We were all tired after such a big day at Disneyland so had a slow start. That meant a very welcome 8am alarm - one of the longest sleep-ins of the trip!
We had a tour of Akihabara booked for 10am so after breakfast, we made our way to meet the group. Akihabara is the electronics/tech/ anime area of Tokyo. Rather than try and figure it out for ourselves, we decided to go with a guide who would take us to some of the key locations and explain what we were seeing. Stepping out of the metro felt like a different world, as it so often does when we go somewhere new in Tokyo. This world was bright lights, anime posters everywhere and teeming with people (Saturday morning I guess!).
We learned that the area began as a black market in electronics after World War 2 and evolved over the decades to what it is today. We wandered through stores several stories high, each floor specialising in something different like anime figures, painting figurines, replica trains, Pokémon cards, arcade games etc. Often the display cases are rented by collectors looking to sell their figures. Our main take away was a sense of volume- there is a lot(!) of stuff, how specialised it gets and how deep you can go. Scale effects when your city is 38 million population allow for that. It is absolutely overwhelming!
The kids had a great time learning how to play pong in one of the arcades. Eleanor and I battled it out in the final of our family tournament - in the end Eleanor was crowned champion, but it was close. I’m keen to have the final scoreline noted - at 10-9 it could have gone either way!
Akihabara is full of Maid cafes, so the tour stopped at one for morning tea. The theme of our cafe was romance and chaos, and also cats, so it was decorated in a lavish way with flowers and wall decorations that were decidedly quirky like framed teddy bear heads. Our waiters were cat maids so we all wore cat ears, if we wanted something ‘meow, meow’ was the call to attract attention and there was a little ritual of hand gestures before we started our drinks. It was one of life’s interesting experiences, and took us out of our comfort zones. We finished the tour at a photo booth shop for a tour photo session. The airbrushing and add ons you can play with is amazing. While the others on the tour seemed nice, we hadn’t really established enough of a bond to get truly creative with the photos.
Once the tour ended we grabbed a quick lunch at a tasty but non-descript sushi and ramen restaurant then headed to Yodabashi Canera, an enormous tech store. This is what Leo had been waiting for the entire trip… and it didn’t disappoint. The store was seven floors of tech, again with each floor specialising in something different. Leo is now the proud owner of some very good earbuds and a new gaming mouse. Almost all his savings in the lead up to the trip went into these purchases and he’s extremely happy about it! Interestingly it was me rather than Adrian who made a purchase… I will enjoy my new headphones too!
That afternoon we walked back to the hotel to do a final pack - it was a 6am departure for the airport and no one wanted to get up any earlier than we had to!
That evening was our grand finale dinner - fine dining at a ninja restaurant. We were greeted at the door and the kids helped find trap doors to get us into the restaurant, then our ninja waiter lead us to the table through winding hallways. All the tables are in private rooms separated from the hallway by sliding doors. It was an absolutely delicious meal - six or seven courses of amazing food - and many of the courses involved some magic, illusion or interaction. Like putting little stones into a box which, when tapped by the waiter, turned into little wafer crackers filled with yummyness or pulling a sword out from under our entree to let dry ice stream out. We were even treated to wagyu beef for the main course. Melt in your mouth delicious!
Between the main and dessert we were visited by a magician. He really blew our minds, Leo was still trying to figure out his tricks on the way back to the hotel. My favourite was when he turned a deck of cards I was holding between both hands into a perspex cube. I have absolutely no idea how! It was a fabulous way to end our time in Japan.
The journey home was long - a total of about 28 hours in transit. It gave us plenty of time to reflect on our wonderful trip.
Japan has been an amazingly rich and fulfilling experience. It is so modern, clean, efficient, safe and people go out of their way to help/make things easy. There are also very deep, rich and interesting history and traditions. Almost everywhere, including restaurants, trains and tourist sites there is some English, and you can communicate using a little sign language, pointing, and using even a little Japanese. If you take the time to learn a few basic words/phrases it goes a long way.
The food is amazing - such a wide variety of deliciousness. We’ve been so proud of Eleanor who has determinedly tested her boundaries and Leo, who is always keen to try something new.
The toilets deserve a shout out, not just for how clean they are (even public ones in train stations!), but also for their functionality. Most have two or three bidet options and some come with blow drying, sound for privacy and a deoderising function.
Almost everything we’ve seen is good quality, whether it’s food, souvenirs, or other products. If you see something you like it’s worth buying it on the spot because while you might see something similar again, it won’t be the same.
This trip has been truly incredible. Adrian organised us an action packed agenda that really made the most of the time we had, exposing us to so many different experiences and elements of Japanese history, life and culture. It’s been incredible to spend this time together creating memories as a family too. The kids don’t remember much of some of our earlier trips, but their memories of this one will last a lifetime.
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