Two for the Road

We’ve been in Tokyo for a few days and it’s safe to say we’ve hit the ground running!

On our first full day, we headed out of the city to Tokyo Disney Sea. It was quite different from the other Disney parks we’ve visited over the years, a little more targeted towards adults and in true Japanese style, it felt pretty mellow and chilled (other than a good old scream on the Tower of terror of course). The theming and landscaping of the park was really immersive, and the day flew by as we explored.

On our second full day we headed out of the city (yes again) on a bit of a Studio Ghibli appreciation day. For those of you who don’t know, Studio Ghibli is a bit like the Disney of Japan. They make animated films which are filled with magical and whimsical characters and incorporate lots of Japanese folklore. Our tour included a visit to an open-air museum which inspired Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli’s founder) and we also headed to the official Ghibli museum. We couldn’t take photos inside, but it was an amazing place to explore for a couple of hours if you’re a fan of the Ghibli films (which we both are).

Yesterday, we managed to stay in Tokyo and explore for a day. After a 30-minute walk to the Ginza area for some shopping me and my lovely mother-in-law Helen ended up in the Uniqlo flagship store for several hours, shopping ’til we dropped. Meanwhile Matt and his dad Pete took themselves off to a local beer hall for their own version of retail therapy. Then my parents arrived and we had some Sake in the penthouse bar of our hotel with some amazing views of the skyline and the Tokyo tower (if you think it looks familiar, that’s because it’s modelled after the Eiffel tower!)

Today, we went for a walk in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, and enjoyed a Japanese culinary classic called Sukiyaki. We muddled our way through ordering as I haven’t got far enough with my Japanese Duolingo lessons to interpret and our waitress, while lovely, spoke about as much English as we did Japanese. The meal included thinly sliced beef which you cook at your table in a pot with a sweet soy sauce stock, and lots of vegetables, noodles, rice and tofu. It was delicious, and really good fun!

Tomorrow we’re off to see the Shibuya scramble, the famous road crossing which around 3000 people use to cross the road every couple of minutes. Over the next few days, we’re seeing the Kabuki theatre, a traditional tea ceremony and will continue exploring Tokyo and catching up with the family, so look out for more about all that soon.

Iris