We loaded up the car with luggage, snacks, gas, and kids, and headed for Tokyo. It ended up being about a 10 hour trip due to frequent stops with the kids. We knew this would be the case, but boy was it a long drive. It was all worth it because our first night in the biggest city in the word we found an Outback steak house. We are going on almost 6 months now of living in Japan so the comfort of a good American steak never tasted better!
The next morning we headed straight to the US Embassy to get tourist passports for the kids. That was an experience in and of itself. I am just grateful there is an embassy here to help us with legal US documents. Passports taken care of... Check! For the rest of the day we explored Tokyo via its crazy subway and train system. One of our favorite stops was Shibuya crossing, also known as "the busiest place in the world." It's know for this because Tokyo is the biggest city in the world, and Shibuya is the busiest part in the biggest city in the world! They say every light over a thousand people cross the intersection, and I think thats about accurate!!! I couldn't help but just laugh as I watched a swarm of people cross the street over and over again. To put in perspective, so many people cross at that intersection that the entire intersection is filled with people, not just the crosswalk, shoulder to shoulder.
When in Shibuya what else do you do? Why shop and eat of course! Now if only the clothes here would fit us. We definitely stand out here. Not only are we Caucasians in Japan, but both Kyle and I are tall while the majority of the Japanese people are small. And if that wasn't enough apparently we missed the memo that we needed to carry around "sweat towelettes." Because it's so hot and humid here everyone carries a little rag to wipe their face as they walk around the city to and from their destinations. Not us, hahaha. We were just sweating the whole time. Sweat marks on our shirts, sweat rolling down our faces, sweat, sweat, sweat! Every time we got on the subway the people would just stare at us (probably grossed out by us). Luckily Abby and Connor are super cute and would distract the Japanese people from staring at their drenched parents.
The people LOVE children, especially American kids. And they use the word "Kawaii" which means cute. So we would be walking around Tokyo and randomly hear "Kawaii, Kawaii" as we passed japanese people smiling and pointing at Abby and Connor. Oh it's quite funny, and I think Abby and Connor started to pick up on it because they started smiling back and putting on a show for the people. This of course only caused more giggles and squeals from the sweet Japanese people.
Yes we are in Japan, but Abby is our little Italian baby. Kyle speaks Italian to her, she speaks some Italian, and loves pasta. So we would have to make special stops at Italian restaurants to order a bowl of pasta just so she would eat. That little stinker is starting to turn into a picky eater. Good thing she is "Kawaii."
The next day we found the Tokyo LDS temple, which is about a 10 minute walk from our New Sanno hotel. Ok pause for a second, I have to brag about the hotel! The New Sanno is a military hotel in the heart of Tokyo available for only military ID holders. It's beautiful, has a fun pool, great location, and the best part is it's only $65 a night!!!!!!!!! That is unheard of in Tokyo! So we are very grateful for the military hotel New Sanno! Ok, back to the temple. Since we had the kids we had to take turns going in to do a session. Kyle did the first session, meaning I had the kids for 2-3 hours by myself. I decided to take advantage of the situation and try to bribe the kids and show them I am the coolest mom ever :). We got ice cream, and walked all the way to Roppongi Hills in Tokyo (Hollywood district in Tokyo) to see the famous giant spider statue and street vendors. It was almost a 2 mile walk one way, so once again when we arrived I was the nasty, sweating American that everyone stared at (we really need to invest in these "sweat towels"). We got some fun pictures, and people got pictures with us as well. Apparently we turned into an attraction for the Japanese people to take pictures with, hahaha. By the time we walked another 2 miles back to the hotel I was beat and the kids took a short nap, only to have Kyle come back to join us.
So something I learned on this trip is that Japan is the home to the most amazing crepes ever!!! They are like ice cream shops where you go pick out your flavor. They are delicious, and huge! Good thing we did a lot of walking and sweating to help balance the fatty crepes we seemed to never say no to.
The next day we headed to Nagoya. Since the gas is super expensive in Japan, we made a stop at the Army post camp Zama to fill up. We got there just in time to check into our hotel, grab some food and site see for about an hour. The Japanese hotel was so clean and the service was amazing, which was not surprising since that's how the people are. We loved everything about the Sir Winston hotel.
Nagoya day 2 was a scorcher! Back to the sweating profusely for us as we explored Nagoya's castle. We got to go inside the castle and learn how it was built and see some original artwork that was found there. Very cool experience. Even Abby was entertained. They really made history come to life!
Next we went to Osu Kannon. It's a Buddhist temple that was built in 1333, but now has been turned into a library and holds the oldest copy of the Kojiki which is a book explaining the ancient mythological history of Japan. It's located dead center in the middle of the city, so it's neat to escape the hustle and bustle of city life to come to this retreat.
Back to more street markets, and yes that meant more crepes. Seriously we could not get enough of them! Like I said earlier, we were just making sure to replace the weight we were loosing from sweating so much :)
To end our time in Nagoya we visited the famous Shirotori gardens. It was a legitmate traditional Japanese garden. We got to rest our tired feet and feed the fish. It was sure fun to watch Abby go from being scared of the fish to wanting to give them kisses. She loved feeding the fishies.
It was a long, hot day, but we really enjoyed our time in Nagoya. The only thing we had left to do was return to our hotel to get some good night sleep before we headed to Kyoto the next day.
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