The CC clan in Japan | FindPenguins

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Trip start
January 15, 2025
The CC clan in Japan Traveler
Tokyo - Day 1
Jan 14–19, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
Excited to be in Tokyo!

We arrived on Tuesday night, except Andrea, who came on Sunday for work (although Monday was the Coming of Age public holiday!).

The Prince Sakura Tower hotel we stayed in in Shinagawa is perfect. Warm toilet seats, big beds, vitamin juice for breakfast, and a massage chair in the basement. Possibly related to the massage button on the phone?

Day one was packed. First, we had to navigate the train system and buy a Suica travel card. No mean feat. Then, a walk through Tokyo's biggest park took us to the Meiji Shinto shrine to buy amulets and meet Andrea's colleague Aki. The Japanese flock to this and other shrines in January to buy good luck/health/family/happiness amulets for the year. They return them at the end when the priests burn them. We watched a man almost get arrested for wearing a samurai sword, which turned out to be an umbrella 🤣

Next stop Takeshita Street for the weird pet clothes shops, souvenir and costume stores. A major drawcard for Val and the girls.

Lunch at Kura sushi was a big success, the kids laughed so much. Aki was on hand to explain the ordering and plate disposal systems. And to tell us about his toy poodle with its 45 outfits and 10,000 followers on Instagram (!!).

The Shibuya Sky tower offered spectacular views of this sprawling, enormous city of more than 15 million inhabitants, but only a hazy view of Mount Fuji.

Across the busy and famous Shibuya crossing to Loft department store where Ali quickly gave up trying to persuade the kids to spend their money wisely. Andrea and Ali supervised at a seated distance while James and Mario went to an Irish pub to watch the football. Seems perfectly fair.

Quick dash across to the Harry Harajuku animal café for much excitement among the kids to be handling hedgehogs, otters and chinchillas. Mario had to go to Japan to learn about these animals from his home region.

Our ramen dinner was a highlight for everyone once we'd scrambled to work out how to order first from the vending machine at the entrance. A curious ticketing, form-filling, cosy single booth experience eating meticulously prepared ramen that left us all fulfilled. Helpful (or not really?) little wooden signs hang in each booth so you can communicate to your waiter's torso (can't see their heads from the booth) if it's too noisy for you or if you don't understand the ordering system.

So far, Japan is a mix of quietness, confusing and convoluted form-filling bureaucracy for every tiny thing, helpful and friendly people, and a lot of shops selling cutesy, useless stuff.

Mario managed to almost-but-not quite lose his Suica travel card, money and waterbottle. Andrea successfully navigated us around the city by outsourcing it to Aki. Ali learned how to order extremely sugary drinks containing no sugar from the vending machines. James fell in love with a chinchilla, and the kids laughed a lot, took millions of photos and videos, and went to bed very happy.Read more
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The CC clan in Japan Traveler
Tokyo - Day 2
January 16, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
Plans for today changed a bit when Valentina woke up unwell and had to stay in the hotel. The Coventry family headed out late morning to the parasite museum, astonishing their Uber driver. Only Lucie and James went in, and surprisingly, they weren't alone!

James shared some photos that confirmed to everyone else why they didn't want to go. Lucie got a parasite ruler 'to impress the boys with,' according to her dad.

Meanwhile, Freya and Ali walked around Nakameguro and got a feel for the back streets of this fairly trendy area. Small houses were packed tightly on narrow, small streets, with small cars driving on them or parked in the tiny garages.

They ended up at Nakameguro Koukashita, a trendy, vibey place with bookshops, stores and cafes. Next to the cherry-blossom tree-lined canal (all bare as it's winter) they found a bakery serving tiny Sino-French fusion pastries and sandwiches. The peach-coloured, curved, bubble-like style interior and soft furnishings had drawn in mostly young, fashionable Japanese women.

