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. 

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#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.

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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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