The Main Attraction in Tokyo: Sydney & John

The last time I was in Japan - 10 1/2 years ago - my first night in town I, along with 8 friends, unwittingly ate plate after plate of $90/plate Kobe beef, got rather wasted off of street vending machine Asahi beer (sorry Mom, it's true), played around on construction equipment that was left on a construction site and somehow managed to find our way back to the Ship. Whilst that was an adventure, it doesn't compare to buddling my kids up in multiple layers of sweatshirts and getting out and about in Tokyo with them to take in the sites, sounds, and tastes of the area we're staying in.

Today we had our prefunctory Starbucks breakfast (the cheapest place around) and celebrated a few hours of Mother's Day together at the apartment before Rich had to catch a flight to the ship naming ceremony; the whole reason we're here!

As Rich was leaving, the kids and I also set out for a walking tour of the Aoyama/Omotesando/Harajuku districts of Tokyo (we're staying in Aoyama). We saw the old and the new, the trendy and the strange, the tranquil and the loud parts.

The trusty clerk at the front desk said that the Meiji Jingu Shrine and Harajuku area are only about a 30 minute walk from the apartment - and she was right - 29 minutes on the dot. I had piled the kids back into the Phil & Teds pram and pushed them down Omotesando Street, quite literally down, thinking to myself "Self, you gotta push them back UP this street later, by yourself!"

Omotesando street is one of the really trendy, high-class shopping streets: think Brooks Brothers, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel, you know, all the shops I regularly go to, especially with two kids in tow! It's actually quite beautiful (of course I didn't take a photo) as it's lined with Gingko trees all the way down. The liken it to Paris' Champs Elysees. Don't know about that, but it is nice.
The above picture is not Omotesando Street (remember, I didn't take a photo), but rather the entry into the area surrounding the Meiji Jingu Shrine. You walked through a traditional oriental gate (see one below) and down this very wide, pebbled pathway completely surrounded by lush vegetation. Unfortunately we didn't get to go into the formal garden area as Rich had taken all our Yen and I had none, and you had to pay to get into the gardens.

Below is the second gate you passed through. If you look down at the base of the right post you'll see this little white and blue speck - that's Sydney! Gives you a bit of an idea as how how tall these things are - and they are made from one piece of tree trunk. I was trying to explain to Sydney that we were passing "through the gate" but she couldn't comprehend why we didn't "open the gate, Mommy, just like Dora". Good question, why do we call them gates when there isn't actually anything to open?

Here's the actual shrine area itself. I don't know why Sydney has finally decided to pose in an oh-so-sorority-girl-like fashion, but it's kinda cute. She was loving all the steps that we walked up and down. There were also several displays of massive drums which she thought were pretty cool. There was one display that would have had about 150 of them (again, no picture) and she wanted to count them! Luckily we stopped at 12 or we might still be there.
There were these neat light posts lining the pathways - I'm assuming that they are lit up at night. I thought they were pretty cool - so I of course stuck the kids in front of one to "pose" for a picture. You can't really see it, but about two feet behind Sydney is a ditch about two feet deep, for water drainage. She kept going over to look in it whilst I was trying to take the picture - she was asking to go for a swim.
I have no idea what these two are doing - I was hoping to get a "cute" picture of them just "hanging out" in Japan, but instead I've got Sydney sticking out her tongue and John chomping on his finger. Not exactly the "pretty children" pose I was looking for, but at least it shows some of their character - it's all part of the journey.

Whilst we were in the Shrine (at the top of the stairs right after the Sorority Pose moment) this gorup of girls came over and one of them asked if they could take a picture of Sydney and John. So the three of us had our photo taken with them (me by default as John was strapped to me). After we had our photo she motioned/asked me if I wanted her to take one of the three of us with my camera. I said/motioned "sure" and then gestured for the whole group to jump in as well. Well this started a photo-taking frenzy and everyone got in on the action jumping in and out to either pose or take a photo with a friend's camera. I don't know if you can see from the size of the photo, but John's cheeks are almost busting out the top of his head he's laughing so hard at the girls next to him.