The Coventrys then joined Mario and Sebi at the Ryogoku Kokukigan sumo arena to watch a live tournament. As the ranking of the wrestlers increased, the bouts became more exciting and the crowd more lively. It was unusual to hear Japanese people shouting and making noise!

Each bout lasts about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the number of false starts. They crouch and look like they're about to grapple, and then one stands up and walks back to his corner. They slap themselves and use a wash cloth before going back to the starting position. Leg raises and salt throwing ward off demons and purify the ground of the arena. Suddenly, the fight is on! They slap, push, grab fiercely, and sometimes get locked in a seemingly stalemate embrace, usually to admiring applause. Then, one will succeed in pushing the other out of the ring or throwing him to the floor. That's it, all over in 10 to 20 seconds. The next two contestants are called up, and it starts all over again. The higher the wrestler is ranked, the more sponsor banners are paraded around the ring. Meanwhile, an unassuming worker meticulously and continuously sweeps the sawdust of the ring to perfection.

After the sumo, we all had Kura sushi again in Shinagawa where we're staying. Mario rushed off to enjoy the Japanese spa again, a highlight for him on this trip!Read more
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The CC clan in Japan Traveler
Tokyo - Day 3
January 17, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C
Plans to hit the fishmarket early at 5.30am were yet to materialise. Instead, we all slept in and had a leisurely breakfast at 9am. This morning, after everyone had enjoyed the massage chairs and Mario had taken advantage of the spa services on offer - again - we all headed out to the Imperial Palace. Total fail as we couldn't get in without a tour guide and the famous East gardens were closed.

Quick 40-minute dash to Uniqlo to stock up on thermals for skiing and then it was time for the Ninja Tokyo Restaurant experience. A female ninja jump-scared us and then escorted us through a special entrance to our own private room where food was served in elaborate style. Each dish was a mini performance involving ninja swords, dry ice smoking out of boxes and delicacies arranged with precision and aesthetic design. The food was very good and the adults were grateful that the $200 price per person wasn't wasted on the kids who ate everything they got. No fussy eaters here! The magician at the end was a big hit with the kids, and the adults savoured the quality sake and gin.

A bit more shopping afterwards and then back to the hotel. Except Ali who trekked off to the Tokyo National Museum for a dash of culture and Japanese art history, including information on the famous Japanese tea ceremony which has been around for 800 years and is considered a living art form.

In the evening we had drinks with Aki at the third best bar in Japan (Ali missed this one while soaking up culture at the Tokyo National museum) and then a speakeasy in Shinjuku. The four of us ended the night eating with our shoes off in a Japanese/European fusion restaurant while the kids revelled in being alone at the hotel.Read more
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Tokyo - Day 4
January 18, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
Another lazy morning before heading to Asakusa and the Senso-Ji shrine. Each family went separately to spend family time together for a while, although the kids saw no point in this.

The shrine was jam-packed with visitors, many of them thronging into the temple to receive their fortune. The Japanese set great store by the fortune cards in the temples and good luck amulets. There were several women, mostly young, dressed up in traditional kimonos, taking selfies and posing for others.

The Coventrys sampled a local fish-shaped pastry called Taiyaki (red sea bream), which can be filled with cheese, chocolate, custard, or bean curd. Just the usual pre-lunch dessert.

Everyone met up for karaoke in a tiny room. It was fun but overpriced.

Lunch at Gonpachi restaurant on the river was one of the highlights. We all sat at the bar and ate delicious fresh sushi and tempura. The service was great, and the artwork was...interesting. Thanks to Aki for the recommendation 🙏

Ali then expertly guided the group along a stroll through Asakusa. Everyone was delighted to see such interesting sights like the young men practising their champion ball skills, a Harley Davidson motorbike, and a typical Tokyo playground. The close-up view of the Tokyo Skytree tower was the icing on the cake.

