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Published: February 22nd 2007
We just had an amazing nine days in Japan - first in Tokyo, then in Kyoto. In Tokyo, we stayed with our friends, Chris and Miki, and their children, Kaz and Miwa. Our first day there, we were blessed with unseasonably warm weather in the upper 60s. We even saw some plum blossoms and it was lovely to get a taste of Spring. After a tasty soba noodle lunch (Max loved eating from the big wooden spoon in his soup that was more like a ladle), Chris and Miki took us to the famed Meiji Shrine (known as Meiji-Jingu) located in a beautiful garden. In the middle of urban Tokyo, we walked through a massive park to the shrine and the kids had a good time washing their hands in the special fountain set at the entrance (all Japanese shrines we encountered had a fountain where you would wash your hands before entering), throwing coins into a special wooden receptacle that had slats for this purpose, making a special prayer with clapping and bows (Miki showed us how to do this), and getting fortunes to read - Max's was a quote written by Emperor Meiji. Because it was a Saturday, we
Japanese Bride
Getting ready for her wedding event at the Meiji shrine.were especially lucky to see two wedding parties in traditional Japanese dress.
The next day we went to Asakusa, with its lively shopping district and temple Senso-ji. The street where the shops are located, known as Nakamise-dori, sells all kinds of Japanese handicrafts and items for tourists. It was extremely crowded as we happened to be in Tokyo over a Japanese holiday weekend, so we did not linger long there, but we did manage to buy some absolutely delicious rice crackers and in several of the shops you can actually see how they are made. We had never seen such a large variety of rice crackers - Max particularly liked the ones wrapped in seaweed. As we entered the temple, the kids enjoyed rubbing incense smoke into their bodies that was coming out of a large cauldron (it is said that the smoke brings good health). The temple was impressive, but the highlight for the kids was a monkey show that was happening on the grounds by a famous entertainment team (Miki told us that they sometimes appeared on Japanese television). The monkeys were Japanese macaques and they did lots of tricks, including high jumps and balancing on their
Max and Miwa
At the Meiji Shrine. hands. We also saw yet another Japanese wedding couple being pulled in a rickshaw. Later, we went on a boat ride known as the Sumida-Gawa, which was a good way to travel out of Asakusa and fun for the kids, though the smoking section drifted into the non-smoking section and the boat got a little stuffy (a common occurrence in Japan - the prevalence of smoking there is unbelievable). That night we ate Shabu Shabu - a dish where boiling soup is placed in the middle of the table and you can dip your own thin slices of meat and vegetables to cook them. Max adored Shabu Shabu and I think ate as much meat as I did!
We split up on Monday for a while to do our own thing. I took Max to Tokyo Tower, which looks a lot like the Eiffel Tower. Max really loved riding up high in the elevator and we had great views of the city and could see all the way to the mountains. When we got back down, the elevator let us off onto a platform with all kinds of mechanized rides for kids. Though not cheap, Max had a blast.
Kaz and Max
Eating soba noodles. Meanwhile, Jim went to see the controversial Yasukuni shrine and Yushukan war memorial museum and found it very interesting, taking into account that it was not representative of the majority Japanese view. We then went to the Ginza district with Chris and visited a large toy store with lengthy train sets that Max could play with. That night, the adults left the kids with a babysitter and went out on our own to a fabulous Yakitori place. Yakitori consists of marinated meats and vegetables that are barbecued and is meant to be eaten with lots of Sake. We had a wonderful sunken table and greatly appreciated the heated floors under our feet as our shoes had to be removed and it was quite cold outside. We then walked around Roppongi and saw that many winter lights were still up - it was very lovely.
The next day we took the Shinkansen, or bullet train, to Kyoto. We told Max that we were riding on one of the fastest trains in the world, which he thought was really cool. He kept asking us if it was even faster than "Lightening McQueen" (his favorite character from the movie Cars). When we
got to Kyoto, we checked into the Comfort Inn Kyoto Gojo - not the most exciting hotel, but cheap and clean with plenty of room (by Japanese standards) and free amenities, including Internet service and breakfast. We paid less than $100 per night, which is pretty cheap for Kyoto. Although we wanted to stay in a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese hotel, we thought that with having a four-year-old, it would be easier to just stay in a regular hotel. Maybe next time we go to Japan!
