Two kids, Tokyo, and many months ago (Part 2)

 Tyler Reporting:

This is Part 2 of me transcribing my Morning Pages entries detailing the Trip that the kids and I took to Tokyo back at the end of July and beginning of August. Though, I'm realizing that calling them "kids" probably isn't accurate, since they were 14 and 16 at the time of our trip. "Two Teens and Tokyo" would have been more alliterative. Oh well, old habits, and all that.

Anyhow, on with the entries:

#1781

When I walked to the minimart this morning, I had wanted to take a picture of Mt. Fuji, but it was all socked in with clouds. Hopefully, it will burn off in a bit (it's only, like, 5:30), but at least I saw it yesterday, though I didn't take any pictures, since we are headed to a view spot today.

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We actually got chased to our rental apartment by a thunderstorm yesterday. After arriving in Fujiyoshida, we ate in a food court before hiking a half kilometer to our rental. But the whole time we could see a thunderstorm rolling down the valley toward us. It was a pretty dramatic and exciting end to our journey form Asakusa to here.

The trip here was four trains. First the Ginza line to the Kanto Station. Then the Chou line to Shinjuku. Then (confusingly) the Chou Limited Express to Otsuki. Finally, the Fuji Express Ltd. to Fujiyoshida. The whole trip was 4ish, counting some sitting around in stations. Notably an hour in Shinjuku and 30 minutes in Otsuki (which seems to be pronounced "oot-ski").

First peekaboo views of Mt. Fuji, you can see it through the train door window to one side of Stella. Otto is obviously impressed. 

Hiking to our rental. You can see signs of the storm coming down valley behind us. But I mainly included this wonky photo because we all look pretty happy!

Yesterday, after arriving at our new rental, was a bit of a down day. The kids seemed pretty spend, so I let them hang at the rental, and I took a walk to Book Off, which seems to be the Japanese version of Half Price Books. The books were obviously almost entirely in Japanese, but they did have a small selection of albums, so I was able to pick up a Japanese copy of "The Commodores Live" for 500¥ (about $3.50), a vinyl single of "Live and Let Die" (for 500¥) and a Lee Oskar single (300¥) that I'm planning on giving Travis as a gift, since Oskars "Before the Rain" is sort of a cult favorite for him and I.

Dinner was at what could sort of be described as a Japanese TGIFridays. Fun in that there were some traditional aspects to it, like having to take off your shoes and leave them in wooden lockers at the entrance, and the seats were set up to feel like sitting on the floor (your legs went into a recessed area in the ground). But it also had those giant chain restaurant style menus with large color photos and an overwhelming array of dishes. Most of the food was a set menu situation where you got a main dish and a dizzying array of sides. I went with sukiyaki, while Otto (not surprisingly) chose sushi and Stella got soba noodles. Was their better food in town? Likely. But this place was hoping with customers, near our rental and up being a good fit for us last night.

Our very large spread of food at dinner, that night.

So, this morning, I'll need to make sure Stella is up by 8am. She wants to go running. Might not be a comparatively bad day for it since it's overcast, though it'll be humid as all get out. I'm still a little concerned about her just taking off running around Japan, but I do feel like part of this trip and her age is about giving her the space and trust to do stuff like that.

We have to be out of here by 10am. I figure we'll head to the train station take the train one stop down and then hike up to a view of a pagoda and Mt. Fuji. Hopefully, we can thread the needle where the clouds have lifted but the thunderstorms won't have rolled in. A tiny bit of crackerjack timing there. But that makes it an adventure, right?

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#1782

So, basically, we woke up yesterday morning, and Otto and I went to a convenience store to get breakfast, while Stella went for a run. I think that was a good experience for her, though she sort of made us all suffer for it later. (But I can get into that later.) Then we packed up and left right at 10am (our check out time). We hiked back to the train station, where we took the train up two just two stops to where Chureito Pagoda is located.

Since it's one of the bigger tourist destinations in the area, it's one of those deals where you get off the train and theirs basically a vendor-lined path going up to the shrine. The main event is then hiking up 300+ steps to a 5 story pagoda. Its maybe the most quintessential view in Japan, with the pagoda in the foreground and Fuji in the background. If you come during the Spring, you get cherry blossoms, too.

Getting ready to make the long hike up 300+ steps in 90+ degree heat.

