Sometimes opportunities come up in life and despite all the excuses that you make as to why you should NOT… there is a nagging in the back of your brain that says you SHOULD 🙂 This trip was perfect example of this…. Miguel had a work trip bringing him to Japan, S.Korea, and China that would span over nearly 2.5 weeks. Japan has been on the bucket list for a long time but I literally had every excuse in the world why we shouldn’t go…. 1.) we had just arrived back from Indonesia, 2.) Joseph couldn’t miss school 3.) Joseph had been sick with virus…. and for some reason I thought that was related to Bali (until doctor basically laughed at me)…. While having burgers with some friends and they really asked me “Why NOT go?” I realized I didn’t have a great excuse – Joseph was feeling better, flight prices were incredibly reasonable, and Joey is in preschool…. even his teacher said GO! 🙂 And so we did, and I’m so happy we had this opportunity to visit this amazing country.
In doing my initial research (which basically consists of going on Trip Advisor) I was overwhelmed with all the options out there. I was also slightly intimidated by the train system but it seemed like this would just be something I’d have to figure out. Tokyo is absolutely ENORMOUS — but there were a few areas that I wanted to make sure we checked out. I also thought that a few days at Disney would be a great experience for both Joey & I – how cool to visit Disney in another country during wintertime, that’s a memory we won’t soon forget.
Our first few days we were in Yokohama. It’s sort of random but the “can’t miss” thing is going to the Cup of Noodles Museum. Joey really loved it… he was able to make his own custom Cup of Noodles, we got a tour of the factory, and they had an awesome indoor childrens play area that mimicked being inside of a production run of Cup of Noodles. We also visited a couple of local shopping places — and also got the conveyor belt sushi that I knew Joey would be ALL ABOUT (and I wasn’t wrong).
After a couple of days exploring Yokohama it was time to get up the courage to take the train into Tokyo. We started at Shibuya – after exiting the train station you are in the crosswalk that has the most people crossing it per day…. it was early morning so it wasn’t really that busy when we got there and I almost missed even crossing it. We then walked over to the Harajuku area – Harajuku is known for Cos Play and people getting dressed up in wild outfits – this café is sort of the epitome of every quality of Harajuku – Joseph really loved his rainbow pasta and getting on stage with the Monster Girls. The highlight was definitely the Monster Café (just saw the Kardashians visited here as well on their last trip to Japan — who knows why I think that is cool lol). But oh my lord – that place was a trip. Also got a pic with the monster himself which was cool. After leaving here we were also able to check out a really interesting local temple- Meiji Jingu. Some other days we went to the National Museum of History and Science. We also went to the famous Electronic area – and one of the largest stores that has old school Nintendo. Also explored Akihabara – did a tour of the area with a Rickshaw which was highly recommended – our driver Cookie was awesome and Joey still talks about him. We finished out our Japan trip with visit to the Skytree – the 2nd highest tower in the world! It was breathtaking to see the views at sunset and perfect end to the trip.
Joseph and I had a really fun time exploring Disney Land in Japan. It was so much different than going in the states but still just as magical and amazing. We stayed at the Disneyland resort hotel which is literally just steps away from the front gates to the park. I was going for major convenience flying solo with Joey for 2 days, and I was so happy we stayed here. The meals we had in the hotel were really delicious – as well as the food in the park. I would say something they might be doing more “right” than in the US is that there is lots of “real” & healthy food options…. Joseph loves sushi so that made it even easier but also the meals were more balanced. Breakfast was the largest buffet I’ve literally ever seen and had both american food and japanese food to make all guests happy. The employees at the park were of course amazing, even if they all didn’t speak english they did it with a smile 🙂 Joey rode Space Mountain for the first time and made it through even if he was a little bit scared!
