May 26 Parents trip

Newest first

Trip start
May 16, 2026
May 26 Parents trip Traveler
Day 1 - the flight
May 16 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 18 °C
It was an early wake up at 4:45am, and out of the house at 5:30am. That put us at the airport parking at 6:30am and at the airport shortly after.

As we only had carry-on we were straight through. Remembered to do the TRS for once. Then we just killed time until our 8:40am boarding. The plane ended up being not quite full so we scored an empty middle seat.

The flight was uneventful, and we got in 20mins early, landing in daylight. A first for us. The immigration line took ages, nearly an hour as they only had about 2 windows open. But did have a chat to a past student and her parents who spotted me in the line.

Once through, customs was a breeze, and the next challenge was finding gluten free food for Jason. He ended up with a Fresh Burger, with lettuce instead of the bun. I had udon. By now it was 7pm. We walked the 600m to our hotel, checked in and settled in for the night. Jason hit up the family mart in the lobby for some sake and ice-cream.Read more
0 likes
May 26 Parents trip Traveler
Day 2 - baseball
May 17 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
We woke up at 5am local time, 6am for us. We made the spur of the moment decision to catch the 6am hotel bus back to the airport. Here we grabbed a 7-11 breakfast then headed for the 6:31 train. This was a local train that would take 2hrs. However at Kesei-Sakura station I noticed people exiting and going across the platform, a quick google search showed the rapid express was connecting, so we crossed the platform and jumped on the train that would save us 40mins of travel time. It arrived at 7:47am into Ueno.

We transferred to the oeno line and rode 2 stops to Kasuga station, then we stashed the bags in a locker and went to see Tokyo Dome. We scoped out the area, but it being 8:30am it was too early for anything to be open. We strolled around, then decided to head to a Book off to see if they had any Giants merch, we rode the metro back the 2 stations, and hit up a 7-11 for a drink and ice-cream. We wandered to Ueno Park to eat these, while we waited until 10am for the store to open. We strolled back through Ameyokocho market area. Found jerseys at Book off but none suitable.

We headed back to Kasuga and stopped at a 7-11 for baseball snacks. Then made our way to Tokyo Dome. Now things were open we went to some of the shops where hubby got a Giants cap. Then we headed to Shake Shack at 11:30 for hubby to have a burger GF with no bun.

We entered the stadium at just after 12 and made our way around looking at all the food options. We then went to our seats. The pre game warm up was on. Then the match began and the 3 hour game saw the Tokyo Giants win over the Yokohama Baystars. It was an interesting atmosphere with each teams side singing and chanting and playing music throughout. I ate some yakisoba for lunch and had an ice cream.

After the game ended, we decided to go and see the Asakusa Matsuri festival as we were close by. So we headed to Asakusa and decided to go up the Tourist office for a high view. We stayed up there and watch the groups wrestle the floats down the street. They had the streets all cordoned off and there were a lot of people there. About 7pm we headed out of there, just as three fire trucks came in.

By the time we got back to Yokohama it was after 9pm. We had combini food for dinner and went to bed.Read more
0 likes
May 26 Parents trip Traveler
Day 3 - Yokohama
May 18 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We woke up at 5am again, 6am our time. Then we headed to 7-11 for breakfast. About 8am we headed off to check out the supermarket and Don Quixote. We then caught the Metro to near the Kannai baseball field and had a look at the gardens. We saw a turtle going for a walk. There was a cruise ship at the terminall pier, so we had a look around there.

It was getting hot so we headed back by metro to Yokohama. We had an ice- cream recharge at the supermarket where you could eat in. Then stopped in at a bookoff and other stores and did some shopping. We got some cheap baseball jerseys and kid stuff. We then dropped this off at the hotel and headed out for lunch.

We walked back to the station. Hubby went and had a gluten free curry at a Cafe, I got onigiri as I wasn't hungry. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at ABC Mart and they had the Kyoto collab converse shoes. I couldn't decide between the 2 low ones, they were the last pairs. So I got both. Then we headed to the hotel to shower and change for our dinner trip.

At 3pm it was back to the station and on the 3:12 toyoko line to Shibuya. We got seats for the 27min journey. At Shibuya we changed to the Inokashira line and rode the train for 30mins to Kichijoji. We arrive at 4:30 to our meeting spot.

We met Kyoko and the boys and headed to a Nepalese restaurant for dinner and a catch up. It had been so long since we saw each other. Just after 6pm we departed. Hubby and I headed to Shibuya. Here we stopped in for a bit of a show shop recon. After this we headed to the toyoko line to Yokohama arriving around 9pm. We headed to the supermarket for some dessert, before heading to the hotel.Read more
0 likes
May 26 Parents trip Traveler
Day 4 - Gotokuji temple wanderings
May 19 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
Woke at the usual 5am here, 6am back home. We had the usual 7-11 breakfast and decided where to go for the day. We decided to head to Gotokuji temple, stopping along the way. AI helped craft a journey.

We were at Yokohama station shortly after 9am and rode the Toyoko line to Jiyugaoka station. We got off here and then looked that it was far from where we were heading. We had missed a step, so we got back on the train, but following AI had us on the wrong platform, so we rode the train that was heading in the wrong direction. Google maps sorted the correct platform and we switched directions at the next stop that was only a few minutes further.

We then got off at Todoroki station. This was a tiny station you could walk through. It was 9:44am when we had our first ice cream of the day and headed into Todoroki ravine. This is a 700m long path through the ravine and was a cooler temp and nice experience.