Fuji was *basically* visible that morning. The top of it was covered in clouds, but the base half was there, and you knew what you were looking at. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest you learn that mountains are fickle creatures, and you can't expect them to be on full display every day. You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit.

The view at the top. Pretty quintessentially Japan! Worth the hike.

Having gotten our photos and walked back down (Stella and I took a curving road back, which led past the actual shrine which the pagoda was part of), we hopped back on the train and were off again... to Utsuki... to Shinjuku... to Asakusa. There were moments of being lost. Moments being bored on trains. But we made it back to our place quicker and easier than the trip out.

Back in Asakusa, it was nearly 3pm and we hadn't eaten yet. No one had acted or felt hungry until that point, so we decided to grab light eats with the idea that we'd do an early dinner at 4:30 or 5pm (or as Otto was convinced, I said "4:35pm"). But, of course, once I got the kids back to the hotel, they were reluctant to leave again. And once I did chase them out of the hotel, it was obvious that Stella was flat spinning. She has this tendency to go long enough without eating that she gets a headache, and once she has a headache, it feels nigh impossible to get her to eat. She just asks despondent and picks at her food.

Anyhow, after suffering through decision-tree paralysis, we decided to go to another ramen place. This was a fun counter restaurant where you order at a vending machine, hand your ticket to the guy at the counter and he brings your ramen post-haste. Otto and I scarfed ours down, and Stella... picked at her and largely left it uneaten.

It was really good ramen, though! Appreciated the carrot carved into a butterfly.

A little frustrated, I let Otto head back to the hotel and took Stella to a pharmacy to get some ibuprofen, then took her by 7-11 to get *something* to eat. Then I dropped her off at the hotel and -not wanting to spend the whole evening in the hotel room- decided to go wander the streets around our hotel a bit. I know this doesn't paint me in the most sympathetic light, but y'know, it is a challenge to manage two other people in a foreign land. Especially when those two people sometimes seem like they'd be just as happy spending the entire trip in their hotel room.

On my walk that evening, I circled a block where -in the small park at its center- there seemed to be some sort of private event or festival going on. It just looked really warm, fun and inviting. The "what if I lived here" tug of stuff like that always has a strong pull on me.

...

I did realize this morning, that I might be trying to give the kids too much control over food choices, etc. I've been trying to make it "their trip," with the idea that if they were happy, I'd be happy. But, last night, Stella made a comment to the effect of "I'm getting tired of trying to figure out where and what to eat." They are probably just suffering from decision fatigue. That's understandable and today I'll try to just run the schedule and let them coast along.

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#1783

Woke up at 5:30 today. I'll be on local time just in time for our return home tomorrow. I'm drinking "Platinum Black" Georgia Coffee currently, and it'll not just wake me up, it'll put hair on my chest. Quite a change from my usual "Cafe au Lait" Coffee Boss which feels more like drinking chocolate milk. 

Anyhow, today is our last full day in Tokyo, but let's run down yesterday, which Stella described as "our most successful day yet!"

The first thing we did when we headed out yesterday was catch a pair of trains way down "south" to a tiny, cute shop called "Souffle &" which just sold souffle pancakes. Souffle pancakes are something that Sarah and Stella really enjoy, and Stella has been asking to get some this trip. Souffle & sold them slightly different than the previous versions we'd had, and I honestly liked them better. The pancakes were used sort of like the bread on a sandwich with different fillings. We had an orange chocolate one, a cherry one and a cream filled one. They were pretty excellent. It's an uphill battle for breakfast food to win me over, but these did.

The souffle pancakes at Souffle &. So tasty and well prepared.

Then we hiked about 15 minutes to the Teamlab Borderless location. This was a way different neighborhood than we've been in. It felt very upscale and somehow cleaner than Tokyo's already spotless streets. We also walked past several embassies, including Russia's heavily fortified embassy (you can tell they aren't in great standing). So, maybe we were in the "diplomatic district"? We could also see Tokyo Tower a short distance off, so another Tokyo site "seen."

The Tokyo Tower. Styled after, but larger than, the Eiffel Tower. All this time in Tokyo, and this might be the time we saw it. Tokyo is big.

