Afternoon in Tokyo

Well, technically we were in Japan for about 43 hours, but it felt like everything we did was in one afternoon.
Upon arriving at Narita International Airport, we changed money and took the Narita Express to Tokyo station downtown. The girls were a little loud on the train for at least one other passenger – a woman whom I deemed to be very rude. All they were doing was giggling and talking – they were not even crying! About halfway through the 50 minute train ride, this Japanese woman comes up to me and says in English, “Please lower the volume. Other people are trying to sleep.” Okay, welcome to Japan. It is 2 pm in the afternoon and people are trying to sleep on the train from the airport. I get it, but come ON! Our kids are young and they’re not even crying! I was so peeved – I told Alex later that it actually turned me off from Japan for several hours.
After we rolled our gigantic double stroller to the Imperial Hotel and checked into our room, I began to feel a bit better. Tokyo is amazingly clean. You notice it even when coming from the US – no litter, roads and sidewalks all power washed clean, store fronts are kept up and displays are gorgeous, and every hedge and bush is meticulously manicured. God help the stray weed that tries to infiltrate on the beautiful Japanese civic gardens – it wouldn’t last long! Coming from China where litter lines every street, store-lined streets display more crumbling concrete and bricks than nice looking goods, and the bushes and trees are scraggly and wind-blown (though I will say that there are lots of city workers who do a decent job with the actual planting of shrubbery and flowers) – Tokyo seemed like the proverbial gold-paved streets of heaven.
On the flip side, however, whereas in China people are boisterous, spitting, coming up to you to ogle, and exclaim in very loud voices over you and your children – and in general are a chatty and loud bunch – the Japanese are so quiet and reserved. Even on a busy street in the middle of downtown Tokyo – near the Imperial Palace and the Ginza, the streets were hushed and no one looked at us. If people spoke at all to their companions, it was in muted whispers, and the occasional onlooker might smile slightly at the children, but quickly look away. We felt that we had to hush the kids up even outside in the street! Stop kicking your feet on the footrest of the stroller! No laughing! No talking! Be quiet, for heaven’s sake, can’t you see these people are trying to meditate as they walk to the train station or to the yaki-tori restaurant? Honestly, it was a bit stifling, and I could understand now how Alex perceived Japan when we went in 2007 as he flew directly from Shanghai to meet me there. Japan is beautiful and reserved – China is ugly and LOUD. Both have their pros and cons.
That night we walked around the small shops under the train tracks to get our dinner – this was something Alex loved – it reminded us of the food stalls in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (Alex kept telling Lucia that the spirits were going to come out when it got really dark). And as the business men got their drink in them, the small streets became slightly noisier. I’m sure if we stayed out until last train, we’d see and hear a lot more activity! We ended up getting some take-out gyoza (while we waited for it to be cooked in the small restaurant, the girls danced with the young and fun-loving proprietor – not *all* Japanese are mutes!), and some Freshness Burger fast food (the best chicken nuggets I’ve ever tasted). We also loaded up on snacks and breakfast treats as well as beer and a bottle of wine from a local kon-bi-ni (convenience store) called Family Mart.
The next morning after Alex went out for Starbucks (interestingly, he said the people at our local Chinese Starbucks spoke better English than their Japanese counterparts), we all headed to the Imperial’s swimming pool. They loaned us a small swim cap for Magdalena (the rest of us had ours, and M didn’t need one in Korea), and we splashed around in the small gated off 1-foot deep area off the main pool. Again, we felt that we needed to keep the kids a little quiet as the elderly guests swam their slow breast-stroke laps, but we had fun anyway.
At 11 am, my host mom met us in the lobby and we carried the stroller down the stairs to the subway and headed to Ueno Park area and the restaurant at which she had made a reservation. It was so wonderful to see Okasan (Mother in Japanese – this is what I call her) again! We hadn’t seen her since May of 2007 when we visited Tokyo last. She looked young and radiant as ever, and still teaches English at two universities in Tokyo, and organ at another, as well as plays the organ for her English non-denominational Christian church. She loved to meet the girls, and got to really see Lucia in action as Magdalena conked out just before arriving at the restaurant.
