Tokyo: Spring Break 2025 with Cousins

Shibuya Scramble Crossing 

(up to 3,000 pedestrians crossing at a time).

After almost ten months of traveling, we were excited that Parker's sister and her family were meeting us in Japan. The Kaesers (Amanda, Brad, Krislyn, and Lissa) flew out to Tokyo to meet us on their Spring Break. We also blocked off that time for our kid's homeschooling "Spring Break". Kaia and Cruz were looking forward to hanging out with their cousins.

We had a couple of days to settle into our AirBNB in Shinjuku to get familiar with the area and figure out the public transport before they arrived. Japan is not necessarily for the "wing it" traveler, and it takes a little planning to get the most out of the day.

Tokyo Wanderings

Tokyo proper has a population of 14 million people, with the greater Tokyo area containing a population of over 37 million people. We had to prioritize what we all wanted to do and try to do activities based on their proximity from each other. It was a lot of walking and many hours on public transport every day. 

We had several talks with the kids about behaving properly in public and keeping their voice down (especially on trains). Japan emphasizes social harmony and consideration for others. There is very little to no talking on the trains. The kids adjusted pretty well with a few reminders. 

Some Tokyo highlights:

Team Labs

Team Labs, a fantastic interactive museum. We walked through a magical floating orchid garden, waded through water (much cooler than it sounds), and entered vibrant digital worlds. A favorite was when we colored a provided image which was then projected around the room with other visitor's coloring pages. As well as being visually stunning, every "environment" constantly interacted with the people around. We all loved the whole experience and highly recommend it. Thanks for getting the tickets Amanda!

After Team Labs, we went to Sensoji Temple. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo dating back to 645 AD.  The complex also includes a beautiful five story pagoda. This is an important religious site in Japan and it is very busy with locals as well as tourists. There were many people dressed in full kimonos doing professional photo shoots. Lining the streets were endless shops and restaurants. It's a fun area and we had a great lunch sitting on the floor in true Japanese style.

We had one more thing on our itinerary for the day, but we were all exhausted. Also, the Kaesers were still dealing with jet lag. We had a couple of train rides to get back to our place and we crashed. It seems like one or two activities on the itinerary per day is all we can handle in Tokyo.

Godzilla Head and the 3d Cat

The next day we did some wandering in the city. We were staying in the Shinjuku area which is pretty central. We saw the Godzilla Head and the 3D Cat. Both were hard to capture on camera, but quite impressive in person. Then we ran into a five story claw machine building. It's like an arcade but with only claw machines. We found that these are very common and popular in Japan. The kids loved it.

With all of our tourist-ing, we got pretty hungry. Brad found a conveyer belt sushi place for us. We were excited when we saw that the restaurant was only locals, and full. We knew it was going to be good. It was exactly what we needed, quick and delicious. The fish was so fresh. Each plate had two nigiri, some were simple and some a bit fancier. I regrettably ate one with a squid that required too much chewing, but everything else was super. We had a huge stack of about 50 plates combined. 

Conveyer Belt Sushi for the Win!

Other food adventures: French fries and chopsticks

UENO Zoo was fun and filled most of the day. At first we thought the zoo was small but it just kept going and going. The weather was cool so we kept a good pace. We saw some really cool animals: a polar bear, a pangolin, and a red panda to name a few.  At the UENO Park were also early cherry blossom blooms. I was the most excited about the blossoms, because I can't think about Japan without thinking of cherry blossoms. 

Cherry Blossoms! Cherry Blossoms!

It doesn't take long to realize how spread out and massive Tokyo is, meaning, our ambitious itinerary had to be adjusted. We had two to three things scheduled everyday placing them in order of importance. Unfortunately, our Fuji day was scratched due to time and logistics. 

We did make it to the free Observatory on the 45th floor of the Metropolitan Government Building, giving us a great view of the city. We also went to the famous Shibuya Crossing on our last evening. It is the largest pedestrian crossing in the world with as many as 3,000 people crossing at a time! I had everyone cross a few times for fun.

Onigiri all day! So good.

Tokyo was fast and exhausting. But hey, we had a 7Eleven at every corner to keep us going between sightseeing locations. The 7Elevens in Japan are amazing with great snacks and to go food. We all left Tokyo with a bit of an obsession with onigiri, a triangle rice ball stuffed with tuna/salmon or (other delicacies) and wrapped in seaweed. This was the perfect snack and they were available every where (even vending machines). We left Tokyo tired but had a great time exploring a new city with family.

 

First Train of the day! Yay! Let's go!

Last Train of the day!

So. Many. Trains.