Teamlabs itself was in an upscale shopping mall, which we wandered for 30 minutes until our reserved time to go in. Honestly, as we first entered, I was like "is this it?" But, then we entered the first *real* room and honestly it was pretty amazing. That room had hanging lights and mirrored floor creating this sort of infinite -but defined- space. Like variations of walking through rain or shooting stars. Most other rooms were variations of this idea: Floating orbs, a world of conveyor belts, giant cubes with eerie shifting lights. Unfortunately, most rooms also had mirrored floors, which made it a bit trick for Stella, who was wearing a dress. But, that hiccup aside, it was all very cool in an Instagram-photo-able way.

I probably could make an entire photo entry about Teamlabs, but here's just a couple photos to give you a feel.

The first room, enormous room filled with "falling" lights.  Mind the dress, Stella!

Mist and lights creating a room you almost needed to feel your way through.

Family selfie in an endless see of floating obs.

A room where you got to color an illustration of a sea creature, they would then scan it in, and then it would be animated and join the projected aquarium.

The longer you stood in one place, the more flowers would grow from you.

After that, we did lunch at a Katsu place. Katsu is one of those dishes that I find to be solid, without being impressive. But this place was probably the best katsu I've ever had. Good pork, well-cooked, lightly breaded. It played to all of Katsu's strengths and had a good brown sauce and spicy mustard to punch up the flavor. 

After lunch, we caught the subway to the Akihabara neighborhood. Also known as Electric Town, the neighborhood is now known for both its electronics and video game shops, as well as all things manga and anime. (As well as a kabillion Maid Cafes.) I thought the kids would find it exciting and cool, but Otto seemed to see it as something to get through, and Stella was just sort of overwhelmed by all of it. First, we went to Super Potato, a 3-storey store specializing in retro video games. But the kids were like "meh." At this point, Otto was like "I thought this would be games like Pokemon and Magic cards." With that, we hiked a couple blocks to where there was a large Magic store. 

Really hard to get a meaningful photo of the Akihabara neighborhood. Crowds. Giant signs. Women in maid costumes trying to encourage customers to enter their cafes. Just a lot.

Trying to avoid the cramped elevator, we hiked up 8 floors of sketchy metal stairs, only to find a sign at the top that read "to entrance the store, please use the elevator on the ground floor." I feel like we've run into this more than once in Japan, where the useful sign or instructions are posted *after* the point where they'd be useful. (For example, on the train to Mt. Fuji, they had brochures explaining how to take the train to Mt. Fuji... it would have been nice to have the brochure *before* boarding the train.) Anyhow, it was back down the 8 flights of stairs and back up in the elevator. 

Like many things in Tokyo, one of the largest Magic the Gathering stores in Japan was in a really cramped space. As a fan of the game, it was fun to look at the cards, but the kids grew listless, so I bought a "brick" of cards, and we headed on to our next locale: A neighboring Pokemon store where Otto did some similar browsing. 

Then we headed to a massive electronic store next, where Stella was able to buy a lens cap for her camera, and I looked at expensive James Bond watches. 

After that, we headed back to Asakusa. At first, we tried to stop for shaved ice, but they had us queue up in a weird spot around the corner from their entrance and were about to close. So, we threw in the towel and headed back to our hotel. 

After hanging at the hotel for a bit, I wanted to get some dinner, but the kids were still full and tired from a full day. So, I went out to the sausage and beer place I'd discovered a couple days back, called The Day. It was a good spot for a night like this, because they were going for a Western-style gastro-pub feel, but with a Japanese twist. They had Japanese microbrews on tap (a rare find) and the sausages were made in house and had a fun Asian spin to them: I had a Chinese 5-spice one and a spicy kimchi one. It was also apparent that most of the people there were from the neighborhood and knew each other, so it was fun to listen to people laugh and talk, even it I could understand what they were saying.

House made sausages and a glass of Japanese microbrew on for my solo, second-to-last dinner in Tokyo.

Two kids, Tokyo and many months ago (Part 1)

Tyler Reporting:

So, I realized that I never did an entry here for my last trip to Tokyo. It was all the way back in late-July/early-August of 2025, and here I am sitting in the Winter gloom of January 2026. But we have another international trip in the works, so I wanted to get this one recorded. So, it doesn't go missing, like my Southeast road trip several years ago. (See! You didn't even know that one happened, right?!)

Fortunately, I continue to write Morning Pages nearly every morning. So, I have a record from that trip. I figured I'd transcribe a (likely abridged) version of those entries here and add some photos. Then, Viola! Blog entry!

