Tokyo Disneyland! 東京ディズ二ランド

Tanabata festival decorations.

After all the stress of the past month, last week little dude and I took a random Thursday off from work and school and hopped the train out to Tokyo Disneyland. We spent the day riding rides, meeting characters, and eating popcorn. We made Tanabata wishes and watched parades. Little dude recently hit the 102 centimeter mark, so we were able to go on a few rides for the first time, including Star Tours (huge impression there!) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The latter was my absolute favorite ride growing up. My Dad and I would go on it as many times as we could on our trips to Florida. Little dude has seen Big Thunder Mountain from the Western Railway ride on our past two visits to Tokyo Disneyland, and as Thunder Mountain is a train, he has expressed great interest in the ride. Well, our day finally came. It was so much fun that we went on it twice.

Little dude's Tanabata wish- to go on all the rides and to have fun. Mine was to finish my dissertation!

 Too bright to look into the camera...

 Woot! 

 Waiting in line, the excitement builds.

 Train coaster! 

 Meeting characters by Splash Mountain.

 Curry at the Hungry Bear Restaurant for lunch.

 Studying the map while waiting for a ride.

 Parade time.

 Waving to Toy Story friends.

 My favorite- Alice in Wonderland.

 More parade!

 They let the kid drive!

 The Electrical Parade, always a perfect end to the day.

Done.

The little guy fell asleep within minutes of the finish of the Electrical Parade, and we went home happy. Disney was a great way to celebrate the completion of my research presentation; taking a spontaneous day off to head to the park was something I have wanted to do since arriving in Tokyo, and it was really a great time. Little dude made many new friends, and a few high school girls even took photos together with him. I can't wait to go back.  

すみだ水族館 Sumida Aquarium

Arriving at Skytree Town.

 
On a hot afternoon a few weeks ago, little dude and I headed over to Tokyo Skytree Town to visit the Sumida Aquarium.  Japan has a wealth of aquariums, and this one was quite lovely. It was about the same cost as the Sunshine City Aquarium, and had a fantastic variety of jelly fish as well as a great penguin habitat. I think the fish at Sunshine were a bit greater in variety, but this aquarium had a huge central tank, complete with a gigantic eel and a sizable shark. The Sumida Aquarium also had a neat kids activity area where little dude could take a break from the crowd, sit at a kids sized table, and color a penguin postcard.

 Entering the aquarium!

 The lovely and calming aesthetic of water and water species is so appealing to me.

 Jellies!

 Tiny jellies!

In addition to a standard jellyfish exhibit, this aquarium also had a variety of tanks with small exotic jellies, in particular, we were really into the long-haired varieties, although some of the chubby ones were pretty cool too. They also had a small interactive lab area where we saw day old super tiny jellies (like pin-head tiny), and learned about how and what they eat when they are so small.

 Learning.

 The giant central tank with the shark. He got quite the reaction when he swam right by us, teeth exposed and all!

 Fishy cuteness.

The highlight of our visit was the penguin habitat. We spent a serious amount of time by the giant tank, and little dude wore himself out running back and forth along the stretch of tank, chasing the penguins as they swam. I learned that 25% of the world's captive penguins are in Japan- an interesting bit of trivia!

 

 Chillin'

 Dive!

 Penguin love.

Back by the big tank one more time.

After a long afternoon at the aquarium we stopped for ice cream at Skytree Town, and then took the Tobu Spacia-sen part way home. This train has been on little dude's train wish list since arriving in Japan, as it was one of the first toy trains he received. The train goes a long distance up to the north, and is meant as a long distance train, but we just rode it from Skytree to the next stop, about 10 minutes. It was exciting enough to check it off the train bucket list, and was the perfect end to a great day.

 Tobu Spacia-sen. Another train goal met!

Looking back at Skytree from the train.

National Museum of Western Art 国立西洋美術館

Entering the museum.

Over the weekend, little dude and I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon wandering through the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno Park. Generally, I visit museums for work or research, so to go to an art museum purely for fun was a treat for me. Sprout loves abstract art, so he was excited for the twentieth century galleries. 

 Netherlandish Christian art.

Galleries.

Joan Miro, 1953. The hands down favorite.

The Perfect Sunday Outing in Tokyo: Meiji Shrine and A to Z Cafe

 Entering the shrine.