After the ravine we rode another 2 stops along to Futako-Tamagawa station and found the gluten free Cafe Tamakuchen. Here hubby got a pack of cakes, and a cinema scroll to take away, then we decided to eat in and have a piece of their cheesecake. These were very good, and didn't taste gluten free.

Our next stop was to ride the Den-en-toshi line from here to Sangenjaya and go up to the 26th floor of Carrot Tower. The view was nice and free, but not as good as others. After this we headed down and rode the Setagaya line which is a street car style train to Miyanosaka station. From here it was a short walk to Gotokuji temple. This was the lucky cat temple, and was busy with lots of tourists. We had to wait until 1pm for the shop to open so we could get the kids a lucky cat. This was a hot wait in the sun.

Once the cats were acquired we headed back to the station, with a stop off for icecream and water. We headed back to Sangenjaya and decided to do some shopping. Our plan was to head to Kanda for a sports store, then Tokyo station, then Ginza. At Kanda we found shoes for the girl at a sale price. Then it was off to Tokyo station where we found our way to Character street Lego store, but they had no minifigures from the new series. Then it was off to Ginza where we went to the Uniqlo flagship store and hubby bought 5 pieces of clothing.

By now we were hungry, we tried freshness burger, but the staff looked grumpy so we left, we were going to head back to Yokohama, so we walked to Shimbashi station, but the Keiyu line was cancelled due to personal injury. So we changed back, and headed to the Ginza line to take us to Shibuya. Here we found food at a gluten free ramen place and had dinner after 6pm.

A few quick detours to some shops, then we headed to Shibuya station to catch the busy Tokoyo line to Yokohama. Here we dropped off our shopping, then headed straight back out to buy things at Don Quixote. It was about 11pm by the time we got back to the hotel. An onsen was had and was well deserved. In bed just before midnight.Read more
0 likes
May 26 Parents trip Traveler
Day 5 - The outlet shop
May 20 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
It was a slower start to our morning after our late night before. We got our combin8 breakfast around 8am. At 9am we set off for the station and headed south on the Keikyu line to Kanazawa-hakjei station for a 20min journey, here we then changed to the Seaside line that did just that as it went over by the seaside and industrial land. 23min later we arrived at Torihama station. From here is was a short walk to the Mitsui Outlet Park.

We had arrived around 10:30am and scored some bargains at the show shops, with us both walking away with 2 pairs each. At about 12:30 we walked back to the station, with an ice cream stop off at 7-11 on the way. We then retracted our steps back to Yokohama. We dumped the purchases in the room and headed back out. I booked a massage for later this evening.

At 2:30pm we were back on the train heading for Shibuya. We went separate ways for lunch where hubby revisited the noodle place from yesterday and I went to Gusto for an omlette rice. We then met back up and hit up Ikea for an extra bag to hold the shoes. The we headed off to kappabashi, on the ginza line we discovered we would arrive as everything shut, so we jumped off at Ginza and turned ourselves back around.

At 5:30 pm we were back on a train heading for yokohama. Arriving shortly after 6pm we had fun trying to find the blue line subway to continue our journey south to a gluten free restaurant. By 6:35 we were seated in the restaurant with pizza and cheesecake ordered. It after 7pm when we headed back to Yokohama. We stopped off to do a bit more shopping. Then at 8:20pm raced to drop it at the hotel and walked back for my 8:40 massage.

Massage done, I grabbed some more ice cream and headed to the hotel for an onsen before bed.Read more
0 likes
May 26 Parents trip Traveler
Day 6 - the final day
May 21 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
I had a sleep in until 7am. We then did some tetris to pack all of the things we bought. At 8am we went and got breaky. By 9:14 we had checked out, walked to the station and were waiting on the platform for our train.

It was a standing room only for the 40mins on the Keikyu line to Asakusa. Here we put the bags on lockers and set off in the light rain to Kappabashi kitchen street to look for a knife for mum. Once that was acquired, we headed towards the station, we saw a taiyaki place so I got some yummy fresh custard taiyaki. On this walk we also saw a shop selling nice Tanuki, so we finally got one for $60. Leaving there we happened to be walking past my favourite Tonkatsu place. So I stopped and had a yummy and filling lunch. Then we charter course for hubby to get some gluten free food from T's Cafe. We caught a train to the station nearby.

While he was doing that I went on a massive power walk through the light rain to check Daiso's for the supports D needs. No luck. Hubby and I met up then caught a train back to Asakusa. Here we still had an hour or so to kill some we walked the shot engaged, and ended up being close to Don Quixote to grab a few last minute things. We strolled back then found the lockers where we had the bags stashed. Items retrieved and new items packed we went through the gates and jumped on a 14:08 train.

This train had us at Narita at 17:35. We then taped up some bags and walked to terminal 3. Here we had freshness burger for dinner, lawsons ice cream for dessert, and went through the security to the gate at 7:30pm. Boarding was at 8pm.

We were bused to the plane, and then we were first people on the plane. That was a first. We were lucky again and had no one in the centre seat between us. Didn't get much sleep, but smoothly got through immigration and customs in about an hour. Most of this was waiting for bags to come out.Read more
0 likes

Day 1 - the flight

Day 2 - baseball

Day 3 - Yokohama

Day 4 - Gotokuji temple wanderings

Day 5 - The outlet shop

Day 6 - the final day