Some context thought: Sarah was planning on doing another portion of the Pacific Crest Trail with our friend. And rather than spend the week sitting around the house with the kids, I was fishing around for something for the three of us to do that week. A friend pointed out that, since Alaska Airlines had started doing flights to Japan and Korea, we could now use frequent flyer miles to fly either of those locations. So, we cashed in a done of miles, and off the kids and I went for a week in Tokyo, sans Sarah.

On to the entries...

(The captions under the photos were all added now and weren't part of my original entries.)

#1778

First full day in Tokyo! Writing this at 5am, by the light of the rising sun, because I woke up at 3:30am. Looking past a sleeping Stella, I can see the river, and beyond that the base of the Tokyo Skytree. We'll go up in that a couple days' time. Even with the AC on, it's a little warm and muggy in our hotel.

The trip here honestly went pretty smoothly. My pre-planning paid off and -aside from maybe some confusion about the train to Asakusa, it was pretty hiccup free. The Uber driver came on time and we made it through security and all that business both in SeaTac and Narita. 

The kids on the flight over. The long flight.

By the time we got to our hotel, I think we were all pretty beat, but I rallied our crew to go get okonomiyaki... basically an "omelet" of meat, cabbage, egg and other ingredients. It actually really hit the spot and filled me up in a comfort food way... which felt odd in 90+ degree weather. But they had the AC blasting.

The view of the Skytree, a couple blocks away from our hotel. Taken on the walk back from dinner.

Stella got up to go running... it's an interesting change to have her going out by herself. We'll see how it goes. I feel like Tokyo (and all of Japan for that matter) are safe enough that I'm not worried about her getting jumped, but more just getting lost or something. But we are next to a river park with running/walking trails, so I think she'll be safe. Plus, she has her phone. 

I do think it's a good experience for her. I think about how when I was in High School, and had been interested in doing the German exchange program, and how that was all tied up in visions of running through Bavarian towns. How can I deny her a similar experience? Plus, I know she and her Cross Country teammates all share their runs on Strava, so how can I deny her that sick running brag?

While we were airborne yesterday, there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Russian Peninsula (north of Japan). So, we landed to people asking if we were safe and what the story was with Tsunami Warnings. But, it seems like there ended up being very little effect in Japan. Even Hokkaido only got hit by the smallest of swells... Still, just my luck to be all "Japan is super safe" before leaving and then arrive to Tsunami warnings. 

...

#1779

As I mentioned in the previous entry, we were up early yesterday. Me, especially, at 3:30, followed by Stella at 5am and Otto a little after that. This morning, I started to wake up at 4am, and at 5:45 the kids are both still sound asleep. So, slowly adjusting?

Since we woke up so early yesterday, we hit the road early. First breakfast, courtesy of the 7-11 across the street, then off to check out the temples. Since it was still early (like 7:30am) the temple and its surrounding shops were basically a ghost town. That was great when it came to the temple itself, because we were able to explore the ground without having to wade through an oppressive crowd, and actually got clear photos of the temple, pagoda and surrounding structures. It was really quite ideal in those regards.

The temple grounds. A few people around, but very quiet in comparison to how it busy it would get later. Plus, the oppressive heat hadn't quite kicked in.

Otto, with the pagoda in the background. Still very few other tourists.

But, after that, when we went to check out "Kitchen Street" -where the restaurants in Tokyo buy their supplies, including the fake display food you see in restaurant windows- it was less ideal, since we were just wandering a street of closed shops. So, taking a breather, we headed back to our hotel room for some down time. Though, close to our hotel, Stella and I stopped for some great matcha, at a small, boutique, walk-up she'd noticed the previous day.

Though I didn't mention it in my entry, we also went by the Asakusa branch of the Don Quixote store, a multi-level tchotchke shop famous for having pretty much anything you want. And a lot more.

We also stopped by the Asakusa Center, where you could climb up a couple floors and get view down on the temple complex. By this point, the crowds were starting to show up.

Stella and mine's matcha sundaes. Tasty, and it was fun to watch them get prepared. They were quite the hot item, based on the near perpetual queue out front.

After a little down time, I got restless and went out to wander a bit myself. First, I found a (very) small record store in the underground entrance to a subway, then -after wandering the shopping streets a bit- I discovered a small cafe that serves microbrew beer, including one from Washington, and a Japanese produced IPA. So, I stopped for a glass of that.

