Japan 2023

Our connecting flight was delayed 6 hours. :( Now to kill time until 0410hrs. Those benches look pretty comfortable behind a crew dismantling a Chanel display. Noise? What noise? Noah slept right through that AND the gate transfer.Read more

An hour to central Tokyo in a cool car with water was so nice. Watching the countryside evolve into a concrete jungle was a treat. Tokyo is enormous; there are so many apartment buildings and at times, like the Sims and not entirely real. Freeways have these curved walls for noise proofing, just thinking about building costs, must go into 100s of millions, although given the proximity of accomodation to freeways, it makes sense. Multistory apartment complexes went on and on and on in all directions. Roads are well signposted in English which I found pleasantly surprising but moreso, drivers are really respectful. For the density of traffic it flows really well, even though there lots of cyclists sharing the road (without helmets no less).

The hotel is cosy 😆. I think the airplane toilets are larger as the boys barely fit under the shower rose, but bidets are everywhere so it feels like home. Noah says the beds are harder than the benches at the airport and he's not wrong, but we are all too tired to care and grateful to lay flat to sleep, despite weird, coarse lumps in our pillows. I think its rice!?

Thankfully there was a delish sushi place just around the corner from our hotel. The fish was so fresh and tasted amazing!! Our Japanese is rather average and the locals have this wry smile when we give it a go, but I sense they appreciate us trying.

A weird snack pillage of the local 711 rounded off the day.Read more

We were on our way to the next temple but first things first, sushi for lunch!

The restaurant had a plastic, life-sized version of the chef welcoming us in the doorway, and we quickly worked out that it was seafood only. My little heart skipped for joy whilst poor Stella bravely tried to find something she could relate to, stumbling across her new favourite thing ever; tempura! A few new words were learned as we navigated ordering and paying. Another few trains later, and we were in Shibuya.

The scramble (or multi-directional pedestrian) crossing in Shibuya is the largest and most famous in Tokyo, with up to 3000 crossing at any time. We found it twice; once by accident and once after getting lost looking for it because we didn't realise we'd already found it. It was impressive to see the flow of people like currents in the ocean, moving quickly and efficiently; all very on-brand for Japan.

Adult tantrums due to ambiguous Google maps and sore feet were narrowly avoided. The sheer volume of people, heat and getting lost several times started getting to us. Google Translate and various unsuspecting locals came in clutch; we haven't met anyone less than friendly.

Unfortunately, the Statue of Hachikō was under redevelopment at the time; I blame that on us getting lost as we were looking out for it as a landmark. It's definitely the dog's fault.... yup, definitely.

As we wandered up towards our next temple, we came across Tower Records, a six-story record store. The top floor had vintage LPs and CDs of Western music with an entire section for Tori Amos! 😱 #Imdead!! A few essential items were purchased here, whilst across the road, screaming fangirls cheered for a small boy band playing in the window of a store.

A few km up the road, Noah found a cool new deck in a skate store that did not look like a skate store, but the owner was very chill, and Noah was keen to support the little guy. As the deck stuck out of his backpack, Noah unwittingly whacked poor old father with it as we bunny-hopped from one Starbucks to the next, exploiting the familiar menu, aircon and free WIFI. Iced oat lattes are the new black, although it was then we realised the day was getting away from us.Read more