The adults made the effort to head out again for an authentic Japanese gyoza and dumpling stew dinner in Shinagawa. We had a great time with Aki, first experiencing a genuine Izakaya, which is a combo of 'i' meaning to stay, and'sakaya' meaning sake shop. It's a traditional Japanese tavern where people would drink sake while sharing food plates and is now a place to socialise in a cosy, informal atmosphere and have a drink and a bite to eat. The only place to hang out in this predominantly office suburb was a darts bar. It's surprisingly popular!

We watched as a young man left his table of male colleagues with his pretty young girlfriend and everyone at the table (older men) stood and shook his hand and then gaily waved them all the way to the door.Read more
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Tokyo to Hakuba - Day 5
January 19, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C
Up at 6am to have a quick breakfast and catch the train to Hakuba for the skiing part of the holiday. The 3hr 45 train ride was comfortable and relaxing. It took a good hour to leave urban Tokyo with its 35 million inhabitants. The buildings are all ugly, functional concrete blocks with the odd pretty blue tiled roof on a house or a shinto/Buddhist temple here and there. There's almost no greenery. 25% of the city was destroyed during the WWII fire bombing campaign in 1945 because the incendiary bombs tore through the mostly wooden and paper houses. Maybe this is why the suburbs now seem so bleak. But this could also be because we were going through railway countryside.

The countryside was not too inspiring either, but that might be because it's winter, so everything is quite bare.

Pulling into the snow-covered villages near Hakuba was wonderful and made everyone excited to be going skiing. There had been a huge amount of snow in recent weeks so the buildings were covered in domes of white and some homes were still completely snowed in.

Check-in to our chalet was easy and quick. Pizza for lunch and then we got our ski gear and did a supermarket shop, ready to hit the slopes the next day and hopefully find our legs.

We watched Titanic and then Ali managed to shrink three of James's favourite t-shirts, which made him quietly irate, even though she had washed his clothes for him. His underpants got smaller too (unless they were Freya's? 🤔)Read more
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Hakuba/Iwatake - Day 6
January 20, 2025 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 2 °C
Our first full day in Hakuba was a beautiful bluebird (sunny with blue skies) day with no wind. Unfortunately, Sebi got sick with the flu. He and Andrea joined us in the afternoon at Iwatake where we were skiing with Sienna's family. This is a lower, family-friendly resort good for beginners and snowboarders. The best run was down the back past the swing.

Sebi felt worse and got quite sick afterwards. We ordered in pizza for dinner and drank Japanese gin. Kinobi and Roku are the best. Val led the guessing game where we all write down three words and then in teams of two, have to first explain the word, then act it out and then describe with just one word. Mario and Freya tied with Ali and Lucie for first place.Read more
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Hakuba/Happo - Day 7
January 21, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C
With Sebi still feeling very sick, Andrea spent the day with him and the rest of us met up with the Rutkowskis again, in Happo this time.

This resort has the highest elevation in Hakuba and the steepest slopes at the top. We skied with the kids and had a curry with rice for lunch at the bear café. At 1.30pm the kids had a lesson with Victor while the adults took the chance to do some steeper runs including a black run, which Ali confidently recommended and which was great.

There were no queues anywhere here, and few people on the slopes, despite it being high season. The snow was almost perfect and the weather cold but sunny. Almost ideal conditions. We really enjoyed Happo.

In the evening, the Coventrys had dinner at The Rabbit Hole with the Rutkowskis and Val while the rest of the Contreras stayed to be with Sebi. We learned that Danielle is fascinated with cults and that Stu is really quite witty.Read more
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Hakuba/Goryu - Day 8
January 22, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ -5 °C
Today we explored Goryu resort which has a lot of greens at the base. It was the busiest resort so far and so a bit more stressful. Mario was impatient with the queues of up to a maximum (or should that be minimum 🤔) of five people.

Sebi was still ill and feeling weak and Freya also caught it today. They stayed at home with James who had a rest day planned anyway. He cooked up a storm for them with pot noodles, boiled eggs and toast.