In typical helpful Japanese style, we had a private tatami room and the waitress pushed two together with cushions and brought a blanket for Magdalena. We stretched her little sleeping body out and she had a nice nap for the first hour of our meal. The food was intricately prepared and beautifully presented. The actual dishes themselves were beautiful, and all housed an aesthetically and palate pleasing concoction. We had tofu egg soup dotted with tofu pink flowers and leaves, small crab balls cooked in a rice mochi wrap, small sushi rolls with checkerboard daikon radish and maguro (tuna) filling, several soups and a lovely rice dish, ending with a small scoop of ice cream for me and an adzuki bean sweet mochi square for Alex. Lucia ate a children’s meal with deep fried and breaded shrimp, egg rolls, nigiri rice with seaweed (she only ate the seaweed), small meat balls and French fries, and a big ice cream for dessert. Magdalena woke up half way through and finished one of my gratin of potato/cheese dishes, as well as some of Lucia’s and most of my rice (thankfully, as that was the 16th course or something ridiculous like that and I was stuffed!).
The girls also took turns walking in the child-sized bear slippers provided for them and enjoyed the vegetable dolls (corn and tomato baby) that Okasan gave them. Although we insisted upon paying, Okasan insisted upon treating us! She said that we made the trip to see her, so it was the least she could do. We were touched, and I was so natsukashii (nostalgic) to see her again! All in all we were with her for about three hours –the main reason for the entire trip, and it was well worth it.
After we left lunch, our family went to Ueno park and played with the pigeons, on the slide and swings at the kids playground, and went into the Ueno zoo for a few hours. Unlike the glitzy and EXPENSIVE Toranga zoo in Sydney, the Ueno zoo was only about $7 US for adults, and kids under 5 were free. There were elephants, llamas, monkeys, and a petting zoo that we made it to – the panda area was under construction so we couldn’t see it, and we didn’t have time to wander through much more. We bought some fruit at a small stand on the way back to our hotel (strawberries were very expensive, but WELL worth it as Japanese strawberries are the best I’ve tasted in the entire world). We again strolled through the small restaurants under the train station, but this time Alex and I were still so full from lunch that we just got some salads, chicken, and snacks at the convenience store (though Alex went back out later for a Freshness Cheeseburger), and the girls ate broccoli, chicken, strawberries and chips for dinner in our hotel room.
A couple other items of note – the Imperial Hotel has been rebuilt many times over the centuries, once in the early 1910s to a design by Frank Lloyd Wright, a piece of the building still sits on display in the current lobby. It was rebuilt after WWII and again after some earthquake in the 1970s, and they had a mini display of all the former structures out in the lobby. Also, the weather was gorgeous – it got up to 50 the afternoon we were out, and neither Lucia or I wore our jackets most of the afternoon. I think the Japanese thought we were crazy –they were still all bundled up – but coming from low 30s and high 20s in China and Seoul, we were elated to be in the warm weather! We even saw one cherry tree starting to blossom very early in Ueno park, soon the Hanami season will begin there.
All in all it was a great trip, though we were at an airport more days than on the ground (three of five). Still, if I had been in China for a whole year – only an hour’s time zone and a short flight away from Tokyo, and NOT seen my host mom – I would have felt awful. So now that we’re coming home this spring, we made it a priority – sucked it up, and spent the money. An afternoon in Tokyo with Okasan was well worth it.



Here we are on the Narita Express to Tokyo!

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Hitting the pool in style:

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The girls had lots of fun! It was so shallow that we pulled off Lucia's life vest:

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Cute outfits to meet Okasan for the first time:

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Magdalena sleeping in the shade of the zen rock garden in our tatami room at the restaurant:

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Okasan, Andrea, and Lucia - and the gorgeous food - can you see the little pink-stained tofu flowers with snap pea leaves?

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Alex enjoying his meal:

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The group (with M sleeping in the background):

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Lucia's yummy lunch:

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Magdalena really enjoyed the mashed potato gratin from both my and Lucia's dishes:

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Super cute in bear slippers:

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Here is an 8 second video of the slipper walk:

Hand out shot at the zoo - enjoying the gorgeous afternoon!

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Here are the Japanese maraques (sp?) monkeys - so cute:

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Petting a goat:

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I can't believe that I forgot to get a picture of the porcupine as Lucia decided this was her favorite animal at the zoo (probably because we have a book about the porcupine!). We had a lot of fun during our one Afternoon in Tokyo!