Signs of spring

The sun has appeared, and it feels like spring in Tokyo! Blue skies have been beckoning us outside, and yesterday Ren and I visited the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. It’s the only part of the palace grounds open to the public on a daily basis without a reservation.

We took the train to Tokyo Station, which surprisingly has a very western brick facade and would look perfectly at home in Europe. To prolong our time in the garden, we stopped and picked up some food for a picnic from that classic purveyor, 7-11. That’s right, given all of the food options in Tokyo, we went for 7-11. It’s not just a hot dog and slurpee destination here, but actually has a wide range of choices. Ren, given her choice of everything in the store, chose “bubbles”. After chuckling, and saying that I didn’t think 7-11 would be able to provide that, I noticed she was actually pointing at onigiri (rice balls) with an ikura (“bubbles” to Ren) filling. Go figure! I got a fatty tuna roll, and we picked up a string cheese to balance the toddler picnic out. 7-11 saves the day!

It was about a 15 minute walk to the garden entrance from the station and I feel like I should get a medal in the toting toddler Olympics. We’re using our Beco carrier daily, and I never imagined I’d be carrying a 27 pound toddler in it! Luckily, she loves riding in it and it lets us explore greater distances while not worrying about safety in a hectic city environment. Plus, no toting a stroller up and down subway steps. 

Upon entering we were each handed an admission token, although it was free to enter. I’m not sure exactly what purpose the token served, but we had to hand it back when we left. I think it was the highlight of Ren’s garden tour, and she delighted in showing me she still had it and taking it in and out of her pocket.

We climbed a hill, past samurai guardhouses and through gigantic stone walls, ending up on a flat lawn area surrounded by different garden areas (orchard, tea garden, etc). The highlight of the visit for me, was an early blooming winter cherry tree and we joined the small crowd in taking a gazillion photos of the blooms.  

We picnicked in the sun and played shadow tag across the bleached grass before Ren gave into exhaustion and napped the whole way back to our hotel. She keeps proving how flexible she can be and it’s really a joy to travel with her.

Post nap, we visited a play space in a mall in Roppongi Hills (an area popular for arts and nightlife), and then met up with Grant for yet another ramen dinner. This was our favorite dinner so far, partially because the restaurant was really relaxed with Ren and had a high chair and eating utensils ready for her. This was the first time in a week she’s had a high chair! Much easier on us, and we got to sit at the counter like the locals with her in between us.

Today, we visited the Fire Museum in Shinjuku and it was a big hit with Ren. The entrance hall had lots of different fire trucks to look at (old vs new), and even a fire fighting helicopter suspended overhead! We went upstairs where there were hundreds of buttons that needed to be pushed, a cartoon movie theater that even had English voice overs, and a fire truck and helicopter to climb into. 

The best button pushing experience was in the pretend house, where you pressed buttons next to mirrors which then showed you the danger associated with the scene you were standing next to (baby could fall out of a drop side crib, boy could fall out of an open window). My favorite was this one: child may eat cigarette butts thinking they are candy, and be sad (as translated by Ren).

The cartoons were pretty great too. We caught the end of one in Japanese that was about animal friends who accidentally started a fire, but were saved by the firefighters. They learned to watch out for sparks, and at the end all the male cats and dogs chased a cigarette butt down the street and peed on it triumphantly to put it out. You can’t make this stuff up! The one we chose to watch in English was about a firefighter from the future who is sent back to our time accidentally, and teaches the kids he finds not to play with fire or fireworks without an adult and a bucket of water nearby. There was an evil guy in it too, who kept trying to incite kids to set fires and he was kind of demonic with flames all around and yelling “burn, burn, burn, die everyone”, but luckily it ended on a positive note and Ren didn’t seem too scared. Go figure!

We made some new friends on a local playground this afternoon. The centerpiece of the playground was an octopus, where you climbed up the suckers and slid down his tentacles. I’d import this idea!