Back at the hotel, I wrangled the kids out the door, but it had become apparent that Stella was in need of food, because she was getting grouchy and listless. Unfortunately, the first two ramen shops we tried had huge lines. Fortunately, the third time was a charm and we had a delightful ramen lunch in a small restaurant. Sans crowds.

After that, we decided to head to the Ueno Zoo to see some pandas. That meant our first attempt (on this trip) at navigating the subway. That all went smoothly, though, and soon we were winding out way through Ueno Park to the zoo.

The advantage to going to the zoo at, like, 2:30pm, midweek, during a heatwave, is that there wasn't an queue and we could basically walk right in. The downside was that a lot of the animals were hidden away as protection from the heat, including -not surprisingly- the polar bears. 

We were able to see the pandas though! Or, rather, a panda. One of the pandas had a 30 plus minute queue to see him, but the female panda had basically no line. And, while you only got a limited time in front of the viewing area, it was possible to linger behind the main line of people. So! Panda! Bucket List items for Stella taken care of.

The panda bear! I heard recently that China was taking their pandas back from Japan, after a recent falling out (panda diplomacy!)... so I guess we were lucky to see them when we did.

We explored the zoo a bit more after that. Which sort of had its highs and lows. We did see some other cool stuff, like giraffes, hippos and pygmy hippos, plus naked mole rats. But, again, lots of empty exhibits and some felt small and uninspired. 

How we ended up seeing a lot of the animals: In their indoor enclosures, trying to beat the heat. Fun seeing the animals, even if it felt like they were hanging out at the YMCA pool.

After a bit, I could feel my own blood sugar drop, so we decided to try to track down dinner. We decided to do conveyor belt sushi for Otto (Stella wasn't particularly hungry) so we went to the Kora Conveyor Belt Sushi flagship store at a large shopping center back near the temple. But it was hard to find, which felt surprising for self-described "flagship store." Still, with help from a guy working at another random shop, we found it. The restaurant was a fairly cavernous space, and Otto enjoyed the sushi immensely. 

Otto, in his happy place: Eating sushi!

After a last stop at 7-11 for food for Stella and Pocari Sweat for me, it was back to the hotel, where I crashed at, like, 8pm at the latest.

Today... I also need to keep an eye on the weather. There's been a typhoon spinning just off the coast, and while I think it's just turned into a tropical storm, it's supposed to brush Tokyo this afternoon, bringing wind and rain. So, we'll see how that develops.

#1780

Woke up at 5am today, so that's progress. Was also up until 9:30 last night, so I was a comparatively late-night party person.

It's raining hard this morning. Not like "typhoon rain" but definitely would be a rainy day in Seattle.

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Yesterday started with the typical 7-11 breakfast. Then, fortified, we made our way to the Ginza Line and took it all the way from one end (Asakusa) to the other end (Shibuya). Nearly an hour-long journey.

In Shibuya, we were immediately dumped into urban mayhem and made our way to the famous Shibuya Scramble and did our obligatory crossing. Then immediately crossed back again as we realized we needed to actually be on the other side. 

A video of us crossing the Shibuya Scramble: The world's busiest crossing. You can get a sense of how over the top it is. (And note the couple filming themselves dancing mid-intersection.)

After the Shibuya Scramble, we tried to find the Hands store near Shibuya, which meant getting lost right away. It's hard to really describe how massive and chaotic that neighborhood is. You have a "ground floor," but pretty much everywhere there are pedestrian tunnels below you and pedestrian bridges above you. You can walk for blocks without being on the same level as the cars. Everything is connected, but it's all swarming with people and seemingly all under construction.

Eventually, we found the Hands store on the 14th-ish floor of a shopping center, and Stella was able to buy Sarah and our friend the collapsible tote bags she'd promised them. They'd picked up some last year (on our previous Japan trip) and liked them so much they asked we bring them some more.

...

Having bought bags and having Otto bought an odd little mystery box dude... and then let him buy a second one, because he had opened his least favorite pose with the first box, we needed lunch. Rather than hunt around, we decided to go to Din Tai Fung in a food court nearby. It was interesting, because I'd say that a good half of the menu was different from in the US, so you can see how they customize the menu to match local tastes. Anyhow, it was a good option, because we all ate well with no "hunting for food while hungry" drama. Plus, they had a basil-pork dumpling that was a nice find.