I had forgotten how everyone likes to give the "Peace" sign in photos here. I'm trying to teach Sydney how to do it for our next photo op. I remember 10 years ago when I was in Kobe being completely surprised at how welcoming the Japanese were, especially the youth, to us American students - I had expected there to be some general ill-feelings and animosity towards us given our country obliterated so many hundreds of thousands of their countrymen with the Atomic Bomb, but it wasn't like that at all. It's still not, the Japanese are an incredibly welcoming people.

For anyone who has wondered, yes, there are women who walk around in traditional Kimono dress. I'm sure that they are dressed that way for a reason (i.e. going to some ceremonial thing), but you do see it. I remember getting all giddy in Scotland when I saw a wedding party and entourage and all the men had on kilts - I was like "oh my gosh, they actually wear them" - duh!

Sydney saw this "pretty lady" as we were walking on the Shrine grounds, so I stopped her and asked if she would pose for a picture with my "pretty lady". Why couldn't she do the cute sorority pose now?

OK - here they are, the Harajuku girls! I don't know if it was because of the weather (it was only 14 today), the day (Sunday) or the time (mid-afternoon), but the bridge by the shrine only had about 12 Harajuku girls, and 1 boy, "hanging out". To tell you the truth, I have no idea what they actually do - I just know about them because of Gwen's song. It's not like they had hats upended so you could put money in them; and they didn't ask for money when people took photos (and everyone was taking photos).

It's funny, across from the Harajuku girls (and boy) there was a line of young school girls collecting money to help plant trees. I asked Sydney if she'd like to put some Yen in one of the boxes they were holding, and she wouldn't go near them. But jump in the middle of some crazily dressed, pierced girls - yeah, Mom, bring it on! I'm not sure if that's an omen or something, let's hope not. These girls were more than happy to take a photo with Sydney - in fact, they were loving it. They kept pulling on her pigtails and giggling like, well, the school girls across the way.

I gotta mention this for the few people who will understand - there were also a few Western Harajuku people. I had to think to myself "what are you thinking"? There are people all up and down State Street who dress and look exactly like you - do you think you're super special because you're doing it in Tokyo? Frankly, they just looked stupid and out of place.

Remember the fake food I mentioned in my first Tokyo adventure story - well here's an example. I discovered something very sinful today - thank goodness we don't have these in the US or Australia. Fruit & Creme stuffed crepe cones. Yes, they make a fresh crepe on a hot plate, then put your choice of fruit, topping (i.e. chocolate, strawberry) and whipped cream and then roll it up like an ice cream cone. Oh my gosh -heaven.

Lucky for me, Sydney was disappointed with the "ice cream", considering there was no ice cream in it, and had no problems with me gobbling up the whole thing. Here she is holding it whilst in the middle of Takeshita Street.
So, Takeshita street. Oddly it's the street Kristi told me to check out (thanks for the tip) and the same street that the night clerk who gave me the map happened to highlight as a place to go! Great minds think alike. So it's this little alley-like street with crazy people and crazier shops. Below is the outfit I'm thinking about getting to wear to John's baptism in June. Unfortunately the really "cool" shop had signs all over the place saying "no picture" -so I didn't take one. "No fun" I say.
There are these Condomania stores all over town, but I can't bring myself to actually go in one. Mary, you're incredibly lucky that the pram wouldn't fit in the door or up the steps, as I actually got up the nerve (I don't know why this is such a big deal) to go in and physically couldn't. I was going to get you some crazy condoms as part of your bridal shower gift. (Sorry if our grandparents are reading this, you really didn't need to know that information).

And here is a mock statue of Hachinko, the Faithful Dog, dressed up as a bee - apparently from some Disney movie, but I don't know which one. This was just one of several dog apparel shops on Takeshita street.

Well that about wraps up the adventure and sites of our second day here. Tomorrow we are going to do the second half of the walking tour of the area, including gawking at the Prada building which is supposedly an architectual wonder. The afternoon will see me start packing up as our time is almost finished here! Rich gets back tomorrow evening and we're going to see his Tokyo office and visit the people there on Tuesday morning. We'll also take a stroll through Ginza the area around his office.

Until next time - Peace!