Andrea, Valentina, Lucie and Ali met the Rutkowskis at Imori and they again guided us to the gondola and up to the cool reds and amazing views. After a beef udon lunch we went back down to the bottom and splintered into family groups. Lucie' technique improved a lot and she now skis parallel very well.

Lucie, Ali and Val caught the bus back to the chalet early at 1.45pm. Day three of skiing and everyone is getting tired. Andrea and Mario carried on for longer.

Mario and Ali did a supermarket market shop to buy essentials like bread, butter (in a tube!), gin and beer. Mario then went to a public onsen which he didn't rate much but decided to do for the experience.

James chopped garlic expertly and cooked rice to feed us for a week. Mario cooked again with Andrea's help. Freya got worse and Sebi seemed to stay the same but was getting weaker from not enough food.Read more
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Hakuba/Happo - Day 9
January 23, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ -3 °C
Freya, Sebi and Ali stayed at home today and Mario skied in the afternoon only. The others skied at Happo in the freezing snow and fog to start with, but the weather improved in the afternoon. Mario, Andrea and James had dinner out in the evening. Everyone was knackered!Read more
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Hakuba/Iwatake - Day 10
January 24, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C
Freya and Sebi both stayed at the chalet today. Freya was still feeling pretty awful, probably dehydrated and still feverish. Sebi's cough and weak legs kept him down. James stayed with them in the morning and Ali in the afternoon.

Iwatake was a great pick for the skiers today. We were in the first gondolas and on the slopes by 8am. The overnight fresh snowfall created a powdery blanket that was wonderful for skiing: silent, soft, and deep. The white-canopied trees were beautiful and the breeze occasionally shook their powdery pollen onto passing skiers.

We tried our hand (or foot?) at weaving through the trees and Lucie and Valentina were better at navigating the narrow tracks than Mario and Ali. Andrea detected the smell of cinnamon scrolls, but we couldn't locate them.

We ate long-awaited ramen for lunch on the sunny outdoor deck and then took some more hair-raising routes between the trees that ended with Valentina doing a big, unexpected jump off a cliff face (not quite) and landing perfectly!

Ali and James swapped in the afternoon to stay with Freya and Sebi. Freya started eating and feeling a bit better so there was energy enough for the usual game of Cards Against Humanity. Who won is entirely unimportant.Read more
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Hakuba to Tokyo - Day 11
January 25, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
Last day in Hakuba! 🥲The sleeping arrangements have been all mixed up because of the sickness. Sebi and Mario slept in one room, Ali and Freya in another, and the others in the bunk beds. The evenings have also been quiet as everyone's knackered and been going to bed early.

Today was a packing, eating, and travelling day. We walked to cosy Head Café and had hot drinks, muffins and cinnamon scrolls (finally!). Next stop the Clubhouse attached to the Happo Hotel to have a drink and play games. Then lunch at Wagyu Dawn which Valentina and Mario found by accident. The burgers and Wagyu beef bowl were really tasty and freshly made, and we had the whole place to ourselves so Andrea was able to provide her cheap (but not free) massage service to a few of us.

After a four-hour train ride and a long debate / negotiation with hotel staff about our second room booking (thanks Andrea and James for sorting it) the Coventrys ate eye-wateringly expensive mediocre club sandwiches and went to bed. The Contreras fared better with their in-room dining.Read more
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Tokyo Teamlabs - Day 12
January 26, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
We spent the morning at Teamlabs exploring all kinds of sensory experiences. The first room featured hanging orchids that moved slowly up and down on wires. The idea was to walk through them slowly without touching them.

After the weird alien eggs room, we went into the 'forest' zone, which included all sorts of light projections on the walls, some of which were responsive to touch. The kids and Mario added their drawings to the interactive wall.

Other cool rooms included colourful squishy domes that you had to run across, hanging light rods, wall to wall soft flooring where we pushed each other over, warm milky water and koi carp projections, and a domed roof where you lay on the floor and watched flower projections float above you.