When we arrived in Kyoto, the weather was lovely and we visited Nijo-jo, a castle built by the first Tokugawa shogun. One of the most fun things about it were the wooden floors that sounded like squeaky birds when you walked on them - this was intentionally designed so that the shogun would wake up if his enemies tried to walk in on him when he was asleep. Nijo-jo also had lovely grounds to walk outside.
The next day was very rainy so we decided to start by going to the Kyoto National Museum, where we saw lots of old Japanese pottery, statues and art. Max enjoyed seeing items that were over
a thousand years old, but his favorite part was the computers you could use at the end to research the objects in the museum. Across from the museum, we visited an amazing temple called Sanjusangen-do with 1001 statues, each with many arms. We then headed to Gion - some of the side streets you can walk on off the main drag are historical and give you an impression of what Kyoto might have been like a long time ago. Even with a light rain falling, it was lovely, and we also visited an old temple. Finding a place to eat without Chris and Miki who speak Japanese to guide us was not so easy, but we ended up happening on a tiny restaurant called Kawamuru off the main tourist street in Gion that served a wide range of Japanese food and had an English menu. The owners were very friendly and gave Max some ice cream for free after dinner.
We were lucky enough to get sunshine again the following day and even though it was cold, had a great time visiting the Golden Temple (known as Kinkaku-Ji). When the sun was shining on it, the temple really gleamed.
Max and Mom
at Nijo-jo - Kyoto We then took the bus downtown to have lunch in the train station area and spent the afternoon wandering around and relaxing.
We decided to take a day trip to Nara the next day and were really glad we did as it was pleasant to go to a smaller town and experience something different in Japan. Nara was Japan's first capital and, like Kyoto, has many UNESCO world heritage sites, but it is easier to visit a large number of them because it is a much smaller city. We were able to walk from the train station to Nara-koen park where many of the temples are and it was quite easy to push a stroller. The park is filled with deer that are not the least bit afraid of tourists and will come right up to you. We bought some special deer cookies (sold throughout the park) to feed them, which Max adored, but unfortunately the deer are quite aggressive and kept butting us to make us drop the cookies. It's a good thing the male deer have their antlers sawed off or we could really have gotten hurt! After the first packet of cookies, we decided not to
Max and his bow
after ringing the bell at a shrine. feed the deer anymore and just enjoyed being able to see them up close without having them attack us. We visited several beautiful temples including Todai-Ji with an enormous bronze Buddha, Daibutsu-den Hall (the largest wooden structure in the world), and Kasuga Taisha with many lanterns.
Our final full day in Kyoto it was slated to rain in the afternoon, so we headed that morning to the Silver Temple, known as Ginkaku-ji. Ginkaku-ji has a beautiful Zen garden and hill to climb with stunning views. It's also a lovely part of Kyoto that makes you feel like you are in a Japanese village instead of a big city. If we return to Kyoto someday (which I hope we do), I would opt to stay in this area even though it is not central because it is so tranquil and pretty. After visiting Ginkaku-ji, we began a lovely walk by a canal on the Path of Philosophy and passed many little charming shops and houses. Unfortunately, it started to rain on our walk, so we ducked into a little cafe called Margaret's, which had organic food, coffee and hot chocolate and was miraculously non-smoking. We then headed downtown and went
Max with Mom and Dad
at the Golden Temple to a big department store that had a play area for Max that he thought was fantastic. You had to pay for it, but it included a ball room and inflatable tube that he could roll around in. That night we wandered Ponto-cho (another really old narrow street) and though it was beautiful, trying to find a place to eat in the rain on a Saturday night proved to be somewhat difficult. In the end, we did find a nice restaurant serving Shabu Shabu on Ponto-cho near the bridge that crosses the river. The following morning, we flew out of Kansai airport, which was not difficult to get to from Kyoto. All in all a wonderful trip!
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Miss Greg
non-member comment
Tokyo and Kyoto
Your adventures are endless and seem to get better with each new entry. How lucky you all are to be travelling the world - what a wonderful education for Max-Max. Look forward to your future entries. Greg