Skipping Town

In the morning, we were all packed up and ready to go, but we were up early enough to walk to the Hie Shrine in Akasaka. Lots of red flags and gates and lanterns. We saw a wedding process in. We got our temple book signed. Then we retrieved our bags from the hotel, checked out, and got a taxi to Tokyo Station, where we’d get tickets and catch our train for the airport. We had lots of time, however, and headed first to Character Street for some final shopping. Character Street is a long corridor in the train station that’s lined with shops that each feature on iconic Japanese character--Rilakkuma, Shinkansen, Disney characters, Hello Kitty. Of course the Rilakkuma store was our first stop, and both girls selected a plush. Then, then!, we spotted a Kyrutto shop--kapibaras--the mole-like creature I’ve been pining for since our last trip to Tokyo ten years ago. Finally, I got to buy my own kapibara. The girls each bought one as well. Fortified with kawaii plush, we headed for our train...

The meds are helping already. The difference in how I feel between yesterday and today is remarkable. Thank goodness. For our final full day, we decided to go to a museum--have to do at least one, right? We went to the National Art Center and chose an exhibition of contemporary Japanese art. It was as inscrutable and mystifying as most contemporary art is to me. The girls liked a video of a Japanese family in Okinawa, part of which involved a pitch-dark viewing room with only the sound of galloping horses. Who knows what it meant. Next we took a city bus to Shinjuku, a neighborhood that just seems quintessentially Tokyo: tall buildings covered in neon and video screens, everything playing music or making sounds. We shopped at a Muji and an eclectic store called Tokyo Hands. We had conveyor-belt sushi for lunch. Unfortunately, the novelty of selecting small plates from a conveyor belt did not hide the sheer hideousness of many of the dishes--lots of orange salmon eggs (small and ...

After yesterday, I knew I’d reached a point where I had to see a doctor, so after some pastries we set out for the Sanno Hospital. Andrew and the girls went back to Nikoniko Park while I settled in to wait. There were multiple steps to register and pay, not all of which I understood, but by brandishing my passport and credit card and using some miming, I was able to eventually get myself seen by a doctor. He diagnosed bronchitis and prescribed a slew of medicines, advising me to “be careful” of the antibiotic since I’m allergic to so many other ones. The pharmacy was right there at the hospital, so getting the medicines was just another step in the process (of which there were many). When I was finally released, I met Andrew and the kids at the Aoyama Itchome subway station, and we headed to Akihabara for a tempura lunch. We’d wanted to go to Akihabara because I’d found a Time Out article that listed the biggest gachapon places in Tokyo, and one of them was in that neighborhood. And...

Another day of just me and the kids. Today I took us on a walk to Roppongi, with the goal of going to the Mori Art Museum. On the way, we stumbled on a beautiful park and explored for a while. I saw Japanese daycare workers arrive with two pink laundry carts full of toddlers. We eventually reached the Roppongi Hills complex, presided over by a Louise Bourgeois spider, but it was such a gorgeous day that we decided not to do the museum after all. Instead, we found Robot Park, where the kids played for a bit. Then we headed to the Harry the Hedgehog Cafe. We did not have an easy time finding it. Even though I have GPS on my phone, and I am 100% dependent on it to get me anywhere in Tokyo, sometimes it is still hard to navigate Tokyo’s warren of streets. We wandered and wandered, doubled back, changed direction. We were all very hungry, but I couldn’t really find a good place for lunch. We bought snacks at a 7-11. Finally we did find the hedgehog cafe, and got to hold and pet hedgehogs...

The girls and I were on our own today while Andrew went to work. After a leisurely early morning of pastries and the nebulizer for Greta, Andrew left for work and the girls and I walked to the Toyokawa Inari shrine. It was beautiful, full of fox statues with the red bibs (we still don’t know what they mean). I got our temple book stamped. Then we decided to pick up where we’d left off yesterday: at Takeshita Street, with an onward walk to Kiddyland. We took the subway there (yay to me for navigating it alone!). Kiddyland is full of Japan fun--lots of Rilakkuma and Hello Kitty and Sumikko Gurashi. Everything is also quite expensive. I told the kids they could each choose one thing, and after much deliberation they each chose a set of miniature Rilakkuma figurines--exactly what I would have chosen for them. I bought myself a small Sumikko Gurashi owl. We stopped for crepes for lunch--ordering them from a kind of vending machine, then handing the tickets to a girl in the kiosk--and ...

We were all up veerrry early. This was actually great, because we could all shower and get ready for the day without having to rush. Nothing really opens in Tokyo till 10 or even 11, so we could take our time. Andrew went out and got some pastries from a place called Precious Coffee Moments. Greta breathed into the nebulizer. I ignored my own growing cough. Mid-morning, we took the subway to Harajuku to see the Meiji Shrine. It’s a beautiful walk through a park to get to the shrine. Sadly, I was unable to buy a temple book for stamps there--which means I’ve now been to the Meiji Shrine twice and have yet to get a stamp there (I was unsuccessful ten years ago, too). We wandered around for a bit, then got a snack from a food cart outside the shrine. I got a pork bun (delicious) and the girls got these weird chewy rice cakes coated with soy/honey on skewers (not delicious). Next we set out for Takeshita Street, which is exactly what you imagine when you think of Tokyo. It’s a long st...