants with some of the freshest and most delicious fish money can buy... For obvious reasons. We sat down to a sushi brunch and Bryce noshed on his first raw fish. No gagging, so success. The chefs loved watching Zane and Bryce give it a go.

From there we strolled through the intermediate wholesale market where you can buy every kind of waterborne creature you could imagine. They only allow entry to visitors after 10am, (they're clean up time), but there is still plenty of action and things to see. Every fish market we've visited thus far has been a smelly wretched mess, but not this market. Their meticulous cleaning efforts keeps this place fresh as the morning dew (well, not really, but at least we didn't have to hold our noses and dry heave periodically).

Probably the thing we all loved most was the sawing of man-sized frozen tuna with industrial band saws. The tuna looks just like a beautiful hard wood with graining and everything. We were equally impressed with the sword cutlery they use.

Most descriptions of the market warn of tourists getting in the way of the action and fish mongers with a sour attitude towards the visitors. By being mindful of our presence, and respectfully asking to take pictures, we found the opposite to be true. Most, if not all, of the workers took pride in their craft and loved seeing our kids so interested in their work.

There is a ride'm cowboy derby of these carts whizzing all over the place delivering all manner of things. These were the things to really keep an eye out for.

For the floor being a cobblestone grid, it was remarkably clean.

No safety guards. The band saw cut through the rock hard frozen fish like it was butter. And the cutter could get the exact weight nearly every time. 

The cross-section was beautiful

A dozen different weapons for carving the fish. 

This guy spent 15 straight minutes hunched over that brown stone getting his samurai fish sword to just the right sharpness. 

The eyeballs of this "Golden Eye Snapper" were crazy. You could see through one eye, right thru the other. 

We left the market in search of the Imperial Palace, but found it walled off by a giant rock wall and only accessible by a tour we weren't prepared to take. Oh well. Next time.

The palace is surrounded by this wonderful grass area completely blocked off to people. 

One of the palace buildings is perched on a hill above the moat. 

Since the morning saw us witness where the fish comes from, the afternoon was dedicated to transforming it to delectable cuisine. While Nicole and the boys headed off to a slide playground, Autumn and I took a sushi making class (another great Airbnb experience). The instructor was such a happy spirit as he clomped around the room in his clogs and giving us a false sense of expertise. Two sticky-handed hours later, we had ourselves a really lovely tray of various sushi that could have passed for a $25 meal back home. So between Thailand and here, Autumn is becoming quite the international chef.

Pretty decent looking meal, huh?

We were able to keep our souvenir sushi making hats.

Mar 7: Tokyo Disneyland
We're bad parents. At least when it comes to instilling a deep passion for all things Disney. The kids had never been (well technically Autumn and Zane went before their memories started working), so we figured we would surprise them with a trip to Tokyo Disneyland. To ensure we weren't wasting our time, we casually inquired if it would be something they would like to do. They all said NO! Considering this was something both Nicole and I really wanted to do, we decided to force them to go. Can you believe that?

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but suffice it to say, we all had an awesome time. The trio now want to visit every other Disney themed attraction the world around.

The park is more or less the same as the original, but without the Matterhorn (boooo), and with more open walkways (yaaaay). Take the original and stretch it out on all sides by 25%. The attention to detail is in full force.

Instead of Main Street, just past the entry is a glorious covered arcade that opens up to the park. 

Can't have Disneyland without a castle

Only in Tokyo, Pooh's Honey Hunt. It's a really cool ride that has no tracks. You whiz around in a tub-like contraption that must be guided by some kind of magnetic system or something. It's pretty wild and totally worth the wait.

It's a Small World was closed for renovation....boooooo

Toontown colors. 

The Tokyo Monsters' Inc ride is way better than the California Adventure version. It's more interactive as you use flashlights to hit targets.

Sort of made me glassy eyed thinking about how proud old Walt would have been to see this Tokyo version and the joy it was bringing to people across the pond.

Two curious things... Ducks wandering about the walkways, and people sitting an hour in advance of a parade. 

Pirates was a bit modernized with a clear post movie vibe. 

It was notably cold, by the way. Fortunately no rain to spoil the parade.

