TOKYO

Wow! Tokyo is everything you've heard and so much more than we could explore in just a few days. I know we've said this a lot but we will definitely be back here!

Our bullet train. We boarded in Kyoto and were in
Tokyo only two hours and 15 minutes later.

In November, before our trip, we spent election night with the Shors family, as we have for the past three presidential elections. We discovered that night that our Japan trips would overlap in Tokyo on just one night. We made the plan to get together. John Shors was kind enough to apply his knowledge of Japan to find us a great spot for dinner - a private room on the 50th floor of the Opera City building in Shinjuku. We had a great time, which would happen anywhere with the Shors but it was really special to see them in Tokyo.

I happened to glance at the reservation book on our way out. Everything in Japanese except for John's name!

The next day was cold and rainy. We decided to go to the place with the most indoor options: Odaiba.

Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo Bay that was built in the 1850s for defense, developed and used as a seaport in the 20th century, and has become a recreational, commercial and residential area since. Our first stop was the Kawasaki Robostage. It's a smallish space, featuring the duAro  (dual arm robot), which was completed in 2015 and introduced to the North American markets in 2016. These robots are designed to take up only as much space as a human and to be able to do many of the same jobs. 

John chatting with our greeter

Cameron having his
portrait drawn

Allison had hers done, too

There was a robot there that
visitors could try to program

After that, we visited the Tokyo Trick Art Museum. Here, we found lots of paintings that allowed the viewer to pose for funny photos. Not high art but a damn good time!

Come back, little girl!

Don't squash my head!

John doesn't look too concerned that he's
going to knock over that bucket and
the guy behind him!

I squash your head

We can't take John anywhere

Allison stoically accepting her fate

After that, we went to the Fuji Television building

The observatory is in the big ball

We went back to Shinjuku for dinner to see the neon at night.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Teppan Baby. The babies were everywhere, including tucked under our chopsticks when we sat at the table. This led to hijinks, naturally.

John does not approve

The next day, we were back to Shinjuku to see a few more things. 

Cameron took charge of getting our subway
tickets when we needed them. Tokyo's train
system was easy to navigate, clean and fast.

We stopped at an Apple store to see the new red iPhone
(guess who wanted to do that?!). Allison took the
opportunity to leave selfies on every device.

We wandered around for a while looking at signs and trying to decide just what the hell could be inside. Lots of places were not open in the daytime and many weren't appropriate for families but all of them were fun to look at.

Please leave a comment about what you think this place is.

So American. American chef, American manager
American flag. Someone please tell me where
I can find a place like this in America!

Main entrance. People could climb up and sit in the chairs
just beneath the giant robotic bosoms. For some reason,
the kids didn't want to take a photo of John and I there.
Please don't forget: This is American.

After seeing the American offering in Shinjuku, we decided we'd better find some Japanese culture, quick-like. We headed over to the Samurai museum. The Samurai can be traced back to about 710 as soldiers in Japan. Beginning in 1192, the Samurai, led by the Shogun, ruled over Japan for the next 700 years. During this period, Japan still had an Emperor but the Shogun and the Samurai were the de facto leaders of the country. 

Samurai were known for being fierce and proud warriors, two traits reflected in their weapons and armor. The amor is made of metal plates that are decorated and sewn together with colourful cord. This made the armor beautiful but also made it easier to wear because of the "joints" created by the cord between the metal plates. 

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Stirrups offered protection to the
feet of mounted Samurai

As part of the tour, we were given a demonstration
of Samurai techniques. After he went through the
motions, we were told what each movement was
called. They are named very literally: "cut from
shoulder to waist" or "cut face" or "cut neck"

Then, because we are embarrassing, John and I asked to take a photo with the Samurai demonstrator.

Having spent time learning a little about Japan's history, we returned to the street to see more of what's happening today.

Have you heard of this? 

You sit down and put your feet in the water
like it's a normal pedicure

But it's not normal! It's not normal at all.
Little fish swim around and eat the dead
skin off of your feet. It was awful and awesome.

After the fish had their fill, we walked only a little more until we saw a cat cafe! In we went...

Apparently I interrupted a serious conversation

John loved the cat cafe so much. It was his favorite.

Can you tell how much fun he was having and

how he thought there was no better way to

spend our limited time in Tokyo? Me neither.

Allison loved it

Three out of four Hoefflers agree that cat cafes are the coolest

Back outside for more walking, we paused to get a quick photo of a building that had caught our eyes several times. It's a really cool one. It's called the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower. It's home to three different schools (fashion, technology/design, and medical) and was given an award in 2008 for being the Skyscraper of the Year. 

That night, we went up to another restaurant in a tall building and 

enjoyed the most beautiful tuna sashimi I have ever seen

This restaurant had private rooms for each table. On the table was a button. When we were ready to order or if we needed anything, we pressed the button and within seconds, someone was there to 

see what we wanted. 

The next day brought sunshine! We were so happy. We started the day with a walk around the beautiful gardens at our hotel, then headed over to Harajuku.

Entrance to the very crowded Takeshita Street

On a tip from the Shors, we
went in search of cotton candy

Jackpot!

Allison is ready to dig in

Delicious!

Can you even believe the size of this thing?

This photo taken just over two minutes after the first bite

We found out about another type of animal cafe in Tokyo

HEDGEHOG CAFE!!!!!

Can you even?

a-DOR-able!

Look at him!

I want to do this again right now.

Sadly, our time there was limited. People who had reservations were arriving and the line was very long. We headed over to Meiji Jingu, a Shinto shrine in Shibuya. The shrine sits in a massive and beautiful garden. The shrine was built in 1920 in honor of the Emperor Meiji who died in 1912 and his consort, the Empress Shoken who died in 1914. When it was built, 100,000 trees from all over Japan were planted by hand. At last count, there are now 170,000 trees. Walking off of the crazy busy surrounding streets and into the shrine was like entering another dimension. 

Entrance gate

Sake barrel offerings

Wine barrel offerings

In the garden, we found the Kiyomasa-Ido Well, which
is the source of the large pond there. It has been flowing
year-round since at least the Edo Period and is famous for
the superior quality of the water.

Such a beautiful place to walk

This unsettles me. 

We stopped for a cup of tea overlooking
the famous Shibuya Crossing

We had a delicious dinner at a yakitori restaurant in Roppongi

Chicken lap cartilage. Yum.

The next day was a travel day but I didn't want to leave without at least a quick stop at the Tsukiji market. Allison and I headed over for a look around.

Long line of people waiting to get sushi at Sushi Zanmai

Dried sea creatures and taxidermy, anyone?

Crab legs steamed and then torched over hot charcoal?

Yes, please!

Look at the size of that tuna head

Dried squid

Tiny crab snacks

Giant oysters

After we finished our quick look around, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our flight to Hokkaido for skiing. Farewell, Tokyo! We'll be back.