At the end of our last trip we spent five days in Tokyo. I didn’t blog at all during that time as we were crazy busy, exhausted and trying to squeeze a lot into a few days. Tokyo is busy at the best of times, and when you are trying to cater to everyone’s wishes, especially three kids who had been before and wanted to see specific things, it was a bit mental.
Our trip from Takayama to Tokyo was very cool. We stopped in Nagoya and spent most of the day at the SCMaglev Museum, a train museum that has been on my list for a while. I loved it. Not sure the kids liked it quite as much as me, but they endured it. Super Sake Boy seemed bemused, but enthusiastic. The museum is very, very cool. There are many trains that you can walk through, including a Doctor Yellow. Doctor Yellow is a high speed test train, a shinkansen, that tests tracks and runs diagnotics on all the express routes around Japan. I was super excited about being on this train, as it is a non-passenger vehicle. I may have even snuck him a quick, cheeky kiss while no one was looking…
They also have a SCMaglev (fastest train in the World, that hovers above magnetic tracks), lots of models of shinkansen, many steam trains, and old school electric trains. I particulary loved the kitchens and dining carriages on the older shinkansen. Super funky and very Japanese Showa-era styled. There were also exhibitions, lots of hands on stuff you could try out and the best diorama I have ever seen. I ate a kids Doctor Yellow bento and I was in “densha” (train) Heaven!!
Arriving in Tokyo is always a sensory shock. It was Harper’s first time and his face, wide eyed and disbelieving, was very entertaining. We got to Shinagawa, switched to a Yamanote (my fave Tokyo line) and headed into Shinjuku. From Shinjuku we made our way to Shimokita-zawa. An area of Shibuya known for it’s hipster, retro, funky feels. Our AirBnB host met us, and took us to an amazing apartment, with full Samurai armour and a massage chair…. our home for the next four nights. It was beautiful and our host was super friendly and helpful. A quick curry for late dinner, and then bed for the kids and a late night sake in our private upstairs apartment for us… before retiring, exhausted, as always, but happy to be in Tokyo and looking forward to a few days of adventure….