Last week, my dear friend Emily came from the States for a visit. On her first day here, we headed down to the Harajuku-Omotesando area of Tokyo for what may be my perfect Tokyo outing: the Meiji Shrine and A to Z Cafe. We exited Harajuku Station with all the cool kids and hit up the shrine first- perfectly beautiful, verdant, and calm, despite the throngs of Sunday tourists. 

Shrine gate.

The Meiji Shrine is where Emperor Meiji (r. 1868-1912) is enshrined. It is also a huge shrine in the middle of Tokyo, includes two museums dedicated to Emperor Meiji, and is a large green space, making it a popular site with a variety of visitors. As it relates to the Imperial, and is a lovely natural escape from the concrete expanses of Tokyo, it is one of my favorite spots in the city.

 A small waterfall along the path.

 Pals.

 Sake barrels as donated by breweries.

 Little dude exhibiting proper ritual behavior at the shrine.

 Little dude goofing around (e.g., not exhibiting proper ritual behavior).

 The main area of the shrine.

 We saw a wedding!

 Shrine doors.

 On our way out.

After a bit of walking through Harajuku, and a quick lunch stop, we headed over to the Omotesando area, one subway stop away. If it had not been raining, and us not in the company of a tired-of-walking kiddo, the stretch between the shrine and Omotesando is a nice 15-20 minute stroll along streets filled with beautiful high end retail- in some ways a museum of contemporary material culture combined with the adjacent Harajuku fashion (read: youthful hip). Ultimately, our destination in Omotesando was the A to Z Cafe, which is a project of the artist Yoshitomo Nara.

 Seated.

 Sparkling wine and pumpkin coconut cake. Dreamy.

 Artist kid in a cafe created by an artist who addresses kids. Woah.

Yoshitomo Nara, long a favorite of mine, creates work that has a certain child-like quality to it. While many of his artworks are somewhat disturbing, others focus on the emotions of childhood, and the childhood experience. So, it was completely appropriate that little dude went straight for his blank-page book with his crayons. 

 

Lighting by the cafe entrance.

Hara Model Rail Museum 原鉄道模型博物館

 Entering the museum.

 About two weeks back, little dude and I took a trip down to Yokohama for the day. The main aim of our visit was to pick up a book I needed, but as a bonus we hit up the Hara Model Rail Museum. This museum, opened about two years ago, was a tour de force of all things model trains. Of course, it was little dude's dream come true. I thought we'd spend about two hours there. Instead, we closed the museum out after nearly five hours of train gazing. It was just that cool.

 Someone can hardly contain their excitement.

The museum is the result of Hara Nobutaro's life long love of model trains. Mr. Hara, who is still around at age 95, collected and created what is believed to be the world's largest single collection of model trains. What was truly remarkable about this lovely museum and collection though, is that he not only collected an astounding amount of train paraphernalia from around the world, but he also customized the model trains, making them more authentic reproductions of the real trains they imitate. For example, he switched the power to be drawn from the overhead lines, as in real life (but not in most models), and he changed the chassis of the model trains to closer recreate the sway and rhythmic click of full-scale trains. The attention to detail in his models was truly beyond compare.

 One of the main exhibit rooms.

 Gazing at the trains.

 One of many beautiful models.

 Vintage model suspension railway from Germany.

 ALL THE TRAINS.

Of course the best part came at the end with the working models. In the course of the many hours we spent at the museum, the staff introduced different model trains to the model set; each would appear in photograph form on one of the large screens accompanied by data about the train, and then would make its appearance on the rails. It was a beautifully crafted set, with a high level of wonderfully crafted detail. The room went through cycles of light and dark, and little dude wore himself out running back and forth watching the trains.

 Part of the model set.

 The roundhouse in the main set.

There was also a smaller set that replicated the city of Yokohama, and my former stomping grounds of Minato Mirai, also where little dude was born! This was a definite highlight for me- to watch as the Keihintohoku-sen pulled out of Sakuragicho eki, and as the lights of the Pacifico building changed throughout the simulated day and evening.

 Minato Mirai!

 Sakuragicho-eki, complete with Bubby's Pies!

 Minato Mirai ground level view.

 Trains passing through.

 Evening in Yokohama.

 More train memorabilia.

 A model of Mr. Hara's workshop as rebuilt in the museum.

A parting shot of the central model. Amazing!