Last week Flynn and I accompanied Blake on one of his business trips to Tokyo. He had to work from Tues-Thurs but was free from Friday through the weekend.
Our hotel room was on the 29th floor of the highrise below and it was an excellent spot from which to enjoy the thrill of the recent 7.2 magnitude earthquake which rocked Tokyo quite nicely. It was centred over 200km north-west of Tokyo but the room still swayed and creaked for some half and hour (on and off). It was reasonably unsettling, but knowing that our flash modern building would have been built for such conditions was some consolation.
Flynn settled in immediately and made himself at home. He had his own cot which he seemed satisfied with and he was a good little chap for the whole trip really.
So dad, who's sleeping in the cot?
Little angel's about to hit the sack
The view from one window in our room
It looked a bit foggy/smoggy that day, but generally did not seem so when out on the streets. A few people wore face masks though (hospital-style paper ones) which could indicate that the air is not so fresh.
The view from our other window
Buildings in our local vicinity
We were staying in Shimbashi - near Shimbashi and Shidome metro stations. This was a great position as there were good eateries all around and it's walking distance to Ginza - which is a great location for restaurants, fancy shops and generally an attractive area of Tokyo.
Tokyo is really clean, flash, sophisticated and cosmopolitan. It has fantastic international cuisine, as well as Japanese of course. The people are courteous and considerate, well-dressed and chic. The staff at the hotel were falling over themselves to be helpful and polite.
We arrived on tues evening, and on weds Flynn and I caught up with Mika, a Swedish friend from Singapore, who now lives in Tokyo. We spent the day hanging out in the Roponggi area which was great. Here I am with her baby (Leo) in front and Flynn on back.
Flynn test drives his new Ergobaby backpack
(since he's now too damn heavy for the front one)
We sussed out the Tokyo metro, which took a while but is manageable
It was a lot easier than I expected to be a tourist (with a baby) in Tokyo. Lots of people don't speak any (or much) English, but you can get by with a hotel address card (for taxis) and menus with photos and/or translations - which most have. Things aren't cheap but not everything is extortionate and you can get good food for a reasonable price.
The metro wasn't very pram-friendly so I had Flynn in the backpack on the days when Blake was working and in the weekend Blake ended up carrying the pram up many flights of metro steps.
The people in shops and eateries were very friendly and the food was great!
Let's get another sake mum!
On Thurs Flynn and I went exploring on foot (or on back, if you're Flynn). We checked out the local area, went to Hibiya Park and took a look at some of Ginza.
On Friday Blake joined us and we went to Asakusa, an area that has 'olde worlde' Japanese charm with loads of temples, old japanese buildings, gardens, rustic areas, cobbled streets and markets. It was great, loads to see, buy and eat.
Another temple - yawn... where are the toys dad?
That's one big lantern!
We got stuck into plenty of Japanese food!
Off out for an evening in Ginza
An awesome meal at a Japanese bbq restaurant
Dad with his little koala bear on the way home
On our last whole day we went to Yoyogi Park in Shibuya. It's a HUGE park with lakes and fountains and throngs of people enjoying themselves doing normal and not-so-normal park activities. There were bongo players, actors, singers and musicians, belly dancers, people playing ball, doing martial arts, tai chi, skate-boarding, bike acrobatics, juggling, picnicking and more.
We had a picnic with an awesome spread of Japanese food from a fine food market.
At the entrance to the park is a bridge called Harajuku Bridge. Here all the crazies and attention-seekers hang out doing interesting stuff, or just looking interesting. There are punks and elvis impersonators and all sorts of weird dressed-up folks. Unfortunately there were not that many there when we were going through.
Time flashed by and it was Sunday before we knew it. We headed back to Singapore on the new Airbus 380.
Flynn in his sleeping bag - we were hoping this would make him sleepy (yeah right)
The return journey was a very different experience from the inward trip. For that Blake was in business class and we rode economy. It was pretty awful - we were jammed in the corner by the window with two people to get past to get out and a bassinet in the way so that I could not get out anyway.
For some strange reason the man next to me stayed put despite having a bassinet directly in front of his seat (no fun for him), and there being plenty of free seats elsewhere. I wanted to punch him. Instead I let Flynn keep tugging on his earphone cord, hoping that the irritation would drive him away - to no avail. Blake took Flynn for the second half of the 7 hour flight, which was a relief.
On the way home Flynn and I flew business class (well, we took Blake's seat there) which was another story entirely!! There would have been room for all three of us on the lie-flat bed (though that might have been taking the piss) and you can see from the ecstatic look on my face that I am really quite enjoying myself.
Yes we did dance a jig