After that, it was off to Harajuku for shoe shopping. It was downpouring and we managed to get turned around in the train station, but a nice guy helped us get pointed in the right direction. In Harajuku we found the Onitsuka Tiger "Made in Nippon" store Stella and I had wanted to check out, and she got a new pair of shoes. Then we swung by a new mall with a fancy broken glass facade.

The broken glass facade. Hard to photograph without the image just appearing to be abstract chaos.

Another long-haul ride down the Ginza line brought us back to our room where we hung out for an hour or two before heading to the Skytree for our reserved visit. 

It had been raining off and on, and overcast when it wasn't raining, so I was worried about what sort of view we'd actually get. Looking at the Skytree from our hotel window, there were several points where the observation decks were encased in clouds. But thankfully, when we got up to the first observation deck (at 350 meters) the clouds were just above us and we were treated to an amazing twilight view of Tokyo, even if the ominous skies gave it a slight Bladerunner feel (which wasn't a bad thing, honestly).

A view from the lower observatory. You can get a sense of how high up we are, how big Tokyo is and how low the clouds are.

Stella in the lower observation level, as the sun sets and the lights of the city begin to come on.

After some drama involving the fact that my ticket had apparently fallen out of my pocket and I needed to buy a new ticket to the upper deck, we took another elevator up to the top observation deck. This one was *right* at the cloud level, with sometimes the view obscured completely and then a moment later the clouds parting to reveal Tokyo in its nighttime glory. 

A view from the upper observation deck, the clouds seemingly right above us. Our hotel is just across the river, to the right of the middle bridge.

Headed down, we ended up just doing mediocre ramen in the Skytree's food court, before heading back to our room. 

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Nakasendo Trail - Part 3 ...and into Tokyo

 Tyler Reporting:

(The final installment detailing our 3-week to trip to South Korea and Japan. In this entry, I'm back to my Morning Pages.)

Day 18 - Sooo many days apart. The last entry appears to be Miyajima which was roughly 2/3rd the way though our trip. Still, I'm pretty sure this is the longest break in doing Morning Pages since I started doing them. So, it's a bit weird coming back to them. Still, no guilt! No worrying I "broke the rules."

Where that left off, we were on the fourth day of the Nakasendo trail hike. It's been successful so far, and we had caught a train to some resort town (Editor's note: Karnizawa), after spending the day in Matsumoto. I'm not sure I summarized that, but... (Editor's Note: I had, so let's skip ahead a bit in this entry.)  ...but we go to the resort town (Ed. Again: Karnizawa).

To be clear, this is a Japanese resort town, not a Western one, so it definitely had a different vibe. For one thing, the Shrine outside of town is purportedly good luck for both people looking to get married, and for pets. So, there's lot of bridal shops... and people walking their dogs.

The next morning, we have a taxi called to the hotel and it took us up to the shrine in question, which also featured a sacred 1000-year-old tree. 

The 1000-year-old tree that served as the spiritual center point for the Shrine where our last days hiking set off.

In addition to pets and people seeking marriage, this shrine seemed to be a sort of one-stop shop for all sorts of good luck. Here's a shrine for people hoping for the National Football Team ("the Ravens") to do well.

The trail departed from the just beyond the shrine and was much rougher than the previous sections. Just a lot of muddly winding downward. Then passing through want could be called a ghost town, with abandoned bus, hotel and other buildings. 

This was pretty representative of our hiking trails the last day. Steeper, muddier and often rutted by a small backhoe that was being used for trail maintenance.

The abandoned bus and a hotel sign, just some of the relics in this previously abandoned outpost of civilization.

Then! Leeches! First Otto had a mysterious bleeding sport on his leg. Then Stella noticed one on her sandal! This led to us downloading off the mountain as quick as possible, but not before Stella discovered a couple more on her, I found a pair on my shoes and Sarah ended up having 3 in the toe of her shoe, when we reached a bus stop to regroup.

Bandaging Otto's "mysterious" injury. Wiping the blood away, it turned out to be just a tiny pinprick, but it would. Not. Stop. Bleeding. 

After we realized there were leeches in the area, certain members of our party were understandably creeped out, so we double timed it to a road and bus stop we knew was ahead. But still passed a number of neat sites.

At the bus stop, we made a check to see if we had more leeches on us. Which we did. Including this fella I had to fish out of Sarah's shoe.