Billed as the happiest parade ever. And I must say, it was pretty darn happy. I might even go so far as to say it was indeed, the happiest parade ever.

I mean, look at the joy in their faces.

Nicole and my favorite ride... Thunder Mountain Railroad. After a 2 hours wait, it is now the kids favorite ride too.

Donned some 3D glasses for an impressive animated Donald Duck musical of sorts.

We secured our fast pass at 11am for the main event at 6pm, Space Mountain.

Read below for the outcome

It still has the mysterious vibe.

We had to hang around for the nighttime activities. Not the "happiest" parade ever, but still on top of Nicole's list (probably mine too). That song is so classic.

Slightly anticlimactic firework show, but still worth waiting til the bitter cold end of the day. 

A couple of things we learned:
1. Japanese people love twinning, friends dress up exactly the same as each other.

2. ‎You don't have to worry about getting run over by the rotund people on scooters like you do in Anaheim. In fact, the Japanese are study in toughness and endurance. It was 37 degrees and most of the girls were in skirts or shorts.
3. ‎Zane needs to see where he's going on a roller coaster, otherwise he will literally lose his lunch (in a drinking fountain in the Tomorrowland Cafe). Space Mountain in Tokyo is decidedly darker than in Anaheim. It's basically pitch black in there and feels more like your just being tossed around in a windowless phone booth.
4. Not necessarily something we learned, but definitely something reinforced... In our opinion, Disneyland is only worth going when your kids are at least 7 years old. Before then, they don't remember a thing, they melt down at 5pm, and it's just a bunch of work for the parents. This time around was so amazingly memorable and fun for everyone.
5. If you can afford to get to Japan, you can afford going to Disneyland. It was surprisingly affordable.

Mar 8: Taiko
We had three main things to accomplish on our final day in Tokyo: get Shinkansen tickets to Osaka, pack up and send our cold weather gear back home, and bang some traditional Japanese drums. Since the first two items were completed with surprising ease, I'll jump to the drumming....

Most of the experiences thus far have been for Autumn's benefit. This time we found something to tickle Zane's funny bone. Zane has a natural rhythm resonating in his bones, and what better way to harness this natural tendency than playing the traditional Taiko drums. It combines exercise with music. The class combined four of us novice with two veterans. This gave us an opportunity to see how amazing it can be, and just how much work it would take to get there. The instructor was passionate about his craft and really focused a lot of attention on Autumn and Zane. On our return, it's clear that we need to find Taiko lessons back home.

The teacher was also an accomplished Japanese Flutist. Autumn plays the flute, making for an impromptu duet.... The teacher was so enamored that he gave Autumn a custom made flute and holder.

All for now... Next Stop: Osaka / Kyoto (spoiler alert... Sumo and a Kimono are in the works)

* For some reason, Japan has evolved a WiFi system that relies on portable WiFi hot spots that use cellular data. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is incredibly convenient for us travelers to grab the hot spot as we walk out of the apartment and carry the internet in our pocket. However, the bandwidth is limited with a family of five jumping on it at the same time. Then, after about 30 minutes, our daily dose of internet vanishes and were left in the year 2000. Ugh. Hence my challenges with getting a post assembled.

Some Other Random shots worth keeping in the memory banks:

The Japanese folks love of vending machines even makes it in to standard dining efforts. At the entry of all the Ramen restaurants is a machine that you use to order and pay for your food. It's quite daunting at first, but is really an efficient way to place an order. It's definitely geared to the local crowd, making it difficult for us to align the pictures with the button to press.

Throughout Japan are discount stores called Don Quijotes that sells everything. And I mean everything. It's like a Walmart if you were to shrink down all the aisles to about 2 feet wide, blasted loud ear piercing music, and flashed a kaleidoscope of colors until you need to leave from the pulsing headache it's causing. It's a wonderful place to shop.

Throughout the subway system are tutorial signs about proper etiquette while riding the trains. Most are fairly obvious, but this one left us perplexed. 

We occasionally found ourselves part of the rush hour crowd. They really do cram people in...

You can do anything and everything in a 7-11. Fortunately, printing documents from your cell phone is one of those things. Came in handy for us to print our international driver's licence for our trip to Italy. Apparently, according to my friend in Kyoto, it's also where you can pay your utility bills.

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