Freya was exhausted so she and Ali went back to the hotel. The others visited Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai, a new food complex attached to the Toyosu fish market. Lunch was delicious sushi and the best king prawn known to man (according to Andrea). Then it was time for coffee and a foot spa on the rooftop of the complex. Everyone was blinded by the paleness of James's feet.

Some mall shopping for souvenirs finished off the day.Read more
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Tokyo DisneySea - Day 13
January 27, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
Today was DisneySea day although unfortunately only Lucie and Ali managed a long stint. Valentina and Mario made it for the open with the rest of the hordes of people, and did Journey to the Centre of the Earth and then the Sinbad ride with Ali and Lucie. Then Valentina began to feel unwell so she and Mario headed back to the hotel. Ali and Lucie arrived at 10am and left at 4.30pm. The highlight was watching people dressed up in furry animal helmets, matching fluffy boots and miniskirts, or giant Mickey Mouse ears. The majority were young adults with a few kids and older people. Among other weird flavours and foods, roast beef and white chocolate popcorn were on offer. A few rides were eligible for Disney passes but after a while none of the big ones were available so the wait times ballooned to 3hrs in some cases! Ali and Lucie managed to do the Journey to the Centre of the Earth (an underwhelming rollercoaster), a small roller coaster for kids, the double-decker carousel (turns out Lucie loves camels), and the Toy Story Mania ride with fairground shooting aided by 3D glasses, which was by far the most fun.

They also ate a set lunch in Arundel castle of pie, potato gratin, salmon salad (first time we ate lettuce in Japan!) and an Olaf-themed marshmallow sponge mousse. Not bad but hardly Japanese.

Sebi and Andrea made it down for a couple of hours and wrapped up warm in the freezing temperatures. Sebi finally recovered and had his usual bounce and smiley energy 😍

Ali and James went back for a nightime walk so James (who was also quite sick at this point) could soak up the kooky atmosphere and do some people watching 👀.

Ali made it to Toyosu fishmarket (the largest in the world) to watch the famed tuna auction at 5.30am. The buyers, in yellow-tagged hats, studiously examine the massive frozen carcasses laid out in rows using torches and a hook. The torch is to check the red hues of the thick medallion of tail flesh resting atop the fish, signalling the freshness of the meat. The hook is to rip a piece to rub between fingers and check for fattiness (the fattier, the better). The auctioneer moves from one batch to another, signalling the start with an old-fashioned bell before stepping onto a crate and chanting the prices. It's all over in 10 minutes. The bought fish is labelled using coloured ribbons and then dragged with the ubiquitous hooks onto a blue tarp for final pickup by the wholesale buyer using a forklift. Some of these fish can go for tens of thousands of dollars, so security is very tight. Visitors have to watch from a windowed gallery on the second floor.

We shared a final supper together at the hotel, and the Coventrys missed the best Disney fireworks ever whilst travelling the extra floors to their room (allegedly).

Mario spent one last evening in the traditional (unisex) public baths where people sit on stools to ablute fully and then use the hot spa, sauna and cold bath to wash, relax and unwind. It's a very calming and pleasant ritual.

Ciao to the Contreras who took the early morning flight home the next day.Read more
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Tokyo - The Coventrys kick their heels
January 28, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
The Coventrys slept in so Freya and Lucie missed breakfast. In fact, Freya didn't eat once in the hotel restaurant. As their flight wasn't until 10.45pm they used the hotel pool and public baths until checkout at 1pm and then walked for ages (the long way round with sea views) to the nearest little mall called Ikspiari. Lunch was delicious ramen with green tea served free on the table and baskets under the chairs for bags.

Quick tour of the Japanese fashion stores and aggressively pink photobooth/kuwai gumf shop full of teenage girls in cutesy outfits. Then back to the hotel (with no krispy cremes).

A few arcade games and it was time to go.

Arigato Japan for a fantastic first trip with lots of fun times spent with good friends❤️. Sayonara and see you soon!Read more
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Trip end
January 28, 2025