After that, it was just a little farther, first through a tunnel, and then down a long, abandoned train track to a tiny train station where we boarded out train headed to Tokyo. But I think we were all happy to be going to the city.

This tunnel, which was part of an abandoned train track, was pretty cool, and helped put a little physical (and emotional) distance between us and Leech Land.  

While it was fun to travel with friends, it is nice to have Stella and Otto get to spend time together. Probably commiserating about their insane parents who drag them into the forests of Japan.

Mission accomplished! This gate marked the end of our hiking the Nakasendo.

That said, Tokyo was still a punch to the face. We are staying in Shinjuku, a neighborhood that seems to be a 7-day-a-week party. Just making Vegas seem like it's slacking big time. If it was just Sarah and I, or me and some buddies, it would possibly be a good time, but less so with the kids. 

Welcome to Tokyo! Shinjuku Station, where we got off to find our hotel, is recognized as the busiest train station complex in the world, with 3.6 million people passing through it *each day.*

Day 19 - The start of the day was Harajuku Street for cotton candy and crowds. Then the aquarium. I was a bit dubious. We've been to a lot of aquariums: Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, Cape Town, Lisbon, now Tokyo... possibly more. I wasn't sure if it was a tradition I was 100% behind, but it was something to do with the kids. And, in the end, it was a fun time. Maybe, like burgers and Italian food, it's fun to see the little differences. 

Otto has a history with oversized cotton candy, so this was a must-do on super-busy, super-hot Harajuku Street.

Obligatory artsy jellyfish picture, at the aquarium.

Actually, this might be my favorite picture from the trip. Stella looking up at an aquarium bowl suspended above her.

Located on the top of a shopping mall, naturally, the aquarium had a number of sort of surreal visuals, like the penguin exhibit where you could see the city behind them.

Bubble Waffles! Lots of people, but no shortage for fun food for everyone!

Since it was located above a mall, we had a chance to go by this One-Piece store. Can you tell Otto likes One Piece? There was also basically an entire floor dedicated to Pokemon, which we spent a good amount of time wandering through.

Then for dinner, Stella, Sarah and I did a tonkatsu restaurant in an underground mall, and then went and saw a projected light show on the side of the Shinjuku Municipal Building. It was a pretty great show, even if Sarah felt like she was having a nervous breakdown coming home, as we tried to navigate Shinjuku Station's underground alleys and the perma-Vegas crowds.

The Municipal Building projected light show. It started with a life-sized Godzilla animation, which was fun. But the second halves more surrealist show was more visually beautiful, if harder to photograph properly. 

Shinjuku! Can't stop, won't stop!

Day 20 - Today was Sarah and I's Anniversary and our last full day of the trip. Otto decided to stay in, while Sarah, Stella and I went to a garden on what felt like the far side of Tokyo. (An hour-long train and bus ride.) I think the tranquility of the garden helped Sarah right her ship a little after the previous night. 

Photographing the photographers, and the small, but beautiful (and thankfully peaceful) garden.

Stella and Sarah pose on a bridge in the garden, behind them towers the SkyTree. Our next destination.

Then we tried to go to the Tokyo SkyTree, but couldn't get tickets for a reasonable hour, so we just sat under it and had some beers and food before heading back to the hotel. 

At the base of the SkyTree. At 634 meeters, it's the tallest tower in the world, and the third tallest structure. Sadly, we couldn't go up in it, but I snapped this vertical panorama which broke perspective.

Then we basically dropped Stella off and picked up Otto for a fancy sushi dinner, to celebrate our Anniversary and the end of the trip. It was... fine. I tihnk the sushi at the Miyajima spot spoiled us a bit, since it was so excellent, and this felt a bit like they were going through the motions. Still, not the worst end to the trip. 

Now we are back in our hotel room that is so small it feels like it's made of beds. The kids are looking at screens, while Sarah and I have our last Japanese beers, and I catch up on my "Morning" Pages at 8:30pm. 

I feel like it's been a good trip. I feel like it's left me with a lot to think about and unpack, and also helped refill me a bit to help dive back into routine life when we get home. There are things that feel like Chapter Ends, and things that feel like Book Ends. This feels like both. On to the Two Towers, figuratively speaking. 

As always (even when headed home) onward!

One last view of Tokyo's endless sprawl, as we fly back home, via a layover in South Korea.